eARC – Carol's Notebook

Bodies and Battlements by Elizabeth Penney

March 14, 2025March 14, 2025 by Carol1 Comment

Bodies and Battlements is the first in a new cozy mystery series. Ravensea Castle has recently been converted into a Bed and Breakfast and they are welcoming their first guests. Everything is going fine-ish until a local woman is found murdered in the garden and the Asquith family, guests and staff become potential suspects. Nora has potential to be a great character. She's determined to keep the castle in the family by making the B&B a success. She also grows herbs and flowers in the garden that she makes into lotions, soaps, etc. She is sane and solid, in the midst of her actress sister, eccentric father, quirky staff, and resident ghost, but that does make her seem a little boring. We do have the start of a romance that might be fun, but it's with a cop, which I'm a little tired of. The setting is fabulous - the castle, the town, the seashore. And the pets - two cats and...

The Chow Maniac by Vivien Chien

February 27, 2025February 27, 2025 by CarolNo Comments

The Chow Maniac is the 11th in the Noodle Shop series, but I think it could be read as a stand alone. There is no over-arching plotline to the series and although we have lots of returning characters, I think they're introduced well. This time around, Lana, our amateur sleuth, is approached by Lydia, a private detective we've met previously, with a case that involves the Asian community. Lydia has been hired to look into a century-old Asian organization known as the Eight Immortals. Three members have already died under seemingly natural circumstances, but the client believes they were actually murdered and that he may be next. Lana is a great character. She manages her family's restaurant, but has solved enough murders for people to notice her. She's funny and sassy and does not know how to keep a secret. Per usual cozy rules, she has an adorable dog and is dating a police detective, although neither play a huge part...

The Serpent Under by Bonnie MacBird

February 19, 2025February 19, 2025 by Carol1 Comment

I guess we need to look at The Serpent Under in a few different ways. First, Victorian London. MacBird does a fabulous job of bringing the foggy, damp, crowded city to life. We see the people, issues, and prejudices of the time. Second, our main characters. Holmes and Watson feel like the originals, if that makes sense. They have the mannerisms and partnership they always have. Yes, Holmes' attitudes towards women, Roma, etc. are more modern, but he was never conventional. And here it particularly works well since it doesn't allow him to just go along with the easy solution. We only get brief glances of Lestrade and Mycroft, which is appropriate. Heffie, a former irregular who now works with the police, is a good addition. She's tough and reliable and very good at working undercover. The dead woman's family and friends are all a bit odd and she seems to have been the only truly likeable one of the bunch. Plot...

How to Seal Your Own Fate by Kristen Perrin

February 17, 2025February 17, 2025 by CarolNo Comments

Annie Adams has been living at Gravesdown Estate for several months. She inherited the mansion and land when she solved the murder of her great aunt Frances. That mystery is covered in the first book of the series and I think you almost need to have read How to Solve Your Own Murder in order to understand the history and relationships in this one. It's a small town full of secrets and gossip, and just because you've known someone your whole life doesn't mean you can trust them. Annie is already feeling unsettled - the house is big and cold, the townspeople are not overly friendly, when she meets Peony Lane, the fortune-teller whose prediction guided most of Frances' life. Peony has a fortune for Annie, but she won't tell it unless asked. She also gives Annie some advice about looking into a decades old accident. Not much later, Peony is found dead, murdered in Annie's solarium. Annie, of course, gets wrapped...

The Antique Hunter’s Death on the Red Sea by C. L. Miller

January 31, 2025January 31, 2025 by CarolNo Comments

The Antique Hunter's Death on the Red Sea is the second in the series and it's probably better to read them in order. You'll get a better feel for the characters and why Freya ends up in her current position. We learned in the first book that Freya and her Aunt Carole inherited Arthur Crockleford's antique shop when he was murdered. They are also trying to continue his project of hunting down stolen treasurers and making sure they're returned to their rightful owners. Freya and Carole have officially founded “The Lockwood Antique Hunter’s Agency,” and the first case that comes their way is a painting that was stolen from a small semi-local Maritime Museum was stolen. The police are concentrating on the murder that accompanied the theft and the museum volunteer is afraid the painting will be forgotten. It turns out Arthur had donated the painting to the museum, making it even more interesting to Carole and Freya. The two follow...

Bait and Swiss by Korina Moss

January 23, 2025January 23, 2025 by CarolNo Comments

Curds & Whey has only been open two years and Willa needs to solve a sixth murder. Willa's ex-fiancé, Pierce, and his partner, Willa's former best friend, Riley, have opened a pop-up chocolate shop in the town's revamped bakery. Willa is, reasonably in my opinion, angry that the pair has chosen her town for their newest store, but when a reporter is killed by poisoned chocolates, she knows she's not guilty, even if the police chief isn't so sure. I felt a little bad for the character who got killed. We met him, saw he was pushy, and then he was dead. There was never much consideration that he was even the intended victim. The reader has several suspects to look at, although Willa would rather not believe any of them are guilty. And was destroying the business's reputation the point, or was someone trying to kill AJ, the newspaper editor, or Willa herself? Turns out Pierce is not a very...