eARC – Page 6 – Carol's Notebook

Hard Dough Homocide by Olivia Matthews

May 12, 2023December 12, 2023 by CarolNo Comments

Hard Dough Homocied picks up where the first in the series left off, with the Murray family busy running their family bakery. They've been asked to cater a local high school principal's retirement party, a woman Lyndsay's mom, Della, dislikes. And of course, when the woman dies in the bakery, Della becomes the chief suspect in the murder investigation. Lyndsay decides she has to investigate to clear her mom's name and save the business - being connected with two murders just months apart is definitely not good for customer retention. I can't tell if the cops are actually incompetent or not, since we only see things thru Lyndsay's eyes. There are several suspects and at least from Lyndsay's point of view, the cops aren't investigating them all as well as they should. We've got a few clues that definitely point to people aside from Della. Lyndsay and her family are very close. They always have each others' backs. The family even joins...

Fateful Words by Paige Shelton

March 2, 2023March 2, 2023 by CarolNo Comments

I have read the Scottish Bookshop mystery series from the beginning and look forward to each new addition. I don't think you need to have read others in the series to enjoy this one, but it never hurts either. Delaney is left in charge of a small tour group when Edward and Hamlet take off to London. I don't understand why their reason for going had to be kept secret. I think it was something I would have let my friends/employees know about for a couple of reasons, but I guess it adds to the tension. The tour starts off on the wrong foot, with the manager of the inn where the group is staying falling to his death from the roof. Then, at lunch the next day, one of the tour group goes missing. I'm happy that the remaining three continue on with the tour, although it's probably a questionable decision. I liked the mini-tour of Edinburgh and hearing the...

The Raven Thief by Gigi Pandian

February 14, 2023February 14, 2023 by Carol2 Comments

There are some things I loved about The Raven Thief and some things I could do without. The mystery itself is well-done. Tempest and her grandfather are invited to a "seance" to rid a woman's house of the bad vibes of her ex-husband. Right in the middle, however, her ex drops onto the table - dead, surrounded by raven feathers. Ash, Tempest's grandfather, becomes the chief suspect, so of course, Tempest has to do everything she can to clear his name. Tempest is a former stage magician, so is the perfect person to figure out how the "trick" was done. I'm pretty sure it's a fair play mystery, that the reader gets all the same clues as Tempest and her sidekicks, but I didn't put them together. These books rely a lot on misdirection on the killer's part that our magicians and builders need to unravel, which is fun. I enjoy the puzzle of it. Tempest is a great character, too...

A Death in Tokyo by Keigo Higashino

January 20, 2023January 19, 2023 by Carol2 Comments

A Death in Tokyo is the third entry in the Detective Kaga series that has been translated into English. Once again, it's a solid, enjoyable read, with a couple of good twists. Kaga is part of a squad investigating the brutal murder of a middle-aged man. The man was stabbed but stayed alive long enough to drag himself to the famous Nihonbashi Bridge, in order to die at the foot of the statue of a kirin adorning it. Not far away, a young man in a park flees police and runs out into traffic where he is struck and seriously injured. The young man, Yashima, is carrying the murdered man's wallet. Unfortunately, the man ends up in the hospital in a coma, unable to answer questions. This is a police procedural. Kaga is unsatisfied with Yashima as the killer, so he keeps questioning people and walking the neighborhood where the crime occurred. He's persistent, follows his hunches, and step by step...

Murder After Christmas by Rupert Latimer

December 19, 2022December 19, 2022 by Carol4 Comments

Uncle Willie is rich and old, and therefore would be much more useful to his greedy relatives dead than alive, if only they could be sure who he’d left his money to. Several of his relatives joke on a regular basis about murdering him. The Redpaths have reluctantly invited him to stay over Christmas and would be quite happy if he included them in his will. They’re not the only people who want Uncle Willie’s money though, and soon others are turning up to try to inveigle themselves into his good graces. And of course, Uncle Willie is indeed murdered - after Christmas. Murder After Christmas is an odd book. It's full of holiday cheer - Santa Claus, mince pies, snow, Christmas decorations, and food. It's funny, even if the jokes get a bit repetitive, and the characters are eccentric to say the least. The plot is twisty and turny and people act in all kinds of odd ways. The plot...

The Railway Detective’s Christmas Case by Edward Marston

November 29, 2022November 29, 2022 by Carol2 Comments

The Railway Detective's Christmas Case is the first I've read in the series. It works fine as a stand-alone, but I wonder if I would have enjoyed it more had I been more familiar with the characters. Colbeck's family is featured often, mostly hoping he gets home in time for Christmas and, for me, those interludes were distractions from the plot, but if I cared more about the characters I might have been more interested. Colbeck and Leeming are charged with finding the killer of a well-respected man, Cyril Hubblesday. Hubblesday was not a nice man though and there are a fair number of suspects, from employees at the works to his daughter's former suitor. The clues the pair dig up point in several directions, and it turns out there is more going on than was originally suspected. I don't know. The case was interesting and I enjoyed the historical details, but it dragged a bit. There were a lot of...