Cozy Mystery – Carol's Notebook

Cruising Through Midlife by Addison Moore

June 29, 2026June 29, 2026 by CarolNo Comments

Trixie is on her 25-anniversary cruise to Hawaii alone because her husband is a cheating jerk. And I do have to say she moved on well. She's determined to have fun and not fall for any of his pleading or mean jabs. She seems to take everything in stride and with a smile, even when she finds a dead body in her luggage and a ghost turns up to help her solve the mystery. It's a fun, lighthearted mystery with plenty of romance. Trixie has two potential love interests, both crew. I'm not a fan of love triangles and I did kind of want her to just pick one, but it's only an 18-night cruise, and she'll never see either of them again, so what's the harm? And I might have peeked at some of the later blurbs in the series, so I'm willing to let it slide for now. It's a fun book. I enjoyed Trixie and her new friends. It's...

The Dog Park Murders by Angela Barker

June 24, 2026June 24, 2026 by Carol2 Comments

I actually enjoyed The Dog Park Murders. Sometimes mysteries with too much romance make me roll my eyes, but I think it was balanced pretty well in this one. And the blurb made it clear what to expect. Yes, this book felt like a Hallmark movie, but in a good way. Labrador Falls is an adorable small, dog-obsessed town where Juliette has lived her whole life. It's not always an easy place to live - small towns can be tricky. Everyone knows everyone else and their backgrounds and families. When Juliette finds a dead body at the local dog park, with evidence pointing to her pet grooming shop, she immediately becomes the prime suspect, thanks in part to her family history. Joel owns the coffee shop, but is relatively new in town. However, he can't just stand aside and let Juliette get railroaded by a lazy, biased detective. The mystery was decent. The dead man was not nice, so we had several...

Dungeons and Danger by Elizabeth Penney

June 15, 2026June 15, 2026 by CarolNo Comments

Dungeons and Danger is the second in the Ravensea Castle mystery series, but I think it could be read as a standalone. The mystery is self-contained, and although we have several characters returning from the first, the author does a good job of introducing everyone. The Asquith family has turned their centuries old castle into a B&B, complete with resident ghosts. Their current guests include a professor specializing in Viking history who believes there's a treasure hidden on the grounds and a group of ghost hunters filming a show. And the castle is hosting a huge Viking festival. "Accidents" start piling up and it's no surprise when someone ends up murdered. The returning characters are all well-developed and interesting, without going over the line into quirky. I like Nora Asquith and her family. Their interactions feel genuine and they work together well. Nora is dating the local detective inspector, Finlay Cole, but they both act like adults and their relationship is...

Murder on the Rocks by T.E. Kinsey

June 4, 2026June 4, 2026 by Carol2 Comments

I have to say I enjoyed Murder on the Rocks tons more than the other one in this series I've read. Lady Hardcastle and Florence are at a friend's island fort in Devonshire. JB McIntyre has recently converted the building into a hotel and has invited a group of people a kind of a pre-opening weekend. Of course, it turns into a less than relaxing weekend. First, some jewelry goes missing, then a guest is murdered with a narwhal tusk, and finally a storm rolls in, effectively cutting them off from the mainland. Lady Hardcastle and Flo are joined by an interesting group of JB's business associates and friends, all of whom are now suspects. Each of them, of course, has a secret that may or may not be known by the others and a reason for wanting the dead man gone. And they all seem to have alibis, no matter how often Emily and Flo review the timeline....

Murder by Cheesecake by Rachel Ekstrom Courage

May 28, 2026May 28, 2026 by Carol2 Comments

I remember watching the Golden Girls back in the '80s and '90s when I was in high school and have caught reruns occasionally since then. It's not one of my favorite tv shows necessarily, but it's fun and the actresses are fabulous. So, of course I had to pick up Murder by Cheesecake for the nostalgia alone. In this first of the series, Dorothy goes on a very awkward first date with a guy. She doesn't plan on seeing him again. At the same time, Rose's niece is getting married in Miami instead of St. Olaf, and in the midst of the pre-wedding festivities, a dead man is found in the freezer - Dorothy's date, which makes her a prime suspect. The four women have to solve the murder to clear Dorothy's name while also helping Rose with the wedding. The book is set in the 1980s and I felt like the author was true to both the tv and...

Murder with a Side of Shrimp and Grits by Skylar Warren

May 22, 2026May 22, 2026 by CarolNo Comments

I almost quit reading Murder with a Side of Shrimp and Grits during the first chapter. The Mayor comes into the Honeybee Cafe during their anniversary celebration, has a couple bites of his usual shrimp and grits and dies of an allergic reaction. This book is nothing if not overly descriptive, which was a bit much for me with a death from anaphylactic shock immediately followed by glares of suspicion directed towards Jessie, cook/owner of Honeybees, from the rest of the customers, many of whom had known her since she was a child. And Jessie immediately begins to catastrophize the situation. Turns out she wasn't too far off, but the immediate overreactions all around didn't make sense to me. I mean reacting to the death makes sense, it's the immediate suspicion and "they're all going to hate me" that didn't. As I mentioned, we get log details descriptions of everything, which sometimes worked and sometimes felt like the author threw every...