A Body at the Book Fair by Ellie Alexander

A Body at the Book Fair by Ellie Alexander

by CarolNo Comments
This is the final installment of the Secret Bookcase Mysteries - although don't worry, we'll get a spin-off, The Novel Detectives series. This time around, Annie and Fletcher are in Santa Clara for a book fair and Liam and Pri are coming along too. It just so happens that the fair is near the company that Annie blames for her best friend, Scarlet's, death, ten years ago, and Annie has a plan to get the evidence she needs. While we do get some background info on the cold case, this one probably works better if you've read others in the series. Of course, there's also a murder at the book fair. One of the presenters is killed by his own VR device, and Annie is there when it happens. The book fair sounds amazing and makes me want to go to a bookish event soon. The two mystery plot are balanced well. We have several suspects for the current murder...
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For Duck’s Sake by Donna Andrews

For Duck’s Sake by Donna Andrews

by Carol1 Comment
The Meg Langslow series is one I dip in and out of. I've read several, but no where near 37. Meg wears many hats - mom, wife, daughter, blacksmith, mayor's assistant. This time around she's helping prep for the Mutt March. a parade/festival to promote pet adoptions from the local shelters. She's taking a break from the chaos at her house by going over the her brother's - just in time for the backhoe digging out the duck pond to uncover a human arm bone. This is a long-running series with lots of returning characters. Andrews does a good job at giving us enough information to know who is who and their relationships to each other, but not so much that it bogs the book down. I think this would work as a stand alone, but as with most series, the more you've read the more you know about, and hopefully enjoy, the characters and town. As far as the case...
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Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie

Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie

by CarolNo Comments
This time around Poirot happens to be passing through Iraq and is called upon by the local authorities to look into a suspicious death. Dr. Leidner is in charge of an archaeological dig. There are tensions among the members of the party and Dr. Leidner has hired a nurse, Amy Leatheran, to look after his wife, who has been overly nervous. Then, his wife ends up murdered. Nurse Leatheran is our narrator this time around. She has not known the members of the dig for long and has her own opinions about their personalities and what's been going on. We also see Poirot and his investigation through her eyes and she's not always complimentary. The characters are drawn well, with their secrets, fears, and jealousies. The whodunnit is not great. It just seems rather unlikely all around, but I still enjoyed the book....
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Surfboard Stabbing by Jasmine Webb

Surfboard Stabbing by Jasmine Webb

by CarolNo Comments
The blurb is a little misleading. Charlie is actually intending on surfing, although she can barely stand up on the board, in hopes of winning one of the raffle prizes. So she is right there when one of the surfers is found dead, stabbed while on his board. When Charlie realizes that her friend, Vesper, will be one of the cops' main suspects, she decides she has to investigate. Her boyfriend/ police detective is also on the case which makes it a bit awkward. I don't know. This one was fun. Charlie was her usual entertaining self; Rosie and Dot are as resourceful as ever; Jake is (almost) following the rules, but I just didn't enjoy it as much as some of the others. Maybe it was because the dead man was one of the charming jerks that women know will cheat on them but date him anyway, He also wasn't making great business decisions, so we have plenty of suspects....
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The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses by Malka Ann Older

The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses by Malka Ann Older

by CarolNo Comments
This one might have been my favorite of the series so far. Not because of the plot necessarily - Pleiti is helping a friend who is concerned about potential threats to her cousin who is up for a promotion at another university- but because of the language and the Holmes/Watson vibes, both of which are so much more noticeable in this installment. I will say that this does work as a stand-alone although one of the major events from the first is referenced and carries some importance. The series is set on Jupiter, which was settled after Earth's atmosphere became uninhabitable. Pleiti is a professor in the classics department, studying what life was like on earth in the hopes of eventually returning, which makes a nice contrast with the modernists she meets, who are more interested in studying the now and how people and animals are adapting. But people are still people, with jealousies and secrets, which means people like...
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Homicide and Old Lace by Dolores Johnson

Homicide and Old Lace by Dolores Johnson

by CarolNo Comments
I didn't realize this was the 5th in the series when I picked it up, but it worked well as a stand-alone. Mandy, the owner of a dry cleaning shop, apparently has a habit of getting involved in murders. This time she has agreed to clean and alter her ex-husband's new bride's wedding dress. But when she delvers it to the hotel on the day of the wedding, she ends up a suspect in the bride's murder. Being the amateur sleuth that she is, she decides she has to get to the bottom of it, even if her boyfriend, Detective Stan Foster, wants her to stay far away. We've got plenty of suspects, clues, and red herrings. The people surrounding Mandy are appropriately quirky, especially her mom and her employee, Betty, who get in all kind of trouble. I did get annoyed at how often Betty was described as a former bag lady and not listened to. Like, yes, I get...
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