Mystery – Page 80 – Carol's Notebook

A Bad Day for Sunshine by Darynda Jones

April 22, 2020April 22, 2020 by Carol3 Comments

Sunshine Vicram, new sheriff of Del Sol, more than has her hands full. It's her first day on the job and the cursed muffins arrive, the ones that always come before something majorly bad happens in town. There a few hints of the paranormal, a psychic, some prophetic dreams, but nothing that takes it into fantasy territory. This time around the muffins presage a kidnapping and an escaped convict being seen in town. This is the first in the series and there are a lot of people to meet: Sunshine and her team; her daughter Auri and the kids at her school; Sunshine's parents; the townspeople, including Levi, Sunshine's crush; a U.S. marshall and some other lawn enforcement guy who there to help with the cases. It's a lot of characters. They weren't necessarily confusing but it was hard to keep track of them all. I like Sunshine. She's funny and sarcastic and competent, but I wish she wouldn't drool over every...

A Little Night Murder by Matthew Costello and Neil Richards

April 16, 2020April 16, 2020 by Carol2 Comments

Sir Harry Mortimer and his American wife, Kat, are settling into married life in the small town of Mydworth. A Little Night Murder is the second in the Mydworth series and can be read as a stand-alone, but since they're each only a little over 100 pages, it might just make as much sense to go back and meet Harry and Kat at the beginning. They make a good couple. They're both smart and resourceful. Kat is definitely a "modern woman" for the times, the late 1920s, and Harry seems quite happy that she can ride a motorcycle and throws a mean hook when she needs to. Harry is a nice, friendly, refined man who can also be tough when it's called for. This time around, the pair are investigating the death of a poacher at the request of the dead man's mother. She's certain it was not an accident, as the police claim. Of course, she's right. We follow...

A Grave Mistake by Ngaio Marsh

April 7, 2020April 7, 2020 by CarolNo Comments

I'm running out of Ngaio Marsh books. :( A Grave Mistake is one of the last of Marsh's books. It was written in the late 70s but set earlier than that I think and still has the Golden Age feel that most of her stories do. We have a small English village, a beautifully maintained Georgian house owned by Sybil Foster, a rather snobbish, but attractive middle-aged widow who has recently hired a talented gardener. She has a daughter who is engaged, much to Sybil's annoyance, to the son of a Greek millionaire instead of a man with a title. Sybil goes to a nearby hotel/spa for rest and maybe to secure the attentions of the doctor on staff. Of course, she ends up dead. At first, it's considered suicide, but evidence soon points to murder, which is why Alleyn is called in. Alleyn has Fox with him on this case, and I do enjoy the pair of them. They get...

Jade Dragon Mountain by Elsa Hart

April 6, 2020April 6, 2020 by Carol2 Comments

It took me a few chapters to get into Jade Dragon Mountain. The setting is amazing, but very different from most books I read. The pace at the beginning was slow, or at least the audio made it feel that way. However, once Li Du was settled in to his cousin the magistrate's home and we met all the others there, both the household and the foreigners, the story became engrossing. People have gathered in Dayan because the Emperor is coming and there will be a celebration of the eclipse. One of the visitors, a Jesuit astronomer, is killed in his room, poisoned. Li Du is not content with the official story and the magistrate allows him to investigate the crime. There were many people with access to the room and the tea that was poisoned, but, it's difficult to see who gained from the older man's murder. The author does a wonderful job at making us feel like we're in eighteenth-century...

The Stolen Letter by Paige Shelton

April 3, 2020February 27, 2020 by Carol3 Comments

The Stolen Letter is the fifth of the Scottish Bookshop Mysteries. I've read all of them, and while you could jump in at this one, you'd miss seeing Delaney, our amateur sleuth, starting her adventure, new in town, to finding a second family at the bookshop, falling in love, and really making her dreams come true. This time around she meets Mary Stewart, a woman who looks almost exactly like her, but 20 years older. Mary believes she's a reincarnation of Mary, Queen of Scots. I loved how the Queen's story was woven into a current day murder mystery. This series often includes a slight mystical element, but they never, well rarely, jump into the truly paranormal. They are all definitely cozy mysteries, with very real “whodunits.” I love the setting. Delaney works in the mysterious, yet inviting bookshop, The Cracked Spine. I love spending time with Delaney and the other staff of the shop. They are all charming and...

Murder in Moscow by Jessica Fletcher and Donald Bain

April 2, 2020April 2, 2020 by Carol2 Comments

Jessica is part of a delegation of publishers and writers meeting with their Russian counterparts, first in Washington, then in Moscow. This is just after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the goal of the gatherings is supposedly to help Russian publishers deal with the change to democracy and the free market. One of the government people attached to the group is found dead in Washington, but everything proceeds according to schedule. One of the Russian publishers dies at a dinner in Moscow, later in the week. Jessica finds herself entangled in what is more of a spy story than a mystery. The story was well-written and moved quickly. There are several bits left unanswered, governments on both sides want to keep their secrets. It was not the story I was expecting though. Jessica is mostly just a pawn, one with a lot of questions but who can't get any real answers. She's in danger, but has no control over...