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...
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...
I don't know why it's taken me so long to pick up this series. I love culinary cozies, especially when the food featured is not a style I'm familiar with. Lila has returned to her hometown after a bad breakup to help her Aunt Rosie run the family Filipino restaurant. It's not going well, though, and then a local restaurant critic/Lila's high school boyfriend ends up dead, poisoned after eating at the restaurant. Lila becomes the primary suspect, which is her reason for investigating. Every amateur sleuth needs a legitimate reason to nose into the investigation, at least for the first couple of books.
Lila's family and friends, mostly women, are wonderful- supportive and quirky. We have tons of yummy food and a couple of recipes in the back. Lila herself is not my favorite, yet, but has potential. I need her to be a little more focused and I don't like the potential love triangle forming for her.
The...
I might be getting a little tired of this series. This time around Lana's favorite author is killed at an event at Asia Village’s bookshop, The Modern Scroll. Surprise, surprise, her boyfriend, Detective Adam Trudeau, actually asks for her help this time.
I like Lana and her roommate, Megan, but am annoyed by how mean they are to Kimmy, who seems like a decent, if annoying person. They want her help when they need it but otherwise leave her out whenever possible. There was too much of Adam in this one, and he really doesn't seem like the type to break some of the rules he does. The murderer is pretty obvious, not matter how many dead ends Lana complains about, even if the motive isn't. One of the red herrings just kind of fizzled out, which was a little disappointing.
The most annoying thing, though, was how many times certain phrases were repeated. More people blew raspberries and flared...
Félicie is only the second Maigret book I've read and I don't think I have a good feel for the character or the writing yet. This time around an old man is found murdered in his cottage in a picturesque village outside of Paris. The actual focus of the book though, is his young housekeeper, Félicie, who was the only other resident of the house and who inherits it, to everyone's surprise.
Félicie is infuriating for Maigret, but has his full attention. She's headstrong, impetuous, angry, and trying desperately to control what she allows Maigret to see and know, but there's more going on than she realizes. Maigret's team is methodical, while his instincts tell him to keep arguing, cajoling, and spending time with Félicie. Turns out he's right and the clues she unwillingly gives him lead to the solution.
I listened to the audio and thought the narrator did a good job with Maigret's voice and keeping the other characters...
I liked Fatality in F a little more than the previous one in the series. It's back to more solid ground, or at least as solid as it can be when a ghost is around. Gethsemane is one of those amateur sleuths who has a knack of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and usually discovering a dead body in the process. This time around a rose show has come to Dunmullach and one of the competitors, who is also Gethsemane's friend Frankie's main rival, is found dead with a pair of garden shears sticking out of his back. In the meantime, Frankie is receiving bouquets reminiscent of the Flower Shop Killer of decades ago.
The plot moves along at a nice pace. We had several suspects, clues, red herrings, and several secret agendas. We also learn a bit about the language of flowers and plant-based pharmaceuticals.
I like Gethsemane. She a brilliant musician. She's strong and independent....
