Shucked Apart by Barbara Ross

Shucked Apart by Barbara Ross

by Carol6 Comments
The Snowden Family Clambake is gearing up for the season and Julia Snowden is busy preparing and hiring seasonal workers. Julia, as we know by now- this is the 9th in the series, is also a bit of a crime solver on the side. When her boyfriend, Chris, asks her to help one of his friends, of course she says yes. Andie is an oyster farmer. Someone assaulted her and stole two buckets of oyster seed, worth a lot of money. Andie, however, doesn't think robbery was the goal; she thinks someone is trying to sabotage her business. Before Julia can ask more than a few questions, Andie is murdered. There are plenty of suspects, from other oyster farmers to lobstermen to summer people. The plot was well-done. There were plenty of clues pointing in different directions and the solution was complicated, in a good way. I didn't guess who the killer was. This is maybe the third Clambake mystery I've...
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Fatal Fried Rice by Vivien Chien

Fatal Fried Rice by Vivien Chien

by Carol6 Comments
I love that Lana decides to take Chinese cooking classes without letting her family know. It just feels so in character. And of course, her teacher would end up dead, killed after the first class. Lana found the body, so is apparently the number one suspect, even though she didn't know Margo Chan. Lana has to find the real killer before the detective on the case decides she's guilty. Aside from finding the body, Lana doesn't have much of a connection to the case, which makes her "snooping" a little awkward. Why do the people she questions tell her anything, aside from her reputation maybe? And why does Detective Bishop seem so convinced Lana's guilty? The plot fits together well, although the solution is a little weak. Lana is a fun character, smart, a little reckless, caring. Her usual Watson is her roommate Megan, who was working a bit too much this time around, leaving Lana with another friend, Kimmy, as...
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Premeditated Mortar by Kate Carlisle

Premeditated Mortar by Kate Carlisle

by Carol4 Comments
I have not read any of the previous Fixer-Upper mysteries, but I have watched a couple of the Hallmark shows, so I kind of felt like I already knew the characters and town. Shannon owns a construction company, and she's been hired by a good friend to help renovate one wing of The Gables, a former institution. The entire property is being revitalized, and Rachel is overseeing the project. Rachel has convinced Shannon's boyfriend, Mac, a famous writer, to become one of the investors. When Shannon and Mac do some exploring, they find a mysterious stranger running around the abandoned property. Later on, he shows up as part of a group of protestors against the project. Even later on, one of those protestors ends up dead, the body found by Shannon of course. How are the secrets of The Gables past threatening people now? The Gables is an interesting location, and I enjoyed all the descriptions and scenes that took place...
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The Inspector of Strange and Unexplained Deaths by Olivier Barde-Cabuçon

The Inspector of Strange and Unexplained Deaths by Olivier Barde-Cabuçon

by Carol6 Comments
The Inspector of Strange and Unexplained Deaths is the first in a series by Barde-Cabuçon, but it's the only one currently translated to English. Hopefully, they'll get around to the rest soon because I really enjoyed it. The story takes place in 1759 Paris, somewhere between the shiny halls of Versailles ruled by debauched Louis XV and his cohorts, and the dirty, dangerous hovels of Parisian suburbs inhabited by the desperately poor. The general population of Paris is seething with resentment, misery, and anger, on the brink of revolution, while the elites seem oblivious to both the inequity and the risks.On the streets of Paris, a horribly mutilated body of a young woman is discovered; the inquiry into her death quickly leads into dangerous territory – to the boudoirs of Versailles, where terminally bored Louis XV is mostly preoccupied with his newest sexual conquests. The detective who has taken on the case is Chevalier de Volnay, named the Inspector of...
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Bone Canyon by Lee Goldberg

Bone Canyon by Lee Goldberg

by Carol3 Comments
Bone Canyon takes off a few months after the end of Lost Hills, book one in the series. Since the second book builds on the first, I’d advise reading them in order. Eve has continued in the Homicide unit and still is partnered with Duncan, who reminds her at every juncture of his upcoming retirement. With that in mind, Duncan lets Eve take the lead on their case, a body that has been uncovered by recent wildfires in the Santa Monica area. The body has been there for years, but was clearly the victim of a murder. And we know that Eve is not one to give up on a case. Another body is found in the same area, so Eve and Duncan have a couple lines of investigation. As Eve uncovers more evidence, she finds information that may put her in danger and most definitely pits her against others in the Sheriff department. I love Duncan. Eve can be a...
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Murder at the Gorge by Frances Evesham

Murder at the Gorge by Frances Evesham

by CarolNo Comments
Murder at the Gorge is number seven in the series, but the first I've read. It worked well as a stand-alone, but I feel like I might have been more invested in the relationship between Max and Libby and their wedding preparations if I had read the series from the beginning. Max Ramshore, a former financial advisor, and his fiancée Libby Forest, a baker and chocolate maker, have formed a private investigation agency and are sometimes called upon by the police to assist in local inquiries. They met later in life, both having been married with families before, and now are looking forward to their wedding in a few weeks' time. Then Max gets a call from his ex-wife, who he hasn't talked to in years. She wants his help; she thinks she's being stalked. Of course, Max agrees to meet her at a local park and then, on his way back to his car, he finds a dead body....
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