Purchased – Page 12 – Carol's Notebook

The Manatee Did It by Kay Dew Shostak

October 25, 2024October 25, 2024 by Carol1 Comment

I picked up The Manatee Did It while I was on vacation on Amelia Island and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a cozy beach murder mystery that takes place on the fictional Sophia Island, which is heavily based on Amelia Island. It's always fun to be reading a book and think, "hey, I had dinner at that restaurant yesterday." It's a lovely place by the way. Jewel Mantelle and her husband, Craig, have moved to Florida after they inherits a decrepit old mansion. Jewel is also hoping to breath some life into the marriage, but that plan is not working out so well. Jewel is making friends, including a group of women who have lunch together, but settling into a new town is difficult. It becomes more complicated when the ladies find a dead body in the water during lunch and Craig become the chief suspect. Jewel, along with her new friends, start investigating. It's not that they don't trust the police-...

Peking Duck and Cover by Vivienne Chien

September 5, 2024September 5, 2024 by CarolNo Comments

It's Chinese New Year and Lana Lee is busy managing Ho-Lee Noodle House and organizing a celebration to take place at Asian Village. The head event planner, Ian Sung, has decided there will be music, a lion dance performance and a raffle. Lana, as his second in command, is looking forward to the event but is understandably tired of Ian's nagging. And of course someone is killed during the event - one of the lion dance performers. By now, most people assume/expect Lana to investigate, and of course she does. It's nice to see Lana back in Cleveland, even if any closeness she developed with her sister while they were in California has disappeared. I also like the way she and her boyfriend detective handle trying to solve the same murder. Lana's grown over the series and it's nice to see her coming into her own. The mystery itself was well-done. The dead woman was surrounded by messy relationships and secrets....

Charlotte Gibson Mysteries #1-3

August 20, 2024August 20, 2024 by CarolNo Comments

I was surprised by how fun this one was. Charlie is in her late 20's and doesn't know what she wants to do with her life. At the beginning of the books, she is working as a clerk at a jewelry store, but that job doesn't end well. Now she's back home in Maui, living with her mother and working at an ice cream shop. Her new plan is to collect the $100,000 reward for solving the murder of a high-powered developer, whose last stop before his death was Charlie's ice cream shop. Rosie and Dot are two senior citizens who are also looking for the murderer and when they end up chasing the same clues, they decide to team up. Jake, hot cop, is not happy when they seem to be one step ahead of him and his partner. Charlie and her friends, including Dot and Rosie, are fun and also the type to attract trouble. The women are all intelligent,...

How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin

July 15, 2024July 15, 2024 by Carol1 Comment

I enjoyed How to Solve Your Own Murder, but it does strain belief a bit. When Frances was a teenager, she receives a bone-chilling fortune that she'll be murdered one day. She then spends the rest of her life trying to both prevent it and figure out who her potential killer is. Of course, 60 years later, she is killed in her own home. Now it's up to her great-niece Annie to find the killer and earn her inheritance. According to Frances' will, the fate of her entire estate depends on who uncovers the truth: Annie, Saxon, Annie's uncle (?) who believes it is rightfully his, or Detective Crane, who would really rather not have amateurs messing around with his case. Annie does have Frances' diary from when she was a teenager, detailing the time of the fortune-telling and her friend, Emily's disappearance. How much is the current mystery rooted in the past? The diary entries were revealing and it was...

Case of the Bleus by Korina Moss

July 9, 2024July 9, 2024 by Carol2 Comments

Case of the Bleus might have been my favorite in the series so far. This time around some of Willa's former co-workers are in town for the Northwest Cheese Invitational. They will also be attending the reading of Max Dumas' will along with his formerly estranged daughter. The daughter is supposed to inherit Max' cheese shop. The big question is who will inherit the secret to Church Bleu Cheese - how it's made and where it's aged. Instead, all they get is a clue they have to figure out. Then one of the cheesemongers is killed, and Willa and her friends decide they need to "help" find the killer. So we have two mysteries - who is the killer, and what is the secret to the cheese. The plot itself had several twists. The visitors to town each have their own angle and were definitely potential suspects. How the woman died was clear right away, but the who was more difficult...

Death by Bubble Tea by Jennifer J. Chow

July 5, 2024August 13, 2024 by CarolNo Comments

Death by Bubble Tea is the first in a series featuring Yale Yere and her cousin, Celine. Yale is not thrilled that Celine is in town for a visit and is even less excited when her father suggests the two of them work together at his restaurant's food stand at the night market in their neighborhood. The evening surprisingly goes well, until Yale finds a dead body on her way home. The young woman is lying next to one of the distinctive glasses that Yale and Celine served their drinks in, so the police view them as suspects. Of course, Yale and Celine decide they need to do some snooping around and find the cops better people to be interested in. I really wanted to like this book, but I found Yale annoying. She doesn't have a cell phone. She doesn't drive because of her mother's death. She doesn't seem to have any friends and she's given up cooking. Celine, who...