Cupcake Bakery Mysteries #1-3 by Jenn McKinlay

Cupcake Bakery Mysteries #1-3 by Jenn McKinlay

by CarolNo Comments
I picked up the first three Cupcake Bakery Mysteries as a bundle on Audible. The bundles are nice. A credit is not cheap and it's great when you can use one credit to get multiple books, presuming you enjoy them. In Sprinkle with Murder, we're introduced to Melanie Cooper, Angie De Laura and Tate Harper, partners in the Fairy Tale Cupcakes shop and best friends. Melanie and Angie do the baking and Tate supplied most of the start-up money. When Tate's fiancée, Christie, is murdered, all three come under suspicion. Christie was an absolutely terrible person, though, and everyone seems to have a reason to hate her, from her assistants to her wedding vendors. If I hadn't bought the bundle, I might not have listened to more than this first one. Mel and Angie are nice enough characters, but not especially interesting. Their main quirk, shared with Tate, is constantly quoting classic movies. Mel's mother's interference is half the reason she's...
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The Manatee Did It by Kay Dew Shostak

The Manatee Did It by Kay Dew Shostak

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-...
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Peking Duck and Cover by Vivienne Chien

Peking Duck and Cover by Vivienne Chien

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....
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Charlotte Gibson Mysteries #1-3

Charlotte Gibson Mysteries #1-3

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,...
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How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin

How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin

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...
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Case of the Bleus by Korina Moss

Case of the Bleus by Korina Moss

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...
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