Halloween – Carol's Notebook

Treats, Tricks, and Trespassing by Kathleen Suzette

October 23, 2023October 23, 2023 by CarolNo Comments

Treats, Tricks, and Trespassing picks up six years after the Pumpkin Hollow Mysteries left off. I haven't read any of the Pumpkin Hollow books, but this sounded like a perfect Halloween-ish read, so I picked it up. The author does a good job of introducing the characters, although there are a lot of them. The town itself is fun and quirky, embracing Halloween all year round. Mia and Christy are candy makers and have a cute shop in town. When a local woman is killed in the abandoned mansion, Mia's husband, Detective Ethan Banks, is put in charge of the case, but Mia and Christy decide to do some snooping, and trespassing, on their own. I didn't love the characters, maybe because I didn't know them well. The mystery was okay, with several suspects and a good mix of clues and red herrings. It was fun enough as a seasonal read, but probably not a series I'd pick up outside of...

Murder at the Pumpkin Pageant by Darci Hannah

August 8, 2023August 9, 2023 by CarolNo Comments

First of all, Murder at the Pumpkin Pageant has me craving fall baked goods - pumpkin donuts, pumpkin spice cheesecake, pumpkin scones. And apple dumplings, but those weren't in the book. Lindsey runs her bakery out of a remodeled lighthouse and lives in the keeper's section. It's Halloween and in addition to the town festivities, Lindsey's best friend, Kennedy, has invited the Ghost Guys to come to the lighthouse to film an episode for their show. Lindsey knows the lighthouse is haunted, which makes her even more nervous about the Guys showing up with all their equipment and tech gadgets. The whole things goes horribly awry when a local teacher is found dead, hanging from a tree just outside of the lighthouse. This is the third in the series I've read. I like Lindsey and her family and friends a lot. They're caring, loyal, and the appropriate amount of quirky. The mystery is well done with plenty of clues, suspects, and red...

Halloween Party Murder by Leighann Dobbs

October 27, 2022 by Carol7 Comments

Halloween Party Murder is a fun novella. Juniper Holliday throws the best parties and this year's Halloween party is gearing up to be fabulous — until the cops cut it short after a dead woman is found in the guest house. Juniper is funny and eccentric and not afraid to speak her mind. I enjoyed the tension between her and the dective on the case. There's a touch of paranormal: a few helpful ghosts, and some friendly neighborhood werewolves. It was funny, the mystery was clever, and I thoroughly enjoyed the characters. The next in the trilogy will come out just in time for Thanksgiving....

Miss Frost Solves a Cold Case by Kristen Painter

October 31, 2020October 30, 2020 by CarolNo Comments

I'm not quite ready for winter/Christmas reads yet, but maybe I am. Miss Frost Solves a Cold Case hit just the right note for this time of year for me. Jayne Frost, winter elf and niece of Santa Claus, is sent from the North Pole to Nocturne Falls, where supernaturals can live as they are because Halloween is celebrated every day of the year. She is there to investigate a series of disappearances in one of the Santa's toy stores. Several elf employees have left, supposedly quit, but with no trace of them afterward. A little bit of Halloween, a little bit of Christmas, some magic a good mystery - it's a cute book. The mystery is not terrible complicated but the clues are well-done and there are a couple possible suspects. The characters are fun. Jayne loved Dr. Pepper and all things sweet, which I can definitely relate to. She's nice and friendly and determined. She makes a few...

The Diva Haunts the House by Krista Davis

October 14, 2020October 14, 2020 by CarolNo Comments

This is the first Domestic Diva Mystery I've read. I won it from Krista Davis' Facebook page, and it's a perfect read for this time of year. The fact that I jumped in with #5 in the series. The characters were introduced well and we're given enough backstory to get to know how people fit together, but not so much that it's boring. The Diva Haunts the House has everything I want in a seasonal cozy. Halloween is present on almost every page, including costume parties, haunted houses, holiday recipes (included in the back of the book), and ideas for decorating and party-planning at the beginning of each chapter. We've got a cast of entertaining, quirky characters, including several suspects, and even a couple of adorable pets. There were a lot of kids in this one. They were all 12-year olds and they did help move the plot along and kept it entertaining; I just don't really enjoy reading about kids...

Haunted House Murder by Leslie Meier, Lee Hollis, and Barbara Ross

September 19, 2019September 25, 2019 by Carol6 Comments

I love seasonal novella collections! Haunted House Murder contains three cozy mystery novellas. Each is part of series, but they all worked well as stand-alones for me. Out of the three, the only one I really enjoyed was Hallowed Out by Barbara Ross. Haunted House Murder, the first in the book, was lacking in a real plot. New people move into town, they're weird, let's all judge them. The amount of time Lucy spent complaining about having to take care of her grandson was annoying and I don't understand why her husband seemed to be incapable of helping at all. The mystery itself wasn't really much of a mystery, just people jumping to conclusions with little to no actual evidence. In Death By Haunted House, new people move into town, they're weird, let's all judge them. And guess, what? They haven't killed anyone either. Sorry, that was a spoiler but not a surprising one. At least this time, there actually was...