It is a truth universally acknowledged that when a protagonist states that she will definitely not get involved in the investigation of the death du jour, a nice person will ask them to clear a loved ones name. It's like Murphy's Law.  Killer Kung Pao: A Noodle Shop Mystery (A Noodle Shop Mystery (6)  is an absolute banger. From the opening with Lana's confrontation with her sister until the end, I was breathless. I really loved the previous book, Egg Drop Dead, but this book took everything I enjoyed and improved it. Lana runs a noodle shop and is witness to a woman (June Yi) rear-ending Millie Mao, a dedicated Mahjong player. Lana experiences another run-in with these two when she has her hair dyed and one of the women is electrocuted! With a nail lamp! Lana is determined to stay out of it per the request of her cop boyfriend, Adam, but a sister asks her to look into things and Lana can't refuse. There's also something possibly hinky with her sisters newest relati

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Mums and Mayhem is the third book in Amanda Flower's Magical Garden cozy mystery series. I have not read any previous books in this series. The premise is that Fiona has moved to her uncles place to care for his magic garden after he dies and poor Fiona seems to have been stumbling into corpses ever since. Also, there's a secret involving the details of her parentage that she and her parents have to work out. Oh, and her irritating sister is irritating. Fiona is a florist dating the handsome police chief and tending her magical garden when a famous fiddler comes to their sleepy little town. Then the man is murdered and Fiona's dad may be a suspect! Fiona must battle through a cast of zany characters: septuagenarian fangirls, the fiddler's ex, and some angry band members. Plus, there's the bitter historian who really wants to know more about the garden. I lov

This was a pretty solid mystery. I had read the previous entry, "Past Due for Murder" and enjoyed it very much. When the skeleton of a struggling nusician hippie is found the secrets of an old commune are at risk of being exposed and when the members start dying in mysterious circumstances, it's up to Amy to figure out what's going on. I really like Amy's relationship with Richard. It's very sweet.

This is the fourth book in the delightful Magical Bookshop series by Amanda Flower. Violet Waverly is in a bike race for a fundraiser set up by her grandmother, the mayor. (Daisy) and a man is murdered right in the middle of the race! The man was douchey snooper Joel Redding, who Violet is convinced knows the magical secret of the bookshop. Violet's friend Jo has also been acting strangely and as more clues pop up it seems there are a lot who wanted Joel dead. And the bookstore won't stop pushing Leaves of Grass on her for some reason! Cascade Falls is always a fun place to book visit and the mystery is well-plotted.

This book was a creepy thrill ride and a half. It features a therapist name Heather who killed her best friend when they were children and now has sent her something from the night of the murder. The atmosphere of this book is so creepy and the way it's written left me unsure as to whether Heather actually did kill Becca throughout most of the book. The parts with the Dead Girls Club were so well-written. Honestly, they were my favorite parts of the book.

Wow, this book was a doozy! Can I just say that Sara Shepard writes terrible people brilliantly? So the email hack is a really interesting concept for a mystery as someone who never deletes their email. But the scandal! The secrets! The mystery is twofold: who was responsible for the hack and who killed Greg Strasser (which for some reason I kept reading as Greg Sestero.) Welp, gotta be honest here. Ole Greggo was a wretched sack of compost and there was a point where I wished I had murdered him! I don't want to write too much because the twists are wild and wooly. This book was an amazingly enjoyable read, filled with heart and horrible human beings.

I adored this book! Sam is a great character and the secondary characters are great, too! When a man is murdered on a retirement home bus trip to Chicago, Sam and her grandmother are shocked. Sam has a few murder solves under her belt and thinks she has a shot at it, due to the ineffective police. It turns out there are some people with pretty good reasons for wanting this man dead. The mystery is solid and I appreciated the solve.

Have you ever watched Cutthroat Kitchen and wished that the show could just be a teensy bit more cutthroat? Well, have I got the book for you! Courtney Archer is a woman with a secret. She's not actually the down home country girl her legions of fans think she is. This probably wouldn't be such a big deal if she wasn't the host of a very popular cooking show. Courtney is chosen to host a baking battle with her reputation as a country girl. Unfortunately one of the contestants is fatalky beaned in the head with cast iron filled with dessert. More precisely, a dessert poor Courtney had left to cool. Everyone is a suspect, including Courtney. Trying to keep her secret and unmask the murderer keeps Courtney on her toes. I really enjoyed this one and was honestly surprised by how much I liked Courtney. (Look, she's lying for fame. Not very nice) but Ross manages to make her very relatable and sympathetic. First in the series.

This was a really fun read featuring likable characters and an engaging mystery. It has three pov's: Megan, a police officer Brigit, Megan's k9 partner The poacher, a man who commits crimes to keep his family together. This book was incredibly sympathetic to The Poacher while not letting him off the hook. For instance, he stole the toys from the toy shop to give his kids a good Christmas. Megan starts off investigating a rich woman's missing ring and then is alerted to the birdnapping of two macaws. I figured out what was happening with the rings pretty early on but the plot is written really well and it didn't interrupt the flow of the zoo abductions storyline.

Welcome back to the world of Jill Gardner, Greg, and the awesome pupperino Emma. This time, Jill is super concerned about her Aunt Jackie who has suddenly called off her engagement. It turns out poor Jackie may have been contacted by her supposed husband. To make matters worse a man has been shot. (I would like to say that while I was typing this, I mistyped "shot" and started laughing because considering Ben's character, it seemed pretty apt.) All the clues seem to point to his doormat girlfriend, Paula. Jill can't believe that Paula would be capable of doing such a thing and decides to investigate. The Tourist Trap Mysteries are excellent stand-alone books. I've read two in the series and while I want back ground on the characters, I don't feel I've missed out on anything.

Previously... This book has great fun with flashbacks and doesn't get to the present until about 75% in (much like the first one) the difference is this one takes us back 25 years ago. I'll admit that while the twist is fun, I saw it coming from the first book and I don't think this is a knock against Barnes but more due to the fact that I grew up watching really weird soap operas. More info about the Taft family is given and I really enjoyed that. I really want to talk more but I don't want to soil the book. While not as laugh out loud as the other one (c'mon, Campbell's kidnapping was comedy gold) I actually believe this is an improvement on the first.

Another Maine Clambake Mystery! I was introduced to this series by a collection of Halloween themed novellas and immediately got ahold of the first book, Clammed Up. In this one Julia is giving up her apartment and moving back home. Only, oops! Turns out the woman who was going to take over the rent quit her job due to a tragic eggnog incident. Julia decides to take her home with her because it's pointless to look for a job during the holidays and things get worse from there. I really enjoy Chris and Julia's relationship. It's charming and believable. I don't want to spoil things but I feel it would be blasphemy to not mention there's a twin switch in this book.

So, there's a show adapted from this book that I haven't seen yet. But. I got a chance to read this one from Netgalley and I'm so glad I did! This graphic novel is about Dexedrine Callisto Parios (no, really!) A PI with gambling debts who is the caretaker of her intellectually disabled brother. Dex is given the chance to pay off her debts if she finds a young woman named Charlotte, only Charlotte doesn't necessarily want to be found. The story crackles with twists and turns and the art is fantastic. I have a feeling that there's no way to make the show as gritty as the book but we'll see!

This is the second book by Ellie Alexander I've read (the first being A Cup of Holiday Frar.) And I have enjoyed them both immensely. Alexander has a gift for creating likable, sympathetic protags. I approve. Sloan I a brewery who is in the process of separating from her husband. She lives in Leavenworth (not the prison! When I first moved to Snohomish I was so confused!) And a fanatical teetotaler (Kristopher) wants to make the village dry. And what's a Bavarian village without beer?? Then the man is murdered and the main suspect is A LOT. This woman wears a freaking dirndl and speaks in a fake German accent. Like I said! But Sloan tries to find out whodunit at April's request. The b plot is Sloan's tragic backstory which is really well done. Her parents ditched her as a small child so her social worker tried to look for more info and the files vanished! Very mysterious. I thought this book was a great mystery. Netgalley and the publisher sent me this

Wow, I really loved this book. The publisher granted my wish on Netgalley so I felt extra special getting to read it! So, this series features an ambulatory Skelly friend that helps an English professor SOLVE CRIMES. Is that not one of the greatest premises ever? It's the 6th book in the series and I am shocked that I hadn't heard of the series before. So, this was an absolute blast to read as the main character, Georgia, has a great relationship with her family and is more than a little concerned when Byron (a dog, not the mopey poet) brings home a femur that it turns out does not belong to the family skellyfriend, Sid. (who totally sounds like Papyrus in my head.) Whose skeleton does it belong to is the question Georgia must answer.

I really didn't care for the main character in this one. Yes, it's terribly sad that her fiance was murdered but she seemed to enjoy stringing people along instead of just saying she wasn't ready for the commitment. The mystery and the writing were excellent just a little more densely packed than I like in a cozy. I want 'em fluffy! So while this wasn't my cup of tea, I would definitely recommend this series to mystery buffs. Got this one from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for my opinions.

Unfortunately, this one didn't grab me the way I wanted to. But first let's admire the adorable cover and punny title. Okay, this one started out punny for me but petered out quickly after Bloom's body was found. The townspeople seemed to be made up of horrible natterers and the mc really had no involvement in the mystery except to be nosy! The resolution is...okay. it just seemed kind of obvious. Now, as u am not an author take these complaints with a grain of salt and one of the reasons I'm being so critical is this book had so much potential.