Reading Wednesday | City of Secrets

Books Review, Cozy Mystery, Culture, Gender, Historical Fiction, Writing Spot

What is justice and can it only be accomplished through the rule of law? City of Secrets, the second book of Victoria Thompson’s newest historical fiction series, A Counterfeit Lady, explores this concept when a widow discovers she’s unexpectedly penniless.

Reading Wednesday | Italian Iced

Books Review, Cozy Mystery, Culture, Mystery, Novels, Writing Spot

Italian Iced is the gripping conclusion to Kylie Logan’s Ethnic Eats cozy mystery series. Laurel Inwood must face her past when her ex-boss is found dead in her restaurant’s freezer and make a decision on her future when her boyfriend asks her to marry him.

Reading Wednesday | Bad Housekeeping

Books Review, Cozy Mystery, Writing Spot

I enjoy discovering authors I have not yet read. Each writer has a different style, different tone, different sense of humor. My introduction to Maia Chance was Bad Housekeeping, first in her new series, Agnes and Effie Mysteries. It is an entertaining story of a great-aunt and her niece.

Reading Wednesday | French Fried

Books Review, Cozy Mystery, Mystery, Novels, Writing Spot

French Fried is the second installment of the Ethnic Eats series by Kylie Logan. The Terminal at the Tracks is celebrating French cuisine with help from the best friend of Laural Inwood’s Aunt Sophie. But Raquel “Rocky” Arnaud is acting strange. Sophie notices. Laural notices. And the handsome Declan Fury notices. But no one knows why her behavior has changed.

Reading Wednesday | Mayhem on the Orient Express

Books Review, Cozy Mystery, Mystery, Novels, Writing Spot

Mayhem on the Orient Express, by Kylie Logan, is one of the best cozy mysteries I have read in a while. The story begins with Bea Cartwright having recently moved to South Bass Island in Lake Erie to begin a Bed and Breakfast. However, her neighbor’s cat keeps using her flowers as a litter box.

Reading Wednesday |Cloche and Dagger

Books Review, Cozy Mystery, Mystery, Novels, Writing Spot

Whenever a get a new book in a series I enjoy, I like to reread all the previous books before starting the new one. That means I end up reading the first book in a series multiple times. Cloche and Dagger, first book in Jenn McKinlay’s Hat Shop Mystery series, is one of my favorites.

Reading Wednesday | Strawberry Shortcake Murder

Books Review, Cozy Mystery, Mystery, Writing Spot

Strawberry Shortcake Murder, the second installment of Joanne Fluke’s Hannah Swensen Mystery series centers around the Lake Eden Bake-Off. When one of her fellow judges is murdered and her friend is suspected of killing him, Hannah determines to find the real killer in order to clear her friend’s name.

Reading Wednesday | Hummus and Homicide

Books Review, Cozy Mystery, Culture, Mystery, Novels, Writing Spot

Hummus and Homicide, by Tina Kashian, is the first book in the Kebab Kitchen Mystery series. Lucy Berberian is a lawyer who returns to her home town after quitting her big city job. Her family owns a Mediterranean restaurant, where she reluctantly agrees to work. But when the health inspector dies after Lucy served her, all Lucy’s plans go awry.

Reading Wednesday | A Batter of Life and Death

Books Review, Cozy Mystery, Mystery, Writing Spot

A Batter of Life and Death is book two of Ellie Alexander’s A Bakeshop Mystery series. It’s Fall in Ashland, Oregon and Jules Capshaw is welcoming a reality baking show to her family’s bakery, Torte. When she’s coerced into participating as one of the bakers, she finds herself in the middle of another murder investigation.

Reading Wednesday | Irish Stewed

Books Review, Cozy Mystery, Mystery, Writing Spot

Irish Stewed is the first book in Kylie Logan’s Ethnic Eats Mystery series. Recently fired from her job as a personal chef, Laurel Inwood arrives in Hubbard, Ohio to take care of her Aunt Sophie’s Terminal at the Tracks restaurant while Sophie undergoes knee surgery. Only, Laurel is expecting a quaint bistro, not the hole-in-the-wall greasy spoon she finds.