jan jones

Murder and mystery at a coffee shop

Published by admin on Tue, 09/19/2023 - 1:16pm

This week’s book selection was both fast-paced and short, yet held my interest. “Grounded – Death Gives You 24 Hours Notice” by Sarah Hualde is listed as a “Paranormal Penny Mystery.”

Hualde didn’t give us a backstory to work with, so we are tossed into the mess that is Penny Nickles’ life. Penny is 19, but she’s been on her own and on the run for several years. She lives in a van called Godzilla and has a cat with real “cattitude.”

Barbur book about ‘Lost Children’ a page-turner

Published by admin on Tue, 09/12/2023 - 4:37pm

This week, I found a book that was really hard to put down. “The Valley of Lost Children” by David Barbur had an “otherworldly” feel to it that kept me guessing to the end. I can’t do the book justice here, but I hope a thumbnail sketch will convince you to read it.

Pandemic death turns out to be murder

Published by admin on Sun, 09/03/2023 - 3:16pm

This selecting books from the middle of a series is getting to be a habit. This week it was “A Plague Among Us” by Deb Pines. It is number eight out of 10, so I missed a great deal of the village and family backstory. But it did stand alone OK.

The artsy, vacation community of Chautauqua, New York, is slowly recovering from the COVID quarantines. Residents use masks and keep social distances, but they are finally able to spend time together. Mimi Goldman and her fellow reporters have done a great job of finding newsworthy stories, but they are eager to get back to real reporting.

Cozy mystery has familiar plot

Published by admin on Fri, 08/25/2023 - 9:24am

Why do I keep selecting cozy mysteries? I swear most of them are written by the same author using the same plot! Thirty-something single gal running a small business, a murder, a villain, a sweet friend/family member, a handsome police officer/detective and a bunch of suspects. She is told to butt out but just can’t/won’t listen.

This time, the book was “All Work and No Slay” by Skye Sullivan. It is the first in her Devil’s Orchard series.

Christmas mystery satisfying whodunit

Published by admin on Wed, 08/23/2023 - 8:36am

Our recent fishing adventures in Ontario gave me abundant time to relax and read. One of my random ebook selections was “Murder on a Midnight Clear” by Sara Rosett. It is a 1920s Christmas mystery.

In 1923, Britain still had separate social classes and societal rules, but things were beginning to change. Not long ago, Olive Belgrave’s wealthy father had a health scare, so his caregiver took him to a better climate to recuperate. That prompted Olive to move into a nice flat of her own.

Jimmy Blue thriller is packed with surprises

Published by admin on Mon, 08/14/2023 - 9:58am

I stumbled across Ian W. Sainsbury’s “An Inside Job” while searching for something entirely different. I had read several of his books featuring Tom Lewis/Jimmy Blue, so I grabbed it. This was a very short, violent and concise book, but it fits Sainsbury’s style perfectly.

Murder and scrapbooking mix in Slan series

Published by admin on Sun, 08/06/2023 - 7:29pm

The hot, muggy weather sure did a number on my energy, so I made the most of the downtime with Joanna Campbell Slan’s “Cut, Crop and Die.” It is book two in her set featuring Kiki Lowenstein.

Kiki was a naïve college freshman when George Lowenstein took her to a wild frat party. The next thing she knew, she was pregnant and married to George. George’s mother, Sheila, adores granddaughter Anya even if she disapproves of her “wrong side of the tracks” daughter-in-law.

McDermid thriller is three mysteries in one

Published by admin on Wed, 08/02/2023 - 9:37am

Val McDermid’s “Still Life” is categorized as a “police procedural,” but it is much more than that. The story is set in Scotland with a few jaunts to France and Ireland.

Detective Chief Inspector Karen Pirie heads the Historic Cases Unit and is dedicated to finding justice for every cold case. In this book, Karen and her team find themselves tangled in three unusual cases.

Fiona Red debut is a real page turner

Published by admin on Tue, 07/18/2023 - 5:54pm

I had high hopes for “Let Her Go” by Blake Pierce, and I wasn’t disappointed. It is subtitled as a “Fiona Red FBI Mystery,” but we don’t meet Fiona right away.

The story opens in Forest Park in Portland, Oregon. A young woman has just been accosted by her date, so she knees him and runs for her life. In her headlong dash, she trips over a body.

World War II thriller has surprises aplenty

Published by admin on Tue, 07/11/2023 - 9:38am

Judy Gardiner’s “Who Was Sylvia” had an extremely complicated storyline that ended with some unexpected events.

The story opens with Katherine “Kit” Coryn in a German hotel room. She can’t sleep due to the anticipation of finally seeing her beloved sister Sylvia in the morning. During her musings she unwittingly begins writing her life story.

Sylvia has always been very beautiful, bright, popular and full of life, while Kit is rather plain and quiet. The sisters share a special bond.