Deadlock by James Byrne

August 31, 2024

In the last couple weeks, I tore through James Byrne’s Dez Limerick thriller series. I started with the third. Chain Reaction comes out at the end of January. I certainly don’t encourage anyone to start at the end. When I read Deadlock, the second book,...

Pint of No Return by Dana Mentink

May 23, 2021

With the temperatures climbing, it’s the perfect time to dive into the new Shake Shop Mystery series. While readers will sample Dana Mentink’s Pint of No Return, we’ll probably return for the residents of Upper Sprocket, Oregon. Trinidad (Trina)...

A Batter of Life and Death by Ellie Alexander

June 09, 2020

When I read the first of Ellie Alexander’s Bakeshop mysteries, Meet Your Baker, I commented that the amateur sleuth, Jules Capshaw, was too impulsive, ready to fling herself into danger. It appears that Jules learned her lesson after ending up with a scar after...

The Alchemist’s Illusion by Gigi Pandian

January 06, 2019

Art and history combine in Gigi Pandian’s fourth Accidental Alchemist mystery, The Alchemist’s Illusion. Although you can easily start with this one, I’d love to have started with the first one in which alchemist Zoe Faust first meets the...

Arsenic with Austen by Katherine Bolger Hyde

August 24, 2016

Katherine Bolger Hyde’s debut mystery makes me regret that I don’t know Austen better. Each chapter of Arsenic with Austen begins with a quote from one of the novels. If I was more knowledgeable, I’d probably have been more familiar with the...