Weekend Book Reviews

Death on the Page by Essie Land is the second book in the Castle Bookshop Mystery series.  Shelby is co-owner of a bookstore that has a second location in a castle.  When the author from her recent book signing decides to stay overnight at the castle to research a book, it does not end well for the author.  Her body is discovered the following morning at the bottom of a staircase.  Shelby finds herself investigating the murder.  The book was good particularly the setting.  There were several side plots that drew attention away from the murder without adding a great deal to the story.  Perhaps the characters and story will tighten up as the series progresses.  It was interesting enough to make me want to read book three.

The first book in the Vintage Sweets Mystery series by Kaye George is Revenge is Sweet.  Tally has moved back to Texas and set up a sweet shop next door to her best friend Yolanda's gift basket store.  When the fridge in her shop goes out, she has handyman Gene come over to take a look at it.  It seems like Gene is dating half of  the small Texas town so it is not a big surprise when he is murdered.  Among the suspects is Yolanda which means Tally looks into the murder.  I thought the mystery portion was stronger than the supporting story.  Yolanda and Tally were constantly at odds and did not act like best friends at times.  I also wanted Tally to get a backbone.  She was dealing with an employee who was stealing.  Even when she found out the identity of the thief, she had not plans to fire the person.  If some character flaws are ironed out, this will be a good series.

Mystery at Apple Tree Cottage by Clare Chase is the second book in the Eve Mallow Mystery series.  Eve finds herself being talked into writing a story about the living rather than the dead when Ashton Foley returns to Saxford St Peter.  The former rebellious teenager is now a designer to the stars.  When he is found murdered near his mother's home, the suspect list is long and includes people from both his past and present.  Eve returns to her normal job of obituary writer and begins digging into Ashton's life.  The mystery kept me guessing to the end.  I love Eve's life in the small English village.  This is one of my favorite cozy mystery series.

disclosure:  I received these e-books through NetGalley but was not otherwise compensated for these reviews.  All opinions are my own!

Sadie Update

Today is 14 days that Sadie has been with us in her forever home.  She is doing great.  We are still on supervised outside time - mostly off leash.  The leash comes out when she chases chickens/guineas.  That does not happen often.  I notice it is more when the chickens run from her or just run in general.  I tell her no and put her back on the leash as a sort of time out.

Obviously Toby and Sadie adore each other.  I expected more jealousy on his part, but overall he understands he still gets his share of treats and plenty of pets.  This week Sadie has started to enjoy her morning egg.  We have an abundance of eggs so it is a nice breakfast for the dogs. 

We are in the middle of the three weeks when a rescue starts to get more comfortable and tests the limits/rules.  I see that in the chicken runs and sometimes pretending she cannot hear us.  She uses her potty pad at night.  We did hire mom to dogsit on Saturday when we went out for a couple of hours.  Sadie still has enough puppy in her to want to chew on stuff, but she is not familiar with toys.  We are super happy with our decision to adopt again!

Weekend Book Reviews

Here Comes the Body by Maria DiRico is the first book in the Catering Hall Mystery series.  Mia has returned to New York to help her father with his catering business, Belle View.  Mia moved in with her nonna and is ready to help her dad move on from his previous mob lifestyle.  When a body is found during their first event and more suspicious activity happens, Mia wonders if she can solve the murder before it is pinned on her dad.  Mia is an excellent cozy mystery heroine.  She is smart and manages to investigate without the usual recklessness.  I love the mob aspect of the book and found this to be a great start to a new series!

The fourth book in the Pie Town Mystery series by Kirsten Weiss is Pies Before Guys.  Val and Pie Town are hosting a poetry slam for her employee Abril.  Among those reading poems are several employees of the local college.  When one of the professors is found murdered after leaving Pie Town, Val and Charlene (the Baker Street Bakers) are on the case.  The mystery was interrupted a few times by some personal drama from Val and some hi-jinks from Charlene.  It is a fun series and I enjoyed this book.  The supporting characters add interest to the story.  While this book stands alone, you will enjoy it more if you read the previous book in the series.

A Novel Way to Die by Tamara Baumann is the second book in the Cozy Mystery Bookshop series.  Sawyer has her hands full hosting the first book signing at her inherited bookshop along with parenting 15 year old Brittany, a job she also inherited.  When the diva author's husband is found dead, Sawyer is convinced someone is trying to frame his old girlfriend and Sawyer's best friend, Renee.  With Brittany's help Sawyer is determined to clear Renee's name.  The supporting characters add to the story, and the mystery had plenty of twists and turns to keep me interested until then end!

The first book in the Tory Benning Mystery series by Judith Gonda is Murder in the Secret Maze.  Tory is getting married just two weeks after her father died.  Not long after the ceremony is over, the groom Milo disappears.  It soon becomes obvious that he was the victim of foul play.  I wish I had good things to say about this book, but it was just odd.  A normal (even slightly normal fictional person) would be grief stricken to lose a parent and a spouse in so short a time.  Not Tory.  She carries on stopping for a coffee date with her friend before going to the police station to fill out the missing person report.  Two more weeks pass and she is over it enough to move on by noticing plenty of "cute" guys and flirting.  I wanted to see some emotion other than carefree shallowness from Tory.  Where was the anger and grief?  Fiction or not I like to see a tad of realism in a story. 

disclosure:  I received these e-books through NetGalley but was not otherwise compensated for these reviews.  All opinions are my own!

Monday Update

I had this listed as a quarantine update but technically my state is not under a full quarantine.  That said W and I are still staying close to home.  I appreciate the mobile deposit for our bank which means fewer trips into town. 

Looking at the week ahead I have no plans to go into town.  I do need to mow the church cemetery either tomorrow or Wednesday.  I have plenty of Etsy orders to fill but finding yarn has become more difficult.  I ordered some over a week okay but it has not shipped yet.  I placed an order with a different company that gave me an estimated delivery date.  I am still praying it comes at least in the middle of the estimate.  I also have some custom orders to work on.

In the garden I really need to do some weeding.  That is a bit tricky as I need to keep an eye on Sadie at the same time.  I planted the last of the tomatoes.  I am seeing lots of blooms on the tomato and pepper plants as well as a few small squash. 

I am staying up pretty well on housework.  W is helping by hanging out clothes and washing dishes.  I am working off the big menu plan I did last week for our meals.  I expect it will last much longer than a month since leftovers take up some days.  We are eating on the stuff that Warren's parents gave us for suppers - cereal, frozen grilled cheese, uncrustables, and piles of snack items.  I may have to get some dairy items by next month, but with our stockpile and the garden producing we should be pretty well set on food. 

I hope everyone is doing well.  Stay safe!

Weekend Book Reviews

Southern Double Cross by Caroline Fardig is the third book in the Southern B&B Mystery series.  Quinn and her sister, Delilah, help their father run a bed and breakfast in Savannah.  Quinn is helping with a local fundraiser.  Things are going as smoothly as they can until the homeowner is found murdered.  With the main suspect being the brother of Quinn's friend, Quinn and Delilah find themselves in the middle of a mystery.  I loved the southern setting for this book as well as the differences between Quinn and Delilah.  This series can easily become one of my favorites.

The fourth book in the Kebab Kitchen Mystery series by Tina Kashian is On the Lamb.  Lucy and her friends are attending a bonfire before the tourist season is in full swing.  The evening is cut short when a local landlord is found murdered.  Unfortunately one of Lucy's friends had a public fight with the man shortly before his death.  Lucy is determined to prove her friend's innocence.  A few side story lines keep this book moving along quickly.  My new favorite character might be Lucy's landlady who is full of spunk!

Dressed Up 4 Murder by J.C. Eaton is the sixth book in the Sophie Kimball Mystery series.  Phee's mother is focused on the retirement community's pet costume contest, a three part event that she is determined Streetman will win.  Streetman has other ideas when he sniffs out a dead body in the neighbor's back yard.  Phee tries to keep her mother's focus on the contest while Phee keeps her focus on the murder.  The mystery portion is not as strong with plenty of obvious clues left along the way.  Still I love the characters so much that it was not a deal breaker.  I can hardly wait to see what Phee's mother gets into next.

disclosure:  I received these e-books through NetGalley but was not otherwise compensated for these reviews.  All opinions are my own!

Welcome Sadie!

Before the pandemic we had been casually looking for a second dog.  Toby is very social but did get play dates with my parents' three dogs.  Sadly about two months ago Toby's best dog friend Shadow passed away.  By then the virus was taking over which was not the best time to start seriously looking, but we did. 

I feel like I submitted applications on dozens of beagles.  They would all be adopted quickly before we could even set up a meeting.  Great for the rescue dogs but hard when we wanted to adopt.  Sadie had been one of them, but she too was adopted.  I was going through Facebook and who should show back up - Sadie.  I messaged and asked about her, and she was available again.  I did not get my hopes up since nothing else had worked out. 

We were warned she was very shy and skittish and did not warm up to people quickly.  W said we needed to at least meet her.  Wednesday morning we left with Toby.  Her foster stayed with us a bit, but then W took both dogs and walked them away from her.  Sadie quit pulling away from him and seemed to settle a tiny bit.  Toby liked her so we took the chance.

Today is the start of our second full day with Sadie.  She is napping better, wags her tail when she sees us, and comes when we call her.  She walks well for the most part on a leash.  (We are not letting her roam free in the fenced yard yet.)  She sleeps in her bed at night and lets her grammy and grampy pet her just a little.  These are all things we were told she would not do for a while.  You see Sadie has been adopted and returned twice.  I cannot imagine how scary it is for her to be in yet another new home.  

Maybe this is just meant to be her furever home and that is why the others did not work out.  She and Toby get along really well.  Toby just loves having a little sister for playtime.  Never let other people's experience with a rescue pet deter you from adopting.  We went into this following the 3-3-3 rule:  a rescue pet takes three days to stop being completely overwhelmed in the new environment, three weeks to settle in, and three months to feel completely comfortable. Stay tuned to see how Sadie does with each of these milestones in her new home.