Weekend Book Reviews

Past Due for Murder by Victoria Gilbert is the third book in the Blue Ridge Library Mystery series.  When a young woman goes missing, library director Amy finds herself in the middle of a mystery.  Adding in an eccentric folklorist and a cheating ex-boyfriend only muddies the water.  The mystery was good although not impossible to figure out.  I found at times that the story seemed to drag, and I struggled to keep going.  I wanted Amy to be a bit stronger at times even though she came through in the end.

The first book in Diane Kelly's House Flipper Mystery series is Dead as a Door Knocker.  Whitney works as a property manager and is studying for her real estate license.  When the opportunity to flip a house presents itself, she cannot resist.  It seems like a sure thing until the house catches fire with her and her cat inside.  The situation gets worse when a body is discovered in the house's flower bed.  A few technical things got to me.  No one would start work with a flower bed when tons of work needs to be done on a house.  The sub-contractors will not try to avoid the newly planted flowers.  It is a nice start to a series. 

Seven Deadly Zins by Nancy J Parra is the second book in the Sonoma Wine Country Mystery series.  Taylor lives with her aunt who owns a winery.  She also started her own wine tour company complete with an old VW bus.  When a murder is discovered during one of her tours, she she jumps in to solve the mystery.  I like that this series is a bit quirky.  I do wish that the story line was more focused.  So many things are happening at once.  It would be better if they were spread out over several books rather than being packed into one.  However, it is not so off putting that I will not continue with the series.

J.C Kenney's first book in the Allie Cobb Mystery series is A Literal Mess.  Allie returns to her hometown following her father's death.  Things are complicated when her best friend's father and her dad's top client is found murdered.  The characters have good bones, and I am interested to see how they develop in future books. 


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