Thank you to the authors, publishers, and NetGalley for providing these ARCs in exchange for honest reviews.
JANUARY 25th RELEASES
Hot and Sour Suspects
A Noodle Shop Mystery
Vivien Chien
St. Martin Paperbacks
Speed dating sounds like a hot idea to
bring more customers to the Ho Lee Noodle House, located in the Asia Village, Fairview
Park, Ohio. Even restaurant manager Lana’s mom is supportive of the idea, after
all you must pay to play, but it turns sour when one player is found dead after
his date, leaving Rina on the top of the suspect list. Kimmy and Megan are quick to suggest that they
sleuth out the suspects while boyfriend/Detective Aidan, as always, requests
that she be careful. It isn’t like she goes looking for trouble, oh wait yes
she does and usually ends up stumbling right into it. As always, Vivien Chin delivers
an entertaining cozy with a sassy sleuth, supportive sidekicks, a little
romance, and a lot of clues to sift through. I am looking forward to the next one,
although you should know that this is a stand-alone with plenty of back story
sprinkled throughout.
Up to No Gouda
Linda Reilly
Published by Poisoned Pen Press
First in a new series, and there
is nothing cheesy about it except for the wonderful sounding sandwiches. Excellent narration by Mia Gaskin. Dream
of a lifetime turns into a real life nightmare. Carly, recent widow and new
restaurant owner of a grilled cheese bistro learns that the new building owner
is kicking her out to build a boutique for his fiancé. Lyle Bagley, is the reason Carly and her BFF
haven’t been on speaking terms since high school. So you can guess who the
victim is and unfortunately, Carly’s hard working helper is at the top of the
suspect list to be grilled. Not everybody enjoyed interacting with Lyle, not
even his own brother so there are plenty of likely suspects, plenty of red
herrings, and plenty of yummy sounding sandwiches like Smoky Steals the Bacon.
JANUARY 22nd RELEASES
Paisley Shaw meets the Mean Girls who became the Ladies Who Lunch. They lunch and gossip, and backstab, and get murdered. All Paisley wants to do is be a successful shop owner, a good Mum, take care of her Grandpa, and enjoy the company of friends at the weekly Knit and Sip get together. Yet here she goes again, being in the wrong place at the right time to help the well dressed detective Zeffer. This series makes me want to visit Scotland and visit not only Paisley's town of Nairn, but also her shop even though I don't know the first thing about knitting or yarn.. An engaging tale where is seems that one keeps their friends close and maybe their enemies closer. Plenty of of suspects because the victim was plenty awful, and what a horrible way to be done in, by food. Speaking of which, I think I will be pairing this book with a nice piece of salmon and some rosemary potatoes for a cozy dinner.
JANUARY 11th RELEASES
Wedding time for Violet Waverly and
David Rainwater, which means it is time to find something old, new, borrowed,
and blue. How about an old book, a new acquaintance, a borrowed book, and a lady
with the blues and a questionable family tree? Speaking of trees, one thing to
know about Violet‘s family bookstore, Charming Books, is that it has a birch tree
in the middle of it that is very, very special. While is not magic, the tree or
perhaps the essence of the tree has a magic about it. I also believe that
Faulkner the store crow and Emerson the store cat are both smarter than the
average cozy companions. Perhaps it is the tree, or maybe it is the spring from
which Violet must gather water from each day to keep the tree alive. Books can
appear as if you summoned them and often times they give hints to help figure out which way to go with a mystery. Ah
yes, the mystery. What do you say to someone who believes so passionately that
they are in fact a descendant of a famous author of days gone by? Believes to
the point of obsession? Violet, like all cozy main characters, has a heart of
gold and the tracking abilities of a bloodhound. How she makes time to solve a
mystery surrounding a rare book, solve not one but two murders, make a small
bit of peace with her traveling troubadour father, and get married is
completely beyond me. Must be all the help she gets from her BFF Sadie, Mayor
Grandma Daisy, Faulkner & Emerson (the cat who knows how to slip out in and
of most places) and her new husband Police Chief Rainwater. All of the
aforementioned characters have been expertly created with such unusual and
original personalities that you feel like you know them or at least would want
to get to know them.
Much like Sherlock, Jemma must
use her deductive reasoning and her smashing English accent to look at all the
signs, as there are more than four, when the party host becomes the victim of a
darting. A most unusual gathering of
people to supposedly discuss the Cannon while in period dress at a mysterious
Victorian home. It also seems that this group has very little good to say about
their host. Jemma has a bit of an advantage over Sherlock, she has baker/cook
extraordinaire Jayne Wilson, her best friend, for a Watson, and Detective Ryan
Ashburton, her very clever and handsome boyfriend instead of Scotland Yard. No
one is above suspicion and everyone has a motive, or at least the appearance of
a motive, even the widow who seems a tad too dramatic about her great love and
loss. Excellent read with red herrings, brilliant deductions and perfectly paired
with mini mushroom tarts.
JANUARY 4th RELEASES
Family can be challenging to say the least especially
when it involves life changing events. Felicia hasn’t looked to her parents, especially
her father, for permission much less their blessing with regards to her life
choices for a number of years. So, Just because her betrothed, Estebe , is the
old fashioned sort and requested his Mr. Williams’ blessing it doesn’t mean
that he won’t meet Felicia at the altar on the blessed day. Emotions
run high, and not even the ex-boyfriend aka Mr. Williams’ pick for Felicia is
going to stand in the way. A dead body, the ex’s dead body, well that might be
another story as Estebe is on the top of the suspect list. Angie and crew (of
the County Seat restaurant) are ready and willing to chase the clues and red
herrings while keeping the wedding plans on track. There are so many suspects
and so many mentions of great foods. Of course, when the main character, Angie,
runs a farm-to-fork restaurant how could there not be. Thank you to author Lynn
Cahoon for including a recipe for Workday Quick and Easy Risotto; it was not
only quick and easy but also quite tasty.
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