The Poison Pen Book 9 of A Scottish Bookshop Mysteries by Paige Shelton

 Thank you to the authors, publishers, and NetGalley for providing these ARCs in exchange for honest reviews. The recipe reviews and food pairing found on my Instagram feed are of my own doing. 

The Poison Pen
The Scottish Bookshop Mysteries
Paige Shelton
Minotaur Books

Book 9 brings us the voice of the Queen, old rumors of royal shenanigans, and a historical artifact. Delaney is sent to evaluate a possible find on behalf of her employer/friend/mentor Edwin. What she finds is whole lot of stuff, and more stuff, and did I mention there is stuff all around the manor of Edwin's friend, Jolie. There is also a very old very large broadsword in need of some TLC and authentication, which is the true purpose for Delaney's visit to the manor and not the dead body that shows up shortly after. This might be the 9th book  in the series but it does the stand up job of standing by itself. There are bits and pieces of Delaney's past 8 exploits.  If this is your first chance to read a Scottish Bookshop Mystery, then not to worry because it is a stand-alone mystery. The overall story arc has shown how Delaney Nichols has left Iowa where she grew up on a farm and took what sounded to be an amazing opportunity working in a bookshop and archiving priceless antiques. Ah but there has been so much more since she took the job. She has found friends who are like family and a husband who looks good in a kilt (LOL). Delaney has also found murder and intrigue. One of my favorite parts of Delaney’s character are the bookish voices that talk to her when she needs encouragement or is trying to figure out how clues fit together. They often take on the voice of the author of whatever book is centrally featured in the story. As this story involves a priceless relic, a rather large sword to be exact, and it coincides with the passing of the Queen, so the voice is that of Queen Elizabeth. Who wouldn’t want a little royal advice? There are plenty of suspects and plenty of misdirection not to mention the super cool Scottish accents that I can hear in my head while reading the story. This was another great cozy from a great author.   

The Cornish Campsite Murder - A Nosey Parker Cozy Mystery by Fiona Leitch

 Thank you to the authors, publishers, and NetGalley for providing these ARCs in exchange for honest reviews. The recipe reviews and food pairing found on my Instagram feed are of my own doing. 

The Cornish Campsite Murder
A Nosey Parker Mystery
Fiona Leitch
One More Chapter 

This is another well-crafted cozy that does not require reading the previous books since plenty of back story is offered. I went to my share of concerts in my younger days but the only camping out I did was standing in a line for the concert tickets. If the concert venue had required camping I might not have seen any concerts, but we also didn’t have awesome food trucks. This is the 7^th installment in the Nosey Parker Cozy Mysteries aka my British cookbook collection. Jodie and family are taking a little break, well D.I. Hottie  aka Nathan Withers, her fiancé is officially on holiday and helping Jodie to sell pies, meat pies out of a Die Hard themed food truck at the local festival/concert venue. It turns out that Nathan won’t be on holiday and he and Jodie will be doing double duty when a former rock star is found dead after reneging on former band mates to get the band back together. Jodie has an in with former rock star Caz Harper. Turns out Jodie catered for Carol (aka Caz Harper bass player for The Burners) and her husband Ian (the keyboard player) and didn’t even recognize them. Between trying not to be a fan girl, making and selling a variety of Die Hard based hand pies, worrying about both her teenage daughter and her slightly flighty mom, Jodie does manage to help Nathan to track down clues and question suspects without losing her cool or her incredible ability to use sarcasm in new and interesting ways. I do so like it when she gets cheeky.  Her daughter Daisy can get cheeky too but that is okay because she is cut of the same cloth as Jodie and their interactions are entertaining, heartwarming, and if you have a teenager, they are also informative. I was going back and forth between suspects but was able to suss out who the killer was but not the why. The misdirection is really good and keeps you turning pages plus there is an amazing recipe for Sausage and Leek Hand Pie at the end of the story. I appreciate the Anglicized version since I am not a fan of bratwurst and/or sauerkraut.

The Witless Protection Program - A Catering Hall Mystery by Maria DiRico aka Ellen Byron

Thank you to the authors, publishers, and NetGalley for providing these ARCs in exchange for honest reviews. The recipe reviews and food pairing found on my Instagram feed are of my own doing. 

The Witless Protection Program
A Catering Hall Mystery
Maria DiRico
Kensington

 

This is the (sniff sniff) last book of the Catering Hall mysteries and it is the spiciest one yet and includes a baseball game proposal, a live louse/dead rate, a family/Family with no alibi, and house that is a circus…man. Mia gets the proposal she has been obsessing about but it is overshadowed by the appearance of Adam Grosso (yep the name fits the character), her lying cheating missing husband who was presumed dead. Before the Family (that’s right family with a capital “F” as in mob family) can find Grosso so she can get a divorce, Grosso’s body is found in the back alley near the house she shares with her Nonna. Detective Pete has a LOT of possible suspects since no one truly has a verifiable alibi for the time period of the hit and drag murder. Mia also has a list of suspects and a very strict timeline. She is not going to let anything get in her way on the way down the aisle. I do not think a single page was turned without a laugh out loud laugh or at the very least, a chuckle. Mia and Shane fly from one coast to another in a weekend to try and get to the bottom while the family/Family is doing their best to locate people to question. Many people would agree that the guy had it coming and even more would wonder what in the heck was Mia thinking. Thankfully they are smart enough to keep their pizza pie holes shut. The crazy becomes cray-cray when Nonna, who has learned to be a successful day trader (is there anything Nonna can’t do, besides eat Vietnamese food), purchases the house across the street that belonged to a recently deceased and famed comic book creator, better known as Circus-Man. The fans are crazy, like flying monkey crazy which gives an all new meaning to the phrase “not my monkey not my circus,” but since Mia and Shane are the new owners, it is their circus house. The fan club members want the house to be a museum so there is a bit of a jam, literally, a traffic jam on Mia’s street. Can Mia’s life get anymore over the top? This story is served up with a side of sassiness and some really good Italian food so be sure to check out the recipes at the back of the book, like the Ricotta Cookies or the Breakfast Pasta.  I will miss the Catering Hall gang; it was fun getting to know each and every character, and I place special emphasis on the word character. I give this one all the stars plus one more.