Fatal First Edition - Cozy Mystery Review

Goodreads: Fatal First Edition (A Library Lover's Mystery #14) by Jenn McKinlay

Rating: Really Liked It! (4.5 Stars)
Source:   Publisher

Description:  Briar Creek Library director Lindsey Norris and her husband, Sully, are at a popular library conference in Chicago to hear book restoration specialist Brooklyn Wainwright give a keynote address. After the lecture, Lindsey looks under her seat and finds a tote bag containing a first edition of Patricia Highsmith’s Strangers on a Train , inscribed to Alfred Hitchcock. Brooklyn determines the novel is one of a kind and quite valuable, so Lindsey and Sully return the book to the conference director, not wanting to stir up any trouble.

But just hours after the pair boards the train back to Connecticut, rumors that the Highsmith novel has gone missing buzz amongst the passengers, and they soon find the conference director murdered in his private compartment. And worse—the murderer planted the book in Lindsey and Sully’s room next door, making them prime suspects. Now, they must uncover the murderer and bring them to the end of their line, before they find themselves booked for a crime they didn’t commit.

Genre: Mystery - Cozy

Why I Picked This Book:  I really enjoy this series and so of course I had to pick this one up!

My Impression:  This was such a fun read!  I've really enjoyed this series so I'm always glad to visit Lindsey and Sully and the rest of the Briar Creek world.  This one was a bit different - the book starts with Lindsey and Sully at an archivist convention complete with appearance from Brooklyn Wainwright from Kate Carlisle's Bibliophile series.  Then there's a murder on a train, a stolen book, and other shenanigans.  Characters may or may not be who they say they are and a good time is had by the reader.

I flew through this book and couldn't wait to see how everything came together.  I guessed a few points but the bulk of the story kept me guessing.  My only complaint is that we didn't get quite enough Ms. (excuse me - Mayor) Cole or the rest of the library crew.  This was an entertaining read that I thoroughly enjoyed.  

Would I Read More of this Series/Author? Absolutely!  I really enjoy this author's books and this is my favorite series by her.

Would I Recommend this Book? Definitely!  If you're a cozy mystery lover you really should try this series and this book.  

* I received this book in exchange for an honest review.  As always my opinions and impressions are completely my own. *

Books On My Current To Buy List

 

I'm in a book buying mood and every once in awhile I like to go through my TBR wishlist and see what books are on the top of my To Buy list.  I'm not necessarily going to buy them all but I like seeing what is really catching my eye right now.

1.  One Night Gone by Tara Laskowski - This thriller has been on my TBR since it came out and I've been in a thriller-y kind of mood lately so it feels like the time.

2.  Unfollow Me by Charlotte Duckworth - Ditto above!

3.  The Mountains Wild by Sarah Stewart Taylor - This series has been really calling to me and I want t get started on it.  

4.  Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen - I love this author's books but I haven't read as many as I'd like and this one sounds lovely.  

5.  The Last Heir to Blackwood Library by Hester Fox - The cover is gorgeous, the story sounds a bit Gothic-y and spooky and the title has the word library in it so I of course need to read it!

6.  The Golden Spoon by Jessica Maxwell - Apparently this book is like Great British Bake Off meets a murder mystery and that is two of my favorite things put together.

7.  The Spectacular by Fiona Davis - I've really enjoyed this author's books and this one sounds really interesting.  

8.  Mine Till Midnight by Lisa Kleypas - I've been getting back into historical romance and I really want to reread the Hathaway series and this is the first book in the series.  

9.  The Broken Girls by Simone St James - Another author I really love and this one is really calling to me.  

10. In the Hall with a Knife by Diana Peterfreund - Apparently this is a YA mystery series based on the game Clue.  I don't normally read YA but I can't resist something based off of Clue and this looks fun.

What books are on your To Buy List currently?

Fur Love or Money - Cozy Mystery Review

Goodreads: Fur Love or Money (Second Chance Cat Mystery #2) by Sofie Ryan

Rating: Really Liked It (4 Stars)
Source:   Publisher

Description:  Sarah Grayson is taking a break from her bustling secondhand shop in small-town Maine to spend time with a friend and her dog. But their purr-fect visit comes to an end when the dog leads them to a storm cellar on a nearby property, where they discover a dead body.The deceased turns out to be a sticky-fingered financial adviser who swindled millions from investors and who has been presumed dead for almost three years. Unfortunately, suspicion falls on the owner of the property where the body was found—and that owner is a good friend of Charlotte’s Angels’, the senior citizen sleuths who work out of Sarah’s shop. It’s all paws on deck, as the Angels are determined to clear his good name. But with a tight-lipped widow, a possibly shifty sister, and a slew of unhappy investors in the mix, the list of murder suspects seems endless. Sarah, Elvis, and the Angels have a lot of webs to untangle before they can catch the culprit.

Genre: Mystery - Cozy

Why I Picked This Book:  This is one of my favorite cozy mystery series so I couldn't resist picking up the latest book.

My Impression:  I really enjoy this series and this was a fun one!  When Sarah and Rose stumble onto a body who ends up having a very sketchy history they're quickly pulled into the investigation - once they have a client of course.  

Sarah, Mac, Avery and the Angels are busy with the investigation and Sarah's shop and I think I enjoy both aspects of the story equally.  Avery especially is becoming one of my favorite characters.  While she's still a teenager with plenty of attitude she is growing in confidence and finding her footing.  I always enjoy seeing Sarah interact with Rose, Charlotte and Mr. P and I'm quite sure when I grow up I want to be just like Liz.  My only real issue with the characters is that while I love Mac his and Sarah's relationship just doesn't quite click for me.  I feel like the author is still leaving the door a bit open for Nick and I'm hoping that's not the case.  

I really enjoyed the mystery.  The victim definitely had a number of people who wanted him dead but there were some real questions as to just who had the opportunity.  I did guess most of what happened before Sarah did but I thoroughly enjoyed getting to the reveal.

 

This series has a lot of characters and while each mystery is standalone it is probably best read in order to make it easier to keep track of who is who.  

Would I Read More of this Series/Author? Of course!  I've really enjoyed everything I've read by this author and am looking forward to reading more.

Would I Recommend this Book? While I do recommend starting from the beginning (or close to) of the series I absolutely recommend this series if you're a fan of cozy mysteries!

* I received this book in exchange for an honest review.  As always my opinions and impressions are completely my own. *

Reading Recap - January 2024

Monthly Breakdown

Monthly Total: 20 - 2024 started out a bit rough but my reading got off to a fantastic start.  I really enjoyed pretty much everything I read.  

Print: 7

Ebook: 6

Audio: 7

Mystery:  18  

Romance: 2

Favorite Reads of the Month:

Favorite Audio:  None Of This is True by Lisa Jewell - I have enjoyed everything by Jewell that' I've read so it's no real surprise this was one of my favorite reads of the month.  The audio was especially fantastic and really added to the experience.  

Nine Lives by Peter Swanson - While I've wanted to try this author's books for ages this was the first one I read and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I've heard that this wasn't his best so I think I've got some fantastic reading coming up.

Least Favorite Book of the Month:

Winter's Edge by Paige Shelton -  I enjoyed this book and highly recommend this series but I did feel like this book was the weakest.  Beth's Too Stupid to Live behavior gave me some second hand cringes while reading this.  That said I still rated this one 3.5 stars which I think is a pretty good indicator of how good of a reading month this was!

Bookish Armchair Travels

Domestic:  I did a lot of traveling in the US this month - including a state or two that I didn't get to in 2023.  

I visited - Massachusetts, Washington, California, Vermont, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Alaska, Maine, Florida, and Illinois

International:  I'm off to a slower start internationally and only visited England (6 times) and Scotland this month.

How was your reading in January?  Where did your books take you?

Friday Fives - February TBR

I'm taking a bit of a break from my usual Friday Linkups to try something a little different.  I'm in a list making kind of mood so I thought I'd start making random five lists.  Sometimes they'll be bookish other weeks not so much. This is the first Friday in February so I'm picking out five books I hope to read this month.

1.  A Smoking Bun by Ellie Alexander - This is one of my very favorite cozy mystery series and I'm so looking forward to this newest release.  

2.  The Pleasures of Passion by Sabrina Jeffries - This cover makes me cringe but Sabrina Jeffries used to be one of my absolute favorite historical romances but as I stopped reading that genre I ended up with several of hers gathering dust on my review shelf.  This is one of them and since its February I figured I'd throw some romance in.  

3.  The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman - I got this on sale soon after it came out and fully meant to read it right away but somehow never got around to it.  It's one of the books I'm really excited to read this year.

4.  Pursuit of a Parcel by Patricia Wentworth - I'm reading a book off my Classic Mystery List this month and a book by one of my favorite authors that I haven't read so I'm really looking forward to it! 

5.  House of Shadows by Nicola Cornick - This was my TBR Tarot pick of the month.  The prompt was "A book that still has the shop sticker on the front".  I bought this used so it doesn't have the shop sticker from the store I bought it on from the front but the original owner apparently bought it at Wal-Mart and never removed the label so here we are!

What are you hoping to read this month?

Books from the Backlog - Murder at Mullings

Today I'm linking up with Carole from Carole's Random Life of Books for Books from the Backlog.  I really enjoy the chance to feature a book that's been hiding in the piles of books for far too long!

Goodreads:  Murder at Mullings by Dorothy Cannell

Blurb:  An intriguing 1930s country house murder first in the brand-new Florence Norris series

In its 300-year history, there has never once been a scandal at Mullings, ancestral home of the decent but dull Stodmarsh family. Until, that is, Edward Stodmarsh makes an ill-advised second marriage to the scheming Regina Stapleton, who insists on bringing her family's 'ornamental hermit' to live on the estate. Suddenly everyone wants to visit Mullings to glimpse this mysterious figure. Strange but harmless, thinks Florence Norris, the family's longstanding housekeeper. But events take a sinister turn with the arrival of sudden, violent death - and suddenly the hermit doesn't seem so harmless after all.

Why It Needs to Come Off the Shelf:  This is one of those authors where I've bought a number of books before I read any of them.  I read a book in another series that I was not a fan of so I need to read this one to see if I like this series more. 

TBR Tarot Reads - Nine Lives Review

At the end of 2022 Wendy over at Literary Feline posted about these fantastic TBR Tarot Cards she had picked up on Etsy and that sounded too good to resist so I immediately ordered my own set.  So when I'm not feeling strongly about what to read next I pull out my cards and pick a book based on the prompt.  Here is a book the fates chose for me recently.

Prompt:  Book by a Male Author

Choice:  This month I decided to get the book from my library.  I didn't want to pick a book that was already on my list or a nonfiction so I wandered around the shelves and let the books tell me what to read.  I ended up with Nine Lives by Peter Swanson which has been on my TBR for awhile.  

Goodreads:  Nine Lives by Peter Swanson

Blurb:  Nine strangers receive a list with their names on it in the mail. Nothing else, just a list of names on a single sheet of paper. None of the nine people know or have ever met the others on the list. They dismiss it as junk mail, a fluke - until very, very bad things begin happening to people on the list. First, a well-liked old man is drowned on a beach in the small town of Kennewick, Maine. Then, a father is shot in the back while running through his quiet neighborhood in suburban Massachusetts. A frightening pattern is emerging, but what do these nine people have in common? Their professions range from oncology nurse to aspiring actor.
FBI agent Jessica Winslow, who is on the list herself, is determined to find out. Could there be some dark secret that binds them all together? Or is this the work of a murderous madman? As the mysterious sender stalks these nine strangers, they find themselves constantly looking over their shoulders, wondering who will be crossed off next....

My Thoughts:  I tend to not read many men authors - not on purpose it's just kind of how it works out - but I loved the sound of this one and I know several bloggers who are a fan of this author.  I wasn't sure exactly what to expect but I ended up thoroughly enjoying this.  The writing style was cleanly done and I loved the setup with the chapters counting down the people on the list.  This could of been a confusing mess and the book skipped between the nine people on the list plus an investigator or two but the writing was so clear that I had no issue keeping track of who was who and what they were doing.  I also liked that this was more a fly on the wall type mystery than a come along with the investigation style.  While there is an investigation going on the reader is simply watching as the story develops - and what a story it was!  I enjoyed it from the first page to the last and the Agatha Christie references made me gloriously happy.  This was my first Peter Swanson book but it absolutely won't be my last.  Once again the Tarot cards chose another fabulous book!  My Rating: Really Liked It! (4.5 Stars)