This week we have 4 more fun mysteries for you-A Very Woodsy Murder by Ellen Byron, Murder at an English Séance by Jessica Ellicott, Come Shell or High Water by Molly MacRae, and Trouble is Brewing by Vicki Delany. Details at the end of this post on how to enter to win a copy of all 4 books and links to purchase them from Amazon at the end of each review.
Arsenic is fascinating stuff. I fell down a rabbit hole of research chock-full of arsenic while writing my latest Highland Bookshop Mystery–Argyles and Arsenic. The book and I were lucky to make it back out alive. For your own poisonous pleasure, I’ve devised a quiz on all things arsenic.
I collect bookstores and keep them organized in categories. (Years ago, I ran an independent bookstore, and more recently I retired from the public library. Organizing books and places where you can get books = natural aptitude.) The abbreviated title of one category in my collection is “How Fast Can I Get There?” (The full title is “How Fast Can I Get There, Step Inside, and Breathe the Whole Place in, Because if I Didn’t Really Care, I’d Just Stay Home and Go to Their Website?”)
I like titles. I had the good fortune to grow up in a house full of books. Shelves full of them all the way to the ceiling. When I was learning to read, I loved picking out the titles of the books on the shelves well above my head—as though each title was a secret, and the titles strung together told a story of their own. So yes, I like titles, and now I like coming up with them for the stories and books I write.
Four women reinvented themselves. Two became booksellers, two run the tea and pastry shop within the store, located in the Highlands, Scotland. For Christine, it’s coming home to take care of elderly parents. For Janet, it’s a return to a vacation cottage, minus the husband she’d shared it with, the rat. Janet’s adult daughter and a friend round out the group.
Kath Rutledge is the owner of the Weaver’s Cat, a yarn shop inhabited by Argyle, a yellow tabby cat, and Geneva, a ghost. Only Argyle, Kath, and her employee Ardis, can see and hear Geneva. It makes for some odd conversations as Geneva talks when customers are in the shop.
When four women decide to move to Scotland, it’s not as impulsive a move as it might sound. Janet and her husband Curtis, ex-husband and a rat, that is, owned a vacation cottage there. Janet made sure she got it in the divorce. The other women are Tallie, Janet’s daughter, Tallie’s BFF Summer, and Janet’s longtime friend, Christine, home to take care of aging and forgetful parents.
My new kidney and I are glad to be back and ready to share fun books that might find their way under your tree this year!
A snow globe as a murder weapon? Mayor Lewis Frost, known as “Frosty,” is dealing with controversy in the city council.
This week we have another fun group of Penguin mysteries,3 book related and 1 about a resale store-All Sales Final: A Good Buy Girls Mystery By Josie Belle, Knot the Usual Suspects by Molly MacRae, Booked for Trouble: A Lighthouse Library Mystery by Eva Gates, and Law and Author: An Ashton Corners Book Club Mystery by Erika Chase.
Lewis Wilder may enjoy being the only curator at Tennessee’s Nolichucky Jack History Museum, but he is definitely not appreciating the rumors circulating that he fundraises through his activities as a cat burglar! The “Fox” has been stealing valuable heirlooms from homes in the area, and anonymous cash donations mailed regularly to the museum have locals buzzing that Lewis must be the culprit. Sheriff Paul Glaser is making no secret of his suspicions, and when a loud-mouthed car dealer is murdered after having an argument with Lewis, it’s not a surprise that he’s a likely suspect.
