Holy Chow: An Andy Carpenter Mystery by David Rosenfelt – #Audiobook Review – #AnimalCozyMysteries

Holy Chow by David Rosenfelt

Rosepoint Rating:

Book Blurb:

In Holy Chow, the next mystery from bestselling author David Rosenfelt, the beloved characters—both human and canine—of this fan favorite series are back on the case with the author’s trademark wit and humor.

Retired lawyer Andy Carpenter’s calling has always been running the Tara Foundation. The dog rescue organization places hundreds of dogs in new homes every year. It’s added up to so many dogs and new owners that Andy can’t even do the math. But there’s one dog—and one owner—Andy will always remember.

About a year ago, Rachel Morehouse came to the foundation looking for a companion. In her sixties and recently widowed, Rachel wanted a senior dog that also needed someone. Andy took a liking to her, Rachel took a liking to Lion, an older Chow Chow, and the rest is history.

That is, until Rachel calls Andy begging for a favor: If Rachel dies, will Andy take care of Lion if her stepson cannot? Andy agrees, no questions asked, and promptly forgets about it… until he receives a call from Rachel’s estate to attend her will reading. Which is where he meets Rachel’s stepson, Tony, who is promptly arrested for his stepmother’s murder. And he wants Andy to prove his innocence.

Andy has continued to learn more about the woman he so greatly admired and the businesses she ran, and holy chow, was this woman impressive. The person who killed her deserves to be held accountable, and if Tony is to be believed, they’re still out there. And that possibility is too much for Andy to remain on the sidelines.

My Review:

Yes, yes, I know. Seems like yesterday I was reviewing a David Rosenfelt book, but that one was Citizen K-9, a K Team series mystery. Between the two, although don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the K-9 team series too, just that for me I know even if this is Book 25 of the series, I’m going to be entertained and finish the book happy with the time spent. My only problem is that they are usually short audiobooks.

The Andy Carpenter novels have a winning formula. Andy is retired, wealthy, and supports a dog rescue called the Tara Foundation. He has Tara and Sebastian, as well as his wife Laurie and their adopted son. He also has an amazing team—love the character of Marcus—a most unique character and he has the chance to shine in this one.

There is a mystery involving a dog, he’ll grudgingly accept the case, usually because he really feels in his heart the person is innocent. The case that may have started simple usually gets real complex and eventually goes to trial, and yes, I always enjoy that legal bamboozle as well. So much fun.

Fun? Yes, that’s at the heart of these pseudo-cozy mysteries, the humor, the snark, and the right amount of witty dialogue combined with serious and intelligent fact-finding. These audiobooks will keep you in a good mood even when you have to go grocery shopping. Trust me.

I’ve learned not to try and figure out the guilty antagonist (sometimes more than one) and just go with the flow. Listen and enjoy.

I can think of no narrator other than Grover Gardner who so clearly IS Andy Carpenter just as George Guidall is Walt Longmire on Craig Johnson’s Walt Longmire mystery series. Whether or not you read or listen to the audiobook, you still hear their voices. I would strongly suggest the audiobooks for the sense you just won’t get reading.

Catch my review of Book 23 Dog Eat Dog and hang on for the next one. I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my favorite library of course. These are my honest thoughts.

Book Details:

Genre: Animal Cozy Mysteries, Animal Fiction
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
ASIN: B09GH1J5XB
Listening Length: 6 hrs 27 mins
Narrator: Grover Gardner
Publication Date: July 5, 2022
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Links: Holy Chow [Amazon]
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Author: David Rosenfelt, a native of Paterson, New Jersey, is a graduate of NYU. He was the former marketing president for Tri-Star Pictures before becoming a writer of novels and screenplays. “Open And Shut” was his first novel; “First Degree,” his second novel, was named a best book of 2003 by Publishers Weekly. He currently lives in Southern California with his wife and 35 dogs.

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The Narrator: Grover Gardner’s narration career spans twenty-five years and over 550 audiobook titles. AudioFile Magazine has called him one of the “Best Voices of the Century” and features him in their annual “Golden Voices” update. Publishers Weekly named him Audiobook Narrator of the Year for 2005. His recordings have garnered 18 “Golden Earphones” awards from AudioFile and an Audie Award from the Audio Publishers’ Association.
http://grovergardner.blogspot.com/

Do No Harm: A Lucas Page Novel by Robert Pobi – #BookReview – #crimethrillers

Do No Harm by Robert Pobi

Book Blurb:

In Robert Pobi’s thriller Do No Harm, a series of suicides and accidental deaths in the medical community are actually well-disguised murders and only Lucas Page can see the pattern and discern the truth that no one else believes.

Lucas Page is a polymath, astrophysicist, professor, husband, father of five adopted children, bestselling author, and ex-FBI agent—emphasis on “ex.” Severely wounded after being caught in an explosion, Page left the FBI behind and put his focus on the rebuilding the rest of his life. But Page is uniquely gifted in being able to recognize patterns that elude others, a skill that brings the F.B.I. knocking at his door again and again.

Lucas Page’s wife Erin loses a friend, a gifted plastic surgeon, to suicide and Lucas begins to realize how many people Erin knew that have died in the past year, in freak accidents and now suicide. Intrigued despite himself, Page begins digging through obituaries and realizes that there’s a pattern—a bad one. These deaths don’t make sense unless the doctors are being murdered, the target of a particularly clever killer. This time, the FBI wants as little to do with Lucas as he does with them so he’s left with only one option—ignore it and go back to his normal life. But then, the pattern reveals that the next victim is likely to be…Erin herself.

His Review:

Lovely Dr. Jennifer Delmonico is on her run after work across the Brooklyn Bridge releasing the stress of a long arduous shift. Some runners approach her from the other direction and her next experience is falling from the footpath to the traffic flowing below. Her pain is brief after suffering multiple injuries. The other runners do not stop to report her fall and death.

Detective Russo later arrives at the scene. He is a “by the books” detective. He believes that all events follow a statistical format. In his jurisdiction, however, there have been 30 dead doctors in 30 days with various causes of death! They do not meet the statistical parameters of the detective and he sees an obvious lethal pattern. Who would be killing these doctors and why?

The reduction of medical personnel, all doctors, in so short a period of time points toward someone with a vendetta against doctors. Who would do such a thing and why would they specifically be targeting New York City medical personnel? Things become so drastic that the hospitals are considering hiring bodyguards for all of the doctors in the tri-bureau area. Solving this case cannot come quick enough.

This author develops a very believable scenario of revenge and murder against all doctors. Why would someone do such a thing? Could it be because of malpractice or loss of someone very dear to the perpetrator? This book has many twists and turns as Russo searches for answers! He’s a pit bull. The public and his superiors are clamoring for answers and arrests. The clock is ticking and how many more will die before the perp is caught? 4.5 stars – CE Williams

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Police Procedurals, Crime Thrillers
Publisher: Minotaur Books
ISBN: ‎ 1529348471
ASIN: B092T9F97Q
Print Length: 423 pages
Publication Date: August 9, 2022
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Links: Do No Harm [Amazon]
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Author: Robert Pobi‘s novels have been published in more than twenty-five countries, making bestseller lists around the world. He divides his time between Canada and the United States.

Have a great weekend!

The Line (Helen Scott Royal Military Police Thrillers Book 2) by Rachel Lynch – #BookReview – #women’sdetectivefiction

The Line by Rachel Lynch

“An unputdownable crime thriller”

Book Blurb:

The truth can have deadly consequences…

On a sunny morning, when the Mediterranean is dead calm, Captain Paul Thomas embarks on a dive to the wreck of the Zenobia, off the coast of Larnaca, Cyprus. Within hours, he has taken his final, gasping breath in an accident below the surface. A new Royal Military Police liaison is required to pick up on his work, and Major Helen Scott gets the assignment.

It turns out Paul Thomas had rattled cages during his current case – four serving soldiers are in custody accused of the leaking of state intelligence. If proven, the scandal would rock the foundation of the armed forces. Once on Cyprus, it becomes clear that the island relies on a delicate balance of old-school glad-handing and turning a blind eye, and anyone who threatens to upset the equilibrium will find themselves in the line of fire…

An action-packed crime thriller, perfect for fans of Angela Marsons and Lee Child.

His Review:

Four corporals are in the brig for the death of a naval officer who drowned off the coast of Cyprus. A seasoned and well-trained diver should not have drowned at 60 meters exploring a wreck. Major Helen Scott RMP is sent to investigate the incident.

Helen does not believe such an accident would have occurred with a trained diver. Her investigation reveals some very strange and frightening facts about this quiet Mediterranean island. How could the officer have drowned when being accompanied by three other seasoned divers? Why was he not able to get back to the surface by following his dive line back to the opening in the ship being investigated?

Major Helen Scott is an extremely strong character and an excellent effective member of the navy. This book has many twists and well-developed characters guaranteed to keep you turning pages. Enjoy! 4.5 stars – CE Williams

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Women’s Detective Fiction, International Mystery & Crime
Publisher: Canelo Crime
ASIN: B0B1TT59PG
Print Length: 328 pages
Publication Date: July 28, 2022
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Link: The Line [Amazon]
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Author: [Goodreads] Rachel Lynch grew up in Cumbria and the lakes and fells are never far away from her. London pulled her away to teach History and marry an Army Officer, whom she followed around the globe for thirteen years.

A change of career after children led to personal training and sports therapy, but writing was always the overwhelming force driving the future. The human capacity for compassion as well as its descent into the brutal and murky world of crime are fundamental to her work.

Have a Nice Weekend!

This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub – #Audiobook Review – #timetravel

This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub

Best Books of 2022 So Far

Book Blurb:

With her celebrated humor, insight, and heart, beloved New York Times bestseller Emma Straub offers her own twist on traditional time travel tropes, and a different kind of love story.

On the eve of her 40th birthday, Alice’s life isn’t terrible. She likes her job, even if it isn’t exactly the one she expected. She’s happy with her apartment, her romantic status, her independence, and she adores her lifelong best friend. But her father is ailing, and it feels to her as if something is missing. When she wakes up the next morning she finds herself back in 1996, reliving her 16th birthday. But it isn’t just her adolescent body that shocks her, or seeing her high school crush, it’s her dad: the vital, charming, 40-something version of her father with whom she is reunited. Now armed with a new perspective on her own life and his, some past events take on new meaning. Is there anything that she would change if she could?

My Review:

Okay, I’m definitely not the right demographic for this book. Besides being a much older generation, I couldn’t identify with the intensity of the retrospection with her father, not having one myself that I noticed his passing. And, sorry, I’m not a monster city fan.

As it’s been out now for several months and it’s been a fav, accruing a lot of notice and positive reviews, everyone knows it’s about a time-traveling woman who leaves a forty-year-old body having over-partied into oblivion to discover herself again at sixteen. UGH! Those teen years—no thank you. However, I am a fan of the time traveler genre. In this case, back and forth to the same time, 1996, and the relationship with her single-parent father.

Having said the above, you’ll possibly understand why I thought the first part of the book was relatively slow and difficult for me to engage as it set up the characters, the current atmosphere, and the stressful situation with her dying father.

I enjoyed her first travel experience and again when she figured out how to move freely between the times. I found the pace, and my interest, accelerated somewhat in the middle of the book when she began to explore the question of whether or not there was any way to change any outcomes. More importantly, would she?

Lots of retrospective discussions, reliving the grand old 1990s, heavy nostalgic memories. Gees, it’s almost depressing, interesting heavy-handed author writing style prose but the conclusion came well-plotted and satisfying.

So many time travel novels end in the trope of “do-overs.” I also wrote about that back in 2015. The fork in the road. What if…I’d gone left instead of right. Isn’t this something all of us have mused over? The novel charges the reader to look at what we have now—enjoy it or make the changes–particularly for those whom we love.

I received a complimentary review copy of this audiobook from the publisher and NetGalley. These are my honest thoughts.

Book Details:

Genre: Time Travel Science Fiction, Time Travel Fiction, Family Life Fiction
Publisher: Penguin Audio
ASIN: B09HST51ZG
Listening Length: 8 hrs 31 mins
Narrator: Marin Ireland
Publication Date: May 17, 2022
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Links: This Time Tomorrow [Amazon]
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

Rosepoint Publishing: Three point Five Stars

The Author: Emma Straub is the New York Times-bestselling author of five novels—This Time Tomorrow, All Adults Here, The Vacationers, Modern Lovers, Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures—and the short story collection Other People We Married. Her books have been published in more than 20 languages, and All Adults Here is currently in development as a television series. She and her husband own Books Are Magic, an independent bookstore in Brooklyn, New York.

book shelves

The Iron Way (The Sarmatian Trilogy Book 2) by Tim Leach – #BookReview – #ancienthistoricalfiction

The Iron Way by Tim Leach

Book Blurb:

AD 175, Vindolanda, Britannia. After their cavalry was broken by the legions on the frozen waters of the Danube, Sarmatian warrior Kai bought his people’s lives with a pledge to serve Rome. Bound to the will of the Emperor, the Sarmatians are ready to fight and eager to die – death in battle is the only escape from the dishonour of their defeat.

Exiled from their home lands, they are ordered to take the Iron Way to the far north and the very edge of the Empire. Here, a great wall of stone cuts across the land as straight as the stroke of a sword. On one side, Rome’s dominion; on the other, mist and rumours – stories of men closer to giants, of warriors who fight without fear or restraint.

For a people who knew no borders, who were promised war, garrison duty is cruel punishment. But as insurrection stirs on both sides of the wall, Kai will discover that every barrier has its weaknesses – and he will have his chance to fight, perhaps to die.

His Review:

The Romans had the perfect solution to protect their part of the British Island. Build a wall to keep the “northern hoards” and rabble out. Hadrian’s Wall is a constant reminder that isolationism and border walls do not work.

The northern part of the British Isles has been an area of contention for many centuries. The Romans invading the island did nothing to change that. Therefore, they built a very impressive border wall with guard towers every mile to dissuade foreign invaders from attacking and occupying the region.

Thousands of invaders approached the wall carefully. Surely an attack was imminent! Remarkably no defense was supported on the wall and the army just pushed through on their journey to London. The invaders could not believe the arrogance of the people on the other side of the wall.

A Roman Centurion was the leader of the defense brigade. He considered this posting to be punishment for his inability to control the population. The prefect hated his job and could not wait to retire. His greatest concern was that he would not be invited to return to Rome or its environs, but would instead retire on a small parcel in England. This was one of his greatest nightmares.

This story exemplifies the schism that was the British Isles during the first one thousand years of the current epoch. Being the representative of Rome in such a backward area was tantamount to total ostracizing. The invaders heading toward England simply went to the hole in the wall and advanced on toward London.

This story is a very interesting look at the calamity that befell various nomadic tribes which colonized those islands at the time. The Roman’s promise was that 25 years in the Roman Legions would result in freedom to go home and live a retirement of ease. The Romans knew that this would never happen. Twenty-five years at that time was almost surely a death sentence.

This book is well written and certainly has poetic license at its core because there is no written history of many of these tribes. Read and enjoy! 4.5 stars – CE Williams

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book. These are my unbiased opinions.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Ancient Historical Fiction, Historical Thrillers
Publisher: Head of Zeus—an Aries Book
ASIN: B09GZR81KT
Publication Date: August 4, 2022
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Links: The Iron Way [Amazon]
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Author: [Goodreads] Writer, climber, whisky drinker, chess dabbler and general purpose layabout. London exile currently encamped in the North and loving it. I’ve studied and taught creative writing at the University of Warwick and worked in bookshops in London and Greece.

If you’d like to know any more about me or my books, just ping me a message. Thanks for stopping by!

Have a great weekend!

The Physicists’ Daughter by Mary Anna Evans #BlogTour #BookReview #Giveaway

The Physicists’ Daughter by Mary Anna Evans

I am delighted today to provide a review for you at my blog stop for The Physicists’ Daughter by Mary Anna Evans on the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour.

Scroll down to enter your chance to win the Giveaway!

Book Details

The Physicists’ Daughter: A Novel
Historical Fiction
Poisoned Pen Press (June 7, 2022)
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1464215553
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1464215551
Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09TGB4BVK

Book Blurb

The Nazis are no match for the physicists’ daughter.

New Orleans, 1944

Sabotage. That’s the word on factory worker Justine Byrne’s mind as she is repeatedly called to weld machine parts that keep failing with no clear cause. Could someone inside the secretive Carbon Division be deliberately undermining the factory’s war efforts? Raised by her late parents to think logically, she also can’t help wondering just what the oddly shaped carbon gadgets she assembles day after day have to do with the boats the factory builds…

When a crane inexplicably crashes to the factory floor, leaving a woman dead, Justine can no longer ignore her nagging fear that German spies are at work within the building, trying to put the factory and its workers out of commission. Unable to trust anyone—not the charming men vying for her attention, not her unpleasant boss, and not even the women who work beside her—Justine draws on the legacy of her unconventional upbringing to keep her division running and protect her coworkers, her country, and herself from a war that is suddenly very close to home.

His Thoughts

Justine Byrne was taught welding, trained by her parents. She knew things that most Americans could only dream of. She was given a job at Higgins Industries Carbon Division. She and the people in the division were making parts designed by others that they never saw assembled into anything. Justine’s parents had been killed because of the technology they helped develop.

Justine is young and lovely and two suitors are attempting to win her heart. One is a spy placed by Germany prior to WW II. The Higgins Plant was hidden in the bayous of southern Louisiana. There was an airfield next to the plant where the top-secret parts were made.

Supervisors at the plant were men with infirmities that kept them from being enlisted in the military. They were usually self-important oofs who lorded over everyone, particularly the women. They made life miserable for the better-looking girls.

Saboteurs were sent in by the Nazi’s to find out what was being made at the plant and also to slow or stop production. This was extremely unusual for a young lady during the war. Parts that were broken in the fabrication were quickly welded by her and production continued.

This tale of the valiant efforts by women hired in all war industries, showed the ability of women to do jobs formerly only held by men. The women were being paid more than they had ever been paid before, the same wage as a man doing the same work. Six, ten to twelve-hour days, left them only Sundays to rest and prepare for the following week. The book is very well written and I could not put it down! 4.5 stars – CE Williams

Giveaway

Sign up for your chance to win (3) Winner’s Choice Print or Kindle Copy plus a Starbucks Gift Card – U.S. only in this Rafflecopter giveaway.

About The Author: Mary Anna Evans is the author of The Physicists’ Daughter, the first in her series of WWII-era historical suspense novels featuring Rosie-the-Riveter-turned-codebreaker Justine Byrne. Her thirteen Faye Longchamp archaeological mysteries have received recognition including the Benjamin Franklin Award, a Will Rogers Medallion Award Gold Medal, the Oklahoma Book Award, and three Florida Book Awards bronze medals. She is an associate professor at the University of Oklahoma, where she teaches fiction and nonfiction writing, including mystery and suspense writing. Her work has appeared in publications including Plots with Guns, The Atlantic, Florida Heat Wave, Dallas Morning News, and The Louisville Review. Her scholarship on crime fiction, which centers on Agatha Christie’s evolving approach over her long career to the ways women experienced justice in the twentieth century, has appeared in the Bloomsbury Handbook to Agatha Christie (coming September 22, 2022), which she co-edited, and in Clues: A Journal of Detection. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Rutgers-Camden, and she is a licensed Professional Engineer. She is at work on the second Justine Byrne novel, The Physicists’ Enigma.

Author Links

Website: https://maryannaevans.com/

Twitter: @maryannaevans

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MaryAnnaEvansAuthor

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maryannaevans/

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/mary-anna-evans

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/12395.Mary_Anna_Evans

Purchase Links:

Bookshop IndieBound Barnes and Noble Amazon Booksamillion Nook Kindle Kobo

Thank you for visiting my stop on the tour!

Thanks to Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours for the opportunity to read and review this cozy mystery!

Bayou Book Thief (A Vintage Cookbook Mystery 1) by Ellen Byron – #BlogTour #BookReview #Giveaway

Bayou Book Thief by Ellen Byron

I am delighted today to provide a review for you at my blog stop for Bayou Book Thief by Ellen Byron on the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour.

Scroll down to enter your chance to win the Giveaway!

Book Details

Bayou Book Thief (A Vintage Cookbook Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Setting – New Orleans Louisianna
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Berkley (June 7, 2022)
Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0593437616
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0593437612
Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09FPJHVGK

Book Blurb

A fantastic new cozy mystery series with a vintage flair from USA Today bestselling and Agatha Award–winning author Ellen Byron.

Twenty-eight-year-old widow Ricki James leaves Los Angeles to start a new life in New Orleans after her showboating actor husband perishes doing a stupid internet stunt. The Big Easy is where she was born and adopted by the NICU nurse who cared for her after Ricki’s teen mother disappeared from the hospital.

Ricki’s dream comes true when she joins the quirky staff of Bon Vee Culinary House Museum, the spectacular former Garden District home of late bon vivant Genevieve “Vee” Charbonnet, the city’s legendary restauranteur. Ricki is excited about turning her avocation – collecting vintage cookbooks – into a vocation by launching the museum’s gift shop, Miss Vee’s Vintage Cookbooks and Kitchenware. Then she discovers that a box of donated vintage cookbooks contains the body of a cantankerous Bon Vee employee who was fired after being exposed as a book thief.

The skills Ricki has developed ferreting out hidden vintage treasures come in handy for investigations. But both her business and Bon Vee could wind up as deadstock when Ricki’s past as curator of a billionaire’s first edition collection comes back to haunt her.

Will Miss Vee’s Vintage Cookbooks and Kitchenware be a success … or a recipe for disaster?

My Thoughts

It’s difficult to leave an old favorite like the Cajun Country Mystery series behind when the author pulls the plug and begins a new series.

But if we must, at least we get to enjoy her new series set in Louisiana, as the author favors us with the sounds, scents, and majesty that is the local mystic of New Orleans.

Ricki (Miracle Fleur di Lis James-Diaz) has returned to New Orleans where she was born after suffering the loss of her husband and a scandalous end to a job n LA in which she was a naïve and innocent pawn.

She has landed a position with the Bon Vee Culinary House Museum where she creates a gift shop containing vintage cookbooks and kitchenware. Unfortunately, a trunk containing a donation of vintage cookbooks turns out to contain a body instead. The body is that of a former Bon Vee employee fired for being a book thief and all-round scoundrel.

Becoming a little put off by the local detective, Ricki begins using her tracking skills to investigate on her own.

“NOPD stands for ‘Not Our Problem, Dude.’”

Ricki is a smart woman, although deemed less than confident after her recent losses, and treads lightly. There are some wonderfully diverse support characters, from Madame to Lyla and Cookie, the latter “a recovering children’s librarian.”

Little sub-plots or threads take the story in different directions and introduce the reader to some interesting practices in the book world. Lyla becomes a suspect, but then there are several lesser characters also vying for the position and it’s difficult to nail down who among them has the greater reason for offing not one, but a second, victim. Ricki’s imagination tends to go wild with motives most of which are tossed immediately.

The red herrings were narrowed and fed into the conclusion, which settled most of any loose threads remaining, and I must admit I was surprised by the culprit. As in most cozy mysteries, there is a fostering romance and one big thread strongly hinted that will be carried forward. It’s a douzy.

Also, as in many cozy mysteries, appropriate recipes, in this case vintage southern recipes are shared after the epilogue with this note that gave me a chuckle:

“Onions, celery, and peppers are affectionately known as the “holy trinity” in Cajun and Creole cooking.”

Giveaway

Sign up for your chance to win (1) PRINT COPY – Bayou Book Thief (A Vintage Cookbook Mystery) by Ellen Byron (U.S. Only) Rafflecopter giveaway

Ellen Byron - author — Ellen Byron – author

About The Author: Ellen’s Cajun Country Mysteries have won the Agatha Award for Best Contemporary Novel and multiple Lefty Awards for Best Humorous Mystery. Bayou Book Thief will be the first book in her new Vintage Cookbook Mysteries. She also writes the Catering Hall Mystery series under the name Maria DiRico.

Ellen is an award-winning playwright, and non-award-winning TV writer of comedies like Wings, Just Shoot Me, and Fairly Odd Parents. She has written over two hundred articles for national magazines but considers her most impressive credit working as a cater-waiter for Martha Stewart. An alum of New Orleans’ Tulane University, she blogs with Chicks on the Case, is a lifetime member of the Writers Guild of America and will be the 2023 Left Coast Crime Toastmaster. Please visit her at https://www.ellenbyron.com/

Newsletter: https://www.ellenbyron.com/

Thank you for visiting my stop on the tour!

Thanks to Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours for the opportunity to read and review this cozy mystery!

The Wylder Ghost and Blossom Cherry (The Wylder West) by Sharon Shipley – #BookReview – #TuesdayBookBlog

The Wylder Ghost and Blossom Cherry by Sharon Shipley

Book Blurb:

Ghostly gunslinger Zachariah is condemned to spend eternity in the room now inhabited by Blossom Cherry, an easygoing yet hot-blooded doxie. Their scrappy relationship endures though he taunts and aggravates her. He also exacts fitting vengeance on those clients who dare, to their eternal regret, mistreat his feisty roommate.
The attraction between the young prostitute and the outlaw intensifies to undeniable, unquenchable, unearthly desire until Zak becomes a passionate spectral lover. But Blossom’s uneasy past catches up with her by way of a Wanted poster and a bulldog Pinkerton agent.
Zach urges her to dig up his ill-gotten hoard and flee an unjust hanging, yet she won’t leave him to wander the room—or eternity—alone.

My Review:

And now for a completely off-the-wall diversion from my normal reads, and I’ll tell you upfront; this is different.

Yes, it’s a ghost story, but it does go a bit beyond that. This is one that you’ll need to just let your imagination soar, enjoy, go with it. Oh come on…have some fun.

Blossom Cherry has discovered her room isn’t completely uninhabited even when she isn’t entertaining one of her “evening clients.” Zachariah seems to have her room 24/7 whether she is alone or not. Blossom had arrived in Wylder, Wyoming in 1884 a scrappy girl, hungry and dirty, but already promising with attractive red-gold hair and green eyes, a mere scrap of a girl and looking into town saw the sign—Longhorn Saloon. Six years later she is a staple above the saloon and a favorite of the clientele of Madame Solange.

“Blushing all the way up from their big feet they’ve yet to grow into, up past sweet-pink-fanny cheeks, reddening their upright soldiers, and all the way up to scrubbed freckled noses.”

Zachariah may be a ghost, however, he is becoming a downright nuisance. He baits her, aggravates her, but there is no denying the attraction as it continues to grow with each manifestation. Zachariah was an outlaw just out having some fun when it was cut short. And this is where he’ll be—forever. Or maybe not…

I enjoyed the author’s style of writing, harking back to olde tyme words, slang, western flair.

“…didn’t have to spend a spit in the wind’s worth of jail time…”

The support characters are well-drawn and easy to see in their 1880s style dress (or undress as the case may be). But Zach isn’t the only one with a past and it’s about to catch up with Blossom.

So maybe the well-plotted and fun-paced storyline gets a little fanciful, slightly raunchy. It’s a ghost story. A treasure story. It’s already pushed reality. The epilogue sews it all up nice and neat. A break from the horror headlines we seem to confront almost daily now. A nice break, actually.

I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author and publisher through @NetGalley that in no way influenced this review. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Rating: Four Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Ghost Fiction, Western Romance
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press Inc
ASIN: B09QSXDZ77
Print Length: 232 pages
Publication Date: April 18, 2022
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

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The Author: I hale from a small town in Southern Indiana. As a former fashion illustrator, I use the same creative passion for writing both frightening and thrilling, with few tools beyond a blood-spattered laptop, feverish brain and a doorstop thesaurus.

The bonus? Fascinating research venturing far from my office chair: Big Bear California gold country, Africa’s hostile Great Karroo Desert, torrid Northern India, Bengali, the setting for Sary and the Maharajah’s Emeralds, Michigan’s harsh, unforgiving Upper Peninsula for ICY GRAVES, a small southern town for my Coming of Age/Thriller… ‘THE MONSTER FACTORY’…

New Books:

ICY GRAVES: A Serial Killer. An ice-bound lake house. Amazon eBook and print.

My children’s book:’DANFORTH THE DRAGON’ Amazon ebook and print.

‘THE MONSTER FACTORY’: Adult Coming Of Age Horror. https://www.amazon.com/Monster-Factory-Sharon-Shipley

BEAST IN THE MOON. An erotic Apocalyptic Sci-Fi. Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Beast-Moon-Sharon-Shipley

‘SARY AND THE MAHARAJAH’S EMERALDS’, joins ‘SARY’S GOLD’ and ‘SARY’S DIAMONDS ‘as a third adventure in my ‘Love, Lust and Peril Series. All on Amazon and http://www.thewildrosepress.com.

I’m also super excited Sary’s Gold is SHORTLISTED in the Western/Civil War/Prairie division of the Chanticleer International Book Review Contest, also capturing Grand Prize as feature script… where a young widow survives a brutal Deadwood-esque outpost, during the California Gold Rush. Published by http://www.thewildrosepress.com and Amazon.

SARY’S DIAMONDS, a lusty African adventure joins SARY’S F Diamonds. http://www.thewildrosepress.com and Amazon.

SARY and THE MAHARAJAH’S EMERALDS. 1910 torrid India, maharajah’s harems, passion and jewels beyond measure. Love my awesome cover by the very talented artist, Diana Carlisle.

[truncated—please check her author’s page for a complete listing of her works]

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