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/

The Wedding Plot: A Mercy Carr Mystery by Paula Munier – #BookReview – #TuesdayBookBlog

The Wedding Plot by Paula Munier

Mercy & Elvis Mysteries #4

Book Blurb:

The Wedding Plot, USA Today bestselling author Paula Munier’s fourth Mercy Carr mystery, finds Mercy and Elvis at a deadly Vermont wedding.

Love never dies a natural death…

When Mercy’s grandmother Patience marries her longtime beau Claude Renault at the five-star Lady’s Slipper Inn, it promises to be the destination wedding of the year. Just as the four-day extravaganza is due to begin, the inn’s spa director Bodhi St. George disappears—and Mercy’s mother Grace sends Mercy and Elvis to find him. But what they discover instead is a stranger skewered by a pitchfork in the barn on the goat farm where St. George lived.

As Mercy tries to figure out who the victim is and where St. George is hiding, the bride and groom’s estranged relations gather for the first of the pre-wedding festivities. Long-buried rivalries and resentments surface—and Mercy realizes that they’re all keeping secrets that could tear both families apart. When Elvis interrupts the escalating melodrama to alert Mercy to an intruder on the estate, she finds a wounded St. George in the cottage where she and Troy are staying. St. George is not who he says he is—but when he escapes from the hospital and disappears again, Mercy thinks he’s gone for good. With the wedding imminent and the families at each other’s throats, she decides finding St. George will have to wait.

The big day arrives—but the danger is far from over. With the families and the festivities still under threat, it’s up to Mercy and Elvis together with Troy and Susie Bear to stop the killer and save the bride and groom—before death do they part.

My Review:

I really like Mercy Carr, formerly an Army MP and her bomb-sniffing Belgian Malinois, Elvis—a promise to his former handler to care for him. Highly trained and intelligent, Elvis is the star of the series, as well as her love interest, Vermont Fish and Wildlife Game Warden Troy Warner. He has a rescue Newfoundland Retriever mix, Susie Bear, who you just want to hug.

This entry to the series has Mercy participating (unwillingly) in her grandmother’s destination wedding at the luxurious Lady Slipper Inn, an over-the-top lavishly restored historical resort in the “Live Free or Die” state. Of course, the whole family is there and that is the problem, beginning with her mother, Grace, who is orchestrating the entire affair.

Mercy is thrown into the position of instructor for the wedding party’s yoga session, filling in for the missing spa director who is the manager of the adjacent goat farm, producer of award-winning artisan Cruyére cheese. But meeting Annie, owner and operator of the creamery, discovers with Elvis far more than a missing yoga instructor—a dead body. And it’s not the yoga instructor.

Nor will it be the only body Mercy and Elvis discover and as the wedding plans advance and guests begin arriving, complications set in.

I wouldn’t really call this novel a cozy mystery. I read the first and third (The Hiding Place), but still struggled with the sheer amount of characters. The main support character, Annie, was well fleshed and we did get additional background on Mercy. The Vermont descriptions were both delightful and terrifying, the storms enough to drive any Sunday driver into another state.

While the canines had an integral part of this narrative, it was the families of the wedding party and the clashes between them and their problem with Mercy and her chosen life path that took center stage. Finding and discovering ever-deepening and disturbing minutiae had the plot going in different directions, but always coming back to the next family conflict. Honestly, I thought the wedding would never happen.

The conclusion satisfies but the storyline bogged down for me this time to the point where it became slow going. No problem—Book 4 being a one-off for me. I’ll be looking for Book 5. I like the series and Mercy, Troy, and those amazing dogs.

“A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.” – Mignon McLaughlin

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: Three point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Cozy Animal Mystery, Women Sleuths
Publisher: Minotaur Books
ISBN: ‎ 125082236X
ASIN: B09CNF3X3W
Print Length: 342 pages
Publication Date: July 19, 2022
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: PAULA MUNIER is a literary agent and the USA TODAY bestselling author of the Mercy Carr mysteries. A BORROWING OF BONES, the first in the series, was nominated for the Mary Higgins Clark Award, and was recently named the Dog Writers Association of America’s Dogwise Book of the Year. The second, BLIND SEARCH, pubbed in November 2019. The third, THE HIDING PLACE, will debut in March 2021.

Paula was inspired to write the series by the hero working dogs she met through Mission K9 Rescue, her own rescues, Newfoundland/retriever mix Bear, Great Pyrenees/Australian cattle dog mix Bliss, and Malinois mix Blondie, and a lifelong passion for crime fiction.

Paula also written three popular books on writing: PLOT PERFECT, THE WRITER’S GUIDE TO BEGINNINGS, and WRITING WITH QUIET HANDS, as well as the acclaimed memoir FIXING FREDDIE: A True Story of a Boy, a Mom, and a Very, Very Bad Beagle, and HAPPIER EVERY DAY: Simple ways to bring more peace, contentment and joy into your life.

She lives in New England with her family, her three rescue dogs, and a rescue torbie tabby named Ursula.

#TuesdayBookBlog

Still Waters (An FBI K-9 Novel Book 7) by Sara Driscoll – #BookReview – #TuesdayBookBlog

Still Waters by Sara Driscoll

An F.B.I. K-9 Novel, Book 7

Book Blurb:

A training session in the Minnesota wilderness becomes a fight for survival for FBI handler Meg Jennings and her K-9 partner . . .

Keeping their search-and-rescue skills honed isn’t just a job requirement for FBI Special Agent Meg Jennings and her Labrador, Hawk—it’s essential to saving lives. A water search training weekend in the Boundary Waters area of Minnesota has attracted participants from all levels of law enforcement, each vying to win. The races are challenging, the rivalry is intense, and Meg is already under pressure when Hawk alerts to a scent in the water—and discovers the fresh body of one of Meg’s fellow competitors.

The contest is called off, but Meg’s still feeling the heat. The victim had made an unfounded complaint about her, one that could cost Meg her job and see Hawk removed from her care. The field of suspects is daunting, and all of them are experts in throwing others off the trail. And though Meg’s team flies out to Minnesota to help uncover the truth, they’re on unfamiliar territory, pitted against a killer with the skills, and the motivation, to stay hidden in plain sight . .

My Review:

I’m always thrilled to get the next book in this exciting series, as the last book read always leaves me looking forward to the next. And, of course, I’m partial to books about service dogs and their staunch loyalty to their handlers.

This entry to the series has Meg Jennings, a search and rescue dog handler for the FBI’s Human Scent Evidence Team off in remote Minnesota in a field competition for dogs training to perform underwater searches. Hawk is a Labrador, essentially a rescue, who performs beautifully on land, Meg having spent countless hours training, working with the dog, honing his skills both verbally as well as through hand signals.

The competition draws members of law enforcement from all over and while the rivalry is intense, Meg is not required to add the accomplishment to her jacket—she just wanted to expand on Hawk’s abilities. When Meg discovers a competitor mistreating her dog, Meg protects the animal. The handler, however, turns the table on Meg and files a complaint about her abusing Hawk. When Hawk discovers her body in 80 feet of water after the second trial, it’s Meg who hits #1 on the suspect list.

Meg is not alone, however, as she has her team including partner Brian and his dog, Lacey (best buds with Hawk), as well as her heart partner, Todd Webb (a firefighter/paramedic), and extended family Clay McCord (her sister’s partner and investigative reporter). Unfortunately, the accusation is very serious and could spell the loss of Hawk as well as her job.

Meg going pro-active can only work for so long, even given that the competition is shut down, as no one is allowed to leave and law enforcement establishes authority—a national park is also federal jurisdiction. I enjoy the teaching moments, the tidbits about the training of the canines, their instincts and how to use them, their abilities, and the symbiotic relationship with their humans.

This storyline dealt heavily with Meg’s feelings about her possible loss of Hawk and her job, the plans to surreptitiously “interview” the other handlers, and those who might possibly have known the victim or her previous bad experiences, providing a montage of suspects. While I enjoyed the atmospheric descriptions of the cold Minnesota mountains (the camping…brrr…) and the land of a thousand lakes, I missed more active involvement with the dogs.

The conclusion swept the narrative into a climactic and dramatic operation that included both dogs and law enforcement and provided a satisfying closure to all open threads.

“Oregon Tuck: A method of floating or vertically rolling over a waterfall in a kayak or dinghy. Named for the many large waterfalls in the northwest United States.”

I’ve read most of the books in this series, enjoying each one, including the last one, Book 6, Under Pressure, and am always assured of a new, unique storyline while still involving my favorite characters, particularly Hawk. You could read this as a standalone, but then you’d miss a lot of good reading!

I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author(s) and Kensington Books (thank you!) through @NetGalley that in no way influenced this review. These are my honest thoughts. Currently on pre-order—go ahead and get on the list!

Rosepoint Rating: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Police Procedurals, Crime Thrillers
Publisher: Kensington Books
ISBN-10: ‎ 1496735064
ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1496735065
ASIN: B09TX318L4
Print Length: 305 pages
Publication Date: November 29, 2022
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Authors: Sara Driscoll is the pen name of Jen J. Danna and

Ann Vanderlaan, authors of the Abbott and Lowell Forensic Mysteries. Jen is an infectious disease researcher at a cutting-edge Canadian university near Toronto, but loves to spend her free time writing the thrilling and mysterious. Ann lives in western North Carolina with five rescued pit bulls, including Kane, now a certified therapy dog. She also trains with Kane for competitive nose work. You can follow the latest news on the F.B.I. K-9 Mysteries at SaraDriscollAuthor.com.

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Canned Hunt: A Nick Tanner Crime Thriller by Kerry K Cox – #BookReview – #crimethrillers

Canned Hunt by Kerry K Cox

Rosepoint Publishing: Five Stars

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Special Agent Nick Tanner goes undercover to follow up on another agent’s investigation—one that may have led to her murder. From the stark canyons and soaring rock walls of Book Cliffs to the gritty back streets of Las Vegas; from the swift-flowing Green River rapids to a pastoral Utah town hiding violent secrets, Tanner is drawn into a seething vortex of a wildlife trafficking family, a crooked sheriff, a white nationalist church, and a killer with the perfect alibi.
And one of them has Tanner in their crosshairs.

His Review:

The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is charged with the control of hunting and the protection of our country’s wildlife. One of their own has been found dead near the Book Cliffs in southern Utah. Although the area looks desolate, it is teeming with wildlife including deer, elk, bears, mountain lions, and bobcats.

Hunters gravitate toward the area for the hunting trophies achieved for those who are tenacious enough to hunt the area. A lucrative business flourishes with the unscrupulous charging $10,000 to $15,000 per hunt for big game. The licensed operators contribute to local politics and other endeavors.

Assisting the hunters that may no longer enjoy perfect health are activities onerous to most hunters, but wounding an animal in the area and then releasing it from a cage is not uncommon. The wounded animal will seek shade and a place to heal from the wound. The “hunter” then is directed to hunt in that particular area and finding the wounded animal is able to harvest the specimen.

The local sheriff, Vernon Rice, is complicit in the endeavor. He is paid a handsome fee to look the other way. His brother has a church that thinks that the federal government has no business controlling and policing local business such as hunting. Federal agents are not well received in the area.

This is a well-written and researched book. The blind bobcat, Ray Charles, makes for a charismatic support character and Nick Tanner as the main character is a strong, passionate, and caring law enforcement officer. The independent attitude and dislike of the federal government is well displayed. Graft and independent spirit are portrayed in a very believable story fabric. I recommend you read and enjoy this fast-paced fictionalized exposé. 5 stars – CE Williams

Many thanks to the author for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book. I enjoyed it as much as the first in the series, Money Bear.

Book Details:

Genre: Crime Thrillers
Publisher: Level Best Books
ASIN: B09P4G4WXH
Print Length: 362 pages
Publication Date: March 14, 2022
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Links: Canned Hunt [Amazon]
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Author: [Kerry K Cox] When I was a kid, I didn’t want to be a policeman, or fireman, or astronaut, or major league third baseman. I wanted to be a forest ranger.

Okay, also a major league third baseman. Y’know, as a summer job.

But it turned out my inability to comprehend biochem made a career in wildlife management as realistic as my chances of starting for the Dodgers.

So, after four years at Oregon State University I declared myself graduated, and returned home to Southern California. There I taught swimming, karate, and pre-school while I sold articles to various magazines, wrote children’s shows for The Disney Channel, and eventually became a full-time writer.

And because one of my childhood dreams lives on, I now write novels focused on the dark underworld of wildlife trafficking, and work with various wildlife, marine mammal, and feral cat/kitten groups as a rescue volunteer along California’s Central Coast.

I’m still waiting on that call from the Dodgers.

I live by the ocean in Cambria, California with my wife and a clowder of cats.

Enjoy Your Sunday

The Faithful Dog: A Civil War Novel by Terry Lee Caruthers – #BookReview – #historicalfiction

The Faithful Dog by Terry Lee Caruthers

in Children’s 1800s US Historical Fiction

Book Blurb:

When German-born Louis Pfeif leaves home to join the Fifty-Eighth Illinois Infantry Regiment in 1862, his dog accompanies him. At Chicago’s Camp Douglas, Bärchen charms Louis’s fellow officers—even Colonel Lynch. As the Civil War escalates, the unit is transferred to Tennessee and placed under the command of General Lew Wallace. Shortly afterward, they come under fire at Erin Hollow. Bärchen proves his mettle—remaining by Louis’s side amid the boom of cannon and the rattle of musketry. Then one morning the two are thrust onto a battlefield, where one will die and the other must learn to carry on.

Based on a true story and the history of the Fifty-Eighth Illinois, The Faithful Dog powerfully illustrates the unwavering bond of devotion between dogs and their humans.

His Review:

A country was torn in the conflict between the north and the south. Many of the combatants who fought were immigrants or first-generation Americans in the new world. Second Lieutenant Lewis W. Pfeif was one of those volunteers. He served valiantly fighting to support President Lincoln and his new homeland.

This story is about his faithful dog Bänchen. The family dog was his pride and joy and went with him to the various camps. Second Lieutenant Pfeif was attached to the Fifty-Eighth Illinois regiment. They were transported by rail or steamboat to the various battlefields they fought in. The dog was a constant companion and was instrumental in alerting the regiment whenever danger was near.

Second Lieutenant Pfeif was killed in a battle against the Thirteenth Tennessee commanded by Confederate Colonel Alfred J. Vaughn. A head wound dispatched the Lieutenant instantly but the dog stayed by his master’s side and could not be coaxed to leave, nor would he allow anyone to approach or assist his master. Despite all of his efforts, his master would not rise.

After the war, his mistress went to the battlefield to try to find her husband’s remains. She was unable to find him until she was approached by a very tired and beleaguered Bänchen. The dog was so dirty and mangy that she hardly recognized him. However, he was able to lead her to the location of her husband’s remains and they were dug up and returned to Illinois.

This well-written story describes the horror and sacrifices the combatants suffered on both sides during the Civil War. The heartbreak of most families during this conflict was the lack of knowledge of where their brothers, fathers, or sons fell and were buried. Because of this war dog, he was able to get his master’s remains back to the proper burial site in Illinois. 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: Children’s 1800s US Historical Fiction, Children’s Dog Books, Children’s 1800s American Historical Fiction
Publisher: Black Rose Writing
ASIN: B09VPXZV1N
Print Length: 166 pages
Publication Date: July 7, 2022
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Links: The Faithful Dog [Amazon]
Barnes & Noble

The Author: Terry Lee Caruthers enjoys writing, storytelling, and cats with a little cross-stitching on the side. Her preference is to spend her days curled up in the porch swing with a large glass of ice water and a good book. And yes! Unbelievably, she actually has a porch swing in her living room!

Terry credits her mother and maternal grandmother for nurturing her love of books. As a lifetime reader, she is drawn to coming-of-age novels and Southern literary fiction, but can’t pass up a good mystery. Her favorite book of all time is Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird,” which she was assigned to read in ninth grade–and has re-read almost every year since. Because of her prior involvement in cat rescue, Terry collects books on stray, feral, lost, and abandoned cats.

While fall is her favorite time of the year, she does love a good, deep snow. Summer is a season she could do without–although she does love its caladiums!

When not working, Terry spends her time writing. She has several more manuscripts in progress which she hopes to share with you in the future!

Enjoy Your Sunday

No Strangers Here by Carlene O’Connor – #BookReview – #mystery

No Strangers Here (A County Kerry Novel Book 1) by Carlene O’Connor

Rosepoint Publishing: Five Stars

Book Blurb:

In the powerful tradition of Ann Cleeves and Louise Penny, USA Today bestselling author Carlene O’Connor’s new series set in Ireland brings together complex characters and a fascinating setting, focusing on a female vet who returns home to the village where she grew up and must reckon with her past while untangling mysteries in the present.

On a rocky beach in the southwest of Ireland, the body of Jimmy O’Reilly, sixty-nine years old and dressed in a suit and his dancing shoes, is propped on a boulder, staring sightlessly out to sea. A cryptic message is spelled out next to the body with sixty-nine polished black stones and a discarded vial of deadly veterinarian medication lies nearby. Jimmy was a wealthy racehorse owner, known far and wide as The Dancing Man. In a town like Dingle, everyone knows a little something about everyone else. But dig a bit deeper, and there’s always much more to find. And when Detective Inspector Cormac O’Brien is dispatched out of Killarney to lead the murder inquiry, he’s determined to unearth every last buried secret.

Dimpna Wilde hasn’t been home in years. As picturesque as Dingle may be for tourists in search of their roots and the perfect jumper, to her it means family drama and personal complications. In fairness, Dublin hasn’t worked out quite as she hoped either. Faced with a triple bombshell—her mother rumored to be in a relationship with Jimmy, her father’s dementia is escalating, and her brother is avoiding her calls—Dimpna moves back to clear her family of suspicion.

Despite plenty of other suspects, the guards are crawling over the Wildes. But the horse business can be a brutal one, and as Dimpna becomes more involved with her old acquaintances and haunts, the depth of lingering grudges becomes clear. Theft, extortion, jealousy and greed. As Dimpna takes over the family practice, she’s in a race with the detective inspector to uncover the dark, twisting truth, no matter how close to home it strikes . . .

His Review:

Dingle is a peninsula in Ireland where the wealthy, like all cream, rise to the top and the O’Reilly family was the cream. They owned a good part of the peninsula and had many of the residents working for them. The patriarch of the family was Jimmy O’Reilly. Well dressed, he is found wearing a tie, dragged up on a beach from the ocean and very dead!

Cormac O’Brien is assigned to the case. The tie around Jimmy’s neck is tied correctly and looks almost new. He is in a very well-designed suit that does not look like it came out of the sound! The well-connected Mr. O’Reilly’s death must be solved and as quickly as possible.

A tarot card and vial of a strong sedative is found on the body indicating a veterinarian may be involved. Why would one of the wealthiest men in Dingle wind up on the shores of the sound murdered?

The local veterinarian is Dr. Wilde. He is well known throughout the community and everyone is concerned because he exhibits signs of advancing dementia, which has left him befuddled and confused. His practice is suffering and his daughter, Dr. Dimpna Wilde, also a very good veterinarian, decides to return to her hometown to help her father.

It has been 27 years since Dimpna left Dingle for college and founded her own veterinary practice. Since the death of Mr. O’Reilly was presumed to be by someone with access to veterinary medications, the suspicion fell on the Wilde family.

The author weaves a very fascinating tale of duplicity, jealousy, and avarice. I found myself glued to the dialogue which shifted around identifying many suspects. But could the vet have been the perpetrator? 5 stars – CE Williams

[I’ve read many books by this author following the Irish Village Mystery series, including Murder on an Irish Farm, Murder in Connemara, and Murder in an Irish Cottage, all delightful 4.5 star reads. I thought the CE would enjoy starting this one. He did!]

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book. Currently on pre-order.

Book Details:

Genre: International Mystery & Crime, Murder
Publisher: Kensington Books
ASIN: B09RGG842R
Print Length: 320 pages
Publication Date: October 25, 2022
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Links: No Strangers Here [Amazon]
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Author: Carlene O’Connor comes from a long line of Irish storytellers. Her great-grandmother emigrated from Ireland to America during the Troubles, and the stories have been flowing ever since. Of all the places across the pond she’s wandered, she fell most in love with a walled town in County Limerick and was inspired to create the town of Kilbane, County Cork. Carlene currently divides her time between New York and the Emerald Isle.

http://www.carleneoconnor.com

Enjoy Your Sunday

Death by Didgeridoo (Jamie Quinn Mystery Book 1) by Barbara Venkataraman – #BookReview – #cozyanimalmystery

Book Blurb:

Attorney Jamie Quinn is on a six-month hiatus from practicing law to deal with her beloved mother’s death. Rarely leaving the house, she shares most of her days with her late mother’s cranky cat.

But soon, Jamie is forced into action by a frantic call from her Aunt Peg, whose autistic son Adam is in police custody and suspected of murdering his music teacher, a once-famous rock star named Spike.

It’s up to Jamie to find the real killer. The problem is, Spike seems to have had more enemies than he had friends, and Adam had confessed to the murder already. Can Jamie piece together the evidence and bring the murderer to justice before it’s too late?

A delightful, light mystery set in the small town of Hollywood, South Florida, Death By Didgeridoo is the first book in Barbara Venkataraman’s Jamie Quinn Cozy Mysteries series.

My Review:

That’s a fun word—Didgeridoo—of course, a wind instrument originating and common to Australia. But, yeah, so both the title and the cover are a serious draw.

Fortunately, the short story following delivers the implied promise. It’s both unique and vaguely familiar.

A cozy mystery with an attorney protagonist (shudder), practicing family law until her mother’s death leaves her devastated and almost literally unable to function. Six months has not seen her return to her former active lifestyle, now barely capable of leaving the couch long enough to feed her mother’s cranky cat. The cat is on a formidable mourning period of its own.

When she receives a hysterical call from her Aunt Peg about her son, Adam, Jamie is forced to get up and deal with it—it’s family—and Adam cannot handle being pulled in and suspected in the murder of his music teacher with his own musical instrument. Adam has Asberger’s Syndrome. He is shutting down–and this trauma could make it permanent.

Jamie is forced to swing her focus on her cousin and her aunt—she is not a criminal attorney—but is smart and resourceful and it doesn’t take too long (this is a short story after all) to first, get her cousin calmed, and then invoke the help of her best friend and a PI.

The storyline necessarily moves at a good pace and along the way develops the characters sufficiently that the reader becomes invested in a positive outcome. The victim of the didgeridoo was not particularly viewed with love but the numero uno suspect is entirely innocent and naïve and almost becomes victim number two. It’s easy to become invested in the characters.

A quick read, engaging, and entertaining. I received a (now permanently) free review copy of this book as an introduction to the series after a request from the author that in no way influenced this review. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Rating: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Cozy Animal Mystery, Women Sleuths, Literature & Fiction
Publisher: Next Chapter
ISBN: ‎ B099KZ3XX8
ASIN: B00GVJ4WOY
Print Length: 102 pages
Publication Date: November 13, 2013
Source: Author request

Title Link(s):

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Award-winning author Barbara Venkataraman is an attorney and mediator specializing in family law and debt collection.

She is the author of the Jamie Quinn Cozy Mystery series, as well as: Teatime with Mrs. Grammar Person; The Fight for Magicallus; If You’d Just Listened to Me in the First Place; Quirky Essays for Quirky People; and the Flash Fiction Shorts series.

She has won the Indie Book of the Day award twice, the Book of the Day Award, a gold medal for memoir in the Readers’ Favorite Competition, was a finalist in the Kindle Book Awards twice, and won first place in the Amateur Detective category of the Chanticleer Murder & Mayhem Mystery Writing Competition.

Her popular Jamie Quinn Cozy Mystery Series includes: Death by Didgeridoo, The Case of the Killer Divorce, Peril in the Park, Engaged in Danger, Jeopardy in July, and Malice in Miami.

Her recent non-fiction: Accidental Activist: Justice for the Groveland Four, a memoir she co-authored with her son about lessons he learned while working to exonerate four men falsely accused of a terrible crime in the Jim Crow South.

Pryor & Cummings: The GAIA Incident by Rod Pennington – #BookReview – #TuesdayBookBlog

Book Blurb:

Late at night, a hacker sneaks into the subterranean lab of a celebrity scientist known as the “Earthquake Whisperer.” There he makes a startling discovery which gets him murdered. The police soon learn surveillance video shows no one had left the facility since the homicide and a thorough search for the killer comes up empty.

To solve this locked room techno-thriller-mystery, an old-school detective and his retired K-9 reluctantly partner with a young high-tech rookie. This quickly escalates from a cut-and-dried homicide to something much more ominous.

This story is populated with relatable characters with interesting relationships. The dialogue is witty, there are whiplash inducing plot shifts and it has a surprise twist ending you won’t see coming.

My Review:

This book starts out with quite the hook but then settled into the plodding of everyday investigative work. Of course, it’s a locked-room mystery, although that part is discoverable fairly soon and becomes a techno-thriller—which is okay by me—an opportunity to learn.

First, I had a problem with Pryor, mid-life macho coming off a suspension well deserved. He can be short, rude, and sometimes reminded me of the Bosch character in the TV series of the same name. Once linking that image, it was tough not to see Welliver in scenes involving Pryor.

I’m pretty torn on this one, about evenly distributed between liking and not. Interesting plot premise (note the cover), but since I wasn’t a particular fan of Pryor, it was tough to balance that with those characters I did like. Pryor is also ex-special ops military. Cummings is young, a grandson of Pryor’s academy instructor and, wait for it: formerly dated Pryor’s daughter. (How small IS this world?) Cummings is also sharp computer, technology generation. I had the promise of an active canine in the storyline as well, even if a retired police dog, and it wasn’t as strong as I’d hoped.

The murder of the hacker in the special underground computer lab links Pryor through the ownership of the lab, who is the second husband of his ex-wife. Just too many close links here to buy.

With any threat to the country, the FBI will get involved and because the consensus this might be (a threat), they did. More characters and they all tend to clash with Pryor. When the technology kicks in, I get a chance to read what currently exists and that projected. The plot steers into the future of bots and the manipulation we’ve confronted before. Then postulation goes beyond that.

I did enjoy some of the dialogue as it produces more than one chuckle and lightens the serious mood, although there again is tempered with soapbox discussions that veer into current political hotbed issues. Relationships tend to get entwined and there are plot puzzlers that eventually get channeled into a satisfying conclusion on a twisted plot course.

Interesting and well-paced, however, a protagonist not everyone will love with espoused philosophies sure to raise eyebrows.

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: Technothrillers, Hard-boiled Mystery
Publisher: Integration Press LLC
ASIN: B09T3VTLZP
Print Length: 267 pages
Publication Date: May 24, 2022
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

Amazon | Barnes & Noble

The Author: Rod Pennington writes a mixed bag of suspense stories filled with quirky characters, rapid-fire dialogue and whiplash inducing plot shifts. With his off-beat sense of humor and original storylines that do not fit comfortably into any established genre, he has developed a hard-core group of fans.

In addition to fiction, Pennington has either sold or has had optioned seven screenplays and also writes regularly in national publications such as the Wall Street Journal.

You can reach Rod at AuthorRodPennington@Gmail.com

[truncated—see the list of Books by Rod Pennington in the author’s bio: The Fourth Awakening Series, The Family Series, Stand Alone Books]

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