Murder In Miniature by Margaret Grace

Murder in Miniature by Margaret Grace
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Murder in Miniature is the first book in the A Miniature Mystery Series, and although it was a good book, i can't say that I am climbing the walls looking for book two. The story was fine, and I enjoyed the details of the miniatures world, but something about it made it difficult for me to read.

Maybe it was having grandma as the heroine, but I don't think it was that, but no matter how I tried i just could not relate to this book.

Geraldine is a grandma who lost her husband two years ago, and gets caught up in the only two murders in her small town in forever, while her granddaughter is here for a visit. She reasons through the questions and makes wonderful conclusions, not far fetched jumps, but yet at the same time I couldn't get into it and I find I am even having a hard time writing about it! Wow, that almost never happens with a book.


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Glossed and Found (A Bath and Body Mystery, #3) by India Ink

Glossed and Found by India Ink
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Glossed and Found is the third book in the Bath and Body Mystery series by India Ink. I am one that just simply has to read books in the order they are meant to go in, but as I read this book, parts of the story seemed familiar, like I had read them before, but yet other parts of the story I knew I hadn't read before, and I know I didn't read the second book before a couple of days ago. I am thinking I might have picked this book up at one time, not realizing it was book three, and then maybe read parts of it, but even if I did, it was a book worth reading again!

Auntie and Persia run Venus Envy in small town, Gull Harbor, WA. It is an upscale bath and body shop that recently added a hairdresser and a makeup artist. Persia has been gifted with a sensitive smell that allows her to pick up on subtle undertones in a fragrance, and so she creates custom blends for her clients, along with all the fragrance blends for Venus Envy's line of bath and body products.

The day of the Thanksgiving Gala in Gull Harbor, Lisa Tremont, the makeup artist at Venus Envy, ducks out early leaving a note that she had to meet someone about the suspicions that she had regarding her late fathers estate. Persia is mad at Lisa for ducking out, but she also knows Lisa wouldn't do it if it wasn't important. Lisa had a date for the Gala, but she never makes it to the Gala, and never calls her boyfriend to cancel. Her sister Amy is worried sick, but there isn't much her boyfriend, the chief of police can do, since Lisa is an adult.

When no one has heard from Lisa in a couple of days, Amy files an official missing person report, but that isn't good enough for Persia and Amy. With the police budget already stretched to the limits and more cuts in the future, Kyle, the police chief can only do so much, especially since there isn't a ransom note and no clues as to what happened to Lisa. Persia is always checking things out on her own, usually to the chagrin or Kyle, but this time she asks his permission to talk to Lisa's clients, as the owner of the shop where she works, and report back to Kyle. This time kyle is glad to have thee help, because he just doesn't have the resources available to do alot on this case.

Another well-written and enjoyable book. I felt pulled in and routing for Persia to find Lisa, and for Kyle to get more money from the council, although that issue is still left hanging at the end of the book, some of the things mentioned in the book about what to do about the council were brought up and I look forward to the next book to see which ones come through and what help it does give the town. I find myself enjoying the town of Gull Harbor and wishing it was a true place that I could visit, but for now I will just have to keep reading about it in this series.

View all my reviews Just found out from the authors webpage that she is no longer writing this series, nor does she feel that she could ever make money writing cozy mysteries, so this is the last. We'll never know if Kyle got more funding, if Auntie truly did run for a seat on the council, and what happened on Persia and Auntie's trip to Hawaii. To say that I am disappointed is an understatement. I am also disappointed in the authors disregard for fans and for the genre. Her current work is way out of my realm of reading, it is a more specific genre than cozy mysteries, and I can't believe that she could really be making more money writing that drivel, but if that is what she thinks, then so be it.

A Blush with Death (A Bath and Body Mystery, #2) by India Ink

A Blush With Death by India Ink
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A Blush with Death is the second book in the Bath and Body Mystery series by India Ink. I read the first a long time ago, then found the second and third at a used book store the other day, so now I can move on.

Venus Envy is a bath and body shop in Gull Harbor, WA. Auntie owns the shop and employes her niece Persia Vanderbilt as her custom fragrance blender.
Persia has a sensitive sense of smell that allows her to pick up on subtle undertones in a fragrance. This works well in her Aunt's shop where she custom blends fragrances for her customers. but also for the line of body products, lotions, oils, bath salts and such that they sell at Venus Envy.

Things were going great until Bebe Wilcox moved to town and opened a competing shop. The problem with Bebe is that she doesn't want to play by the rules, she wants to be top dog right now, and the only way to do that is to run Venus Envy out of business, which she works hard at by spreading rumors about the products at Venus Envy, that the are inferior and shoty materials were used to make them, which is not true of the Venus Envy products, but is true of Bebe's products. Then the roses are sabotaged. Auntie and Persia grow their own roses, and in fact went to all the trouble to make sure that they were certified as organic, but the gardner finds pesticide residue on the roses, so he rushes samples to a friend at the University lab and he gets results back quickly and to Auntie and Persia, someone deliberately put a strong pesticide, and a large amount on the roses. In fact so much that all the roses will have to be dug out, and at least three feet of soil under them and all replace, but it will take two to three years before the roses are mature enough to harvest their petals for the Rose Water that is a hugh seller at Venus Envy!

There isn't enough proof to get police chief, Kyle to do anything, so Auntie and Persia take matters into their own hands by staging a public argument and Persia moving out for show, then getting a job at Bebe's to snoop!

This is just an awesome book. There are recipes in the book for a number of the oils that are talked about in the story. It's a well-written book and the characters are real and easy to relate to in some ways, and different than people you might know in your own life, but at the same time you can relate to them. I really enjoyed the book, and the concept of the upscale Bath and Body shop in a small town. It's a fun read.

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Sentenced to Death (A Booktown Mystery, #5) by Lorna Barrett

Sentenced to Death (A Booktown Mystery #5) by Lorna Barrett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A Booktown Mystery is probably one of my favorite series, and so when I was able to get my hands on book number 5, Sentenced to Death, of course I was all over reading it!

It;s Founder's Day, a celebration that Bob Kelly had cooked up to drive more tourist traffic into town and promote the town. Of course Bob couldn't be bothered to do the leg work or give the opening speech, so Tricia's good friend, Deborah Black is doing it all. There is a plane pulling a banner behind it that is circling all around the town square, some loops are pretty low, and it has Tricia worried. Then Deborah climbs into the gazebo to give her opening speech, but she has to stop three time for the noise of the low flying plane to move out before she can go on. As she is talking Tricia notices the plane looks to be nose-diving the gazebo, and there isn't any sound, the engine is dead, and before anyone can say or do anything, the plane crashes into the gazebo. The pilot and Deborah are both gone in the blink of an eye.

As the days pass on, and Deborah's husband David sells his wife's store even before she is buried, refuses any help from his wife's family aside from leaving his young son with his wife's mother and never having a thing to do with him, then plans a funeral within days of getting his wife's body only for people to show up and realize there is no service, just a mingle time. Tricia has had enough, and she proceeds to give David a piece of her mind about his behavior, then she decides that something is wrong with this picture. She begins to investigate, and it takes her on a multi level trip through the lives of the pilot and his wife, Deborah and David, and the daycare center were little Davey broke his arm just a couple weeks prior.

Another in the series of well-written and enjoyable books by Lorna Barrett. I find myself wanting to be in a town like Stoneham, to be a part of the lives of the people around there. It just draws you in and makes you want to read and enjoy the books. looking forward to the next book in the series.

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Chapter & Hearse (A Booktown Mystery, #4) by Lorna Barrett

Chapter and Hearse by Lorna Barrett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really like this Booktown Mystery series. So I picked up books 4 and 5 of the series, and finished them as quickly as I picked them up!

Book 4, or Chapter & Hearse, starts out with a launch party of Angelica's new cookbook, but no one shows up, except this larger than life cut-out of Angelica. Bob Kelly, Angelica's boyfriend since she moved to Stoneham, is suppose to be there, but his car is parked in from of History Repeats Itself, and never shows up for the party. Tricia has never really like Bob all that much, so she finally decides that she is going down to History Repeats Itself and give Bob a piece of her mind, but before she can get there, she hears a loud whoosh, and the next thing she knows she is lying on her back, in the street with the firefighters and paramedics helping her up and moving her away from what used to be History Repeats Itself, it was the victim of a gas explosion, the store is gone and worse yet, the owner Jim Roth is dead. Bob Kelly is being carted away to the hospital, but he is being uncharacteristically tight lipped and refusing to talk to anyone, including the police.

Angelica leaves on a promotion tour of her book, and strange things keep happening to her, and finally Tricia can take it no more and starts investigating on her own. The twists and turns, and two different yet intertwined stories are going on at the same time, and it turns out that they all are related to Jim's death, actually his murder, turns out the gas meter was tampered with, it was no accident.


Another awesome story, well-written and enjoyable by Lorna Barrett. Will review the 5th next, then I can't wait for the next to come out!

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A Cancer Prevention Guide for The Human Race by Robert A. Wascher

A Cancer Prevention Guide for the Human Race by Robert A. Wascher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I got a copy of this book through the Goodreads First-Reads program.

I entered to win a copy because it seemed like so many people in my life had recently been diagnosed with cancer, but at the same time I wasn't sure I was going to like it. I mean, it says lower your cancer risk by 60% on the front cover, and I thought oh this is probably some guy telling me the latest fad to prevent cancer, it's not going to be worth it.b So I put off reading it for a bit, but I can't stand having such a large pile of to-be-read books, and having so many of them that were First-Reads that i needed to read and review, so I picked it up and started reading.

The book was not what I thought it would be. it was not some kook telling me the latest fad to prevent cancer, it was actually someone who did what we all want. He found all the studies, both highly scientific, moderately scientific and even non-scientific, and he took all that information and complied it into useable information. He summarized the research, and told you that this is the gist of what the highly scientific research is showing and this is what the other research is showing, and based on all that, this is what I think would benefit you in your life to reduce your risks.

For each thing that he notes as possibly helping to reduce your risk of cancer, he provide research to back up his claim, and he even tells you that this item has been talked about, but there is no research to show it is effective, and he even tells you if the research has shown something to be non-effective or even harmful.

I was pleasantly surprised, and glad that I read the book. It was not a fad book, but a compilation of the research out there, including footnotes with the exact study information and where to find the study so that you can check it out yourself. It is written so the common man or woman can read and understand it, without a bunch of overused medical terms.

For anyone with a family history of cancer, this is a good book to read. I think it gives good information and it is spot-on and worth the time. it is also a quick read, well organized and helpful.

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West by West: My Charmed, Tormented Life by Jerry West

West by West: My Charmed, Tormented Life by Jerry West
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So I received this book through the Goodreads First-Reads program. I like stories about real people, and I love hearing how they overcame things to become the people they are today.

This was a good book, but I am just not enough of a basketball fan to really understand and get into it all. I know, I live in Indiana, how can I not be a basketball fan, I don't know, trick of fate, but I have never really been all that into basketball, now football is another story altogether.

There were parts that were really good. The back history into his life, how he made friends and never seemed to notice the differences in skin color between people. I loved that, and I understood it and could grasp it. There were other parts, and to made it almost felt like a lot of name-dropping, when he would talk about another player, had how they did this or that, and tell their story and then wind it back to him. I just got lost in some of those and really had a hard time reading the whole book, as you can probably tell because of the amount of time that has passed since I got the book, until I finally started reading it until now! I mean, it really took me a long time to read this, because I had to keep putting it down and walking away from it for awhile before i could go back and read more.

Now, if you are a die-hard basketball fan, you will love this book. You might enjoy all the references to other players and times and accomplishments and the like. I still think the book was well-written and that it would appeal to men, but i just couldn't do it more than I did.

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The Hunt for the Seventh by Christine Morton-Shaw

The Hunt For The Seventh by Christine Morton-Shaw
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I picked this book up at my kids school book fair, because it was on sale, and it sounded interesting.

The reading level is probably that of a middle school aged child, but I still was able to read and enjoy the book.

Jim, his sister Sally, and their Dad move into a large estate where dad is going to be the head gardener, and they will live in the old servant quarters of the estate, the South Turret to be exact. The Master of the estate, whom they call "his nibs" or "nibs" is a very old gentleman in a wheelchair, but he has installed security cameras all over the estate and nearby village to keep tabs on everyone and everything. This job is important to the family as they have just lost their mom and this is a new start for them, so when the Master makes it clear that the children are to be kept under close supervision, they try to behave, for the sake of a new start. The problem is that almost as soon as they move in, strange things start occurring to Jim, he sees and hears things that are not there, in fact he seems to be being lead on a quest, without him ever wanting to be on a quest, even though it is risking his Dad's job, which is not jim's intention in the least. Turns out that Jim is the one that will have to save the Village, no matter what he wants.

I enjoyed the book and found it well-written. The main character definitely puzzles out things with the thinking of a 13 year-old, but i didn't figure out the clues any faster than he did! i think it is an excellent book for the middle age set, or anyone who likes the puzzle-mystery types of stories!

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An Invisible Thread by Laura Schroff & Alex Tresnowski

An Invisible Thread: The True Story of an 11-Year-Old Panhandler, a Busy Sales Executive, and an Unlikely Meeting with Destiny by Laura Schroff
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received this book through the GoodReads First-Reads program. Although the cover on my book looks nothing like the picture here, it's the same story.

I enjoyed the book and thought it was a good story.

There is a fair amount about Maurice and Laura, together, and how they effect each others lives, but there is a lot of back-story about Laura's life and growing up. I felt this was more a book for Laura than it was a book for Maurice. I am sure had it been written by Maurice, it would have had a completely different flavor.

I found the story compelling, and it moved me through, and although I had hoped for a happy ending, and the book does leave off with everyone in a "good place", I found myself disappointed. Disappointed that laura didn't make enough of a difference, that Maurice still got caught up in the problems of his life, but at the same time I did find the book a worthwhile read. It's hard to explain why I felt a little disappointed at the end without telling future readers too much about the book, and I completely understand if others disagree with my feelings on the book. That is part of the great thing about reading, that we each learn and get something different from the book!

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