Snake in the Glass by Sarah Atwell (A Glassblowing Mystery, #3)

Snake in the Glass by Sarah Atwell

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Book three in the Glassblowing Mystery series is as well-written and interesting as the previous books, and I enjoyed the cast of characters that are central to the storyline.

Em, is flying home from Ireland. She and Allison had went on a short vacation to reconnect with Allison's family and to heal some of her old wounds, but much to the dismay of Em and the rest of the cast, Allison has decided to stay on a little longer, which sends Cam, Em's brother and boyfriend to Allison, off in a sulk.

Uncle Frank shows up to visit, which is a great addition to the book. He is a character within a character and love having him in the story. It's not all fun and games, he is here for a little work, being a diamond broker from Australia, he is in Tucson for the annual Gem show. Of course, there is a little something-something going on with Frank and Nessa, but it seems to work.

A strange looking professor shows up at Em's back door wanting to rent her furnace to try out some gem heating techniques he's read about. And that is where things get strange!

Allison comes back, having made her peace with Ireland and her mother's death years before, only to find no one has heard from Cam. So being the good sister, Em talks to her boyfriend, the sheriff Matt, and one thing leads to another, between Cam being missing and the strange professor, Denis, Em and Frank and knee-deep in a mystery that somehow leads them to a dead body in the desert! All in the line of duty for a glass-blowing sleuth!

This story was well-writen, kept me entertained and guess at the killer until the very end. I loved learning more about the characters, and I really love the glassblowing information and tidbits. Also in this, there were added gem tidbits, that were fun and interesting.



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Town in a Wild Moose Chase by B.B. Haywood (A Candy Holliday Murder Mystery, #3)

Town in a Wild Moose Chase by B.B. Haywood

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The third book in the Candy Holliday Mystery series is "Town in a Wild Moose Chase". Once again, Candy is sucked into a murder investigation without really wanting to be there, but she is the one to find some of the most important clues.

The scene is the small town of Cape Willington, where her father retired to become a blueberry farmer, a dream of his and her mother's only her mother died before they could make it come true, so her dad, Doc, and Candy are making the dream a reality. It takes lots of hard work, and at least four part time jobs for Candy, one is a reporter on the town newspaper, which is only published once a week in the winter.

It's time for the Winter Moose Fest, and this year a surprise, a white moose is spotted around town, in fact he seems to be leading Candy to a number of the answers in the mystery. The highlight of this years Winter Moose Fest is an Ice Sculptor Contest, and it brings with it some strange characters to town.

We also come to find that one of Cape Willington's founding families, who have had issues in the past and been involved in past cover-ups and murders, is pulling strings on the town, almost like a puppet-master and he wants Candy to know the truth in the last moments before he leaves town. Turns out that Candy and her boss and sometime boyfriend, Ben both have alot of the same questions and are looking into the same people, but each is scared to share with the other, afraid it sounds a little crazy, only for them to find out that they are actually on the same page. Will they finally share all and really dig into the mysteries of the town or not remains to be seen come the next book, but for now they are getting there and they are each worried about the other.

As I read the book, it's not just the mystery that is occurring at the present time that draws you in, but the history of the town, they way things have played out in the past, the way families have feuded and mended or not mended over time, they way this on is considered the founders while the other, interlopers. There is just something about bad blood, old feuds and history that make this really interesting, over and above the current day mystery that is playing out. It's like there are two completely different levels of story going on at the same time in the book.

I look forward to the next book in the series, no teaser from the next book in this one, but plenty of Maine recipes in the back of the book!



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Lost and Fondue by Avery Aames (A Cheese Shop Mystery, #2)

Lost and Fondue by Avery Aames
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the second book in the Cheese Shop Mystery Series by Avery Aames.  Have to say that this one held more depth in the mystery and I enjoyed it to the end.


I love the family cheese shop, the information and cheese and wine in the book is fun, especially the wine, but I enjoy the cheese too, and the local craftsmanship of the area, The whole town is like a meca for small local farms in all kinds of services from cheese to honey to wine. It sounds like a place you would want to visit.


The characters are first-rate. Cousin Michael and his budding relationship with Meredith hits a snap when ex-wife Slyvie shows up in town, determined to take her twins back. It's really one thing after another with that gal! Then there is the bedding relationship between Jordan and Charlotte, and can she really fall for a man who keeps everything in his past a secret?  Then there are the lesser characters, Rebecca the former Amish child that now works for Charlotte, who has a budding relationship with Ipo, the local bee farmer. And of course the once nerdy computer tech high schooler that Charlotte hired who has blossomed into a wrestler and has his eyes on a classmate.


It is so fun to be invited into their lives and to see how things progress and move.


The mystery this time revolves around the old Zeigler Wine farm, which is being restored into a community college, and the legend of a treasure that old man Ziegler buried before he went mad, has all kinds of people coming into town to take a look around the place, only to have a murder occur at the gala event! The suspects are in the dozens and the twists and turns it takes before we finally get to the real who-done-it is amazing. A well-crafted story that kept my interest right to the end.


Book three in the series is Clobbered b y Camembert and I am looking forward to it, and unearthing more about Charlotte and her life.


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Night of the Howling Dogs by Graham Salisbury

Night of the Howling Dogs by Graham Salisbury
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Last fall I picked this book up at the school book fair, at a discounted price, but I thought it sounded interesting. This weekend, I picked the book off the shelf and sat down for a few minutes and read the book. Just a quick read.

I loved the story. I loved how it was based on actual events that really occurred, although the dialogue and story are fiction, the camp out, the earthquake and the original people are all real.  maybe it was the fact that the author was related to one of the original people in the event, but he was able to wind a story around this event, but he was able to build up the story, give us a glimpse into the lives of some boys and the Boy Scout Troop on the Island, some history and beliefs of the original island people, and wind all that around to the event. It was not the center stage moment, it just was something that occurred and changed everything they thought and how they acted, but without the front story you wouldn't get how much it changed the lives of the people involved. It was just a well-told story that made you want to know what happened, made you want to root for the underdog, and to hold your breathe till the end!

I loved the book. I am so glad I picked it up. I originally got it for my son, but I am going to have my daughter's read it also. I think the story is well worth all kids reading and realizing that life is bigger than you or me, and that petty differences have to be put aside sometimes and we have to work together for the good of the team at times.


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Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz

Scary Stories to Tell In the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My daughter picked this book up at the school book fair last year, and I was sitting in the house this past weekend, and I just didn't feel like starting a new book, just wanted something small to read at that moment, and I picked this book up.


It is a collection of old stories to scare you, some are better than others, but then again, some have been around for centuries. What I liked the most was the Notes and Sources sections of the book at the end, that told where the author found these stories and some of the history and variations on them. That was more fun than the stories, then again had I been eight to ten years old again at a sleep-over, I am sure the stories all would have had me screaming with my friends.


It's a great kids book, great stories, and some information. Works on so many levels for me as a parent, it entertains the younger one, gives information for the research minded one, and stories for my son to try to tease his sisters with! As a reader, it works as well. Even as an adult, I still found the book to be enjoyable and fun. It was a quick read for me, and just what I wanted Sunday afternoon.



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File M for Murder by Miranda James (A Cat in the Stacks Mystery, #3)

File M for Murder by Miranda James
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is book 3 in the A Cat in The Stacks Mystery series, and it is so well-written and crafted.  I have enjoyed this series so much. At first, when I realized that the lead character was an older gentlemen in the south, I thought there was no way I would be able to relate and get into it, but he is a father to grown children, and as a mother I can understand what he talks about when he talks about or relates to his children.  He is just so easy to relate to and it makes the stories flow and so enjoyable to read.

In this installment, Charlie's daughter Laura, returns to Athena to teach a semester at the College, in drama.  The recently hired playwright is a former boyfriend and gets her the job when the originally hired drama coach backs out. Problem is, Connor, the former boyfriend doesn't want to be the former, he wants to be the current, and he "brings" with him an admirer by the name of Damtria that will stop at nothing to get Connor back. High drama for the tiny town of Athena. It only gets greater when Laura finds Connor dead in his apartment!

It was wonderful to catch up with the characters from this story. Charlie still has his boarders, Justin Wardlaw from the first book and Stewart Delacourte from the second book. I love that people you met in other installments don't just disappear, but are still there, and play minor roles, but yet we still get to check in on them and see how they are progressing.  Of course, there is the ever present housekeeper, Azelea and her daughter, the highly capable chief deputy, Kanesha Berry.  Charlie's son Sean is still in town and working a little, life in Athena is going good. Of course a good murder investigation is only the next thing to come to spice up their lives!

What Cat in the Stack Mystery would be complete without Diesel, the Maine Coon cat that Charlie adopted when he moved back to Athena and that goes everywhere with him, to work at the college, to volunteer at the library, and he even weighs in on the murder investigation! It's almost like he can talk to Charlie! It is so fun to listen to the interactions and the play between Diesel and the main character and the suspects. Love it!

This is a well-written, beautifully crafted book that will be worth anyone's time, unless you don't like cats, then you might not enjoy it as much, but it is worth the time to read!


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Deadly Blessings by Julie Hyzy (An Alex St. James Mystery #1)

Deadly Blessings by Julie Hyzy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

To start off I have to admit that I really like Julie Hyzy as an author. I am caught on her White House Chef Mystery Series, so I had high expectations for this book. Originally I downloaded it on my free Nook for PC application, but my computer crashed and gave up the ghost so I lost that copy but I picked this up at the library, along with book two in the series the other day, and was excited to be able to read this and see if I liked it as much as I did her other series.

Alex St. James is an investigative reporter for a News Magazine on television in the Chicago area. At the beginning of the book, she is dating Dan, her counterpart at a rival production, and he just doesn't seem like he is really invested in the relationship, and the more the book goes on, the more I come to dislike him. By the end of the book, I hate the guy, I think smarmey is a god term for him!

Alex is investigating her own adoption, in secret so as not to upset her parents, and on her own time, which her boss is not happy with, that she is away from the office and job at any given moment. Apparently a shake-up is in the works and he wants her there, probably so he doesn't have to deal with it on his own, but he has a gruff manner and it takes until the very end of the book for me to actually understand Bas a little and actually come to have a bit of respect for him.

Alex is working on a story, a wild and explosive story of Polish immigrants, a Catholic priest and prostitution.  Bass pulls her off the story, but there is something about it that wouldn't let Alex leave it alone, so in the process of working up the "fluff" story that he replaces her on, she finds a way to still dig into the original story and gets extremely caught up in the story and the people, to the extent that she puts her own life in grave danger.

It is an extremely well written story, it pulls you along, there is never a lull in the flow of the story, and I couldn't put the book down, I had to know what happened. We are also introduced to a new guy, Will in the shake up at the office, which leads to some emotions on a personal level for Alex, and I for one am looking forward to seeing how that plays out in the future.

Another wonderful book by Julie Hyzy and I for one am looking so forward to the next, Deadly Interest.


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