Wild Goose Chase

Wild Goose Chase is the first is Terri Thayer's quilt mystery series. This is a book that has been sitting on my bookshelves for ages along with book two and three. Time to immerse myself in the fun of quilting, fat quarters, rotary cutters and murder. Being a quilter makes this book all the more fun to read. 

Dewey Pellicano inherits her mother's quilt shop after her mother dies in a hit and run accident. It is the first time the shop Quilter Paradiso is setting up a stand at the state quilt extravaganza without Dewey's much loved mother. Dewey has taken over and is trying to install a new computerized sales systems while her sister in law Kym is trying to thwart it in all directions. Famed quilter Claire Armstrong offers to buy the shop from Dewey insisting she was already buying it from her mother. But when Dewey discovers Claire's dead body from an accident with a rotary cutter, she is stunned and wondering what to do next. When a second murder takes place, it is obvious that Claire's accident was not that at all and Dewey tries to piece together the puzzle of just who is at this quilt show with deadly intent before another body turns up. 

As with most of the cozy mysteries I read, I have trouble writing a review as I really would not want to give away any of the hints of the book. Dewey is a likable new sleuth. If you are a quilter like me, you will love this book. Even if you don't quilt yourself, it is a great start to a new cozy mystery series. 

Happy reading!

Heidi

The Lantern

If you enjoy a good ghost story and a mystery with twists and turns while also enjoying sense of smell and atmosphere, then Deborah Lawrenson's The Lantern is a good for you. I had read a number of reviews online and was prepared to be disappointed with this book. I was not at all disappointed and was surprised now at the reviews.

This is Eve and Bénédicte's story...one set in the present while the other is set in the past. On the surface, it is a ghost story set in a beautiful old and rundown farmhouse set in the Provence. Eve lives today and senses not being alone in the farmhouse she buys with boyfriend Dom. But as she meets Sabine in the village, she begins to wonder if she really knows Dom at all. She knew he had a previous marriage but her suspicious about his ex-wife Rachel keep growing stronger.

In the meantime, we meet Bénédicte Lincel who is the younger daughter of the farmer who lived in the farmhouse. She is the sister of the blind and scent gifted Marthe who became a famous perfumer in Paris. But this family is tormented and that torment seems to have seeped into the very stones of the farmhouse.

The ending twists and I love this quote from the book:
" All of which goes to show how dangerous it is to assume connections where there are none, to link events that have no link, to want tidy story-telling when real life is not like that, to draw too much on the imagination when it is often misleading."

If you enjoy being caught up in the senses as well as intrigue, I would say give this book a try. I really enjoyed it and it kept my attention to the very end. It is a book that I feel could have been a true story. A great summer read that will take you to Provence, France without leaving the comfort of your chair.

Happy reading!
Heidi

The Secret of the Knot Garden

I so enjoy reading really good children's literature and The Secret of the Knot Garden by Diana Harker did not disappoint.

Joanna is sent away from London to the village of Barton to live with the Ware-Gillows as it would bring her closer to her father who is a naval officer in Liverpool during WWII. She feels very alone but soon meets Dip and Tony from the village. They become friends in a worn torn English village. Joanne finds the stories of a ghost of a nun in the hall where she lives intriguing. The ghost is believed to be that of Colonel Sayer's daughter Alice who disappeared into thin air towards the end of the English Civil War 300 years ago.

Dip feels suspicious about Mr. Finch who has come to stay while searching for good grazing land in the marshes for the Ministry. When he decides to look into things an amazing discovery is stumbled on and possibly a Nazi plot with spies living among the villagers. He starts to go exploring along with Joanna and Tony. Will they find out if Alice's ghost is really roaming the village and Hall?

If you think you are too old for children's literature, you might want to think again and give this story a try. If you have children or grandchildren, it is an exciting read for them.

Happy reading!
Heidi

Bookmarked for Death

Bookmarked for Death in the second in the Booktown Mystery series by Lorna Barrett. And my conclusion of this book? Bravo Lorna Barrett! Once again I am giving her book 5 stars. She knows how to make her characters leap out from the pages and become real. In fact, I want to move to Stoneham, New Hampshire. I want Tricia Miles to be my friend and neighbor. I would be safe as can be with her in the vicinity. And...well...she is a cat lover who named her cat Miss Marple so that alone earns 5 stars in my book. *grins*

Tricia Miles own the bookshop Haven't Got A Clue in Stoneham's book village. It is a shop specializing in vintage mystery books. She arranges a book signing for local mystery author Zoe Carter. The signing is going well but Tricia finds the persona Zoe Carter puzzling. She is more nun than intriguing author. But when she finds Zoe strangled in her shop toilet and the sheriff  Wendy Adams delighting on wanting to find proof that Tricia is the killer, Tricia has to start investigating her second murder in booktown.

I do not want to go into too many details as I find the details in a cozy mystery make them fun to read. And Lorna Barrett is right up there as a favorite mystery writer for me. I am off now to put book 3 in my Amazon shopping basket for my next order.....

Happy reading!
Heidi

Died on the Vine

Died on the Vine is a cozy mystery brought out for the ereader market by Joyce Harmon. It is available on both the Kindle and Nook.

Set in the Passatonnack Winery from Jack and Cissy Rayburn, a man shows up on Sunday afternoon claiming that Cissy first husband who was killed in Vietnam is not dead but missing in action. When this man shows up dead among the vines at the vineyard, Jack seems to be the one suspect with motive for killing as well as the owner of the murder weapon. Cissy has to do something to keep her husband from being arrested for the murder as she realizes that the police are not looking in many other directions. She teams up with her neighbor Julia to start investigating themselves. This leads them to freelance reporter and author Mary Nguyen who has a big secret about why she is looking into the murdered Col. Obie Winslow. A good first mystery as you cannot help but like Cissy and her Julia.

Happy reading!
Heidi

Death Comes to Pemberly

I finally finished the audiobook Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James. I had been so looking forward to this book that I think the disappointment was all the sharper for it. I just found the story tedious and drawn out. It took me a very long time to make it through the story. I found no one to pull the story forward among the characters as there was in Charles Maddox in the book Murder at Mansfield Park. Perhaps it was also having read that book that this Jane Austen themed mystery really fell short of the mark for me.

Darcy and Elizabeth are planning a ball at Pemberley. The arrival of a carriage carrying the hysterical sister Lydia crying that her husband has been killed sets the house in an uproar. Darcy sets off with Colonel FitzWilliam to search the woodland for Wickham which starts the wheels in motion to bring a killer to justice.

Happy reading!
Heidi