The View from Prince Street

The View from Prince Street (Alexandria #2) by Mary Ellen Taylor

Thoughts Before Reading:

So three years ago I read At the Corner of King Street and loved it. I thought it was amazing. I loved the characters, the plot, the two threads: Sarah Shire-Goodwin, Scottish immigrant settling in the new colony of Virginia; and Addie Morgan, a women trying to distance herself from her family and the disease that destroyed it.

There were family curses, witch’s bottles, recollection, and a spunky sassy historian Margaret who becomes Addie’s partner in salvaging and unraveling the mystery of the witch’s bottles. I really hoped to see more of her in the future; maybe even her own book or series?

Synopsis:

Dr. Rae McDonald is known as having a heart of stone, an ice queen-but others believe she is trying to be a matchmaker for her clients.

Rae has a sad background. Her sister and her were in a car crash, her sister dying. After that Rae made some very bad decisions and ended up pregnant, choosing to give the baby up for adoption.

Since then she has become detached and suppresses all feelings.

Like a robot

Meanwhile, Addie Morgan and Margaret McCrae, from the last book, have taken over the salvaging company. Addie is also raising her niece Carrie. One day they are salvaging an area and discover another witch bottle on Rae’s property.

The book follows a second thread from the 18th century and involved the women from the previous novel and a new one.

Hmm…

Rae’s sister’s best friend, Lisa Smyth, also survived the car crash, but never told the whole truth about it. It turns out there is a link between her and Rae’s family.

Hmm…

The past and the present intertwine and all must come out for them to move forward.

Thoughts After Reading:

I didn’t like it. Rae was so boring and an ice queen. No emotion.

This book was very disappointing to me as it was a real snooze.

I enjoyed all the characters in the first book more.

For more Alexandria mysteries, go to At the Corner of King Street

For more witches, go to Rosemary’s Baby

For more reviews, go to Wolverine Noir

A Taste of Fame

A Taste of Fame (Potluck Catering Club #2) by Linda Evans Shepherd and Eva Marie Everson

So some of you might be wondering where is the review for book one? Well there is no review for book one.

The first book isn’t a mystery but a Christian novel that chronicles the lives of six women who change from a potluck prayer group to a catering group. Each member has different issues in their lives, as they grow in friendship and through trials. I wanted to skip it, but as I can’t completely do that without confusing you, I’ll give you a bite.

The potluck group was started by Evangeline and grew to have five other members; Vonnie, Goldie, Lizzie, Donna, and Lisa Leann. The women go through trials, tribulations, prayer, and delicious food.

Synopsis:

So since the hiccups of the first novel, the women have had a successful time with their catering business in their hometown. But things are about to change.

Lisa Leann’s son came to visit, and decided to film them for his media class. It turns out that he also used the footage to enter them in the reality show, The Great Party Showdown.

Even though most don’t want to participate, they signed a contract and have to, besides that the church could really use the money they win.

We are so happy for you

They win their first challenge of catering a special event in the community, creating a 1930s Animal Crackers themed party.

And now the ladies are off to New York.

Yay!

Evangeline has adapted to married life with her long time crush, Sheriff Vernon Vesey. She has even developed a better relationship with her stepdaughter, Donna, who has previously hated her. Her biggest issue, she and Lisa Leann are going into the city to do preliminary research, will she survive spending time with the Texan she can’t stand?

Lisa Leann’s old affair came back to bite her in the last book. She admitted everything to her husband, but while he agreed to work on their marriage; he has been cold and silent. When Lisa Leann has to leave, Henry gives her an ultimatum: stay with him and they will stay together or leave and that will be the end.

Vonnie is a little unsure about being in the city, but happy that her son David will be joining her. Vonnie was married when she moved to California to a Latina man. He died in Vietnam and Vonnie went into labor. Knocked out by grief and drugs; her mother told her that her son died and Vonnie signed the release papers, unknowingly signing her son’s adoption papers. When David surprised her by knocking on her door and revealing everything, Vonnie felt blessed to have her child back and loves every moment she has with him.

As they prepare for their next challenges, continuing the movie theme they find a few things they did not expect. They are doing very well, but a few things seem to be going wrong. Almost as if someone is sabotaging them.

But which team?

Lizzie is enjoying the break and opportunity to visit New York as she has had a lot on her plate. In the last book she had her mother’s Alzheimer growing worse, her youngest daughter’s wedding to plan, her son and his family moving in with her when he lost his job, and her husband being injured. But when she helps a deaf couple find their lost handbag, she discovers one of the production assistants for the show on a date with a contestant. She reads their lips and sees that the assistant has “everything arranged.” Is the contest rigged from on high? And if so, what can Lizzie do to stop it?

Donna is feeling pressure from all sides. In high school Donna and Wade dated, and she became pregnant. She lost the baby and Wade began drinking. Now 12 years later, Donna is a deputy and Wade is sober and taking care of his nephew Peter, the boy being the same age as their boy would have been. Donna is considering getting back with him, but then there is David who is crazy about her and wants to start a new relationship.

But now there are the paparazzo hounding her, a Cajun cook trying to start a relationship; all the while Donna being on two cases. First looking to see if her tip about Pete’s mom fleeing her abusive husband for New York to be true, and second who the saboteur is.

Goldie and her husband Jack have had a rocky relationship. Jack had been cheating on Goldie since they first got together, due to his compulsion for sex. They’ve been in counseling, and with the help, Jack has been able to master his compulsion. However, Jack’s health has been bothering him, and when he has to have surgery Goldie leaves the competition to fly out to be by his side. Will she make it in time? Will Jack survive?

Aw…

How will the potluckers be able to win this whole thing down a player and with a saboteur on the loose? Time to pray.

 

Thoughts After Reading:

I thought this was pretty good. The story was fun and interesting and I thought the development of the characters was great.

I loved the idea of the movie themed parties from An Affair to Remember, King Kong, and Guys and Dolls; defintely the theme direction I would have gone in.

The only thing I thought was dumb was that Deputy Sheriff Donna was kind of dim about a few things. She starts investigating Bubba, the Cajun chef, as the potential saboteur and when he tells her she probably mistook his cousin Bordeaux who looks just like him.

What a joke. Come on how could you not see through that.

There were a few other times when it would have been easy to see through things but she didn’t.

But otherwise, I thought it was a good read and think it is worth a read. 🙂

For more caterer mysteries, go to Catering to Nobody

For more Christian novels, go to A Change of Fortune

For more sabotage mysteries, go to The Silence of the Llamas

For more mystery reviews, go to The October Game

Sleeping Beauty

I’m not talking about that Sleeping Beauty. I’m talking about this one:

Sleeping Beauty by Phillip Margolin

Lawyer Miles Van Meter is on a book tour to promote his bestseller, Sleeping Beauty, a true crime account of the attack on his twin sister Casey that left her in a coma.

Aw…

As Miles begins discussing the case, talking about everything that happened, little does he know that afterwards; something extremely important to the case will be revealed.

We travel to six years earlier and to an event that would change the course of someone’s life forever.

Ashley is seventeen years old, soccer star, and just your average girl next door. After winning the state championship, her best friend decides to stay the night. But what should have been a fun time with friends turns out to be night filled with horror.

But somebody else decides to crash the party.

A serial killer kills Ashley’s father, along with raping and murdering Tanya. After taking care of Tanya the serial killer does something completely unusual, takes a break and eats some cake left out downstairs.

How weird is that? Does killing activate his sweet tooth? Is he so confident in his success he can just break to celebrate?

While he is occupied, Ashley is able to escape.

After the ordeal, Ashley is ready to give up on everything. That is, until she and her mother receive an invitation and scholarship for the prestigious private school, Oregon Academy. They decide the best thing for everyone is a new start, and accept. There they meet Casey Van Meter who shows them the school and introduces the pair to their onsite writer, Joshua Maxfield. Ashley’s mother, Terri, decides to stay on for the summer to attend Joshua’s writing class while Ashley helps out in the summer soccer camp.

Terri attends the writing class and becomes horrified when she hears Maxfield read a story that is full of details of her daughter’s case, including the part about eating sweets which was never publicized.

Terri notifies the police and starts researching into Maxfield. When Terri discusses it with Casey, Casey rebuffs her; only to call Terri later and stranglely, ask to meet up at the boathouse to reveal some information.

Very fishy

Later that same night, Ashley is walking around when she has the misfortune to hear screams and discover her mother’s and Casey’s stabbed bodies.

She also sees Maxfield with a knife.

While a huge manhunt after Maxfield commences, once again Ashley flees for her life.

Within this story are a lot of twists and turns, secret adoptions, revealed identities, psychotic killers, and more.

Thoughts After Reading:

I HATED this book.

The plot wasn’t bad but the way it was told was horrible.

It keeps going back and forth in time which is so confusing and makes it so hard to focus on what was happening and when it happened.

At times I thought it was boring and a bit too unbelievable. Really stretching it there.

I thought that the end twist was good, but the path wasn’t done well. It was just too confusing and made the book horrible to me.

For more stand alone mysteries, go to Ticker

For more serial killers, go to The Alchemy of Murder

For more mysteries, go to A Murder in Mohair

Death on Demand

Death on Demand (Death on Demand #1) by Carolyn G. Hart

Thoughts Before Reading:

So I started this series with the book Deadly Valentine (Death on Demand #6) when I picked up an autographed copy at a library book sale. I love book sales.

I really enjoyed that book and decided to start the series from the beginning, and let me tell you I wasn’t disappointed with it. While at times it may be predictable the character and stories always leave me coming back for more.

Plot Synopsis:

So the book starts off strong with our murderer listing out the items they need to kill their intended victim:

1 Pair of Doctor’s Rubber Gloves

1 Spool of Black Extra-Strong Button-and-Carpet Thread

A Handful of Assorted Keys

Clear Fingernail Polish

Polish Remover

1 Dart

And just one more, the most important of all…

We can’t reveal that just yet. The murderer needs a little more mystery.

So Annie Laurence inherited the mystery bookstore, Death on Demand on Broward’s Rock, when her uncle died a few months ago.

Aw…

Annie loves the store, as she has always been a book lover and mystery aficionado.

She loves everything about the bookstore, except this upcoming Sunday. There are quite a few writers who reside on Broward’s Rock, south Carolina, giving Annie the idea to create a writer’s night in which they take turns lecturing or planing a program.

It had been going well until mean, nasty Elliot Morgan dropped a bomb that he was going to blow apart the next meeting with his new book, all about the famous writers living on the island. Why does he have to go and ruin everything?

WHY!

To further her anxiety, her old boyfriend is on his way.

Annie met Max Darling after college when she was trying to strike it big on stage in New York. She was an actress, while Max was one of the producers. Max Darling is from an extremely wealthy family, so wealthy that he doesn’t need to work. Annie left him as she felt it wouldn’t work out as she was born in a lower economic scale and was only able to go to college on a scholarship.

Max however is not one to give up on something he believes in and has tracked her down to Boward’s Rock using his charm, wit, and acting abilities.

That day the store is closed, but Annie goes in for some inventory to settle her nerves as she contemplates what will happen tonight.

Tonight will be horrible!

Max decides to stay that night and assist Annie with her writer’s group. The writers all enter in at their own pace. Captain Mac is a retired cop who moved to Broward’s Rock and was a friend of Annie’s uncle. He’s also been a big help to Annie after her Uncle Amos’ death. He’s not a writer, but participates in giving insight into police procedure and criminal experience.

Emma Clyde is a mystery queen, and author of the famous Marigold Mystery Series.

Janis and Jeff Farley; Jeff the writer of children books while Janis is the illustrator.

Fritz Hemphill who does green beret shoot ’em up war books.

Kelly Rizzo who did psychological thrillers.

And Elliot bringing up the rear.

Hate him.

Just then Harriet Edelman comes in bursting with news that the vet Jill Kearney was murdered the night before.

She went in to look on an animal recovering from a procedure and interrupted a robbery. She was smacked in the head and because of her thin skull, died from it.

Suddenly Elliot announces his newest non-fiction book. Titles Criminal Minds, all about the horrible, scandalous things done by the authors who reside here on Broward’s Rock.

Just then the lights go out, a scream rings, and when the lights come on Elliot dead by a poison dart.

Chief Frank Saulter believes that Annie is the murderer, having first killed her uncle for her inheritance and then Elliot when he threatened to reveal it all in his book.

With Annie racing against the clock, it is up to her and Max to do some private detecting to figure out who the real killer is.

As they start looking into what dirt Elliot had on the bunch this is what they find out.

• Captain Mac admits that he was involved in a paternity suit.
• Annie tells Max how she helped a friend escape a bad marriage and save their child by having the friend be admitted to a hospital under her name and give the baby up for adoption.
• Kelly has had crimes of animal killing following her all over. She says her sister is the one that does it and she is just protecting her, but is that the truth?
• Hal Douglas’ wife disappeared. Many believe he killed her, but he insists that he is innocent.
• Harriet supposedly stole a story and printed it under her own name.
• Jeff beats Janis.
• Emma’s husband was cheating on her and then just happened to “fall overboard”.

Who is the killer? And will Annie figure it out before he strikes again? Or worse, she is put on trial for murder.

Thoughts after reading:

So I love this book and the way Carolygn G. Hart writes the characters. Annie and Max are just fantastic!

Annie is not only lovable but intelligent and able to out the pieces together quite nicely.

I also love how sweet Max is and how he stays in the end to open his “private detective agency that isn’t a private detective agency.”

*Spoiler Alert*

I only have two issues with the book:

1. If Max has so much money, why didn’t they just buy a laptop to read Elliot’s disk instead of sneaking into Elliot’s house and Annie getting injured. You think that would be much easier for them right?
2. I figured the mystery out really early on. Her uncle died and was investigating two places, where guess what Captiain Mac was the only person involved with one of them. I mean, come on. A paternity suit, you know it had to more than that Annie. Also, how could a police officer retire and afford an expensive house like he does. It’s obvious he’s dirty.

But to tell the truth I really didn’t care about either one as I just loved the characters and decided to read the whole series.

And as I love this series you will be seeing a lot more reviews on them in the future!

For more books from library book sales, go to A is for Alibi

For more mystery reviews, go to A Pinch of Poison