Tag: Cozy Mystery

Cozy Mystery, Fiction, Mystery

Deadly Connection by Tammy L. Grace

CozyRomBooksandCoffee
  • Title: Deadly Connections
  • Author: Tammy L. Grace
  • Series: Detective Cooper Harrington #2
  • Genre: Cozy Mystery
  • Location: Nashville, TN
  • Main Character: Cooper (Coop) Carrington
  • Other Characters: Annabelle, Ben, Callie, Aunt Camille, Avery, Billy, Sadie, Hildie, Kate
  • Pets: Coop’s Golden Retriever Gus
  • Stars: 5

“Before you give me your best shot, I recommend you read my return policy.”

The Cooper Harrington detective series continues with this book, which is even better than the previous. The reader gets a better understanding of who Cooper is.

Coop becomes concerned that something is amiss when Callie is very late for an appointment. Coop and Annabelle go to Callie’s home to check on her. When she is found murdered, they find themselves navigating a maze of deceptions, cover-ups, and lies in an attempt to find a killer. It’s complex because there are numerous suspects and no clean motive for her murder.

This mystery is the kind that keeps you on the edge of your seat. I found it impossible to put it down, and the mystery—especially the motive—was challenging to unravel. I am enjoying getting to know all the regular characters in the book. Even though, each book is a separate mystery and can be read out of order, I highly recommend reading them in order so you can get to know the characters. I love learning more about Cooper and what makes him tick. Cooper is a superb private investigator who is determined to see the case through to its conclusion. To solve crimes, Coop collaborates closely with the local police detective.

This book will keep the reader guessing all the way to very end. I can’t wait to read book #3.

Happy Reading!

Cozy Mystery, Fiction

Killer Music by Tammy L . Grace

CozyRomBooksandCoffee


Title: Killer MusicAuthor: Tammy L. GraceSeries: Cooper Harrington #1Genre: Cozy MysteryLocation: Nashville, TNMain Character: Cooper HarringtronOther Character: Annabelle (AB), Detective Ben Mason, Grayson Taylor, Emily, Tayler, Abby, AndyPets: Coop’s Golden Retriever named Gus

Stars: 4

Title: Killer Music
Author: Tammy L. Grace
Series: Cooper Harrington #1
Location: Nashville
Main Character: Cooper (Coop) Harrington
Other Charaters: Annabelle (AB), Detective Ben Mason, Grayson Taylor, Emily, Taylor, Abby
Stars: 4

This is my first book by this author and the first in the Cooper Harrington series. What drew me to tot his book is it’s location. It takes place in Nashville, TN and since I live about 3 hours from there, I visit frequently so I loved the idea of a book in a location I am famiia with.

Given that it is set in Nashville, it seems inevitable that the story will center around the music industry, at least in part. Cooper (aka Coop) is a lawyer turned private investigator. He worked with his uncle in his PI firm and when his uncle passed away, Coop took over the business. His new female companion invites him along to an event where some influential figures from the music and politics worlds are present.This really isn’t his thing, but he goes anyway, and in the process, he meets some interesting people including Music Mogul Grayson Taylor. Little did he know the next day, he would be investigating Grayson’s murder. There are not a lot of suspects in this case, since everyone seems to really like Grayson. As they dg deeper into the life of Grayson we find out he does have some secrets. Could these secrets be what got him killed? Since no one has a clear motive, this one is hard to figure out. It is a surprise who holds the key to unlocking this case wide open. Who else might be in danger before they find the killer!!

I like Coop, he is a bit quirky with his crazy T-shirts. He is not much of a suit and tie kinda guy. He is more jeans and T-shirts with crazy sayings type of guy. I especially love his Golden Retriever Gus. Even though I enjoyed this book the characters lacked a bit of depth. I hope the following books dig deeper into Coopers past and we learn more about him and what makes him tick. I also wonder if there will be some romance between him and his assistant Annabelle. This book takes the reader on a ride through the music and political scene of Nashville with secrets, lies & Scandals. Without a lot of suspects, it is a surprise once all the pieces fall together to solve this high-profile murder mystery.

Happy Reading!

Cozy Mystery, Fiction

Last Night at the Beach House by Claire Harlow

CozyRomBooksandCoffee

Title: Last Night at the Beach House
Author: Claire Harlow
Series: Sparrow Haven Cozy Mystery #4
Genre: Cozy Myster
Location: Sparrow Haven
Main Character: Olivia
Other Characters: Detective O’Malley, Millie, Richard, Ethan, April, Nate, Janel, Rose, Karl
Pets: Olivia’s Golden Retriever Barkley & Skye, Richards Bird
Stars: 5

This 4th book in the Sparrow Haven Cozy Mystery series is just as enjoyable as the previous books.

.This episode features Olivia and Millie during a party at Richard Bennett’s Beach House. When Richard is discovered dead, Olivia is sucked into yet another murder mystery. Since practically everyone Richard knows, even his own sister, has a motive to want him dead, there are many potential suspects. Could Olivia be putting herself in danger as she and Detective O’Malley sift through clues of dishonesty, manipulation, and jealousy in order to identify the culprit

Olivia is a great protagonist. She is someone I could be friends with. I love the bond she has with Detective O’Malley and the way he calls her kiddo. It’s like he looks at her like a daughter. If you love a small-town Cozy mystery with a surprise ending, you are going to love this series. Read the books in order so you can come to love the characters as I do.

Happy Reading!

Cozy Mystery, Fiction

Murder between the Pages by Cassidy Harlow

CozyRomBooksandCoffee

Title: Murder between the Pages
Author: Cassidy Harlow
Series: A Captivating Tea Shop Cozy Mystery #1
Genre: Cozy: Mystery
Location: Willow Haven, Indiana
Main Character: Emily
Other Characters: Jane, Susan Oliver, Lilly, Detective Carter, Adam, Lean, Casey
Pets: Sophie (Lilly’s Cat)
Stars: 5

This is the first book I have read by this author, but it won’t be the last. I really enjoyed this book and getting to know these characters.

Emily, the story’s antagonist, is interesting and multifaceted despite her love obsession with tea. Well since she is the owner of a tea shop, I suppose it is justified. Emily is an avid reader, so she is thrilled about the Writers Haven book festival, which takes place over the weekend. Oliver Blackwood, one of her favorite authors, will be the event’s keynote speaker, which excites her even more. The festivities don’t quite go as planned when the famous author turns up dead. Emily teams up with the new detective in town to try to find a killer. Emily begins to think that the author’s books have the answers to this murder.

A journey with lies, deceit, jealousy, and revenge culminate in a shocking revelation when the murderer is exposed. The reader will be intrigued and kept guessing till the very conclusion of this well-written novel.

Happy Reading!

Cozy Mystery, Fiction

Baker and a Body Bag by Avery Kent

CozyRomBooksandCoffee
  • Title: Baker and a Body Bag
  • Author: Avery Kent
  • Series: Bishops Landing Cozy Landing #6
  • Genre: Cozy Mystery
  • Takes Place:  Bishops Landing Cozy Mystery
  • Main Character: Annie
  • Other Characters: Jake, Casey Alisson, Nicki, Ethan, Casey, Maggie, Francesca, Aunt Mildred, Connie, Lancer, Janine, phard name Sarge, Karl, Lance, Rhett, Maggie, Colin, Doc James, Principal Bell, Kurtis, Ty
  • Stars: 5

The sixth novel in the Bishops Landing Cozy Mystery Series brings us back to the quaint town of Bishop’s Landing. Catching up with Annie and her friends is always a pleasure. Annie is thrilled to have her Goddaughter, Nicki, coming to visit, and she is even more thrilled to have a surprise visit from her son, Ethan.

Annie is looking forward to her first date with Jake. Everything is set up for their sunset cruise on Jake’s boat, which is going great until they discover the high school coach’s dead body in the water. As if this isn’t bad enough, it gets worse when Annie’s son is the main suspect since he was observed having a heated argument with the deceased. Annie is determined to prove her son couldn’t have committed the crime. During her sleuthing, she discovers a series of secrets & lies that have been kept under wrap for a years which gives us several possible suspects.

It’s always nice to catch up with Annie in this series, which I absolutely love. The author is skilled at giving each character enough nuance and personality to give them dimension. I am really enjoying the slow-burn romance of Annie and Jake to see where that might lead. And of course there are dogs which is always entertaining. For a small town, there is a lot going on, which keeps the reader engaged. The reader is taken on a exciting journey through a compelling mystery that keeps them guessing until the very end.

Happy Reading

Cozy Mystery, Fiction

Birthday Pink Backlash by Emily Oberton

CozyRomBooksandCoffee
  • Title: Birthday Pink Backlash
  • Author: Emily Oberton
  • Series: Hadley Home Design standalone Novella
  • Genre: Cozy Mystery
  • Takes Place:  Forest Haven Spa Resort in the Smoky Mountains
  • Main Character: Hadley Sutton
  • Other Characters: Liza, Carmella, Curtis, Willa, Jayla, Kim, Gwyneth, Charlene, Adam, Chef Hansen, Raven
  • Stars: 5

I received this novella by being a part of Emily Oberton’s Newsletter. If you don’t receive her newsletters, I highly recommend that you join. Even though this is part of the Hadley Home Design Mystery series, it is a standalone Novela and doesn’t contain any spoilers for the rest of the series.

This novela takes us to the Forest Haven Spa Resort in the Smoky Mountains for Hadley’s birthday celebration . She wants to celebrate her birthday with a spa & massage weekend. Her celebration takes a nasty turn when her masseuse is found dead. Turns out the deceased is not well liked so there are a lot of suspects who could have wanted her dead.

Despite the fact that this novela is short and a quick read, the author takes us on quite the roller coaster journey to find the killer. It keeps the reader guessing throughout the entire book. I found it engaging and suspensful. Her other works in the Hadley Home Design Series are also highly recommended.

Click on the image of the bookcover above to go to Emily Oberton’s wepage to join her newsletter.

Happy Reading!

Cozy Mystery, Fiction

Graven Images by Lori Roberts Herbst

CozyRomBooksandCoffee
  • Title: Graven Images
  • Author: Lori Roberts Herbst
  • Series: Callie Cassidy Cozy Myster #6
  • Genre: Cozy Mystery
  • Takes Place:  Rock Creek Village, CO
  • Main Character: Callie Cassidy
  • Other Characters: Tonya, Butch, Maggie, Glenda Vivian, Sam, Cedric, Lydia, Monika, Frank, Raul, Mrs Finney, Lynn, Pinky, David, Conrad, Lila, Robert, Ken
  • Pets: Golden Retriever named Woody and Carl the Tabby Cat
  • Stars: 5

The author does not let readers down in this sixth installment of the Callie Cassidy series. I loved it from the first to the last page. it was interesting, intriguing and made me want to keep reading to see how this mystery would unfold.

Known for hopping from one hobby to another, Callie’s mother has discovered a new one: grave rubbing. Who knew there was such a hobby! As her mother heads to the cemetery for her first excursion into her new pastime, Callie agrees to accompany her to tak photos. Callie brings her tabby cat, Carl and her golden retriever, Woody along for the adventure. After she is satisfied that she has taken enough photos, Callie, along with Woody & Carl, chooses to stroll around the cemetery when she notices a ghostly apparition emerging from the trees. When examined closely, it was a woman wearing a long white dress and bleeding from a head wound. The woman claimed not to know who she was or how she got there, but Maggie, Callie’s mother, recognized her immediately as a woman who vanished without a trace forty years prior. It is at that moment that Woody bolts for the trees, and when Callie catches up with him, she finds him standing over a dead body by a recent grave. it is quickly determined that this dead body is a man who has been dating her best friend Tonya’s mother. What might have occurred! Was it the mystery woman in the white dress who killed him? Was he killed by Lydia, Tonya’s mother? Callie finds herself involved in a murder investigation once again along with the mystery of the woman with no memory. What is the mystery behind this woman in the white dress and where has she been for the past 40 years?

Apart from attempting to unravel the two mysteries, Callie is also attempting to win over her boyfriend Sam’s parents.

There are numerous suspects in this intriguing mystery, which keeps the reader wondering right up to the very end. Callie has been my favorite protagonist throughout the entire series. She is intelligent, a devoted friend, and perpetually gets mixed up in a murder investigation. The remaining characters in the series are all well-developed and three-dimensional. From the moment I picked up her first book, this author has been a favorite of mine. She writes about places so vividly in her books that I can almost feel myself there. Her mysteries will always have unexpected turns that keep the reader guessing until the perpetrator is identified. The Callie Cassidy Mystery series is a great choice if you enjoy cozy mysteries with lots of twists and turns leading to unexpected conclusions. Although these books can be read as a stand-alone, I suggest reading them in order to fully get to know the characters and develop the same kind of affection for them that I have.

I received this book for free as part of the author’s ARC team. This Review is my honest opinion

Happy Reading!

Cozy Mystery, Fiction

Dying for Dirt (All Soaped Up) by Marcy Blesy

CozyRomBooksandCoffee
  • Title: Dying for Dirt (All Soaped Up)
  • Author: Marcy Blesy
  • Series: Tucson Valley Retirement Community Cozy Mystery #3
  • Genre: Cozy Mystery
  • Takes Place:  Tuscon Valley, AZ
  • Main Character: Rosi
  • Other Characters: Tracy, Keaton, Zak, Mario, Leo, Brenda, Jan, Safia Dr Rafferty Smith, Me. Quinta, Officer Warren, Baily Adelain
  • Pets: Rosi’s Golden Retriever Barley
  • Stars: 5

Once again, Rosi gets to use her investigative abilities and we get to giggle at the retirement community’s antics in this episode of Another Tucson Valley Retirement Community.

Rosi, her supervisor Tracy, and a few of the interesting yet annoying senior community residents travel to Phoenix for the Senior Living Retirement Community Conference. Although it should be a time for leisure, that is obviously not the case. The group goes to the opening night festivities on their first night there. Much to Rosi’s humilation, she finds herself in a humorous scenario that has the potential to make her Tik Tok famous. To top it all off, later that night, Barley, her Golden Retriever, discovers a dead body in the most unlikely place. Once more, Rosi gets to use her investigative abilities as she finds herself embroiled in a murder investigation. Since there was no identification, they must first identify the victim and then determine the motivation before they can find who could have commited this heinous crime.

Though I particularly like the protagonist, all the characters are intriguing. The quirky residents of the Retirement Community and other people Rosi meets along the way provide some humor despite the fact that this is a murder mystery. Since Rosi is pursuing a suspect, could she be putting herself in danger? The author has a talent for creating mysteries that keep the reader interested and guessing the entire time. This engrossing cozy mystery has several twists to reveal the killer and a surprise conclusion.

Happy Reading!

Cozy Mystery, Fiction

Murder in the Bloodline by Penny Brooke

CozyRomBooksandCoffee
  • Title: Murder in the Bloodline
  • Author: Penny Brooke
  • Series: A Green Oaks Bookbinding Cozy Mystery #2
  • Genre: Cozy Mystery
  • Takes Place: Green Oaks, Massachusettes
  • Main Character: Charlotte
  • Other Characters: Isla, Lauren, Faye, Phillip, Edie, Brandon, Amy Felicity, Jeff, Beau, Nat, Levi, Becky
  • Pets: Charlotte’s 2 cats Roma & Archimedes
  • Stars: 5

Once again an outstanding book by Penny Brooke. After moving to Green Oaks, Massachusetts, Charlotte started restoring the home she inherited from her grandmother. When we last saw Charlotte, she had cracked a 1920s murder case. Her wish is to put murder mysteries behind her. Or at least that is what she thought.

Charlotte is going through boxes of her grandmother’s old books to determine which ones would be good candidates for her favorite pastime of bookbinding. One of the books has an envelope sticking out of it, which she notices. Inside the envelope she discovers a note written to a young woman, Lauren, who killed herself around a year ago. Since the cops are not interested in opening this cold case, Charlotte is sure that something else is going on and decides to investigate it herself. Through her investigation she discovers a mystery about a missing woman, her sister’s apparent suicide, and long-kept family secrets.

Another thriller in the Green Oaks Bookbinding series that will keep you guessing throughout the entire book. I read it in one sitting since I couldn’t put it down. This novel explores a family with many secrets by taking the reader through a number of events to an ending you won’t see coming. Will Charlotte be able to pull together the evidence to crack another unsolved mystery?

Happy Reading!

Cozy Mystery, Fiction

Dying for Wine (Seeing Red) by Marcy Blesy

CozyRomBooksandCoffee
  • Title: Dying for Wine (Seeing Red)
  • Author: Marcy Blesy
  • Series: Tucson Valley Retirement Community Cozy Mystery #2
  • Genre: Cozy Myster
  • Takes Place: Tucson Valley, AZ
  • Main Character: Rosi
  • Other Characters: Keaton, Detective Daniels, Simon, Jan, Clyde, Brenda, Mario
  • Pets: Rosi’s Golden Retriever Barley, Elena, JJ, Xander, Sherman, Douggy, Bob, Frank, Brenda, Safia, Dee, Tracy
  • Stars: 5

This is the second book in the Tuscon Valley Retirement Community series and I enjoyed it as much as the first one.

Rosi has made the decision to move to Tucson Valley and leave behind the cold winters of Illinois. She is settling into her new role At the Tuscon Valley Retirement Community Performing Arts Center. A farewell event featuring impersonators of some of the biggest stars of the 60s is being held for the community’s snowbird residents. Rosi handles the diva attitudes and outrageous requests without letting the performers’ disparate personalities get in the way of making this the greatest concert the community has ever seen. The concert is a success and Rosi is pleased with how everything turned out, up until one of the performers is found dead at the foot of the stage. Once again Rosi puts her sleuthing skills to work to to assist Detective Daniels in tracking down a murderer. She is aware that in order to preserve the community’s and the Performing Arts Center’s reputation, they need to discover this culprit as soon as possible. The plot takes a lot of turns and involves a number of suspects before the killer is identified because she unearths more secrets than she could have predicted while conducting her investigation.

I’m having a great time with this series since the characters are interesting and entertaining, with a wide range of personalities. In addition to the search for a killer, the side stories are just as interesting. Rosi is still getting to know Keaton and is excited to see where their new relationship goes. She is also looking for a new place to live so she can move out of her parents’ house. As a dog lover, I love Barley, her Golden Retriever.

I laughed out loud at some of the quirky characters in this series, which is lighthearted and entertaining along with a mystery that has a twist and an unexpected conclusion.

Happy Reading!