Tag: Grace Topping

• Title: Upstaged by Mrder
• Author: Grace Topping
• Series: Laura Bishop Mystery #3
• Genre: Cozy Mystery
• Takes Place: Louiston, Pennsylvania
• Main Character: Laura Bishop
• Other Characters: Nita, Tyrone, Detective Spangler, Mrs. Webster, Will Parker , Josh Sheridan, Olivia, Simon, Chris, Beth, Neil
• Pets: Inky the Cat
• Stars: 5

The author has done it again with book three of the Laura Bishop Mystery. I can’t even choose which book is my favorite in the series because they are all so good. Ms. Topping has the ability to craft a suspense story in such a way that it leaves readers wanting more.

In this installment of the series, we’re back with Laura after her best friend encourages her to enter a home staging competition. We’ve got some familiar faces and some brand new ones in the mix Just as she gets ready to start staging for the challenge, a dead body is found in an old trunk.

This novel is full of unexpected twists and turns, a murder mystery, a daring attempt to apprehend a burglar, Laura’s emotional reckoning with the past, and the potential emergence of a romantic relationship.

At this time, this is the final installment in the series. However, I am hoping there will be more to come. I would be delighted to learn more about the character of Laura and the other characters who are featured in the series. Each of them has a great deal of depth and is highly interesting. I am a fan of small town tales with unexpected twists, mysteries, romance and humor.

Let me know in the comments if you have read this series.

Happy Reading!

• Title: Staging Wars
• Author: Grace Topping
• Series: Laura Bishop Mystery #2
• Genre: Cozy Mystery
• Takes Place: Louiston, Pennsylvania
• Main Character: Laura Bishop
• Other Characters: Nita, Tyrone, Monica, Detective Spangler, Mrs. Webster, Will Parker, Damian Reynolds, Josh Sheridan,
• Pets: Inky the Cat
• Stars: 5

The second installment of Grace Topping’s Laura Bishop Mysteries series begins with a bang – or rather, a stabbing.

I really love this series.  It is really a page turner. It is a series that I look forward to reading and then I have trouble putting it down. This is a sign of a brilliant book. I loved this one as much as I did the first.   It has it all, A Great protagonist that you will love, 3-dimensional characters with distinct personalities that just seem to all fit together & then of course there is Laura’s Nemesis, Monica, the one that nobody seems to like.  There is always one!

Between someone sabotaging her new staging business, two dead bodies, and her nemeses in jail for one of them, Laura has her hands full.

You will enjoy the ride as Laura once again finds herself in sticky situations to discover the truth. Her investigation to solve a crime takes a lot of twists and turns with an ending you won’t see coming. I love a mystery with a good twist.

I also love that at the beginning of each chapter there are some hints on staging a house to sell.

Happy Reading!

• Title: Staging in Murder
• Author: Grace Topping
• Series: Laura Bishop Mystery #1
• Genre: Cozy Mystery
• Takes Place: Louiston, Pennsylvania
• Main Character: Laura Bishop
• Other Characters: Nita, Tyrone, Victoria, Monica. Doug, Waren, Cora, Dr M, Detective Spangler, Mrs Webster, Will Parker
• Pets: Inky the Cat
• Stars: 5

This is my first book by this author and it’s a great one! I think it’s her first Cozy Mystery book and she got off to a great start. I’m really looking forward to reading more from her!

Laura Bishop is just starting out with her new business staging homes. She has her first client staging a 19th-century mansion to get it ready to sell. Even though the mansion hasn’t been updated in decades, she is determined to make it picture perfect. Her client will be tough but she is well known in the community. She is aware that the success or failure of her career may be determined by the manner in which this home is staged. She is both enthusiastic and apprehensive. Everything is going smoothly until her client has a run-in with her young assistant, Tyrone, over a broken vase, and then a dead body falls through the laundry chute at Laura’s feet. Tyrone was arrested after investigators determined he committed the heinous crime. Laura is positive Tyrone could not have killed anybody. When Tyrone’s grandmother insists that Laura prove his innocence, She finds herself playing amateur sleuth which could get her killed.

This book is a great beginning to the Laura Bishop Mystery series. It includes a likable protagonist, a quirky friend, a cozy small town, humor, a hot realtor, a victim with many enemies, a list of suspects with potential motives and an ending you won’t see coming. I can’t wait to start book two.

“Your House is a stage.”

Happy Reading!