Tag: Hadley Home Design Cozy Mystery

Title: Wine Red Wrath
Author: Emily Oberton
Series: Hadley Home Design Cozy Mystery #5
Main Characters: Hadley, Detective Dennis Appley
Other Characters: Madame Balleroy, Zelia Belleroy, Seth, Jarod, Camille, Mitzy, Hal, Natasha, Erin, Chloe, Kraig, Eileen. Aunt Deb, Roy, Michael
Location: Darlington HIlls
Pets: Hadley’s Cat Razzy
Stars: 5

This was another great book in the Hadley Home Design series. Hadley is the story’s main character. She is a wonderful friend and very likeable. She is not, however, a cook. She has everyone over for Thanksgiving dinner but, Salmonella is something she didn’t anticipate serving for the Thanksgiving feast. Yep, you guessed it, everyone got sick after Thanksgiving dinner.

Because of Hadley’s lack of culinary skills, Aunt Deb enrolls in cooking school. Even though Hadley isn’t excited about cooking school, she still agrees to go. However, she wasn’t prepared for the curriculum to include a dead corpse. The investigation of this mystery involves a number of suspects with many twists. The plot gets more complicated when someone else ends up dead.

The detective in charge of this case has a mystery of his own. Due to another case he is working on, he has received threatening letters. Since his young niece will be staying with him for a bit, he decides he needs to move out of his house temporarily. Hadley extends an invitation to him and his niece to stay at Ladyvale Manor, which she inherited following the murder of its owner.

There are some side stories in addition to two murders. Who wrote the threatening letter to Detective Appley? Is the former owner still haunting Ladyvale Manor? Could there be a romance in Hadley’s future? This book has several components, including a stalker, a haunted mansion, two murders, and a developing relationship.

This series is a lot of fun. Every character is compelling and well-developed. I’m eager to see more of the series to witness Hadley’s romantic developments and the other crimes she will be solving.

If you enjoy fantastic cozy mysteries with unexpected twists, slow-burning romances, and endearing characters, you will love this series. Even though you can read this book as a standalone, I recommend reading them in order so you can really get to know the characters.

I received this book as part of the ARC team and this review is my honest opinion.

Happy Reading!

• Title: Cider Orange Chaos
• Author: Emily Oberton
• Series: Hadley Home Design Mystery Series #4
• Genre: Cozy Mystery
• Takes Place: Darlington Hills, VA
• Main Character: Hadley
• Other Characters: Erin, Dennis, Michael, Reid, Aunt Deb, Detective Sanders, Akari, Harvey, Leo, Bonnie, Deedee, Jamie, Vincent, Carmella
• Stars: 5

We’re back with Hadley again in this 4th episode of the Hadley home design mystery series. I loved getting to see her again. She’s such a 3 dimensional character with so much personality and a heart of gold. She genuinely wants to help everyone she can. This time, her help might get a bit tricky when she says yes to be Dennis Appley’s fake girlfriend. He’s actually in love with a fellow cop, but there’s a rule that you can’t date within the police department, so he needs a fake girlfriend. This may or may not go as planned.

Whisks & Whiskers Cat Cafe may have some competition. Tea-Bone Dog Cafe has opened next door. There is a bit of feud between the dog people and the cat people. Erin , owner of Whisk & Whiskers, is beside herself and doing her best to succeed next door to them. Then the plot thickens when , Harvey Rafferty, Tea-bone dog cafe’s owner, drops dead from an apparant poisoning. The cops are on the case to find Harvey’s killer. As with the author’s other books, she takes the reader through some twists and turns with plenty of suspects until the killer is revealed.

I loved this book. I loved catching up with Hadley and her love life and her sense of adventure. There may also be a romance brewing between Aunt Deb and Detective Sanders. Hadley’s cousiin, Michael might also have a romance going on.

This is a book of murder, mystery, competition, revenge, love and romance.

***Disclaimer*** I received this book as part of an ARC. This review was given freely and is my honest opinion.

The book will be released November 17, 2023. I recommend going to your favorite retailer to purchase it.

Happy Reading!

• Title: Berry Purple Betrayal
• Author: Emily Oberton
• Series: Hadley Home Design Cozy Mystery #3
• Genre: Cozy Mystery
• Takes Place: Darlington Hills, VA
• Main Character: Hadley Sutton
• Other Characters: Irma, Carmella, Reid, Dennis, Lydia, Vincent, Terence, Aunt Deb
• Pets: dog named Chip and a cat named Razzy
• Stars: 5

Another great book by Emily Oberton. This is the 3rd book in the Hadley Home Design Mystery series and I loved it as much as the 2nd.

In this installment, Hadley once again finds herself in the middle of a murder, but this time she is the prime suspect. She has to race against time to prove her innocence. While she is trying to prove she didn’t commit murder, her friend Carmella has a mystery of her own. Carmella and Hadley are searching for the culprits who vandalized the high school where Carmella is the principal. During Hadley’s investigation into the murder, it turns out that there were several people who had a motive for murdering the victim. But could Hadley’s investigation get her killed!!

This book has so many twists and turns and the list of suspects just keeps growing as Hadley Unravels family secrets. If you enjoy small-town mysteries with a great protagonist, quirky characters, multiple suspects, surprises, and a bit of romance, this series is for you. This may be my favorite of the entire series. This is the last book in the series at this time but I am really hoping there will be more.

Happy Reading!

• Title: Pearl White Peril
• Author: Emily Oberton
• Series: Hadley Home Design Cozy Mysteries #2
• Genre: Cozy Mystery
• Takes Place: Darlington Hills, VA
• Main Character: Hadley Sutton
• Other Characters: Aunt Deb, Reid, Vincent, Willy, Dennis, Carmella
• Pets: A dog named Chip and a cat named Razzy
• Stars: 5

This is the second book in the Hadley Home Design Cozy Mystery series and I loved it. It had everything I love about cozy mysteries. I started reading this book with a bit of skepticism since the first one was so obvious. But since there were a lot of things I liked about the first one, I wanted to give this series another chance. I am so glad I did.

I really like the protagonist, Hadley. She’s intelligent, but risks her life at times. Perhaps not the wisest, but I still love her. Hadley relocated to Darlington, VA after her boyfriend broke up with her. She landed a job staging rooms for photo shoots and loves her job even though her new boss can be cantankerous and rude. Everything is going great until Hadley finds a dead body in her boss’s Kitchen. Of course, her boss, Vincent, is the prime suspect.

Hadley is afraid she will be out of a job if her boss goes to prison, so she works hard to prove her boss’ innocence. Her investigation leads her into some dangerous situations that could get her killed. As she gets closer to someone, could he be the killer!

This book takes the readers on a bit of a roller coaster ride with a series of twists and turns to find a killer. I really thought I had the killer figured out, but there is a twist at the end that I didn’t see coming. This is the type of mystery I love.

If you love a cozy mystery in a small town with a fun-loving protagonist, quirky characters, pets, and twists and turns to find a killer, you will love this book.

Happy reading!

• Title: Lemon Yellow Lies
• Author: Emily Oberton
• Series: Hadley Home Design Cozy Mysteries #1
• Genre: Cozy Mystery
• Takes Place: Darlington Hills, VA
• Main Character: Hadley Sutton
• Other Characters: Kent, Erin, Aunt Deb
• Pets: A dog named Chip and a cat named Razzy
• Stars: 4

This is the first book I have read by this author. I really liked this book and the only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 is because I found the ending too predictable.

Interior designer Hadley Sutten has a bad breakup with her boyfriend who is locally famous so she sees him everywhere. She needs a break and needs to be somewhere familiar. Her favorite aunt’s hometown of Darlington, VA is the perfect place to escape to after a breakup. She lands a job interview in Darlington so she packs her bags and leaves her home in New Orleans. Hadley has plans to start her own design business, but in the meantime ,she needs a job. While waiting for her job interview, she meets Kent, who hires her to furnish his outdoor living space for his fiance’s surprise birthday party. Along with working in his backyard, she has also agreed to house-sit and take care of his dog while he is away on a business trip. Who would hire an interior designer that they just met to house sit? I guess that is why they call it fiction.

When Hadley meets his fiance, it doesn’t go well. The fiance is a bit stuck up and doesn’t seem to like anything Hadley is doing to the backyard. The plot thickens when the fiance goes missing. There are a lot of lies and secrets as it leads us to the truth.

The cast of suspects is growing & Hadley’s life could be in danger as she uncovers some secrets that gets her closer to the truth.

I love all the twists and turns in this book and it was so engaging, I couldn’t put it down. I loved Hadley even though she was a bit naïve and trusting. I was going to give this book 5 stars until the ending. I like a mystery that is hard to solve and leaves you surprised at the end. In this entire book, I knew who the most obvious suspect was, but I was hoping for more of a big twist at the end and it didn’t happen. If you read this book, let me know in the comments what you think.

Happy reading!