Green Eyes in Las Vegas-A.R. Winters

A Cupcakes-And-Crime Caper
When cupcake-loving croupier and private investigator Tiffany Black witnesses a handsome, green-eyed man making a getaway after an art heist, she finds her normally chaotic life becoming even more complicated.
"Winters will have you giggling into your book!"
Tiffany flits between her two new cases: investigating the missing Van Gogh, and the murder of a Hollywood starlet with a secret life. When her investigation takes an intriguing turn and a man with mesmerizing green eyes comes into her life, Tiffany starts to wonder if this man might be the missing link between both crimes...
When her octogenarian friend Glenn starts dating a very inappropriate woman, and Nanna starts calling a twenty-something-year-old her “boyfriend”, Tiffany wonders if being attracted to a potential criminal might not be so crazy after all.

As she follows the investigation from movie sets to museums, danger strikes a little too close to home when Tiffany discovers that not only was the dead girl being stalked, someone with a deadly motive appears to be watching her too...



This was a really fun book. I liked the mystery and the hint of romance blossoming. It was a very quick read that leaves me wanting to read more books in this series. Great job. 

Iced to Death-Peg Cochran

Gigi Fitzgerald, owner of Gigi’s Gourmet De-Lite, knows how to put her clients’ cravings on ice. But catching a slippery killer is more of a challenge…

Gigi’s business may be hot, but her home life is leaving her cold. Her sister, Pia, has dropped in for an unannounced visit and, much to Gigi’s chagrin, has immediately fallen for handsome bar owner Declan McQuaid. So when Declan asks Gigi to help him prep for a big engagement party, she’s not only dealing with the heat of the kitchen and her own feelings for Declan, but Pia’s jealousy.

However, Gigi’s rising temperature quickly chills when the host of the party is found stabbed to death with an ice pick in back of the pub. Now, as Gigi’s beau, Detective Mertz, hones in on Declan as a possible murderer, Gigi will have to shave down the growing list of suspects quickly, before Pia’s newfound love interest finds himself locked in the cooler….


Peg Cochran has done it again. This book was FANTASTIC. Gigi finds herself in the midst of another murder mystery. In order to save her sister from heartache she sets out to prove that Declan is not the murderer. What ensues is a wonderful story and a formidable foe. This is a great series. I can't wait for the next adventure.

Panthers Play For Keeps: A Pru Harlowe Pet Mystery-Clea Simon

When Pru Marlowe takes a dog for a walk, she doesn’t expect to find a body. But Spot, a service dog in training, has too good a nose not to lead her to the remains of the beautiful young woman, and despite her own best instincts, Pru can’t avoid getting involved. The young woman seems to have been mauled by a wild cat – and Pru knows there have been no pumas in the Berkshire woods for years. And while Wallis, Pru's curmudgeonly tabby, seems fixated on the idea of a killer cat, Spot has been sending strange signals to Pru’s own heightened senses, suggesting that the violent death was something more than a tragic accident. As motives multiply, a cougar of a different sort sets her eyes on Pru’s sometime lover, and another woman disappears.  With panther panic growing, Pru may have to put aside her own issues – and her own ideas of domesticity – to solve a savage mystery.

I will be honest, this is the first book in this series that I have read and I didn't know what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised by this little treasure. I found that I enjoyed the characters and Pru's interactions with the animals had me laughing out loud. I love that in a book. This was a great mystery with a surprising villein. The author kept me on my toes throughout. Great job.

Murder Gone A-Rye-Nancy J. Parra

Toni Holmes is the best gluten-free baker in Oiltop, Kansas—okay, she’s the only one—but when her grandmother becomes a murder suspect, she’s more concerned with keeping Grandma free…

When Toni’s beloved—and eccentric—grandma Ruth is arrested for the murder of her archenemy, Lois Striker, it’s time for a senior moment of truth. Telltale tracks from a scooter like the one Grandma Ruth rides lead the police to suspect the outspoken oldster, but Toni knows her grandmother wouldn’t burn a cookie, let alone extinguish a life.

In fact, the case has Grandma more revved up than her infamous scooter. A former investigative journalist, she decides to solve the murder herself—with help from Toni—by digging up long-buried town secrets. But as Grandma scoots in where others fear to tread, Toni needs to make sure she not only stays out of jail but out of harm’s way….


I love this series!! Along with a great mystery, I find characters that make me want to be in Oiltop with them. They make me laugh out loud at their antics and I can't wait to read more. I can't wait to read what this author has in store for us next time. Fantastic. 

Of Monsters and Madness-Jessica Verday

A romantic, historical retelling of classic Gothic horror featuring Edgar Allan Poe and his character Annabel Lee, from a New York Times best-selling author.

Summoned to her father's home in 1820's Philadelphia, a girl finds herself in the midst of a rash of gruesome murders in which he might be implicated. She is torn romantically between her father's assistants-one kind and proper, one mysterious and brooding-who share a dark secret and may have more to do with the violent events than they're letting on.


This was an amazing read. I loved everything about it. The main character Annabelle Lee was delightful and she drew you into the story wonderfully. I found in this book a sweet romance and a mystery that I was not expecting. Stories about Edgar Allen Poe have been told for years, but you will never find another one quite like this. Just wonderful. 

Guidebook to Murder-Lynn Cahoon

In the gentle coastal town of South Cove, California, all Jill Gardner wants is to keep her store–Coffee, Books, and More–open and running. So why is she caught up in the business of murder?

When Jill’s elderly friend, Miss Emily, calls in a fit of pique, she already knows the city council is trying to force Emily to sell her dilapidated old house. But Emily’s gumption goes for naught when she dies unexpectedly and leaves the house to Jill–along with all of her problems. . .and her enemies. Convinced her friend was murdered, Jill is finding the list of suspects longer than the list of repairs needed on the house. But Jill is determined to uncover the culprit–especially if it gets her closer to South Cove’s finest, Detective Greg King. Problem is, the killer knows she’s on the case–and is determined to close the book on Jill permanently


This is the kind of book that I love. It had everything that I look for; a great plot, a wonderful mystery, an amazing heroin, a murder that I didn't figure out, and topped of with a hint of romance. This is a fantastic read. 

Mortal Fire-C.F. Dunn

 Twenty-nine-year-old, independent, and self-assured Cambridge history professor Emma D'Eresby has one obsession in life: the curious journal of a seventeenth-century Englishman, a portion of which was left to her by her late grandfather.

When an unexpected opportunity to study the journal in its entirety presents itself, Emma finds herself leaving Cambridge to take up a year-long position at a prestigious university in Maine. Anticipating a quiet year of research, Emma quickly discovers her work impeded by a range of unforeseen complications. From the start, there is the well-intentioned matchmaking of her vivacious Russian colleague, Elena Smalova, and the unexpected jailing of one of her post-graduate students. More troublesome, however, are the unsolved, brutal night attacks on women near the university and Emma's suspicion that they might be linked to the sinister English professor, Kort Staahl. But, most diverting and disconcerting of all, is Emma's growing attraction to the strikingly handsome Dr. Matthew Lyons, whose kind but deliberately distant demeanor puzzles her.

Suspense and dread mount when Kort begins to take a persistent and unsettling interest in Emma. What are Kort's intentions, and what is he capable of? And the mystery surrounding Matthew only deepens when Emma discovers a link between him and the journal. What is Matthew trying to hide?


This book surprised me. It was a wonderful story filled with great characters that were easy to connect with. I loved everything about this book. It had a great mystery along with a beautifully unexpected love story. I cannot wait for the next chapter in this series. Excellent job.

Face Value: A Rachel Gold Mystery

As St. Louis attorney Rachel Gold knows firsthand, the grueling hours and demands of Big Law take their toll on young lawyers. Some turn to drugs, some quit the profession, and occasionally one quits altogether. According to the medical examiner, Sari Bashir quit for good on leaving work one Thursday night. That's when she fell to her death from the eighth floor of the downtown garage adjacent to her firm where she parked her car. The police ruled her death a suicide. Stanley Plotkin, however, rules it a homicide. Stanley is a genius. He also has Asperger’s Syndrome which makes employing him tricky. So Sari’s firm employed Stanley in the mail room. Among his obsessions is the Facial Action Coding System (FACS), a massive compilation that correlates hundreds of facial muscle actions with specific emotions and mental states. For someone like Stanley, who can’t read people’s emotions from their facial expressions, FACS is like a hearing aid for the hearing impaired. And his mastery of FACS is so complete he’s sure that Sari did not kill herself. Rachel had been close with Sari, who worked for her during law school. She also knows Stanley because their mothers are friends. When he calls Sari’s death murder as Rachel drives him home from Sari's memorial service, she listens. And when Sari's grieving father pleads with Rachel to review the police file on his daughter's suicide, she reluctantly, though with consummate skill and deploying unlikely colleagues, starts an investigation that will lead into the heart of a dark criminal enterprise rife with collateral damage. Like Sari…. 

This was an all around excellent read. The book left me wanting more and more. By the time I was finished I wanted to kick myself for not figuring out the real bad guy/girl. I look forward to the next book.

Murder With Ganache-Lucy Burdette

Hayley Snow, the food critic for Key Zest magazine, has her plate heaped high with restaurant reviews, doughnut and sticky bun tastings, and an article on the Hemingway cats. But this week she’s also in charge of her best friend’s wedding. And then someone adds a side of murder…

For better or worse, Hayley has agreed to bake over 200 cupcakes for her friend Connie’s wedding while still meeting her writing deadlines. The last thing she needs is family drama. But her parents come barreling down on the island like a category 3 hurricane and on their first night in town her stepbrother, Roby, disappears into the spring break party scene in Key West.

When Hayley hears that two teenagers have stolen a jet ski, she sets aside her oven mitts and goes in search of Rory. She finds him, barely conscious, but his female companion isn’t so lucky. Now Hayley has to let the cupcakes cool and assemble the sprinkles of clues to clear her stepbrother’s name—before someone else gets iced


I think this series just keeps getting better and better. The characters, as always, are engaging and make you want to read more. I love how much the locale is incorporated into the threads of the story. I look forward to the next chapter in this fun filled series. 

Bordeaux: The Bitter Finish: A Vengence in the Vineyard Mystery-Janet Hubbard

NYPD detective Max Maguire returns to France as bodyguard to a famous American wine critic. Max’s mother is French—so Max is not only bilingual but blessed, or cursed, with disapproving (and devious) French relatives. Max is not just escorting the critic, she’s also keeping an eye on a very expensive bottle of wine whose authenticity is in dispute, a  pawn in cut-throat wine wars involving critics, wine collectors, and auction houses. Checked into their Paris hotel, it’s not long before Max discovers her client dead in her room and the bottle stolen from the hotel’s safe. So she has no choice but to team up with examining magistrate Olivier Chaumont, the man she had fallen in love with the year before while solving a murder in Champagne. Olivier's sidekick, Commissaire Abdel Zeroual joins in. Max has no police role in France but she stays  a step ahead of the French investigators using tactics learned back in New York, while Olivier weaves in and out of Bordeaux society where he is certain the murderer lurks. Is this something local, or is there really a counterfeit wine operation in play? Moving back and forth from Bordeaux to Manhattan among vintners, restaurateurs, auctioneers, collectors, the rich, as well as among less privileged players, everyone is propelled towards a shocking climax. 



It is a very rare occasion when I don't finish a book. Sadly, this is one of those times. I found myself uninterested in the book from the beginning.

Confessions of a Royal Bridegroom-Vanessa Kelly

Some men are born into scandal. Others pursue it with a passion. Griffin Steele, secret son of the Duke of Cumberland, is guilty on both counts. Yet somehow London’s most notorious scoundrel has been saddled with an abandoned baby boy—and with the unflappable, intriguing spinster summoned to nurse him…

Justine Brightmore may be a viscount’s niece, but she’s also a spy’s daughter, determined to safeguard the infant when his suspected royal parentage makes him a target. Yet how to protect herself from the rakish Griffin? Marriage might shield her reputation, but it can only imperil her heart, especially with a groom intent on delicious seduction


I loved this book. It had everything that I look for in a good read. This book had great characters, a great plot, and a sweet romance. I am happy to find that I, fully, enjoyed this book from an author I had never read before. I look forward to more books in this series. 

Season of the Witch-Natasha Mostert

 In her award-winning novel*, Natasha Mostert blends alchemy, the art of memory, high magic and murder to create a highly original psychological thriller.

Gabriel Blackstone is a cool, hip, thoroughly twenty-first century Londoner with an unusual talent. A computer hacker by trade, he is also a remote viewer: able to ‘slam a ride’ through the minds of others. But he uses his gift only reluctantly -- until he is asked to find a young man last seen months earlier at Monk House, in the company of two mysterious women. Gabriel becomes increasingly bewitched by the house, and by its owners, the beautiful Monk sisters. But even as he falls in love, he suspects that one of them is a killer.



This was a really good quick read. The characters were all very enjoyable and history let me engaged.