Miraz Jordan

Well, that was a damn good read! The Missing Checkout Girl Mystery by Rachel Ward. Great characters, a story that kept me reading. 📚

Checkout girl Bea Jordan is determined to find out what happened to her friend. … And the only person who will help is Ant Thompson, the new guy. But he’s so useless he can’t even mop up a broken bottle of sauce.

The book Timber City Masks (Royce Madison Mysteries Book 1) by Kieran York kept me reading but it seemed to have been marinated, and for too long, in the Poetry Thesaurus. 📚

Eyes never just “met” but would ‘seam’, ‘bridge’, ‘lock’, ‘lace’, ‘target’, ‘tether’, ‘collide’ …

If I sit out in the sun to read my Kindle Paperwhite (2018) sometimes refuses to turn the page. I’d persuaded myself I needed a denim blue All-new Kindle (2022 release). Unfortunately it turned out what I needed was to force a hard restart of my Kindle… My wallet is relieved. 📚

Massively enjoyable: The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. Humorous, great characters (old folks in a seniors village, where ‘giving a talk on tablets’ has a whole other meaning). Well worth reading. 📚

Blood in Tavasci Marsh (The Pegasus Quincy Mystery Series Book 2) by Lakota Grace was a great follow-on to Book 1. I like the setting and the characters and the story flows well. 📚

Peg is furious when her life is threatened. But she must discover who killed old man Nettle!

I very much enjoyed Appalachian Mountain Mysteries Box Set by Lynda McDaniel. I’d already read Book 1. Book 2 was a bit preachy and put me strongly in mind of Forrest Gump.

All told though, it’s a good series, interesting and very readable. I expect to read more. 📚

I really enjoyed spending the day reading Death In Copper Town (The Pegasus Quincy Mystery Series Book 1) by Lakota Grace. It’s very readable, in a great setting, followed a logical process and the characters were believable. I’ll definitely read more by this author. 📚

Lynda McDaniel kept me reading avidly in A Life for a Life (Appalachian Mountain Mysteries Book 1):

Laurel Falls, N.C. … looked like heaven to me—ancient mountains brimming with tall trees and songbirds, peace and quiet. Until I found the body.

I’ll read more for sure. 📚

Jana DeLeon manages to keep her Miss Fortune series fresh, not just repeating plots. In Swamp Spirits (Miss Fortune Mysteries Book 23) one minor recurring character has been elevated while another doesn’t actually appear. A good read! 📚

A seeming haunted house mystery.

A good and well-written read: The Sheriff’s Wife (The Sheridan County Mysteries) by Erin Lark Maples:

When she stumbles over a body on a favorite hiking trail, the sheriff’s wife becomes the chief sleuth

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Recently read a 2-book freebie with Cooking Up Trouble (The Fun Cruise Mystery Series, A Sweet Romantic Cozy Mystery 1) and Undercover On The Calypso: Book One: The Cozy Cruise Mysteries, both by Lizzie Josephson. 📚

I enjoyed Undercover On The Calypso well enough and may read more in the series:

Adrianne Chrisander inherited a small cruise line from a great uncle she hadn’t seen since she was two. Exciting, huh? But there were problems.

Cooking Up Trouble had a lot of cooking competition detail, plus a romance, neither of which is really my thing:

Veronica thought a cooking competition was a great way to introduce Fun Cruises to the world, but she hadn’t counted on trouble rearing its ugly head.

When they were handing out adjectives to authors this one went back for thirds. I feel like I need a shower to wipe the muck off. Book discarded. 📚

I’m finding I really enjoy this author. The quirky English has come to be a feature. The Season of Killing: (Lost in Alaska Book 5). In particular, Chapter 7 is enormously evocative of the perils of winter travel above the Arctic Circle. 📚

A short, easy read. Shadow Council Book 1: Money Makes it Deadlier by Julie C. Gilbert. Not sure I’ll read more though, given they all seem to be novellas. 📚

Interesting news today — Joffe Books Acquires Two Novels by Māori Writer Renée: 

Otaki-based Renée is a much-loved and prolific writer … in her native New Zealand. She published The Wild Card, her first foray into crime fiction, in 2018 at age 90.

Another enjoyable read in the series: Flame and Fortune (Miss Fortune Mysteries Book 22). Not nearly as many hijinks, but that works. Take a drink at every “We all laughed” though. 📚

Then I moved right along to Close to the Edge (Detective Sarah Burke Book 7) by Elizabeth Gunn because I knew it’d be a good read, and it was. 📚

Why was a kindly man, dedicated to looking after the elderly, gunned down by a team of hoodlums wielding military-grade rifles?

I raced through Close to Home (Detective Sarah Burke Book 6) by Elizabeth Gunn. She’s an excellent author who tells a good story. 📚

The victim has no phone, no Medicare card. His neighbors don’t even know his name.

Why would someone do this to a lonely old man?

Loved @Cheri’s latest book: Death at Dagger Cove (Butterfly Island Mysteries Book 2) by Cheri Baker. I’ll confess I read an advance copy, now I’m rereading and loving it just as much. My comment after first reading was: I really really enjoyed this book. Just fabulous! 📚

Another excellent read from a good author: Closing Ranks (Detective Sarah Burke Book 5) by Elizabeth Gunn. To solve a current crime Sarah has to delve into an older crime or two. 📚

An ex-cop.
An apparent suicide.
Three bizarre deaths.

The first third of Murder on Sea (Rina Martin Murder Mystery Book 1) was a bit annoying and not really my thing. I was considering reading something else instead. Then suddenly it all fell into place and I really got caught up in the story. May well read more in the series. 📚

Two free books I abandoned:

• Ambassador 1: Seeing Red by Patty Jansen. Should have been obvious it’d be all politics but that’s just not my thing. Probably pretty good.
• Hash Browns And Homicide (no link) by Karen McSpade was silly and annoying.

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Some very grim topics in Under Violent Skies (Detective Sara Hirst Book 1) are probably why I started the book months ago but only picked it up again this week. A murder, a criminal gang, violence, racism, sexism, xenophobia. I’ll read more in the series though. 📚

It’s not too surprising that I really enjoyed Old Bones Lie (Detective Clare Mackay Book 6 by Marion Todd, given I’ve enjoyed the previous 5. Another great read. 📚

I wanted to like this writer who lives mainly in Aotearoa New Zealand, but the book simply missed its mark. It just didn’t quite work for me. Death at Grenstead House (Madeleine Brooks Mysteries) by Tannis Laidlaw. I’m unlikely to read more. 📚