Miraz Jordan

Crime, and also lesbian romance; I enjoyed Goslyn County by A.M. McKnight. 📚

While investigating three burglaries, Goslyn PD Detective Olivia Winston meets IRS Special Agent Maureen Jeffries who is pursuing a tax fraud suspect. Their cases are connected…

As it was set in Aotearoa New Zealand, I had high hopes for this book but was sadly disappointed. The Long Island Iced Tea Goodbye (Career Crisis Café Mystery Book 1) by Emily Selby was facile and riddled with careless typos and missing words. 📚

This book’s title made me dubious about whether I should bother but I was hooked from the first paragraph. It was an excellent read: Something Shady at Sunshine Haven (The Accidental Detective Book 1) by Kris Bock. I’ve bought book 2 already. 📚

Halfway I considered skipping ahead to see who the culprit was, but I persevered to the end. Buried Identity by Rosaleen Flanagan just wasn’t my thing. I found it unfocused, with too many characters, locations, dates, times and sub plots. Confusing, and I didn’t care enough. 📚

It’s likely my lack of knowledge or understanding of Indian culture coloured my response, but I found this book melodramatic and overdone. It was somewhat annoying, but I did read to the end. Kiss of Salt (Darya Nandkarni’s Misadventures Book 1). 📚

Yay, Pages 116 & following of Take Control of Ventura – Take Control Books actually explain in a way I can understand what Passkeys are and how they work. At last!

Take Control Books are the best and worth every cent! 📚

The Man Who Died Twice: (The Thursday Murder Club 2) by Richard Osman continues the adventures of the Thursday Murder Club. Still amusing, its novelty has lost a little lustre, so all the way through I felt a little sceptical. 📚

Another good read from an author I enjoy: Goodbye Sky Field (A Port Alma Murder Mystery Book 6) by Anne Shillolo. 📚

DC Holly Towns is working on a high-profile meth lab case … but keeps getting drawn closer to a plane crash site and its secrets.

I’ve come to like this series, and with some very interrupted sleeps I read my way through these fairly quickly. They’re good entertainment on a sleepless night. The Rina Martin Murder Mystery Box Set Books 1–4 by Jane Adams. 📚

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

📚

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. 📚