Miraz Jordan

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.

📚

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. 📚

I somehow got this free: A Dealer Dead Ahead (Law & Carter Cozy Mysteries Book 1). I read it to the end but didn’t care for it a whole lot. It just wasn’t very good, in any way. I might read another if it were free. Maybe this author gets better as she goes along? 📚

Leigh Mayberry has very quirky language in her books, but still I usually enjoy them. Murderous Profits (Lost in Alaska Book 7). Looks like I skipped 5 & 6 after #4 disappointed. Perhaps I should go back to them… 📚

An OK read: Death by Windmill: A Mother’s Day Murder in Amsterdam (Travel Can Be Murder Cozy Mystery Series Book 3) by Jennifer S. Alderson 📚. This was free — I haven’t read the others in the series and probably won’t. Some very unlikely events.

Not great. It all seems very stuffy, old-fashioned and rather unlikely. The Death of Amelia Marsh (Sally Nimitz Mysteries Book 1) by MaryJo Dawson 📚. Just not my thing, I guess and it was a mistake to buy it.

This was an enjoyable read: Death on the Danube: A New Year’s Murder in Budapest (Travel Can Be Murder Cozy Mystery Series Book 1) 📚:

Carl, her fellow tour guide, is found floating in the Danube River. Was it murder or accidental death?

I’m surprised I finished reading Murder by the Book (A Beyond the Page Bookstore Mystery 1) by Lauren Elliott. It seemed confused and rushed, had basic logic flaws and the romantic elements were annoying. I’m unlikely to read more in this series. 📚

Not too bad to while away a few hours: A Welsh Murder Mystery Box Set Books 1–4 by Cathy Ace 📚:

women of the WISE Enquiries Agency turned their backs on their previous careers to work together to help others.

‘Enquiries’ rather than ‘detecting’ is an interesting notion.

I enjoyed Murder at Sugar Rush Beach (Detectives Preddy & Harris Book 3) by Paula Lennon 📚:

Detective Preddy hoped for a quiet start to the new year. But there’s a murder at Sugar Rush Beach. A man is stabbed through the heart with an antique awl.

I enjoy this author’s books and this was no exception: Striking Range: A Timber Creek K-9 Mystery by Margaret Mizushima 📚:

Deputy Mattie and her K-9 partner Robo are called to help investigate the death of a young woman found in a campground filled with elk hunters.

Whiled away a day with Death of a Blogger: A Lady Marjorie Snellthorpe Mystery Novella by Dawn Brookes 📚:

a gossip blogger joins a tour party with victims of her malicious words…

I’m a bit ambivalent about Murder in Midwinter (Oxford Dog Walker Crime Thrillers Book 2) by Annie Dalton with Maria Dalton 📚. An interesting concept but a few too many coincidences and some parts dragged.

… the Oxford Six. One by one, the surviving members are targeted.

Unknown Baby Girl, a short story by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, is very powerful. As always from this author, a superbly written story. Read for free before 11 April 2022. 📚

I enjoyed These Little Lies (Detective Inspector Siv Drummond Book 1) by Gretta Mulrooney 📚. A new police procedural series from a British author I like:

Detective Inspector Siv Drummond is looking for a fresh start. What she gets is two dead bodies.

Another in a series I enjoy: Close to Death by Elizabeth Gunn 📚.

Detective Sarah Burke is called out to a mass shooting in a quiet residential street … it’s nothing she can’t handle.

That’s until one of the ‘dead’ bodies wakes up. At least now Sarah has a suspect.

I had low expectations for what turned out to be an excellent book. Murder on Port Meadow (Oxford Dog Walker Crime Thrillers Book 1) by Annie Dalton with Maria Dalton 📚 drew me in immediately and held me engrossed to the end. I’ve bought Book 2.

Abandoned 40% through: A Deadly Course (Sugarbury Falls Mysteries Book 1) by Diane Weiner 📚. Amateur detectives leap to various conclusions. I think I prefer trained detectives.