Miraz Jordan

Friends, here's an ebook bundle to sit back and enjoy. I love these books. The Complete Ellie Tappet Box Set Cruise Ship Mystery Bundle by Cheri Baker 📚:

Set sail for friendship and fun with Ellie Tappet, the crime-solving grandma readers can't stop raving about.

Format: DRM-Free Epub (For All Devices Including Kindle, Kobo, Tablets, Phones, & Nook)

A somewhat amusing read, poking gentle fun. The Dinner Lady Detectives: A charming British village cosy mystery by Hannah Hendy. 📚

Margery and Clementine are enjoying a peaceful middle-age together … eagerly awaiting retirement from their work on the front line serving meals to the students at Summerview secondary school.

Their calm life is shattered when their kitchen manager is found dead in the school’s walk-in freezer.

I was hooked from the first with Blood on the Tracks (Sydney Rose Parnell Book 1) by Barbara Nickless. Such a riveting read, and I've immediately bought the next. 📚

Excellent writing, with some turns of phrase I noted for the way they hit home.

Thanks to @alexandra@social.lol for the recommendation.

I read The Nugent Case (Mine for the Taking Book 1) by Torie Raben when I was in a bit of a daze, I think. More spy story than detective. It was OK, but I won't bother with more in the series. 📚

With The Arc (DCI Ellie McVey series Book 1) by J.A. Rainbow I realised:

I watch without complaint TV shows that are equally vague and 'unrealistic' about police investigations. I could also overlook the crime / mystery aspect and just see it as a story about lesbians. Much less annoying. 📚

I nearly stopped reading Deadly Bond (Kate Kinsella Mysteries Book 5) by Christine Green but returned to it in the end. 📚

I won't read others in the series. Sometimes the author has turns of phrase that appeal.

My nostalgia, like an orgasm, didn't last long, and I was soon asleep.

A little bit of flattery is nearly as good as finding plenty of jam in a doughnut so I didn't argue any more.

I thoroughly enjoyed the The Jessica Anderson K-9 Mysteries, as I mentioned already. Dead Falls (Book 5); Troubled Pursuit (Book 6); Game Trail (Book 7); Cold Scent (Book 8) did not disappoint in the least and in fact very pleasingly developed the main characters and even introduced some new ones. 📚

I'd read one of the other Daph books so knew what I was in for with this light and fluffy read. Daph On The Beach by Phillipa Nefri Clark was a little bit of candy floss. 📚

Road to Copper Hollow (Mining For Justice Book 1) by Katie Trapp was heavier on relationships than on plot, but as the lead characters were lesbians I didn't mind too much.

Very quirky language — perhaps typical for the part of the US setting? I enjoyed it but may not read the next in series. 📚

The 74 page Shadow Of Temptation: A Prequel To Margot Harris Mystery Series by Nora Kane didn't inspire me to go on and read more of the series. It was simplistic and the female cop being 'tough' by pulling out her gun just didn't work for me. 📚

The 96 page Goodbye Elora Inn (A DC Holly Towns Mystery Novella) (A Port Alma Murder Mystery Book 8) by Anne Shillolo was a quick and easy read.

Not a specially complex plot: someone's murdered in a remote and snowed in Inn. Investigation takes place … 📚

Another rare book-on-paper purchase this year: the delightful Critters of Aotearoa by Nicola Toki and Lily Duval. 📚

50 Bizarre But Lovable Members of Our Wildlife Community

It's written with humour for people of all ages, including kids. An easy and very enjoyable read.

I always enjoy books by Joy Ellis, so on a day where I felt slightly unwell and stayed in bed all day this was an engaging read: The Bag of Secrets (Detective Matt Ballard Mystery Book 6).

I like that the two private investigators gather a whole diverse team to help solve their cases. 📚

Abandoned: Body Count (FBI-K9 Series Book 2) by Jodi Burnett. Although it was obvious in the description I failed to notice it's a heterosexual romance involving a somewhat creepy guy who'll probably end up using emotional abuse to control his love interest. Yuck. 📚

There's something about this series that I just love. Maybe it's the very ordinary people: Bea and Ant, checkout operator and trolley guy. The Missing Red Carpet Mystery (The Supermarket Mysteries Book 4) by Rachel Ward. 📚

A royal visit, a missing red carpet, a shoplifter later found dead …

Baxter K9 Hero by Jodi Burnett was a freebie for joining the author's mailing list. It's a prequel to a series which is probably why it was a simple and straightforward story of searching for a missing girl. Nothing too complicated. 📚

I've bought another from the series.

I enjoy this series, so Someone Murderous at The Midnight Motel (The Accidental Detective Book 5) by Kris Bock was a good read. 📚

when Kate’s hot flashes wake her in the middle of the night, she wanders outside to cool off and stumbles over a dead body. [They] can’t trust anyone at the motel or the local police force they suspect of corruption.

I rarely buy books on paper, but the first couple of pages of Sylvia and the Birds: How The Bird Lady saved thousands of birds and how you can too by Johanna Emeney and Sarah Laing had me hooked. 📚

This gorgeous NZ book is:

Part graphic biography, part practical guide to protecting our bird wildlife

Another darn good read — Murder At Arrow Pass (An Elk Ridge Murder Mystery Book 2) by Anne Shillolo. 📚

A catastrophic pileup on the treacherous winter highway through Arrow Pass draws Inspector Casgrain and her team into a web of violence that threatens the nearby community of Elk Ridge.

Up in Smoke (Kansas Cozy Mysteries Book 6) by Charlene Weir just didn't really gel for me — I even skimmed several (rather irrelevant) chapters rather than reading them. A couple of characters with very dark back stories, endless political discussions and few appearances by the detectives. 📚

I've enjoyed previous books in this series by Alice Bienia, and this was another engrossing read: Knight In The Museum (A Jorja Knight Private Investigator Mystery Book 5). 📚

When the daughter of a former police officer asks Jorja to look into her father’s death … Jorja is determined to find her the answers she’s looking for.

This book was distinctly odd. Maybe it's a 'thing' I don't know about, a genre I don't usually read … I just don't know. I probably won't read more in the series. 📚

The Thin Woman (The Ellie Haskell Mysteries Book 1) by Dorothy Cannell:

Ellie Simons stands to inherit her Uncle Merlin’s huge English country house. But on three utterly bizarre conditions. One: she must lose 63 pounds (rude!). Two: she must marry the fake fiancé she’s been passing off as her true love all weekend. And three: she must catch whoever killed Uncle Merlin in the first place.

Kansas in winter sounds brutal. I have no understanding of how anyone survives. A Cold Christmas (Kansas Cozy Mysteries Book 5) by Charlene Weir has some complex trails to follow, with the cold almost a character in its own right. Another in an enjoyable series. 📚

I'd missed reading this first in a series, so remedied that. The Winter Widow (Kansas Cozy Mysteries Book 1) by Charlene Weir explains the back story and is an enjoyable read too. 📚

I started Blood Orchids (Paradise Crime Mysteries, Book 1) by Toby Neal but found the interpolated inner joys of a sadist disturbing. Then I realised I could skip those segments. When the two threads collided I put the book aside for a while. Now finished, I liked that the protagonist found strength from a past trauma.

I may read more. 📚