Several Jana DeLeon books--review

Well, I had a lot of time today to wait--and read!  I finished three books in the Miss Fortune series by Jana DeLeon.  They were Reel of Fortune, Swamp Spook, and Fortune Furlough.  I enjoyed them all, having gotten to know the main characters in all of the previous books!

Reel of Fortune--Fortune joins Gertie and Ida Belle in a fishing tournament.  What could possibly go wrong fishing?  Well, when a local drunk and all around pain in the neck ends up murdered, and Ally is the prime suspect, Fortune, Gertie and Ida Belle start investigating to clear her name.

Swamp Spook--Sinful celebrates Halloween in a big way, with a week long celebration.  There is a spooky maze made of hay bales, that is populated with many scary characters--including Fortune as an execution--complete with prop dummy with a detachable head that she "chops" off!  In the middle of the event, there is a break and when everyone returns to the maze, Fortune discovers her prop dummy is now a real murder victim!

Fortune Furlough--Fortune, Gertie and Ida Belle decide they need a vacation and a change of scene, so they go off to Florida to drink and relax on the beach.  Gertie finds herself a gentleman to date on her first night, but his body is discovered the next day.  The local police officer in charge of the case is in a rush to blame someone to look good for a promotion he wants, and he doesn't particularly care if it is the guilty person or not.  He decides Gertie, old and from out of town, is the perfect choice.  Once again, the team investigates to find the real murderer!

Love these books and looking forward to more in the near future!

There three are part of my 2019 Cruising for Cozies Challenge.
Fortune Furlough is also Florida for my Around the States Challenge.

Cave of Bones by Anne Hillerman--review

This is the twenty-second book in the Leaphorn--Chee novels, originally written by Tony Hillerman, and continued by his daughter, Anne Hillerman.   This is the fourth she has written, and I mostly enjoyed it.

Bernie is asked to give a short speech to a group of at-risk teen girls who are on a camping trip, but when she arrives to the campsite, one of the girls is missing.  She turns up shortly after, but one of the leaders who was out looking for her doesn't return.  Bernie sends for a search and rescue group to help locate him,  because he was an experienced hiker, and fears are that he has been injured, and snows are predicted in the next few days.

The missing hiker was also in line to take over the group when the current leader retired, and there had also been some complaints about missing funds, so there are a lot of undercurrents involved.

Jim Chee, on the other hand, is out of town at a seminar, and had been asked by Bernie to check on her younger sister, who was attending  a semester at an art college in the same town as the seminar.  While there, he comes face to face with  someone he had arrested and sent to prison, who is also friendly with Chee's young sister-in-law, which causes Chee to have some worries.

The plot is fairly involved, and interesting. I enjoyed the book. although I still think there is too much talk of their personal lives and drama, but will read more.

This is #15 of my Mount TBR 2019 Reading Challenge (bought 26 Nov 2017), and #28 of my Craving for Cozies Challenge. Also C for my Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge.

Rock with Wings by Anne Hillerman--review

This is the second of the Leaphorn and Chee novels written by Anne Hillerman, part of the series started by her father, Tony Hillerman. 

In this story, a large part of the book is spent on Bernie Chee and her mother and sister.  I thought there was a little too much of this, but I'm hoping this is just to establish Bernie's background in future stories, and won't be so necessary in additional books.

Bernie is the main focus of the stories, although her husband, Jim Chee is involved in a separate investigation, and the story moves from one to the other fairly well. Both Jim and Bernie, in their separate investigations, consult with their mentor, Joe Leaphorn.  While Joe is still recovering from being shot and unable to speak, he is able to use a computer to help his friends out.

I wasn't drawn in by Jim Chee's investigation, and wish it had been more interesting, or more important, or both.  It was almost like an amusing little afterthought to the story.

As for the part of the plot involving Bernie, I found it somewhat interesting, but it was overshadowed by all the personal family drama that was taking place.  That isn't what I'm looking for when I read a mystery.  I also found a couple of the characters totally unbelievable. 

So my view of this book was that it was good, but disappointing.  I really enjoyed the original Leaphorn and Chee novels, and hoped to love these as much. I did not love this one, as I had expected it to be better than the first she wrote (which I did enjoy), and I felt it didn't really improve.  I will read the next in the series, as I already have it, and am hoping that she can capture the feel from the original books a little better.

This is my fourteenth book in my Mount TBR Reading Challenge (bought 10 May 2016), as well as #27 in my 2019 Craving for Cozies Challenge.

Spider Woman's Daughter by Anne Hillerman--review

This is the first in the Leaphorn and Chee novels that is written by Anne Hillerman, daughter of Tony Hillerman, the original author of the series.  I was a little leery of someone taking over the writing of one of my favorite series, even if she was the daughter, but was happy with this book.  She focused more on the viewpoint of Bernie Chee, although both Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee are important parts of the book.

I enjoyed this quite a bit, both because it continued the original feel of the books, with the environment of the area being an important part of the background, and the personalities of the characters being formed by their beliefs and upbringing, as well as an interesting plot that kept my attention.
Looking forward to reading additional books in the series--which I've already purchased.

This is part of my Mt. TBR Reading Challenge, having bought this 06 Dec 2015.  It is also #26 in my Craving for Cozies Challenge.

Twelve Angry Librarians by Miranda James--review

This is another in the Cat in the Stacks Mystery series (the eighth one), featuring Charlie Harris and his Maine Coon cat, Diesel.  In this story, the Southern Academic Libraries Association is holding their annual meeting this year in Athena, Mississippi.  As the interim library director at Athena College, he will have to deliver the welcome speech, which he dreads.

While he is looking forward to seeing some old friends he hasn't seen in a while, he discovers that the keynote speaker is Gavin Fong, his nemesis from college.  Even though it has been 30 years, he finds that Gavin is still annoying in every way, and becomes involved in an argument with him.

When Gavin's body is found, Charlie is then the prime suspect in his murder.  Naturally, Charlie is determined to clear his name, and offer up other suspects to the police.

As with the other books in the series, there are side issues from Charlie's personal life followed in the story, and I enjoy getting to know Charlie's friends and family.  I also find the mysteries to be quite interesting, and enjoyable.  So far, the books I've read in this series have not disappointed me!

This is part of my Craving for Cozies Reading Challenge, # 25.

Death of a Cookbook Author by Lee Hollis--review

The author, Lee Hollis, is one I hadn't read before, and I've has this book for several months, but never got around to reading it until recently.

Hayley Powell is a cook and local food columnist in Seal Harbor, Maine. While attending a local book signing by her idol, Penelope (who lives part time in the area), the star of a TV cooking program, Hayley is invited to Penelope's 4th of July Cook-Off.  This cook-off will be filmed by a TV crew, and shown on Penelope's TV show.

This is a weekend event, and Hayley and the other cooks are staying with Penelope for the weekend. Her first night at the mansion, Hayley develops food poisoning, and while dealing with that, she overhears what she believes to be a murder plot, with the victim her idol, Penelope.

When Hayley tells Penelope, who then shares it with the others, no one believes her.  It is suggested that she may have hallucinated during her bout with the food poisoning.  Even after a death, no one gives any credence to her suspicions, so she begins her investigation.

For whatever reason, this book just didn't grab me.  It was fairly enjoyable, but it was easy to put down and not pick up again.  It took me much longer than usual to finish this, and I was relieved when it was over.  The characters were okay, the plot was nice, there were even a couple of surprises, but this just wasn't something I really thought was great. Probably won't read any more in the series..

This is part of my Mt. TBR Challenge, bought 19 July 2018, read 9 Apr 2019.
It is also book #24 in my Craving for Cozies Challenge.

Death by Committee by Alexis Morgan--Review

Written by Alexis Morgan, Death by Committee is the first book I've read by this author.  The main character, Abby McCree, moves to Snowberry Creek, Washington, to settle her aunt's estate.  Abby is recently divorced, with no job, so she moves into her aunt's house to begin the inventory.  Her aunt, an avid quilter, was an active member of a local quilt guild, and Abby becomes involved with it through her aunt's best friends, also avid quilters.  She also has to deal with a mastiff that needs attention, and her aunt's tenant, who lives in the guest cottage.  Then, a body turns up in her late aunt's garden, wrapped in a quilt.  It is her aunt's rival in the quilt guild, so several members of the guild believe her aunt might be responsible.

The book was okay, but I think I've read too many books lately when a woman ends a relationship, has no job, and returns to a small town she grew up in, and soon after is involved in a mystery--usually a murder.  The suspects always seem to be her or a close friend or family member.  Quite often there is an attractive but stand-offish man around, who usually becomes a romantic interest during the investigation.

I realize this is a winning combination for books, but a little change up to this outline would be a pleasant change, at least for me.

The book was okay, the plot was a little obvious, but there wasn't anything outstanding wrong with it.  Might read another, if I was looking for a quick summer read.

This is part of my Craving for Cozies Challenge.