Slow Burn Cozy Mystery Goodness! A Maggie and Jasper Caper- Books Two and Three

I was not familiar with the tradition of Mourning Beads, so that was interesting to learn!  I think one of the reasons many of us enjoy Cozies is that we learn about various crafts and traditions from these mysteries.  This is an enjoyable second book in the series.  I find that Barbara Cool Lee does a nice job of balancing dark themes of domestic abuse, drug addiction, etc with the light tradition of this genre.  I had a feeling who the bad guy was in this book, but I didn't guess how it all fit together until the end. And Oh how I hope Maggie gives Stanley a chance! I have to keep reading to see if they slowly change from friends to lovers! 

And Book Three... The Empty Noose

I received a free digital copy of this book from the author when I participated in a Facebook Event at the end of January. 

What a heartbreak-filled book. Reese is nearly broken by a terrible turn of events.  Fortunately for Reese, he has Maggie as a best friend.  This book takes place not long after the last book and I don't want to talk about it too much. The book isn't long and the story is concise. We do get to travel to Deep Creek and meet the rest of Reese's family.  Plus Jasper gets to meet cattle!  An exciting time for a herding dog, he was having so much fun and bringing so much joy to Reese's parents and Shane that I was afraid he might stay in Deep Creek! 

Fortunately for us, everyone came back to Carita. The moment Maggie solves the murder was nice because I figure out the clue just a moment before she did as I was reading.  

As always, I'm rooting for Maggie and Reese to start dating! I think Maggie is coming around to realize he is the one for her- 

This is a very enjoyable inexpensive self-published cozy series. I recommend you add it to your TBR if you haven't already! 

For me, these books are 4.5's 

 

The Sunday Post - Happy Football Day and Happy Valentine's Day!

 

The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted here @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on your blog for the week ahead. Join in weekly, bi-weekly, or for a monthly wrap-up. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme 

I hope you had a nice week and that if you celebrate today with lots of wings, nachos, and tasty beverages you have a wonderful game and that your team wins!

And let me wish you a Happy Valentine's Day!  I have put together bags with little goodies for the kids and the hubs for Monday. I'm also planning to make a bar mix that looks very yummy and cheesecake-y 

I am hoping it is as good as it looks

This week I continue with talking about books in series I have been reading.  When I've not been reading I have been watching the series The Last Kingdom.  The beginning of the first season was a little slow as I tried to learn the characters but wow was Season Two great!  I have two more seasons to enjoy and then the final season--season 5 comes out March 9th. 

Uhtred, Son of Uhtred in the Middle, just a Saxon born, Dane raised Lord hanging with his two besties. 

How about you?  Any plans for Valentine's Day?  OH, I just remember I'll be spending my afternoon at the dentist-- fun times!  

The Inconvenient Corpse A Cozy Mystery Review!

Want to know a secret? I got this book for free!  Would you like to get free cozies?  Here is a link to join a Cozy Mystery Book Club run by 24 Cozy Writers.  Each month you get two free cozies and you can join a monthly discussion group!  Plus if you are interested there is a Facebook group and a discord server as well!

Here is the link to join! 

Now on to the book review, here is the blurb for this book: 

A handsome movie star in her kitchen, and a corpse in the swimming pool. Just your typical Monday morning….

Maggie McJasper is starting over in a little California beach town. She has a bead shop, a nice circle of friends, and a handsome movie star who keeps flirting with her. Life would be pretty great if she could just stop stumbling over dead bodies….

Do you like dogs, crafts, quirky friends, a slow-building romance between grownups who genuinely like each other, and a twisty little mystery with red herrings galore? Then this is for you.

The Maggie & Jasper Capers are fun and flirty cozies, with no swearing or love scenes, and no gruesome violence to keep you up at night. 

******

As an indication of my enjoyment of this book let me tell you what I did as soon as I finished this book.  I downloaded book two in this series! 

I found this book to be a delightful cozy and I recommend you read it too. As it says above this book has

a craft, beadwork, something I know nothing about so that was interesting.  Barbara Cool Lee does an excellent job of giving depth not only to Maggie but also to the people around her.  The setting is a small town but we have rich part-time residents and year-round locals to give lots of room for friction. Add in a smart and sweet dog plus the slow-burn romance between friends and you have a great read!

5 Stars!