"Coffee is Serious Business!" A New Cozy Series from Emmeline Duncan!

 This cozy was so fun! A fresh new entry into cozy mystery land, Fresh Brewed Murder by Emmeline Duncan takes place in Portland, Oregon which right off the bat is a fresh location for a cozy series.

What I loved about this book:

*Coffee Talk! I enjoyed the detailed descriptions of how various popular coffee drinks are made.  Good coffee is a science and an art.

* Emmeline Duncan did a great job writing dialogue that sounded like people actually talk.

* Our amateur slueth Sage acted and sounded like an actual 27-year-old.

I also enjoyed that Sage because of her unusual upbringing, is good at reading people, it's like a little superpower that will help her solve murders in all the Ground Rules Mystery books to come.  In cozy mysteries, you have to suspend a little disbelief because often the potential suspects the sleuth speaks with share more information than would likely happen in real life.  In Fresh Brewed Murder,  Emmeline Duncan addresses this dilemma by having an amateur slueth who was taught from an early age how to act and she uses those skills to get people to confide in her early and often. So Clever! It puts me in mind of one of my favorite P.I's Veronica Mars. 

All in all this book is a solid 4, very enjoyable and I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.  I would like to know Sage's thoughts on PSL's so I'm hoping the next book takes place in the fall. 

#TheSundayPost - Father's Day 2021

 

The Sunday Post is a weekly 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 our blog for the week ahead.  See rules here: Sunday Post Meme

If you celebrate Father's Day, I hope you have a wonderful time with the Fathers/Uncles/Grandpas in your lives.  My husband wants to do a backyard BBQ for the day so we'll be doing that and giving him a hammock (with a stand) for the backyard.  I'll be hanging out in my pool and I think at least 2 of the three kids will be working. 

This past week I returned to the DMV with Youngest Child to make attempt number two at passing the road test.  This time we arrived over an hour before the office opened.  This time instead of there being about 200 people ahead of us in line, there were about 100.  We were in line outside for four hours after they opened before it was our turn to enter the building.  Then there was a hold on-road tests for about 45 minutes. So more waiting, but at least at that point we were waiting inside in air conditioning. Then we had to wait in the car in line with about 20 other cars for her turn to finally get that second chance at the test.  

Would you believe me if I told you, of all the driver examiners at the local DMV, of which there were over 10, she got the same examiner that flunked her the week before?  Well, that's what happened!  Talk about stress. We recognized the examiner, but I don't think she recognized Youngest Child.  

Thank goodness, Youngest Child passed the test!  She is now a licensed driver!  For what it's worth, and I think it is worth something; she has a great story to tell about her trials and tribulations on the road to a driver's license.  Maybe not as heartbreaking as Olivia Rodrigo's song, but still quite emotional! 

This week I'll be sharing a book with an excellent title: 

And a book about my favorite beverage (Fresh Brewed Coffee) 

And a new Cozy that takes place in Sedona!

How was your week?  Read anything fun?  Oh, I almost forgot, we started watching Loki, I love it.  Time travel and multiple timelines--that's my jam! 

#ABrushWithMurder #NetGalley New Cozy Series Who Likes A Potential Love Triangle?

 Hello and welcome to your summer!  Today I am hyping myself up to start #1000wordsofsummer.  This is it--this time I'm going to finish writing a cozy mystery rough draft.  Even if it ends up printed out and sitting in a drawer, this time I'm going to do it!  No, I won't be able to finish it in the first two weeks of summer, but I am going to finish it by Labor Day.  I am not currently working so I do have the time. I just need to avoid scrolling social media! 

Speaking of writing, today I'm reviewing a new cozy series by Bailee Abbot, called A Brush With Murder. I received an ARC of this book from Net Galley to review. All the opinions are mine. I had a tough time rating this book. Ultimately, I decided on a 3.5 rounded up to a 4 for posting purposes. I struggled to like the characters in the book. It wasn't until I was 80 percent through the book that I came to like at least some of the characters. The mystery is good, a nice twist, but clues are laid out from the beginning so, it's earned. I know as a reader I don't like a twist that doesn't have a trail of clues. 

Chloe is our amateur sleuth, and she is trying to save her sister's business and herself after  Fiona, a local reporter who liked to pan local businesses, winds up dead.  Chloe, I grew to like, though I found her ex-boyfriend situation confusing, am I supposed to like Ross or dislike Ross? My instinct was to like him.  Izzie is Chloe's sister, and the proprietor of the new paint shop in town, Paint with A View.  I thought a business that does painting classes is a good business choice for a cozy mystery job.  However, during this book, Izzie the shop owner spends very little time at the shop.  She disappears frequently, is being secretive, and actively refuses to talk to the police officer who is trying to solve the murder. Overall, I had real trouble liking Izzie she came off as very flippant and entitled throughout the book.

Chloe and her family are literally trust fund babies. Her parents live off the funds from the family estate.  This is not something I have experience with, but in the book, there were multiple businesses run by twenty-something women who had financial backing from their families for their businesses. So the main character's situation wasn't completely uncommon for this town. One of these owners was very panicked about her business and worried about being a complete failure after her second chance--which was, to me, a little funny because she was 24 years old. No one is a complete failure at 24, plenty of time to try many more things in life.  

Chloe's dog Max is on the cover, but he isn't the emotional support or sounding board that many a cozy companion provides to their sleuth--he's more of a traditional pet. 

If you enjoy a potential love triangle, this book is definitely for you!  Seasonally, the book takes place during the heat of summer in a lakeside community. 

Most likely, I will pick up the second book in the series to see how Bailee Abbot develops the characters and what new mystery she creates. 

This book will be out on October 12, 2021. Add it to your TBR pile now! 

Judging A Book By Its Cover #RubyRedHerring #NetGalley

 

Ruby Red Herring by Tracy Gardner is the first book in her new Avery Ayers Antique Mystery series.  I chose to pick up this book from NetGalley because I loved the cover. The title is also a perfectly punny cozy title! 

Our Amateur sleuth is Avery Ayers. Avery and her sister live in the family home with their Aunt following the death of their parents in a car crash a year prior to the series beginning.  We quickly begin to wonder if the car crash was an accident or if foul play was involved.  Lilac Grove is a small suburb of New York City.  So we have the small-town setting where Avery and her family live, and then we also Manhattan where the family business is located.  The family business is an appraisal business that is focused on antiquities and artifacts, we find out the business has suffered since the deaths of William and Anne.  Things are now on the upswing due to a couple of contracts Avery's partner Sir Robert has acquired. 

My only exposure to the world of appraising antiques and artifacts has been through watching Antiques Roadshow on PBS. Tracy Gardner explains the appraisal process in an interesting and easy-to-understand way. I like the variety of character ages in this book.  Avery is 25, her sister is a senior in high school, Aunt Midge is sixty, and the people who work with Avery at the museum span the decades from the late 20s to late 50s.  A nice mix of points of view.  

Tracy Gardner does a very good job highlighting Avery's struggles with mental health after the deaths of her parents.  She is seeing a therapist and working on anger issues as well as grief, I appreciated that her pain and her struggle wasn't glossed over in pursue of the mystery plot.  

4 Stars to this new cozy series, this one takes some liberties with the standard cozy tropes, and I'm always open to reading new twists on cozy mysteries! 

I received an ARC of this book, it may change some when it is in final form.  All my opinions are mine!

Downward Death - A New Cozy Mystery and I Try A New Recipe! #COYERCHALLENGE2021

As you can see here I overcooked the crescents by about 2 minutes. 

 Kraft food sends me recipes all the time and many of them involved crescent rolls which I think I could easily eat a whole batch by myself! They are so light and flaky!  Ham and Pineapple Crescent Rolls I followed the directions on this recipe. I will say if I were to make this in the future I would dice the ham and mix all the ingredients into one spread and spread that on the crescent rolls and then roll them up. Overall it was a good way to use up leftover crushed pineapple!

I received an ARC of Downward Death by Stella Bixby, below is my review and as always the opinions are mine!

Ellie Vanderwick is a bit of a loner. She was raised in foster homes and has lived off and on in her converted VW Bus since she was 17.  Her dream is to help people to be pain-free and more flexible through yoga.  This story begins with Ellie being bequeathed a farm in Iowa courtesy of the grandmother she never knew.  So far so good right?  Ellie will be the outsider coming to a new town. We've all read that before right?

But wait! Ellie has a secret, her hair is a mood ring.  Yes, it changes color and texture based on her mood and feelings.  I thought this was a unique and fun way to add a little magic to a fairly standard cozy.  She also has a pet pig as her cozy companion!  

At the beginning of the book, there is some major corn confusion that made me say out loud-- "Is anyone going to tell her?"  I don't know if I got it because I am a Midwesterner or if it's common knowledge.  (you'll have to read to know what I am talking about, I don't want to spoil you).

Within the first three chapters of this book, I was already invested in Ellie V's life. I wanted good things for her and her Penelope, and I was ready to fight a couple people in the town on her behalf and hug others.  Stella Bixby has done a wonderful job in this book of really pulling the reader into the story.  The mysteries of Ellie's hair, who her parents were, and how will Ellie support herself were enough to keep me turning the pages, even before the murder occurred. 

I read the second half of Downward Death in one sitting,  The mystery keeps you guessing and you aren't sure which of these characters is terrible enough to be a killer. As I have said before, I prefer it when a cozy mystery killer is just an awful person motivated by...well I better not say this killer's motivation- that might help you guess who done it! 

When the book ends, some of the mystery of Ellie's background is solved, but much of who she is is left as an overarching mystery for future books.  I really enjoyed this series and can't wait to read the next book. I am hoping that Ellie's mother is alive and well and will show up in a future book!  I also hope Katie & Earl's daughter features in a future story!