Cute. Fun. A bit more edge than the typical cozy mystery. These books feel like they were written just for tiny me, who saw the covers of the mysteries my mom read in the ‘90s and thought they all had skeleton characters in them.

The Skeleton Haunts a House is perhaps the most provocative cozy mystery I've read. There's more detail to the violence, more willingness to engage with unsavory topics, and even a criticism of the tendency of cozy readers (myself very much included!) to gloss over the murders because the victims are usually unpleasant people who are easily dehumanized and deemed as deserving of murder. I can see this being a polarizing book for a lot of cozy readers, but it worked for me.

Although Perry doesn't include queer characters on the page, she does make it clear that her characters casually accept queer people, which I loved. I think this is the first cozy I've read that even mentions trans people existing. That made me so happy, because although I think this is changing and will continue to change, there is a tacit implication that queer people are inherently uncozy. Both Leigh Perry here and Jenn McKinlay in her Library Lover's series are (as far as I know) straight writers challenging that notion, and that definitely contributes to my loyalty to them.

Other pros are the inclusion of more of Georgia's family, the fun Halloween festival/haunted house setting, and a twisty mystery that I thought I had figured out multiple times but eluded me in the end.

I went into An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good with few expectations of really enjoying it. It was my work's book club pick for October, and our patrons' reading tastes tend to be on the more conservative side, with plenty of requests for books with no sex, language, or violence. Amish fiction is probably our most popular genre. Not my sort of thing.

So it was a surprise when I started listening to Helene Tursten's stories and found them to be darkly funny, with a genuinely sinister octogenarian protagonist meting out justice via a well-timed shove or swing of her cane. It was interesting to read an inversion of the common trope of the little old lady sleuth, who uses her seeming senility and innocence to gather clues. Tursten's Maud similarly weaponizes stereotypes of the elderly to her advantage, although she's the one making the mysteries... and cleverly covering them up.

I would heartily recommend this to any mystery and crime fan in the mood for something a little different. At only just over 3 hours (or just under 200 pages, depending on your format of choice), it's a small investment of time that pays off well.

I liked the concept more than I liked the execution.

With its enticing premise, House of Hunger was one of my most hotly anticipated new releases this Fall, but it fell flat for me for various reasons, among them being...

- A vibes-only approach to worldbuilding
- Not-really vampires
- Instalove and poorly-developed relationships in general
- Continuous anticlimax, or, everything resolving too quickly and easily
- Inconsistencies that hinted at the need for a stronger edit

And last but not least, the train that supposedly is super storm-evadingly fast because it runs on cow's blood. What was that?

I love browsing my public library’s queer ebook collection, because I end up finding indie and lesser-known books to try that I would have never found otherwise. Succulents and Spells is one of those books, and I’m happy that I gave it a try, because it was a nice cozy read that incorporates a lot of things I like, including queer witches, left-leaning values, autistic representation, and details about the characters’ day-to-day lives. It does have a tone that I can’t really explain other than to say it sounds like it was written by someone who spends a lot of time on tumblr and/or AO3, but that didn’t bother me, as I am definitely of the tumblr demographic. Planning to read the rest of the series and check out some of the other Witchy Fiction project authors, too.

I read the first one and thought it was cute, so I was on board for another foray into Bree Paulsen's gentle yet slightly bizarre world of magical sentient vegetables. It's still gentle and still slightly bizarre, but this time we get to learn more about how the vegetable people work. And once again, they work best if you don't ask too many questions and take things as they come. I neither am a child nor have one, but I think these books would make good gifts from an eccentric aunt, and they certainly deserve their space on library shelves. Although I must say, the ending of this one would have messed me up as a child. I cried at the end of Beauty and the Beast. I would not have been having any of this.

A lot of my thoughts about Succulents and Spells also apply here. I enjoyed seeing Marigold take center stage to solve a mystery that blends science and magic, and it was delightful to get to read a book with an autistic lesbian protagonist that's not YA. As an added bonus, the New Zealand setting prompted me to Google photos of Otari-Wilton's Bush, which is beautiful. Overall, a good cozy read that makes me eager to continue the series.

While I didn't find this one as consistently engaging as the first, I did enjoy learning more about Maud's past and seeing her exercise her brand of heroism on her trip to South Africa.

This is a novella about a thirtysomething fiber artist living in a haunted house and dating a trans woman, and anyone who has known me for longer than five minutes is probably already giving this review a knowing look, because that reads like a bingo card with my name written across the top. (But I mean... I'm only a hobbyist knitter/crocheter and I don't currently live in a haunted house.)

Again, thoughts about the previous two in the series still apply here. Cozy and comforting, and an enjoyable read despite some areas that could have used a bit more polish. I liked the new characters, and the update on how Laurel and Marigold are doing. Will almost certainly buy the fourth in the series soon.