Jamie Quinn, still reeling from the recent death of her mother, is a family court lawyer battling insomnia and grief. One morning, her aunt leaves a frantic message; her young cousin Adam, who has Asperger's Syndrome, has been arrested for murder after finding his music teacher, Spike, murdered with a didgeridoo. Although not a criminal lawyer, Jamie's family ties run deep and she dives in to save her fragile cousin from being jailed for a murder he didn't commit.

Death by Didgeridoo is novella length; at only 111 pages, it's difficult to sketch out a character completely, but I thought there was real depth to the characters. I'm an insomniac, so it was easy to relate to Jamie's frustration at not being able to sleep, and it was all too easy to empathize with the loss of her mother. I like that she is self-aware enough to be able to make jokes about her grief and lack of sleep, but she deals with it with humor without becoming negative. The character of Adam, who suffers from Asperger's Syndrome, was handled realistically and sensitively, and Duke, the kinda-shady overly-flirty PI made a good sidekick for Jamie.

The plot moved along quickly for such a short book, without sacrificing quality. I really liked when the public defender recommended hiring a private investigator, I thought it was a natural way to get the main character involved in the investigation.

I'd have to say the only issue I had with the book is a pretty common gripe I have about mysteries; the victim is never in the book. Although I understand that in a novella length book, it would be difficult to shoehorn in a few scenes showing what a miserable a-hole the victim was, but without having "met" him, I didn't connect with his murder. Actually, now that I think about it, both victims were only mentioned in the book, but were not really a part of it. A minor issue, and as I said, very common but it would be nice to get a feel for the victims to give their murders more of an impact.

Overall a great start to a new series, and recommended for any cozy mystery lover.

Note: The author provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. (She somehow knew I was a big fan of didgeridoos. It was fate)

The Case of the Killer Divorce, the second book in the Jamie Quinn Mystery series, has Jamie returning to her family law practice. While representing a wife, Rebecca Soloman, in a hostile divorce, the husband turns up dead. Jamie investigates with PI Duke Broussard to uncover the truth and find a killer.

This is a charming cozy mystery series, and at novella length, The Case of the Killer Divorce is a great way to spend the afternoon.
See the rest of my review on my blog

I've heard about this book from different sources, and as I've been paying more attention to my skin and makeup in the last few months (getting old is hell) I thought I'd see if I could pick up a few tips.

A great resource for a makeup noob like me and very recommended for people of all skill levels. Lots of great information and I learned the secret to See the rest of my review on my blog: Mysterieity Book Reviews

Sonya Curuthers is a medium who specializes in ghost therapy (in other words, seances). Early one morning at the Whispering Pines RV Park, Mr. Pepper wakes to a ghostly woman snuggling up to him and the resulting kerfluffle between the ghost of his dead wife and the spooning specter. sends him running to the woman in charge of the RV park, who calls Sonya for help. When bones are discovered in a pit soon after, Sonya (along with her wee terrier and the ghost of a 19th century Scottish laird) has to use all of her expertise to find a murderer.

I picked up The Ghost in Mr. Pepper's Bed on a whim. The title was just irresistible to me, I had to know just who Mr. Pepper was and of course, why there was a ghost in Mr. Pepper's bed. I dived in and discovered a great mystery, with quirky, likable characters, loads of southern charm and a great plot. (See the rest of my review on Mystereity Book Review Blog)

Peril in the Park, the third in the Jamie Quinn series has Jamie's boyfriend Kip, the director of the city parks, trying to figure out who is behind a recent vandalism spree and under pressure from the city council (and a developer) to okay a new skyscraper to be built on wetlands. After being threatened by email and the murder of a PI connected to the threats, Kip goes missing. Jamie rushes to solve the mystery before Kip is the next to die.

This book had a great plot; there were several aspects to it: the vandalism, the murder of the PI and Kip's trouble at work spilling over into Jamie getting email threats. While it was pretty obvious they were all related (and, I figured out whodunit pretty easily) it was still a gripping read and hard to put down.

Read the rest of my review on my blog - Mystereity Book Reviews

A woman is found murdered in a ritualistic way, and the police have very information to go on. The victim, a middle aged woman who left her husband to start a mysterious new life is found in an alley in Glasgow with multiple stab wounds. Shortly after the murder, Andromeda (Annie to her friends) spies a man at a Glasgow train station whose aura is clearly evil. After leaving an anonymous tip for the police, they trace the tip back to her, and with no other information to go on, begin to investigate what she saw. It soon becomes apparent that Annie is the key to unraveling the mystery and stopping a man bent on evil.

I'm a sucker for paranormal mysteries, and I'm a sucker for Scottish mysteries, so I had pretty high expectations just from reading the blurb. And it was (for the most part) an excellent mystery, with a taut plot, great characters and lots of magic.

(Continue reading my review on my blog, Mystereity)

I love baking and my family is half German; while we still have some family recipes floating around, but I was very interested in finding some traditional German baking recipes.

This well-organized book is perfect of bakers from novices (like me) to pros. It the history of the each recipe before detailing in easy to follow step-by-step instructions how to bake. There's an extensive glossary of ingredients, very helpful because I was unfamiliar with some of them (Baker's Ammonia? Almond Paste?) and it helped me to know what to look for. I did manage to find almond paste, but could not find baker's ammonia anywhere. I may have to buy that online.


Armed with my almond paste, I decided to start small with Heidesand (Sandy Almond Sugar Cookies)

This series is hit or miss for me. Most of the books are so fantastic that I read them in one sitting, unable to put them down.

This isn't one of them. In fact, the first 1/3 of the book was so inane, I considered abandoning it (and the series) altogether. The immature griping and sniping between Bay, Clove and Thistle is just annoying. They're all in their late 20s and having meltdowns because Clove moved in with her boyfriend. And she's not moving to China, she's moving a mile down the road. Give me a break! I'm not sure what the point of the asshole FBI agent was. He didn't add anything to the story, he was just another annoying character trying their hardest to get me to stop reading the book.
Read the rest of my review on my blog

Fantastic start to a promising new series! I sat down to read this for a few moments and ended up finishing it in one sitting, I just couldn't put it down!

There are two plots in the story, the main plot about the murder of Marley's cousin Jimmy and the subplot of a string of burglaries both had no shortage of suspects. Well paced, the plot spanned the book well without getting bogged down and it read so fast and easy that I was sorry when I got to the end of the book. And also a little hungry, especially after reading about all the delectable dishes cooked up by Ivan. Now I'm going to have to buy a waffle maker so I can try them for myself!

The characters were fun and likeable, although I would've liked to have seen more of Cousin Jimmy, he would've been a lively addition to the story. Marley is a great main character; easy to relate to, smart, funny and a little naiive. The little bit of romance between Marley and an old friend was cute and added just enough AWWW to be endearing without being schmaltzy.

Fun, cute and light, I recommend this to anyone who enjoys a great cozy mystery to curl up with on a rainy afternoon.


Thank you to Netgalley and Alibi for an advanced copy to review.

Thrilling, compelling and gritty, Missing delves into the difficult subject of of child sexual abuse and its impact; not only for the victim, but also the family and the police officers assigned to investigate the case.

This will definitely be high on my favorite books of the year list, the finely woven plot unwound bit by bit, with lots of plot twists and red herrings that kept me guessing as the book raced towards the shocking finale.

The main character, Craig Hunter is a likeable guy. I mean, who wouldn't love a copper that would jump out a window into a tree to rescue a cat? I really enjoyed that scene, it made for a great start to the book. I also liked how well the characters from the Scott Cullen series were integrated into the story, adding more dimension to the characters I already knew (and loved.)

Overall, Missing is a dark, riveting, and memorable book with a strong plot that will draw you into the middle of the action. I defiintely recommend to anyone who enjoys police procedurals or just a good, old-fashioned hard-boiled mystery.