Jill Madison has a lunch date with her friend and mentor Judge Spivey. When she arrives at his house, she finds him, sadly, dead in his study. Already the same day she is contacted by the judge’s lawyer about a matter regarding his will. It turns out the judge has appointed her executor in his will and bequeathed his art collection and a large some of money to the Alice Marsden Center of the Arts, and some to Jill personally. His children get nothing.

Something that will surely sour his children. Though they both had a falling out with their father and haven’t been to visit in years, they assume they will inherit the lot and have to take care of his estate.

Soon rumours start that Jill had an undue influence on the judge. Jill tries to shrug it off and go about her work, at the art centre and as executor. After all, she has the first national exhibition opening soon at the art center. In between her jobs Jill does try to find out who could have killed the judge and why.

I wanted to like this story, but the author didn’t make that easy for me.

It started with Tom’s suggestion to Jill that judge Spivey’s children might kill her. As if the death of the executor is going to change the will. Probate court will simply appoint another one. Death of a beneficiary also will not change the will. Depending if the judge set any stipulations for survivorship in his will (and considering he cut his children out completely, I doubt he would have put any loop holes in his will they could benefit from) if a beneficiary dies before an estate is settled, her inheritance goes into her estate, not back into the Judge’s estate for redistribution.

I’m very disappointed that when Erika got the slayer statute wrong, neither of the lawyers in the room corrected her. Although her own lawyer told her to shut up after making a death threat. I guess that’s something.

Aside from the errors in inheritance law (I know those laws are complicated, but a little research goes a long way) the story also has little inconsistencies with the details, or timelines that didn’t add up. The most glaring one is that in one chapter Jill talks with Tom about his investigation into the death of Judge Spivey and gives him the Patterson letter, and in the next chapter Jill remembers that she forgot to tell Tom about the Patterson letter.

But most importantly, the story disappointed on the mystery. There’s loads of information on how art connoisseurs (such as jurors, appraisers and forensic investigators) look at art and determine its quality, value or provenance. There’s very little investigating the murder. Jill finds a few clues, mulls them over and then gives them to her brother the detective. The latter is a good thing (even though I’m of the opinion that Tom or the police should have found some clues, such as the Patterson letter, themselves. It was present at the crime scene.), but it makes the mystery a bit dull. Jill doesn’t start her investigation until 80% into the story.

And it makes me question why the killer thought they had anything to fear from Jill. Actually, I’m curious how they found out, because Jill never talked with them about her investigation.

I read an ARC through NetGalley.

Cozy mystery they way I like it: solid narrative, strong female character as the lead. Bit of a turn-off that the baddy felt the need to threathen the sleuth - they never threathen the police, do they? - though in this case, the baddy may have actually had cause.

Just a little puzzled that Amy doesn't let herself in at her fiancé's house, but rather knocks and waits for him to let her in. But that's probably because where I grew up, family and friends just walked into your house and merily shouted 'visitors' when they stepped into your kitchen. It seems strange if a soon to be married couple don't have the same easy access to eachother's houses.

Scarlett Gardner runs a bookshop near the beach. One morning before opening, she takes a walk on the beach and finds the body of a woman. A woman she recognises as the last customer of the day before.

Unsettling as that is, Scarlett is even more shocked to find that she’s named in the will of the woman. She did not even know the woman! Most unsettling is when she is detained by the police in a holding cell because the murder weapon was found near her shop. (note: near her shop, in a public area, where anyone could have access.)

Scarlett decides, with some encouragement from her sister, and some help of her friend and roommate Lucia, that she will investigate the death of the woman, Lorelai. Pretty soon she has a few suspects lined up.

I liked this story at the start. It’s got a nice narrative voice. But a few cracks showed when Scarlett inherited from a total stranger (Lorelai didn’t even mention in her will her connection with Scarlett). More cracks came when Lorelai’s lawyer showed up unannounced with Lorelai’s possessions at Scarlett’s house. Didn’t Lorelai own a house that was also part of the inheritance? And considering the will is contested, shouldn’t there have been a ban on redistributing the possessions until the contesting of the will has been resolved?

The reveal of the murderer was down right ridiculous. And mainly due to the fact Scarlett picked her suspects on how much they disliked her, rather than their relationship with Lorelai.

In any case, good enough read to continue with the next in the series. Scarlett and Lucia are great characters and they share a great friendship.

I read an ARC through NetGalley.

It's not often that I finish a cozy in just one sitting (I only got up to get more tea and a snack), but this one had me hooked from the first chapter to the acknowledgements.

So what if I figured the murderer well before Evie. The nasty people were believably nasty (and not cartoon nasty), the local police was competent, and Hannah Dennison spins a good yarn that makes me just want to turn the pages.

Half way in and the characters still haven't grabbed my attention. They like each other but don't want to get together. For reasons. Something to do with something that happened in her past. Flashes of sentence fragments suggests a toxic relationship.

Not enough of a carrot to make me want to continue.

I stopped reading when Sam and Len were making a comparison between Bowie and Morrissey. I realized I was never going to like these people.

Why is this story set in 1986 anyway? To name drop films and song titles, but that only works if the audience knows those films and songs. I'm taking a wild stab in the dark here, but I think half the target audience doesn't know the songs.

Rating rounded up because I liked the cover.

I received an ARC through NetGalley.

I’m just dropping into this series at the sixth book. I’m a bit befuddled about who’s who and all that.

I do know who the strangers are. Those are the people that share their strained relationship with the murder victim with Elery, rather unprovoked.

It took a while for me to get into this book. A sun lounger and nice weather helped. I think my problem was that I didn’t like the way Grady treated Elery or that he made her feel uncomfortable about who she was. Yet, she wants to be with him and I can’t figure out why. After a rather weird conversation (where Elery can’t help herself but tell the truth, but is in no way concerned that this is happening to her) Grady tells her “If anyone ever asks you to change, they didn’t deserve you to start with.” Which pretty much sums up how I feel about Grady.

Rather typical cozy with a sleuth that can’t help herself but be nosy.

Sage Caplin has just opened a coffee cart in a court yard for food trucks. On the third morning she finds a dead man in front of her cart, apparently killed with a box cutter she had borrowed from one of her neighbours. The dead man has a link to her past and this makes the police quick to ask pointy finger questions.

Despite this, the story lacks urgency. There’s no “I must solve this murder or it’s my livelihood/freedom on the line”. Probably because Sage has so many irons in the fire, a murder doesn’t upset her balance. In any case, she does very little sleuthing. If she learns anything about the victim or possible suspects, it is because people come to her cart and tell her. Or she does a search on the internet, all the while keeping an eye on her business and developing new business opportunities.

Something irked me throughout this story - Sage takes speak no ill of the death to a whole new level. She keeps reminding herself (and the reader) how bad it is that a man was killed. She didn’t even know the man. Is she equally considerate of the on average 50 people a day that are killed in the USA? (That’s over 1000 more murder victims during the course of this story.) Plus, it seems this guy was a jerk in business as well as in private.

Anyway, not a story for me. Not enough mystery, too much Sage is a wonderful business woman and all round nice person content.

I read an ARC through Netgalley.

Still as Death is the second instalment in the Lucky Whiskey Mystery series. I requested it as an ARC from NetGalley before I had read the first in the series. Which is a bit of a risk. As it turned out, I didn’t like the first book. So with some hesitation I picked up the second book.

It’s a few months after the events of the first book. Charlotte throws a surprise birthday party for the granddad and Marcus Savage shows up in town. Savage is a hot shot actor and former boyfriend of Charlotte. And very intent on getting engaged to Charlotte.

Actually, at the party he manages to slip a ring on her finger that she can’t get off. When Charlotte visits Marcus the next day to end the accidental engagement, he gets violent and says she has to marry him. Charlotte escapes. The next morning sheriff Danny Gett informs her Marcus is dead.

Charlotte and Brodie team up again to investigate a murder. But after dismissing themselves, their only suspect is cousin Evan. No one else in town knew Marcus (other than as the famous actor, I guess). Rather then focus on who knew Marcus, their investigation should focus on why was it so important for Marcus to marry Charlotte? What would he have stood to gain by it?

Spoiler

That question is asked, about 90% into the story.

A lot of pretty obvious questions are not asked. Such as how was Grace able to see the colour of the car in the dark - after she stated she could barely make out the cars - and even notice it had rust on the hood? Colour is the first thing you stop seeing when it gets dark. Heck, Charlotte doesn’t even ask why she’s turned down for a loan when the bank calls to inform her of such.

As a result, Charlotte only considers the usually suspects. And though I recognise that every series needs some recurring characters, it’s quite different when they are recurring murder suspects.

I read an ARC through NetGalley.

Nice second in the series.

Pepper and the other Bohemia Bartenders are in southern Florida for a tiki festival, meaning lots of rum cocktails. And I mean lots of cocktails. Pepper may claim cocktail culture is about the flavours, but the festival is all you can drink, and that sounds more like a thing for those who favour quantity over quality.

Pepper finds the body of the owner of several popular cocktail bars - a man who claims to own several very rare rums - and her friend Luke holding the murder weapon. Certain that Luke didn't do it, Pepper investigates. Lots of characters make an appearance (even a few from the previous book, aside the bartenders), but none really stick as possible suspects.

In the end Pepper has a Jessica Fletcher moment

Spoiler

(a thing the killer said doesn't mesh with what someone else said)

followed by a lucky escape. I nearly dropped the rating for that.

All in all, it's a nice read, though there should be less recurring characters. The Bohemia Bartenders are a travelling bunch; I don't expect them to run into the same people every time.

I read an ARC through Booksirens.