I love the snark of Jaine Austen. Okay, her cat is a bit over the top, but other than that, love it.

Jaine is hired to be the ghost writer for a wealthy heiress, Daisy Kincaid. One morning a man shows up at the house who claims to be the nephew of Daisy's former companion who died on a hike in Europe. The man - Tommy - soon smooches his way into Daisy's good graces, along the way alienating her employees and friends. It's no surprise he ends up dead. Everyone seemed to have hated him.

If it weren't for the fact that Jaine's friend Kate is the main suspect, Jaine wouldn't even have made the effort to find the killer.

Except perhaps to congratulate them on a job well done.

It's a short, quick paced book with a lot going on: the murder investigation, antics from Jaine's parents (told through emails) and Jaine's being wooed by her ex. All told in a delightful snarky voice. Yummie.

I read an ARC through Netgalley.

This is the first in the series for me, and for the first half of the book I felt interested to read the previous books in the series. I lost that feeling somewhere in the latter 70 pages.

The narration was unkind to Tanya.

Luna received a sum of money from a life insurance pay-out. On a whim (she didn’t even get proper tyres for her car) she drives over to the village of Chamonix in France to find out more about the man who left her that money.

In Chamonix Luna meets Benton Fraser of the RCMP, I mean, Yannick Pasquier of the PGHM (mountain police). Trust me, the only way to tell these two guys apart is because one wears a red coat and the other a blue coat. Yannick offers to help her on her quest.

Luna learns to ski.
Luna learns to climb a wall.
Luna learns about mountain rescue.

And Luna learns about the life insurance.

Feelings develop between Yannick and Luna, but at 80% of the story, her quest has come to a finish. Which leaves a bit too much of the story for Yannick and Luna to realize they really, really want to be together.

I read an ARC through NetGalley.

Odd story.

I requested this book from NetGalley because the cover reminded me of [b:Death in a Pale Hue|60915259|Death in a Pale Hue (Art Center Mysteries, #1)|Susan Van Kirk|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1651438753l/60915259._SY75_.jpg|96082770]. That is a cozy mystery, and I thought this might be too (what with the protagonist being a woman that must investigate a murder to prove her innocence). It is not a cozy; it’s more akin to a psychological thriller. Without the thriller part.

Nina is an unapproachable character. She doesn’t do friends (which is a mutual thing, I’m sure). She is a participant in an art exhibit, but also a juror. “A kindergartener could have produced a more interesting painting,” she said about a painting she judged. Which is unnecessary scatting and unprofessional commentary.

Later that evening, Nina passes an open door in the hotel hallway and sees a man slumped in a chair. She approaches, but is pushed aside by EMT. Yet, her presence in the room of a man that died a suspicious death makes her a person of interest.

And though the first detective on the scene barely chats with Nina for more than five minutes, the police disclose her name (or her likeness) to the dead man’s next of kin and to the press. WTF? A reporter approaches her at the funeral of the dead man and asks her if she is aware an autopsy is pending.

Autopsy report, I imagine. Customarily, autopsies are done before the funeral. Particularly when the corpse is going to be cremated after.

Before the reporter can ask anymore silly questions Nina is whisked away by a grounds keeper.

Other than a rumour going round that Nina has killed the dead man, nothing happens for two weeks. There isn’t even a follow-up interview with the police. You’d think that would happen if they didn’t really buy in to her ‘I was just passing’ explanation.

The story lacked urgency. And a proper investigation. The detective shows up again after two weeks to tell Nina that he has put a tail on her. Why? Surely a one hour proper interview is going to be more revealing than a three day stake out.

Day one: suspect did not leave apartment all day, ordered Thai food.
Day two: suspect did not leave apartment all day, lights out at …

Then after a month the detective does a house search and wants her fingerprints. After a month! Even though she was present at the crime scene.

Parts of the story are set in 1985 and reveal what is the connection between Nina and the dead man. Things Nina figures out bit by bit too. This interweaving of storylines is good and there should have been more of it than a few chapters in the beginning and one near the end. It also would have worked a lot better if there actually had been some urgency to the story in Nina’s present.

Lastly, can people in fiction please stop using sharp metal objects to open boxes that contain books? Specially people that supposedly work at bookstores.

I read an ARC through NetGalley.

Kate Hamilton goes to England to visit her daughter who's doing an internship. On a guided tour of the estate another of the interns is found dead. Kate takes an interest in solving the murder and also takes over the job of the dead girl to organize an exhibition of the Hoard, a collection of jewels and coins.

I never got into the story much. Kate talks a little to this person and to that person, but is mostly busy with the exhibition (which seems a lot of effort for just a one day thing.) Very little snooping content: i.e. no list of possible suspects with varying motives, and no chasing after red herrings.

What didn't help was that I didn't like Kate, didn't like her boyfriend (why's he always kissing her hair or forehead? That's how you show affection to your child, not to your lover.) and I most of all did not like Kate's daughter Christine (mental health issues perhaps?)

I read an ARC through Netgalley

In the shared bathroom between her hardware store and the next door boutique Dawna Carpenter discovers the dead body of Warren Highcastle. Because the police close the hardware store - and the neighbouring boutique - until further notice to do a crime scene investigation, Dawna has some time on her hand to do her own investigation.

Started out as classic cozy. But sadly could not keep this up. Overall, there’s more attention to the mother-daughter relationship between Dawna and April than there is to the mystery. There are only two people considered as suspects - not counting friend Bill. A third person is considered, but they don’t know who that is, so in fiction, he’s not likely to be the murderer.

The police chief came off as sort of competent - at least in the eyes of Dawna - until he arrested one of her friends. He read the man his rights - right to remain silent, right to an attorney - and then gets annoyed his arrestee keeps his mouth closed when asked question. What does he think “right to remain silent” means?

Later the police chief tells Darlene, owner of the boutique, off for not immediately responding to the alarm in her shop going off: Had you called right away, we might have caught the person who killed Steve, Miss Lovelace, or even saved his life. To which Darlene had no response.

Her response should have been: “Or I could have been killed right along with him.”

It took a while to get into this book.

Greta Plank has moved to Larkspur less than six months ago, running away from an incident in another life. In that time she has made friends with her colleagues at the library and with her neighbour that doesn’t seem to be friendly with anyone else.

It’s this neighbour she finds dead on his back deck. The new in town detective quickly marks her as a prime suspect. Set on proving him wrong, Greta is determined to find out who really killed her friend. Meanly dodging suggestions from her friends that there is romance in her future with the detective.

About halfway in I found the book had much improved from it’s start. That was until about the 90% mark. Then Greta sets herself up to be alone at the library with the person she suspects to be the killer. And added to her stupidity, she sends the detective a rather cryptic text rather than a straight forward “killer’s at the library”.

That the killer is even more stupid, is not a redeeming quality.

Spoiler

If they really thought no one has given them a second thought, they should have packed up their stuff and left when it looked like things were unraveling at the seems, rather than try to tie up a loose end.

I read an ARC through NetGalley.