Penne Dreadful by Catherine Bruns | Book Review #157

The Bookish Island's Book Review:
Penne Dreadful by Catherine Bruns 

Are there spoilers?

None.

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Title: Penne Dreadful

Author: Catherine Bruns

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Pages: 416

Published: July 30, 2019

Publisher:  Poisoned Pen Press

Genre: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Food

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Date Read: March 7 to March 13, 2019

Rating: ★★★★☆

Tomato sauce isn't the only thing that runs red...

Local chef Tessa Esposito is struggling to get back on her feet following her husband's fatal accident. And when the police knock on Tessa's door, things just get worse. They've discovered Dylan's death wasn't an accident after all, and they need Tessa to start filling in the blanks. Who would want her beloved husband dead, and why?

With the investigation running cold, Tessa decides it's time to save her sanity by reconnecting with her first love-cooking. And maybe the best way back into the kitchen is to infiltrate Dylan's favorite local pizza parlor, which also happens to be the last place he was seen before he died. But the anchovies aren't the only thing that stink inside the small family business, and with suspects around every corner, Tessa finds that her husband's many secrets might land her in hot water.

The Rating:

My Review:

Penne Dreadful is was a twisty cozy mystery with a food theme.

Tessa's husband had recently passed away in a car accident. But later she finds out that it wasn't an accident after all. She takes a job at her husband's last job in order to snoop around and find out whatever she could. In the process of learning that her husband was keeping a lot of secrets from her. Leaving her with many questions.
Together with her cousin, Gaby, who owns a bookstore, they get themselves into dangerous situations.

This story was a fun, well-crafted cozy mystery. With well-developed characters and a strong plot.
And I totally didn't see who the main suspect was till the end.

The author also included recipes at the end. For pizza, sauce, and stromboli.
🍕🍝🍅

Goodreads

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The Bookish Island
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A High-End Finish by Kate Carlisle | Book Review #139

The Bookish Island's Book Review:
A High-End Finish by Kate Carlisle

Are there spoilers?

There might be some spoilers but then again maybe not.
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Title: A High-End Finish

Author: Kate Carlisle

Series: A Fixer-Upper Mystery #1

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Pages: 311

Publisher: Berkley

Published: 2014

Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Cozy Mystery 

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Date Read: January 13 + January 17 + January 19, 2019

Rating: ★★★★☆

FIRST IN A NEW SERIES! 

In the seaside town of Lighthouse Cove in northern California, everyone knows the best man for the job is actually a woman—contractor Shannon Hammer. But while Shannon can do wonders with a power drill and a little elbow grease, she’s about to discover that some problems aren’t so easily fixed.

Shannon’s home-renovation and repair business is booming, but her love life needs work. On a blind date with real estate agent Jerry Saxton, she has to whip out a pair of pliers to keep Jerry from getting too hands on. Shannon is happy to put her rotten date behind her, but when Jerry’s found dead in a run-down Victorian home that she’s been hired to restore, the town’s attractive new police chief suspects that her threats may have laid the foundation for murder.

Determined to clear her name, Shannon conducts her own investigation—with the help of her four best friends, her eccentric father, a nosy neighbor or two, and a handsome crime writer who’s just moved to town. But as they get closer to prying out the murderer’s identity, Shannon is viciously attacked. Now she’ll have to nail down the truth—or end up in permanent foreclosure.

The Rating:

My Review:

I choose this book as my pick for the Cozy Corner square in Romanceopoly because I had seen the Hallmark movie and I really loved it. But I quickly realized that this book has little in common with the movie series.

Shannon is a tomboy home renovator who is passionate about what she does and fixing houses and preserving their history. But shes also into her physical health and fitness and shes into a whole bunch of stuff that make her a well-rounded character. Something that I really loved because its the first main character form a cozy mystery that it a full character and not just someone who does the specific work the series is about (baker, cook, librarian, etc.) and it just so happens that someone is murdered and they take it upon themselves to solve it. Shannon had her hobbies, her work, her friends and family, and her enemies. What I'm trying to say is that she's one of my favorite cozy mystery characters. I love her and how strong she was with all that was thrown at her.

I was so delighted that the police in this was actively involved. And we're still collecting evidence even after they took away the body was found. And even stayed around the scene of the crime. I've read some that don't do that. The police in those books just show up take the body and don't even bother to have one cop stay at the scene of the crime so no one just walks in and touches everything.

I loved the way the author wrote about the houses and the process of the renovations. I could see what she was writing in my mind and understood it perfectly. Mostly since I've been watching a bunch of HGTV and DIY. My favorite show being, Rehab Addict.

Another thing about this book that I loved was just how female-driven it was for a cozy mystery. How Shannon and her friends ran everything and we're all in to help her figure out what was going on and catch the murderer.

About the crime. The murder victims in this book were not the greatest human beings and so your led to believe that they deserved it. One was a womanizer and a total jerk and the other one was a total jerk and super rude and entitled. And if it wasn't for the fact that one of them did something bad to Shannon, and in no point in the book was it explained and understood as such but rather just an attack, I wouldn't think it was deserved but -yeah. 

Then there was the great at times, odd at other, love triangle that was happening with Shannon and the two love interests.



Having read this book I can now tick off one book read in the Romanceopoly. As a part of my 2019 Reading Challenges.

Goodreads    ||    Amazon    ||    Barnes & Noble    ||    Book Depository

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The Bookish Island
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Strawberries & Crème Murder by Susan Gillard | Book Review #135

The Bookish Island's Book Review:
Strawberries & Crème Murder by Susan Gillard

Are there spoilers?

There are some spoilers.

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Title: Strawberries & Creme Murder 

Author: Susan Gillard

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Pages: 150

Published: 2018

Genre: Mystery, Cozy Mystery

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Date Read: December 10, 2018

Rating: ★★★★☆

Donuts, deceit and the potential murder of a former assistant find Heather Janke at the center of a mystery in which she is a potential suspect and possibly the only one capable of discerning the truth. 

Was her former assistant Christa murdered and if so, why? 

Follow Heather as she searches for clues to get to the bottom of this sweet caper. 

The Rating:

My Review:

Strawberry Cream Murder is a super short cozy murder mystery with the setting of a donut bakery. Which was something that made me want to eat a donut while I was reading it but that wasn't gonna happen.

I liked most of the characters. Heather and Amy were great.  The detective was kinda cool too.
There were some that were a little annoying and obviously the bad guys but other than that I didn't have a problem with the characters in this story. 

In regards to the actual murder mystery part of this story.
The crime was good. It was a former employee of Heather that stole her recipes and opened up another donut shop nearby. She is found dead with a donut by her side.  And Heather comments that it was fou play because he was a neat freak and would never leave crumbs all over the place.

The one thing that bothered me about Heather and her involvement with the crime, was how she just freely walked into the crime scene without caring about the evidence getting messed up or even fearing she would get accused of being involved in the crime by having her footsteps and fingerprints all over the place. Also isn't there usually a cop watching over the crime scene at the beginning of it being a crime scene just in case situations like that happen. Like their job is to prevent anybody from stepping into the crime scene so evidence doesn't get tampered with. 

I did not know who the killer was despite this being such a short book. Or maybe I just got caught by surprise because I wasn't paying attention when the clues and observations got connected. So yeah 4 stars.

Goodreads  

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The Bookish Island
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Plum Deadly by Ellie Grant | Book Review #131

The Bookish Island's Book Review:
Plum Deadly by Ellie Grant

Are there spoilers?

No.

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Title: Plum Deadly 

Author: Ellie Grant

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Pages: 304

Publisher: Gallery Books

Published: 2013

Genre: Mystery, Cozy Mystery

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Date Read: Dec 13 > Dec 14, 2018

Rating: ★★★★☆

In this cozy mystery, a young woman is framed by her boss for embezzlement and flees to her aunt’s pie shop—but when her ex-boss turns up dead on their doorstep she must start her own investigation to find the killer—before he finds her.

CHOCOHOLIC CREAM. BOUNTIFUL BLUEBERRY. LOTSA LEMON MERINGUE. EVEN DANGEROUSLY DAMSON. 

Who could resist such pies? Who would even want to resist the pie shop that makes them? Certainly not the residents of Durham, North Carolina, and the little bakery and café called Pie in the Sky is one of the most popular meet-up places in town.

Unjustly accused of cooking the books, Maggie Grady is forced to retreat from her high-flying New York financial career to the town where she grew up. Her aunt Clara greets her with open arms and a job at the family-owned business that has baked the best pies in the South for over forty years. Unfortunately, while Maggie is determined to return to banking, her reputation there seems permanently in the pits. That is, until her old boss, Lou, visits with news that he’s found the real crook. Before he can reveal the details, though, Maggie finds his body right behind the pie shop.

With only her own word that Lou planned to exonerate her, Maggie is in the spotlight. The police seem to suspect that Aunt Clara’s damson pie may not be just dangerously delectable, but downright deadly. Maggie doesn’t just have her own name to clear; she has to make sure that her aunt’s beloved business isn’t harmed, either. Yummy local reporter Ryan Summerour appears eager to help, and Maggie can’t help hoping that it’s not just the police who find her a person of interest—but Ryan, as well. She’d thought it challenging to make the perfect pie crust that Aunt Clara demands, but that turns out to be nothing compared with finding a murderer. . . .

The Rating:





My Review:

Plum Deadly is a fantastic example of a food-based murder mystery. Maggie is down on her luck. Having just lost her job, home and the people she knew after being accused of embezzlement at her former job. But she still has her only family member her Aunt Clara. And Clara gladly takes her back and gives her a room in her home and a job at her bakery, Pie in the Sky. And since the two are practically mother and daughter their chemistry is great and supportive in everything the two get themselves into. Which comes into account when Maggie gets a spot in the top suspect of the murder case of her former boss, Lou. Who had shown up at the bakery to tell her he was gonna fix everything and clear her of everything that happened but leaves without telling her who the true suspect of the embezzlement is. And shows up dead at the back of the bakery. 

This is a very short story but I didn't mind it at all. In this, you don't know who the murderer is until the very end when they lay it out for you. I didn't even get it until the end. And I usually good at putting two and two together. The murder weapon was a poison and only one person died. So it's a very classic murder mystery. 

But even with all that, there were a lot of characters. I counted them and it was over 15 character. If you exclude the characters that were obviously good guys; meaning, the main character, Maggie, her Aunt Clara, Frank, the chief of police, the guy who sold produce and his son who sold furniture, you don't really get a chance to even guess. Meaning, most of the characters were suspects, and you'd be less likely to guess who the killer actually was. 

The whole case was still very good and didn't give out a lot of clues and I liked that the first case didn't have more than one murder victim. There were one too many obvious bad and greedy people. And at one point the ladies got their home broken into and the power got cut off which got me to be on their side so much more. I wanted the bad guys to lay off and let them bond. 

Also is anyone else interested in seeing this as a show or movie, because I totally do. Just so I can see Maggie's outfits. Since she wore her mom's old clothes. Talk about retro making a comeback. I loved that she would go into her mom's old stuff and pick stuff out for herself. I also want to see everyone react to her wearing those clothes. seriously! That would be gold.

Goodreads

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Tagged for Death by Sherry Harris | Book Review #112

The Bookish Island's Book Review:
Tagged for Death by Sherry Harris

Are there spoilers?

No.

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Title: Tagged for Death

Author: Sherry Harris

Series: Sarah Winston Garage Sale Mystery #1

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Pages: 304

Publisher: Kensington

Published: 2014

Genre: Mystery, Cozy Mystery

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Date Read: June 26, 2018

Rating: ★★★★★

Starting your life over at age thirty-eight isn't easy, but that's what Sarah Winston finds herself facing when her husband CJ runs off with a 19-year-old temptress named Tiffany. Sarah's self-prescribed therapy happily involves hitting all the garage and tag sales in and around her small town of Ellington, Massachusetts. If only she could turn her love for bargain hunting into a full-time career.
One man's junk is another man's treasure
But after returning from a particularly successful day searching for yard sale treasures, Sarah finds a grisly surprise in one of her bags: a freshly bloodied shirt…that undoubtedly belongs to her ex, CJ, who now happens to be Ellington's chief of police. If that's not bad enough, it seems Tiffany has gone missing. Now it's up to Sarah to prove that her cold-hearted ex is not a cold-blooded killer…
But finding that treasure can be murder.

The Rating:

My Review:

I loved the mystery in this book. It was so well written and made me change my mind about who the suspect was a few times. That's always a good sign in a mystery novel when that happens.

I never had a problem with the main character. I thought she was amazing. Tough and smart and didn't give in to what everyone said or did against her.

I was also furious and didn't agree with how people were treating her. So I got mad a lot. Definitely more than a few times I really wanted to be a character in this book just to stand by her and kick some ass cause -damn!

All in all, I would love to keep reading the other books in this series.

Goodreads    |    Book Depository

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The Bookish Island
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