The Sinners All Bow by Kate Winkler Dawson

First Line: Catharine Read Arnold Williams was a fearless woman.

 

When Sarah Maria Cornell was found dead on a small New England farm in the winter of 1832, her death was considered a suicide. But when certain details of her past and a secret correspondence with a popular local Methodist minister were uncovered, people began to wonder if Sarah's death could actually be murder. 

 

Writer Catharine Reed Arnold Williams was determined to uncover the truth and wrote what many believe to be the first American true-crime book. The murder divided the country and inspired Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, but the reverend was not convicted.

True-crime historian Kate Winkler Dawson set a goal to finish Williams' work. Using modern investigative techniques, Dawson fills in the gaps of Williams' research to find the truth.

~

Having read previous books by Dawson, I know she's a master at picking fascinating topics, and-- of course-- I have memories of reading Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter in high school. (I didn't like his writing style, but the story certainly stuck with me.) I've also been known to dive into true crime now and again, so... there's no way I could've ignored The Sinners All Bow.

Dawson's research brings to light a murder victim who preferred the autonomy of millwork and refused to settle down with a husband and children. Her research also brought to light questions about author Catharine Williams. Yes, she was the first author to advocate for the crime victim, but could everything she wrote be trusted to be fact? 

 

Dawson's deep dive into the history of the times and the backgrounds of the major players (Sarah Maria Cornell, Catharine Williams, Reverend Ephraim Avery) brings to light some fascinating facts-- including ones that prove we haven't changed all that much in two hundred years.  

The Sinners All Bow: Two Authors, One Murder, and the Real Hester Prynne

by Kate Winkler Dawson

eISBN: 9780593713624

G.P. Putnam's Sons © 2025

320 pages

Non-Fiction

Rating: B+

Source: Net Galley

An Inconvenient Wife by Karen E. Olson

 

First Line: They came in the early morning.

 

Kate Parker thinks she knows what she's getting into when she becomes the sixth wife of billionaire Hank Tudor-- after all, she was by his side (as his assistant) when his fifth marriage to actress Caitlyn Howard fell apart. 

 

But their honeymoon hasn't even begun when a headless body is found near Hank's summer home. This forces Kate to contend with Wife #1, Catherine Alvarez, who lives as a shut-in with her computers carefully following all business aspects of Tudor Enterprises; and Wife #4, Anna Klein, who runs a bed-and-breakfast where she and her wife keep an eye on things-- in particular Hank's children, Lizzie and Teddy.

 

A deadly game of cat and mouse ensues, not only between Kate, Catherine, and Anna but with Hank and Hank's fixer, Tom Cromwell. Who is the headless woman who was found on Hank's property, and does her death have any connection to that other headless body from eight years ago?

~

When I was in my twenties, I devoured all sorts of fiction and nonfiction about Tudor England-- including the book mentioned by the author in her Afterward. I could not resist An Inconvenient Wife, Olson's modern retelling of Henry VIII and his six wives. (Are you familiar with "Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived" as a way to keep those six women's fates straight?)

Don't worry. If you're unfamiliar with Henry and his wives, you'll still enjoy this book. The machinations of several characters are well worth the price of admission all by themselves. However, if you are familiar with that particular period of history, that knowledge will add some zest-- and some smiles-- to Olson's story. Not only that but there will be surprises, too, because this modern retelling is not a slavish imitation of the past. 

An Inconvenient Wife is one of those books in which you can't say much about the story or its characters without giving something inadvertently away, so I am going to resist temptation and merely say that I enjoyed this book and the surprises I found along the way. Give it a try.

An Inconvenient Wife by Karen E. Olson

ISBN: 9781639365654

Pegasus Crime © 2024

Paperback, 320 pages

 

Standalone Thriller

Rating: A

Source: The Publisher

Fatal First Edition by Jenn McKinlay

 

First Line: How's the windy city?" Nancy Peyton asked.

 

Librarian Lindsey Norris and her husband, Sully, are in Chicago attending an archivists' conference. After a lecture, Lindsey gets up to go to the front to meet book restoration specialist Brooklyn Wainwright and finds a tote bag containing a first edition of Patricia Highsmith's Strangers on a Train inscribed to Alfred Hitchcock. Wainwright determines the novel is quite valuable, so Lindsey returns the book to the conference director.

Mere hours after boarding the train back to Connecticut, Lindsey and Sully find the conference director murdered in his private compartment. Even worse, the pair are prime suspects because the murderer planted the book in their room next door. Finding a killer just became even more important than usual.

~

If you're in the mood for a book that's just plain fun to read, pick up Jenn McKinlay's Fatal First Edition. Although this is one of my favorite series and I would love you to read all fourteen books in it, I think you could pick this one up and not feel confused about the characters and their lives if you don't have the time to invest in the entire series. (But don't blame me if you read it and find yourself looking up all the others.)

There are so many elements that make Fatal First Edition a winner. There's the cameo appearance by book restoration expert Brooklyn Wainwright, the main character in Kate Carlisle's excellent Bibliophile series. There are ties to master mystery writer Patricia Highsmith and master filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock through Highsmith's Strangers on a Train. There's train travel for those of you who haven't had the pleasure (and those of us who have). Even the weather cooperates by providing a blizzard during the hunt for the killer.

With all these elements comes a first-rate cast that I consider part of my fictional family. When a character's life is in danger, I was reminded of how I think McKinlay could be an extremely talented thriller writer. She definitely had me turning the pages as fast as I could.

After this thrill ride of a mystery, I can't wait to see what is next in store for intrepid librarian Lindsey Norris. Hurry up with the next book, Jenn!

Fatal First Edition by Jenn McKinlay

eISBN: 9780593639351

Berkley Prime Crime © 2024

eBook, 280 pages

 

Cozy Mystery ,#14 Library Lovers mystery

Rating: A+

Source: Net Galley

One for the Books by Jenn McKinlay

 

First Line: "Why is everyone staring at us?"

Finding out you've made a big organizational mistake when your wedding is only a week away is not good, and library director Lindsey Norris doesn't know whether to pull her hair, hyperventilate, or run screaming into the night. Fortunately, her friends dissuade her from doing any of them. 

Unfortunately, when she and her Crafternoon buddies head out to Bell Island to check out the wedding venue, they find a body that has washed up on the beach... and they know who it is: the justice of the peace who was to officiate at her wedding ceremony.

Nothing like a little murder to take Lindsey's mind off everything that's going wrong with her wedding!

I've loved this Library Lovers series from its inception, and it just keeps getting stronger, probably because the entire cast feels like family now. Not only does One for the Books come with several excellent reading recommendations, but it also comes with an idea that I wish I'd thought of when I got married: instead of gifts, donate a book to the library. How great is that?

The mystery was a bit easy to solve, but that's because the short time span before Lindsey's wedding meant that there were a lot of other things going on. This book is for the characters, and this is where it really shines. It's probably due to the fact that we share the same last name, but I've always had a proprietary interest in the sour puss Ms. Lemon. I'm thrilled with the progress of her character, and I hope she succeeds in her latest quest.

Excellent reading recommendations, a mystery to solve, laugh-out-loud humor, a wedding, and characters I love. One for the Books has all the feels-- and if I may make my own suggestion, have a box of tissues handy when you get close to the end. You'll need them. 

One for the Books by Jenn McKinlay

eISBN: 9780593101766

Berkley Prime Crime © 2020

eBook, 320 pages

 

Cozy Mystery, #11 Library Lovers mystery

Rating: A

Source: Net Galley

Tahoe Hit by Todd Borg

 

 

First Line: It was an ideal gathering for murder.

 

Private investigator Owen McKenna is hired by millionaire hedge fund specialist Carston Kraytower to investigate the deaths of two of his colleagues who have died under inexplicable circumstances in the Lake Tahoe area. As McKenna begins to unravel the secrets Kraytower has worked so hard to hide, Kraytower's son is kidnapped. Now it's a race against time to save the teenager.

August just isn't August without a new Owen McKenna thriller, and Tahoe Hit, the eighteenth addition to this marvelous series, was just what I needed. I'm addicted to Todd Borg's intricate, fast-paced mysteries every bit as much as I'm addicted to the beautiful setting of Lake Tahoe and to his marvelous characters.

In Tahoe Hit, millionaire Carston Kraytower really kept me off-balance; I never knew which way that man was going to jump. When you've got a character like that, solving the mystery gives your little grey cells a workout. Even when McKenna starts uncovering secret after secret, it still took me some time to figure everything out-- and I still missed some of the twists. I like that.

But this book (and this series) isn't just about the mystery. It has one of my all-time favorite casts of characters in crime fiction. Being an ex-cop, Owen McKenna has gone out of his way to forge good relationships with police officers in the Lake Tahoe area, and those relationships lead to much of the humor in the books. McKenna is also very observant whether it be man or beast that is the focus of his attention. He takes the time to discover how gifted young Joshua Kraytower is, and he's willing to do something about it. He also is highly observant when it comes to his sidekick, his harlequin Great Dane, Spot. McKenna knows his dog, what his dog's reactions will be, what his dog's capabilities are. When Spot can help him with an investigation, he does. But if there's a strong possibility that Spot will be in danger, you can take it to the bank that he won't be tagging along. Another plus in McKenna's favor? His relationship with entomologist Street Casey. She's brilliant, she's unconventional, and she's still dealing with trauma from her past. Many other men wouldn't, but Owen accepts their relationship on her terms. Owen, Spot, Street, and the rest of the regular cast make this series something very special.

But wait-- there's more! A fantastic Lake Tahoe setting? Check. A mystery that keeps you guessing? Check. A multi-faceted cast of characters that becomes just like family? Check. What else is there? It's the added extras that Todd Borg weaves into his narrative. Learning about a small town settled by Chinese immigrants who were brought over to build the railroad. Indian residential schools. The naturalist Aldo Leopold who believed we should leave blank spots on the map. Even a little philosophy that leads to the question "Is the life of a really bad man automatically more important than the life of a really good dog?"

Tahoe Hit-- and this entire series-- is the perfect blend of mystery, action, setting, and characterization. Tahoe Hit stands alone well, if you're worried about taking on a series with eighteen books, and I urge all of you to give it a try. Just don't be surprised if you find yourself looking for more. Owen and Spot are impossible to resist!

 

Tahoe Hit by Todd Borg

ISBN: 9781931296281

Thriller Press © 2020

Paperback, 352 pages

 

Private Investigator, #18 Owen McKenna mystery

Rating: A

Source: the author

 

Word to the Wise by Jenn McKinlay

First Line: "Too meringue, too low-cut, holy bananas, too high-cut!"

Lindsey Norris is about to start hyperventilating. She's getting married to the man of her dreams, yet there are all these wedding details and plans to deal with... it's almost more than she can take.

Then along comes a straw named Aaron Grady, determined to break the camel's back named Lindsey. With no encouragement whatsoever, Grady begins stalking Lindsey, making her life miserable, until his body turns up outside the library.

It's obviously a frame job to have the groom-to-be take the fall for murder, so Lindsey has to work fast to dig into her stalker's past to find the real killer and clear Sully's name. The woman is on a mission, do NOT get in her way!

Word to the Wise is 300-plus pages that come oh-so-close to being perfection. The only thing that kept it from being perfect was a killer who was a bit too easy to pick out of a lineup, but you know what? I don't care because I loved every other molecule of this story.

The more Jenn McKinlay writes, the better she gets-- and she was good to begin with. There's something for everyone in Word to the Wise: a killer to catch, wedding plans to carry out, a stalker to make readers' blood run cold, and meeting up with all these characters who have become good friends.

Being an introvert like Lindsey, I think McKinlay nailed her character's reactions to things like wedding planning and constantly being in a group of people (even when they're people she cares about). Then there's the ongoing evolution of a lemon called Ms. Cole. The Lemon has gone from the early days of me wanting to lock her in an iron maiden to now when I find myself cheering her on. Don't worry, though, all her rough edges have not been worn down!

For those readers like me who don't care for a lot of gushy romance stuff in their mysteries, McKinlay has a light touch that never makes me growl or scowl. And for those who appreciate scenes that ratchet up the suspense, I'll tell you right now that McKinlay's stalking scenes are right on target and so vivid that they brought back memories of the stalker I had to deal with. (Don't like to be too scared when you read a book? Don't worry. Jenn takes care of you.)

One element after another in Word to the Wise made this a gripping read, but if I had to choose one word to describe it, I would choose "happy." It made me smile and feel all's right with the world. This isn't the only book of Jenn McKinlay's to show the all-encompassing power of friendship, but it's certainly one of her best.
  

Word to the Wise by Jenn McKinlay

eISBN: 9780451492722

Berkley Prime Crime © 2019

eBook, 304 pages

Cozy Mystery, #10 Library Lovers mystery

Rating: A+

Source: Net Galley

Hitting the Books by Jenn McKinlay

First Line: He was whistling.

A stack of library materials found at the scene of a hit and run draws Briar Creek library director Lindsey Norris into the heart of an investigation as police race to link the driver to the person who borrowed the items. And the police must move even faster when the victim of the hit and run suffers another "accident." This investigation has shifted from driver negligence to attempted murder, and those library materials may just give Lindsey the information she needs to crack the case right open.


When you want and need to read something light and fun, you can't go wrong with anything Jenn McKinlay has written, but I say she has a little thriller writer buried deep down inside who's begging to be turned loose. Hitting the Books opens with a hit and run scene that made my heart jump into my throat. (And that's not the only scene which had that effect on me.)

In this latest Library Lovers mystery, McKinlay has upped her game to a whole new level. From the pedal-to-the-metal pacing to an ingenious plot with a solution that blindsided me, I enjoyed every moment. What's even better-- McKinlay never once forgets her characters. Longtime fans are going to love the romantic doings between Lindsey and Sully, and since the author knows how to use a light touch, this I-don't-care-for-romance-in-my-mystery reader (me) loved it, too. Readers who haven't found that special person are going to read this and think, "That's what I want," and those of us who have been supremely lucky are just going to have big smiles on our faces.

It wouldn't be a McKinlay novel without the author's trademark humor, and there's plenty to be found here, as well as characters who change as they experience different things throughout this series of books. And may I just say that I'm thrilled to see that librarian fixture Ms. Cole (AKA "The Lemon") is changing as well. Watching her evolve from mean and nasty to almost-human is a joy. Speaking of librarians, the scenes in which Lindsey faces down the law over the subject of patrons' privacy highlight one of the many reasons why librarians are rock stars.

Hitting the Books hits all the right notes. Thrilling action scenes, the right touch of romance, laugh-out-loud moments, a compelling mystery, and characters you'd invite in your house for coffee. After watching McKinlay flex her writing chops in this book, I can't wait for the next Library Lovers mystery!

Hitting the Books by Jenn McKinlay

eISBN: 9780451492692

Berkley Prime Crime © 2018

eBook, 304 pages

Cozy Mystery, #9 Library Lovers mystery

Rating: A+

Source: Net Galley 

Death in the Stacks by Jenn McKinlay

First Line: September in New England was about as perfect a season as there was on earth.

It's time for the Briar Creek Library's annual Dinner in the Stacks fundraiser, the biggest moneymaker of the year, and library director Lindsey Norris and her staff have no time to put up with the new library board president. Olive Boyle is behaving like Attila the Hun. Every time she makes an appearance, she's threatening to expose secrets and take away people's jobs. But no matter how much the woman gets up her nose, Lindsey is determined to stand up for herself and her staff and to make the fundraiser a success.

She almost gets away with it... until she finds one of her staff members crouched over Olive's dead body in the fiction section of the library. Paula's proximity to the body may make her the prime suspect in Olive's murder, but everyone who knows her knows she's innocent. Everyone looks to Lindsey to catch the real killer.

There are some series I have a tendency to hold back and read when I need a pick-me-up because they're special. Jenn McKinlay's Library Lovers is one such series. I know the author and her publisher would rather I gobbled them up as soon as each new book came off the press, but sometimes a girl just has to have a go-to book when she needs a little extra sunshine in her life.

Death in the Stacks provided me with just what I needed. I was back in the midst of a cast that has become old and dear friends-- especially with cameo appearances from McKinlay's Cupcake Bakery and Hat Shop series characters. Another thing that makes me smile is the continuing evolution of the lemon, Ms. Cole. Ms. Cole proves that there's hope for us all.

Not only did the entire cast keep me smiling (well, not Olive Boyle-- she is a very worthy body in the library), the mystery kept me guessing. There's lots of good misdirection, and I loved how the cupcake and hat shop folks kept appearing and disappearing from Lindsey's suspect list.

All in all, it was another marvelous visit with the gang in Briar Creek, and if there's one quote that I'll take away with me from this book, it's this: "There was nothing she loved better than laughter in the library." Libraries are, indeed, repositories of knowledge, adventure, dreams, and laughter. They are one of the cornerstones of civilization. Thanks, Jenn, for reminding us of this in such an enjoyable way.

Death in the Stacks by Jenn McKinlay

ISBN: 9780399583759

Berkley Prime Crime © 2017

Hardcover, 304 pages

Cozy Mystery, #8 Library Lovers mystery

Rating: B+

Source: Purchased at The Poisoned Pen.


 

The Black Painting by Neil Olson

First Line: Last night she dreamed of the house on Owl's Point.

The house on Owl's Point has long been haunted by a painting rumored to cause madness and death. The self-portrait by the brilliant Spanish artist Francisco Goya was stolen years ago, and the Morse family patriarch has always been convinced that someone in the family was the thief. Now he's called the family together. Speculation is running high as to the reason for his summons, but the old man dies before the gathering is complete.

Now it's up to the youngest and most fragile of the Morse cousins, Teresa, to uncover the reasons behind her grandfather's death and the painting's theft, but she has no idea how many ugly family secrets she will be discovering along the way.

I've always been an easy mark for any book focusing on art theft and art history, so when I learned of The Black Painting, I had very high hopes. For the most part, those hopes were not realized. As much as the very first sentence tries to evoke Daphne du Maurier's superb Rebecca, it falls short. The entire cast reminded me of the motley crew of Gone Girl-- scarcely a one of them that I wanted to have anything to do with and none of them that I cared one tiny bit about. Self-absorption and greed ruled their lives. Yawn. Teresa is, by far, the best of the lot, but she's so ethereal she's like a bit of fog blown on and off screen. She's not enough of a presence to carry the narrative load.

Most of the time, this unlikable bunch of misfits prowled around the property like a pack of hyenas, their sole concern being the amount of money they inherit from their grandfather. The only time the book came to life was when Goya's fantastic Black Paintings became the focus. The first time I learned of their existence was when I took an art history class in college. Even as mere illustrations in a book, these paintings are so powerful that they've remained in my mind ever since. If only Olson's novel had one-tenth their power!

The Black Painting by Neil Olson

ISBN: 9781335953810

Hanover Square Press © 2018

Hardcover, 320 pages

Literary Mystery, Standalone

Rating: C-

Source: the publisher

A Knit Before Dying by Sadie Hartwell

First Line: "Let's take a break, Evelyn."

Josie Blair hasn't had time to worry about the life she had in New York City. Along with owning Miss Marple Knits, she's trying to jumpstart a blog, and she's managed to rent out the space next-door to Lyndon and Harry, who'll be opening an antique shop. But before she can formally welcome her new neighbors, Josie finds Lyndon stabbed to death on the floor of his shop. Police like his partner Harry for the murder, but Josie isn't so sure. Now she's got an investigation on her hands when she'd really rather be repurposing that box of vintage doilies Lyndon gave her or learning how to knit.

As someone who loves mysteries and knitting, the name of Josie Blair's shop, Miss Marple Knits, makes me smile. It is simply brilliant. By this second book, Sadie Hartwell's Tangled Web cozy series is shaping up nicely. Josie is funny and smart-- so smart that I can't quite figure out why she's having so much trouble learning how to knit. After all, if I can figure out those instructional videos on YouTube.... 

Anyway, there's a solid cast of secondary characters in A Knit Before Dying, and several of them have become Josie's good friends. For comic relief, there are two cantankerous, mule-headed old men in town-- one of them Josie's Uncle Eb-- who have been feuding with each other practically since they were in diapers. Now we get some background on the feud, and although the start to the feud is much as I'd guessed, it still made me scratch my head. Some of the things those two get up to do make for good comic relief, however!

There's also a complex mystery to enjoy, so if you're in the mood for good characters, crafting, a bit of humor, and a murder to solve, curl up with Sadie Hartwell's Tangled Web series. The first one is Yarned and Dangerous.

A Knit Before Dying by Sadie Hartwell

eISBN: 9781617737213

Kensington Books © 2017

eBook, 288 pages

Cozy Mystery, #2 Tangled Web mystery

Rating: B+

Source: Net Galley

Better Late Than Never by Jenn McKinlay

First Line: "Let the wild rumpus start!" Beth Stanley cried as the cart of books she had stacked to bursting abruptly regurgitated its contents all over the Briar Creek Public Library's main floor with a loud rushing noise followed by slaps and thumps as the books landed on the ground.

Lindsey Norris and her staff at the Briar Creek Public Library are swamped with returns when they hold their very first overdue book amnesty day, but one book catches Lindsey's eye: a copy of Catcher in the Rye that's twenty years past due. Due to Ms. Cole's excellent recordkeeping, she's shocked to discover that the book was checked out by a teacher named Candice Whitley on the day she was murdered. Her killer was never found. 

Lindsey can't help wondering if the book can provide a clue to Candice's killer. Was the murderer the person who returned it? Lindsey is determined to find and bring this person to justice.

I've long been a fan of Jenn McKinlay's feel good writing, and she's delivered another winner with Better Late Than Never. In the midst of speculation over the state of Lindsey and Sully's relationship and the meddling of that British actor who insists on hanging around Briar Creek, we are served up a story about the power of friendship in a setting that showcases how libraries are changing with the times.

The characters are of utmost importance, as they should be in any cozy series worth its salt, and you can tell I've fallen under their spell after reading my remark about "that British actor." Fortunately there are some very interesting developments with that man in the book, and I certainly want to know where those are headed in the next installment. 

But it's not just the characters in Better Late Than Never that make it a winner. The solution to the mystery came out of left field and beaned me right upside the head. I love, love, love being surprised when I learn who done it! Jenn McKinlay's Library Lovers series is one of my favorites, and if you haven't given it a try, I just have to ask-- What are you waiting for?

Better Late Than Never by Jenn McKinlay

ISBN:  9780399583735

Berkley Prime Crime © 2016

Hardcover, 304 pages

Cozy Mystery, #7 Library Lovers mystery

Rating: A

Source: Purchased at The Poisoned Pen.

No Time for Goodbye by Linwood Barclay

First Line: When Cynthia woke up, it was so quiet in the house she thought it must be Saturday.

Rebellious fourteen-year-old Cynthia Bigge fights with her father, storms up to her room, and goes to bed. When she wakes up in the morning, she discovers that she's the only one home. Her parents, her brother, they've all vanished, never to be seen again. Twenty-five years later, Cynthia is married and has a small daughter. She is still haunted by the disappearance of her family, and she turns to television to help her find some answers. What she's going to find out will shake her to her core.

I came late to the Linwood Barclay party, but I'm enjoying catching up. I enjoyed the "voice," the story, and the pacing of No Time for Goodbye, although I did have a problem or two with the book over all. 

This plot is very carefully constructed. Seemingly unimportant objects mentioned casually are mentioned for a reason, and the same holds true for characters. Speaking of characters, my favorite was young Jane Scavullo, a troubled teen with so much potential. I don't know if she shows up in another Barclay novel, but I certainly wouldn't mind seeing her again.

Now for the two things that rubbed me the wrong way. Quite frankly, I found main character Cynthia Bigge to be a royal pain in the neck. Everything is about her. No one can voice an opinion if it might be "against" her, and she's in real danger of smothering her young daughter. Yes, it's realistic behavior for someone whose family vanished without explanation, but that doesn't mean I have to like her.

The other thing that bothered me was the explanation for what actually happened to Cynthia's parents and brother, so I can't say much about it without giving it away. I'll just say that Barclay's solution was a bit over-the-top for me, and I had trouble suspending my disbelief enough to accept it all.

But Linwood Barclay can write like a house afire. I love his plots, I love his voice, and just because I didn't like one of his characters doesn't mean I'm going to stop reading his books!
       

No Time for Goodbye by Linwood Barclay

eISBN: 9780553904222

Bantam Books © 2007

eBook, 468 pages

Thriller

Rating: B+

Source: Purchased from Amazon. 


  

A Likely Story by Jenn McKinlay

First Line: "I need a plunger and a mop stat!"

In the course of delivering books out to their home on one of the Thumb Islands off the coast of Connecticut, library director Lindsey Norris has befriended the elderly Stewart and Peter Rosen. But on her latest trip out to Star Island, Lindsey and Sully discover Peter's dead body in the old Victorian house... and they can't find Stewart anywhere. Positive that whoever killed Peter is out to kill his brother as well, Lindsey is determined to find a killer and save Stewart.

Author Jenn McKinlay's first book in hardcover is a real winner in her always-enjoyable Library Lovers series. More than once McKinlay has shown a true talent for the thriller side of crime fiction, and she does it again here. The Rosen brothers are hoarders, and this fact provides both thrills and comic relief to anyone who's seen even thirty seconds of an episode of Hoarders. (I watched fifteen minutes of one episode a few years back, and the images are still seared on my brain.) 

In A Likely Story, McKinlay adds a delicious creep factor when Lindsey attempts to track an intruder through the claustrophobic Rosen house. With narrow little paths through towering, leaning piles of booby-trapped junk, I wasn't sure if Lindsey was going to be buried alive or jumped on by a killer. This is a wonderfully written scene. In turn, the state of the brothers' home provides some great one-liners for Lindsey, such as "When she got home she was going to sort her linen closet just to make herself feel better."

This is a mystery with a short suspect list, so it's the all-important Why and How that matter, and along the way readers get to experience Lindsey's friend Beth meeting a potential Mr. Right, something that-- with Beth's track record-- is perilous at best. Speaking of romance, A Likely Story ends on a romantic cliffhanger, and since I am not a fan of that particular "triangular" plot device, I really hope it's resolved in the next installment.

As a celebratory bonus at the end of the book, McKinlay has included the short story, "An Unlikely Meeting." Please don't miss it! You not only get your Heathcliff Fix by reading it, you also get to meet a new series character. This short story really has me looking forward to the next book. Write faster, Jenn!

A Likely Story by Jenn McKinlay

ISBN: 9780425260746
Berkley Prime Crime © 2015
Hardcover, 304 pages

Cozy Mystery, #1 Library Lovers mystery
Rating: A
Source: Purchased at The Poisoned Pen.


 

Yarned and Dangerous by Sadie Hartwell

First Line: "Don't ask me to do this."

Josie Blair left Dorset Falls, Connecticut, twelve long years ago and never intended to look back. She wanted to make it big in New York City, so she earned a degree and got a job working for a prestigious designer. But the designer turned out to be too temperamental, and when Josie is fired, she finds herself back in Dorset Falls. 

Those twelve years have not been kind to the town. Going there to take care of her cranky old Uncle Eben, she's also faced with the task of selling the contents of her Aunt Cora's yarn shop. However the meddlesome ladies of the Charity Knitters Association have their own ideas about what should be done.

Josie simply cannot understand how on earth Aunt Cora's yarn shop, Miss Marple Knits, has stayed in business so long when almost every single one of the other stores are long gone. But she finds herself becoming attached to the place. When one of the town's more cantankerous knitters is found dead in a pile of cashmere yarn inside the shop, Josie knows there's something quite wrong going on in little Dorset Falls.

There's no other way to say it: I loved this book. I do enjoy well-written cozies, but it's seldom that I am this delighted with one-- especially when it's the first in a series. It just didn't feel like a debut novel, so when I went searching, I learned that the author also writes the Greek to Me mysteries under the name Susannah Hardy. (Now I'm going to have to sample one of those!)

The main character, Josie Blair, is the shining star of this book. She's not shy and retiring, so when a Dorset Falls local named Diantha starts slinging barbed remarks in Josie's direction, Josie stands up for herself-- and I loved her retorts to the obnoxious Diantha. 

Many readers will do as I did and smirk whenever Josie tells a local, "If I could survive New York City...." Those of us outside the Big Apple know surviving in that city can be very different from survival anywhere else, and the Dorset Falls folk didn't fail in my expectations of them. 

I was enjoying this book so much that it took me a while to realize that the mystery was slow to get off the ground. Was I disappointed? Not at all. In fact, Hartwell's decision made the book much more realistic to me. Josie didn't set out to investigate the death of the woman in the shop because she wasn't invested in the people or the town of Dorset Falls. If you don't feel some sort of real emotional tie to people or to a place, you're not going to lend a hand in solving their problems. I was also impressed that Josie always cooperated with the police, and that those two police officers were sympathetically drawn (if not always sympathetic to Josie).

Josie may not know a purl stitch from a pair of circular needles, but I loved the designs she began to create, and her ideas to bring Dorset Falls back to life made me smile and want to pitch in to help.

Josie's not the only character in this book to wrap in a hug either. There's her gonna-be love interest Mitch, and the decades-long feud between her Uncle Eben and the farmer-next-door Roy is an absolute hoot. And a word of warning: beware of the women in their sixties who carry bags of knitting around the streets of Dorset Falls. You never know what they're going to be up to!

By all means-- get in at the ground floor of this series. Grab yourself a copy of Yarned and Dangerous! If only I didn't have to wait for book number two..... 
    

Yarned and Dangerous by Sadie Hartwell

eISBN: 9781617737190

Kensington Books © 2015

eBook, 288 pages

Cozy Mystery, #1 Tangled Web mystery

Rating: A

Source: Net Galley