Murder at the Mushroom Festival by Janet Finsilver

First Line: Mushrooms of all shapes, sizes, and colors covered the top of the large table in the work area of Redwood Cove Bed-and-Breakfast.

It's time for the annual Mushroom Festival in Redwood Cove, California, and there's a local newspaper reporter who is a gold medal winning feather ruffler. When the man is found shot to death on sacred Native American land, B&B manager Kelly Jackson must go to work with the Silver Sentinels senior sleuthing group to find the killer.

I dearly love crime fiction. I love the insights into the human mind. I love trying to solve each case. I love bringing justice to the world even if it is merely fictional. But there are times when the darkness of crime fiction can be a bit too much. It is at these times that I like to turn to mysteries that are kinder and gentler. Justice is still served, yet the vast majority of the cast are good people who contribute to their communities, are good to others, and who know all about doing what's right instead of what's convenient. No one's a diva, they're just plain good folks. "Nice" if you will, even though "nice" seems to get short shrift in this world.

Janet Finsilver's Kelly Jackson mystery series is one of the kindler, gentler series I turn to when I need to step out of the darkness. Finsilver always provides a solid mystery for her cast of characters to solve. A bonus is that she also provides working dogs in rather unusual occupations. For example, one book had a dog that sniffed out bedbugs and other insect infestations. Murder at the Mushroom Festival has a dog that sniffs out mushrooms.

There are a couple of men in this book that I really enjoyed. Clarence and Thomas are on a mission to challenge each other to learn new things. One year, it was knitting; this year it's mushrooms and cooking. More folks should be like them. And it's not just the characters and the mystery readers will like. I always learn something about the area in which these books are set-- California's Central Coast with its redwoods. The information Finsilver wove into the story about redwood sinker logs was fascinating even though it may not sound like it.

If you love mysteries but need to step out into the light from time to time, I can certainly recommend Janet Finsilver's Kelly Jackson series. They do the heart good.

Murder at the Mushroom Festival by Janet Finsilver

eISBN: 9781516104222

Lyrical Underground Press © 2018

eBook, 304 pages

Cozy Mystery, #4 Kelly Jackson mystery

Rating: B+

Source: Purchased from Amazon.


 

Murder at the Fortune Teller's Table by Janet Finsilver

First Line: I stepped out of my Jeep and stopped to marvel at the colorful Redwood Cove scene before me.

Kelly Jackson has returned to Redwood Cove with a trailer filled with her belongings. It was a long trip to and from her parents' ranch in Wyoming, but Kelly is looking forward to making the Redwood Cove Bed and Breakfast her new home while learning the ins and outs of her job as manager.

When a woman starts searching for a couple she hasn't seen since the 1960s, Kelly and a local senior citizens group called the Silver Sentinels are more than happy to lend a helping hand. But when that same woman is found dead beside the body of a Greek fortune teller-- and one of the Sentinels is attacked, they know they're in over their heads. Kelly may have her hands full with a food and wine festival in town, but there's a killer on the loose who's obsessed with old secrets. She and the Sentinels have a fifty-year-old mystery to solve.

I continue to enjoy Janet Finsilver's Kelly Jackson series. Like the others, Murder at the Fortune Teller's Table is light and fun, has an intriguing mystery and very likable characters that make you want to keep coming back for more. 

If it weren't for the dead bodies, Redwood Cove would be a little slice of paradise on the northern California coast. Kelly has a boss most of us would give our eye teeth for, and she proves over and over again that she is a smart and truly caring person. When she and the Silver Sentinels realize that they're over their heads in solving this mystery, they don't plow full steam ahead, they talk things over with Deputy Sheriff Stanton and arrive at a compromise that means they can continue to help the police with the type of investigative work that they do best.  I like seeing fictional characters work with the police-- and having fictional police who are willing to work with ordinary citizens.

One of the features that I enjoy most about Finsilver's series is the fact that service dogs appear in each book-- and it's amazing just what sort of services they're capable of performing. In this third book, we get acquainted with hearing assistance dogs and a dog who is a companion to a man with PTSD. I love this element of the author's books and think it adds a great deal to the entire series.

Beautiful setting, intriguing mystery, light, fun, and with characters and canines you can't help but want to bring home with you... recommending Janet Finsilver's Kelly Jackson series is a piece of cake. 
  

Murder at the Fortune Teller's Table by Janet Finsilver

eISBN: 9781616509330
Lyrical Underground Books © 2017
eBook, 192 pages

Cozy Mystery, #3 Kelly Jackson mystery
Rating: B+
Source: Net Galley


 

Murder at the Mansion by Janet Finsilver

First Line: As I straightened out the Jeep after rounding a long curve, Redwood Cove popped into view.

Bed and breakfast manager Kelly Jackson has just returned to Redwood Cove on California's coast with all her belongings from her parents' ranch in Wyoming. With a big tourist rush expected for whale watching season and Redwood Cove undergoing renovation, she's asked to help out at nearby Redwood Heights, a Victorian estate owned by her boss's company. Tasked with doing inventory, she stumbles across the body of a guest named Sylvia Porter and finds herself searching for a killer with the aid of a group of senior citizens known as the Silver Sentinels.

I continue to enjoy Janet Finsilver's Kelly Jackson series that began with Murder at Redwood Cove. In this second installment, Kelly finds herself looking into the owners and the history of that grand old Victorian estate. The old mansion is filled to the rafters with secrets, and I loved watching Kelly discover each one. 

There are two more things I continue to enjoy about this series: the fact that Finsilver includes working dogs with unusual occupations in each book, and the group of senior citizens called the Silver Sentinels. Murder at the Mansion introduces readers to two beagles named Jack and Jill whose job most people would prefer to be neither seen nor heard. (No, I'm not spilling the beans!) As far as the Silver Sentinels go, these "old folks" are excellent when it comes to searching all sorts of dusty records and getting in touch with all their contacts to glean even more information. They're also top-notch babysitters and caring, generous friends. Finsilver's series is all the better for their presence. 

Kelly Jackson is a strong main character, and I certainly appreciate the fact that she doesn't panic in an emergency-- nor does she wait for someone else to come to her rescue. My kind of gal!

Weighing in at just under two hundred pages, reading Murder at the Mansion was an enjoyable experience. It's certainly nice to read a lean, tight mystery without a lot of filler that still shows progress with character development. I'm looking forward to March 2017 when the third book Murder at the Fortune Teller's Table will be available. 

 

Murder at the Mansion by Janet Finsilver

eISBN: 9781616509316

Lyrical Underground Books © 2016

eBook, 193 pages

Cozy Mystery, #2 Kelly Jackson mystery

Rating: B+

Source: Purchased from Amazon.  


 

Murder at Redwood Cove by Janet Finsilver

First Line: What a horrible way to die-- falling forty feet and landing on jagged rocks in the swirling ocean.

Kelly Jackson's first job as executive administrator for Resorts International is to take Bob Phillips' place running the Redwood Cove Bed and Breakfast. It's a job she could love... if it weren't for the fact that Phillips fell off a cliff to his death. Or did he?

Kelly begins to have doubts about Phillips' death, and even though she has her hands full with the B&B's annual Taste of Chocolate and Wine Festival, she finds herself working with a group of senior citizens who call themselves the Silver Sentinels. They don't think Bob's death was an accident either, and when Kelly is attacked and another body turns up, it's obvious that they were right to dig a little deeper. But can they find the killer before anyone else comes to harm?

I was really impressed by a presentation author Janet Finsilver did during Left Coast Crime, and I just couldn't resist buying a copy of her first Kelly Jackson mystery set in northern California. Murder at Redwood Cove is every bit as good as Finsilver's talk.

The northern California setting is put to good use in this book, and I also learned a bit about running a bed and breakfast as well as a foodie festival. In fact, by book's end I was wishing I could book a room at the Redwood Cove B&B.

Finsilver has assembled a strong, interesting cast, led by Kelly Jackson, a young woman who's smart, sassy, brave, and definitely not lacking in common sense. She wants to solve the mystery, but first and foremost in her mind is the safety of everyone involved. That's such a refreshing change from heroines with out-of-control curiosity. The retired "posse" calling themselves the Silver Sentinels are good folks to join an investigation because they each have their own special skill set-- even if it's sometimes just being in the immediate vicinity to keep an eye on someone who's in danger.  Old folks just blend into the woodwork, don't you know?

Another part that I really appreciated in this book was the young boy Tommy and his basset hound Fred. Even though Fred was considered to be a reject from a class that works with dogs to show them how to detect cancer, he's the best sort of buddy for Tommy, who feels like a bit of a reject himself. After finishing Murder at Redwood Cove, I had a big smile on my face, and I had to see if there was another Kelly Jackson mystery available. There is.  Murder at the Mansion, and it features two beagles trained to sniff out bedbugs and termites. 

I like dogs with special abilities being featured in the series, but that's not the only reason why I'll be reading the author's books. Janet Finsilver weaves a gorgeous location with an intriguing mystery and a strong cast into a book so enjoyable it puts a smile on my face. Give Murder at Redwood Cove a try. You just might be smiling, too.
      

Murder at Redwood Cove by Janet Finsilver

ISBN: 9781616509309

Lyrical Press © 2015

Paperback, 198 pages

Cozy Mystery, #1 Kelly Jackson mystery

Rating: A

Source: Purchased at Left Coast Crime 2016.