Book Review: Burglary at Barnard by Lynn Morrison @NomadMomDiary @mktgchair @AnAudiobookworm

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Author: Lynn Morrison
Narrator: Pearl Hewitt
Length: 8 hours 32 minutes
Series: Oxford Key Mysteries, Book 2
Released: Nov. 16, 2021
Publisher: Marketing Chair Press
Genre: Cozy Mystery

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A secret chamber. A dead body. And one ghost who won’t tell the truth!

When Nat agrees to meet a friend in the archives of historic Barnard College after hours, she doesn’t expect to find a hidden chamber or stumble across another dead body.

The Master’s assistant has been murdered, and although Nat figures out who is responsible, finding the evidence is a challenge. Especially when the one ghost who witnessed the crime refuses to say what happened.

The closer Nat comes to finding the proof she needs, the more tempers flare and threats fly. The situation becomes a race against time, and just when she thinks she’s won, Nat realizes the murderer is willing to do whatever it takes to escape justice, including getting Nat out of the way.

Permanently.

Nat’s miscalculation will cost someone their life, but whose?

If you like cozy mysteries where ghosts walk the halls, paintings come to life, wyverns play around, and magic seems within reach, the Oxford Key Mysteries are sure to delight.

Lynn Morrison lives in Oxford, England along with her husband, two daughters and two cats. Born and raised in Mississippi, her wanderlust attitude has led her to live in California, Italy, France, and the Netherlands, in addition to the UK. It’s no surprise then that she loves to travel, with a never-ending wish list of destinations to visit.

She is as passionate about reading as she is writing, and can almost always be found with a book in hand. You can find out more about her on her website LynnMorrisonWriter.com.

If you want to chat with her directly, join her Facebook group – Lynn Morrison’s Not a Book Club – where she happily talks about books, life and anything else that crosses her mind.

Website

Originally from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in Northeast England, audiobook narrator Pearl Hewitt currently lives with her husband and two children in Houston, Texas. Over the years she has worked as a customer service rep, a teaching assistant, and a teacher, but deep down there was always a performer wanting to get out. In 2007 her twelve-year-old son told her that he believed she was so good at reading stories out loud that she should do that as a job. That was her defining, eureka moment, and she’s never looked back. Pearl immersed herself in training and pursued a career in general voice acting but in 2012 she decided to focus her attention to narrating audiobooks in a wide range of genres. It was then that her professional career blossomed. She regularly works directly with indie authors but also narrates for a number of major publishers and has gained lots of recognition in the process including IAAIS awards, a Voice Arts Award nomination and Audiofile Magazine reviews. Pearl’s is comfortable narrating both fiction and non-fiction titles and has been very successful reading British Regency romance, cozy murder mysteries, fantasy/science fiction, children’s literature, the classics, history, biographies and more.

Website

Nat and her merry band of Eternals are back and, this time, Nat and Mathilde have found a body in the library at Barnard College. The unlucky victim is Master Finch-Byron’s assistant and, as it soon becomes obvious, there probably are a plethora of people who could be the murderer because Ms. Evans was not a pleasant or well-liked person. Also, as the title suggests, some thievery has occurred and that might very well be connected to the killing.

Once again, the little wyvern known as H who frequently turns into a cat so regular non-magical people won’t notice the curmudgeonly former gargoyle, is front and center and I thoroughly enjoyed his scenes. Even more fun is the appearance of a particular ghost important to Nat who helps her understand more about this wondrous magical world she has found herself in and he has some knowledge to share regarding the leaking magic affecting the university. While Nat, Mathilde and Kate keep searching for answers to this problem and to the killing, with the assistance of some of the college’s other ghosts, Edward redeems himself a bit in Nat’s eyes, being very slightly less suspicious of the three prefects as he carries out his detective duties.

Oxford is the perfect setting for this series and, having visited years ago, I can readily believe that magic exists there. After all, it’s just about as Hogwarts-ish as you can imagine and, well, I want my own wyvern, thank you very much. Ms. Morrison continues to be enormously imaginative and creative and Pearl Hewitt is fast becoming one of my favorite narrators thanks to her numerous voices and near-perfect pacing.

Reviewed by Lelia Taylor, December 2021.

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Lynn Morrison. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

View the full tour schedule here!

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Book Review: Lazarus by Maryanne Melloan Woods @maryannemwoods @owlhollowpress @RockstarBkTours

 

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I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the LAZARUS by
Maryanne Melloan Woods Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours.
Check out my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!

 About The Book:

Title: LAZARUS

Author: Maryanne Melloan Woods

Pub. Date: September 8, 2020

Publisher: Owl Hollow Press

Formats: Paperback, eBook

Pages: 230

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, B&N, Kobo, TBD, Bookshop.org

 

Margo and Hank are two teens in tiny, god-forsaken Lazarus, Nebraska. They have a profoundly deep relationship; the only hitch is that Hank has been dead for two months. Somehow he has remained in limbo— no doubt due to the sheer force of their love, and unfinished work to be done.

 

When the pair get tangled up investigating the latest local murder— with Margo doing the everyday detective work and the late Hank spying on suspects unseen—they discover nothing and no one in Lazarus are as they seem. The investigation becomes more dangerous, and it’s up to Hank to protect Margo—as much as a ghost-bodyguard boyfriend can. While clinging to each other, the teens uncover the sinister secrets of the people they’ve known all their lives, reopen the cold case of Margo’s mother’s death, and learn how to face their past—and how to move on.

 

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A teenager and her ghostly boyfriend solving crimes is an appealing premise and, with dollops of humor and a whodunnit atmosphere, Ms. Woods makes it work. Margo and Hank can’t help being a bit mired in sadness since Hank isn’t really alive and well but the two work well in tandem, perhaps even more efficiently than other detecting duos. After all, a ghost can go places and hear things that a living person can’t, right?

It’s not Hank’s death that they need to investigate but there’s a lot going on in Lazarus including a very unexpected murder and perhaps another one in the planning stage. Also, Margo has dealt with death before, seven years ago when her mother was murdered and her killer was never caught. Hank and Margo have their work cut out for them to discover some hard truths while trying to find their way back to a semblance of normalcy even if that means another loss.

Lazarus is a fun, quick read and is a nice way to while away a few hours; there’s nothing like a good ghost story when Halloween is just around the corner 🙂

Reviewed by Lelia Taylor, September 2020.

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About Maryanne:

Maryanne Melloan Woods is a novelist/ screenwriter/
playwright currently living in the New York area. She received a B.A. in Theatre Arts from Drew University and an M.F.A. in Screenwriting from the American Film Institute in Los Angeles.

As a TV writer/producer, Maryanne has written shows for
networks including Showtime, NBC, ABC, Fox, the WB, Nickelodeon and ABC Family.

 

Maryanne’s plays have been produced by HBO’s New Writers Project, the Mark Taper Forum, and many theatres around the country. Maryanne has won the New England Theatre Conference’s John Gassner Playwriting Contest and the Venice (CA) Playwrights’ Festival. She also received a playwriting grant from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. Her play, Smells Like Gin, was the first play produced by Writers Theatre of New Jersey, and she recently won “Best Comedy Script” in the Nashville Film Festival’s screenwriting competition for her screenplay Steve.

 

She has taught screenwriting at the Gotham Writers Workshop in New York, UCLA and the American Film Institute, and served as a panelist for TV writing seminars at NYU and the University of Wisconsin. Maryanne was also a
mentor/teacher for The Unusual Suspects, a playwriting workshop for at-risk teens in L.A.

 

Maryanne is represented by Liza Fleissig of Liza Royce Agency.

 

Website| Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads

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Giveaway Details:

2 winners will receive a Finished Copy
of LAZARUS, US Only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Tour Schedule

Week One:

9/21/2020	BookHounds Ya	Excerpt
9/22/2020	YA Books Central	Excerpt
9/23/2020	Oh Hey! Books	Excerpt
9/24/2020	Lifestyle of Me	Review
9/25/2020	The Phantom Paragrapher	Review

 

Week Two:

9/28/2020	Infinite Lives, Infinite Stories	Review
9/29/2020	Smada’s Book Smack	Review
9/30/2020	Buried Under Books	Review
10/1/2020	A Gingerly Review	Review
10/2/2020	Rajiv’s Reviews	Review

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Book Review: House of Desire by Margaret Lucke @MargaretLucke @OakledgePress1

House of Desire
A Claire Scanlan Haunted House Mystery
Margaret Lucke
Oakledge Press, June  2020
ISBN: 978-1-939030-06-1
Trade Paperback

A haunted house story is always fun, and when it’s mixed with time-travel, murder, and ghosts, the whole spectrum is covered. In House of Desire, the precept is intriguing. A grand old Victorian mansion has passed into the hands of the present generation heirs. Though none want the house as a home, one wants to sell to a developer; one wants to sell to a museum that will preserve the house and its history; one doesn’t know what to do. Her heart votes for the museum, her head tells her she needs the most money. Meanwhile, the sales reps negotiating for the museum are hosting a big bash to raise funds for the preservation, which the developer also attends. And then a man is murdered. The odd thing is, no one seems to have a motive.

Claire Scanlon is one of the agents advocating for the museum, but she is more than that. A psychic (although I’m not sure she meets the exact criteria for that) when she meets a young woman on the mansion’s stairs, she soon realizes the girl, Roxane, is invisible to everyone but her. What is Roxane’s story? Why is she here? Why is she wearing the same necklace Claire has on? And why is she so afraid? Claire will have to travel into the past to discover the answers to these questions, and discover the present day murderer.

The novel is written with four different points of view, something that occasionally becomes a bit clunky. Although this book is evidently part of a series, I didn’t find Claire’s character especially strong as the heroine. And although I went back and reread parts, the answer to how Roxane and Claire had the same necklace was never answered. Since I read an ARC, perhaps that is addressed in the final version. I hope so. Loved the setting of a house of ill-repute and found its denizens excellent; the current characters not so much.

Reviewed by Carol Crigger, July 2020.
http://www.ckcrigger.com
Author of The Woman Who Built A Bridge (Spur Award Winner), Yester’s Ride,
Hometown Burning and Five Days, Five Dead: A China Bohannon Novel

Book Review: The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths

The Stranger Diaries
Elly Griffiths
First Mariner Books, March 2019
ISBN 978-0-358-11786-5
Library ebook

Clare Cassidy is an English Literature teacher at Talgarth High in the town of Shoreham-by-Sea in West Sussex. The school itself has some history connected to a writer R.M.Holland, well known for his short story “The Stranger” and for residing in the school back in the early 1900’s, long before it became a school. There is also a haunting tale about his wife who’d died in mysterious circumstances, and even now her ghostly presence wanders the rooms where she lived with her husband.

Ella Elphick, a teacher at Talgarth High well-liked by colleagues and students, has been murdered. The novel is told through three of the characters, Clare, her teenage daughter Georgia, and DS Harbinder Kaur, the detective assigned to the case. Clare is writing a book about R.M. Holland, and has been keeping a diary for years.

The reader comes to know these three woman through their everyday lives and their thoughts on the murder. DS Kaur, who once attended Talgarth High, is thirty-five and still lives with her parents. Georgia aspires to be a writer and is meantime dealing with her over- protective mother and her own self confidence. And Clare, unsettled by the murder of her friend, and worried about her teenage daughter’s budding romance.

Another body is discovered throwing light on the possibility that Clare may be in danger.

I wasn’t particularly fond of the way this mystery unfolded. Moving back and forth between the three main characters tended to duplicate some of the information and there was little urgency in unmasking the perpetrator, even after a second victim appeared. Scattered throughout the novel was the short story “The Stranger” which I also found distracting. The final outcome didn’t work, at least, for me…

However, as I write this, I’m aware that this novel has been awarded the 2020 Edgar award for Best Novel. Not my cup of tea I guess.

Respectfully submitted,

Reviewed by guest reviewer Moyra Tarling, May 2020.

Teeny Book Reviews: The Glass Thief by Gigi Pandian and Edisto Tidings by C. Hope Clark @GigiPandian @HeneryPress @hopeclark @Bellebooks

The Glass Thief
A Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mystery #6
Gigi Pandian
Henery Press, November 2019
ISBN 978-1-63511-555-0
Trade Paperback

When I read the first Jaya Jones mystery, I thought, “Aha, the lady version of Indiana Jones!” and I’ve been a big fan ever since. After that first book, I’ve gone on a number of adventures with historian Jaya and have enjoyed every one of them.

This time, our treasure-hunting, ghostbusting heroine gets dragged into a locked room mystery involving a French family with a sordid history of Cambodian treasure looting, a resident ghost and several murders that have all (coincidentally?) occurred in their mansion two nights before Christmas. Perhaps most puzzling, a famous novelist is writing a new book and needs her help in a very odd way. Not only that, Jaya’s boyfriend, Lane, throws her for a loop and may have brought their relationship to an abrupt end.

The story takes place in San Francisco, Paris and the exotic land of Cambodia and I felt like an armchair traveler the whole time because Ms. Pandian is so good with settings. Jaya is on the hunt for the elusive Serpent King sculpture which has mysteriously vanished from the Delacroix home and the twists and turns abound, enough to keep me on tenterhooks as I waffled from one possible solution to another. That’s another thing the author does well—dream up a boatload of threads that may or may not connect to each other.

As always, Jaya’s friends are appealing and as well drawn as you could possibly want although Jaya is on her own through much of the tale. By the way, anyone with a taste for scrumptious food will be drooling over the dishes the author has everyone chowing down on—as I write this, I’m craving some mouthwatering Indian delicacies 😉

Reviewed by Lelia Taylor, June 2020.

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Edisto Tidings
An Edisto Island Mystery #6
C. Hope Clark
Bell Bridge Books, October 2019
ISBN 978-1-61194-956-8
Trade Paperback

As you can see, I’m a little out of season with this book as the story takes place at Christmas but, never you mind, a good story is a good story no matter when, right?

And a good one this is. Police Chief Callie Morgan is called to the scene of a murder—or is it a murder? There’s a body for sure, and it was found on a vacant lot owned by a contentious local, but there’s a very personal twist in that the victim is her biological mother’s husband. Obviously, Sarah, Callie’s mother, has to be a prime suspect along with the lot’s owner who also knew the victim.

Meanwhile, Callie also has to deal with a number of thefts that seem to be perpetrated by Santa. Somebody is stealing Christmas presents but might have an altruistic if criminal purpose. The resort town’s short-term rental visitors will be leaving in a few days and, if any of them are involved in these crimes, Callie’s timing had better be good. Fortunately, some of her friends are quite helpful when it comes to solving crimes and the police department staff is intelligent and reliable.

I really like this series, largely because Callie is so normal; she’s not on a power trip, she has heavy-duty baggage but is coping as well as one could hope, she’s smart as a whip and she cares about her job and the people she serves. Callie is a former big city cop so she has some skills not always easily found in small town departments but she also knows that the people of Edisto Island are not the least bit backward or dumb. In other words, she fits in well.

Reviewed by Lelia Taylor, June 2020.

Book Review: Things in Jars by Jess Kidd @JessKiddHerself @AtriaBooks

Things In Jars
Jess Kidd
Atria Books, February 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9821-2128-0
Hardcover

When I first laid eyes on this novel I wasn’t going to read or review it. Not my kind of crime novel, I thought. But I read the first page. Then I read the entire thing, almost without stopping. This woman has a way with words and even more significantly, with story.

Here is London of the Victorian Age, but not the London of royalty and means. This is the London of disease, of violence and brutality, of starvation and lives too often begun and played out in darkness and misery, unseen, unremarked and unconsecrated. Here is London in myth and reality. More, here is a story that takes one to the edge of the sea and dares you to look deep, below the surface and just consider the possibilities.

Bridie Devine is an unusual anomaly in London. She’s a middle-aged single woman who supports herself as a private investigator. It’s the middle of the century and while prisons like Newgate are well-known, well-established protective police departments are not. The story chases Bridie back and forth from significant childhood among Irish contemporaries to recognition of her prodigious intellect at an early stage to considered analysis of facts and evidence.

Make no mistake, though this story deals prominently with other worldly manifestations, it is rooted in the mean and fraught world of the lower classes and with real human emotion and attitude. Here is a story that will grab you and not let go, even after the final page.

Reviewed by Carl Brookins, February 2020.
http://www.carlbrookins.com http://agora2.blogspot.com
Traces, Grand Lac, Reunion, Red Sky.

Book Review: Blood on the Chesapeake by Randy Overbeck @OverbeckRandy @WildRosePress

Blood on the Chesapeake
The Haunted Shores Mysteries #1
Randy Overbeck
The Wild Rose Press, April 2019
ISBN 978-1509223282
Trade Paperback

History teacher/coach Darrell Henshaw has taken a new job in a small town on the Chesapeake Bay. An unwanted shock comes when the first thing he sees as he approaches the high school is a naked young black man on the widows walk outside his office. No one else admits to seeing him, although, to Darrell’s dismay, there are rumors of a ghost. It’s said the ghost is that of a high school boy back in the sixties who committed suicide.

This is not Darrell’s first experience with the occult and an episode in his past proved that to ignore the sighting is the wrong thing to do. Soon the ghost begins visiting him, pleading for his help. The ghost says he was murdered and needs Darrell to prove it using clues provided to him to bring the perpetrators to justice. Darrell, with the help of a charming young woman he meets, figures he has no choice but to do as the ghost asks, especially since there are peculiar things going on in the school and in the town. He soon finds it isn’t the ghost he has to fear, but the living.

The racism of the sixties is front and center in this story, with effects that linger into the nineties when the action is set. It’s a sad story, too often true of the day–although the ghost is a twist. I found the story a bit predictable, and the big, ample breasts bouncing on practically every woman’s chest rather annoying. But if you like ghost stories, this one carries through to a satisfactory conclusion.

Reviewed by Carol Crigger, July 2019.
https://carolcriggercom.sitelio.me/
Author of Five Days, Five Dead, Hereafter and Hometown Homicide.