Chick Lit with a Side of Mystery

This prequel to the Read Wine series introduces us to the three ladies who will be running the bookshop/coffee and wine bar. The first part of the book feels more like chick lit rather than a mystery. All the women seem to be at pivotal points in their lives when they decide to make open the store (divorce, losing a job, etc.). Soon, however, days before they get the shop going, things start to seem to go awry. Who is trying to thwart them?

This is a very short prequel that ends on a cliffhanger, unfortunately. The book does have some issues with formatting. I did receive an ARC of this, so I don’t know if the problem exists as well in the commercial download. I did check the 10% available on Amazon, but it ended just before the problems with formatting started in my edition. Along with these formatting issues, there are some problems with grammar, punctuation, and usage.

I like the interaction of the three friends, and I’m interested to see how that pans out in the rest of the series–as well as get that resolution did the cliffhanger.

Lawyer who Doesn’t Like to Practice Law Investigates Murder

Chloe is a lawyer who doesn’t like practicing the law! While working as an office manager at a law firm, she has been an adjunct professor of law on the side. Going to interview for a full-time position at Spencer University, she doesn’t expect to get it. She does, and on her first day at the university, she discovers the man she has come to replace lying dead on his desk. He was planning to take a sabbatical from teaching to defend a man who is charged with embezzlement, Randall Whittier. Chloe decides to go to the dead professor’s home, where she runs into Randall. Rather quickly she determines that he is not directly involved in the professor’s murder, and the two team up to help get to the bottom of what’s going on.

Is Chloe correct in her assessment of Randall? Who would want the Professor dead?

I enjoyed the second book of this new series by Laina Turner. I was expecting to see the amateur sleuth from the previous book here again, but I was pleasantly surprised so discover that, while the university is going to stay the same in the series, the amateur sleuths will change. I enjoyed the interaction between Chloe and Randall, two strangers who don’t know each other but want to figure out what has transpired.

Muddy Murder, Danger, and Romance

Emily and her daughter are participating in a reenactment of the Seminole War when Emily ends up falling over in the mud while trying to steady Detective Lewis… right on top of a dead body! After Emily’s previous misadventures in the other books of this series, Lewis tells her not to get involved in the investigation. Of course, Emily can’t help herself, and she drags her friends and families into it as well.

Who killed the high school principal at the reenactment? How will Lewis handle Emily’s involvement in the investigation? Will Emily be putting herself and those she cares about in danger because of her involvement?

There are so many things to like about this cozy mystery. I haven’t read many cozies where the story is told from the perspective of the amateur sleuth and the actual detective. I love seeing the story from both viewpoints; it added depth not usually seen when we can only know part of the story. I like that this was a longer cozy, as I have been reading shorter ones lately. This allowed the author time to build up some suspense as Emily placed herself and others in her sphere in danger. It also allowed Emily and the detective to develop their flirtation more.

If you enjoy cozy mysteries with a little suspense, a bit of danger, and a dash of romance, you might enjoy this book.

mho Murdered the Professor?

On the first day back for fall term, professor Olivia and her colleagues are stunned to learn that one of their number has been found dead. While details aren’t forthcoming for a while, the fact that the police have an investigation leads them to think that foul play was involved. Olivia can’t stop her curiosity; while David wasn’t well-liked, who would murder him? Soon, Olivia starts her own investigation with the begrudging help of her possible new romantic interest, Don, who is in charge of campus security.

Who murdered the professor? A colleague or student? Someone from his personal life? Will Olivia help get to the bottom of it, or will she just hinder the investigation? Will she and Don continue their flirtation?

I enjoy cozy mysteries, and I love the university setting of this particular novel. Colleges are fishbowls, each their own unique microcosm, and so are the perfect fertile ground for mystery and intrigue. I enjoyed Olivia’s interactions with her best girlfriend and Don. The plot had some good twists and turns, and whom the eventual murderer turned out to be was a surprise. The book is very short and can be read in less than a couple of hours.

Unfortunately, the book was marred with a variety of errors. The author misspelled a character’s name twice. There were many issues with grammar, punctuation, and usage, with the most problematic being commas. They were missing in a variety of places: at the end of long introductory phrases, before the coordinating conjunction in a sentence composed of two independent clauses, and in other places—like before “not”—that actually hindered the proper reading of the sentence.

If you can overlook these sometimes confusing errors, you might enjoy the storyline of the novel and the new characters introduced in this series.