Melina's Book Blog: January 2024

Murder at a Scottish Castle: A Scottish Cozy Mystery (A Scottish Shire Mystery) by Traci Hall

About Murder at a Scottish Castle

Murder at a Scottish Castle: A Scottish Cozy Mystery (A Scottish Shire Mystery) Cozy Mystery 5th in Series Setting - Nairn, Scotland Kensington Cozies (January 23, 2024) Paperback ‏ : ‎ 304 pages ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1496744373 ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1496744371 Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0C3WTZYGT

USA Today bestselling author returns with the latest novel in a Scottish seaside cozy knitting mystery series featuring busy single mom Paislee Shaw, owner of a specialty sweater shop, knitting enthusiast, and reluctant sleuth who must untangle another murderous yarn!
With the summer days getting shorter in the seaside village of Nairn, the annual bagpiping competition at Ramsey Castle promises to be quite the end-of-season blowout. Paisley has snagged a special invitation from the Dowager Countess, who wants to showcase her cashmere goods in the castle gift shop, and she’s brought her son Brody, Grandpa, and their black Scottish terrier Wallace. There’s a fierce rivalry between Robert Grant, the Earl of Lyon, and last year’s winner Jory Baxter, with Grant loudly vowing to show up the blowhard Baxter and claim clan bragging rights. But the reigning champion has barely put the reed to his lips when he turns red and collapses, soon to take his dying breath. DI Zeffer confirms foul play, suspecting the reed may have been poisoned. With a murderer in their midst, the rest of Nairn won’t breathe easy until Paisley applies her sleuthing skills to make sure justice is served and the killer pays the piper . . .

What I Thought:

This is the fifth installment in the Scottish Shire mystery series. I have read the first book in this series, but had not gotten to the other three yet. There are references of things that happened in other books in this one, but I did not feel like I was lost. I enjoy the setting of this book, which is a the shire of Nairn in Scotland. The author does a good job describing the setting. In this one, Paislee, Brody, Grandpa and Wallace have went to Ramsey Castle where Paislee is going to start selling her cashmere knitted goods. There is clan band competition at the Castle that day as well. When one of the bagpipers collapses and later dies, Paislee is drug into the investigation as her yarn deliverer, Jerry, is a suspect. Paislee had no idea that a band competition could be so cutthroat. On top of that, Paislee has a major issue at her home to deal with as well. I found this book entertaining, it kept my attention from the time I started till I finished it. I thought the plot was well thought out. It was not an easy mystery to solve as it was unsure if the death was a murder or a tragic accident. I like Paislee a lot, she is an independent woman who owns her own business and tries to raise her son on her own. This is a great series and I look forward to more and will definitely go back and read the others I have missed.

I received a complimentary copy of this book for my honest review.

About Traci Hall

From cozy mysteries to seaside romance, USA Today bestselling author Traci Hall writes stories that captivate her readers. As a hybrid author with over sixty published works, Ms. Hall has a favorite tale for everyone.

Mystery lovers, check out her Scottish Shire series, set in the seaside town of Nairn, or the Salem B&B Mystery series, co-written as Traci Wilton. Her latest project is an Irish Castle cozy as Ellie Brannigan. Whether it's her ever-popular By the Sea romances, an Appletree Cove sweet romance, or a fun who-done-it, Traci finds her inspiration in sunny South Florida, living right near the ocean.

Traci wants to hear from you! Traci@TraciHall.com Author Links Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tracie.hall.35/ GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20716027.Traci_Hall Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/tracihallauthor BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/traci-hall Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracihallauthor/ Website: https://www.tracihall.com/ Purchase Links Amazon Barnes and Noble Apple Kobo

Deadly to the Core (A Cider House Mystery) by Joyce Tremel

About Deadly to the Core

Deadly to the Core (A Cider House Mystery) Cozy Mystery 1st in Series Setting - Pennsylvania Crooked Lane Books (January 16, 2024) Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 250 pages ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1639105433 ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1639105434 Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0C2P4QB9T

Perfect for fans of Amanda Flower and Julie Anne Lindsey, when Kate Mulligan inherits her great uncle’s fruit orchard, she quickly realizes that apples aren’t the only thing that can have rotten cores.

After losing her husband in a terrible car crash, thirty-five-year-old Kate is left to pick up the pieces of her life alone. Although she has physically recovered, she worries her spirit never will. But when she learns that she has inherited a fruit orchard in a small town just outside Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, from her great uncle Stan, she takes this as an opportunity ripe for the picking. Kate knew immediately what to do with it: open a cider house. Her hopeful plans fall far from the tree when she finds the body of the orchard manager, Carl Randolph, leaving her to figure out who is at the core of this murder.

She had been in correspondence with Carl, who had agreed with her brilliant idea of opening a cider house. But not everyone is so quick to buy what she was selling—Uncle Stan’s lawyer, Robert Larabee, paints a less rosy financial outlook of the orchard’s past, present, and future.

Kate discovers that Carl had large, unexplained deposits to his bank account and it becomes clear that either he was blackmailing someone, or someone was paying him to keep quiet. Meanwhile, Kate and her neighbors receive offers to buy their property from a mysterious buyer. And there’s more than meets the eye with the neighboring orchard owner, Daniel Martinez, although Kate can’t quite put her finger on if it’s sweet or sour.

Will she be able to pick out the bad apple among the bunch before it’s too late?

What I Thought:

This is the first installment in the Cider House Mystery Series. I enjoyed this cozy. I liked the setting and the characters were all likable. In this one, Kate has moved to Orchardville, PA, to take over her uncle's orchard after recovering from a devastating accident that claimed the life of her husband. Kate has plans to open a Cider House in the old barn. Her uncle's orchard manager, Carl has started the renovations on the barn. When Kate finds Carl's dead body, she has to uncover some shady dealings to solve the crime. I thought this story flowed well and was a fast read. My attention was held from the very beginning of the book. I thought the plot was well thought out. There were several suspects and a lot of people in town had a lot of secrets, so there were many twists and turns that kept me guessing to the very end. I look forward to more in this series as I am anxious to see how Kate makes out with her Cider House.

I received a complimentary copy of this book.

About Joyce Tremel

Joyce Tremel was a police secretary for ten years and more than once envisioned the demise of certain co-workers, but settled on writing as a way to keep herself out of jail. In addition to the Cider House Mysteries, she wrote the Brewing Trouble Mysteries. As Joyce St. Anthony, she writes the Homefront News historical mysteries. She lives in the beautiful Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania with her husband and two cats named Hops and Lager.