Knock on Wood by Linda Johnston, Review and Guest Post

Knock on Wood
(A Superstition Mystery)
2nd in Series
Cozy Mystery
Paperback: 312 pages
Publisher: Midnight Ink (October 8, 2015)
ISBN-13: 978-0738745527

Synopsis:
Rory Chasen, now the manager of the Lucky Dog Boutique in Destiny, California, is delighted when her closest friend Gemma Grayfield, a librarian, comes for a visit. But Gemma arrives early and seems upset. It turns out she has broken up with her boyfriend, Frank Shorester. Gemma is soon hired to manage the Broken Mirror Bookstore. Frank follows her to Destiny, where Gemma is also wooed by two local men. Rory may be a little jealous—until one of those men, Deputy Mayor Bevin Dermot, turns up dead. Bevin is known for knocking on wood for everything, but despite Destiny being all about superstitions that did not save his life.

Rory tries to help Gemma clear herself of being a murder suspect, even counting on her lucky black and white dog Pluckie to help. But is Gemma guilty of murder—or of just having a run of bad luck?

What I Thought:

This was the first Superstition Mystery by Linda Johnston that I have read.  I really enjoy Linda's stories and this one didn't disappoint.  I learned a lot of new superstitions that I had never heard of before.  I am not one to really believe in superstitions, but it was nice reading about a town that all about superstitions.  Of course the writing in this novel was superb with many twists and turns.  I liked the relationships in this novel also.  This one had me guessing till the end, which is what I like about a cozy mystery.   

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

About This Author

Linda O. Johnston’s first published fiction appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and won the Robert L. Fish Memorial Award for Best First Mystery Short Story of the year.   Since then, Linda, a former lawyer who is now a full-time writer, has published more short stories, novellas, and 38 romance and mystery novels, including the Pet Rescue Mystery Series, a spinoff from her Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter mysteries for Berkley Prime Crime, and Harlequin Romantic Suspense as well as the Alpha Force paranormal romance miniseries for Harlequin Nocturne.  She additionally writes the Superstition Mysteries for Midnight Ink.

Her latest cozy mystery series, the Barkery and Biscuits Mysteries also from Midnight Ink, started off in May with BITE THE BISCUIT and KNOCK ON WOOD comes out October 8.

Author Links:
Webpage:  www.LindaOJohnston.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LindaOJohnston
Purchase Links:
Amazon B&N

 

Guest Post:

Cozy Mystery Themes

By Linda O. Johnston

(Melina's Book Blog, May 10, 2015

Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour)

Last time I visited Melina's Book Blog was in May of this year, when I was on a blog tour to promote my first Barkery & Biscuits Mystery, BITE THE BISCUIT.  Now I'm back since my second Superstition Mystery, KNOCK ON WOOD, has just been published.

In my May post, I talked about cozy mysteries in general--what constitutes a cozy.  One thing I mentioned was that nearly all cozy series contain a theme.  Or more than one.  Those themes can be anything from cooking to crafts to paranormal to pets.  They can be historical or contemporary, holiday-themed or travel-themed.  In fact, the themes can be nearly anything that people find fun and important.

You won't be surprised if I use my own series as examples.  All of my mysteries contain pets, primarily dogs, no matter what the additional themes may be.  In my Superstition Mysteries, superstitions are one important theme, but so are pets.  In the first one, LOST UNDER A LADDER, my protagonist Rory Chasen came to the town of Destiny, California, which is all about superstitions, to find out if they're real or not since her fiance died after walking under a ladder.  With her is her spaniel-terrier mix Pluckie, whom she learns is quite lucky, particularly since she is black and white.  Pluckie saves the life of the owner of the Lucky Dog Boutique, and Rory is soon hired to be its manager--thus continuing both themes into later books including KNOCK ON WOOD.

In my Barkery & Biscuits mysteries, the protagonist Carrie Kennersly buys a bakery from a friend who has to leave town and converts half of it into a barkery--where she bakes and sells some of the healthy dog treats she developed in her other career as a veterinary technician. Thus, the themes are both culinary and pet-oriented.

I also wrote two other series before, the Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter Mysteries and its spinoff, the Pet Rescue Mysteries.  Again, the themes revolved around pets.  Different animals were featured in each of the Kendra books--although her tricolor Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Lexie, who coincidentally has the same name as my older Cavalier, also a tricolor--of course appears in all of them.  And each of the Pet Rescue Mysteries has a separate underlying theme involved in--what else?--pet rescue.

Do you consciously consider a cozy's theme before you pick it up?  Are there some themes you prefer over others, or some you don't particularly care for?

And of course don't forget the true theme that every cozy contains:  an amateur (usually) sleuth who is (usually) dragged out of her element to solve a murder or two.

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Scrapbook of the Dead by Mollie Cox Bryan

Scrapbook of the Dead
(A Cumberland Creek Mystery) (Book 5)
Cozy Mystery
Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Kensington (September 29, 2015)
ISBN-13: 978-0758293589
ASIN: B00RRT30J0



Halloween means spooky scrapbooks for the Cumberland Creek Scrapbook Crop, but what’s been happening around town is truly frightening. First a dead woman is found in the freezer at Pamela’s Pie Palace, and the next day a second woman is found murdered by the river. Reporter Annie Chamovitz learns the victims were sisters and is certain their deaths are linked. Most bizarre of all, both women were found clutching scrapbook pages.
As their Saturday night crop quickly becomes an opportunity to puzzle out the murders, the ladies begin to wonder if Pamela is hiding more than her secret recipes for delicious pies–or if the crimes are related to the startling discovery that there are gangs in Cumberland Creek. As All Hallows Eve approaches, the crafty croppers must cut and paste the clues to unmask a deadly killer.
Includes tips and a glossary of terms for the modern scrapbooker!

What I Thought:

As with the other books in this series that I have read, I found this one enjoyable.  I like how there are a group of friends trying to solve the mystery.  Having more than one perspective of a murder is refreshing instead of just seeing how one person perceives the murder.  I really enjoy visiting Cumberland Creek, for such a small town, there sure is a lot going on. The same great supporting cast makes appearances in this installment of the series, making for even more interesting reading.  Looking forward to more in this series.

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

About The Author – In addition to the Cumberland Creek mystery series, Mollie Cox Bryan wrote the regional bestseller Mrs. Rowe’s Little Book of Southern Pies and Mrs. Rowe’s Restaurant Cookbook: A Lifetime of Recipes from the Shenandoah Valley . An award-winning journalist and poet, she currently blogs, cooks, and scrapbooks in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia with her husband and two daughters. Scrapbook of Secrets was nominated for an Agatha Award for Best First Novel.
Author Links
http://www.molliecoxbryan.com
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23360000-scrapbook-of-the-dead
Purchase Links
Amazon B&N


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Plantation Shudders by Ellen Byron, Review and Guest Post

Plantation Shudders:
A Cajun Country Mystery
Cozy Mystery
New Series
Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books (August 11, 2015)
ISBN-13: 978-1629532509
E-Book ASIN: B011IZPRR6

Synopsis:
Check in for some Southern hospitality in Plantation Shudders, the Cajun Country series debut from Ellen Byron.

It’s the end of the summer and Prodigal Daughter Maggie Crozat has returned home to her family’s plantation-turned-bed-and-breakfast in Louisiana. The Crozats have an inn full of guests for the local food festival–elderly honeymooners, the Cajun Cuties, a mysterious stranger from Texas, a couple of hipster lovebirds, and a trio of Georgia frat boys. But when the elderly couple keels over dead within minutes of each other–one from very unnatural causes– Maggie and the others suddenly become suspects in a murder.

With the help of Bo Durant, the town’s handsome new detective, Maggie must investigate to clear her name while holding the family business together at the same time. And the deeper she digs, the more she wonders: are all of the guests really there for a vacation or do they have ulterior motives? Decades-old secrets and stunning revelations abound in Ellen Byron’s charming cozy debut, Plantation Shudders.

What I Thought:

I enjoyed this book from the time I picked it up. I enjoy reading about Bayou country in Louisiana and this had all the culture of that area down to a tee.  The writing was superb and the book flowed really well.  I would love to visit a plantation like Crozat, it seems so charming.  This was a great cozy because it kept me guessing to the very end.  There are a lot of twists and turns in this book that kept me turning the pages.  I look forward to more in the Cajun Country Series.  Great job,Ellen.

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

About The Author –

Byron is a native New Yorker who loves the rain, lives in bone-dry Los Angeles, and spends lots of time writing about Louisiana. She attributes this obsession to her college years at New Orleans’ Tulane University. Her debut novel, Plantation Shudders: A Cajun Country Mystery, launches on August 11^th.  Her TV credits include Wings, Just Shoot Me, and many network pilots.  She’s written over 200 magazine articles, and her published plays include the award-winning, Graceland.  She is also the recipient of a William F. Deeck-Malice Domestic Grant. She’s the proud mom of a fifteen year-old daughter and two very spoiled rescue dogs.

http://www.ellenbyron.com/
http://www.ellenbyron.com/#!blog/c1in0
https://twitter.com/ellenbyronla
https://www.facebook.com/ellenbyronauthor
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/23234.Ellen_Byron

Purchase Links:
Amazon B&N    

 

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Guest  Post:

Between Two Worlds

You’d think transitioning from writing snappy TV comebacks for actors like Tim Daly and Stephen Weber to creating murderous scenarios in the bayous of Louisiana would be tough. Oddly, it wasn’t.

I began my career as an actress, but given the limited opportunities for someone who was classified as “character pretty” – translation: “We have no idea how to cast you” – I quickly segued into playwriting. My agent told me one day that I had two writing voices: a TV voice and a theatre voice. That TV voice has served me well. I got to write for shows like Wings, Just Shoot Me, and Still Standing, plus a bunch of shows that disappeared pretty quickly. But eventually the “theatre voice,” dormant for so long, began to whisper, “You need to feed me!”

I fell in love with mysteries the summer before ninth grade. I was commuting from the suburbs to Manhattan for a six-week program at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and needed books to read on the train. I don’t remember how, but I discovered Agatha Christie, and by the end of the summer I’d read almost everything she’d written.
It never occurred to me that I could actually write a mystery. I dipped a toe in those waters when I was pregnant with my now-fifteen-year-old daughter. As a perk for teaching in the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program, I got to take a class for free, and chose one taught by the wonderful mystery author, Jerrilyn Farmer. I was motivated by rage. Another writer had backstabbed me and I wanted to kill him! Since I couldn’t murder in real life, I decided to do it on paper. But to be honest, what I wrote for that class stank. I tossed it out and stuck to TV.

But about three years ago, a friend started a small writers group and asked me to join. By then my “theatre voice” had turned from a whisper into a yell. I didn’t have any brilliant ideas for a new play, so I decide to take another stab (nice word choice, given the subject matter) at writing a mystery. I fell in love with Cajun Country when I was a student at Tulane University, so I immediately gravitated toward the region as a setting for my book, Plantation Shudders. I created the picturesque village of Pelican, Louisiana – town motto, “Yes, we Peli-CAN!”- and peopled it with a cast of quirky, likeable characters, including protagonist Maggie Crozat, a thirty-two year old artist who’s a little embarrassed that she’s still trying to find herself. I invented two plantations, one a state historical site, the other Maggie’s family’s ancestral home-turned-B&B, and I added the puzzle of a few murders.

These days, I balance a day job pitching jokes and stories for an animated series with writing my Cajun Country mysteries. I’m able to switch gears because I’m totally committed to whichever I happen to be writing at that time. For the first time in years, I get to tap into both my TV and theatre voices. I work days, nights, and weekends. And I’ve never been happier.

 

Murder Plainly Read by Isabella Alan

    Picture and synopsis from Goodreads.

In the latest from the author of Murder, Served Simply, an Amish man checks out permanently, but quilt shop owner Angie Braddock’s got this mystery covered…

With so much to do between running her shop and spending time with her new boyfriend, it’s amazing Angie is able to help organize the Rolling Brook library's annual book sale. Luckily she’s working alongside brash librarian Austina Shaker, a lady who isn’t afraid to make waves to get books to her patrons—even the Amish. Unfortunately, this draws the ire of cranky Bartholomew Belier, an Old Order Amish bishop, who publicly vows to ruin Austina.

And she certainly might be ruined after Belier is found dead in her bookmobile. Now Angie must employ the help of her loyal quilting circle—as well as her beloved French bulldog, Oliver—if she hopes to prove Austina’s innocence before the real killer books it…

INCLUDES QUILTING TIPS  

What I Thought:

This book grabbed my attention from the time I picked it up till I put it down.  It is a very easy and fast read as it is so action packed that it kept me on the edge of my seat and turning the pages.  This one kept me guessing. There were so many suspects with so many motives that I had no idea who the killer was till the very end. This book was well written with just enough about the Amish to be interesting but not overwhelming.  The antics of Angie's Frenchie, Oliver will had me laughing out loud, so did Petunia the goat. This was my second trip to Rolling Brook and it definitely won't be my last.  If you are looking for an engrossing, edge of your seat, well written book, then this is the book for you.  This is also the book for you if you are an animal lover, there are many great animals in this book who make the story interesting. 

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