The second in the Mahalia Watkins mystery series sees us back in Prince George’s County, Maryland, as our heroine faces down one of the worst milestones in anyone’s life: the high school reunion. Halia isn’t even interested in going, as she’s only stayed in touch with one person from her… Read more
When I first picked up this series, I did so mainly because I’m greedy for more diverse representation in the culinary cozy mystery genre. I was also attracted to the fact that it’s set in Prince George’s County, Maryland—part of the Washington, D.C., Metro area where I’ve lived most of… Read more
Weirdly, I thought that the final novel in the Red Sparrow Trilogy was at once its most realistic as well as its most wildly fanciful. There are details included that feel so authentic as to be absolutely factual, even if they don’t make for the most appetizing reading; I could… Read more
Joanne Fluke sure knows how to write a cliffhanger! When I read the last sentence of this book, I let out the kind of overly dramatic gasp that you usually only see on TV, complete with pearl clutching. But if there’s any author who can reliably elicit that kind of… Read more
Captain Dominika Egorova—the Red Sparrow of the series title—is back at her Moscow desk in the Russian Intelligence Service (SVR) after conspiring with the CIA to cement her role as their high-level informant. Though, after the final events chronicled in the previous book, she’s not too sure about whether she… Read more
In the second book of the California Wine Country Mystery series, our heroine, Taylor O’Brien, has decided to do a favor for her friend Tim Slade. While Tim is independently wealthy, he’s starting to look for ways to expand the labor of love that is his winery. In order to… Read more
I did not watch the recent film based on this book because most popular ballet-related movies make me violently angry. To be fair, I also scoffed at certain of the ballet “details” included here in the novel proper; pop culture in general just has a bad habit of stereotyping ballerinas… Read more
Baker Sophia Cummings is happily settling down in her hometown of Rumford, Kentucky, after years spent learning her craft in New York City. As the new owner of the town’s only bakery, the delightfully named For Goodness Cakes, she’s very much looking forward to catering a fundraising event for the… Read more
I do love me a paranormal culinary cozy, and The Alchemist’s Illusion absolutely lives up to my high expectations! Despite not having read the first three books in the series (something I’m hoping to remedy in the near future, as I enjoyed this so much I just bought them all),… Read more
I loved this book so much that it got me to start taking up yarncraft again! Unfortunately, not the crochet that our heroine’s competitive co-worker Adele Abrams Humphries evangelizes for—though, once I’m done with my current project, I absolutely plan on re-learning that skill. Betty Hechtman describes crafting so lovingly… Read more
