A cute modern day retelling of The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry. A bit slow at 1st. Steph finally is about to get her hands on the limited edition of ale, called Jingle All the Way. Only, her love interest let it be released for resale and now he has to somehow replace it. At the same time she‘s looking for ways to keep him in the hometown.

A cute, quick cozy mystery. Coming out of a bad relationship, Holly is hoping to start a dog walking business. Excited to meet her 1st client and take the dog out, she is surprised nobody answers her knock. She steps inside and is greeted by the dog, who leads her to the dead owner. Of course, Holly is the lead suspect in the murder and must clear her name.

Delightful. At times Shayla seems a bit naive for a cop, but that is supposed to be her character. Arriving in Ireland for a Christmas holiday, hoping to receive a proposal, Shayla meets Seamus‘ family. At the party to introduce her to family and friends, the wealthy uncle Alabaster is murdered. Can‘t wait to read the next one.

I‘m really enjoying this series and am going to have to get more. There‘s a new Earl in town and he‘s a particularly nasty American. Leta and Peter find his one car accident and watch him die before the ambulance could leave. Then they discover a knife hole in his tire. Since this no longer appears to be an accident and Gemma, the local detective will be away for training, the Little Old Ladies Detective Agency Is asked to help.

The President calls Stone in for help because the Speaker‘s daughter has been kidnapped to force him to make his party vote on a bill in a specific way. Senators have been killed too. Stone brings back rogue CIA agent Teddy to help solve the conspiracy.

A very satisfactory read, despite the abusive parents and ex (so, yes, sometimes I had to walk away for a while). This was a story of the love of a lifetime, the kind we all hope for and yet is rarely seen. Alexis and Daniel meet after her single car accident. The magic of the town enfolds them as they begin to discover each other, but are they strong enough to surmount the obstacles standing in front of them?

A quick read. Emma & Lily are doing well in a bake off for Christmas. Then one of the judges has an allergic reaction. I was never sure if it was an injury or a death. In any event, Emma starts poking around until she finds the culprit.

This short story could almost be described as funny, except that it triggered my own more disturbing mother issues. Franki‘s co-worker demands she bring down a bottle of forgotten Braulio to a party Ruth is hosting for her Krewe. A mermaid nearly dies, which starts a brawl and gets Franki arrested, which motivates her to solve the crime.

A fun read cozy mystery. Emma‘s candy shop has been invited to join other merchants in creating floats for the city‘s Thanksgiving Parade. When Emma comes back from work to continue decorating the float, she finds the popular handyman lying at the bottom of his ladder. He apparently fell while working on her float. Later she finds a bolt that was pulled from the ladder, indicating this was no accident.

Wow! Great read/listen. Scott and a 4 year old boy are the only survivors of 11 people in an airplane crash into the ocean. After swimming miles into shore carrying the child with him, Scott becomes the lead suspect. The media vilifies him and tries to set him up. Fast paced.

A very satisfying read. Leaphorn and Manuelito are working on 2 different cases. A woman has disappeared for a few weeks, then there is an explosion at the school where she worked and a body is discovered. Leaphorn is trying to discover where a “lost bird” came from.

No violence in this one and introduction to new characters. Everyone heads to the mountains for a Thanksgiving with Ted‘s family. However, items begin to disappear…and Connie wants to get to the bottom of it.

I didn‘t really like this one. We spent more time moaning about Connie‘s lack of sleep than anything else and the solution to the mystery felt like a cop out rather than true exploration. Maybe 3 stars.

Again more character driven, but this time more believable. On the day Connie is handed the keys for her new property and business, the realtor is found strangled on her back deck. This time she has a good alibi, but she still wants to clear her name. And, Mabel is screaming murderer at her whenever Connie comes to town.

Hoping to catch an interview for the local paper, Connie instead finds a body, making herself the lead suspect. While she tries to clear her name, she gets herself kidnapped. A quick, light read.

Her characters are more entertaining than the mystery. After the Harvest Fete the magician was murdered, and Leta‘s new friend, Trisha, is the lead suspect. Leta and her group of friends (nicknamed The Little Old Ladies Detective Agency) set out to clear Trisha‘s name. It gave them a good excuse to travel and explore and they discovered the magician was a nasty work.

There were times I laughed so hard, I hurt. At other points my heart ached for Vivian. I could not put this down. Vivian finds divorce papers in her husband‘s sock drawer and her life begins to spin out of control. He wants the divorce but refuses to leave home. And, so begins Vivian‘s search to discover what she needs and wants in life.

“Bread and wine were essential. Jesus told me so.” Was what Vivian thought when her husband told her to give them up to lose weight. Made me laugh; I love it.

Anna Pigeon is working on 2 cases and getting beat up in the process. 1 is the murder of an abusive man (and he didn‘t go down easily and 2 is the cyber stalking of a friend‘s teenager. Fairly fast paced and entertaining but I had difficulty in believing the craziness of one individual 🤷🏻‍♀️

Leta, her dog & cat have moved to the Cotswold. Yes, the pets are important, because Leta can communicate with them. Starting out on a walk, Leta and her dog find the body of their housekeeper. When they go to take care of the housekeeper‘s cat, they find the cottage in a shambles…and wait, were some of Leta‘s figurines here? So the adventures and misadventures begin.

A fun short read, cozy mystery with just a hint of romance. A Halloween haunted/decorated house contest is opened up to individuals and businesses in the community. Emma and Lilly enter their candy shop, but then the contest is threatened when someone steals the trophy.

A cute short story romance where 2 best friends for decades start seeing each other differently. Takes place during Halloween and preparation for the town harvest festival.

A quick short Halloween cozy. The mayor fakes his death as a “humorous” stunt at the Pumpkin pie contest. Everyone thinks he was poisoned by Connie‘s mom‘s pie. When he turns up at the costume party that night, many did not enjoy the he joke. Around midnight his dead body is found in his car and rumors begin to fly. A he cause of death is unexpected.

For safety Eve & Joe take Cara home, but her enemies quickly arrive. They decide to hide on the treasure hunt expedition Jane was wrangled into in the wilds of Scotland. After a few days of peace enemies show up bringing their violence with them. Did not like the level of dangling the ending brings.

A pleasant cozy mystery that has nothing to do with autopsies. Connie opens her new coffee shop the weekend of the Harvest Festival. After work she meets her boyfriend and his cousin at the local corn maze and stumbles over a dead body. In my opinion, the story was tied up too neatly at the end without the facts fully pointing you there…but then as a Christian author, Marple may be trying to keep things lighter than normal. 3.5-4🌟

Bella disappeared one day while playing in her front yard. Jean Taylor is the wife of the man suspected of taking Bella. The story is mostly told from her perspective, but also from Bella‘s mother, the lead cop and Glen, the suspect. Interesting how the author reveals different facts this way.

A haunting we will go…no, I mean hunting😂. Mia and her friends head for an overnight stay on Halloween at a haunted castle in hopes of finding the ghost. They discover they have the ghost‘s granddaughter and cousin with them. As passengers disappear over the stormy weekend, Mia ends up hunting for people not ghosts but also finds answers to questions.

Lured me in from the 1st page and quickly became a page turner. Gin heads home when the body of her sister, Lily, is found 20 years after she disappeared. Gin discovers family secrets in trying to determine what happened.

The last in this series, I‘m going to miss the characters who all feel like friends now. Aunt Frannie‘s last murder attempt failed and she‘s in trial. But when she agrees to a plea bargain that will probably free her, the DA is murdered before it is signed. Who wants her to remain in jail and yet is still trying to kill Eddie?

The last story in this trilogy focuses on Emma‘s life and loves, whether she bit off more than she could chew. You get to know her “granddaughter” Winnie better as Natalie includes her in their lives more.

I‘m devouring this series. While you can read each one individually, they read together like one long story. Eddie and Nick‘s aunt and uncle are ramping up plans to take over and Lilac‘s best friend has been murdered. All these things seem to twine-twist together. Oh, and we finally learn the mysterious neighbor‘s job.

Dearly beloved by everyone in town, Harry is murdered on the night of his annual party (the night before Halloween). Because a dear friend was suspected, Ben and Viv begin sleuthing.

Still love the characters, but maybe tied everything up too easily. This time Eddie is buying a new home closer to the shop. Aunt Franny is still making threats, but the real problem is who killed Tessa.

Not my genre (except it is a cozy mystery), yet I fell in love with the characters in this short story/novella and will have to look for more in the series. Eddie moves back home when her grandma dies and she inherits a fortune and powers. Her first move is purchasing an antique business and finding the seller dead in the store the day after they close the sale. On top of this, a large inventory is missing.

My snickers quickly turned to giggles in this cozy mystery. Yes, some of the funny scenes were predictable but still funny. The Finches gather for a family reunion at a campground. When a nasty character turns up dead only to disappear, the fun begins.

While on a personal ghost walk, gathering information for publication, Violet comes across another dead body. He was a particularly obnoxious, unkind individual so there are lots of potential suspects. Then at the costume party another victim is stabbed and this time the suspect is Violet‘s dad. I have to admit, is didn‘t see this particular murderer until the last scene

Quick cozy mystery. Chloe‘s best friends find a treasure map and can‘t wait to search for the treasure. Unfortunately, another party beats them to the area…did they fund it? I love what the treasure turns out to be.

Fast paced and I couldn‘t stay away from it. After her parents lose all their money and her father is arrested for the murder of his friend who likely was involved in the ponzie scheme, Ali & her company go after the murderers and the thieves. I hadn‘t heard the term clawback in such a manner before this book.

Humor, romance and murder all in one. Kieran finds herself caught up in the search for jewelry theft murders when she tries to cover up her friend‘s and brother‘s prank on an ex-husband. Now she seems to be a target and why is she attracted to the FBI agent who suspects her.

A short prequel to the Magical Tearoom series; between a pick and so-so. Minnie is searching for a coven and was invited to a Halloween ceremony where the head witch was murdered. Minnie and Gus, her vampire best friend, search out the real culprit when they fall under suspicion.

A quick short read. Lucy having just gone through a rough divorce meets Elle, and the friend of a lifetime…or so she thinks. As the relationship takes some turns, Lucy‘s heart begins to break all over again.

A light book in which a murder is discovered at a family Halloween haunted house attraction. Max and Lil are volunteers while visiting family and pursue clues to the murderer so the family attraction can be reopened.

A short story told in letters from prominent characters in the Charleton House series, telling of the mystery of two bodies found during repairs. Mark steps in to search out the answers.

Engrossing. Kate heads to Laurel Ridge to try to understand why her brother killed himself. She feels the local police didn‘t properly look into the matter. The few answers she digs up only leads to more questions and this small town definitely holds some secrets (some obvious). But, she begins to cooperate with the Police Chief (or vice versa) to solve their questions.

An endearing story of Lolly‘s life told through the charms on her bracelet and enfolding in her relationship with her daughter and granddaughter. It was perfect for my commute into a conference each day this week.

I loved this book, both the story of Evelyn and that of her granddaughter, Jenna. Evelyn is a force to reckon with and it‘s a story of her life she is sharing with her granddaughter as they travel to her hometown and visit. The granddaughter is coming out of depression from divorce filed by her husband and is able to find some answers from her grandmother‘s wisdom and rekindle her heart.

“…you can‘t prevent people from making bad decisions. No matter how much you care.”

I‘m probably just grumpy, but so far is too stilted and boring for me (pg63) and when I find myself making excuses not to read when it‘s too hot to do anything, it‘s time to move on.

Slow whiny start (I get it is for character development but sheesh). However, it does pick up the pace and is an interesting look at how our daily fears prevent us from living life to the fullest. Liv and Emily are best friends and stuck in uncomfortable ruts….until being victims of robbery at gun point make them realize it‘s time to move forward.

A real page turner. Maya‘s husband was murdered 3 weeks earlier and her sister 4 months earlier. Surely the deaths are related. Maya investigates and comes up with some interesting answers, but the most surprising is the ending.