Well Read, Then Dead (Read'Em and Eat Mystery)

 Nestled in the barrier islands of Florida's Gulf Coast, Fort Myers Beach is home to Mary "Sassy" Cabot and Bridget Mayfield, owners of the bookstore cafe, Read' Em and Eat. But when they're not dishing about books or serving up scones, Sassy and Bridget are keeping tabs on murder. 

Read' Em and Eat is known for it's delicious treats and colorful clientele. There's Miss Augusta Maddox, who enjoys lecturing tourists on the rumors of sunken treasure among the islands, and her cousin Delia Batson, a regular at the Emily Dickinson table who is painfully shy... which makes the news of her murder all the more shocking. 

No one is more distraught than Augusta. She wants Delia's killer found and she's not taking no for an answer. Now Sassy is on the case, and she'd better act fast before there's any more trouble in paradise. 

I was really excited to actually read a cozy mystery about my "hometown" of Ft. Myers, Florida. The book is very well written and has a great story line. I like a lot of the characters and reading it really did make me a bit homesick. However, in the beginning I felt a little overwhelmed with the amount of characters that were thrown at you in the first few chapters. I had a hard time keeping people straight and where they fell into the story. Once I got past those chapters though it was pretty easy to follow along. The only other thing I wished the book had was a slow build to the big reveal in the end. There were really no clues on who actually did it and I still had no suspicions even about a third of the way through the book. However, it does get really exciting at the end and you will never realize who really is the one to almost get away with murder. Overall I did like the book and I will be happy to continue the series. 

Death on Eat Street (A Biscuit Bowl Food Truck Mystery)

When she's once again passed over for a promotion at work, Zoe decides to take the big leap and go for her dream. She quits, gives up her fancy digs, and buys a fixer-upper diner in a shady part of town. To keep above water during the renovation, she buys a used food truck to serve the downtown and waterfront of Mobile, Alabama. 

Zoe starts to dish out classic Southern food but her specialty is her deep fried biscuit bowls that blow 
traditional bread bowls away. After a promising start, things begin to go downhill faster than a food truck without brakes. First, someone tries to rob the cash register. Next, Zoe is threatened by the owner of a competing food truck for taking their spot. And when the owner ends up dead inside Zoe's rolling restaurant, Zoe and her sole employee, Ollie, find themselves hopping out of the frying pan and into the fryer. They need to find the real killer... before both of them get burned.

For a first in a series reader I was thoroughly impressed! The book was very easy to read and had a very comfortable pace. I liked that the author clued you in by adding "evidence" of where the plot was headed. This gave you a sense that you were really onto something with your own assumptions but also didn't give too much information away either and still gave you that "whoa, I didn't see that coming" kind of ending as well. The characters were well thought out and had a great personalities and humor behind them. The setting was described perfectly, having been to Mobile Alabama many times, and seeing the places they described in the book first hand, I knew right away that I was going to love this book. If you like good homemade Southern comfort food with a side of "who-done-it" then this is the cozy for you! I will definitely be looking forward to the next book from this series!

Tempest in a Teapot (A Teapot Collector Mystery)

Tucked away in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York is the charming town of Gracious Grove, where time moves slowly, gossip spreads quickly, and the scones are to die for..

When her fashionable Manhattan restaurant goes under, Sophie Taylor retreats to her grandmother's cozy shop, Auntie Rose's Victorian Tea House, where serenity is steeped to perfection in one of her many antiqued teapots. The last thing Sophie expects is a bustling calendar of tearoom events, like her old friend Cissy Peterson's upcoming bridal shower. 

Not everyone is pleased with the bride-to-be's choice of venue, like Cissy's grandmother, who owns a competing establishment, La Belle Epoque, and has held a long simmering grudge against Rose for stealing her beau sixty years ago. Tensions reach a boiling point when Cissy's fiance's mother dies while sampling scones at La Belle Epoque. Now, to help her friend, Sophie will have to bag a killer before more of the guest list becomes a hit list. 

I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book. There were a lot of parts I liked about it and there were also a lot of parts I disliked about it. I am willing to chalk it up to the fact that it's a "new in a series" and I will not be dismissing this series so easily. I liked the characters and I loved the close tight knit community the story takes place in. I do feel though, that it was a lot to take in the just the first novel. There are a lot of characters and if you don't pay attention it can get confusing at times as to whom everyone is related to. The beginning was a little slow for my taste but the middle was very gripping and had me gunning for the ending to figure out who really did it. When I got to the end though I was kind of bored with still trying to figure out who really did it. The big reveal at the end was not as exciting as I though it was going to be, and there weren't a lot of "aha" moments at all. I feel like the ending was drawn out a little too much when a little more should have been revealed slowly though out the whole book. So all in all, it wasn't my favorite but I am willing to give the series another shot.

Sugar and Iced (A Cupcake Bakery Mystery)

 Normally Melanie Cooper and Angie DeLaura wouldn't be caught dead at a beauty pageant, but when Mel's mom asks them to provide cupcakes for the seventy-fifth annual Sweet Tiara contest as a favor for her best friend, they can't say no. Plus, between cooking up a daily display  for the three-day event and sponsoring a cupcake creation challenge for the participants, Fairy Tale Cupcakes will get great publicity.

But the world of pageants is even hotter than Mel's kitchen. A high-strung judge and a pushy stage mom target Lupe, a young friend of Mel and Angie's, at the competition and aim to take her out by any means necessary. When the same judge shows up dead underneath Mel and Angie's cupcake display, Lupe is crowned the lead suspect. Now Mel and Angie will have to find the real killer quickly or Lupe may be strutting the catwalk in prison pinstripes...

With every Cupcake Bakery Mystery that Jenn writes... this series just keeps getting better and better! Mel and Angie are stirring up the batter again, only this time its with a local beauty pageant which Oz's skateboarding beauty buddy gets entered in to win a scholarship. The pageant does not start off well at all... there are bossy judges, snotty contestants and someone who's about to sashay down the catwalk for good! Jenn also leaves you on the edge of your seat with the Mel's turbulent romance between "Dear Joe" the love of her life, and the handsome yet incorrigible Detective Manny Martinez... the sharp twist at the end will having you dieing to know what happens next!

Death of a Mad Hatter (A Hat Shop Mystery)

Scarlett Parker and her British cousin, Vivian Tremont, are hard at work at Mim's Whims their ladies' hat shop on London's chic Portobello Road to create hats for an Alice in Wonderland themed afternoon tea, a fund-raiser for a local children's hospital. It seems like a wonderfully whimsical way to pass the hat, and Scarlett and Viv are delighted to outfit the Grisby family, the hosts who are hoping to raise enough money to name a new hospital wing after their patriarch. 

Unfortunately, the Grisby heir will not live to see it, he's been poisoned. When traces of the poison are found on the hat Scarlett and Viv made for him, the police become curiouser and curiouser about their involvement. Now the ladies need to don their thinking caps and find the tea party crasher who's mad enough to kill at the drop of a hat...

Scarlett Parker and Vivian Tremont are back at it again, "Mad" with suspense and excitement in this "hare" raising tale of mystery! Like most of Jenn McKinlays other mystery books, I am quickly falling in love with this series as well. I love all the characters and a certain slow boiling romance between Scarlett and Harrison! I also love being transported to the quaint village of Notting Hill, and I feel right at home at Scarlett and Viv's shop on old Portobello Road. Death of a Mad Hatter is Jenn's second edition in the series and I love it as much as the first! It was very witty, fun and suspenseful. It really had me guessing up until the end, and you'll never guess who's just "mad" enough to commit murder! 

Cloche and Dagger (A Hat Shop Mystery)

Not only is Scarlett Parker's love life in the loo as her British cousin Vivian Tremont would say it's also gone viral with an embarrassing video. So when Viv suggests Scarlett leave Florida to lay low in London, she hops on the next plane across the pond. Viv is the proprietor of Mim's Whims, a ladies' hat shop on Portobello Road bequeathed to both cousins by their beloved grandmother, and she wants Scarlett to finally join her in the millinary buisness. 

But a few surprises await Scarlett in London. First, she is met at the airport not by Viv, but by her handsome business manager, Harrison Wentworth. Second, Viv who has some whims of her own seems to be missing. No one is too concerned about the unpredictable Viv until one of her posh clients is found dead wearing the cloche hat Viv made for her and nothing else. Is Scarlett's cousin in trouble? Or is she in hiding? 

Loved it! Classically witty and brilliantly suspenseful! Jenn McKinlay has out done herself in writing this amazing little British crime cozy! I loved the descriptive writing and it really had me longing for a stroll on Portobello Road and cozing up in a pub in the heart of Notting Hill. I loved the characters very much and am happy to say, it feels like reading about friends rather than characters in a book. Then again Jenn always manages to make her characters feel that way, it's one of the many reason why I enjoy her writing so much. This is a perfect written "first in a series" and if you love Jenn's other books than rest assured you will love Cloche and Dagger just as much!

Scandal In Skibbereen (A County Cork Mystery)

Bostonian Maura is beginning to feel settled in her new Irish home, just in time for summer tourist season to bring fresh business to her pub. But the first traveler to arrive is thirsty for more than just a pint of Guinness. Althea Melville is hot on the trail of a long-lost Van Dyck painting. 

Maura agrees to help Althea meet with the residents at the local manor house, the most likely location of the missing art. But when the manor's gardener is found murdered, Maura wonders what Althea's real motives are. Now, to solve the secret of the lost portrait and catch a killer, Maura will have to practice her Irish gift of gab and hunt down some local history before someone else is out of the picture... 

It was a nice little follow up to a great new series. It holds all the same Irish charm as the first book and has a great plot with all your favorite characters from the previous book, along with some new ones. The plot thickens when Irish and New York city set off on a wild goose chase in search of a famous painting that has a mystery all of its own.