Cupcakes and Corpses (Pupcakes and Peril Book 2) by Paige Tyler

 

 

Blurb:

Pupcakes Bakery owner Tassie Drake is ready for life to return to normal––or as normal as possible, given just last month, she and her Chiweenie, Baxter, helped the hunky new town detective, Jack Sterling, solve a murder. But spring is in full bloom, and that means tourist season is too. Adding to the excitement, The Dessert Channel is filming their TV show Cupcake Combat in the park. And Tassie’s a firm believer that something sweet can fix just about anything. Except murder.
When one of the cupcake judges drops dead on set, all clues point to murder. But who had the most to gain from the YouTube foodie sensation being killed?

Everyone on stage that day is a suspect––two of whom are Tassie’s friends. While the last thing Tassie intended to do was get involved in another mystery, spending more time with Jack is icing on the cupcake, especially since their official first date keeps getting interrupted.

But as Tassie and Baxter discover, the dead woman made several enemies on her climb to the top, and someone took sweet revenge. Someone who isn’t afraid to kill again…

If you love smart likeable female sleuths, adorable sidekicks with four paws, and small towns full of quirky characters, you’ll adore reading about Tassie and Baxter’s adventures

 

My review:

Cupcakes and Corpses is an adorable cozy with a cast of lovable characters that includes a lie detecting dog. This installment involves the murder of a thoroughly disgusting human and Jack, Tassie and Baxter are determined to discover who murdered her and why.

A delightful romp.

 

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A Proposal to Die For by Molly Harper

 

 

Blurb:

A fast-paced, witty, and delightful new mystery about a marriage proposal planner whose biggest job yet is threatened by a dead body (or two).

Jessamine Bricker loves a plan. Contingency plans and pros-and-cons lists are her love language, and because of that, her proposal planning business is thriving. But with rent costs rising at her office building, Jess jumps at the chance to plan a proposal between her snobby high school classmate, Diana, and her very wealthy boyfriend, Trenton Tillard…the Fourth.

Roped into joining Diana’s ”pre-bridal” retreat at the exclusive Golden Ash resort, Jess hopes to fade into the background, get some work done, and maybe find some time to unwind. Their first day is anything but relaxing: Diana is furious about the mountain spa’s lack of cell phone reception, the couple next door argues constantly, and Jess swears she just saw a drug deal go down. To top it all off, she’s warned to stay out of the woods by the gruff and sexy chef, Dean Osbourne. Is this a retreat or a horror movie?

As Jess tries to do her job while placating the bride-to-be and her increasingly over-the-top demands, she spends more and more time with the resort owners, finding herself much more in tune with the laid-back Osbourne family than her social climbing “boss.” Between a meditation garden-related drowning and Jess’s discovery of a body in a sauna, it's clear that deadly secrets abound at the Golden Ash. Now it’s up to Jess to unravel the mysteries here in the mountains—before all her plans are cancelled…permanently.

 

My review:

A fantastic new cozy from the hilarious Molly Harper. This book had me laughing, wincing, smiling and sighing. With a quirky cast of characters this story drags us into several mysteries and a murder or two. I thoroughly enjoyed this and highly recommend.

 

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Oldrik & Ardon (Fated Dragon Daddies Book 4) by Pepper North

 

 

Blurb:

Skye has long dreamed of fanciful creatures. A bone-deep urge to capture the dragons she sees in her dreams has consumed her on the trek back to Wyvern. In a world turned topsy-turvy, could these magnificent beasts be important to someone many deem inconsequential?

As the eldest dragon in the horde of dragons protecting Wyvern, Oldrik has seen more than any other beast. The scent of a new mate has always been undeniable. One woman tantalizes him, but the full power of a potential mate bond is not there.

Ardon is a youngster compared to the longevity of the others. Confused by the allure of an artist he can’t pinpoint as his mate, he seeks the advice of the eldest. When they approach Skye together a passion unlike any other he’s experienced flames inside him. He hears Oldrik’s guttural reaction and realizes the same response has also ensnared him.

Change has come to Wyvern. A centuries-old pact between the founders and their powerful allies could save the inhabitants of the city once again, but only a dragon Daddy can truly guard his mate from harm. Or should that be dragon Daddies?

 

My review:

I love this series. In this installment blue dragon Oldrik and bronze dragon Ardon find their mate at the same time in the same person. Skye is special, a creative mind she is equally fascinated by the dragon shifters she has dreamed of. Their happiness is dulled only by the danger from an anti dragon coalition. An exciting addition to the series.

 

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Of Spice and Men (Nora Black #10) by Renee George

 

 

Blurb:

My name is Nora Black. I’m fifty-six years old, and I’m having the midlife adventure of my life.

I’m all set for the ultimate winter escape: an adults-only cruise with my sweetheart Ezra, and my best friends Gilly and Pippa, along with their husbands. We are ready to hit the high seas for sun, fun, and definitely no crime-solving. The plan is simple... cocktails, sunsets, and endless laughter.

But you know what they say about the best-laid plans...

When one of our tablemates ends up face down in the hydrotherapy pool, It’s looking more and more likely his suspicious death will be declared an accidental drowning.

But my psychic nose says otherwise—this is murder.

Now, with the clock ticking before we reach foreign soil, I’ll have to use my aroma mojo to sniff out the truth. It looks like it’s up to us to unravel the mystery before the killer gets away with murder.

So much for smooth sailing!

 

My review:

Another fun adventure with Nora and the gang. Living out their love boat fantasy shouldn’t involve a dead body but it seems that trouble goes where Nora’s nose knows.  This raucous romp will keep you guessing and smiling.

 

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Tell Me It's Murder Without Telling Me It's Murder (Accidental Detective Mystery #2) by Dakota Cassidy

 

 

Tell Me It's Murder Without Telling Me It's Murder (Accidental Detective Mystery #2) by Dakota Cassidy

 

Blurb:

Marty Flaherty here: Half human, half werewolf, aaall girl and proud of it.

First, let me say, we’re not exactly great at this detective gig. Sherlock Holmes wouldn’t be out of a job because we’re on the scene.

But while In the midst of trying to choose our next case to solve and learning from the mistakes we made with our last investigation, my fifteen-year-old daughter Hollis makes a plea we can’t turn our backs on.
Her best friend, Charmaine Ellis needs our help.

Charmaine's father’s been accused of murdering their house manager’s daughter. Ronald Ellis, guardian of everything werewolf, overseer of ancient were artifacts, is accused of killing Zinnia Hutchins.
A sweet, thoughtful young woman who grew up in the Ellis household—a young woman Ronald once considered a daughter.

The madness in all of this?

He fully admits he’s whodunnit!

That’s right, he makes no bones about the fact that he’s the killer. Loud and proud, Ronald confesses to killing a beautiful young woman. The catch? He can’t remember a single thing about the morning he allegedly murdered Zinnia.
Due to the archaic inefficiency of the were council police, and their deep desire to keep all matters werewolf deeply hidden from the human world, Ronald asks us to help him investigate what happened that morning, even if it means he truly did murder a woman he considered family.

So we jump in both feet and this time, with a hefty list of suspects on our side, but as we dig deeper we find secrets none of us expected, proving murder in the paranormal world is a tricky game of cat and mouse!

 

My review:

The tag line for the Accidental Detective Mystery Agency should be “whatever can go wrong probably will” and yet they never give up or surrender until they like the Canadian Mounties get their perpetrator. This installment had me laughing, wincing, thinking and praying but mostly admiring Marty, Wanda and Nina. A rocking mystery that will keep you guessing.

 

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Dead Post Society (House-Flipper Mystery #7) by Diane Kelly

 

 

Blurb:

The seventh in the House-Flipper mystery series set in Nashville, TN, where the real estate market is to die for.

This year's honor roll is killer...

Carpenter Whitney Whitaker and her cousin Buck are no strangers to murder. After all, they’ve encountered corpses on their properties before. But this is the first time they’d decided to take a chance on a property where two suspicious deaths have already occurred. Most buildings on the former boarding school property will be repurposed for an upscale retirement community, but the developer has no use for the headmaster’s house given its violent history. The headmaster and his wife were killed there decades earlier, their deaths remaining unsolved to this day.

Still, it seems a shame to see the beautiful Victorian give way to decay or the wrecking ball, even if many claim the unsettled souls of the victims still wander its halls, seeking retribution and justice. Can Whitney and Buck exorcise the structure’s demons, solve the cold case, and give the building new life? Or will ghosts from the past seek to silence them forever?

 

My review:

Shades of high school English. This story is a course in high school horror. When Buck and Whitney take on the headmasters’ murder house Whitney can’t help but look into the cold case. This leads her into looking at the staff, the mean girl and bad boys from the adjacent former boarding school. Another fascinating mystery.

 

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