Jane Reads

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Vangie Vale And The Corpseless Custard by R.L. Syme | Review

The Blurb

What could be wrong with attending a Bunco group with a friend, in a nearby town, and making a few custards for the guest of honor?

Nothing at all... except that guest of honor never shows up. And when her body is discovered, everyone at the Bunco group is a murder suspect. Vangie has to work overtime to fulfill all her responsibilities back in Saint Agnes, and also keep herself out of the murder-spotlight.

Vangie Vale finds herself in another predicament, trying to solve a murder in a neighboring small town before her mugshot shows up in the local anonymous gossip blog. And just when she hoped her Sherlocking days were done. No rest for the wicked… or the clergy.

Pick up your second book in The Matchbaker Mysteries today. The Corpseless Custard is a clean, cozy, crazy romp with twists and turns that will keep you guessing until the very end. You’ll never guess whodunit.

“R.L. Syme is a fresh voice in the cozy mystery genre.”

-Zara Keane, USA Today bestselling author of the Movie Club Mysteries series

RECIPE INCLUDED: The Corpseless Custard

Vangie Vale And The Corpseless Custard by R.L. Syme
Series: A Matchbaker Mystery, #2

Genre: Cozy Mystery, Culinary Mystery

Publication Date: September 18, 2017
Publisher: Hummingbird Books
Paperback: 364 pages
ISBN-10: 1977524664
ISBN-13: 978-1977524669
e-Book File Size: 4967 KB
ASIN: B074RP5CHZ
Amazon | Kindle | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Links for Author R.L. Syme

The Review

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Wednesday, October 4, 2017

In The Stars by Zanna Mackenzie | Blog Tour with Review, Guest Post, and Giveaway

The Blurb

One desperate phone call is all it takes to turn Amber’s previously dull day into one speeding scarily out of control!

Amber Reed’s at work making up the horoscopes for the local newspaper and wishing for some excitement in her life, when she gets a phone call offering her just that.

Plunged into the middle of a celebrity murder investigation she’s desperately trying to convince the scarily handsome special agent assigned to solve the case that she can help him catch the killer.

Amber’s soon battling something far more dangerous than she could ever have imagined — and it has nothing to do with the equally scary chemistry fizzing between her and special agent Charlie.

Is it Amber’s wish for more excitement in her life which has landed her in big trouble — or is her fate written in the stars?

In The Stars is part of the fun, romantic Amber Reed Mystery series:

* In The Stars (book 1)
* On Trial ( book 1.5)
* Precious (book 2)
* Forever Mine (book 3)
* Past Perfect (book 4)
* Stop The Beat (book 5)
* Paradise Lost (book 6)

In The Stars by Zanna Mackenzie
Series: An Amber Reed Mystery, #1

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Self Published
Publication Date: December 11, 2014

Print length: 364 pages
ASIN: B00QXFNP62

Amazon | Goodreads

The Review

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Monday, September 25, 2017

Calamity at the Continental Club by Colleen J. Shogan | Blog Tour Excerpt, Review, Giveaway

The Blurb

The Mayflower Society is about to hold its annual meeting at Washington D.C.’s swanky gathering place for the elite, the Continental Club. That means Kit Marshall’s upper-crust future in-laws, Buffy and Winston Hollingsworth, are coming for a visit. Annoyed that Kit has not set a date to marry Doug, Buffy wants her to commit to a high society wedding at the club. Kit, though chief of staff for a congresswoman, feels uncomfortable with Buffy and Winston’s crowd.

Kit receives an unexpected reprieve in the form of murder. En route to her morning jog, she encounters the corpse of the leader of the Mayflower Society, conservative multimedia tycoon Grayson Bancroft. On the security cameras, no one was seen entering or leaving the club, which means the culprit had to be an overnight guest. Little love was lost on Bancroft, but the police have their prime suspect: Doug’s father.

Buffy and Winston, formerly disdainful of Kit’s sleuthing, urge her to investigate. With her future in-laws’ freedom and reputations at stake, Kit sets out once again to solve a murder mystery, this time aided by her fiancé Doug in addition to her friends Meg and Trevor and her dog Clarence. Her search for clues will take her from the club to the Smithsonian Museum, the National Archives, and Mount Vernon.

Book 3 of the Washington Whodunit series, which began with Stabbing in the Senate and continued with Homicide in the House [reviewed here].

Calamity at the Continental Club by Colleen J. Shogan
Series: A Washington Whodunit, #3

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Publication Date: July 15, 2017

Publisher: Camel Press

Paperback: 272 pages

ISBN-10: 1603813357
ISBN-13: 978-1603813358

eBook File Size: 2141 KB

ASIN: B073QZ622R

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BAM! | Goodreads

The Excerpt

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Saturday, September 23, 2017

Cat Got Your Secrets by Julie Chase | Blog Tour with Review, Guest Post, and Giveaway

The Blurb

Lacy Marie Crocker has settled into a comfortable groove back home in New Orleans, and with Valentine’s Day right around the corner, she’s busier than ever running a thriving pet boutique, helping her mother organize the upcoming National Pet Pageant, and untangling her complicated love life. But when delivering a king-sized order of dreidel-shaped doggy biscuits for a Saint Berdoodle’s bark-mitzvah, Lacy stumbles into yet another murder scene — and the last person to see the victim alive was her own father.

It’s up to Lacy to clear her dad’s name from the suspect list before Detective Jack Oliver has to cage him for good. But just when she starts pawing at the truth, she receives a threatening letter from a mysterious blackmailer bent on silencing her with her own secrets. And Lacy’s not the only one with bones in her closet.

RECIPES FOR PET TREATS INCLUDED: Heart-to-Heart Smoothie Bites, Tuna Kitty Kisses, and Canine Cutouts

Cat Got Your Secrets by Julie Chase
Series: A Kitty Couture Mystery, #3

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Publisher: Crooked Lane Books

Publication Date: September 12, 2017
Hardcover: 320 pages
ISBN-10: 168331283X
ISBN-13: 978-1683312833
eBook File Size: 2231 KB
ASIN: B06XVWR8Q9

The Review

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Thursday, September 14, 2017

Murder in Rock & Roll Heaven by Robin Ray | Blog Tour with Excerpt, Guest Post, Giveaway

The Blurb

No one ever "re-dies" in Heaven; unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened to singer Amy Winehouse. Her death, an unprecedented event in Heaven's history, has thrown a once docile world into unfortunate chaos. Because of the new uneasy alliance between angels and citizens, a freshly-arrived detective in the rock & roll town has been tasked with investigating the prime suspects, the members of the 27 Club — Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison. To make matters worse, a powerful angel from one of the upper levels of Heaven will soon arrive to make her ten-year inspection, a task that fills the other angels with dread since she has the power to banish anyone of them to the underworld. So, with time running out, the PI and his newly acquired sidekick, both aided by rock legends such as Eddie Cochran, Mama Cass, Kurt Cobain, Karen Carpenter and others, must quickly uncover the mystery that threatens not only to close Heaven’s doors forever, but promises to send a ripple effect through the entire universe that can rip it apart.

Murder in Rock & Roll Heaven by Robin Ray
Genre: Mystery / Sci-Fi

Publication Date: November 24, 2016

Paperback: 287 pages
ISBN-10: 1520167296
ISBN-13: 978-1520167299
E-Book File Size: 1027 KB
ASIN: B01N2LXWGI
Amazon | Goodreads

The Excerpt

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Monday, September 11, 2017

Protocol by Kathleen Valenti | Blog Tour with Excerpt, Review, Guest Post, and Giveaway

The Blurb

Freshly minted college graduate Maggie O’Malley embarks on a career fueled by professional ambition and a desire to escape the past. As a pharmaceutical researcher, she’s determined to save lives from the shelter of her lab. But on her very first day she’s pulled into a world of uncertainty. Reminders appear on her phone for meetings she’s never scheduled with people she’s never met. People who end up dead.

With help from her best friend, Maggie discovers the victims on her phone are connected to each other and her new employer. She soon unearths a treacherous plot that threatens her mission — and her life. Maggie must unlock deadly secrets to stop horrific abuses of power before death comes calling for her.

Protocol by Kathleen Valenti
Series: A Maggie O'Malley Mystery, #1
Genre: Medical Mystery, Thriller/Mystery

Publisher: Henery Press

The Excerpt

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Saturday, September 9, 2017

A Christmas Peril by J. A. Hennrikus | Blog Tour with Review and Giveaway

The Blurb

Sully Must Get Her Childhood Friend Off the Naughty List Before They’re Both Scrooged.

When Edwina “Sully” Sullivan’s life imploded, she left behind her job on the police force and her unfaithful husband to start a new life as the general manager of her hometown theater, the Cliffside Theater Company.

For five years, she focused on budgets instead of crime and kept the Cliffside running alongside its mercurial artistic director. But when her childhood friend is suspected of killing his father, no one is looking for another culprit. So, in between keeping A Christmas Carol on budget and Scrooge sober, Sully dusts off her investigative skills to find a murderer. Her two lives collide when her ex-husband arrives on the scene to play lawyer and she’s forced to confront her past in order to save her present.

A Christmas Peril by J. A. Hennrikus

Series: A Theater Cop Mystery, #1

Genre: Cozy Mystery
Publisher: Midnight Ink
Publication Date: September 8, 2017

Paperback: 288 pages
ISBN-10: 0738754153
ISBN-13: 978-0738754154
e-Book File Size: 2918 KB