Tag: cozy mystery

Beekeeping Books

- Stephanie Leave a comment

Are you interested in beekeeping? Are you curious how adding bees can help your yard and garden? The Davenport Public Library has books to help you out! Below we have gathered a list of nonfiction books about beekeeping, plus a bonus cozy mystery about bees, to get you started.

At the time of this writing, all of these titles are owned by the Davenport Public Library. Descriptions provided by the publishers.

The Backyard Beekeeper: an Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Keeping Bees in your Yard and Garden 5th Edition by Kim Flottum

A Comprehensive Guide to Keeping Healthy, Happy, and Productive Bees.

Experience the timeless joy of beekeeping—right in your backyard or on your urban rooftop—with this fully updated and accessible resource for beekeepers of all levels.

More than just a how-to guide, The Backyard Beekeeper offers expert insights and practical advice on every aspect of caring for bees and harvesting their gifts. Learn how to:

  • Set Up and Maintain Hives – Start and care for thriving colonies.
  • Choose the Ideal Location – Ensure the safety of your bees and yourself.
  • Practice Nontoxic Beekeeping – Use natural, sustainable care methods.
  • Manage Swarms – Prevent and control swarming behavior.
  • Work with Top Bar Hives – Explore alternative hive options.
  • Harvest Hive Products – Collect honey, beeswax, and more.
  • Identify and Treat Bee Health Issues – Recognize problems early and apply effective solutions.

What’s New in the 5th Edition:

  • Natural Beekeeping Methods – Learn how to insulate hives for winter, mirroring the natural advantages of wild bee habitats.
  • Updated Treatments for Varroa Mites – Stay ahead in the fight against one of beekeeping’s greatest challenges.
  • Guidance on New Antibiotic Regulations – Navigate the latest recommendations for managing American foulbrood.
  • Modern Recordkeeping Tools – Discover innovative ways to track hive health and productivity.

This expanded edition also features a fresh, user-friendly design with larger, easy-to-read text, a clearer structure for quick reference, and dozens of new, vibrant photos that bring beekeeping to life.

With trusted guidance from Kim Flottum, editor emeritus of Bee Culture magazine, you’ll gain the confidence and know-how to cultivate healthy, productive bees and enjoy the sweet rewards of your own hive.

Start your beekeeping journey today—naturally, sustainably, and successfully. – Quarry Books

Beekeeping for Gardeners: the Complete Step-to-Step Guide to Keeping Bees in your Garden by Richard Rickitt

A comprehensive gardener’s guide to sustainable beekeeping.

Beekeeping has changed. While once it was a hobby that pursued the rich rewards of honey and wax, many new beekeepers now instead seek the gratification of knowing that they are aiding the survival of one of the world’s most important creatures. Keeping bees today is as much about providing the right habitats and resources to help pollinators thrive as it is about chasing every drop of golden honey.

This beautifully illustrated guide to the ancient hobby of beekeeping shows today’s gardeners how to create beautiful gardens that are richly rewarding for people and bees alike. Flowers, shrubs, trees and vegetable plots can provide colourful beauty and delicious produce as well as vital pollen and nectar when bees need it the most. There are lists of the top-performing plants and how and where to grow them, including window boxes, lawns, borders, wild gardens and even ponds.

Beekeeping for Gardeners looks at the pleasures and benefits of keeping honey bees in gardens of all types and sizes, both rural and urban. It explains the practicalities involved in keeping bees in the domestic garden setting, as well as on rooftops, allotments, parks, farmland and other locations. Importantly, and unlike any book before, this guide sets the delightful hobby of beekeeping within the context of the wider environment, asking how it can best serve the needs of all types of pollinator and the local ecology in general.

Whether you’re looking to attract more bumblebees and solitary bees or want to install a beehive, this wonderful book contains all the guidance you’ll need to have a garden buzzing with bees. – Green Books

Buzz: the Nature and Necessity of Bees by Thor Hanson

Bees are like oxygen: ubiquitous, essential, and, for the most part, unseen. While we might overlook them, they lie at the heart of relationships that bind the human and natural worlds. In Buzz, the beloved Thor Hanson takes us on a journey that begins 125 million years ago, when a wasp first dared to feed pollen to its young. From honeybees and bumbles to lesser-known diggers, miners, leafcutters, and masons, bees have long been central to our harvests, our mythologies, and our very existence. They’ve given us sweetness and light, the beauty of flowers, and as much as a third of the foodstuffs we eat. And, alarmingly, they are at risk of disappearing.

As informative and enchanting as the waggle dance of a honeybee, Buzz shows us why all bees are wonders to celebrate and protect. Read this book and you’ll never overlook them again. – Basic Books

A Honeybee Heart has Five Openings: A Year of Keeping Bees by Helen Jukes

A Honeybee Heart Has Five Openings begins as the author is entering her thirties and feeling disconnected in her life. Uneasy about her future and struggling to settle into her new house in Oxford with its own small garden, she is brought back to a time of accompanying a friend in London—a beekeeper—on his hive visits. And as a gesture of good fortune for her new life, she is given a colony of honeybees. According to folklore, a colony, freely given, brings good luck, and Helen Jules embarks on a rewarding, perilous journey of becoming a beekeeper.

Jukes writes about what it means to “keep” wild creatures; on how to live alongside beings whose laws and logic are so different from our own . . . She delves into the history of beekeeping and writes about discovering the ancient, haunting, sometimes disturbing relationship between keeper and bee, human and wild thing.

A Honeybee Heart Has Five Openings is a book of observation, of the irrepressible wildness of these fascinating creatures, of the ways they seem to evade our categories each time we attempt to define them. Are they wild or domestic? Individual or collective? Is honey an animal product or is it plant-based? As the author’s colony grows, the questions that have, at first compelled her interest to fade away, and the inbetweenness, the unsettledness of honeybees call for a different kind of questioning, of consideration.

A subtle yet urgent mediation on uncertainty and hope, on solitude and friendship, on feelings of restlessness and on home; on how we might better know ourselves. A book that shows us how to be alert to the large and small creatures that flit between and among us and that urge us to learn from this vital force so necessary to be continuation of life on planet Earth. – Pantheon

Bonus Cozy Mystery!

Take the Honey and Run by Jennie Marts (book 1 in the Bee Keeping Mystery series)

As a successful mystery author, Bailey Briggs writes about murder, but nothing prepares her for actually discovering the dead body of the founder of her hometown of Humble Hills, Colorado. Bailey grew up at Honeybuzz Mountain Ranch and was raised by her beekeeping grandmother, Blossom Briggs, aka Granny Bee, and her two eccentric sisters, Aster and Marigold—which is why she drops everything to come home and help Granny Bee after a bad fall.

A broken foot doesn’t stop her grandmother from ruling The Hive, her granny’s book club, or continuing to prepare and package her bee-inspired products. But when Bailey’s grandmother’s infamous “Honey I’m Home” hot spiced honey turns out to “bee” the murder weapon and her granny is now the prime suspect, Bailey has no choice but to use her fictional detective skills to help solve the murder and “smoke out” the real culprit.

With the help of Bailey’s witty bestie, a pair of meddling aunts, the feisty members of The Hive, and her computer-savvy daughter, this amateur sleuth is determined to solve the case. A malicious attack and an ominous threat reveal that someone wants Bailey to butt out of the investigation, but there’s no way she’s backing down. She must use her skills to uncover the truth and catch the clever culprit before her grandmother ends up bee-hind bars. – Crooked Lane Books

Dead and Gondola by Ann Claire

- Stephanie Leave a comment

Dead and Gondola by Ann Claire kicks off her debut Christie Bookshop Mystery series with three of my favorite things: books, a bookstore cat, and a murder. What more could a cozy mystery lover want? Maybe a quirky family? Never fear, there’s quirkiness galore!

The Christie sisters have taken over their family’s historic bookshop in the tiny Colorado hometown where they grew up. Ellie Christie is beyond ready to start a new chapter in the bookshop with her older sister Meg and their beloved shop cat, Agatha. The Book Chalet is a famed tourist and book attraction. Seated on the main street in a picturesque Swiss-style hamlet that is only accessible by ski gondola and a very twisty mountain road, the Book Chalet boasts winding shelves stacked precariously to the ceiling and a cozy reading lounge complete with a fire and comfy chairs.

When a local influencer descends upon book club to perform a seance, Ellie and Meg are skeptical of what’s in store. Their concerns prove valid when an unwelcome visitor to the seance is soon found dead in the gondola. This mysterious stranger may have visited the Book Chalet, but not much is known about him. His weird behavior set off alarm bells. Once his identity is known, the town erupts. When police focus in on friends of the Christies as possible suspects, the two know that they have to act quickly. Ellie starts poking around, summoning help from mystery novels, to seek out the killer before they strike again.

Dead and Gondola was a quirky fun read. This charming debut had me hooked from the beginning with two likeable main characters and their adorably smug sidekick cat. The supporting cast was also eclectic, but extremely entertaining. The townspeople are not shy in voicing their own opinions and aren’t afraid to dig for clues. The Book Chalet is also incredibly quaint and cozy, making me long to curl up with a book in the reading lounge for hours, reading while snow falls.

Christie Bookshop Mystery series

  1. Dead and Gondola (2022)
  2. Last Word to the Wise (2023)

The Gardener’s Plot by Deborah J. Benoit

- Stephanie Leave a comment

Did you know that the Davenport Public Library has a Seed Library? The 2025 season of the Seed Library opened on March 1st at the Davenport Public Library | Main Street location. Check out our website or give us a call at 563-326-7832 to learn more.

In celebration of the Seed Library opening, I wanted to share my most recent gardening read, The Gardener’s Plot by Deborah J. Benoit. Instead of your typical nonfiction book, this is a cozy mystery book that happens in the world of gardens, perfect for people like me who struggle keeping plants alive, but who keep trying every year! Deborah J. Benoit may have written a mystery, but she still packs in plenty about gardening and plants!

Maggie Walker’s past is full of bad decisions, mistakes, and tragedy. After the latest knock-down, Maggie heads back to the small Berkshires town where she spent most of her childhood with her grandmother. Having purchased her grandmother’s house, Maggie has big hopes that this little town of Marlowe will give her just as many positive new memories as she has positive old memories.

Looking for a way to connect with the community, Maggie turns to her love of gardening. She agrees to help Violet Bloom set up a community garden, something that takes up a lot of her time, but that she knows will be worth it in the end. On opening day of the garden, Maggie is shocked when Violet is a no-show. The gardeners are restless, so Maggie reluctantly kicks off the community garden project without Violet. Progress screeches to a halt when Maggie discovers a boot sticking up out of one of the freshly tilled plots. While attempting to dislodge the boot, she discovers the body attached to it. Police are soon on scene, asking many questions, while honing in on the fact that Violet is still missing. Maggie doesn’t believe Violet has anything to do with the body in the garden, but is forced to admit that her disappearance doesn’t look good. To prove Violet’s innocence, Maggie starts digging for the truth.

This book was a delightful spring cozy mystery read. Each chapter flowed smoothly into the next, offering questions, clues, and some answers. Like all cozy mysteries, the violence happens off page, but the author isn’t afraid to detail all that the characters learn as they explore. The Gardener’s Plot reads like an intimate small town story with relationships, both negative and positive, on display throughout the book. Here’s hoping that this is the start to a new series!

Queer Cozy and Traditional Mysteries

- Stephanie Leave a comment

What’s on your to-read list? I have quite a long list of queer mysteries that I’ve either discovered through review journals or have been recommended to me by friends. I have gathered up a list of recently published queer cozy and traditional mysteries, all first in series, to share with you all. Let me know in the comments if you have read any of these titles or of any queer mysteries that you have enjoyed!

All the items in the list are owned by the Davenport Public Library at the time of this writing. Descriptions provided by the publishers.

A Killing in Costumes by Zac Bissonnette (Book 1 in Hollywood Treasures Mystery series)

Jay Allan and Cindy Cooper were soap opera stars in the late ’90s, a wholesome young husband-and-wife duo who combined musical talent with humor and charisma. When the truth about their sexual orientations came to light, their marriage and TV careers ended, but decades later they have remained friends. Together, they open Palm Springs’ chicest movie memorabilia store, Hooray for Hollywood–but no customers and dwindling finances spell trouble.

A Hail Mary arrives in the form of Yana Tosh, a ninety-year-old diva of the silver screen who has amassed a valuable collection of costumes and props and is looking to sell. But first, Jay and Cindy have to beat their competition, a vice president from a mega-auction house with ten times their resources. And when he winds up dead, they become prime suspects in the murder.

With their freedom and livelihoods on the line, Jay and Cindy desperately need to clear their names. There are plenty of other potential suspects, but they’ll have to solve it soon before they’re forced to trade in their vintage costume collection for two orange jumpsuits. – Crooked Lane Books

Board to Death by C.J. Connor (Book 1 in Board Game Shop Mystery series)

Back in his hometown of Sugar House running his family’s board game shop and café, Ben Rosencrantz just can’t seem to get his life to pass go, much less collect $200. Once he was a happily married English professor in Seattle. Now he’s a divorced caregiver, looking after his ill father and a Chihuahua named Beans while still figuring out the rules of retail management. At least the town has become more LGBTQ+ friendly than when Ben was a teenager—and that flower shop owner, Ezra McCaslin, enjoys flirting with him.

But despite his usual clientele of gamers, Ben is barely earning enough to keep the store running and stay on top of his father’s medical bills. Then a local toy and game collector named Clive offers him a winning strategy—to purchase a turn-of-the-twentieth-century edition of The Landlord’s Game, the realty and taxation game that inspired Monopoly, at a tenth of the rare edition’s true value. Suspicious of Clive’s shady, low-priced deal, Ben turns the offer down.

Then Clive turns up dead at the front door of Ben’s and a backpack full of $100 bills appears on his doorstep. Now Ben is the #1 suspect in Clive’s death, and unless he and Ezra can prove his innocence and find the real killer, he’ll go to jail for murder—and no amount of double dice rolls will set him free . . . – Kensington Cozies

Death Drop by Greg Herren (Book 1 in Killer Queen Mystery series)

Glam artist Jem Richard loved making New Orleans’ society mavens feel beautiful-but doesn’t like being stiffed. He reluctantly agrees to help with the make-up for the fall fashion show for the House of Mercereau, but demands payment up front after what happened the last time-when designer Marigny Mercereau’s check bounced. But no one warned him before he arrives, brushes and make-up palettes in hand, that the models he’ll be working on are drag queens! Pressed into service when one of the queens doesn’t show Jim wows the crowds and slays his fellow queens with his style and presentation on the runway. But between trips down the runway (and tequila shots for courage), Jim starts noticing bits and pieces of conversations and arguments showing all is not well behind the scenes of the House of Mercereau, and everyone seems to want Marigny dead. When her body is discovered the next morning, Jim finds himself in the sites of a killer! Jim puts on his best Shirley Holmes deerstalker cap and starts tracing the clues to help that handsome police detective-who may or may not be flirting with him-catch the killer before the killer catches Jem. – Provided by publisher.

Devil’s Chew Toy by Rob Osler (Book 1 in Hayden & Friends series)

Seattle teacher and part-time blogger Hayden McCall wakes sporting one hell of a shiner, with the police knocking at his door. It seems that his new crush, dancer Camilo Rodriguez, has gone missing and they suspect foul play. What happened the night before? And where is Camilo?

Determined to find answers, pint-sized, good-hearted Hayden seeks out two of Camilo’s friends—Hollister and Burley—both lesbians and both fiercely devoted to their friend. From them, Hayden learns that Camilo is a “Dreamer” whose parents had been deported years earlier, and whose sister, Daniela, is presumed to have returned to Venezuela with them. Convinced that the cops won’t take a brown boy’s disappearance seriously, the girls join Hayden’s hunt for Camilo.

The first clues turn up at Barkingham Palace, a pet store where Camilo had taken a part-time job. The store’s owner, Della Rupert, claims ignorance, but Hayden knows something is up. And then there’s Camilo’s ex-boyfriend, Ryan, who’s suddenly grown inexplicably wealthy. When Hayden and Hollister follow Ryan to a secure airport warehouse, they make a shocking connection between him and Della—and uncover the twisted scheme that’s made both of them rich.

The trail of clues leads them to the grounds of a magnificent estate on an island in Puget Sound, where they’ll finally learn the truth about Camilo’s disappearance—and the fate of his family. – Crooked Lane Books

Renovated to Death by Frank Anthony Polito (Book 1 in Domestic Partners in Crime mystery series)

Real-life domestic partners and stars and producers of the new hit reality home renovation show Domestic Partners, bestselling mystery author Peter “PJ” Penwell and actor JP Broadway are enjoying work and life in their sleepy Detroit suburb of Pleasant Woods—until a suspicious death makes an unscripted appearance…

After a successful first season of Domestic Partners chronicling the renovation of their historic Craftsman Colonial, Peter and JP are taking on a renovation of a local Tudor Revival inherited by identical twin brothers Terry and Tom Cash. But linoleum floors and a pink-tiled bathroom aren’t the only unwelcome surprises awaiting inside the house…

Just as the show is set to start filming, Peter and JP discover Tom Cash dead at the foot of the house’s staircase. And when the police ruling changes from accidental death to homicide, the list of suspects grows fast. Could the killer be the crabby next-door-neighbor, the Realtor ex-boyfriend, the bartender ex-boyfriend, the other, much younger, ex-boyfriend, or even renovation-reluctant brother, Terry? And what’s that awful smell coming from the basement? Now Peter’s mystery writer skills, and JP’s experience as the former star of a cop show, will be put to the test—as will their relationship while they uncover the secrets of the house and its owners. With a killer on the loose, this is one fixer upper that may prove deadly… – Kensington

The Body in the Back Garden by Mark Waddell (Book 1 in Crescent Cove Mystery series)

Crescent Cove, a small hamlet on Vancouver Island, is the last place out-of-work investigative journalist Luke Tremblay ever wanted to see again. He used to spend summers here, until his family learned that he was gay and rejected him. Now, following his aunt’s sudden death, he’s inherited her entire estate, including her seaside cottage and the antiques shop she ran for forty years in Crescent Cove. Luke plans to sell everything and head back to Toronto as soon as he can…but Crescent Cove isn’t done with him just yet.

When a stranger starts making wild claims about Luke’s aunt, Luke sends him packing. The next morning, though, Luke discovers that the stranger has returned, and now he’s lying dead in the back garden. To make matters worse, the officer leading the investigation is a handsome Mountie with a chip on his shoulder who seems convinced that Luke is the culprit. If he wants to prove his innocence and leave this town once and for all, Luke will have to use all his skills as a journalist to investigate the colorful locals while coming to terms with his own painful past.

There are secrets buried in Crescent Cove, and the more Luke digs, the more he fears they might change the town forever. – Crooked Lane Books

Buried in a Good Book: By the Book Mystery series by Tamara Berry

- Stephanie Leave a comment

What’s a book that you’ve checked out many times, but never read? My latest was Buried in a Good Book, book 1 in the By the Book Mystery series by Tamara Berry. When I realized that this book won The Lilian Jackson Braun Memorial Award in 2023, given to the best full-length contemporary cozy mystery with a current-day setting and story emphasis on solving a crime, I knew I needed to actually read it!

Desperate to escape the fallout from her recent divorce, thriller writer Tess Harrow has packed up her teenage daughter and headed to her grandfather’s rustic cabin in the woods. Time away from Seattle and her no-good ex-husband is just what they need. Tess is hopeful that the lack of running water and internet will allow them both to relax and reconnect with nature and each other. Nature, however, has other plans. Not long after they walk into the cabin, explosions shake their world. After going to investigate, the two are soon deluged in fish guts falling from the sky. At least they hope it’s only fish guts. Some of those parts look suspiciously human-like though….

The peaceful vacation Tess was hoping for is gone, replaced with a murder investigation that she can’t help poking around in. The murder victim was found on her land! Add in suspected Bigfoot sightings through the area, a spunky bookmobile librarian, and the local sheriff bearing an uncanny resemblance to Detective Gabriel Gonzales, the main character in her thriller series, and Tess knows she has to help. When people close to her start getting in trouble, Tess has to step up her game and solve this case before someone she loves gets hurt.

This book was amazing. Buried in a Good Book is a wild adventure mixed with slapstick comedy and quirky characters. Even though this is a cozy mystery, meaning the actual murders happen off-page, that doesn’t stop there being some messy gore on page (that is presented in a funny, slightly horrifying way – hard to explain, but just read it). This book is a bit weird and isn’t afraid to go off down some seemingly wild directions. Most importantly, this book held my interest from start to finish with its well plotted mystery!

By the Book Mystery series

  1. Buried in a Good Book (2022)
  2. On Spine of Death (2022)
  3. Murder Off the Books (2023)

New and upcoming mystery titles!

- Michelle Leave a comment

An exciting fall of new mystery releases is almost upon us!  There are some additions to some series favorites and some debuts as well.  Visit our website for a full list of reading recommendations, including the newest titles on our shelves.

 

What Time the Sexton’s Spade Doth Rust by Alan Bradley  Bradley’s young crime solving heroine, Flavia de Luce, is back after a five year hiatus!  Flavia still resides in the cozy British village of Bishop’s Lacey and now eight years after the end of World War II, the village still feels the effects and is trying to return to normalcy.  In this 11th book in the series, Flavia has inheirited Buckshaw, the family estate, after the death of her father.  She is also responsible for her younger sidekick and cousin, Ondine, who returns from an earlier book.  In this installment, the two investigate the death of fellow villager Major Greyleigh, while trying to defend one of their own. Buckshaw’s longtime staff is family to Flavia and have worked for the de Luce family for decades, including beloved chef, Mrs. Mullet who is accused of poisoning Major Greyleigh.  With Flavia’s aptitude for chemistry and her clever insight into the characters in her village, it is good to have Flavia back solving the crimes of the English Countryside!

 

The More the Terrier by David Rosenfelt  Book 30 in the Andy Carpenter series, finds the lawyer back at home in New Jersey after a restful week of vacation.   On his return (alongside his three pups), Andy finds a dog waiting patiently at his door.  He recognizes his former foster dog, Murphy, and can’t understand how Murphy made it back to his door after being adopted by BJ and his mother.  Upon returning Murphy to his rightful owner, he finds the new adoptee family in shambles, with BJ’s mother telling the tale that her son has been arrested for murder and Murphy ran out the door during the arrest.  Andy takes on the case and hopes to prove BJ innocent and reunite him and his dog.

 

 

The Grey Wolf  by Louise Penny In Louise Penny’s 19th book in the Armand Gamache series, The Grey Wolf opens with Chief Inspector Gamache and his wife, Reine-Marie relaxing at home in their quaint village of Three Pines.  Their quiet morning is quickly shattered by a phone call that changes everything.  Strange events occur, including a cryptic note that contains a list.  This note, along with other curiosities, point Gamache and his team toward a frightening realization.  They chase the threat across the country and know if they fail it will have catastrophic consequences.

 

 

Killing Time by M. C. Beaton Clever and quirky Agatha Raisin is back in Killing Time, the 35th book of the series.  This time Agatha’s detective agency takes on a string of burglaries in the serene English Cotswolds.  Things take a sinister turn when the burglars violently kill someone during their heists.  Now, finding the culprits is more important than ever.  At exactly the same time, Agatha’s sometimes paramour, Sir Charles Fraith has asked her to help with an extravagant soiree on his estate.  Whe Agatha and her fellow private eyes are targeted and she barely escapes a kidnapping attempt, heading for a tropical vacation seems like the perfect solution.  Freshly reinvigorated, Agatha heads back to the Cotswolds to find a killer!

 

 

A Messy Murder by Simon Brett Ellen Curtis has seen it all as a professional declutterer.  Throughout her career, she has helped hundreds clear out their messes and, at times, found more than she has bargained for – including finding clients who have met suspicious deaths!  In this book, the fourth in the Decluttering Mystery series, Ellen’s latest job is assisting an aging former British TV star, Humphrey Carter, and his years of memorabilia and other rubbish that has accumulated in his home.  On the day Ellen is set to begin, she arrives to find Humphrey deceased!  His wife insists that he would not take his own life and it must be murder.  Unsure, Ellen investigates and finds many enemies of Humphrey.  Was one suspect angry enough to kill or did he take his own life?

 

 

Brew Unto Others by Sandra Balzo Uncommon Grounds owner Maggy gets involved with family drama in the latest Maggy Thorsen mystery, Brew Unto Others.  Maggy’s business partner Sarah has just lost her mother and right after the funeral, Sarah’s sister, Ruth, is found unconscious in her mother’s home.  Signs point to Ruth being  poisoned by carbon monoxide are crystal clear. Was this an accident or did someone intentionally tamper inside the home?    Ruth seemed adamant about burying their mother quickly.  Was there more to this than meets the eye?  Maggy is called upon to help and she has just scratched the surface of the family’s secrets.

 

 

Cozy Mystery Reads: Canon Clement Mystery series by The Reverend Richard Coles

- Stephanie Leave a comment

“But what he liked most of all about dogs was their innocence of human motives, the self-promoting stratagems and egotism, their affection unstaled by familiarity and reciprocity. This is why the queen surrounds herself with corgis, he sometimes thought: love without deference.”
― Richard Coles, Murder Before Evensong

Canon Daniel Clement has been the Rector of Champton for eight years, the last four of which he has been living with his widowed mother, Audrey in the Rectory. His two dachshunds, Cosmo and Hilda, keep him company when his opinionated mother starts on a tangent.

Champton is on a relative even keel until Daniel announces his plan to install a lavatory in the church which would necessitate the removal of pews. This divides the community and sends his parishioners into a tizzy, fighting over tradition and what should be done instead of the lavatory. Daniel expected a bit of an outcry, but not one as large and longstanding as he received. Lines are drawn throughout town with some going so far as to suggest plans of their own for the proposed lavatory space.

These plans come to a screeching halt when someone is found dead at the back of the church, stabbed in the neck with a pair of secateurs, also known as pruning shears. The police start investigating, other bodies are found, and Daniel is left trying to put his community back together. Tensions start to rise as secrets that were once long buried are unearthed. Who is the killer? A member of the community? Or a stranger seeking revenge for a long ago wrong-doing? Daniel searches for answers all while trying to keep his sleepy parish from falling apart.

“Daniel recalled the bishop saying the same thing, that the higher you rise in an organisation, the further you are from what you need to know.”
― Richard Coles, Murder Before Evensong

Canon Clement Mystery series

  1. Murder Before Evensong (2022)
  2. A Death in the Parish (2023)
  3. Murder at the Monastery (2024)

Mrs. Plansky’s Revenge by Spencer Quinn

- Stephanie Leave a comment

If you don’t know what to read, what is your go-to? I gravitate towards cozy mysteries starring elderly people. My latest read was Mrs. Plansky’s Revenge, the first book in the new Mrs. Plansky series written by Spencer Quinn, a pseudonym used by author Peter Abrahams. Spencer Quinn is most known for his Chet and Bernie Mystery series that started in 2009, starring Chet the dog and his human partner PI Bernie Little.

Mrs. Loretta Plansky has been dealing with a lot lately: her husband has just died, her retirement in Florida is mired with dealing with her cantankerous 98-year-old father, and her children and grandchildren are constantly asking her for money. As a recent widow in her seventies, Loretta just wants to spend her day playing tennis and enjoying her new hip!

Mrs. Plansky receives a phone call in the middle of the night from her grandson, Will, saying that he has been arrested and needs ten thousand dollars. After asking some questions, she decides to give him the money. She sends him her bank details, delighted to receive another phone call a short while later saying that Will has the money and has been released. She heads back to sleep, happy that Will is safe.

Loretta wakes up the next morning and phone calls start pouring in. She is shocked to discover that she has lost everything. Her bank and her financial advisor call to say that she drew her accounts down to zero the night before, millions of dollars gone in the blink of an eye. Loretta soon finds herself in meetings with law enforcement who inform her that her life savings are gone and unfortunately there isn’t much they can do to help her. The scammers are gone, their heist complete, and Loretta is left with nothing. After processing her emotions, she decides to start investigating on her own, following the only clue that she has to a small village in Romania. Mrs. Plansky wants her money back. She isn’t a fool and won’t be taken advantage of anymore.

This was a good introduction to a new series, enough to have me hoping that the subsequent books in the series will be more entertaining. Typically cozy mysteries have a main character with a quirky sidekick, but this book popped back and forth between two view points: 1) Mrs. Plansky and 2) the scammers in Romania. Mrs. Plansky spend the majority of the book by herself with no relief or help. The story focused instead on her forgetfulness as a character, which was distracting. Thankfully about 80% of the way through, some helpers popped into Mrs. Plansky’s life, adding some comic relief to the story. Hopefully these characters are also present in the next books.

This title is also available in large print.

TV6 Book Club February Read Wrap-Up and Introduction to March Reads!

- Brittany Leave a comment
red cover silhouette of a woman and a man

In February, Morgan and I read The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory to celebrate Wedding Month. Below is a short synopsis and what I thought of the book! 

Alexa is trapped in an elevator with a sexy stranger who charms his way into her purse (by eating her snacks) and into attending a wedding with him that weekend as his fake girlfriend. When the two attend the wedding, they find that there is nothing fake about the way they feel about one another.

Both Alexa and Drew are afraid to admit their true feelings but still try long distance dating and find it hard to juggle work and their complicated pasts.

I really liked this book; it tackled real issues in a respectful way, and I look forward to reading more in the series! 

After loving our February read, I am so excited to get started with our March TV6 Book Club Pick! Below are our 4 options for March including our winning title! Feel free to check them out from Davenport Public Library! 

woman with pearls with a salmon background***TV6 Book Club Winner!
The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict (In Honor of Women’s History Month)
Hedy Kiesler is lucky. Her beauty leads to a starring role in a controversial film and marriage to a powerful Austrian arms dealer, allowing her to evade Nazi persecution despite her Jewish heritage. But Hedy is also intelligent. At lavish Vienna dinner parties, she overhears the Third Reich’s plans. One night in 1937, desperate to escape her controlling husband and the rise of the Nazis, she disguises herself and flees her husband’s castle.

She lands in Hollywood, where she becomes Hedy Lamarr, screen star. But Hedy is keeping a secret even more shocking than her Jewish heritage: she is a scientist. She has an idea that might help the country and that might ease her guilt for escaping alone—if anyone will listen to her. (Synopsis by Goodreads)

Easy chair with ottoman with a book on it.Sew Deadly by Elizabeth Lynn Casey (In Honor of National Quilting Day on March 16th)
Ever since she moved to Sweet Briar, South Carolina, Yankee librarian Tori Sinclair has been the talk of the tiny town. But she’s been so busy at work, winning over the sewing circle, and trying to forget her cheating ex that she hasn’t even had time to baste together a pillow, let alone mind local gossip. Then she finds the hometown sweetheart dead at her back door…

Everyone believes the police investigator, who’s just fixin’ to link Tori to the murder in a love triangle gone bad. To clear her name, Tori will have to rely on her new sewing sisters and stitch together the truth- or be darned. (Synopsis by Goodreads)

Color block text Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld (In Honor of Let’s Laugh Day on March 19th)
A comedy writer thinks she’s sworn off love, until a dreamily handsome pop star flips the script on all her assumptions. Romantic Comedy is a hilarious, observant and deeply tender novel from New York Times–bestselling author Curtis Sittenfeld. (Synopsis by Goodreads)

Two people leaning in with a town in the background.A Proposal They Can’t Refuse by Natalie Caña (In Honor of National Proposal Day on March 20th)
Natalie Caña turns up the heat, humor and heart in this debut rom-com about a Puerto Rican chef and an Irish American whiskey distiller forced into a fake engagement by their scheming octogenarian grandfathers.

Smile Beach Murder by Alicia Bessette

- Michelle Leave a comment

In this cozy mystery series kick off, author Alicia Bessette introduces us to the colorful cast of characters living on Cattail Island off the coast of North Carolina in Smile Beach Murder, the first book in the Outer Banks Bookshop Mystery series.  Callie Padget grew up on the island and has now returned from Charlotte after her job writing for a newspaper was eliminated.  As glad as she is to reconnect with her uncle and see long lost friends, the island holds bittersweet memories for her.  Years earlier, her mother fell off the lighthouse deck on Smile Beach and was killed.  It has never been clear to Callie what exactly happened the night her mother fell.  Was it an accident, murder or suicide?

Callie soon finds a job at the local bookstore where she spent many hours after her mother’s death reading everything she could get her hands on.  She also runs into long lost friend Eva Meeks, who runs Meeks Hardware, along with her sister.   Eva shares with Callie that she may have discovered a long lost secret of the island and is on the hunt for a buried treasure. During a late night phone call, Eva begs Callie to meet her at the lighthouse at Smile Beach to find out more about the treasure.  When Callie arrives, she discovers the worst possible scenario – Eva has fallen from the top of the light house in exactly the same way as her mother did 10 years ago!

As Callie begins her amateur investigation, she makes some of the residents angry along the way.  From the remaining family members who run Meeks Hardware to the richest family in town, Callie has a tendency to stir the pot when she uncovers clues that may indicate that Eva did not jump off the lighthouse and was pushed.

Simultaneously investigating her mother’s mysterious fall and the most recent event at the lighthouse, Callie learns the hard way how sticking her nose into the investigation can be risky as she is attacked by a masked perpetrator who she believes was trying to throw her off the trail.  Soon thereafter, she befriends the new martial arts teacher in town, Tony Dodge, and a budding romance ensues after he offers to give her private self defense courses.

As Callie gets nearer to uncovering what truly happened to her mother and to Eva years later, another victim is discovered.  Callie wonders if she will uncover the truth before she becomes the next victim.  Bessette not only has written an engaging mystery, she has also made the setting of the Outer Banks come alive to the reader.  The sand, breeze and salty air are vivid in this debut mystery.  If you are looking for a cozy mystery that has a spectacular setting and memorable characters, pick up Smile Beach Murder, the series launch of the Outer Banks Bookshop Mystery series.