2024 Favorites (so far)

Since we're now officially halfway through the year, I'm sharing my favorites of the books I've read so far. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

(Books are listed alphabetically by author.  Most of them are e-books from the library, Kindle Unlimited.)

The Body in the Bookstore (A Secret Bookcase Mystery #1) by Ellie Alexander. Storm Publishing, 19 June, 2024. (Kindle Unlimited)

The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown.  Harper Collins, 13 February 2024.

Death Through a Dark Green Glass (A Writer's Apprentice Mystery) by Julia Buckley.  Merrill Books, 20 April 2024).

The Fellowship of Puzzle-makers by Samuel  Burr.  Doubleday Books, 9 April 2024.

Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands (Emily Wilde #2) by Heather Fawcett.  Del Rey Books, 16 January 2024.

The Night in Question (An Agathas Mystery #2) by Kathleen Glasgow and Liz Lawson.  Ember, 21 May 2024.  

Stay Dead by April Henry.  Christy Ottaviano Books, 28 May 2024.

The Lost Book of Bonn by Brianna Labuskes.  William Morrow, 19 March 2024.

Recipe for a Charmed Life by Rachel Linden.  Berkley Books, 9 January 2024.  

The Last Hope (Maggie Hope #11) by Susan Elia MacNeal.  Bantam Publishing, 21 May 2024. 

Fatal First Edition (Library Lovers' Mystery #14) by Jenn McKinlay. Berkley Books, 13 February 2024.

Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller.  William Morrow, 18 June, 2024.

Holmes, Marple, and Poe by James Patterson.  Little, Brown Books, 8 January 2024.

Mind Games by Nora Roberts.  St. Martin's Press, 21 May 2024.

Mystery Monday

 A Smoking Bun (A Bakeshop Mystery #18) by Ellie Alexander.  (St. Martin's,            20 February 2024).  

It's winter in Ashland, and Juliet's in-laws are coming to visit.  She's planning to give them an authentic Ashland winter experience, complete with snowshoe tours and winter picnics. 

An unpleasant encounter with a rule-breaking guide named Fitz Baskin puts a damper on their snowshoe tour, but they hope Ashland's unique Downhill Dummy race (in which makeshift dummies are strapped to skis and hurled down difficult ski run) will make up for it.

Unfortunately, one of the dummies speeds down the hill and lands on top of Baskin.  It's determined that he is dead.  Did the impact with the dummy kill him, or was he already dead?

Ellie Alexander's mysteries are always well-constructed,  and her characters are engaging.  Additionally, her descriptions of Juliet's baking and cooking processes are fascinating!

Ellie Alexander (who also writes as Kate Dyer-Seeley) is a Pacific Northwest native with a deep love for the region, which is why she sets her books there.  Ellie also writes the Sloan Krause mystery series, set in Leavenworth, Washington.

The Joys of Binge Reading

I've recently rediscovered the joys of binge-reading.  It's so enjoyable to find out what's going to happen right away after the cliff-hanger ending, instead of having to wait for months.

When I was younger, I used to re-read series I loved, in the past several months, perhaps due to services like BookBub, Riffle and BookGorilla, it's suddenly much easier to find existing series I've never heard of.

Here are a few series I've enjoyed.

The Bakeshop Mysteries by Ellie Alexander.  (Eleven books, so far.)

The Bakeshop Mysteries are set in the charming hamlet of Ashland, Oregon, home to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival where romantic pastry chef, Juliet Montague Capshaw (Jules), has returned home to heal her broken heart and help run her family’s artisan bakeshop, Torte. Ellie Alexander’s culinary mysteries leave fans hungry for more with their decadent food descriptions, recipes, and a sinister slice of murder.   

The Eleanor Wilde Mysteries by Tamara Berry.   (Two books, so far, with one coming in October.)                                                                                                                   

When something goes bump in the night . . . it’s most likely a plumbing problem. But fake medium Eleanor Wilde is happy to investigate and cleanse your home of spectral presences—for a fee. Hey, it’s a living . . 

The Knit & Nibble Mysteries by Peggy Ehrhart.  (Five books, so far.)

Since her only daughter left for college, widow Pamela Paterson has kept busy as associate editor of a craft magazine and founder of the Knit and Nibble knitting club in quaint Arborville, New Jersey. Now, she’s trying out a new hobby—solving murders!

The Southern B& B Mysteries  by Carolyn Fardig.  (Three books so far.)

Quinn Bellandini loves her life in Savannah, Georgia, where she runs her grandfather’s B&B with her sister, Delilah. From baking fresh scones and serving up grits every morning to ensuring the guests see the best of their historic city, Quinn can’t imagine doing anything else—even if it means dealing with nuisances like the occasional malfunctioning commode.