Murder Uncorked, Wine Lover's Mystery # 1

            My methods for picking out which mystery books to read is a rather strange process. One of the methods is to read a book by an author that I like, once I’m done with the book, I flip to the last pages. Often times on the back page there is a recommendation list of authors and books from the same publisher they suggest I read. I usually start there. My second method is to look at the book titles and pick the ones I like. I read the back cover and if I like what I read I check it out from the library or download it to my Kindle. These methods almost never let me down. The latter method is the method I used when I picked up Murder Uncorked by Michele Scott.

            This is the first book in the Wine Lover’s Mystery and the first book by Michele Scott that I’ve read. I’ve got to say “pretty good book”. I found myself wanting to get to the end of the book, not because it was bad, but because I wanted to see who the murderer was who I thought it was. After finishing the book, I can say I was way off base. WAYYY OFF!! Ms. Scott threw all us readers for a loop. To solve this murder, we readers need to think outside the box.

            This book revolves around Nikki Sands, who when we first meet her is a struggling actress who is currently a waitress working at an upscale restaurant. She comes across a couple, whom she starts talking to about the dishes and wines they offer. When the female counterpart of the couple goes to the ladies room, she asks Nikki to tone down her knowledge of wines. Nikki decides not to, and for her non efforts, the lady decides to get her fired by staging a spill. Rather than get fired, she quit and left. She goes to a bar and has a drink, when who should show up, but the male counterpart of the couple. He found her to apologize and buy her dinner. After a while, she learns that he is Derek Malveaux, owner of Malveaux Wines. He offers her a job working for his winery and that’s when all goes wrong.

            On her first day, she finds the body of Gabriel Asant, the winery’s winemaker and Derek’s friend. The next day at Gabriel's memorial, she finds the body of Minnie Lark, who not long before she turned up dead confessed to Nikki that she and Gabriel were lovers. The police are interested in Nikki because she keeps finding the bodies and are in interested in Derek. Along the way we meet Derek’s crazy stepmother, Patrice, his half-brother, Simon, and his ex-wife, Meredith. We also see a spark ignite between Nikki and Derek.

            I liked this book. I loved the story line and the mystery. I loved how the author puts recipes throughout the book and pairs them with different wines. That's definitely something to try. I’m admitting now that I hope Derek and Nikki get together. They would make a nice couple. Then again that could just be the romantic in me.

Matt Dunn's The Ex-Boyfriend's Handbook

I just finished reading The Ex-Boyfriends Handbook by Matt Dunn. It was comical, intriguing, and so completely true. I laughed at so many scenes in the book. I’m glad someone decided to do this topic but with a man instead of a woman. I’m sick of men dumping women because the woman “apparently herself go,” when the man has also let himself go.

            When I started reading this book, I was happy that Jane left Edward because he let himself go. As I started to read more and more, I started to understand that his looks wasn’t the only problem. I mean they were dating and living together for 10 years and no ring, no proposal, and no wedding. I couldn’t care less that he was at the same job. As long as he’s bringing in a decent paycheck and paying on the bills on the time, he could do whatever career he wanted.

            As I got to know Edward, I found myself saying “WOW! Some men can really be this dense.” And “that BITCH!! How could she leave a good man like that?” Some women struggle to find a good man and she just let one go like he was trash. We start to go through all the steps with Edward to see himself get back into shape, including exercising, teeth whitening, and car buying.  As he’s transforming the outside, we see him transform the inside. He becomes a man who enhances some of his qualities that were lacking.

            This book may be called The Ex-Boyfriend’s Handbook and it may shed some light on what men occasionally may go through to get a woman back, but I don’t feel sorry for them. Women go through these transformations every day.

            I loved this book. I mean who wouldn’t love a book where a man loses his girlfriend because he let himself go and now had to get himself back in shape to win her back. There were a few things that I didn’t like. Like Dan, Edwards best friend. He’s a lady man and complete douchebag. He’s the man mother’s warn women to stay away from. The part I disliked about him most was the way he kept putting Edward down. I mean all people need constructive criticism but Dan crossed the line. Other than that, this book is a terrific book to get caught up in. I give Matt Dunn 2 Kudos. I can’t wait to read the next book in the series.

Buried In Buttercream, Savannah Reid # 17

            I always love reading G.A. Mckevett’s books. I love Savannah, Dirk, and the whole gang. After the last book, which left me stunned and speechless, I couldn’t wait to read this one. And it wasn't a disappointment at all. I loved every page of it.

            I love how each of her books in the series start with a mini mystery that she solves in the first chapter. This one dealt with an arsonist who not only burned down the community center where her wedding was going to be, but also destroyed her dress, her family’s wedding attire and all the wedding decorations.

            In this book, we get to dive into the details of Dirk and Savannah’s wedding. After the first failure, they decide to try again with a wedding planner that Ryan and John hired. She turns out to get them their second wedding at a country club. That goes to hell because what happens? She turns up dead in the bridal suite. Talk about a bad omen. Unfortunately for Dirk and Savannah, every seemed to have hated Monique and that gave them plenty of suspects to work with, including a playboy, a stripper, and a funeral home owner.

            While working to solve the case, Savannah gets a little cranky and snippy around her family and friends because of what happened to her with the gunman and what’s happening with the multiple wedding tries. As time goes on, we see Tammy and Waycross get closer and we get to see the love between Dirk and Savannah.

            The story ends with them solving the case. Thankfully Savannah wasn’t put into danger this time. Probably because she was fragile from the last case. The ending was great. I almost cried. I can’t wait to read the next book when it starts off with Savannah and Dirk as husband and wife. I also want to see what becomes of Waycross and Tammy. They deserve happiness, especially after what Tammy went through.

            I only had problem with this book. Well actually two problems. For one, I thought it could have been a little longer. It only took me no time to read it. Maybe I was too engrossed in it or something. The other problem I had was I wish them capturing the culprit would have engaged a little more action than it had. As for why the culprit did it, I thought that was ingenious and hilarious. Kudos kudos kudos to G.A. McKevett.

Murder By Mocha, Coffeehouse Mystery #10

                Murder By Mocha was one of the better books in the Coffeehouse series. It’s the tenth in the series and it has the reader anticipating the eleventh book. There were twists and turns everywhere. I can honestly say I didn’t know who the killer was this time around. Then again I never know. This book not only centered on murder, but also on love. We see two couples each take their relationships to new levels and we find out about a lost love.

                The book starts off focusing on Clare, Madame, and The Blend inking a deal with Alicia, an old friend of Madame’s. The deal is for the blend to provide the coffee that is going to be in an herbal aphrodisiac that is to be sold exclusively by Aphrodite Village. However they hit a snag when Clare gets an urgent phone call from Madame telling her to come to Alicia’s hotel room immediately. Clare gets there and inside finds what looks to be a man stabbed in the chest with a knife. Clare leaves the room to question Alicia and Madame. After questioning them, she heads back to the room and sees that the body is missing and that someone is running from the room. Clare chases them and ends up nabbing the elusive hotel thief. After working with the fish squad, they realize the murder was a fake and planned to make Alicia look bad.  At the launch party, Matt shows up and with a grand surprise, their daughter Joy. Mike also shows up and drinks some of the aphrodisiac and all of sudden gets the hots for Clare. They disappear and start making out but are forced to stop because duty calls for Mike. There’s a yelling match and then in typical fashion, soon after, there’s a murder. She was an Aphrodite employee.

                After that murder, things go from bad to worse. Matt discovers that the potion has more in it than Alicia is telling everyone. He thinks it has a drug in it. And he should know since he’s a past drug user. Clare has Mike tested to find out what exactly is in it. Enter the second launch party at night on a boat. Clare helps nab a long-awaited rogue police officer and someone goes overboard.

                As if the book couldn’t get any more interesting, Clare finds the so-called “murdered man” with Sergeant Franco’s help. She also gains a few bruises in the process. There is another murder of a Aphrodite employee and a murder attempt on Clare’s life.  The murderer was a shocker and its definitely going to have some people scratching their heads in amazement. We also learn that Madame Dubois was once arrested and sat in a jail cell for refusing to talk to a grand jury.

                As for the love aspect, we see Clare and Mike’s relationship head in a new direction. Her daughter Joy’s relationship with Emmanuel Franco starts to get hot and heavy. They are pretty much an exclusive couple now, and Madame’s love from the past comes back and rekindles a flame that she thought was long ago put out.

                I loved this book. I loved that she not only focused on murder and intrigue in this book but also more on love. I’m glad that we get to see Clare happy for a change.

Explosive Eighteen

            All I can say after reading this book is “thank goodness.” Mainly because Smokin’ Seventeen was probably the worst book in the number series. With Explosive Eighteen, Janet Evanovich redeemed herself in a big way. This one had readers involved in suspense right from the beginning, with 3 of the main characters keeping a secret about their vacation from their friends, families, and us, the readers.

            This book revolves around Stephanie and her trip home from Hawaii. On the way back to Jersey, the passenger she was sitting next to slipped her a photo. When she gets home, she finds the photo in her bag and trashes it. Throughout the book, shady people come looking for her and the photo. Even the FBI comes looking for it. She manages to outsmart them and severely hurts one of them. To make matters worse, Joyce ends up moving in with Stephanie until she agrees to Joyce out of a tight situation. While trying to avoid all of the idiots and Joyce, Stephanie tries to capture her skips (one keeps stealing her car multiple times), repair her relationship with Morelli, and figure out what all the commotion is about the mysterious photo.

            As usual with any book in the series, there are all shenanigans. Lula falls in love with one of Stephanie’s skips because she drank a “love” potion meant for Stephanie, Stephanie goes through multiple cars because they were either stolen or messed up, and everyone heads to the funeral home for a drama infested funeral.

            By the end of the book, we learn what really happened down in Hawaii, why the photo was important, and if Joyce really did commit murder. All in all, this was perhaps one of the most comical and drama filled books in the series in a long time. I hope she keeps going in the up direction because now we know how good the books can be.