ROCCO's JULY COZY REVIEWS!

Ma-Row! It's time for my July cozy reviews!

First up:

DEATH OF A WANDERING WOLF
Hungarian Teashop Mystery
Julia Buckley
June 30, 2020
Berkley Mass Market PB
Four stars

The only thing Hana loves more than a good cuppa is finding a delicate porcelain treasure to add to her collection. She's usually on the hunt for teacups but when she spots a rare wolf figurine at a local yard sale, she knows it's her lucky day. Hana also knows the wolf is valuable and tells the seller that he's charging too little for it. His reaction is peculiar--he says he received the wolf from someone he doesn't trust and he just wants it out of his life.

Hana is inspecting her new prize when she finds a tiny microchip attached to the bottom of the porcelain wolf. When she shows the figure to her police detective boyfriend, Erik, Hana is shocked to learn that the chip is actually a tracking device. They decide to confront the seller about the sneaky sale but when they arrive at his house, they find him dead. Erik and Hana now must hunt a calculating killer who has no intentions of crying wolf when it comes to murder...

Second entry in this series!  Four paws!!!!



LAST CURTAIN CALL
Haunted Home Renovations
Juliet Blackwell
Berkley MMPB
June 30, 2020
Four and a half stars

Mel Turner can’t resist the chance to bring the Crockett Theatre, a decrepit San Francisco Art Deco movie palace, back to life. But there’s a catch for Turner Construction: Several artists are currently squatting in the building, and they aren’t the only ones haunting the once-grand halls of the historic theater.…

When one of the squatters is found dead, the police department has a long list of suspects to investigate. Meanwhile, Mel and her fiancé, Landon, are remodeling an old house for themselves, and Mel finds being on the other side of a home renovation project more challenging than she expected. 

When Mel discovers that the former owner of the Crockett Theatre died under mysterious circumstances, and that there just might be a connection to the ghost haunting her own attic, the case takes a new turn—one that could bring down the curtain for the last time.

Who doesn't love a good Juliet Blackwell mystery and this series is stellar!  Four and a half paws!


HANDBOOK FOR HOMICIDE
A Booktown Mystery
Lorna Barrett
Berkley HC Edition
July 21, 2020
Five Stars

Tricia Miles must swim against the tide to catch a killer when Haven't Got A Clue's assistant manager is accused of murder in the latest entry to Lorna Barrett's New York Times bestselling Booktown series.

Haven't Got A Clue bookshop owner Tricia Miles's relationship is on the rocks. After a not-so-fun vacation with her on-again-off-again lover, Marshall Cambridge, Tricia's hoping for smooth sailing back in Stoneham. Unfortunately Booktown greets her not with blue skies but with another body.

When Tricia's assistant manager, Pixie, finds homeless vet Susan Morris's body behind Haven't Got A Clue, Pixie's checkered past makes her the prime suspect. Tricia sets out to clear Pixie's name armed with only an anchor insignia earring found at the scene of the crime.

As Tricia digs deeper she discovers Susan was involved in a scandal right before retiring from the Navy—but since nobody in the village knows Susan, even Tricia's one lead is in danger of drying up. With family drama brewing in the background and all of Stoneham convinced her manager is a murderer, Tricia knows she has to get to the bottom of the case soon before Pixie's life is sunk.

OK I've read every book in htis series and I love, love, Tricia and her adventures (although she's got the worst luck with men).  Adventure number 14 will not disappoint long time fans.  BTW, if you are new to the series you can pick this one up and figure out the character relationships very easily (I know because i started with Book 12 and then went back).  No worries there! Five paws.


KEY LIME CRIME
Lucy Burdette
Food Critic Mystery
Crooked Lane
Hardcover
five Paws

When a fierce rivalry between key lime pie bakers leads to a pastry chef's murder, food critic Hayley Snow is fit to be pied.

During the week between Christmas and New Year's, the year-round population of Key West, Florida, faces a tsunami of tourists and snowbirds. It doesn't help that outrageously wealthy key lime pie aficionado David Sloan has persuaded the city to host his pie-baking contest. Every pie purveyor on the island is out to win the coveted Key Lime Key to the City and Key Zest food critic Hayley Snow is on the scene to report it.

Meanwhile, Hayley's home life is turning more tart than sweet. Hayley's new hubby, police detective Nathan Bransford, announces that her intimidating mother-in-law is bearing down on the island for a surprise visit. Hayley offers to escort Nathan's crusty mom on the iconic Conch Train Tour of the island's holiday lights, but it becomes a recipe for disaster when they find a corpse among the glittering palm trees and fantastic flamingos. The victim--Au Citron Vert's controversial new pastry chef--was a frontrunner in Sloan's contest.

It's bad enough that Hayley's too-curious mother-in-law is cooking up trouble. Now, the murderer is out to take a slice out of Hayley. Can she handle the heat of a killer's kitchen?

Love this series! Five Paws!


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