Book Review and Giveaway - Masher of Ceremonies: A Vintage Kitchen Mystery by Victoria Hamilton

My Review

Jaymie Müller is planning a big fundraiser in her Queensland, Michigan hometown called Tea with the Queen.  It is a week long event, even including townspeople dressed up as Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.  In the midst of this festival, her friend's assistant is found murdered.  Jaymie works - on her own and with the police's blessings - to find the killer and solve the mystery.  

I wanted to read Masher of Ceremonies because of the Vintage Kitchen Mystery theme.  I love all things vintage, and especially kitchenware, cookbooks, etc., so I was intrigued.  

This is my first read in this series, but there is a wonderful, descriptive Cast of Characters list included.  This helped me to jump right in and enjoy Masher of Ceremonies as a standalone read.  I wish more cozy mysteries would include a character listing - it is always so helpful!

This is a fun, leisurely paced read.  (The murder occurred almost half way through the book.)  

I really like Jaymie.  We see her home life with her husband, daughter, cat, and little Yorkie Hopalong (Hoppy).   We see her doing event planning, working with vintage kitchenware, and also as an amateur detective.   The author did a wonderful job at creating a fully rounded character with a lot of nuance.  

Jaymie has a gift of detecting, following her hunches, and having great intuition.  I really enjoyed solving the mystery along with her.

I found the details of the weeklong Tea With the Queen festival interesting as well!

I look forward to reading more books in the Vintage Kitchen Mystery series.  I recommend Masher of Ceremonies to other cozy mystery fans.  It's an engrossing, well written mystery.

Book Synopsis

A fundraiser for the local historical society nearly goes bust when someone fills the coffers with blackmail and murder . . .

The annual Tea With the Queen fundraiser always makes for a festive weekend in Queensville, drawing visitors from far and wide and giving local shops a welcome boost. This year, vintage kitchenware collector Jaymie Müller is running the event, and she’s got her hands full organizing old and new volunteers along with a surly catering crew. Then her master of ceremonies tells her he’s being blackmailed but can’t go to the police, and before Jaymie can sort that out she stumbles over a dead body at the tea.

Despite the demands of keeping the event up and running, Jaymie can’t help puzzling over the murder. There’s no concrete evidence linking the cretin behind the blackmail scheme to the dead body, so she begins questioning everyone connected to the blackmail, hoping to expose the killer. And just as she discovers a web of relationships that leads her to the culprit, she realizes that the Tea With the Queen may have been a royal pain, but outwitting a blackmailer and catching a killer may be the death of her . . .

Includes a vintage recipe!

Author Bio

Victoria Hamilton is the pseudonym of nationally bestselling romance author Donna Lea Simpson. Victoria is the bestselling author of three mystery series, the Lady Anne Addison Mysteries, the Vintage Kitchen Mysteries, and the Merry Muffin Mysteries. She also writes a Regency-set historical mystery series, starting with A Gentlewoman’s Guide to Murder. Visit her website at victoriahamiltonmysteries.com.

Social Details:

Website: http://www.VictoriaHamiltonMysteries.com (Sign up for her newsletter for all the latest!)

On Substack (Sign up for newsletter… always FREE!): Go to: https://substack.com/@victoriahamiltonmysteries and ‘Subscribe’ for the FREE Victoria Hamilton Mysteries newsletter!

On  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VictoriaHamiltonMysteryAuthor

On BlueSky: @mysteryvictoria.bsky.social

On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mysteryauthorvictoriahamilton/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/598635.Victoria_Hamilton

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Victoria-Hamilton/e/B007T7LGAU

Purchase Links

Ebooks:

Amazon CA     AmazonUS      Kobo      Barnes & Noble      Smashwords     Google Play Books

Giveaway

Book Review and Giveaway - Murder, She Wrote: Murder Most Trivial by Jessica Fletcher and Barbara Early

My Review

Jessica Fletcher travels to Los Angeles with her friends Seth Hazlitt and Maureen and Mort Metzger to compete in a new pub trivia show on television.  They are having fun staying with her niece and nephew in an interesting but spooky old Hollywood home and eating out at old Hollywood spots.  Then a crew member is murdered and Jessica works, with her friends, to solve the mystery.  

I wanted to read Murder, She Wrote: Murder Most Trivial because I love Murder, She Wrote - both the TV series and the book series.  I try to read all the books as they are published.

I usually prefer the Cabot Cove setting but I absolutely loved reading about Jessica's adventures in Los Angeles with her old friends.  There were several interesting layers to this book:  the mystery itself, the spooky old mansion they are staying in, and references to favorite TV detectives, including Monk and Columbo.

This was a fun and fast-paced read.  The mystery is well plotted and intriguing.  I enjoyed sleuthing along with Jessica.

I thoroughly enjoyed Murder, She Wrote: Murder Most Trivial and am sure that other cozy mystery fans will enjoy it too.  It is one of my favorite books in this series.

Book Synopsis

The newest delightful entry in the USA Today bestselling Murder, She Wrote series, featuring mystery novelist Jessica Fletcher.

Jessica Fletcher and friends Seth Hazlitt and Maureen and Mort Metzger team up for pub trivia and crush the competition, then are stunned to learn that the prize is a chance to appear in a five-day trivia tournament filming in LA.

No one expects life-or-death stakes! But on day one of the tournament, a crew member is murdered. Who would benefit from derailing the show? Jessica has to come up with the ultimate answer.

In a metafictional twist, the investigation takes Jessica and the gang to the filming locations of their favorite mystery shows, where they discuss how Columbo, Monk, or Jim Rockford might go about solving the case.

Author Bios

Jessica Fletcher is a bestselling mystery writer who has a knack for stumbling upon real-life mysteries in her various travels. Barbara Early coauthors this volume.

Barbara Early earned an engineering degree, but after four years of doing nothing but math, developed a sudden allergy to the subject and decided to choose another occupation.

Before she settled on murdering fictional people, she was a secretary, a schoolteacher, a pastor’s wife, and an amateur puppeteer. She lives in Western New York State (Go Bills!), where she enjoys cooking, crafts, classic movies and campy seventies television, board games, and spending time with her granddaughters.

​Before teaming up with Jessica Fletcher, she previously wrote the Vintage Toyshop Mystery series and the Bridal Bouquet Shop Mysteries (as Beverly Allen).

Author Links

Website   Facebook

Purchase Links

Amazon – B&N – Kobo – Bookshop.org – Penguin Random House 

Giveaway

Book Review - Summer State of Mind by Kristy Woodson Harvey

My Review

NICU nurse Daisy Stevens moves to Cape Carolina to start a new life.  On her first day at the hospital, she meets Mason Thaysden, who brings in a newborn baby found in a dumpster.  They both grow attached to the baby and Daisy works to foster (and possibly adopt her).  She grows close to Mason, and his family, especially his eccentric Aunt Tilly.  Then something happens that threatens everything . . . 

I wanted to read Summer State of Mind because I love Southern fiction and Summer reads.  I had not read Kristy Woodson Harvey before, but have heard how good her books are.  

This was such a lovely read!  It wasn't the light Summer beach read I expected.  There are a lot of layers to the story.  The main characters - Daisy, Mason, and Tilly - all have losses in their past that have shaped their present:  a tragic loss at the hospital, the loss of a longed-for career, the loss of a much-loved partner.  As they go forward, they occasionally slide back a bit as well.  But they do go forward, and I found their stories compelling and ultimately uplifting as well.

The book is told in alternating viewpoints, so readers get to know all three characters through the novel.  The author does a wonderful job at voice and characterization.

I really loved Summer State of Mind and will look for more books by Kristy Woodson Harvey.  I recommend this novel for fans of Southern fiction, Summer settings, and women's fiction.  Five stars!


Thanks to Simon & Schuster and Netgalley for an advanced reading copy of this book.

Book Review and Giveaway - Dead Focused and Hocus Pocused (The Empty Nest Mystical Cozy Mystery Series) by Marcy Blesy

My Review

Juli Tully is having a hard time with her sons growing up and moving out -- so she attends the Empty Nest Retreat in a remote estate in Michigan.  No technology, no contact with family - but that isn't the hard part.  There is a murder at the retreat, and fingers point at Juli.  She is determined to solve the mystery ... as she uncovers more mysterious (and magical!) happenings.

I wanted to read this book because I love cozy mysteries.  The gentle magical twist was unique and intriguing.

This was a fun read!  Juli is a likable and empathetic protagonist.  She resists the retreat but ends up meeting a few other empty nesters who help in her sleuthing - and who become friends.

The magic details are fun -- especially, of course, Prudence, the talking cat!  I liked the surprises around the estate too;  they kept me guessing.

The mystery is well written, fast moving, and a light, enjoyable read.  It is the first in a new series that I look forward to.  I recommend Dead Focused and Hocus Pocused to other cozy mystery fans.  

Book Synopsis

The Empty Nest Retreat was supposed to help Juli find herself. Not question her sanity—or reality.

When Juli Tully’s kids fly the coop and she takes early retirement, the silence in her house is deafening—and not in a calming, spa-music kind of way. At her mother’s not-so-subtle urging, she signs for the Empty Nest Retreat at the Sand Bur Estate, a stately mansion perched on the windswept dunes of Lake Michigan.

Juli nearly bolts when she learns the retreat is phone-free. No texts. No doom-scrolling. No emergency updates from her kids. Instead, she’s stuck with an unusual group of fellow empty nesters: Nelle, a perpetually cheerful optimist; Kimmie, a bubbly influencer convinced the estate is magical; and Jedd, an arrogant dad who fancies himself Parent of the Year—and takes an instant dislike to Juli.

Then things get… strange.

Temperatures swing wildly. Lights flicker. Objects float. Juli can’t tell if her menopausal symptoms have gone off the rails or if rumors about the estate’s supernatural past are true.

Between meditation sessions and awkward financial-planning talks, one of the estate’s employees dies under suspicious circumstances. Thanks to Juli’s increasingly unpredictable “episodes,” she becomes the prime suspect.

With a murder to solve, a reputation to save, and a sarcastic talking cat who knows more than she’s letting on, Juli must uncover the truth—before this empty nest lands her in handcuffs.

If you love:

Empty nest reinvention

Midlife amateur sleuth

Retreat gone wrong

Isolated estate near Lake Michigan

Light paranormal elements

Self-help retreat chaos

Haunted (or is it?) mansion

Sarcastic talking cat

Humor with heart

Found family friendships

Wrongly suspected heroine

Cozy whodunit
You’ll adore this humorous cozy mystery set under along the shores of Lake Michigan!

Empty nests bring new beginnings… and unexpected secrets.

Author Bio

Marcy Blesy is the author of over thirty  books across genres, best known for her Tucson Valley Retirement Community Cozy Mystery Series and the Monthly Murder  Movie Club Cozy Mystery Series —humorous, heartwarming whodunits filled with senior sleuths, quirky characters, and animal sidekicks. Her cozy mysteries spotlight midlife reinvention, found family, and laugh-out-loud amateur sleuthing, perfect for fans of The Thursday Murder Club, Finlay Donovan, and The Golden Girls.

Marcy also writes the Ghost Texter Paranormal Cozy Mystery Series, starring a kindergarten teacher-turned-reluctant sleuth, and the Secrets romantic mystery duo (The Secret of Blue Lake and The Secret of Silver Beach), transporting readers to the scenic and suspenseful shores of Michigan.

For younger readers, Marcy’s best-selling Be the Vet series offers interactive veterinary mysteries for kids ages 9–13. Her early chapter book series—Evie and the Volunteers, Niles and Bradford, Third Grade Outsider, and Hazel, the Clinic Cat—delight animal lovers and growing readers alike.

When she’s not writing, you’ll find Marcy treasure-hunting along Lake Michigan in search of rare red beach glass. She believes every story should offer heart, humor, and a hint of hope—whether it’s solving a mystery or chasing a dream.

Author Links

Website    Facebook    Instagram   GoodReads

Purchase Link – Amazon 

Giveaway

Book Review - The Parisian Chapter by Janet Skeslien Charles

My Review

In 1995, Lily Jacobsen is living in Paris.   She was inspired to leave her Froid, Minnesota home by her neighbor Odile, who told Lily inspiring stories about her life at the American Library in Paris (ALP) during World War II.  Lily wants to be a writer.  Her best friend, who has traveled with her, wants to be an artist.  They find Paris to be enchanting ... but different than expected in terms of their dreams.  Lily chances upon a part-time job as Programs Manager at ALP, the same library that Odile once worked at.  She finds a mysterious manuscript in the archives that relates to Odile's life long ago in Paris.  As Lily finds a community at the library, she continues to work on her writing.  She finds love.  She feels she has lost her best friend ... and works to patch up that relationship, and perhaps (through time and distance) also patch up Odile's broken friendship from the 1940's.

I wanted to read this book because I absolutely loved the author's book The Paris Library, about Odile's life at the ALP during World War II.  It was one of my favorite books the year I read it.  

The Parisian Chapter has so many things I love:

• Paris setting
• Library lore!
• Perfect evocation of another time and place
• People-centric storytelling (friends and love)
• Found family
• A mysterious throwback to years ago

The storytelling is lovely!  I really cared about Lily, her friend Mary Louise, Odile, and her lost friend Margaret.  And Paris!  And of course the library itself, with passages like:

"Continuing past the nonfiction stacks, I searched for my favorite numbers— 001.9 (the unexplained, like UFOs or Bigfoot) and 808 (writing and getting published). The greeter boasted about the library’s treasures: a pair of Hemingway’s tortoiseshell spectacles; a letter from Henry Miller; and books that had once belonged to the Left Bank bookseller Sylvia Beach (the patron saint of impoverished writers) as well as Marlene Dietrich, who scrawled opinions in the margins (“ This is without a doubt the worst writing I have ever laid eyes on.”)." (eBook location 312)

I enthusiastically recommend this lovely book to other readers who love historical fiction, Paris, libraries, and life affirming stories of friendship and found dreams.  Five stars from me!

Thanks to Atria Books and Netgalley for an advanced reading copy of this book.  The ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.