Tea Time...

Agony of The Leaves
Laura Childs

Genre: cozy
Series: A Tea Shop Mystery #13
Pages: 301 (including tips, recipes, and preview)
Rating: ***1/2

Agony of The Leaves, finds Theodosia Browning, owner of the Indigo Tea Shop in another murder mystery.  This time it's her ex-boyfriend Parker Scully who is found murdered. 

I walked into the library this week and came across the newest installment of the Tea Shop Mystery series.  I love this series. I have read a handful of these books, I did not know there were 13 books!  I've made my list of the books I haven't read. I love the characters, the setting, and I love tea.  I have been drinking hot tea since I was 5 years old.  Interesting story there, but I will save it for another time. On with the book. 

Upfront I must say I was ticked off when she killed off Parker, I liked him.  At the same time, writer's have to kill off popular characters or it gets boring.  There was a stretch in the middle where the plot slowed.  I still enjoyed the story and reading about the characters, but it was a little slow.  I also didn't like how the killer came way out of left field.  I understand how the clues could point to this person, but they never made to my suspect list.

It was a good read and the last 150 pages or so are really good, but it's not as good as the other books in the series.

-Caren

With a Southern Drawl...

Wishbones
Carolyn Haines

genre: mystery, paranormal, southern, cozy
series: A Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery, #8
pages: 325
rating: ****

Disclosure:  I am attending 'Daddy's Girl Weekend' and needed to read a book by Carolyn Haines.  She'll be there!

Wishbones, follows Sarah Booth Delaney as she makes her first movie (Body Heat).  She travels to Los Angeles and then to Costa Rica with past love interest Graf Milieu.  Things get tricky when a dead body shows up near her house in LA.  They get downright unusual with ghost sightings and accidents on the set.  Rumors fly the movie is cursed.  Can Sarah solve the mystery before she become a ghost?

This is my first Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery.  I've check one out several times before and never got around to reading them.  Had I know that Mrs. Haines was a neighbor (she's from Mississippi) I would have made it a point to read one.  Anyway, I'm usually not one for tales with ghosts, but Jitty is a hoot.  I really enjoyed the movie reference and the sprinkling of movie stars in the book.  It added an element of fun.  The writing is snappy and sounds southern.  I hate a fake southern voice, it's right up there with a bad southern accent.  The plot was faced paced and full of twists and turns.  I loved it.  I will have to read more of these books.

I do have one question:  What kind of dog is Sweetie Pie?
- Caren

A Christmas Read...

The Christmas Pearl
Dorothea Benton Frank

Genre: Fiction, Christmas Novella, southern
Pages: 139, plus recipes
Favorite quote: "My poor dumbbells!"
Rating: ****

As I have mentioned before I am a Christmas Novella junkie.  I walk down the isles of the library, looking at book jackets, and these cute little books just jump out at me.  Not all of them are good but most are sweet with a side of morals on the side.  The Christmas Pearl is both.

The Christmas Pearl is set at Christmas in South Carolina. (Extra points for being southern!)  Theodora is the 90 something matriarch of a batch of misguided offspring.  She is distraught over their lack of interest in a traditional Christmas as well as their interest in hurting one another.  Her heart is breaking over her "knuckleheads".  Then in the most unexpected ways her prayers for a real Christmas with a loving family are answered.

I loved this book.  I loved the sweet Theodora as she tried to deal with her crazy family.  I loved reading about how Christmas was celebrated with such expectation and vigor in Theodora's youth.  I wanted to be at her house for the entire month of December.  Her childhood Christmas is classic Christmas.  Several foods of her youth are those of mine.  It was heaven.  But the jewel int he crown is Pearl.  The cook, and much more, of Theodora's youth was the fabric that held her family together.  She was a force of nature.  This force is bold, kind, and pure magic on the page.  I couldn't wait to read more about how Pearl was going to save the family from self destruction. 

This was a great read.  I enjoyed every minute of it.  I highly recommend it.


- Caren