Biting Bad: A Chicagoland Vampires Novel #8

My favorite of the UF/PF series I read, and Biting Bad was excellent. It felt a bit like Christmas, having everyone together and getting along; no dramas between Merit and Ethan, Mallory back to being a main character, Catcher back – the gangs all here!

 

I’m certain I’ve said this in every review for every book in this series, but the character writing is just excellent. Dry wit, sarcasm, excellent timing, all make the dialogue just flow beautifully, and reading about the Chicagoland vampires is like being there with them. I have such a detailed image of Cadogan House, Grey House, Little Red – even Merit’s parents house (well, until her mom redecorated).

 

A lot was happening in the plotlines of this book: riots, political strife, family interference, McKetrick. But I never had any trouble following anything that was going on; the story flowed smoothly and once I picked it up, I didn’t put it down again until I was finished (Thank goodness it was a Saturday!). As one thread of the overall story arc is resolved, another one starts to unravel, taking us into the next book. I cannot wait.

Bone Crossed (Mercy Thompson Series #4)

Bone CrossedBone Crossed
by Patricia Briggs
Rating: ★★★½
isbn: 9780441016761
Series: Mercy Thompson #4
Publication Date: January 26, 2010
Pages: 309
Genre: Urban Fantasy

As a shape-shifter with some unusual talents, Mercy’s found herself maintaining a tenuous harmony between the human and the not-so-human on more than one occasion. This time she may get more than she bargained for.

Marsilia, the local vampire queen, has learned that Mercy crossed her by slaying a member of her clan—and she’s out for blood. But since Mercy is protected from direct reprisal by the werewolf pack (and her close relationship with its sexy Alpha), it won’t be Mercy’s blood Marsilia is after.

It’ll be her friends’.


I was prepared to dislike this book, as the synopsis didn’t sound all that interesting to me, but the author did an excellent job defying my expectations.  I was dreading the whole aftermath of the last book, but found myself admiring the way she handled Mercy’s recovery. I also dreaded the whole vampire-revenge storyline, but the plot-twist was excellent! I genuinely enjoyed the first 80% of the book. The part I liked the least was the end, which, I suppose, wasn’t written to be liked. Ms. Briggs does evil well. However, she gets points for not dragging the ending out so very long and I liked the way everything wrapped up quickly and satisfyingly. I’m looking forward to reading more of this series.

Pall in the Family (A Family Fortune Mystery #1)

A very good, well-written first in what could be an excellent new series.

 

This is not a quick, light read. It’s not dark or depressing, but there’s a maturity to the writing that you don’t find in a lot of cozies, especially the paranormal ones. That’s not a criticism of cozies – I’m a huge fan – but this book feels like it’s a step above. The writing, the character building, the plot, all felt more on the level with Barbara Michaels, or Earlene Fowler (maybe?).  I felt like this book took longer to read than most of equal length, even though the story kept me invested.

 

The characters in this book are well-written, solid and real. There are no caricatures here. I’ll admit I really don’t like Vi, but she’s real – she reminds me in many ways of some of my own relatives. Clyde’s mom is a nag and Clyde is trying to power through a very traumatic event. The most humorous element of the book are the dogs, Baxter and Tuffy, with a few scenes that had me giggling a bit. Oh, and the deputy, Tom and his unfortunate lack of grace definitely lent itself to moments of levity. Mac is a love interest you can get behind and I love the background to their story. If the author continues to have Clyde fight against her ‘gifts’ I’ll not continue reading the series, but her qualms are justified in the short term.

 

Having talked the book up, I’ll now admit I guessed the killer pretty early on in the book but I’ll still argue the plot was very well done. Old crimes and new, plenty of suspects and a little bit of misdirection. While I knew who the killer was, I didn’t begin to guess at the motivation until the end – I totally had that part wrong, so no enjoyment was lost to my early guess.

 

I’m really looking forward to the next book; I hope it will come sooner rather than later.

Do Or Diner: A Comfort Food Mystery #1

An ok first book that has quite a few things going for it, and a few things that, well, need work.

 

Excellent setting: small town, up-state New York on the lake. Trixie buys not only a diner, but a house, 12 cottages, and a bait shop from her aunt. Talk about lots of options for murder and mayhem going forward. The author has created a setting that won’t get stale as she’ll be able to rotate her plots around different areas of Trixie’s business, as well as around the town itself.

 

The characters seem well developed. I don’t think you can dislike Ty; the author knows how to write ‘charming’ into a male lead. Some might find him too charming and therefore irritating.  Trixie is a good solid lead too; she has a painful past but she’s not mired in it, nor is she drowning in her own melancholy and dragging her readers with her. Trixie is focussed on looking ahead and it makes me want to read more. I really like Jaunita – something about her character makes me laugh.

 

The plot was…expected but unexpected for me. I’ll leave it at that so as not to go spoilerish. But it was a solid first effort.

 

What needed work? The writing in some areas. There’s an entire scene/conversation between Trixie and a character named Antoinette Chloe Brown at ACB’s house that was just so unbelievable as to spiral into the ridiculous. It was choppy and would never happen. Unbelievable even in the cozy world. It stuck out in my mind for the rest of the book, colouring my overall opinion. Also sticking out – her truly insane belief that Ty, the detective on the case, should allow her to investigate with him, as his partner. Really? Her ex-husband is a deputy sheriff! In what universe is any ex-wife of a cop that naive as to think the lead investigator in a murder is going to let her help investigate?!

 

My opinion? It lowered the overall quality of the book, which has strengths.

 

These lowpoints weren’t enough to stop me from reading the next book in the series. Most firsts are awkward. Fingers crossed the second one will find a better groove.

Sleeping With The Entity

A quick, entertaining read, provided you don’t expect too much of it. Likeable characters, formulaic plot. The author did a very good job with setting and description – I could easily imagine the street in Chicago where the vampires called home. Her descriptions of the cupcakes were almost fattening themselves.

 

All in all, a fun read the held my attention.

Death Al Dente (Food Lovers Village Mystery #1)

Not a bad first book in a series. I love the small town Montana setting and I love the idea of the Mercantile – a shop focussing on local, fresh produce and grocery.

 

I didn’t connect immediately with the main characters, but there weren’t any I disliked either. Two possible romantic interests have been introduced and I hope the author treads carefully; there’s a serious backlash against love triangles and I for one am beyond over them. They are tiresome and irritating.

 

The plot was well crafted and adding rampant rumours to the mix muddies up the possibilities very effectively. Lots of suspects too.

 

Overall, a good, solid beginning. I’m not jumping up and down in excitement, but I’ll definitely be adding this series to the list of those that I’m following. I look forward to the next book.

Plainly Murder (Amish Quilt Shops Mystery #0.5)

I pre-ordered the first book in this series, Murder, Plain and Simple, so when I saw this release I grabbed it, eager for an introduction to the characters and setting.

 

This felt longer than most of the in-between novellas I’ve read and definitely a bit more involved. Was Eric pushed or did he fall from the roof during a barn raising 15 years ago? It’s a very straight forward mystery, as it needs to be in it’s shorter format. As such, the suspects are few and the outcome somewhat predictable. But you don’t really to buy a novella for the plot, so much as for more information on the characters.

 

I liked Angie and the dog sounds like a gem. I was disappointed that it seems we can count on a cantankerous old biddy who will be going out of her way to make Angie’s life miserable in future books, in the form of Martha, but I might prove to be completely wrong about that. Hopefully she’ll be offset by Anna, and possibly Rachel.

 

Overall, a good introduction if you’re interested in reading the first book of the series.

The Hen of the Baskervilles (Meg Langslow Mysteries #15)

I’m a huge fan of this series – Meg would be on one of those ‘book characters you’d like to know/be’ lists, if I kept such a thing. Her family is wacky, colourful and eccentric and Meg is an absolute master at controlling all of them without them actually knowing it. I admire that skill. She is the sane, calm eye in the Langslow family cyclone.

 

Her house sounds like heaven, complete with an out-building for any and all occasions, enough land to grow whatever any family member has a whim to grow, and a motley collection of animals that just keeps growing.

 

The Hen of the Baskervilles takes place at the Caerphilly County Fair – the ‘Un’Fair. I really liked that the ‘un’ fair centered on heirloom animals and vegetables and I wish such a thing actually existed relative to where I live. The mystery was up to Ms. Andrews usual standards: complex enough to have multiple viable suspects, at least one twist, and a culprit that won’t be obvious to everyone who reads the book.

 

I’ll say it wasn’t my favorite of the series, but it’s definitely entertaining and a welcome addition to what I hope will be a long continuing series.

Iron Kissed (Mercy Thompson, Book 3)

Iron KissedIron Kissed
by Patricia Briggs
Rating: ★★★
isbn: 9780441015665
Series: Mercy Thompson #3
Publication Date: January 2, 2008
Pages: 287
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Ace

Though Mercy can shift her shape into that of a coyote, her loyalty never wavers. So when her former boss and mentor, Zee, asks for her help, she’s there for him. A series of murders has rocked a fae reservation, and Zee needs her unique gifts, namely her coyote sense of smell, to sniff out the killer.

But when Zee is accused of murdering the suspect Mercy outed, he’s left to rot behind bars by his own kind. Now it’s up to Mercy to clear his name, whether he wants her to or not.

Mercy’s loyalty is under pressure from other directions, too. Werewolves are not known for their patience, and if Mercy can’t decide between the two she cares for, Sam and Adam may make the choice for her…


I was dreading this book because I knew what was waiting for me in it, but I had just finished a Janet Evanovich, and if that isn’t inoculation enough against a dark, intense read, I don’t know what is, so I picked Iron Kissed up off Mt. TBR and started reading.

There’s no doubt that this is a great series with excellent characters. I enjoyed the slightly stronger focus on Samuel vs. Adam and I’m happy that this triangle isn’t going to drag on indefinitely. I also really enjoyed finding out a bit more about Zee and some of the fae folklore, although the fae as a group don’t hold a lot of fascination for me.

Iron Kissed is closer to a traditional murder mystery than the first two, and I have to admit I had the evil pegged from it’s first scene, but there’s so much going on in this book that it didn’t at all matter – I’m not even sure the author’s first goal here is to keep us from knowing who the evil is.

Finally the scene I dreaded the most: I was relieved to find the author didn’t feel the need to be disgustingly graphic about the physical brutality, but she does manage to convey the horror and creepiness of the scene vividly by exploiting the mental angle. I think of all the disturbing scenes of the overall horror, the one in the car ride over to the garage was the most disturbing for me. In just two (maybe 3?) short sentences, I’m completely creeped out, and horrified by the lack of free will Mercy suffers. The garage scene felt a bit jagged – like a film clip that was missing frames – but I was completely ok with that. I was happy to have details filled in when needed after everything was over and the body parts swept up.

This isn’t a series where I’ll be reading the books back-to-back until I catch up, but I’ll definitely keep on reading.

Murder on the Rocks (Mack’s Bar Mysteries #1)

Excellent start to a series that could be a lot of fun. That half star? Only because I’m not a huge fan of the bar setting – it brings to mind that nasty, dingy atmosphere that smells like beer, smoke, and the sickly sweet smell of drunks. Blech.

 

BUT, one can see the potential in such a setting and Ms. Abbott does an excellent job filling her little world-within-the-bar with likeable, engaging characters. And I genuinely love the twist of Mack’s neurological condition: synesthesia, the condition where the afflicted’s senses are cross-wired so they can taste sounds, or see smells, for instance. It’s rare to stumble across a new idea in cozy mysteries, and this is definitely a new idea – I can’t wait to see what the author is going to do with this in future books.

 

The plot combined the un-solved case of her father’s murder with the more recent dead body Mack finds behind the bar. I love how it ended and that’s all I can say without giving anything away. The tie-in with Capone legends was great fun! I must admit I had it down to two suspects and the one I favoured was the killer at the end, but honestly, guessing right did not diminish this book for me one little bit. I did not want to put this book down until it was done, and then I wanted to read more.

 

An engaging, fast-paced, well-written book that wasn’t ever bogged down by internal dialogue rambles, ‘let’s make a list of the suspects’ or any of those other filler-devices so many author’s use lately. I found it a genuine joy to read and I’ll be eagerly awaiting the second book.