ARC Review: Vinyl Resting Place by Olivia Blacke

Vinyl Resting Place
Author: Olivia Blacke
Series: The Record Shop Mysteries (Book 1)
Publication: St. Martin's Paperbacks (December 27, 2022)

Description: When Juni Jessup and her sisters Tansy and Maggie put all their beans in one basket to open Sip & Spin Records, a record-slash-coffee shop in Cedar River, Texas, they knew there could be some scratches on the track, but no one was expecting to find a body deader than disco in the supply closet.

Family is everything to the Jessups, so when their uncle is arrested by Juni’s heartbreaking ex on suspicion of murder, the sisters don’t skip a beat putting Sip & Spin up for bail collateral. But their tune changes abruptly when Uncle Calvin disappears, leaving them in a grind. With their uncle’s freedom and the future of their small business on the line, it’s up to Juni and her sisters to get in the groove and figure out whodunit before the killer’s trail―and the coffee―goes cold.

Music and mocha seem like a blend that should be “Knockin' On Heaven's Door,” but caught up in a murder investigation with her family and their life savings on the line, Juni wonders if she might be on the "Highway to Hell" instead.

My Thoughts: Juni Jessup has lost her tech job in Oregon and come home to Cedar River just outside on Austin to open a record store. All three sisters are taking a big financial leap to make this possible. They really don't need to find the body of a young woman in their storage closet at the end of their Grand Opening. They really don't need to find out that she is clutching one of their Uncle Calvin's business cards in her hand.

When Uncle Calvin is arrested by Juni's ex-boyfriend, they use their store as collateral to get him out of jail. When he skips out on the bond and disappears, they need to find him and clear his name if they want to save their fledgling business.

Juni and her sisters Tansy and Maggie team up to investigate in this entertaining first of a series. I liked the Texas setting. I liked all the shout-outs to musical artists. And even though I'm not a coffee drinker, I found the names of their specialty drinks entertaining. 

Favorite Quote:

"Nothing," I said. At the same time, Maggie said, "Murder, obviously."

"Well, in that case, I hope you know what you're doing."

"We do," Maggie said as I said, "We most certainly do not."

"Glad to see y'all are at least on the same page. Gotta run."

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

Friday Memes: Vinyl Resting Place by Olivia Blacke

 Happy Friday everybody!

Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Rose City Reader. The Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's Voice. Check out the links above for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Beginning:

The best part about working for the family business is that they can't fire me without causing all sorts of unwanted drama.

Friday 56:

I hesitated. When did Teddy-the-friend become Teddy-the-hot-confident-guy? And which Teddy would I rather spend time with?

This week I am spotlighting Vinyl Resting Place by Olivia Blacke. This is the first in a new cozy series from my review stack. Here is the description from Amazon:

When Juni Jessup and her sisters Tansy and Maggie put all their beans in one basket to open Sip & Spin Records, a record-slash-coffee shop in Cedar River, Texas, they knew there could be some scratches on the track, but no one was expecting to find a body deader than disco in the supply closet.

Family is everything to the Jessups, so when their uncle is arrested by Juni’s heartbreaking ex on suspicion of murder, the sisters don’t skip a beat putting Sip & Spin up for bail collateral. But their tune changes abruptly when Uncle Calvin disappears, leaving them in a grind. With their uncle’s freedom and the future of their small business on the line, it’s up to Juni and her sisters to get in the groove and figure out whodunit before the killer’s trail―and the coffee―goes cold.

Music and mocha seem like a blend that should be “Knockin' On Heaven's Door,” but caught up in a murder investigation with her family and their life savings on the line, Juni wonders if she might be on the "Highway to Hell" instead.

Audiobook Review: Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire

Rosemary and Rue
Author: Seanan McGuire
Narrator: Mary Robinette Kowal
Series: An October Daye Novel (Book 1)
Publication: DAW (August 29, 2009); Brilliance Audio (June 8, 2010)
Length: 346 p.; 11 hours and 16 minutes

Description: The world of Faerie never disappeared: it merely went into hiding, continuing to exist parallel to our own. Secrecy is the key to Faerie’s survival―but no secret can be kept forever, and when the fae and mortal worlds collide, changelings are born. Half-human, half-fae, outsiders from birth, these second-class children of Faerie spend their lives fighting for the respect of their immortal relations. Or, in the case of October “Toby” Daye, rejecting it completely. After getting burned by both sides of her heritage, Toby has denied the fae world, retreating into a “normal” life. Unfortunately for her, Faerie has other ideas.

The murder of Countess Evening Winterrose, one of the secret regents of the San Francisco Bay Area, pulls Toby back into the fae world. Unable to resist Evening’s dying curse, which binds her to investigate, Toby is forced to resume her old position as knight errant to the Duke of Shadowed Hills and begin renewing old alliances that may prove her only hope of solving the mystery…before the curse catches up with her.

My Thoughts: This urban fantasy story introduces October "Toby" Daye who is a changeling fae in San Francisco. Toby had turned her back on the fae world and was making her living as a private investigator. She married a human man and had a daughter. When the fae world catches up to her and turns her into a koi living in a botanical garden, that life is destroyed. 

When the story begins, Toby has come back from being a koi but has lost 11 years of her life. She's lost her license, her husband, and her daughter, and is working as a night clerk in an all-night convenience store. But faerie isn't finished with her.

Calls on the answering machine she's been ignoring are from Countess Evening Winterrose pull her back in. The first calls just ask for help, the later calls demand it, and the last call curses her to find Evening's killer or die herself. 

Toby is forced to return to faerie where she meets old friends and old enemies as she tries to solve the murder of Evening in time to save her own life. 

This story had very intriguing worldbuilding. I liked all the various fae creatures and characters. I liked Toby and enjoyed seeing her return to life after all she had gone through. This story had a nicely twisty plot. Mary Robinette Kowal did a good job narrating and bringing all the various characters to life. 

Favorite Quote:

"You should have screamed by now. It doesn't taste as good when you don't scream. Why won't you scream for me?"

"Sorry, but we only serve diet agony here," I whispered through gritted teeth. "No artificial colors or flavors."

I bought this one. I got the Kindle copy in 2009 but only recently got the audiobook. You can buy your copy here.

Book Review: Kris Longknife: Furious by Mike Shepherd

Kris Longknife: Furious
Author: Mike Shepherd
Series: Kris Longknife (Book 10)
Publication: Ace; Reissue edition (October 30, 2012)

Description: Having used unorthodox methods to save a world—and every sentient being on it—Lieutenant Commander Kris Longknife is wanted across the galaxy for crimes against humanity. For her own safety, she’s been assigned to a backwater planet where her Fast Patrol Squadron 127 enforces immigration control and smuggler interdiction.

But Kris is a Longknife, and nothing can stop her from getting back to the center of things—not when all hell is breaking loose. Now she’s on the run, hunted by both military and civilian authorities—and since the civilian authorities happen to be her immediate family, Kris soon finds herself homeless, broke, and on trial for her life on an alien world…

My Thoughts: When this story begins, Kris is in command of a fast patrol squadron on a very backward planet. In fact, she is being held there. When she learns that her Grampa Al is planning to equip and send a trade mission to the aliens Kris fought and ran from, she is determined to talk to him and convince him that this is a really, really bad idea. But first she has to escape the "command" she is running.

With the help of Abby and her niece Cara and a variety of friends, Kris finds herself at Wardhaven where she meets up with her Grampa Trouble and Jack, who is the man she loves, but who was sent away from her. She has also gathered her old friend Penny. Along with some other allies, they attempt to infiltrate her Grampa Al's supposedly impenetrable fortress. But her father the Prime Minister has tasked Senior Chief Agent in Charge Foile of the Wardhaven Bureau of Investigation to find her and save her life. 

Foile and his team which a includes a Kris super fan-girl manage to track her but are always one step behind. But Kris and her compatriots are one step behind Grampa Al too. In order to escape Wardhaven and track down Grampa Al, Kris surrenders herself to a Musashi ship at high Wardhaven even though this means that she will go on trial for her life when she gets to Musashi. Kris just wants a chance to tell her story since she's convinced that her Longknife relatives from King Ray to the Prime Minister are giving the citizens of their planets the straight story about her alien encounter.

I enjoyed all the part of the story that takes place on Musashi from her meeting with the Emperor to her trial. I liked that Kris and her friends are reunited. I liked that the Musashi realize the threat that the aliens present and are willing to help Kris do something about it. I liked that she and Jack have confessed their feelings for each other. 

This was an entertaining and exciting episode despite the fact that it ends on a bombshell cliffhanger. 

Favorite Quote:

Kaylin paused again. "If I had a ship, one of the first things I would do would be to take it back to that planet. To see if they were attacked by the surviving alien ships or if the aliens moved on to some easier target."

Kris raised her hands in a shrug. "But I have no ship, and my movements are, at the moment, restricted by law. So, no, I don't know if the bird people are still alive. I only know a lot of good men and women died to give them a better chance than they had before we fought."

I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.

Book Review: Before We Kiss by Susan Mallery

Before We Kiss
Author: Susan Mallery
Series: Fool's Gold (Book 15)
Publication: HQN; Original edition (May 27, 2014)

Description: New York Times bestselling sensation Susan Mallery returns to Fool's Gold, California, where it's true that sometimes you have to kiss a few frogs…

Former pro-football kicker Sam Ridge has notoriously bad luck with women—from cheaters to fame chasers. Still, the gorgeous brunette at the bar in Fool's Gold looks harmless—until she takes him home and he discovers a room devoted to securing a man, for life.

Dellina Hopkins never guessed that storing gowns from a friend's bridal boutique would chase away her first and only fling. After her parents died, she skipped her "wild youth" to raise her sisters. She doesn't want forever from Sam, but one night—all night—would've been nice.

His clean getaway gets messy when his firm hires Dellina to plan an event. As long hours lead to late nights, the two succumb to temptation again. Has Sam's luck finally changed? Or this time, will Dellina be the one to run?

My Thoughts: This was another entertaining episode in the Fool's Gold series starring Dellina Hopkins and Sam Ridge.

Dellina is a party planner. She was orphaned at seventeen and at eighteen took custody of her younger sisters. Now all of them are grown. One sister is a professional chef and married. The other is Fayrene who is a girl-of-all-work and in a secure relationship. Though Fayrene is obsessing about getting her boyfriend to propose after she'd told him that she wanted to wait a couple of years to marry. Dellina isn't looking for a relationship. She feels she's already done the parent thing and doesn't really want to take any emotional risks.

Sam Ridge is a famous football player who has had bad luck with women. His high school girlfriend turned into a stalker. And his ex-wife wrote a scathing tell-all about him after their divorce. Raised by parents who didn't recognize any barriers, Sam has become a very private person who really believes that any woman he falls in love with will undergo a personality change after marrying him and betray him.

When Sam's company decides to throw a three-day party for their customers, Dellina is the only game in town for party planning. But he had a one-night stand with her and fled the house when he saw she had a room full of wedding gowns and a whiteboard listing ways to get a man to propose. Note: She was storing the gowns for a friend and the whiteboard belonged to her younger sister Fayrene.

Now, thrown together to plan this big party, they get a chance to really get to know each other and fall in love. But their Individual hang-ups don't make the path to true love run smoothly. Luckily, Fool's Gold is just the place to help them get their lives in order. 

Favorite Quote:

In the scheme of things, he had it easy. His big complaint was that his family loved him too much. And his parents had sex on the brain. Poor, poor him.

I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.

Audiobook Review: Bone Canyon by Lee Goldberg

Bone Canyon
Author: Lee Goldberg
Narrator: Nicol Zanzarella
Series: Eve Ronin (Book 2)
Publication: Thomas & Mercer (January 5, 2021); Brilliance Audio (January 5, 2021)
Length: 289 p.; 8 hours and 24 minutes

Description: A cold case heats up, revealing a deadly conspiracy in a twisty thriller by #1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Goldberg.

A catastrophic wildfire scorches the Santa Monica Mountains, exposing the charred remains of a woman who disappeared years ago. The investigation is assigned to Eve Ronin, the youngest homicide detective in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, a position that forces her to prove herself again and again. This time, though, she has much more to prove.

Bones don’t lie, and these have a horrific story to tell. Eve tirelessly digs into the past, unearthing dark secrets that reveal nothing about the case is as it seems. With almost no one she can trust, her relentless pursuit of justice for the forgotten dead could put Eve’s own life in peril.

My Thoughts: The second Eve Ronin mystery has her investigating murders that were uncovered when wildfires travel through a canyon and expose the bones. With her partner counting down his days to retirement, Eve has to learn quickly in her position as the youngest homicide detective in the Sheriff's Department.

Her first case made her a media darling which annoys her fellow deputies and annoys her, but her mother who has spent her career as an extra on many TV shows and her father who is a producer are both pressuring her to sign with an agent and go for the Hollywood life. 

When her current case leads to the possibility of corruption in the sheriff's department, she doesn't know who she can trust except for her partner. She knows that she's going to follow the evidence wherever it takes her and whatever it shows. And when the bones of a second victim are found the case gets even more complicated. 

I enjoyed this audiobook which stars an intriguing main character and has lots of information about the entertainment industry in Southern California. 

I bought this one for my Kindle and as an Audiobook. You can buy your copy here.

Book Review: Dead Center by David Rosenfelt

Dead Center
Author: David Rosenfelt
Series: Andy Carpenter Mysteries (Book 5)
Publication: Grand Central Publishing (December 2, 2008)

Description: After Laurie Collins left him and headed west, New Jersey defense attorney Andy Carpenter didn't expect to ever see her again. So he's shocked when his ex-girlfriend appears on TV--and then calls him pleading for his help. Two coeds in Wisconsin have been found brutally stabbed to death. As the town's acting police chief, Laurie had to arrest a young college student with a carful of bloodstains who argued with one of the victims just before her death. Yet Laurie strongly believes that the suspect, Jeremy Davidson, is innocent.

Trading the refineries and factories of Paterson for the frozen pastures of Findlay, Wisconsin, Andy soon finds himself in a small town handling a big-time double homicide case. He looks into Jeremy's romance with one of the victims--and the possible involvement of a bizarre religious cult--one that may sanction the most unholy, and vicious, of acts.

While Andy tries to save Jeremy, make sense of his love life, and find a decent pizza for his beloved dog, Tara, the secrets of an ultra-religious community begin to rain down on him like bricks from a cracked fortress. But as Edgar®-nominated Rosenfelt proves to us once again, the path to the truth is littered with lies and misdirection. And before it's all over, the unexpected is the only thing Andy can count on.

My Thoughts: The last thing Andy Carpenter expects is for his former girlfriend Laurie Collins to call him and ask him to defend a young man she has arrested for murder. But Andy, and Tara, are off to the wilds of Wisconsin to look into the case. 

Jeremy Davidson is accused of murdering his girlfriend Elizabeth and her friend Sheryl and burying their bodies in his parents' yard within steps of his apartment in the family guesthouse. Laurie doesn't believe it and Andy has questions.

Teaming up with local attorney Calvin Marshall who is as snarky as Andy, the two try to find out about the two girls who were both residents of a very private and insular town near Findlay. No one in the town is willing to speak to either attorney. Even calling on the computer skills of Andy's friend Sam back home in New Jersey only gives them the barest hint of a way to proceed when he manages to give a possible name to Elizabeth's former boyfriend.

When Jeremy's home is firebombed, Laurie insists that Andy call in Marcus to provide protection for him. But the protection isn't expansive enough and Calvin winds up dead with a broken neck in a supposed car accident. Then, after agreeing to talk to Andy, the former boyfriend is found hanging in his motel room's bathroom after leaving a signed confession. 

The confession is enough to get Jeremy's trial cancelled and get Jeremy released from jail, but Andy isn't satisfied. He still wants to find out who actually murdered Elizabeth and Sheryl and the boyfriend. His continued investigations manage to put both him and Laurie in peril. 

I'm curious to see where this series goes next. Andy and Laurie have agreed to try a long-distance relationship since, while they love each other, their choices of places to live are incompatible.

Favorite Quote:

Bringing Marcus to Findley would be like bringing a bazooka to a Tupperware party.

I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.