ARC Review: Murder at Blackwood Inn by Penny Warner

Murder at Blackwood Inn
Author: Penny Warner
Series: A Haunted Dead and Breakfast Mystery
Publication: Crooked Lane Books (September 23, 2025)

Description: A haunted house and the occult are the least of Carissa Blackwood’s problems when her eccentric aunts are accused of murder in this cozy series debut by multiple award–winning author Penny Warner.

Ghostwriter Carissa Blackwood is having the worst year of her life. After leaving her cheating husband, she finally takes up the offer to help her two eccentric aunts manage the Blackwood Bed ’n’ Breakfast Inn in Pelican Point, California–a house they only recently inherited from their deceased father, Bram Blackwood. The old man dabbled in the occult, and his daughters haven’t fallen far from the family tree. Aunt Runa is into crystals and plans to hold séances at the reportedly “haunted” house. Aunt Hazel has an herbary and offers herbal cures for everything from headaches to paranormal visions. But it’s Hazel’s poison garden that really concerns Carissa.

When one of the townspeople dies from a poison that could have only come from Aunt Hazel’s garden, the town is quick to point fingers. It doesn’t help that one of Aunt Runa’s charms is found at the scene of the crime. With a little help from Noah, the mysterious and handsome handyman; Aiden, the charming newspaperman—and the ghost of Carissa’s grandfather—it’s up to Carissa to clear her aunts and find the real killer before someone else is checked out for good at the B&B.

My Thoughts: Carissa Blackwood has come to Pelican Point, California, to help her aunt's run their new bed & breakfast. Her aunts are a little eccentric. One is devoted to crystals and the other to herbs and poisonous plants. They have decorated their inherited Italianate mansion in a spooky theme. From a black, purple and green exterior to rooms decorated for famous horror movies, Carissa is wondering if she's making a right move after her acrimonious divorces and losing her job as a ghostwriter for a famous author. 

However, her aunts have decorated her room according to a Nancy Drew theme, and are supportive of her desires to write her own mysteries once the inn is up and running. 

The reception they are holding on the evening before their first guests arrive is supposed to introduce them to the locals. However, only five people attend and all have their own agendas from the other innkeeper in town who resents their competition to the next door neighbor wo worries that the odd color scheme will destroy his home's value to the real estate agent who has been trying to convince the sisters to sell out and buy a nice oceanside condo. 

Things go from bad to worse when the real estate agent is found dead in her bed the next morning with one of Aunt Runa's crystals under her bed. Further investigations lead to the conclusion that she was poisoned with belladonna which Aunt Hazel tends in her poisons garden. 

With the police focusing on Aunt Hazel, it is up to Carissa to channel Nancy Drew and find out who really murdered the realtor. 

This was an entertaining cozy mystery set in a bed & breakfast that I would like to visit. 

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

ARC Review: A Tour to Die For by Michelle Chouinard

A Tour to Die For
Author: Michelle Chouinard
Series: The Serial Killer Guide to San Francisco Mysteries (Book 2)
Publication: Minotaur Books (September 23, 2025)

Description: In Michelle Chouinard’s A Tour to Die For, Capri Sanzio is back, giving a true crime tour her guests won’t soon forget. After all, a tour guide who specializes in serial killers knows better than most that San Francisco is a city with killer charm.

Capri Sanzio knows that when you give serial killer walking tours for a living, unexpected situations are more common than San Francisco's famous fog. So, when one of her guests claims to see a woman being attacked during a tour, Capri remains unphased. The police search the apartment in question and find no evidence of anything amiss, so they chalk it up to a false report from a true crime fanatic looking to be a part of a case. And Capri thinks they might be right, since lately her tours have been attracting even more obsessives than usual--as it turns out, finding the actual serial killer who committed the "Overkill Bill" murders didn't stop the constant questions about her grandfather's supposed crimes, it only intensified them.

But Capri would never forgive herself if someone is in trouble and she walks away. Plus, something about the whole situation has every one of Capri's investigative journalist instincts going haywire--why would someone lie about seeing an attack? So Capri starts to dig, and when her questions lead to a body, she finds herself at the center of another murder investigation.

My Thoughts: Capri Sanzio is an expert on murders in San Francisco. She even has a tour company that follows the paths of historical murderers. One evening, she's running her Barbary Coast tour when one of her tourists spots a woman being strangled in a lighted window. Capri calls 911 but the responding officers only find an empty, but lighted apartment. 

Lorraine, who is fifth grade teacher from a couple of hours away, is sure that she saw someone being strangled and encourages Capri to look into it. She even sends a scoop to the newspaper to try force Capri's hand. 

Capri is curious enough to explore more. She talks to the building's landlady who tells her that Leeya is a local artist who works with found materials. She also tells Capri that Leeya has a boyfriend along with a mother and a sister. Capri contacts, or tries to contact, all of them but none have seen Leeya. 

Then Leeya's body is found in a dumpster outside her rented studio and the disappearance soon becomes a murder. Capri's new boyfriend Homicide Inspector Dan Petito encourages her to keep her distance, but Capri is longing to resurrect a career as an investigative journalist that she set aside to marry and become a mother. 

This is Capri's second book. She's still dealing with the popularity she gained by solving the Overkill Bill murders. This led to a rift with her father, a successful podcast, and a book contract to write about Overkill Bill. 

She's investigating Leeya's murder while running a business, planning a new podcast, writing a book, and building a romance with a new guy. She's also dealing with her deadbeat ex who is trying to so some business with her daughter without telling her daughter that her ex is a deadbeat. 

This was an engaging story filled with all sorts of fascinating things about San Franciso. It was also a fast-paced mystery filled with suspicious characters and dangerous situations. I recommend it. 

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

ARC Review: Murder in Miniature by Katie Tietjen

Murder in Miniature
Author: Katie Tietjen
Series: A Maple Bishop Mystery (Book 2)
Publication: Crooked Lane Books (September 23, 2025)

Description: The second installment in the Maple Bishop historical mysteries continues the adventures of intrepid amateur sleuth Maple Bishop.

Inspired by the real-life mother of forensic science, Frances Glessner Lee, this smartly plotted series will appeal to fans of Rhys Bowen.

In post-WWII Vermont, Maple Bishop has a thriving dollhouse business and a new career as a crime scene consultant for the local sheriff's office. On the surface, she seems to be doing well, but deep down Maple is still reeling from the death of her husband. When the body of an aspiring firefighter–who was close childhood friends with Kenny, the sheriff’s deputy and Maple’s confidante–is discovered in the charred remains of a burned cabin, Maple is called in to help determine whether the fire was an accident or a case of murder by arson.

Realizing there’s more to the crime than meets the eye, she sets out to unearth the discrepancies from the scene by re-creating the cabin in miniature. The investigation leads them to Maple’s old Boston neighborhood, forcing her to confront the past she’s desperately trying to forget.

As Maple and Kenny sift through clues, they uncover dark secrets that hit close to home, unraveling in unexpected ways—and putting their lives in danger.

My Thoughts: The second Maple Bishop mystery has her doll house business flourishing and a new consultant gig with the local police. She's called in by the Chief of Police to investigate the death of a young firefighter in a cabin. She's eager to do something out of the ordinary but sad at the death of her friend Kenny's childhood friend. 

She is determined to make four nutshells to recreate the crime scene to figure out the timing and accelerant used. She also goes back to Boston with Kenny to try to locate the victim's mother and inform her of the death. Going back to Boston encourages her to see if she can find some answers to her brother's death too. 

Maple has some decisions to make too. She's offered a position in the Boston prosecutor's office which would let her use her unused law degree. But it would mean leaving the life and friends she has made in Vermont. 

This was an engaging historical mystery set in 1950. I liked that Maple has gotten her first television but isn't sure that she will enjoy having it. I also like her growing circle of friends.

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

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (September 15, 2025)

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? is now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date.

It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading is where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week.  It is a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list.

Want to See What I Added to My Stack? links to Stacking the Shelves hosted by Marlene at Reading Reality.

Other Than Reading...

Last week was a nice quiet week. We had quite a few foggy days and cooler than average temperatures. Yesterday began foggy but the sun broke out by afternoon at our house. Bill said that the fog reappeared as he went down the hill for his wanderings. He said the dividing line was Skyline Parkway which is a road that winds its way the length of Duluth at an elevation of about 500 feet above the lake. There are a number of scenic overlooks along Skyline Drive when the sky is clear. I added a link so you can see what it looks like. 

The big news of the week was that I bought my brother a new computer. He has been complaining for months about how slow his computer is and he'd been shopping around for a new one. He likes to see what he is buying. So, he visited Best Buy and the local store that he has used to repair his computer. His main problem, beyond his lack of decisiveness, was that he doesn't know enough about computers to know what he wants. When he got a price quote of $1500 from the local shop, I said that was way too much for what he uses his computer for which is mainly reading the local newspaper and visiting YouTube to listen to music. I went to Amazon and bought him one with a touch screen and adequate speed and memory for what he needs for a less than a third of what he was quoted. I ordered it on Wednesday, and it arrived on Friday. I had it set up for him including recreating his bookmarks and adding a printer by Friday afternoon with most of the time spent refreshing my memory about Chrome which is his preferred browser. I use Edge myself and there are some differences. 

I didn't read as much as usual mainly because I ran into two review books that weren't holding my attention. I'm currently at 82% of one of them with no compelling need to find out how the story resolves. The other one has me bribing myself to read a chapter and then rewarding myself with more of my current audiobook which explains why I read three audiobooks last week and am well into the fourth today.

There is a lot of carryover from last week's stack in my plans for this week's reading. The first three are by authors I have enjoyed in the past and I'm eager to get to them if I can just finish the two that are bogging me down.

Bill goes back to work today with his usual 2:30 to 11 PM schedule. I'll miss his cooking even though he likes cooking spicier food than I would pick. He made an Italian Chili this past week that was too spicy for me even though he used the less spicy options in the recipe. I'm looking forward to making myself some nice bland macaroni and cheese this week and maybe some hamburger gravy to serve over mashed potatoes. 

Read Last Week

• One Was a Soldier by Julia Spencer-Fleming (Audiobook) -- 7th Clare Ferguson/Russ Van Alstyne mystery. My review will be posted on October 16.
• The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson (Mine since January 6, 2025) -- YA thriller about a missing woman who reappears after being missing for sixteen years and how her daughter who is the narrator reacts. My review will be posted on October 4)
• Dying Cry by Margaret Mizushima (Review, October 14) -- Tenth is a series starring a female sheriff's deputy and her K-9 Robo. My review will be posted on October 7.

• Tinker by Wen Spencer (Audiobook, Reread)
• Wolf Who Rules by Wen Spencer (Audiobook, Reread)
• Elfhome by Wen Spencer (Audiobook, Reread)

Currently

• And Then There Was The One by Martha Waters (Review, October 14)
• Death on a Scottish Train by Lucy Connelly (Review, October 14)
• Wood Sprites by Wen Spencer (Audiobook, Reread)

Next Week

• Fallen Star by Lee Goldberg (Review, October 14)
• The Haunting of Paynes Hollow by Kelley Armstrong (Review, October 14)
• And to All a Good Bite by David Rosenfelt (Review, October 14)

• Death on Dickens Island by Allison Brook (Review, October 21)
• Blind Date with a Werewolf by Patricia Briggs (Review, October 21)
• The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah (Mine since August 14, 2025)

Reviews Posted

• Beyond Her Reach by Melinda Leigh (Review copy)
• A Murderous Business by Cathy Pegau (Review copy)
• No Rest for the Wicked by Rachel Louise Adams (Review copy)

• Die Like an Eagle by Donna Andrews (Audiobook)
• The Shattering Peace by John Scalzi (Review copy)
• Murder at King's Crossing by Andrea Penrose (Mine)

Want to See What I Added to My Stack Last Week?

Review:

• Blind Date with a Werewolf by Patricia Briggs (Review, October 21)

Bought:

• Black Tie and Tails by Wen Spencer (Kindle & Audiobook)
• Framed in Death by J. D. Robb (Kindle & Audiobook)
• The Warbler by Sarah Beth Durst (Kindle Daily Deal, $2.49)

What was your week like?

Book Review: Murder at King's Crossing by Andrea Penrose

Murder at King's Crossing
Author: Andrea Penrose
Series: Wrexford & Sloane (Book 8)
Publication: Kensington Books (September 24, 2004)

Description: For fans of Miss Scarlet and the Duke and Bridgerton—a masterfully plotted mystery that combines engaging protagonists with rich historical detail and “an unusually rich look at Regency life,” (Publishers Weekly), plus a touch of romance that readers of Amanda Quick and Deanna Raybourn will savor.

Celebration is in the air at Wrexford and Charlotte’s country estate as they host the nuptials of their friends, Christopher Sheffield and Lady Cordelia Mansfield. But on the afternoon of the wedding, the festivities are interrupted when the local authorities arrive with news that a murdered man has been discovered at the bridge over King’s Crossing, his only identification an invitation to the wedding. Lady Cordelia is horrified when the victim is identified as Jasper Milton, her childhood friend and a brilliant engineer who is rumored to have discovered a revolutionary technological innovation in bridge design. That he had the invitation meant for her cousin Oliver, who never showed up for the wedding, stirs a number of unsettling questions.

Both men were involved in the Revolutions-Per-Minute Society, a scientific group dedicated to making radical improvements in the speed and cost of transportation throughout Britain. Is someone plotting to steal Milton’s designs? And why has her cousin disappeared?

Wrexford and Charlotte were looking forward to spending a peaceful interlude in the country, but when Lady Cordelia resolves to solve the mystery, they offer their help, along with that of the Weasels and their unconventional inner circle of friends. The investigation turns tangled and soon all of them are caught up in a treacherous web of greed, ambition, and dangerous secrets. And when the trail takes a shocking turn, Wrexford and Charlotte must decide what risks they are willing to take with their family to bring the villains to justice . . .

My Thoughts: The eighth Wrexford & Sloane historical mystery begins with some friends' wedding at the Wrexford's country estate. But the quiet time after the festivities is disrupted when one of the wedding guests doesn't arrive and a body with the wedding invitation in his pocket is found. 

Fearing that the body belongs to a favorite cousin, Cordelia soon learns that it isn't her cousin but a childhood friend of hers named Jasper Milton instead. To add to the confusion, the cousin is missing and a possible suspect in Milton's death.

The investigation leads to the Milton's fellow scholars and to someone who wants Milton's scientific discovery. The discovery could lead to much more efficient bridges which would lead to a better transportation network, and it isn't only Britain that is interested in that. 

Suspects range from the French to the Russians to English businessmen who see a huge profit in better bridges. And the British government has a strong interest in Milton's discoveries too. Wrexford and Charlotte are busy trying to find out who murdered Milton and a couple of the others in Milton's club of fellow mathematicians and engineers. Adding to the investigative team is Peregrine who joins the Hawks after he was expelled from Eton after a stink bomb episode. 

This was another enjoyable historical mystery. 

I bought this one January 1, 2025. You can buy your copy here.

Friday Memes: Murder at King's Crossing by Andrea Penrose

 Happy Friday!

Book Beginnings is hosted by Gillion at Rose City Reader. She asks that the first sentence is posted along with the author and title of the book and the reader's initial thoughts on the sentence, the book, or anything else it inspires. 

Carrie at Reading Is My Superpower.org also provides a linky for sharing first lines and connecting with others. This meme asks that the chosen books be PG or marked as Mature if they are not. 

Beginning:

"Damnation!" Hair spiking up in disarray, spectacles sliding down the slope of his beaky nose, the man glanced up from the work papers strewn across his desk and stared at the clock with a look of dawning horror. "What pernicious quirk of the cosmos has made six hours fly by in the space of one?"

Friday 56:

"Murdered!" exclaimed Wayland. "There must be some mistake!" He looked at his friends in mute appeal. "We all know that country coroners are notoriously uneducated and ill-trained."

This week I am spotlighting Murder at King's Crossing by Andrea Penrose. This one has been waiting on my TBR mountain but moved rapidly to the top when I was approved for the next one in this series on NetGalley.

Here's the description from Amazon:

For fans of Miss Scarlet and the Duke and Bridgerton—a masterfully plotted mystery that combines engaging protagonists with rich historical detail and “an unusually rich look at Regency life,” (Publishers Weekly), plus a touch of romance that readers of Amanda Quick and Deanna Raybourn will savor.

Celebration is in the air at Wrexford and Charlotte’s country estate as they host the nuptials of their friends, Christopher Sheffield and Lady Cordelia Mansfield. But on the afternoon of the wedding, the festivities are interrupted when the local authorities arrive with news that a murdered man has been discovered at the bridge over King’s Crossing, his only identification an invitation to the wedding. Lady Cordelia is horrified when the victim is identified as Jasper Milton, her childhood friend and a brilliant engineer who is rumored to have discovered a revolutionary technological innovation in bridge design. That he had the invitation meant for her cousin Oliver, who never showed up for the wedding, stirs a number of unsettling questions.

Both men were involved in the Revolutions-Per-Minute Society, a scientific group dedicated to making radical improvements in the speed and cost of transportation throughout Britain. Is someone plotting to steal Milton’s designs? And why has her cousin disappeared?

Wrexford and Charlotte were looking forward to spending a peaceful interlude in the country, but when Lady Cordelia resolves to solve the mystery, they offer their help, along with that of the Weasels and their unconventional inner circle of friends. The investigation turns tangled and soon all of them are caught up in a treacherous web of greed, ambition, and dangerous secrets. And when the trail takes a shocking turn, Wrexford and Charlotte must decide what risks they are willing to take with their family to bring the villains to justice . . .

ARC Review: The Shattering Peace by John Scalzi

The Shattering Peace
Author: John Scalzi
Series: Old Man's War (Book 7)
Publication: Tor Books (September 16, 2025)

Description: After a decade, acclaimed science fiction master John Scalzi returns to the galaxy of the Old Man's War series with the long awaited seventh book, The Shattering Peace

THE PEACE IS SHATTERING

For a decade, peace has reigned in interstellar space. A tripartite agreement between the Colonial Union, the Earth, and the alien Conclave has kept the forces of war at bay, even when some would have preferred to return to the fighting and struggle of former times. For now, more sensible heads have prevailed – and have even championed unity.

But now, there is a new force that threatens the hard-maintained peace: The Consu, the most advanced intelligent species humans have ever met, are on the cusp of a species-defining civil war. This war is between Consu factions... but nothing the Consu ever do is just about them. The Colonial Union, the Earth and the Conclave have been unwillingly dragged into the conflict, in the most surprising of ways.

Gretchen Trujillo is a mid-level diplomat, working in an unimportant part of the Colonial Union bureaucracy. But when she is called to take part in a secret mission involving representatives from every powerful faction in space, what she finds there has the chance to redefine the destinies of humans and aliens alike... or destroy them forever.

My Thoughts: This science fiction story is the seventh book in the Old Man's War series. Ten years have passed since the events of the previous book (and in real life too.) Gretchen Trujillo is a mid-level diplomat working in the Colonial Union bureaucracy. She's the expert on the Obin - one of many alien races humans have met in their journeys to expand into space. Her father is a higher-level diplomat.

When Gretchen's father gives her the assignment of trying to determine what happened to Unity Colony - a hollowed-out asteroid circling a planet the Obin had intended to colonize. The existence of Unity Colony comes as a surprise to Gretchen since one of the conditions of the tripartite agreement which ended the war was that there was a moratorium on founding new colonies. 

Unity Colony was intended as a test case to see if citizens of the Colonial Union, the Conclave and Earth could live together peacefully in a single environment. Now the colony has disappeared, and the Colonial Union wants to know why. Gretchen's father was instrumental in the formation of the colony and one of her oldest friends is among the colonists. 

An expedition is formed to find out what happened to the colony. When they arrive at the site where it was supposed to be, the colony is gone with no evidence of where it could be. What is there is a prism containing a single Consu. The Consu are a very superior sort of alien immeasurably advanced compared to all the other species. They have a nasty habit of messing with other species to further their goal of "perfecting" all species. They also rarely condescend to speak to other species, but this one that Gretchen names Kitty does speak to her and has a task for her. After which, he will tell her what happened to the colony. 

Gretchen soon learns that the Consu are facing a civil war in which one faction wants to destroy the colony and Earth to "perfect" humans. The runaway Consu has developed a new kind of physics of spaceflight which could make the Consu even more powerful and dangerous to humans and aliens. It is up to Gretchen to out-think the aliens, save the colony, and save all the aliens from Consu interference. 

This was an engaging space opera with a great main character. Gretchen is smart and mean and tricky enough to win over the dreaded Consu. I think it works well as a story whether or not you have read the previous six books in the Old Man's War series. I enjoyed the story despite my reservations about the efficacy of Gretchen's final solution.

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