ARC Review: Death by Demo by Callie Carpenter

Death by Demo
Author: Callie Carpenter
Series: A Home Renovation Mystery
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books (December 5, 2023)

Description: Perfect for fans of Kate Carlisle and Diane Kelly, after her ex-husband tears down their marriage, the last thing Jaime wants is to renovate a worn-down historic home. But when a body is discovered behind a wall—she realizes she’ll have to catch the killer before she builds herself up again.

Jaime and Henry were the perfect couple with the perfect life; together, they ran one of the most successful construction and interior design companies in all of Charlotte, North Carolina. But when Jaime catches her charismatic husband in an affair, she realizes her husband is not the man she thought she married. The divorce is equally gutting—due to an ironclad prenuptial agreement, Jaime receives only one thing: a historical house in disrepair. Knowing that any renovation she attempts will be tedious and costly, Jaime starts to believe that things can’t get much worse—until she finds a dead body in the house.

The body is found behind a recently renovated wall—and this leaves Jaime with more questions than answers. Who killed this person and why? Could it have been the previous owners, someone who snuck in while nobody was looking, or Henry? Furious that the house is now a crime scene, which further delays all renovations, Jaime decides to investigate the murder herself, DIY-style. Together with the new resident cat she calls Demo and the handsome and friendly hardware store owner who happens to be her neighbor, Jaime is ready to use all the tools in her toolbox to catch the killer.

Jaime needs to renovate this house if she wants to move forward with her life, but will this murder investigation leave her in ruins—or worse?

My Thoughts: Jaime thought she and Henry had the perfect marriage until she caught him making love to another woman. The divorce left her with only a derelict mansion in need of many repairs because Henry's father had had her sign an ironclad prenup when the two married. After going into a depression and crashing on her best friend's couch, Jaime is starting to come around. 

Sure, it would be best to sell the house for whatever she could get and start over, but Jaime helped her former husband start a home renovation business and she is eager to bring this wreck back to life. Only things start to go wrong immediately when she finds a body behind a hastily built wall that she is demoing. 

The police declare the house a crime scene and Jaime's plans for her new future are in jeopardy if she can't determine who murdered the women behind the wall and get back to work on her renovation. She has a number of suspects including the oh-so-helpful and hot next-door neighbor, her lawyer, and her ex-husband. The suspect pool enlarges when the identity of the victim becomes known. Jaime had known and liked Cilla ever since she helped her out once while the two were in high school. Now, besides wanting to clear up the crime so that she can get back to work, she wants to find justice for the woman who was once her friend.

I enjoyed this mystery. I liked watching Jaime reclaim her life after her ex did the best he could to make her feel useless and stupid. I liked the way she was determined to rebuilt both her life and the business she loves.

Favorite Quote:

Jaime tuned out Roger's blustering protests and felt a wide smile spread across her face. She's identified the unfamiliar feeling. it was Pandora's leftover.

Hope.

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

Audiobook Review: Enquiry by Dick Francis

Enquiry
Author: Dick Francis
Narrator: Ralph Cosham
Publication: Blackstone Audio, Inc. (December 15, 1999)
Length: 5 hours and 46 minutes

Description: Jockey Kelly Hughes and trainer Dexter Cranfield have been barred from racing - a devastating event for them both. The charge at the secret enquiry? Throwing a race for personal profit. It is a vicious frame-up and, worse, they have nowhere to turn to clear their names. Still Hughes refuses to take the phony verdict lying down - even though his personal enquiry might have him lying down permanently...

My Thoughts: Enquiry was an excellent example of Dick Francis's best writing. Kelley Hughes is a steeplechase jockey. After the favorite he was riding fails to win a race, he and the trainer are called in by the stewards for an inquiry. Neither of them are expecting the result of that enquiry: they lose their licenses and aren't allowed around racing. 

Kelley is surprised at the hearing both because of the verdict and because of the "evidence" presented. A fellow jockey testifies that Kelley told the other riders to ease off and photos were shown that indicate he took bribe money from the trainer. And a tape from another race shows him contradicting what he had said to explain not using a whip on the horse. Only the horse in the race wasn't the one he was riding in the disputed race.

Determined to clear his name, Kelley begins his own investigation and easily learns that the fellow jockey had taken a bribe to lie about Kelley and that the detective who shot the pictures showing bribery was well known for producing "evidence" for the right price.

Someone is clearly fearful that Kelley will learn the truth because his car was tampered with almost causing his death. But the accident makes Kelley even more determined. With the assistance of some of his racing acquaintances, Kelley finds evidence that proves that the enquiry was rigged but finding out who was so determined to have him and the trainer disbarred from racing leads Kelley into even more danger.

The writing is spare, and the action is fast-paced and furious. Kelley is an ordinary man doing what he loves and then doing what it takes so that he can keep the career he loves. He's not a superman and is beaten up during the story but pain won't stop him from reaching his goal. 

I got this one via Audible Plus. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: Lost Hours by Paige Shelton

Lost Hours
Author: Paige Shelton
Series: Alaska (Book 5)
Publication: Minotaur Books (December 5, 2023)

Description: Lost Hours is the fifth instalment in Paige Shelton's gripping, atmospheric Alaska Wild series.

A year after arriving in Benedict, Beth Rivers is feeling very at home in Alaska, even as outsiders are starting to return to enjoy the brief summer perfection. Beth feels like she’s finally let go of most of her demons. She’s even found her father, Eddy Rivers―or, rather, he found her―and she's trying to find the middle ground between anger and forgiveness.

One sunny July day, Beth boards a tourist ship to see the glaciers, the main reason visitors venture to the area, and something Beth hasn’t attempted until now. But when the captain has to navigate to an island, a bloodied woman is found standing on the shore, waving for help. When she’s brought aboard, she claims she was kidnapped from her home in Juneau three days earlier, and that a bear on the island killed her captor. She, however, is unharmed.

The woman, Sadie, finds a sympathetic ear in Beth. She tells her that she’s been in Juneau under witness protection, and that the Juneau police don’t like her. When another kidnapping occurs, Beth and police chief Gril can’t help but think the two cases are interwoven, though the clues to solving them will be harder to unravel.

My Thoughts: Thriller author Beth Rivers fled to Benedict, Alaska, after being kidnapped. She has made a new life for herself and finally feels confident enough to go on a tourist ship to see the glaciers. What she doesn't expect to see is a blood-covered woman calling for help from one of the remote islands as the ship passes it.

Sadie claims to have been kidnapped and escaped her kidnapper when he was killed by a bear. She is also quick to tell Beth that she is in the Witness Protection Program but doesn't tell her why. However, there is no evidence on the island to support her story. At least there isn't until Beth's boyfriend Tex discovers a body in one of the island's inlets. Sadie claims amnesia about the events of her kidnapping leaving Beth and her friends including Gril who is the sheriff to puzzle out what happens on that island.

Meanwhile, Beth's father Eddy invites her along with a family who hired him to go on a fishing trip. The teenage daughter claims to be a big fan of Beth's writing. Beth agrees as long as Eddy makes a stop at the island where Sadie was found. Beth wants to take a look herself. But when she and Eddy return from their hike, the young daughter is missing. A thorough search of the 5-sware-mile island doesn't uncover her leaving her parents and the residents of Benedict puzzled.

Beth begins to wonder if those two occurrences are connected and wonders if the prison break-out of a young man soon to be tried for murder also fits into the puzzle. Beth also has stressors in her personal life too. The man who kidnapped her has hired a high-powered lawyer to defend him and she's already got one piece of evidence thrown out. Beth worries that he'll get away with his crime. 

Beth and her friends in Benedict manage to untangle all the various pieces of the mysteries which are connected and Beth does finally get to see the glaciers. But a phone call from her police friend back home in Missouri leads to a cliffhanger ending to this story. 

Favorite Quote:

Something came to me. "Huh. Did you know that I read In Cold Blood when I was twelve? I just remembered that."

Orin laughed. "That could explain a lot about the subject matter you write about."

"It could. That's what I'm going to tell everyone who asks me where I get my ideas now: Truman Capote."

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? (November 27, 2023)

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.

I will be combining my YA and adult reading and purchases on this one weekly roundup.

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

Other Than Reading...

I hope everyone who celebrates had a nice Thanksgiving. Ours was nice. Our recipe for a sheet pan Thanksgiving Dinner turned out well. It didn't look exactly like the picture but pretty close.

Cleaning out some of the leftovers for dinner is my current plan since my brother is working during the dinner hour today.

It is hard to believe that it is almost the end of November. I woke up this morning to a dusting of snow and it is lightly snowing now as I'm writing this. I would have been all right if there wasn't snow until Christmas Eve, but we have had less snow than usual for my part of Minnesota. We are 11.9 inches below the average for this date. We have had a couple of inches of snow in November but none of it stayed on the ground. I'm afraid this snow is on the ground until Spring.

This week should be a quiet one. I don't have any appointments on my schedule or any reason to leave the house. I will shortly be finishing my last 2023 review book, but I can't take a break since I have one January 2 release and six January 9 releases on my review stack. I'll be working on my draft posts for my January calendar, preparing my State of the Stack post, and totally out my November reading this week too. I do know that I've already met my often-revised Goodreads goal and will likely be increasing it again this time to 400 books. 

Read Last Week

If you can't wait until the review shows up on my blog, reviews are posted to LibraryThing and Goodreads as soon as I write them (usually right after I finish reading a book.)

• Second Duke's the Charm by Kate Bateman (Review; December 26) -- Historical romance. Interesting characters. My review will be posted on December 19.
• He Shall Thunder in the Sky by Elizabeth Peters (Audiobook Reread) -- Takes place in Egypt during WWI. My review will be posted December 19.
• Public Anchovy #1 by Mindy Quigley (Review; December 26) -- Catering a library fundraiser leads to solving a couple of murders. My review will be posted December 20.

• Murder on Cold Street by Sherry Thomas (Audiobook Reread) -- The fifth Lady Sherlock concerns clearing Inspector Treadles of a murder charge. It was another excellent addition to the series. My review will be posted on December 21.
• Coconut Drop Dead by Olivia Matthews (Review; December 26) -- Lyndsay Murray, the Grenadian Nancy Drew, has another mystery to solve when the lead singer of an up-and-coming reggae band falls to her death at the annual Carribean American Heritage Festival. My review will be posted on December 21.
• Valdemar by Mercedes Lackey (Review; December 26) -- This is the third novel in the Founding of Valdemar series and, among other things, explains why there are Heralds and Companions. My review will be posted on December 23. 

Currently

• Lord of the Silent by Elizabeth Peters (Audiobook reread)
• The Secret of the Lady's Maid by Darcie Wilde (Review; December 26)

Next Week

• A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik (Mine since 9/29/2020)
• Cold Curses by Chloe Neill (Mine since 11/14/2023)
• Broadcast Blues by R. G. Belsky (Review; January 2)

• The Sign of the Four Spirits by Vicki Delany (Review; January 9)
• Death at a Scottish Wedding by Lucy Connelly (Review; January 9)
• The Night Island by Jayne Ann Krentz (Review; January 9)

Reviews Posted

• Guardian of the Horizon by Elizabeth Peters (Audiobook)
• Hide in Plain Sight by Marla Perry (Mine)
• Found Object by Anne Frasier (Audiobook)

• The Fiction Writer by Jillian Cantor (Review Copy)
• Road Queens by MaryJanice Davidson (Review Copy)
• Shards of Glass by Michelle Sagara (Review Copy)

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

Review:

Bought:

• Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz (Audiobook; Chirp)
• Wilde Christmas by K. M. Fawcett (BookBub; Free)
• A Curse of Queens by Amanda Bouchet (from her newsletter)

• Hideaway by Nora Roberts (BookBub)
• Skyward by Brandon Sanderson (BookBub)
• The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman (Kindle Daily Deal)

• Legends & Lattes by Travia Baldree (Kindle Daily Deal)
• The Things We Leave Unfinished by Rebecca Yarros (Kindle Daily Deal)

What was your week like?

Audiobook Review: Found Object by Anne Frasier

Found Object
Author: Anne Frasier
Narrator: Eileen Stevens, Perry Daniels
Publication: Brilliance Audio (October 18, 2022)
Length: 8 hours and 40 minutes

Description: A journalist begins to question everything she knows about her mother’s murder in a startling novel of suspense by the New York Times bestselling author of The Body Reader.

Culpable in an exposé gone tragically wrong, investigative journalist Jupiter Bellarose takes her boss’s advice: head back to her hometown for a fluff piece and get her world in balance. But in Savannah, the past is waiting.

Twenty years ago Jupiter’s mother, actress and celebrated beauty Marie Nova, was murdered, leaving many in her wake: Jupiter’s father, who has erased memories of his wife’s murder with alcohol. The matriarch of the cosmetics company who helped make Marie a star—and who takes every opportunity to reopen old wounds. Then there’s the fragile cop with blood on his hands, and the killer whose confession no longer seems convincing.

With so many lingering questions, Jupiter must revisit the grisly event that has influenced every decision in her life. Maybe her homecoming will bring closure.

Or maybe the worst is yet to come.

My Thoughts: FOUND OBJECT was an excellent thriller with an intriguing and vulnerable main character. Jupiter Bellarose is an investigative journalist who was hospitalized for depression after an undercover assignment went wrong. She never expected to fall in love with the subject of her investigation nor to watch him commit suicide by walking into the ocean and swimming away.

Jupiter's editor offers her a puff piece about a cosmetics company turning 100 to get her back into journalism. But doing the story will take her back to Savannah which was the site of her life's greatest tragedy. When Jupiter was sixteen, her mother television star Marie Nova was murdered and dismembered. A man was convicted of the crime but Jupiter still has questions and isn't convinced that he was guilty.

Detective Ian Griffin whose first day on the job was marred by discovering the dismembered body of Marie Nova also still has questions. He and Jupiter get together to investigate and, somehow, Marie finds her two investigations coming together.

Marie Nova was the face of Lumet, the cosmetics company Jupiter is supposed to be writing about. As Jupiter uncovers things the company doesn't want the public to know like radioactive face cream and face creams with human fat as a part of the formula, she also learns more about her mother's death.

Jupiter has always feared that her father who was estranged from her mother finally snapped and murdered her. And she learns that he has always feared that Jupiter had a sleepwalking session and murdered her mother since he was sent a recording of his car at the scene of the crime and knows he wasn't the one driving it. 

This was an engaging and twisty thriller about a woman nearly drowning in guilt about a case gone wrong who is also determined to finally find out the truth about her mother's death. The narrators did an excellent job with the story. 

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

Friday Memes: Found Object by Anne Frasier

 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.

The Friday 56 is currently on hiatus but many of us are still including them. Anne @ Head Full of Books is picking up the slack until Freda is ready to return. I think this link will get you to the correct place.

Beginning:

Minneapolis, Minnesota, present day

I looked down at the release form on the desk, my main focus being the empty line awaiting my signature. They couldn't hold me longer than seventy-two hours, but I still had to sign the paperwork to get out. I picked up the pen, leaned over, with a dramatic flourish, wrote Found Object.

Friday 56:

I took a deep breath and dove in, and we did our five-minute set. Most jokes elicited groans, as they very well should have, and when we were done, people clapped, probably glad it was over. Someone turned the jukebox back on, and it was like Max and I had our own soundtrack, a Leonard Cohen, song as we walked to the bar, where he ordered drinks.

This week I am spotlighting a Kindle/Audible Daily Deal that I bought earlier this year -- Found Object by Anne Frasier. Here is the description from Amazon:

A journalist begins to question everything she knows about her mother’s murder in a startling novel of suspense by the New York Times bestselling author of The Body Reader.

Culpable in an exposé gone tragically wrong, investigative journalist Jupiter Bellarose takes her boss’s advice: head back to her hometown for a fluff piece and get her world in balance. But in Savannah, the past is waiting.

Twenty years ago Jupiter’s mother, actress and celebrated beauty Marie Nova, was murdered, leaving many in her wake: Jupiter’s father, who has erased memories of his wife’s murder with alcohol. The matriarch of the cosmetics company who helped make Marie a star—and who takes every opportunity to reopen old wounds. Then there’s the fragile cop with blood on his hands, and the killer whose confession no longer seems convincing.

With so many lingering questions, Jupiter must revisit the grisly event that has influenced every decision in her life. Maybe her homecoming will bring closure.

Or maybe the worst is yet to come.

ARC Review: Road Queens by MaryJanice Davidson

Road Queens
Author: MaryJanice Davidson
Publication: Montlake (November 28, 2023)

Description: From the bestselling author of the Undead series comes a ride through the lives of three estranged friends as they’re reunited by murder (possible frame job) and mayhem (just the way they like it).

Operation Starfish has one goal: to remove domestic violence survivors from danger. But when a mission backfires in tragedy, the band of bikers who founded OpStar dissolves the organization and their ride-or-die friendship.

Five years later Amanda, Sidney, and Cassandra are brought back together by the same thing that tore them apart when the man who victimized his wife is murdered, and all signs point to Cassandra.

Circumstances being what they are―in a word: dire―the trio reignites their bond, if only to shut and barricade the door to their past once and for all. Their tentative sisterhood is infiltrated by Investigator Sean Beane, whose intentions aren’t as clear as they should be, but even so he’s too tempting for his (or Amanda’s) own good.

Despite all reservations, regrets, and blossoming romance, it’s time for these biker babes to strap on their helmets and hit the road―before the real murderer can run them off it.

My Thoughts: This is a story about three women's friendship and there is a mystery too. Cassandra, Sidney, and Amanda met in middle school and formed a lifelong friendship. 

Cassandra's mother killed her father when he caught Cassandra in the face with a fishhook. Of course, he had been abusing her mother Iris for years previous to that incident. Iris pled guilty, didn't want to plead extenuating circumstances, and didn't want Cassandra to have to testify. At age sixteen, Cassandra becomes a virtual orphan with her father dead and her mother in prison. Cassandra decides that she wants to help other spouses who are in abusive situations when she graduates from high school and her friends Sidney and Amanda want to help her. 

Cassandra names their organization Operation Starfish and they wrack up successes. But when one of the women they got out of a situation turns around and going back to her abusing husband who promptly kills her, Cassandra breaks up OpStar and leaves town. Leaving Sidney and Amanda to wonder where she went and try to fill the hole in their friendship.

Five years later, Cassandra is back and a suspect in the murder of the man who killed his wife and caused their organization to cease operation. Sidney and Amanda are quick to rush to her side along with Sean Beane who has been keeping an eye on the members of OpStar since they rescued his sister from a bad situation. He's fallen for Amanda.

The story isn't as straightforward as this precis. It is gradually revealed in flashbacks and comments between the three women. The story is filled with banter and pop culture references. Each of the women is a really, really quirky character. From Cassandra's obsession with dinner for breakfast to bookstore owner Amanda's desire to host a book signing for Edward Gorey (despite the fact that he died years ago) to Sidney's fear of moths, each woman is a unique individual. 

Fans of Davidson's writing style - her characters have no filters - will enjoy this story of friendship with a bit of mystery dropped in. 

Favorite Quote:

"At no point in our lives has 'don't worry' ever been followed by anything good."

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