The Widows' Guide to Skulduggery

 The Widows' Guide to Skulduggery

The Widows' Detective Club #3

Amanda Ashby

Reviewed by Helen

I am loving this series and another visit to Little Shaw was another exciting installment, Ginny Cole is attending a friend’s wedding when the dog, who was ring bearer, after running and digging in the church yard dropped a skull at the bride’s feet, well this stopped the wedding and Ginny is again with her friends from the Widows’ Detective club using their sleuthing skills to get the answers.

The two families involved in the wedding do not get along as one of them comes from the next village and there has been some sort of feud between the two villages for way too long to remember but when the skull turns out to belong to a woman murdered twenty years ago and that case was never investigated correctly as far as Ginny, Tuppence, MJ and Hen are concerned they are going to make sure that they do especially when the bride’s notorious family has asked them to do so.

What they uncover was a terrible plot but when another body is discovered and this one is one of the peopled Ginny and team had been talking to the plot thickens and with DI Wallace away on holidays and DI Sterling in charge of the investigation The Widows’ Detective Club are not happy and determined to get answers.

This is a fabulous installment in the series one that I highly recommend Ginny and the ladies are so easy to like and they leave no stone unturned in their hunt for answers and I am thrilled that there will be more in the series. I loved this one witty fun and a fabulous cosy mystery.

My thanks to Netgalley and Storm Publishing for my copy to read and review.

5 stars

June 30, 2025 by Storm Publishing

The Body at the Vineyard

 The Body at the Vineyard

A Georgina Drake Mystery #6

Kate Hardy

Reviewed by Helen

Another fabulous installment in this fabulous series, I love Georgina and all of the characters who are a part of this series, Kate Hardy weaves a great mystery story, she keeps me thinking as I get engrossed in the new mystery and the new characters who are part of the mystery.

Georgie is taking a trip to a winery to get photos of a young and upcoming winemaker Gaby Edwards she is accompanied by Sybbie, her friendly ghost Doris and of course her dog Bert, things change very quickly when a body is found in one of the fermentation tanks and Bert sniffs out a skeleton in the pond. They soon realise that there is another person missing.

Georgie goes into investigation mode straight away, are these linked, her investigation skills for old bones is excellent, Doris is a wonderful help in these situations and her way with people is very helpful, her partner DI Colin Bradshaw (still very skeptical over Doris, he does seem to be coming around) arrives and the questions start and what they uncover will shock them, will they find Gaby’s missing brother and find out what happened to her other brother Nathan, was it an accident or was it murder?

This is such a great story, I love spending my time with all of the characters who feel like friends now they make me smile throughout the story, I do highly recommend this one and the series and I am eagerly awaiting another mystery to solve in another story. Thank you Kate Hardy this series is awesome and I hope there are many more.

My thanks to Netgalley and Storm Publishing for my copy to read and review.

5 stars

June 13, 2025 by Storm Publishing

The Bordeaux Case

 The Bordeaux Case

The Vineyard Mysteries #1

H L Marsay

Reviewed by Helen

The start to a new series and I loved it, I loved the setting, the characters and everything about it.

Emma King is a wine buyer who is half English, Half French and works hard in her family’s wine business, purchasing the wines is normally her father’s job but he has had an accident and now it is Emma’s job yes she did well at college and has a very good nose and taste for wine, but Emma is Emma, disorganized and she can be clumsy and she is very nervous even if it is like a second home and family as she makes her way to Chateau Montfleur, this vineyard is owned and run by Henri and Celeste Montfleur.

Starting the tasting tour Emma meets up with old friends Kiara, blogger Paddy a wine buyer as well and Nico, Emma’s college crush as well as Henri and Celeste’s children Oscar and Heloise there is also the nasty wine critic Veronica they are all staying at Chateau Montfleur for the week of tastings, it is sure to be full on week.

When the Montfleur’s wealthy neighbour is found murdered in his study the next morning and Oscar is the prime suspect, Emma is determined to prove his innocence and find the true murderer, she soon has her close friends helping her uncover the truth which will call for some risky decision along the way and with the chief inspector not particularly interested in Emma’s help this makes Emma more determined.

Will she prove Oscar’s innocence and discover the killer? I loved this page turner a one sitting read for me, it pulled me in from page one and I highly recommend this one and am really looking forward to the next book in the series.

My thanks to Tule Publishing for my digital copy to read and review.

5 stars

June 2, 2025 by Tule Publishing

The Deadly Dispute

 The Deadly Dispute

The Tea Ladies #3

Amanda Hampson

Reviewed by Helen

We are back in 1967, Surry Hills and surrounds with The Tea Ladies, super sleuths and again Hazel, Betty and Irene search for answers and do their best to stay safe, what will they uncover in this story?

After eighteen months out of work, thanks to Café-Bar Hazel has got a new job on the docks a very dangerous place to be, she was offered the job by a close friend Rex, who is boss of the unions, there has been a big gold robbery, a couple of dead bodies and a threat to Rex and Hazel is not going to give up until she has answers.

Betty is feeling a bit disappointed with life and when she meets a new worker, young Lucy they become fast friends and soon Betty finds herself in a totally different world and not sure if this is for the best but when her best friend, Hazel needs her she of course is there for her.

Irene, is enjoying her new home in the attic of a top end brothel but when she discovers she might lose her new home she is determined to stop that in its tracks and with the help of Neck they take on the Maltese Mafia, but to Irene they are the Maltesers.

When one of the tea ladies is missing the others band together to ensure she is found and safe, this is another awesome story in this series, there is mystery, mayhem, laughs and fun, yes things are changing for the tea ladies with so called progress but I really hope we see more of them. I loved this one and the series.

I do highly recommend this one to any lover of a good cosy mystery, the series if fabulous.

5 stars

April 1, 2025 by Penguin eBooks

A Stone Cold Murder

 A Stone Cold Murder

Reluctantly Physic Murder Mystery #1

Kris Bock

Reviewed by Helen

I very much enjoyed this one, a mystery to get your brain thinking as Petra Cloch arrives in Bonneville New Mexico to start her new job as Geological curator at The Bandit Museum on Route 66, Petra was really looking forward to this new job and home, a place that she is happy to bring her ten pets, a place that she can keep to herself because of her gift that enables her to see into people’s lives, but her first day changes all that when she picks up crystal in her office and feels the rage of murder.

What is Petra to do now, tell the Sheriff or police what she has seen, of course not no one will believe her, she has no choice but to find the answers herself, she must find out the truth about her predecessor’s death because it may very well involve her job and she must keep herself safe and before she knows it she has friends and an ally in one of her new workmates, Liberty, will she find the truth about what really happened here at the museum and Reggie?

This is a fast paced mystery that had me thinking, it is fun and riveting as we get to know Petra and her wonderful menageries of pets, it is a great start to a new series and I am looking forward to more visits back to The Bandit Museum and Petra and her new friends. I do recommend this one to any lover of a good mystery.

My thanks to Tule Publishing for my digital copy to read and review.

4 stars

April 28, 2025 by Tule Publishing

Old Habits Die Hard

 Old Habits Die Hard

Nun the Wiser Mysteries #1

Melissa Westemeier

Reviewed by Helen

This is a very good story a little bit different from what I expected but good, Sister Bernadette is now living in The Abbey which is for Senior Living and she knows her way around here because she taught English there for many years, and when some of the residents return home from an outing Bernie discovers one of the residents dead on the second floor, Bernie is determined to get the answers and find out what happened especially when she discovers that the woman known as Toni is not a woman at all what is she/he hiding?

AJ Lewis is the detective sent to investigate and this brings back memories for him, it is the school he went to all those years ago and to find his old English teacher Sister B there comes as a shock especially when she thinks he is still one of her students, and is determined to help investigate and he is more determined to make sure she doesn’t.

This book is well written and it has a few twists along the way with Bernie doing her investigation seeing as how AJ won’t involve her, who will get the answers first? Lots of fabulous characters in this story and it was great getting to know them.

I would recommend this one to anyone who loves a good mystery.

My thanks to Tule Publishing for my digital copy to read and review.

4 stars

April 2, 2025 by Tule Publishing

The Widows' Guide to Backstabbing

 The Widows' Guide to Backstabbing

The Widows' Detective Club #2

Amanda Ashby

Reviewed by Helen

I loved being back in Little Shaw with Ginny and her widow cohorts, JM, Tuppence and Hen, these four ladies are great friends and rather enjoy investigating murders together even when asked not to by DI Wallace and now Ginny has discovered her second body in a matter of months since moving to Little Shaw, this time Timothy Harlow owner of the haberdashery shop and celebrity judge in the Little Shaw Spring Fete, he has been stabbed in the back by a pair of scissors, lots of question to find the answers to and will the fete go on?

The police have a suspect in custody fairly quickly but when the widows meet up with Megan Harlow daughter of the murder victim she convinces them that their suspect is not the murderer so the ladies start their investigation and soon are adding suspects and crossing them of on their murder board (a new on this time) there are many people to question, add to that Ginny’s cat Edgar has taken to arriving home with items that he appears to have taken and this leads Ginny be acting as negotiator between two locals, could this lead to more information?

This really is another great story in this series, what the ladies discover is secrets, love affairs, riverly and so much more, but will they discover the truth before DI Wallace and will they be safe? This is a fabulous page turner of a story, fabulous characters, setting and mystery to uncover and one that I would highly recommend to any lover of a good cosy mystery, bring on book three, I say.

My thanks to Netgalley and Storm Publishing for my digital copy to read and review.

5 stars

March 10, 2025 by Storm Publishing