Murder in the Mystery Suite

Title: Murder in the Mystery Suite Author: Ellery Adams Genre:  Mystery Length: 277 pages (paperback) Rating: 4 out of 5

Jane Steward manages Storyton Hall, a resort catering to book lovers in the rolling hills of western Virginia.  Jane needs to determine a way to drive additional funds as the staff roof needs repairs, the orchard needs pruning, and a variety of other items need attention.  After gaining inspiration from a book, she decides to host a Murder and Mayhem Week at the resort.  This will include a variety of events including a ball, role- playing and fantasy crime solving.

The event starts off with great success!  Guests arrive in full character.  They are actively participating from the moment they arrive.

Guests are excited to participate in the scavenger hunt.  Unknown to Jane, her twin sons are bribed by Felix Hampden to help him win the scavenger hunt.  When he wins a valuable book, several other guests approach him.  The next thing Jane knows, Felix is found dead and her week turns into a real mystery to solve!

This cozy mystery was a quick and easy read.  I was able to dive in right away and be brought into the story.  I appreciate that it didn't have lots of romance so that I could focus on the mystery myself.

This is the first book in a series.  I am sure some of my unanswered questions will be answered in the next few books.  However, unless I come across these books, I do not plan to actively search for them. 

Savannah Sleuth: First Book in the Vigilantes for Justice Series

Title:  Savannah Sleuth Series:  Vigilantes for Justice Author:  Alan Chaput Genre:  Cozy Mystery Length: 271 pages (paperback) Sensitive Content:  A couple sultry scenes Rating:  4 out of 5

Savannah Sleuth is told from mostly the viewpoint of Patricia (Patsy to a few) Falcon.  We are introduced to Patricia, and her three closest girlfriends Judy, Meredith and Alisa, as they are assisting a women who is caught in a bad marriage leave her home.

Just a few days later, Patricia’s mother Henrietta dies unexpectedly.  Her doctor, who happens to be Judy’s husband, says that she was in perfect health.  All is assumed natural until Isabel, her mother’s lawyer, determines that her mother died penniless and the money just recently disappeared.  The plot grows thicker as Meredith, a local bank executive, finds the money went to Hong Kong and then disappeared in Hilton Head Island when it came back to the US.  To top things off, Henrietta’s account has gone missing!

Patricia asks her husband Trey and the Cotton Coalition, a secret society keeping Savannah safe for generations, to look into what happened.  She and her four girlfriends decide that they should also investigate.  Top it off with a priest acting on behalf of the Vatican trying to determine what happened!  Who did it?  Was it the Russian mob who wanted some of Henrietta’s real estate?  The accountant Sonny who is missing?  The noisy newspaper reporter who popped back up?

People start getting shot, others dying.  Trey orders in-home protection for Patricia and eventually moves them to Paris where…spoiler.

Savannah Sleuth is a well written cozy mystery.  I enjoyed that they author brought to life some of the small details of Southern charm (cold pitchers of sweet ice team) as well as the smells; azaleas, honeysuckles and lavender to name just a few.  Patricia was well rounded with her concerns being that of any daughter, wife and mother. 

While the book was an easy read, finished it in about 5 hours, I was able to figure out “who done it” about a quarter of the way through and the majority of the “how it was done” three quarters of the way through.  I do look forward to reading the next book in the series as there were a few items from building the characters that I’d like to see how that information is incorporated into the ongoing story.