Sandra C. Lopez's Blog, page 256

Review: THE CORPSE IN THE CABANA by Shea Macleod (Book 1)

Author Viola Roberts was on her way to a writer's conference in Florida. It was find and dandy until the number one bestselling romance novelist shows up prancing around like the arrogant diva, considering everyone else beneath her. Writers as a whole do tend to be full of themselves (trust me, I work with plenty of authors.) Fortunately, Viola is one of those wholesome and humble authors that believes that there are plenty of readers for everyone. The last thing she expected was for a chick fight to ensue between her friend and the diva. Later that evening, the diva was seen arguing with her cheating and soon-to-be ex-husband. Soon afterward, Viola finds the diva dead in the cabana. The trouble was that everyone had it in for Natasha Winters, including Viola and her friend, Cheryl. So who killed her?


To prove that neither one of them did it, Viola sets off to find the killer.


An engaging mystery amidst the world of writers and publishing professionals. Did someone else writer her latest book?


A good, fun read!


My rating: 4 stars

Review: LAST CHANCE FOR MURDER by Estelle Richards

Lisa Chance was broken up and headed home to AZ.


Right away, this had a slow start. Wasn’t there a chocolate shop or something? The cover had chocolate. Or maybe it just looked chocolaty. Nonetheless, this was a dull read.


My rating: 1 star

Review: ANYTHING FOR A MYSTERY by Cynthia Hickey

Stormi Nelson was a NY Times Bestselling author and a scaredy cat. That’s why you see her leading a neighborhood watch. Well, the thing was that her agent said that she needed more human interaction—fresh fodder for her books.


Hearing a dog bark in the distance, she follows the noise and trips over a body—a dead body. To top it all off, her mom, her sister, her niece, and her nephew all move in with her out of the blue. Yeah, that’ll make writing easy. Perhaps she could get away from writing romances and finally start on a mystery—starting with this case. And what better way to write it than to actually solve it? Anything for a mystery, right?


I thought this would be a nice, cozy mystery, but it kind of goes all over the place without much humor or wit. She’s mostly doing all this for a story, which mainly lags most of the time.


My rating: 2 stars

Review: CUTTHROAT BUSINESS by Jenna Bennett

Savannah just realized that realty was a cutthroat business. At least, that’s how it felt. After quitting her cosmetics job, she got her real estate license and hasn’t sold a single piece of lumber since she started. Then the opportunity came up for her to show a million-dollar home.  In the house, she finds the fat, plumb body of the head realtor lying dead in a pool of blood (her throat was cut.)


Savannah was more of a Southern belle than any quirky detective. After all, she did faint like Scarlett O’Hara. Story was slow and not very interesting.


My rating: 2 stars

Review: MURDER IN HELVETICA BOLD by Jessa Archer

Ruth was approaching 50 and starting over in Thistlewood with an aim to revive The Thistlewood Star, the town’s local newspaper. It was slow, but gradually growing in subscribers. What they needed was a good mystery.


Then someone turns up dead. By the looks of it, the 80-year old woman just tripped, fell, and broke her neck. But Ruth, who has returned to her journalist skills, takes another look and has some questions. Meanwhile, the cranky, old sheriff accuses her of wanting a story for her boring, little newspaper. But something just wasn’t adding up.


A fun, crafty mystery!


My rating: 4 stars

Review: SOMEBODY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD by Judy Moore

Dawn’s aunt was murdered on the beach, but it wasn’t the first. It was hard for her to shake the image of her aunt’s dead body. Perhaps a change of scenery would do her some good.  On a whim, she decides to stay at her aunt’s estate in Florida. But there was still a murderer loose in the neighborhood. Was she making the right decision to move in?
Just when she thought it was safe, a third murder strikes.
Mystery was easy to read and easy to get into. The murders deliver such frightening paranoia and a settling unease that keeps the reader invested. You can’t blame Dawn for jumping at every sound and dark corner. It’ somebody in the neighborhood. But who? Who was behind these gruesome killings? A good read!
My rating: 4 stars

Review: A BOOK SIGNING TO DIE FOR by Judy Moore

Beck is the owner of Beach Reads and a fan of mysteries. Her favorite part was happening tonight—a book signing!
But her fan dreams were pretty much crushed when she discovered what a pretentions and arrogant diva the author was. Nonetheless, the even goes spectacularly well…until an attendee that went to school with the author goes missing and is later found dead. This leaves Beck riddled with guilt as the last place this woman was at was at her book signing. Feeling that the cops were barking up the wrong tree, Beck puts her sleuthing hat on. The way Beck and Grams approach the case is very organized and methodical, like reading items off a grocery list.
An easy read that you just naturally fall into. It’s a little slow at times, but overall enjoyable.
A quick and fun mystery!
My rating: 4 stars

Review: AND JUSTICE WILL BE DONE by Morgan Currier

Detective Berlin had a dead body on her hands, and she didn’t think it was an accident. Everything was too perfect in that scene—the Armani suit, the manicured nails, not one imperfection. It couldn’t have been just some idiot that killed himself doing home repairs.
Although the mystery sounded interested, story had a general lag. The writing was okay. I’m all for female sleuthing, especially when the other cops don’t take Berlin too seriously because she’s a woman.
Book could’ve had a better cover, which didn’t really go with the mystery theme. Instead, it looked more like a kindergartener’s drawing, making it more suitable for a children’s book.
A decent mystery.
My rating: 3 stars

Review: LACEY GOES TO TOKYO by C.H. Lyn

Graphic Image designed by Sandra Lopez

International travel means international danger.

Lacey Devaine is a four-year veteran of a spy ring which fronts as an exclusive escort service, Miss Belle's Travel Guides. Maintaining her cover is Lacey's number one priority to protect the integrity of the operation she works for.

While on assignment in Tokyo, a nosy newspaper reporter threatens to blow the lid off a scandal that will put dozens of innocent lives at risk. To protect her cover, Miss Belle is called in to act on intelligence Lacey has uncovered.

Can these beautiful, intelligent, and deadly women complete this assignment in time and emerge unscathed? Or will this mission be their last?

Available on Amazon


 
My review: Miss Belle runs an escort service, but, secretly, the girls do much more. But they’re not just girls; they’re women—strong, beautiful, smart, independent women. One of the girls is Lacey, a mousy bookworm set to fly to Tokyo on a mission.
The whole thing had a slow start as Miss Belle explains in ambiguous terms the house and the girls that live in it. As Lacey boards a flight and heads to Tokyo, things are still not as clear, but the narrative clearly lays the groundwork on a spy theme.
Lacey is very stealth, organized, and methodical. Told in 1st person POV (Lacey’s view,) story combines the travel guide of Tokyo sites and the ingenuity of a covert mission (which they’re very cagey about.) Lacey relays the day-to-day of the trip and the job in a diary format. The whole thing was well-written, but a quicker pace would’ve made it more exciting. At first, it seems to concentrate more on Lacey’s personal journey and past, but, as you get more into it, the top secret mission slowly unravels.
I get that the story was trying be mysterious, but I kind of wish it would’ve been more direct rather than use a bunch of euphemisms and speculations. Why couldn’t Lacey or Miss Belle just say what they did? Why couldn’t either one of them say what the mission was? I think I really needed that info early on.
I’m all for girl power, which this book seems to exude. I like stories that paint women out as intelligent and strong, and it may even persuade me to read the next book in the series.  I just hope that it’s a little clearer and less complex.
My rating: 3 stars
 

Review: MURDER AT THE ART CLASS by Nic Saint

Emily Stone works at the coffee shop and volunteers at a life drawing class. A handsome young man just started working with her and was the nude model for her class. Oooh.


After a 2-hour drawing session, John, the nude model and renowned ladies man, was lying dead in front of the whole class. How was a he shot with an arrow, especially when it didn’t shatter a window or puncture a wall? And how was it that nobody saw anything?


Well, apparently, Emily was also considered a suspect. What she also didn’t know what that John was actually the son of an Eastern European president, a corrupt politician, and his death could’ve had something to do with his dealings.


Then the victim’s sister asks Emily to solve the murder. But she was just a waitress, not a detective. Besides, this was a huge profile case and an impossible murder. How could she get involved?


I thought this was overall well-written and insightful. Although the names were hard to read, the whole thing was fairly easy to follow. It does get complicated though. There were more names (often 2 for the same person), making it harder to keep track of the people. But I also thought that Emily was smart and observant, making this an okay amateur sleuth mystery.


My rating: 3 stars