Practical Sins for Cold Climates

Val Cameron #1

by Shelley Costa

When Val Cameron, a Senior Editor with a New York publishing company, is sent to the Canadian Northwoods to sign a reclusive bestselling author or risk losing her job, she is definitely out of her element. Val is certain she can convince Charles Cable, but first she has to find him.

Aided by a float plane pilot whose wife was killed two years ago in a case gone cold, Val’s hunt for the recluse becomes even more muddled. When all signs point to Cable as the killer, she must work to clear his name before the scandal sinks her career.

Trapped in a wilderness lake community where livelihoods collide and a killer lurks, the prospect of running into a bear could be the least of Val’s problems.

Related subjects include: cozy mysteries, women sleuths, murder mystery series, whodunit mysteries (whodunnit), book club recommendations, amateur sleuth books.

Books by Shelley Costa:

PRACTICAL SINS FOR COLD CLIMATES A KILLER’S GUIDE TO GOOD WORKS (September 2016)

Part of the Henery Press Mystery Collection, if you like one, you'll probably like them all…

Genres: Mystery, Canada, Suspense, Cozy Mystery

276 pages, Paperback

First published January 26, 2016

Reviews

[Ivonne Rovira · Rating 5 out of 5]

Take Candace Bushnell’s Carrie Bradshaw, transplant her to a Canadian version of the TV show Northern Exposure, and saddle her with a two-year-old unsolved murder and a soupçon of chick-lit romance, and you have Practical Sins for Cold Climates. I should have hated this, right? But somehow author Shelley Costa pulls it off magnificently.

Even as a fellow New Yorker, I found Valjean “Val” Cameron, a Donna Karan-clad senior editor at a boutique publishing house, initially annoying, a woman whose comfort zone is so tiny that she sees living without Carnegie Deli, a Starbucks specialty espresso coffee, and high-count Egyptian cotton sheets as roughing it. However, as Val encounters hardships in the Canadian North Woods that she couldn’t have even imagined back in her apartment on East 51st Street in Manhattan, I admired her surprising integrity and resolve. While a widowed bush pilot of sorts, Wade Decker, is thrown in as a love interest, the romance took a back seat to Val’s voyage of personal discovery and her quest to find out what really happened to Leslie Selkirk Decker that October day when someone threw her out of a second-story window at the summer camp that her family had established on Lake Wendaban at the turn of the 20th century. Not that romance aficionados won’t enjoy the tanned, sexy Wade Decker. A light-hearted mystery that provides a surprising and subtle argument on being true to yourself. I loved my time spent at Lake Wendaban and in the Canadian North Woods with the spunky, intelligent Val. This must be what chick-lit for the thinking woman looks like.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Henery Press in exchange for an honest review.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley.com and the publisher for sending me this free ebook. I enjoyed reading it and give it four out of five stars. Val Cameron is a New York city book editor who is sent to northern Ontario to get a signed contract from a reclusive author. She realizes that there is a possibility that he may be involved in a suspicious death two years before. She could lose her job if she doesn't do due diligence. She does solve the case.
This book is the first in a new promising series. I liked the ending.

[Kristina Anderson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Practical Sins for a Cold Climate by Shelley Costa is the first book in the Val Cameron Mystery series. Val Cameron has been sent to Lake Wendaban, Ontario Canada to get the reclusive Charles Cable to agree to let Schlesinger Publishing publish his latest book. Val does not like remote wilderness, but she is not given a choice (she had a little bit of trouble with her last client). Her boss, Peter Hathaway (a very odd duck with a shaved head and pajama like clothing) insists that she go (her job is on the line). It sounds like an easy job, but if it sounds that easy it will not be! Val tries to get Charles at a town meeting and ends up in the middle of a brawl. Val gets knocked out and her contract destroyed. There is unrest in the town (over development).

Wade Decker’s wife, Leslie was murdered two years previously. The case has yet to be solved. There is a hint that Charles might have killed her. Val wants to make sure to do her “due diligence” with this client (unlike her last one) before she gets him to sign the contract. Will Val be able to find the killer, clear Charles’ name, and get her contract signed? You will have to read Practical Sins for a Cold Climate to find out (such a long title).

Practical Sins for a Cold Climate is very confusing at beginning (it takes a while to start figuring things out) and the writing does not help. Stilted (and awkward) is the word that comes to mind regarding this author’s writing style. The book does not flow well. The book jumps around (one minute with Val, then another character, then it jumps again). It is like Practical Sins for a Cold Climate tried to be a combination suspense novel and cozy mystery, but it did not succeed. Practical Sins for a Cold Climate was just not an enjoyable book to read. The main character was just not someone I liked (Val), and we had too much internal dialogue (Val seems to be thinking about her lovely apartment in New York, Peter and their odd love life (yes, she was sleeping with the boss), her work, the secretary who does not like to work and the boss pays for her yoga, Peter’s odd lover (Peter is sleeping with Val and this woman) with her bald head and an oddly placed braid). Too much was shoved into one book. I give Practical Sins for a Cold Climate 1 out of 5 stars. I’m sorry, but I just did not like Practical Sins for a Cold Climate.

I received a complimentary copy of Practical Sins for a Cold Climate from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Check out my blog for additional details and other reviews: http://bibliophileandavidreader.blogs...

[Critterbee❇ · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Practical Sins for Cold Climates' is not the typical Henery Press adorable cozy mystery, yet I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. The story is very well written, uncomfortable, haunting at times, and, eventually, honest.

Valjean Cameron, the leading lady of the book, is a senior editor at a New York City based publishing company. Due to her ‘complicated’ relationship with her boss, she is sent to a small settlement on a remote lake in Canada to sign a best-selling author. Being a city girl through and through, she is immediately terrorized by what is considered everyday life to the residents. She encounters misery after hardship after misery, and her reactions are hilarious.

I felt like Val was fighting with her own vision of herself. She starts off timid, and she stubbornly wants to appear self-reliant. As the book progressed, she realizes that accepting herself and doing what she really feels is right, though difficult, is important and worth doing. This book reads as longer than typical cozies because it needs to, for honest character evolution. The mystery has a very satisfying conclusion.

I am a big fan of the Henery Press cozies, and I am happy to see that they are broadening their scope, while maintaining a high level of quality. This is the first book I have read by Shelley Costa, and I am very impressed. Also, I am especially interested in any further books featuring Valjean.

**eARC netgalley**

[HENERY PRESS PUBLISHING]

“In this edgy first in a new cozy series from Costa, Val Cameron, a senior editor at a New York publishing company, travels to the tiny town of Wendaban, Ontario…A strong plot and engaging characters make for a well-crafted mystery, and Val’s humorous attempts to cope with the wilderness do much to lighten the tension. The core of the story is Val’s discovery of her own self-worth.” – Publishers Weekly

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was quite good, and i am pleased at thr fact that the characters were well developed.

A great read from thr far north of Ontario. i loved the locale

[Marina · Rating 3 out of 5]

*Copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. *

This was my first book written by this author and I really wanted to give it a try. The plot looked interesting and fresh, different from all the other cliches. I somehow managed to finish it for more than a week ( for cozy mysteries I usually need day or two) and here are my thoughts:

The main character here is Valjean (Val) Cameron who works as an editor at a successful publishing house in Manhattan. Her boss is a former famous writer who has written just one masterpiece book.
The business is in trouble and Val is sent to Canada in the middle of nowhere to find an author who lives there and has to convince him to sign up a contract with her publishing house.

What seems like a one-day-business-journey, soon turns out into a murder investigation. There is a summer camp at Lake Wendabon that is going to be closed. One of the sisters that run the camp dies in an accident not so long time ago. The other sister does her best to save the family legacy, but her efforts look hopeless. There is a rumor that Leslie Selkirk, the sister who died, is murdered and that Charlie Cable, Val's potential best-selling author is the murderer. So Val decides to find out more about Leslie's death and make sure that her writer in bloom is not responsible for it. But when she starts to dig, much more things are getting out on the surface.

Sounds interesting, right? That's what I thought. Let me explain why I rated it the way I did.

First, the title and the cover. Did someone try to put humor in it? I don't judge books by the cover or the title, but those things really matter. The whole picture looks like a weather forecast report, not a cozy mystery book. I don't want to insult someone, I apologize if I do, but that's my opinion.

But what really bothered me here was the writing style. English is not my first language, but very rarely I need a dictionary when I read books in English. There were whole sentences that were hard for me to understand. I often asked myself what the writer wanted to say. And some scenes look so familiar. At one point I even thought that I was reading another version of Six Days Seven Nights movie with Harrison Ford and Anne Heche.

Putting the writing style and the cover aside, the mystery part was fine for me. There was an accident that happened a couple of years ago and ended with death. While most people in the town considered the death as an accident, Val figured out that something just wasn't right. Her curiosity and sense of justice took her on a journey where she had to figure out who her real friends were. She already knew that people had a darker side, but never in her wildest dreams assumed that her friends might be her enemies. I liked Val from the very first page. She arrived in the Canadian wilderness with her Prada high heels and pencil skirt and gained my sympathies. I loved that the author put her out of her comfort zone, she managed well into the wild.

Overall, it is not a bad book, just needs some polishing, according to me.

My opinion: 3 / 5.

[Elite Group · Rating 3 out of 5]

Suspicious goings on in the Canadian Wilderness!

This is a very readable book, and if allowed I would have awarded three and a half stars, as I did enjoy it despite what I felt was an unconvincing plot.

Valjean Cameron is an editor at a successful publishing house in Manhattan; here boss is the rather strange Peter Holloway, who seems to have had a personality change, from conservative businessman to eccentric hippy.

The business has been in trouble due to having published a book about paedophilia by an author who has turned out to be a paedophile! Awkward; especially for Val who is accused of not having undertaken due diligence. To redeem herself she is sent to the Canadian Wilderness to sign up a new book by a different author, Charlie Cable, a virtual recluse.

Arriving at Lake Wendabon in her Prada heels, Val is way out of her comfort zone. She is faced with a Summer Camp which is on its last legs due to the murder of joint owner Leslie Selkirk two years previously, and a very active environmental lobby. Determined not to mess up again, and with Leslie’s murder not solved, she must ensure that Charlie Cable is not the murderer. She is assisted by Wade Decker who was married to Leslie, and who also pilots the local seaplane.

This was the point where I felt credibility was stretched to the limit, but what results is a
‘ripping yarn’ which had me entertained until the last page.


Somewhat lacking in convincing situations in which Val finds herself and amazingly seems to cope, but still a worthwhile read.

Pashtpaws

Breakaway Reviewers were given a copy of the book to review

[Andrea Stoeckel · Rating 4 out of 5]

[I received this book free from the publisher through NetGalley. I thank them for their generousity. In exchange, I was simply asked to write an honest review, and post it. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising]

"To know a clue when it slapped her silly would depend on a familiarity with these lives that she didn’t have."

Valjean Cameron worked at a small estoteric publishing house in Manhatten. She worked for Peter Hathaway for 12 years now, weaving their love life like a repair in an old muslin curtain, doing grunt work for the company while Peter basked in the spotlight. And Val put up with it despite Peter's changing habits and strange new girlfriend, despite the receptionist she'd dubbed "Ivy League Ivy", despite the fact that the publisher might in fact go under without a signature on a contract from a squirrely recluse who lived up north in Canada in Peter's old home town.

So here is she is, being thrust into nowhere island two days north of her beloved Manhatten, trying to find reclusive Charles Cable and get his signature. Easy peasey...right? Well.....

This is not your everyday Henery Press book. It's no cosy mystery. Instead, you are dealing with a taught action mystery that is as convoluted as the waterways it travels. And, that's its drawback. It's too long and a bit confusing. I have to hand it to Ms. Costas; she writes very well, but this might not be appealing to some "regulars".

[Judy Lesley · Rating 3 out of 5]

My overall rating for this novel is three stars because the author managed to hit so many of my "hot button" dislikes. However, there are going to be many readers who don't have the same issues and I'm sure they would be willing to give a higher rating than mine.

I didn't like the romance aspects constantly impinging on the story. If Valjean Cameron wasn't thinking about participating in a romantic encounter.......she was thinking about having participated in a romantic encounter. I become very irritated when an author feels the need to put a brand name on the items they are describing. Even a wood burning stove was not allowed to escape the branding. I didn't find the solution to the mystery Val Cameron began investigating hard to figure out at all and that was disappointing. A woman who holds the responsible position of a senior editor at a publishing company and she never even thought to get even basic information regarding the remote area she was headed to.

I don't read chick-lit. This just reinforces my reasoning behind that decision.

I received an e-ARC of this novel through NetGalley and Henery Press.

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Practical Sins for Cold Climates is a well written and professionally edited mystery/romance novel. I am not sure whether this is going to be a series or a standalone novel.

Valjean, an editor from a prestigious small press publishing company, is sent by her boss, and sometimes lover, to the Canadian back woods. Her mission: to get the signature of a reclusive author on a publishing contract. A contact that will make or break her career. She finds herself stumbling into a murder mystery amid the cast of eccentric characters.

I thoroughly enjoyed the mystery section of the plot, but I had a great deal of trouble identifying with Valjean's insecurity and lack of self esteem. Little background was given to let the reader understand where these characteristics were coming from.

But overall I enjoyed PSFCC and recommend it as an easy weekend read.

ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was given PSFCC by NetGalley for An Honest Review . Just posted one on FB & NetGalley...Hoping For A Series!!
A Simple assignment for Senior Editor Val Cameron,tracking down elusive Author Charles Cable to sign the contract for his new book "The Astroid Mandate"in Lake Wendaban Ontario,Canada...Val is a New Yorker,so not much can phase her.The Rollercoaster ride of actually finding Charles,is more then she bargained for.. Not a 2 day trip as planned..Curious Val,an excellent trait for an Editor... Then there is a Murder to solve.. Where is Charles? One never knows how vulnerable we are to situations that will change us forever...I am assuming Val is back in NYC..We won't know until Thankfully " A Killers Guide to Great Works" is released September 2016... Because now I'm embedded in the Series...

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Shelley Costa's Practical Sins for Cold Climates, the first installment in the Val Cameron Mystery cozy series, she tackled a grittier nail-biter in this new cozy series debut. For Val Cameron, a senior editor from Fir Ta Dine publishing company in New York, she headed over to Canada to procure a contract deal with a recluse in the Canadian mountains. From there, she met an interesting array of people who supported Camp Sojo and learned the astonishing history behind it with the debate of tearing it down. She uncovered secrets and lies of the death of the people who were there, then and now. As she tried to track down Charles Cable, she met widower Wade Decker and dealt with stone-cold business with her boss, Peter Hathaway. As she uncovered the truth behind Leslie Decker's murder, she couldn't believe who was the culprit and how close she was to the truth that can be so cold.

[Betty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Val Cameron arrives in Northeast Canadian woods to do one thing in this alien area. She has a contract to be signed by a best-selling author. Her plans are to spend one day getting the signature and return to New York at once. Almost at once, her plans go astray as the author keeps disappearing. Soon she is involved in a cold murder. Her thoughts turned to the meaning of life. How she managed the events in order not to become involved in her life changes. I had problems getting into the book as too many different affairs were mention. Once I got into the book I keep turning the pages.

Disclosure: I received a free copy from HENERY PRESS through Netgalley for an honest review. I would like to thank them for this opportunity to read and review the book. The opinions are my own.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book by Shelley Costa that I've read, but it certainly won't be the last. The plot kept me turning pages from beginning to end as I tried to figure out 'who done it'. I also liked the second story line of Val coming into her own.

Ms. Costas's characters were well developed. I felt like I knew them! I am glad to read that this is the beginning of a new series.

I received an ARC from NetGalley.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a interesting murder mystery set in a remote Canadian village. Valjean travels from NYC to get an author signed for her publishing company. She becomes involved in a cold case murder, suspicion about which villager murdered the local camp owner, and how this all fits into her life. I think Valjean grows as a person on her visit to Canada and discovers she likes herself.

[Kristina Anderson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Practical Sins for Cold Climates was a difficult book to read. It is awkwardly written. I did not like the main character (actually, I did not like any of the characters). This book had too much in it and it went on forever. It was not enjoyable to read (it was like trying to swim through oatmeal). I will post my complete review soon.

[Katherine Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full disclosure: Shelley is a friend of mine, and another friend had finished this book this year and loved it, so I came to it with mixed feelings. (When someone loves a book, I am often, can't help it, skeptical).

This book is interesting for many reasons. First, I wasn't sure I was going to like it. The main character, Val, was annoying to me, and I often lately have difficulty with unlikable characters. By the way, I could imagine most people liking Val, so I do think that is me.

On the other hand, I thought I was highly likely to enjoy this book because the setting is rural Canada, and that is one of my favorite places on earth. Shelley's setting is terrific, and yet different from my own experience. Fun to see through different eyes.

My favorite thing about the book though is that it grew on me. The tone bothered me at first, and then it deepened. I am saying this badly, but I'm tired, and surrounded by dogs that are really bugging me this morning, and I want to finish this review. Let me just say the book became more and more interesting, and by the end of it, I actually felt a frisson. This was unexpected.

I am so glad I read this and am eager to read the second.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is has an intriguing setting and plot, and interesting characters. It's also well-written, and I enjoyed the author's very dry humour.

[JoAnne McMaster (Any Good Book) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Valjean Cameron is a New York book editor who has been sent to Canada to get a signed contract from recluse Charles Cable before anyone else hones in. Her boss Peter, really didn't give her a choice - get the contract or get a new job. It doesn't help that she and Peter recently broke up, and Val believes they're "soulmates" and belong together - she figures it's only a matter of time before Peter figures it out.

What she's not happy about, though, is being in the north where she has no business being in the first place. She knows nothing of woods, camping, or any other mysteries Canada has to offer, and she'd like to keep it that way. After a rocky start and a lot of misgivings, she meets Wade Decker, Peter's friend and her guide to finding Cable, who comes and goes as he pleases.

What she also discovers is that Wade's wife Leslie Selkirk Decker, was killed two years ago in what at first seemed an accident, but others consider murder, since, on the surface, everyone loved her, right? Only Val starts digging a little bit and finds out differently. Wade tells her to leave it alone but Val, of course, doesn't.

What follows is Val's journey through the wilds of Canada to trap her elusive author and it's a jarring one for her - no fresh laundry, no comforts of home, everything she's been happy to avoid until now. When she finally reaches her destination and is almost ready to go home, this is when she finds out the truth of Leslie's death - a truth that will hurt her very core.

This book is not just a murder mystery - it is a tale of secrets and lies, and how when kept too close to the chest can oftentimes lead to pain, betrayal, hurt, and a feeling that what one has lost in one human being can never be redeemed by another.

To be honest, I didn't much care for the character of Val - she seemed shallow, self-serving, spoiled, and not the kind of woman I'd want to be friends with. I never really felt that she loved Peter, only that she had an obsession of sorts about him, wanting to make him love her. An adult realizes that you can't "make" anyone love you; but an obsessed person won't see this. It didn't seem realistic that everything she did, she did for Peter.

There were redeeming qualities to the book that I enjoyed very much indeed, and they showed through: Raw pain - from Carolyn regarding Martin; Charlie regarding Marcus; Wade regarding his late wife (in that he knew he'd been used); but no raw pain from Val regarding Peter. That one bothered me a little bit.

However, the one thing that stands with me is the fact that there are many people who pass through our lives; those we know will stay a short time and those we know will stay forever. When a man stands before you - naked under a waterfall, totally at peace with the world and with himself, you'd be a damned fool to walk away from that. This is an act of sheer beauty; not nature vs. man, but with man, someone who's been through whatever the world throws at them and can still find life worthwhile. Val would be an utter fool to allow him to leave her world.

As far as the mystery goes, it was interesting enough, and I liked the surprise ending. It made the book come together well, and it helped that the characters were enough to make you care what happened to them. Ms. Costa's portrayal of not just the solving of a murder, but the people left behind and their shattered lives speaks volumes. As a start to a new series, this one does very well indeed. Highly recommended.

I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review but this in no way influenced my decision.

[Elayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somewhere in the cold far north of Canada, there are some lakes that experience a brief summer. A summer full of rain, fog and mosquitoes. But a summer where birds hatch chicks on the lakes and if you are so inclined you can catch fish. You may even catch sight of the loons with their chicks riding on their backs [photo].
In these watery environs you boat or canoe to your destination. Your destination may well be an island and your nearest neighbour is on the next island but one, and it takes 30 mins by boat to go and shop for food, but your family has a cabin here and has been coming here every summer for 100 years or so, and you love the rustic atmosphere.
You sit on Adirondack chairs (which personally I find very uncomfortable). You cover sofas with hand- made afghans and your beds with hand-made quilts of all the summer dresses your forebears wore and cut up when they got too dilapidated.
Your window shutters are held open by hand-hewn logs and you use Native American craftwork for baskets and wall-coverings and rugs. Sometimes you still use the outhouse dug out at the back of the property too.
And when the brief summer ends, you g home to your urban life, sunburnt, covered in mosquito bites, but a little fitter and ready to watch Cable and Netflix and drink cappuccino with multi flavours and eat muffins on the way to work in your glass-sided office block. Warm and safe from wild life and full of noise and bustle.
But some people stay on back at the Northern wilderness. Some are hermits and have run away from the world, or have run to a life that is simpler and others are native to the area and their tribes have lived there for all their memory.
But these tranquil shores are ripe. Ripe to develop. More cottages and marinas and lake shore amenities.
There is the demand.
There is also a continuing demand for good wood from well grown trees – such as the forests that surround the lakes. And the easiest way to obtain this wood is to clear-cut the hills. To de-forest and not to replant.
Prior to the arrival of European-Americans in 1600, about one half of the United States land area was forest, about 4,000,000 square kilometres (990,000,000 acres). 95% of the original forests were logged during the past 200 years.
Clearcutting produces: Torrential floods wash away the rich topsoil and gouge deep ravines, exposing rocks, clay or sand. The bare earth is saturated with plant-killing chemicals, the land bulldozed, the remaining branches and fallen tree trunks soaked with gasoline and set on fire; every living thing above and below the ground is dead. The entire scene is crisscrossed with dirt roads leading to...nowhere. Only 20% of the US forests are protected.
Once a logging company deforests an area, the landowner now has several acres of clear land. Prompted by money, a landowner can sell these acres to developers for new housing complexes.
So your sins relate to the practicalities of living in this wilderness area. Adultery is always popular, but sometimes the only way out is murder.
Into this life comes Valjean looking for her hermit author.
I really liked this story and thought it was well written. However, there were times when I got somewhat confused about the characters and their relationships to each other.
Overall good story. Some interesting ideas and concepts and morality questions raised.

[Jeanette Hubbard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Fast, funny exciting murder mystery. I love the main character. She's gutsy, snarky and willing to make necessary changes in her life.

[Judie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Val Cameron was trying to advance her career in literary publishing. When her boss,
Peter Hathaway, sent her to northern Ontario to get an author to sign a contract. She wasn’t happy about the assignment but felt she had to go. A previous contract with an author with what turned out to be a major skeleton in the closet made it imperative to get this one done. The company really needed the money. And, after all, it would only be a quick fly in-fly out trip.
A New Yorker through and through, she didn’t exactly prepare for the different environment and her designer shoes and clothes showed what she expected to happen, not what actually happened.
The town was very isolated in a beautiful area. She quickly found the people she needed to reach the author, Charlie Cable, but learned that he came in only once a month to get his mail but had just left. She went to get settled into Hathaway’s cottage then went to find someone to help her reach Cable at his home. She found Wade Decker, a handsome, rugged pilot and outdoorsman. Decker had a history: His wife’s body had been found on the rocks outside their home two years earlier. There were rumors that she had been killed and that she had committed suicide. Decker refused to talk about it.
Leslie Selkirk Decker, it turned out, was a beautiful woman who was very much disliked by almost everyone. The camp that her family owned for many years had been failing and there was interest in buying the land for development. That made her a possible target for several people.
Her inquiries led to Cable being the killer, but if he was, what would that mean both if he signed the contract and if he didn’t?
The book is well-written with well developed characters, subtle humor, and sharp observation: For example, for her first ride in a floatplane “Val threw on her sunglasses so he couldn’t tell her eyes were squeezed shut, and she concentrated on not stiffening herself into a complete plank....” I did not expect the ending.
Interesting comments:
“No matter where you went on the planet...someone would be having a meeting.”
“On the whole, pain was a damn sight better than fear.”
“Whenever she thought she was being winsome the average male still needed a secret decoder ring.”
This is the first of a three-book series. I’m looking forward to reading more about Val’s adventures.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I always wonder why anyone puts lots of comments by critics in the overview blurb of a book, stating over and over how good the book is. That is how this book’s blurb reads. Get to the overview already! I got this book to read and review through NetGalley a few weeks ago. I began the book, with no preconceived ideas about it, the main character or the setting. I soon found myself wondering where the author was going. The book starts slowly. Val Cameron, a Senior Editor with a New York publishing company, is sent to the Canadian wilds to get a book contract signed by a reclusive author. Val is not a backwoods sort of girl and has some difficulty adjusting to this environs. However, she muddles through. At the outset she meets a pilot, Wade Decker, who uses his plane to take her into the wilds. Decker, whose wife was killed a couple of years back and whose death remains a mystery, becomes an integral part of the story. Val seeks her reclusive author, out only to find he is a likely suspect in this murder. Thus, Val must clear him before completing her mission. Can she do this and also get the contract signed? Practical Sins for Cold Climates provides the answer.

The story is interesting and presents a good picture of this remote area and life, but it meanders along in a somewhat confusing manner. I had difficulty getting into this book. It jumps around a lot. There is a lot of internal dialogue on the part of Val. The action is slow to get started, though, once going, does move along. I agree with one reviewer that the author tried to make this a cozy mystery cum suspense novel, and put just a bit too much effort into it. The setting is interesting—I had never really read much and know little about the Canadian Northwoods or its residents. I figured they were a tight, but somewhat eccentric bunch, which they are. However, though interesting to read about this area as the author wove the storyline through it, I just had difficulty getting into and staying with this book. This book would appeal to someone looking for something written with this setting or someone trying to find a new, different author who enjoys cozy mysteries and suspense novels, though, in my opinion, the author this does not do either of these as well as she could have.

[Donna Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a terrific surprise! Shelley Costa is a contender. This is the first of her books that I have read, although she has won the Agatha Award with her first novel, You Cannoli Die Once, which I have to find and read now. For those that love a snarky, spirited female investigator, Practical Sins for Cold Climates is a must-read. Thank you to both Net Galley and Henery Press for the DRC. The title is available for purchase January 26.

Val Cameron has been sent out to Lake Wendaban, which is out in the middle of nowhere way too far from Toronto. Worse, she has been directed by her boss to find Bob’s Bait Shop in order to be directed to the home of a reclusive writer with a hot new book that her publishing house covets. She figures it will take two days to achieve, since the train just goes once each way per day. Get off; take a day to get to the writer and get the signature; and then the next day, she can be back in her own Manhattan apartment, away from the bears, the mud, the snakes, the invertebrates. Done deal. Because the fact is, “She wasn’t a bait-buying kind of gal.”

Of course, it doesn’t go as quickly as she had hoped. What kind of story would that provide us? For starters,

“There had to be some mistake. Where was the town?
“When Peter Hathaway, her boss, first told her she had to get to the town of Wendaban, Ontario, she figured on awnings and sidewalk café seating. Some charming cross between Fire Island and Bedford Falls…Barbershops and garden clubs. …Had the train let her off pre-maturely, say, at a whistle stop? Some little pre-station station where you just had to wait while the moose crossed the tracks?...The town looked like the outskirts of itself.”

For the rest of my review:

http://seattlebookmamablog.org/2015/1...

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked how this book ended. I liked the way the author made Val Cameron grow throughout this book. I think that her stories can be a worthwhile series, but I nearly didn’t find out. I struggled to get though this book. I nearly gave up on it a couple of times. If I had a book that I REALLY wanted to read sitting near the top of my TBR pile, Practical Sins for Cold Climates would have been toast. I started two other books, but neither of them grabbed me, so I dropped back and decided to give it one last shot.

The story started off fine, but seemed to bog down once we actually made it to northern Canada. The various characters were not well enough differentiated, and that, along with some unknown characters doing mysterious things, just confused me. Plus I didn’t really connect with Val Cameron at first. I’m afraid that many people will just give up at that point. I’m glad that I didn’t.

The storyline started to sort itself out somewhere around the midpoint of the book. The characters filled out a bit and I could finally start to enjoy the story. The ending worked very well, and I am looking forward to reading another book in this series. After all, what book lover doesn’t like to read stories where books are one of the principal characters, and the publishing industry plays a major role. That premise was what attracted me to Practical Sins in the first place.

I give Practical Sins for Cold Climates 3 1/2 Stars out of 5, and a Thumbs Up. I really am torn. The ending had such a great feel to it, but I’m afraid that many people will never get there. Just keep ploughing though. It will be worth it.

I received a Digital Review Copy from the publisher.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Stars - I'm so glad I picked this up - I thought it was really good but I have two minor complaints 1) the title - I still don't know how it relates to the book, and 2) a map - I really needed a map of the area.

It's not really a cozy, although the main protagonist is not in law enforcement, and it's set in a rural area/small town. There is a bit more violence and sex than your typical cozy, although in no way is anything graphic. I think the main thing that pulls it from the cozy realm for me, is the main character, Val Cameron. She doesn't fall into solving a crime, she decides to solve a crime out of prurient curiosity.

Val is Carrie Bradshaw in the Canadian woods. An editor at a small publishing house she is given the task, by her ex-lover boss, of tracking down a reclusive author who lives in the the Lakelands area of Ontario province. Of course nothing goes to plan and Val gets caught up in local politics, and drama. There is a love interest, but the focus of the book is on Val, her growth and development as she faces several challenges of varying types, and at the end, she is truly the heroine.

The characters were generally well developed, and the main characters were particularly well written. You understood their motivations even when you did not agree with them. It was well-plotted and I did not figure it out until about the 2/3 point which is pretty good. I also thought the author was very good at describing the geography of the area - it felt expansive and claustrophobic at the same time. There was humor, drama, suspense, and it kept my attention the whole way through. I will definitely be continuing with the series.

[Lghiggins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished reading a book that was so much more than I expected. Practical Sins for Cold Climates is the first in a new series of mysteries by Shelley Costa. It is definitely not the last work in the series that I will read. I approached the book with expectations of zipping through a chick lit book of the “airplane genre,” the kind of fast-moving, engaging but formulaic mystery that absorbs you in the airport waiting area and on the plane in the midst of noise and chaos and then is quickly forgotten.

Costa’s main character is not a predictable romance-seeking detective wanna be. She is a book editor on a professional mission that takes her out of her comfort zone and across international borders. In the process she is forced to examine herself both professionally and personally. The other characters are also complex and hold up well in a plot with many twists and turns.

Costa is an accomplished writer with good descriptive powers. I enjoyed her beautiful turn of phrase. On many occasions in the reading, although eager to proceed with plot developments, I found myself rereading a sentence just to enjoy the way an idea was expressed, much as one might enjoy a succulent peach taking the time to savor the juicy ripeness. Kudos to Ms. Costa on creating a very worthwhile read.

Thanks to Netgalley.com for the opportunity to read this book and review it.

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

The right mix of suspense, humorous situations, beautiful scenery and great characters.

New York City is Val Cameron's environment so when she finds herself in the remote Canadian town of Lake Wedaban in Northern Ontario to get author Charlie Cable's signature on a contract for his new book, she's terrified but determined not to show it.

Figuring out a new language that includes poutine, LCBO, GO JAYS, on top of new places like the Honey Bee Restaurant and Bob's Bait Shop, Val finds herself curious about the inhabitants of this community where island cottage industry can work with or conflict with children's camps, loggers and regular town folk who service all these activities while raising families.

Peter Hathaway and Val were colleagues since their start at Schlesinger Publishing until Peter acquired a blockbuster novel which made him her boss and more recently her lover.

Peter's relationship with Charlie Cable as a fellow cottager and his connections at Wendaban provide Val access to interesting people, like float plane pilot Wade Decker and camp owner Caroline Selkirk, the sister of Wade's deceased wife Leslie.

On the quest to get Charlie's signature Val finds herself learning to pilot a boat, portaging overnight in the wilderness, and stumbling across details of Leslie's unsolved murder that puts her in danger.

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars! This was my first book by Shelley Costa and boy was it action packed! Most of the book took place near the water dealing with canoes, sea planes and fishing boats all things that I myself are not comfortable with. So with that going on and the story, my heart beat was definitely pumping faster than usual.

While trying to get a reclusive author to sign a publishing contract Val, stumbles upon a questionable death where all signs point to the author as being the perpetrator. Already having signed a pedophile, she doesn't want to make the same mistake twice. So she is determined to find out whether this author is a killer. She goes through a lot of crap (and I mean literally) to get to his very secluded cabin in order to meet him and get to the bottom of this murder business. All along, her boss is giving her impossible ultimatums.

It was definitely a book that I could not and did not put down. The writing was good, the characters were believable and the story was believable. As usual, Henery Press has delivered yet another author that I will be adding to my TBR pile.

Huge thanks to Henery Press for approving my request and to Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest review. This one was definitely worth the ride!