Thank you to Rachel from Rachel's Random Resources for inviting me to participate in the blog tour for Death at Lovers' Leap, the third book in Martha Miller series of cozy mysteries set in a fictional village of Westleham in 1948.

Death at Lovers' Leap

Westleham Village 1948

As Valentine's Day rolls around, Martha Miller finds herself unusually melancholy at the state of her own love life. With husband Stan still missing and with her growing feelings for Vicar Luke still shrouded in secrecy, there’s only one place Martha can go - famous local beauty spot, Lovers' Leap.
Legend has it that those with a broken heart throw themselves off the bridge that spans the river, but Martha is certainly not about to do such a thing! But it looks like someone else has had other ideas…. Because there in the river, Martha finds a body. But is this misadventure, a moment of lovesick madness, or is foul play afoot? Martha knows one thing…the villagers of Westleham have another crime to solve! Let the investigation commence! Find out if Martha and Luke can catch the killer in a brand new Martha Miller mystery from bestselling author Catherine Coles.

Publication Date: February 16, 2024 by Boldwood Books
Publisher: Boldwood Books


Purchase Link

My thoughts:
Death at Lovers' Leap is  the third book in  Martha Miller Mysteries set in the post-war rural Britain. I'm a big fan of Catherine Coles' writing style- deceptively simple, but extremely engaging and full of realistic memorable details. If you are wondering whether you need to read the first two books before embarking on this one, the beginning of the story contains a very useful recap which will bring a new reader up to speed with the series in no time at all.
Martha, despite being quite reserved, is an extremely likeable character who has managed to make quite a few friends in the village. If you read the second book, you will remember we were left on a cliffhanger as far as her relationship with her sleuthing sidekick the dashing vicar Luke Walker is concerned. Their life circumstances seem to make it impossible for them to be more than friends. Of course, we've all been expecting the third book to see if we are going to get more news about where and why Stan Miller disappeared, leaving Martha desperately destitute and lonely. Luckily, she managed to integrate into the village life, not least thanks to her sleuthing successes. When Martha finds another dead body, the victim's mother, who is convinced it couldn't have possibly been a suicide, asks her to find the murderer of her son. The mystery itself is pretty straightforward and you will probably guess the culprit and their motive quite early on. Still, we get more developments on the romance front and other important relationships and get introduced to a few new characters.
The book has practically no subplots which makes it easier to read, but also makes it appear an interlude. The important thing is that the story never drags and leaves you both entertained and looking forward to the next instalment.
As with the previous books, I really liked the historical details and the bigger context in which the story is set, including the rationing books which play an important part in the story. I would definitely recommend this series to anyone who enjoys historical mysteries.
Thank you to Rachel from Rachel's Random Resources, Netgalley and Boldwood books for the review copy provided in exchange for an honest opinion.

Author Bio

The daughter of a military father, Catherine was born in Germany and lived most of the first 14 years of her life abroad. She spent her school years devouring everything her school library had to offer! Catherine writes cosy mysteries that take place in the English countryside. Her extremely popular Tommy & Evelyn Christie mysteries are set in 1920s North Yorkshire. Catherine lives in northeast England with her two spoiled dogs who have no idea they are not human!

Social Media Links
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/catherine.coles.9847
Twitter https://twitter.com/catherinecoles
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/catherinecolesauthor/
Newsletter Sign Up: https://bit.ly/CatherineColesNews
Bookbub profile: Catherine Coles Books - BookBub

Description

"Fire wasn’t exactly the intended outcome of a water spell, but with me, sadly inevitable."

Phoebe’s new life as a mage hasn’t had an auspicious start. No matter how hard she tries, her spells fail spectacularly. How is she to impress her boss, Archibald Kane, if she keeps setting her hair on fire?

Her problems with magic become trivial when a night out ends with a dead body. The victim has clearly been killed by a vampire, and the evidence points at Phoebe’s housemate Luca.

The leader of London vampires, Morgan Hunt, is convinced Luca is guilty. To prove his innocence, Phoebe and Luca set out to solve the death. Was the victim random, or has an old enemy of Hunt’s returned? And how are they to find the killer when Hunt has done his best to hide his past?

Phoebe is an expert in unearthing old things, but facing a powerful foe would be easier, if she had a hang of her spellcasting too. Luckily she has magical friends she can count on. And maybe the third spell turns out to be the charm after all.

Publisher: Crimson House Books        
Publication Date:   March 27th 2022
ISBN 9789527061558
ebook ISBN: 9789527061541

My thoughts:

Third Spell's the Charm is the third book in Susanna Shore's House of Magic series of paranormal cozy mysteries set in London.

Our sweet and charming protagonist Phoebe Thorpe is finally coming to terms with the discovery of the supernatural London and its usual suspects- vampires, weres, witches and warlocks, and an occasional hellhound or two. This is a bit of a spoiler if you haven't read the first two books yet, but she is also a mage herself, well, an untrained one, who needs to level up her non-existent spellcasting as soon as possible. As the title and the blurb suggest, Phoebe shouldn't let her spectacular failures discourage her, it will all come to her eventually and our naive mage/amateur sleuth will save the day for her lovely landladies, her housemates Ashleigh and Luca, her gentlemanly boss/love  interest Kane, and the whole law-abiding magic community.

I loved seeing the familiar faces and finding out how Phoebe's relationships and friendships grow and deepen. The mystery itself was based on an old grudge, so Phoebe has to do quite a lot of good, old fact-gathering and just won't let bygones stay bygones. As you can guess this doesn't go down well and she manages to ruffle a few feathers. If you pay attention to details, it isn't too difficult to guess the villain this time.

An easy, fun read, perfect for anyone who likes paranormal cozies with quirky, adorable characters and a lot of fast-paced action. Looking forward to the next story in this addictive series!

Thank you to NetGalley and Crimson House Books for the review copy provided in exchange for an honest opinion.

About the author:
​Susanna Shore is an independent author of more than twenty books. She writes the Two-Natured London paranormal romance series, P.I. Tracy Hayes series of light mysteries set in Brooklyn, and House of Magic paranormal mystery series. She is also an author of some contemporary romances and thrillers.

You can find her on Twitter @SusannaShore and more about her books on her webpage susannashore.com, where you can also find short stories and a sign-up page to her newsletter.

Thank you to Rachel from rachel's Random Resources for inviting me to participate in the blog tour for Death of a Texan, a cozy mystery set in Costa Rica. This is the second book in the series following The Bellhop Only Stalks Once, published in August 2020.

 Death of a Texan

A grieving widow. A sketchy admirer. An adoring boyfriend.
But one of them is up to no good.

Chloe's new life in Costa Rica seems perfect: her relationship with Mateo is heating up, and her career as a private investigator is off to a good start. She only wishes that her cases were more interesting than the lost dogs or cheating husbands she's been hired for so far…
She gets her wish when a dead body lands, almost literally, at her feet. Hired by the highly strung Elena Vargas to follow her husband, Victor, Chloe discovers that not only was he cheating on his wife – he's been murdered.

As Chloe delves deeper into the mystery surrounding Victor's death, she uncovers secret after secret. The danger becomes all too real when she narrows in on the killer's identity. Someone is following her everywhere, and threatening notes arrive on her doorstep.

As if that's not bad enough, her relationship with Mateo begins to unravel, and his coworker, Jaime, seems intent on convincing her that Mateo is a cheater.

Desperately trying to figure out what's going on, Chloe becomes more and more enmeshed in a sordid world of lies, sex, and murder.

Who can Chloe really trust? And can she catch the killer before she becomes the next victim?

Purchase Link - http://mybook.to/deathofatexan

My thoughts:

Death of a Texan is the second book in a series of dark and quirky cozy mysteries featuring Chloe, an American girl from Baltimore who settled down in Costa Rica and opened a PI agency.  I could follow the story, as the author mentions Chloe's previous big case quite a lot. Still I think it is better to start from the beginning of the series in order to appreciate the development of significant relationships in Chloe's life.

Life of a PI isn't all glamour. As Chloe finds out it involves lots of trivial cases, including tracing kidnapped chickens and checking out on erring husbands. On the other hand, these tend to be far less dangerous, if not slightly boring. That is until Chloe tries to get evidence of her client's husband's cheatingand finds his dead body instead. Chloe feels she owes her client Elena at least some kind of closure and enthusiastically continues her investigation which has turned into a murder case. Her loyal team Juan and Patty and her boyfriend Mateo are considerably less enthusiatic, as they feel Chloe might be getting into something which should be dealt by the police. It quickly becomes apparent that Victor Vargas's widow Elena is hiding some secrets of her own. There are also rumours of a serial killer on the loose and young women disappearing across several countries. The case keeps getting bigger and bigger. Can our fairly inexperienced PI handle it?

The lead character Chloe is obviously going through a lot of soul-searching. Free-spirited and independent, she is still getting over her previous realationship with an overbearing and controlling ex. This means that she is mistrustful of anyone who tries to protect her, as she sees it as lack of confidence in her abilities. On top of that she is missing her best friend who obviously complimented Chloe's character in many ways. I don't want to give the story away, in case you want to start from Book 1.

The writing was quite entertaining with a bit of quirky humour, perfect for a cozy mystery. I liked the location, although I can't say how faithful the place descriptions are, but it was interesting to see have an expat/protagonist, who has to rely on other people's useful contacts to get information. It was also very easy to follow the plot, despite some fairly unusual (ok, downright outlandish, to be honest) characters.

Overall, it was an entertaining mystery with good pace and a lovely, somewhat stubborn protagonist, who is trying to work out what she wants and needs from various relationships in her life.
I would like to read the next book in the series and see where Chloe ends up.

Thank you to Rachel and the author for the review copy provided in exchange for an honest opinion.

Author Bio

Cat Hickey has a Master’s degree in Biology, and teaches Anatomy and Physiology at a university in Baltimore, MD, USA. She writes light-hearted mysteries and thrillers that are based, partly, on her extensive travels around the world. She is also an avid yogi who teaches aerial yoga and practices aerial circus arts, and spends the rest of her time with her three rescue animals, which consist of three cats and a horse.

Social Media Links –  www.facebook/cathickey
https://twitter.com/CatHickey4

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