Dead-End Detective by Amanda Flower

Dead-End Detective by Amanda Flower 315 pages
 

Dead-End Detective is the first in Amanda Flower's Piper & Porter Mystery series.  This cozy mystery takes place in a small town by Seneca Lake.  Private investigator Darby Piper must prove her innocence when her partner Samantha is run off the road and killed.  Darby is surprised to learn that Samantha had changed her will and has left her portion of the agency to her nephew, Tate.  Although Darby is leery of Tate, the two develop quite a chemistry as they work to prove Darby's innocence.

I am a fan of Amanda Flower and this new series did not disappoint. I look forward to seeing how Darby and Tate's relationship develops and what new mysteries they take on in the future.

Crime and Poetry

 Crime and Poetry by Amanda Flower 345 pages 

Violet Waverly rushes back to the home she left 12 years ago in Cascade Springs when she gets a call from her dying grandmother. Violet is in for a lot of surprises when the morning after her first stay there is a murder in the town. Violet will have to confront her past and face the future in order to find out who is responsible. 

Murders and Metaphors by Amanda Flower

 

Murders and Metaphors by Amanda Flower

(A Magical Bookshop Mystery #3)

320 pages / 8 hrs, 15 mins

"January means ice wine season in the Niagara Falls region, but the festivities leave Charming Books owner Violet Waverly cold, still reeling from a past heartbreak...But Grandma Daisy, an omniscient force all on her own, informs Violet that she’s already arranged for the mystical Charming Books to host celebrity sommelier Belinda Perkins’s book signing at the party. Little do either Waverly women know, the ice wine festival will turn colder still when Violet finds Belinda in the middle of the frozen vineyard—with a grape harvest knife protruding from her chest.

"Belinda grew up in Cascade Springs, but she left town years ago after a huge falling-out with her three sisters. One of those sisters, Violet’s high school friend Lacey Dupont, attends the book signing in the hope of making amends with her sister, but Belinda and Lacey end up disrupting the signing with a very public shouting match and Lacey quickly becomes the prime suspect in the sommelier’s murder.

"Violet is sure Lacey is innocent, and to keep her friend out of prison, Violet asks for guidance from her magical bookshop. The shop’s ethereal essence points her to Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, but what have the four March sisters to do with the four Perkins sisters? ...Violet, Grandma Daisy, Emerson the tuxedo cat, and resident crow Faulkner are back on the case in Murders and Metaphors..."  --from the publisher

Another fun, cozy mystery. The book is well written, and although the characters are a bit one-dimensional, they are easy to relate to. I give it four out of five stars.

Crime and Poetry by Amanda Flower

Crime and Poetry by Amanda Flower
(A Magical Bookshop Mystery #1)
436 pages / 8 hrs, 15 mins

"Rushing home to sit by her ailing grandmother's bedside, Violet Waverly is shocked to find Grandma Daisy the picture of perfect health. Violet doesn't need to read between the lines: her grandma wants Violet back home and working in her magical store, Charming Books. It's where the perfect book tends to fly off the shelf and pick you...

"Violet has every intention to hightail it back to Chicago, but then a dead man is discovered clutching a volume of Emily Dickinson's poems from Grandma Daisy's shop. The victim is Benedict Raisin, who recently put Grandma Daisy in his will, making her a prime suspect. Now, with the help of a tuxedo cat named Emerson, Violet will have to find a killer to keep Grandma from getting booked for good..."   --from the publisher

I love the idea of the magical books and the quaint, small-town setting near Niagara Falls makes for a good cozy mystery.  Violet and Grandma Daisy are likable characters along with Emerson and Faulkner (a crow).  I rated it 3 stars out of 5.

A Plain Scandal by Amanda Flower

A Plain Scandal by Amanda Flower - 324 pages

Soon after the dust has settled on a buggy accident that turned out to be murder, an unknown assailant begins cutting off the long hair of Amish girls and the beards of Amish men.  Chloe Humphrey may not share their customs, but she is certainly alarmed over these crimes and when one hits close to home, she wants to be involved in finding the person responsible.  When she discovers the body of an Amish businessman, stabbed in the back and his beard cut off, she knows that finding the murderer is as much her responsibility as anyone else's.

"A Plain Death" by Amanda Flower

"A Plain Death" by Amanda Flower - 319 pages

Chloe moves to Appleseed Creek, an Amish community, from Cleveland for a job.  Her first friend is Becky, a girl leaving her Amish family, who "borrows" Chloe's car and has an accident that kills one of the bishops from the community.  Chloe and Becky along with Becky's brother, Timothy, soon find out that the accident wasn't all Becky's fault, the break lines had been cut.  They now have to figure out who wanted to hurt Chloe and why they want her out of the way.