It’s a wonderful thing when the third installment of a mystery series is even better than the previous books. Nic and Nigel Martini have returned in A Perfect Manhattan Murder. (They first appeared in Murder With a Twist and took on Hollywood in Killer Cocktail.) This time, they’re back in New York, where Nic used to be a police detective, until a wound put her into retirement, and Nigel knows, as he always does, the rich and snooty. They’re visiting […]

Sommelier and murder-solver Katie Stillwell, first seen in Decanting a Murder, returns in Nadine Nettmann’s second mystery, Uncorking a Lie. The killing this time revolves around the most famous type of wine crime: the creation and sale of counterfeit bottles of expensive vintages. That’s a great choice for a mystery, and the motivations of those who want to own famous wines provide one of the few points of interest of this story. Overall, the wine information is the best part […]

Robin Stevens’ schoolgirl detectives of Murder Is Bad Manners return in their third adventure in First Class Murder. Fans of classic mysteries will love the setting: the two young women are taking the Orient Express! After the dismaying events of Hazel’s visit to Daisy’s home (Poison Is Not Polite), Hazel’s father thinks the girls need a holiday. It’s one thing to investigate murders, but quite another when all the suspects are family or friends. To get their minds off that […]

There’s nothing new about bookstore owner mysteries, but I was drawn to Elementary, She Read because of its subtitle: “A Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery”. And I was entertained by how Vicki Delany gives an appropriate set of characteristics to her lead character. Gemma Doyle is English but living in Cape Cod so she can manage her uncle’s Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium. She’s not a huge fan, but she likes the seaside town and her life there after leaving behind […]