Tag Archives: mystery

Great Mysteries Part 1: Celebrating with Tea with Jam & Dread and Icing on the Murder

30 Jul

Tea with Jam & Dread
Vicki Delany
I was new to Vicki Delany’s Tea by the Sea series of which Tea with Jam & Dread is the sixth book in the series. Most are set in Cape Code where Lily Roberts owns a tea shop next door to her grandmother’s Bed & Breakfast. However, in this novel, Lily along with her grandmother Rose and best friend head to England for a special 100th birthday gala for Rose’s former employer and dear friend Elizabeth, the dowager countess of Frockmorton, whose family’s castle is now running a hotel. Elizabeth’s family are loath to lose their blood blood status which provides plenty of drama. When there is first a murder and then a missing priceless necklace the trip becomes even more exciting than Lily could have ever imagined. I enjoyed the vivid way that Delany brings the setting to life and gives us an interesting postcard view of Yorkshire. I plan to check out other books in the series. If like me you are charmed by this story, Delany has written several other mystery series including The Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mysteries, The Year Round Christmas Mysteries, the Constable Molly Smith Mysteries and the Ashley Grant Series.

Icing on the Murder
Valerie Burns
The protagonist of Valerie Burns’ Icing on the Murder also has plenty to celebrate with her wedding day drawing near. But on top of baking her own cake and one for a bridal expo, Madison is soon drawn into the mystery of a diva of a wedding planner’s demise. This is the fourth in the Baker Street Mystery series, which I’ve been meaning to check out for awhile. Madison is a great and unique mystery protagonist, a young black woman who previously was a social media influencer, but is now running a bakery she had inherited along with a giant bull mastiff named Baby. There is a little something for everyone in this novel, a sweet romance between Madison and her fiancé, a curious crime with plenty of potential culprits, strong family and found family bonds, and even at the end some tempting apple recipes based on dishes mentioned in the book. You can enjoy reading this book without having read the previous in the series, but if you are curious about how it all started I’ll have a review of book 1 in the series in my blog post Great Mysteries Pt 2 out next week.

Written by:
Aimee Harris
Information and Digital Services Manager

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An Intense and Atmospheric Mystery from Lucy Foley: The Paris Apartment

17 May

Having vacationed in Paris, I was fascinated by all the cultural opportunities this spectacular city has to offer, including museums, art galleries, fine French dining, the Eiffel Tower, the Palace of Versailles, the Arc de Triomphe, etc. It truly is the “City of Lights”and one can get caught up in all the glorious and historical sights. Lucy Foley’s The Paris Apartment, however, exposes the dark and sinister underbelly of Paris in a creepy and clever whodunit told in alternating points of view. The characters are all dark and edgy and everyone knows something they’re not telling. Even the eerie Paris apartment building where the mystery unfolds is its own wonderfully drawn character, a swanky but unsettling old building with walls, hidden stairways, and secret passageways that seem to know something we don’t. I was completely drawn into this intense and suspenseful murder mystery from the very beginning as Foley’s descriptive narrative and intriguing plot developments lured me in.

The story opens with Jess, a broke and alone young woman, who contacts her half-brother Ben, a journalist in Paris, about crashing with him for a while in order to get a fresh start. She’s just left her bartending job in London under less than ideal circumstances and needs to escape and lay low for a while. Although Ben didn’t sound thrilled when she asked him, he didn’t say no either and she feels everything will look better in Paris. However, when she shows up, Ben is missing and a cryptic voicemail and some other mysterious clues suggest foul play. 

The longer Ben remains missing, the more Jess is provoked to start digging into his situation and the more questions she has. She discovers that Ben was investigating some criminal activity involving some of the building’s nefarious tenants.  Ben’s dysfunctional neighbors are an eclectic group and not particularly friendly or forthcoming either.  As she interviews the neighbors about Ben’s disappearance, she is met with suspicion and hostility from almost everyone. Only one young man shows her any consideration, even though he says he has no useful information for her. She begins to suspect that none of the tenants are as innocent as they want her to believe.  When Jess probes too deeply and reveals the building’s dark and sinister secrets, she finds herself isolated and in danger. As a last resort, she reports her half-brother’s disappearance to the police, however, even they seem reluctant to get involved and seem to have ulterior motives for keeping Ben’s absence uncovered.

As the twisty, yet engrossing plot unravels and the dark secrets are literally unearthed, the reader feels as though they have devoured a delectable meal, especially the last revealing chapters. The Paris Apartment is yet another entertaining and escapist mystery from the talented Lucy Foley. It’s filled with suspense, intensity, a cast of seedy, yet intriguing characters, and enough plot twists to satisfy any avid fan of atmospheric page-turners or murder mysteries. 

Looking for more mayhem from the city of lights; you can read a previous blog about another mystery set in Paris here.

Written by:
Ethan Galvin
Information and Digital Services Librarian

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