Monday, September 26, 2016

Book Review: The Book Club Murders by Leslie Nagel

Charley Carpenter has poured heart and soul into her clothing store, Old Hat Vintage Fashions. She’ll do anything to make it a success—even join the stuffy Agathas Book Club in order to cultivate customers among the wealthy elite of Oakwood, Ohio.

Although mixing with the most influential women in town has its advantages, Charley finds the endless gossip a high price to pay. But after two women with close ties to the Agathas are brutally murdered, everyone falls under threat—and suspicion. When key evidence indicates that both murders are the work of the same hand, Charley realizes that the killer has arranged each corpse in perfect imitation of crime scenes from the Club’s murder mystery reading list. She uses her membership in the Club to convince Detective Marcus Trenault to use her as an inside informant. Not that he could stop her anyway.

Intelligent, fearless, and every bit as stubborn as Marc is, Charley soon learns the Agathas aren’t the only ones with secrets to protect. Passions explode as she and Marc must race against time to prevent another murder. And if Charley’s not careful, she may find herself becoming the killer’s next plot twist.

Being a lifelong devoted Agatha Christie fan, when I first read the plot of The Book Club Murders I knew this was a book I would have to read. I love when authors incorporate book clubs into the setting of cozy mysteries, and one with a "Agathas Book Club" was bound to be a home-run, and it was exactly that!

From the first page to the last I became caught up in the action-packed adventure, as I followed along with Charley and Marc, trying to untangle the mystery of the murders. Leslie Nagel sets a good pace for readers, giving readers a chance to collect clues, but also ensuring that readers won't want to put the book down.

I liked seeing the sparks fly between Charley and Marc. Charley is feisty and stubborn and the exact kind of sleuth I like to go on adventures with. She's never boring for a second, and I loved how she threw herself into the investigation, and was determined to find the killer, to the point of possibly putting her own life in danger.

The Book Club Murders is a home-run debut for me. With action, adventure and murders involving mystery books it is to sure to please every cozy mystery fan! I highly recommend adding The Book Club Murders to your Fall reading list.

Thursday, September 1, 2016

Book Spotlight - Closed Casket by Sophie Hannah, a Hercule Poirot Myster



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Listen to After the Funeral by Agatha Christie

A Free Serialization of the Complete Audiobook in Eight Parts
Presented by Sophie Hannah
Throughout the serialization, Sophie informs listeners on the crucial distinction between the truly impossible and the deeply unlikely, points out the magic of a very personal motive, and explains her belief that “the best stories are the ones that would only ever happen once.”

after the funeral
Hercule Poirot is called on to investigate the murder of a brother and sister, in this classic Agatha Christie mystery now available in an updated edition with a foreword Sophie Hannah.
“He was murdered, wasn’t he?”
When Cora Lansquenet is savagely murdered, the extraordinary remark she had made the previous day at her brother Richard’s funeral suddenly takes on a chilling significance. At the reading of Richard’s will, Cora was clearly heard to say, “It’s been hushed up very nicely, hasn’t it. But he was murdered, wasn’t he?”
Did Cora’s accusation a dark truth that sealed her own fate? Or are the siblings’ deaths just tragic coincidences?
Desperate to know the truth, the Lansquenet’s solicitor turns to Hercule Poirot to unravel the mystery. For even after the funeral, death isn’t finished yet . 
monogram murdersIn 2014 Sophie Hannah received wide-spread acclaim for penning an all-new mystery featuring Agatha Christie’s legendary hero Hercule Poirot, The Monogram Murders, an instant bestseller. Reviews were outstanding, praising Hannah for her command of the character and voice. So when the time came to write a new story, Sophie knew there was only one way she would write another book—even though she enjoyed writing the first so much—she knew she would need to have an idea that was clever and compelling enough to think, 'This feels very Agatha-ish. Poirot MUST solve this case.'
And then it came to her, “…as if by magic (that really is how it felt!) an idea landed in my head. A motive for murder. It was incredibly simple—so simple, it almost seemed too obvious—and yet I didn't think it had been done before.”

The Monogram Murders: The New Hercule Poirot Mystery

Series: Hercule Poirot Mystery Paperback: 320 pages Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks; Reprint edition (June 9, 2015) ISBN-13: 978-0062297228 goodreads-badge-add-plus
"I'm a dead woman, or I shall be soon . . ."
Hercule Poirot's quiet supper in a London coffeehouse is interrupted when a young woman confides to him that she is about to be murdered. Though terrified, she begs Poirot not to find and punish her killer. Once she is dead, she insists, justice will have been done. Later that night, Poirot learns that three guests at a London Hotel have been murdered, and a monogrammed cufflink has been placed in each one's mouth. Could there be a connection with the frightened woman? While Poirot struggles to put together the bizarre pieces of the puzzle, the murderer prepares another hotel bedroom for a fourth victim.
Lady Athelinda Playford has planned a house party at her mansion Clonakilty, County Cork, but it is no ordinary gathering. As guests arrive, Lady Playford summons her lawyer to make an urgent change to her will – one she intends to announce at dinner that night. She has decided to cut off her two children without a penny and leave her fortune to someone who has only weeks to live…
Among Lady Playford’s guests are two men she has never met—the famous Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot, and Inspector Edward Catchpool of Scotland Yard. Neither knows why he has been invited…until Poirot starts to wonder if Lady Playford expects a murderer to strike. But why does she seem so determined to provoke, in the presence of a possible killer? When the crime is committed in spite of Poirot’s best efforts to stop it, will he be able to unveil the true reason behind Lady Playford’s drastic change of heart, and ultimately, identify the killer?

About the Author:

Sophie Hannah is the internationally bestselling author of 10 psychological thrillers, which have been published in more than 20 countries and adapted for television. Her novel The Carrier won the 2013 Specsavers National Book Awards Crime Thriller of the Year. Sophie is an Honorary Fellow of Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge, and as a poet has been shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize.
Author Links Webpage - Blog - Facebook - Twitter 

Purchase Closed Casket - Amazon - B&N - HarperCollins - Books-A-Million - IndieBound
Purchase The Monogram Murders - Amazon - B&N - HarperCollins Publishers - Books-A-Million -IndieBound

Tour Participants – Spotlight Tour
September 1 – The Book's the Thing
September 1 – The Cozy Mystery Journal
September 2 – Shelley's Book Case
September 2 – Celticlady's Reviews
September 3 – A Holland Reads
September 3 – The Broke Book Bank
September 4 – Brooke Blogs
September 4 – 3 Partners in Shopping Nana, Mommy, &, Sissy, Too!
September 5 – The Bookwyrm's Hoard
September 5 – Readsalot
September 6 – Queen of All She Reads
September 6 – Carole's Book Corner
September 7 – Pulp and Mystery Shelf
September 7 – Socrates' Book Reviews
September 8 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book
September 8 – Island Confidential
September 9 – StoreyBook Reviews
September 9 – Bea's Book Nook
September 10 – Mystery Thrillers and Romantic Suspense Reviews
September 10 – The Power of Words
September 11 – Cozy Up With Kathy
September 11 – LibriAmoriMiei
September 12 – Jemima Pett, Author
September 12 – The Girl with Book Lungs

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