Divorced Divas and Dusty Deals

In between writing this week, I managed to get a few books read...

Cozy Mystery Review: Tonya Kappes' Strung Out to Die

Tonya Kappes’ Strung Out to Die (A Divorced Diva Mystery) is centered around Holly Harper (and her pet pig Willow).  Holly owns the Beaded Dragonfly, a bead shop in a small town.  Unfortunately, her cheating ex-husband Sean also lives in Shawnee and is just waiting for the business to fail.  When Doug Sloan is found murdered in the back room of the shop, it isn’t looking too good for Holly.  But not only is Holly a suspect, but so is Sean.  Holly decides it isn’t in her best interest to just hope that the police figure out who the murderer is, and, along with the other divorced divas, she plays detective.  It is well-written and there are several twists to the story line.  I didn’t read the Prequel, “Bead of Doubt”, but may pick it up to get a better feel for Holly. This is only one of the series written by Tonya Kappes, so be sure to check them all out! 

Cozy Mystery Review: Rae Davies' Cut Loose (Dusty Deals #2)

Cut Loose (Dusty Deals#2) is about ‘antique’ store owner Lucy Matthews trying to make a go of it in Helena.  Things should be looking up – she’s dating a detective (Peter) and it’s rodeo time.  She even has a booth at the rodeo and great hopes that this will ensure that she can pay the bills.  The problem is that the Detective’s trophy ex-wife and her Australian shepherd are also getting ready for the rodeo and seem to be spending a lot of time with Peter.  In an effort to avoid running into the two of them, Lucy ducks into the nearest trailer and stumbles on the body of the dead rodeo queen.  Add to that some other evidence, and Lucy is first in the line of suspects, especially since she is too embarrassed to explain why she was in the trailer. She clearly needs an attorney but doesn’t have the money to handle that and other expenses.  In the meantime, she agrees to let her untrained dog Kishka be entered into the contest to please Peter’s son.  Davies and Devoti have multiple conflicts and complexities and spin the story to a somewhat unexpected ending.

Coming up: November 7th: Blog Book Tour Stop for Rachelle Ayella's Knowing Vera (Chance for Love #3) - a touch of romance between the mysteries...