Lowcountry Boondoggle (A Liz Talbot Mystery Book Nine)

Charleston is one of my favorite Cities, so naturally, Stella Mars would be one of my favorite fictional Islands off the Coast of it. This is the ninth book and I highly recommend it. We find out more about the former murder in Book Eight and the relationship between Nick and Liz. This series of Books has won a couple of awards, which shows shows you the high standard of Boyer, and the wonderful way you can walk all the streets and see charming buildings and delicious food. The Mystery is first rate....giving it five stars.

Blurb:

Private investigators Liz Talbot and Nate Andrews thought they’d put Darius Baker’s troubles to rest—then his recently discovered son ropes him into a hemp farm investment with his college buddies. When a beloved Charleston professor—and potential investor—is murdered, Liz and Nate discover Darius keeps the PIs on speed dial.

A shocking number of people had reasons to want the genteel, bowtie wearing, tea-drinking professor dead. Was it one of his many girlfriends or a disgruntled student? Or perhaps Murray was killed because his failure to invest meant the hemp farm trio’s dreams were going up in smoke?

Though Liz’s long-dead best friend, Colleen, warns her the stakes are far higher than Liz imagines, she is hellbent on finding the no-good killer among the bevy of suspects. But will the price of justice be more than Liz can bear?

Take a virtual vacation to Charleston in Susan M. Boyer’s latest Southern charmer, Lowcountry Boondoggle. It’s a trip you don’t want to miss.

Script for Scandal (A Lilian Frost and Edith Head mystery Book 3) by Renee Patrick

Patrick has written all the modern day effects of Film Noir, with its snappy dialogue and hints of Hollywood, in this Mystery. The friendship between Lillian and Edith Head continues in Book Three. However, the story mostly focuses on Lillian's relationship with an LAPD boyfriend, who cannily resembles a character in a Grade B Manuscript, about to be published. That Officer planned a robbery and managed to get his friend killed and then became involved with the friend's wife in the script. This is a real scandal that has hung over Gene Morrow, so did the script fit? I think I could have followed a lot better if I had read Book One and Two which I recommend you do. But the expressions of the time frame are just "swell."

I like film noirs with a lot of mystery and characters. So, the book was right up my alley, with another suspicious death adding to the background. This won't be to everyone's taste but the tidbits fed you of stars and the back production works of movies, will make it palatable. Certainly, the lines fed to Starlets with growing aspirations read well...just like in the Movies.

Blurb:

1939, Los Angeles. Lillian Frost is shocked when her friend, glamorous costume designer Edith Head, hands her the script to a new film that's about to start shooting. Streetlight Story is based on a true crime: the California Republic bank robbery of 1936. Lillian's beau, LAPD detective Gene Morrow, was one of the officers on the case; his partner, Teddy, was tragically shot dead.


It seems the scriptwriter has put Gene at the centre of a scandal, twisting fact with fiction - or has he? With Gene reluctant to talk about the case, the movie quickly becoming the hottest ticket in town, a suspicious death on the Paramount studio lot and the police reopening the investigation into Teddy's death, Lillian is determined to find answers. Can Lillian and Edith uncover the truth of what happened that fateful day and clear Gene's name?

Shredding The Evidence ( A Cookbook Nook Mystery 9) by Daryl Wood Gerber

Daryl Wood Gerber writes a delicious, food mystery, loaded with fun characters, and with a California Twist.  The Food Bowl is one of the big events of Chrystal Cove, with a lot of exotic, delicious, food and a bevy of Chefs when murder comes calling. A food Critic has been causing problems for Tito, Bailey's Husband and has been found dead. Bailey works for Jenna Hart and once again- Jenna finds herself in the midst of a murder investigation. Gerber provides a list of the characters so you can jump right in to enjoy the mystery without having read previous Books.

This ninth mystery bring us up to date with our group of  book friends. The descriptions of the town along with mouth- watering food and recipes are a huge part of the fun. I enjoy the little tidbits of jogging, tarot reading, and the titles of cook books. I can imagine how fun it would be to live in a town like this with all the little shops and multi-generational friends and relatives. If you enjoy food mysteries then you will certainly like the warmth of Gerber's writing. 


Blurb:

The Agatha Award–winning author of Sifting Through Clues returns to the Cookbook Nook, where a combative food reporter gets her just deserts . . .

The denizens of Crystal Cove are salivating over the upcoming Food Bowl Week, when local chefs offer some of their best and most imaginative creations in bite-size portions all over town. Bookstore proprietor Jenna Hart is hungry to sample as many of the delicacies as she can, but when she stumbles onto the dead body of a local food reporter and learns that her best friend’s husband is the primary suspect, she’ll have to summon the appetite for a side dish of sleuthing to prove his innocence.

Jenna knows the ambitious and aggressive reporter, who was strangled at a fitness center with her shredded restaurant reviews scattered around her, left behind a long list of potential suspects. As she begins piecing together the scant clues, she uncovers illicit ties between the victim and a local newspaper owner, a spurned would-be lover, and a host of disgruntled restaurant owners not a bit torn up by the critical reporter’s demise. And with a solution so close she can almost taste it, Jenna turns up the heat on the culprit, realizing too late that she’s the next course on the murderer’s menu . . .

Includes tasty recipes!