Cozy Mystery review of Claws for Celebration (Cat Lady Mysteries #3) by Linda Reilly

Title: Cozy Mystery review of Claws for Celebration (Cat Lady Mysteries #3)  

Author: Linda Reilly

Source: NetGalley

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Length: Novel

Reviewed by Laurie  

Rating 5 

Feline deadly this Christmas . . .

Whisker Jog, New Hampshire, celebrates all things Christmas, and few things are more beloved than the town’s annual holiday cookie competition. Lara Caphart, who runs the High Cliff Shelter for Cats with her Aunt Fran, is waiting for the green light for a brand-new category: pet-friendly cookies. But when the woman filling in as a last-minute judge dies after sampling someone’s Santa-themed treat, Lara’s recipe for healthy cat snacks will have to be put on the back burner.

The victim, Gladys Plouffe, was the town’s roundly despised former home economics teacher. The chief suspect is the mother of Lara’s best friend, who was hellbent on walking away with the bake-off’s cash prize. Cryptic clues from beyond the grave only deepen the mystery, pointing to a cat with striking blue eyes—a cat who bears an uncanny resemblance to Lara’s mysterious Ragdoll. As Lara begins a dangerous game of cat and mouse, not even her significant other may be able to stop a perfectly clawful killer from getting away with the purr-fect crime . . . 

Linda Reily creates great characters and edge of your seat mysteries that will keep you coming back for more. I totally love this series and hope it never ends.

Caws for Celebration, is my favorite so far, in the series. I enjoyed the twist of the cookie contest and I really enjoyed how the mystery began, who would have ever thought a library book would be the start of an awesome mystery.

If you love cozy mysteries this series is a must try. 

Dump Cake Magic: The No-Bowl, No-Mess Method of Fuss-Free Baking by Anne Schaeffer

Dump Cake Magic: The No-Bowl, No-Mess Method of Fuss-Free Baking 

Author: Anne Schaeffer

Source: NetGalley 

Genre: Cookbook

Length: 128 Pages 

Reviewed by: Laurie 

Rating 3 

Short on time or just looking for a quick and easy dessert? With no dirty bowls and no tedious mixing time, you can toss together a delicious dessert in just minutes. No wonder dump cakes have skyrocketed in popularity lately--they're perfect for busy bakers. All you have to do is layer your ingredients right in the pan that you are going to use to bake, and pop it in the oven. What comes out is a delicious treat! Dump Cake Magic offers more than 75 creative recipes for tarts, pies, cookies, bars, cakes, and more. Perfect for spur-of-the-moment baking, moist dense cakes like Lemon Blueberry, cobbler-type desserts like Peachy Butter Pecan, or rich brownie creations like Orange Chocolate Truffle are a "piece of cake." Layer upon delightful layer, desserts have never been easier. And clean-up? It's a snap!

 I was really looking forward to this book, but it just didn’t hit the spot for me. I did enjoy that each recipe had images and that they walked you through each step, but I didn’t care for the complete image of the featured recipe being at the end of the recipe. I guess I am used to the standard all images of the full recipe being at the beginning of the recipe.  

The majority of the recipes you have to use store-bought cake and cookie mixes and with times being like that are now, I along with many others have quit buying all of the processed foods so I was again left disappointed.

When I review a cookbook or baking book I always at least make one or two recipes. I chose to make the Chocolate Mocha Cake and wasn’t impressed with the taste or texture.

I am sure this book is great for a lot of cooks out there, but it’s just not something I would keep on my cookbook shelf to grab every day. 

Cozy mystery review of Death and Daisies (A Magic Garden Mystery #2) by Amanda Flower

Title: Death and Daisies (A Magic Garden Mystery #2) 

Author: Amanda Flower

Genre: Cozy Mystery 

Length: Novel

Source: NetGalley

Reviewed by: Laurie

Rating: 4  

Florist Fiona Knox left behind her gloomy life for a magical garden in Scotland, but a murder on her shop’s opening day spells doom.

Fiona Knox thought she was pulling her life back together when she inherited her godfather’s cottage in Duncreigan, Scotland—complete with a magical walled garden. But the erstwhile Tennessee flower shop owner promptly found herself puddle boot-deep in danger when she found a dead body among the glimmering blossoms. One police investigation later (made a trifle less unpleasant by the presence of handsome Chief Inspector Neil Craig), and Fiona’s life is getting back on a steady, though bewitched, track. Her sister Isla has just moved in with her, and the grand opening of her new spellbound venture, the Climbing Rose Flower Shop in Aberdeenshire, is imminent.

But dark, ensorcelled clouds are gathering to douse Fiona’s newly sunny outlook. First, imperious parish minister Quaid MacCullen makes it undeniably clear that he would be happy to send Fiona back to Tennessee. Then, a horrific lightning storm, rife with terribly omen, threatens to tear apart the elderly cottage and sends Fi and Isla cowering under their beds. The storm passes, but then, Fi is called away from the Climbing Rose’s opening soiree when Kipling, the tiny village’s weak-kneed volunteer police chief, finds a dead body on the beach.

The body proves difficult to identify, but Kipling is certain it’s that of the parish minister. Which makes Fiona, MacCullen’s new nemesis, a suspect. And what’s worse, Isla has seemed bewitched as of late…did she do something unspeakable to protect her sister? The last thing Fiona wanted to do was play detective again. But now, the rosy future she’d envisioned is going to seed, and if she and Craig can’t clear her name, her idyllic life will wilt away in Death and Daisies, national bestselling author Amanda Flower’s second enchanting Magic Garden mystery.

I enjoy the mystery sounding the minister’s death and Fi’s sister being added in the story brought a good hominess to Fi and I enjoyed her continued love interest with the chief inspector, they seem so great together, but I missed the whimsical elements that were in the first book surrounding the garden. You do get a few clues about the mystery of garden in this instilment but the garden was not center of the mystery as it is in the first book.

All, in all, the story is very entertaining I just missed reading and learning more about the garden and the magic it holds in the town and I look forward to the next installment.