Looking for something fun to do tomorrow, but don't feel like leaving the house? Hop over to the Cozy Up With Kathy Party Page on Facebook. It's a group so you need to join by answering the simple membership question. Tomorrow, Sunday, October 17, starting at 3:30pm Eastern join me and several authors as we talk about Halloween, books, and more. There will be prizes! I hope to see you there!
.png)
Review
CAST OFF THE CURSE by Rebecca McKinnon
The Sixth Clear Creek Mystery
It's spooky time in Clear Creek and the town is gearing up for Emmilene's Witches' Walk. But her perfect spot for the event has to change when a dead body is found on the trail. Emmilene immediately calls for Zak, head of the town's security team, to bring Jemma Wilkinson. While her primarily role is that of owner of Black Sheep Yarn and Woolies and bride to be, Jemma has a habit of solving murders. Although the dead woman looks peaceful, with no obvious signs of foul play, Jemma is sure there is something more going on with a woman dressed with a witch's hat dead on the Witches' Walk. Though she immediately calls the sheriff, Jemma knows she'll be investigating as well, it's just a matter of who solves the crime first!
Halloween in the Rocky Mountains is a perfect time, not only for ambiance, but for murder. I love Halloween themed mysteries and the sixth Clear Creek Mystery is no exception. A modern day witch is killed and there are several good suspects. I love how Granny shuts down the obnoxious folklorist. Then there's the angry coven sister and the skeevy nephew. In addition to Granny, I love almost all of the Clear Creek residents, Daniel being the obvious outlier.
CAST OFF THE CURSE doesn't overplay the holiday or the witchyness, instead it provides a modern day look at a very real way of life. It's tasteful and fun, even with huge spiders in the shop and decadent treats.
A solid mystery wrapped in some Samhain spookiness CAST OFF THE CURSE is a magickal read at any time of year.
I'm currently reading French Toast a la Sante Fe by Suzanne Stauffer. This book is the second in the Couriers Mystery series and was released yesterday.
In preparation for becoming a courier for the Harvey Company's Southwest Indian Detours Prudence Bates joins a three day tour from Las Vegas, New Mexico to Albuquerque. Her tourmates include a retired Australian schoolteacher, two giggly young ladies from Chicago, a businessman with his wife and two widowed sisters, two young Germans, and a flapper. Petty pilferings, encounters from beyond, and a dead body mar the informative trip. Everyone is getting along so well, so could be behind the problems with the tour? While penning posts to her mother and thinking about a lost love Prudence will try to deduce what's really going on.
Today I'd like to shine a spotlight on a recent release that's also the end of a series. Death of a Grill Master by Lee Hollis is the nineteenth and final book in the Hayley Powell Mystery series.
Hayley and her husband are snuggled into a secluded spot on Maine’s rocky shoreline to take in the big fireworks display on Frenchman’s Bay. But when they find Hank Desmond’s body floating in the darkness, it looks like summer is ending with a bang—from a gun registered to a rival BBQ chef.
Despite the evidence, Hayley thinks there’s more to the story than a gunshot from a disgruntled pit master. Unfortunately, the new police chief, just arrived from Boston, is more interested in layoffs than in listening to Hayley’s theories. So she starts grilling anyone she can to find out what happened on the party boat that Hank was aboard earlier in the evening—accompanied by his much-younger wife and a sleazy seasonal resident. There are also some competitors who’ve been skewering Hank, owner of the BBQ joint The Smokehouse, for his business practices, including the owners of a diner and a food cart.
Hayley just hopes that when the smoke clears, she’ll be able to serve up the real culprit to the cops—and bring the temperature down in this picturesque town . . .
Includes delectable recipes from Hayley’s kitchen!
Today I'd like to shine a spotlight on a fairly recent release. Murder at the Toy Soldier by Maddie Day is the eighth book in the Cozy Capers Book Group Mystery series.
Blurb:
Mac is extra busy these days as she and Tim do their best as working parents of a preschooler and a baby, not to mention Mac’s participation in the Cozy Capers book group. With Ella’s 4th birthday approaching, Mac uses her lunch break to shop for a gift at the Toy Soldier, which is run by June Fadiman.
Behind the counter is Zia Carven, a young woman Mac recognizes as a shopper at the Free Grocery food pantry Mac’s father sponsors. Zia finds Mac a kid-sized gardening toolkit Ella will love and offers to gift wrap it. In a rush, Mac plans to pick it up after work. But at 5:30, she finds Zia slumped over the counter, dead, dried blood on a toy rifle nearby. The first police officer to arrive is June's son, August. Then June arrives and is upset to find the police won't allow her inside.
Mac’s mother, Astra, confides that she’d been trying to help Zia, and now the police want to speak with her, which worries Mac. Then Mac discovers that Zia had been in town searching for her birth mother, which only multiplies the questions—and the suspects. Just one thing is certain: Mac and the book group will have to double down to find a killer who isn’t playing around . . .
Review
As Eden Brior has no plans and wants to finish up some work she volunteers to stay and close St. Cecelia's library for the night. After witnessing some unexpected drama with a stunning French woman and a bright young thing she accidentally gets locked in the library vault with that very bright young thing, a playboy named Simon Cross. Released by the police in the morning Eden wonders how they knew to rescue them. The problem is that the police weren't there to save them, but because there was a dead body in the library - that of the French woman. Even with his supervisor leaning on him to make a quick arrest, along with saddling him with an incompetent sergeant, Detective Inspector Garrett intends to fully investigate the murder, even if the evidence is pointing directly to Simon Cross. Eden believes Simon is innocent. After all, he was trapped with her and simply didn't have enough time to kill the woman. Both Inspector Garrett and Eden will follow the clues to find the killer, but is that person closer than they think?
I truly enjoyed being in 1923 London with Eden. I like how she's both a fish out of water, an American expat living in London with few friends, as well as someone who is right in her element, working in the sanctity that is St. Cecilia's library and investigating the murder. THE HARLOT OF ST. CECELIA'S has more than a few laughs, Eden's play-reading circle that both opens and closes the book and Inspector Garrett's dealings with both his stoogeish sergeant and the children, for example.
I appreciate the nods to the Golden Age of detective fiction, particularly the use of fair play. I noticed a clue early on which led me to consider the killer before any of the protagonists. That clue made me suspicious, but not certain, and I enjoyed seeing the investigation proceed by both Inspector Garrett and Eden.
Distinct characterizations, adept historical world building, and a finely crafted mystery make THE HARLOT OF ST. CECELIA'S a delightful start to a new series.
**************************************************************************
London, 1923. American expat librarian Eden Brior thinks things are bad when she is accidentally locked overnight in the St. Cecelia’s Library vault with the charming and unreliable Simon Cross. Then she emerges to find the body of his estranged wife — a celebrated French actress — draped over a chair upstairs.
Detective Inspector William Garrett is methodical, quietly perceptive, and already fairly certain he has his man. He tells Eden firmly to go home and leave the detecting to the professionals. But how can she?
Racing to clear their names before Garrett closes the case, Eden follows the truth from the bright footlights of the London stage through the sleek drawing rooms of Jazz Age society, and into secrets that someone will kill to keep buried.
Steeped in the style of the golden age of detective fiction, The Harlot of St. Cecelia’s captures a London still glittering on the surface and shadowed underneath — where every drawing room hides a secret and every secret has a price.
"This novel consistently delights, from the spicy title to the last page."
~ Kirkus Reviews
Book Details:
Genre: Historical Mystery
Published by: Independently Published
Publication Date: May 3, 2026
Number of Pages: 306
ISBN: 979-8195315580
Series: Inspector Garrett Mystery Series, Book 1
Book Links: Amazon | Kindle | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads | BookBub
Darcy Graves grew up in Boston and holds an MA in English history and a BS in copywriting. A marketing content writer for over thirty years, she brings to her work a deep love of the golden age of detective fiction — particularly Agatha Christie and P.D. James — and the whimsy of P.G. Wodehouse.
Darcy lives in the Berkshires with her daughter, two ragdoll cats, and a very naughty terrier named Merial. The Harlot of St. Cecelia's is her first novel.
DarcyGravesAuthor.com
Amazon Author Profile
Goodreads
BookBub - @darcygravesauthor
Instagram - @darcygravesauthor
Can't see the giveaway? Click Here!
I'm currently reading The Harlot of St. Cecelia's by Darcy Graves. This book is the first in the Inspector Garrett Mystery series and was released earlier this year.
As Eden Brior has no plans and wants to finish up some work she volunteers to stay and close St. Cecelia's library for the night. After witnessing some unexpected drama with a stunning French woman and a bright young thing she accidentally gets locked in the library vault with that very bright young thing, a playboy named Simon Cross. Released by the police in the morning Eden wonders how they knew to rescue them. The problem is that the police weren't there to save them, but because there was a dead body in the library - that of the French woman. Even with his supervisor leaning on him to make a quick arrest, along with saddling him with an incompetent sergeant, Detective Inspector Garrett intends to fully investigate the murder, even if the evidence is pointing to Simon Cross. Eden believes Simon is innocent. After all, he was trapped with her and simply didn't have enough time to kill the woman. Both Inspector Garrett and Eden will follow the clues to find the killer, but is that person closer than they think?
