Carly Winter

When Gina’s son, Jacob, is accused of murder, she goes full-on mama bear to prove his innocence. Jacob and his friends attend a party, and three of the partygoers are found unconscious and a girl is dead with a rope around her neck. Jacob is holding the other end of the rope. He is taken to the hospital and handcuffed to a bed. Gina does the only thing she can think of: she calls her brother to break him out of this hospital and hide him away. It turns out the partygoers were drugged and remember little of what happened. Now, Gina must find out who hated the girl enough to want her dead, and she has to do it quickly, before the sheriff who hates her takes her vengeance out on her son. Gina’s life is further complicated by the appearance of her long-estranged mother, her growing relationship with Trevor, and a puppy she found in a dumpster. This cozy has a lot of humor, much of it coming from Gina’s talking dog, Daisy, whom only Gina can understand. Daisy is clearly the star of the story, and the new puppy, Mustard, named by Daisy, is the comic relief. The mystery is a good one, although the end seems a bit abrupt. The characters are quite interesting and seem real. The dialogue is well written, and the story kept me reading and wondering what was going to happen next. The novel can be read as a standalone, but to better understand and appreciate the character development, readers would be advised to enjoy this delightful and imaginative series from the beginning.

I was given an advance reading copy free through Book Sirens, and this review is my own opinion, freely given.… (más)

I enjoy the odd cozy mystery or two…they don't have to be credible, but they do have to be entertaining (and well written and well edited).

This didn't quite tick those three boxes. Gina is a pretend Miss Marple (and a dog rescuer), who has a talking dog (that only she can hear, of course), and is on a mission to exonerate her restaurant-owner friend whose chef is found murdered. The local sheriff seems to think she's guilty. Gina, naturally, believes otherwise. Full synopsis here.

It's all a bit silly. Again, I don't mind silly, but it's that 'E' word again…it has to be entertaining. It wasn't really. It's poorly edited, and as far as Gina's concerned everyone's a 'jerk' (the word was used sixteen times), including the poor golden retriever, Zeus, that was dumped on her doorstep. A jerk is 'a useless or idiotic person'. Dogs, and Zeus especially, aren't 'jerks'…only their owners are.

I'd recommend it for a very easy read that requires little concentration, but if you want something that's fun, a bit gritty and satisfying, sadly this isn't it.… (más)

When I first started reading this book I disliked the main character Tilly Donner. She was a reporter for the local newspaper. she was 37 years old, divorced and eating because she was "depressed" and she was a klutz. She was contantly tripping and falling over things and hurting herself. She was quite frankly, the epitome of a dumb blonde!!!

In fact in the very first chapter she hit her head on the night stand and cracked her nose against the door - this was at 0100 hours in the morning. apprently some fireworks had been deliberately set off and they had burnt down the nectarine orchard. Tillys house was just outside of town, in a somewhat rural area. Right next to the orchard.

Anyway the fireworks and the burning of the orchard was the start of this mystery. Also that same night Tilly discovered one of her neighbours (Henry York) dying of a stab wound to the torso. She called the police.

Tillys 2 best friends are Debbie who runs the local cafe and Carla who runs a mexican eatery in the next town over. Debbie was also the town gossip. Between the three of them they find 5 suspects who might have killed poor Mr York. Each new suspect is duly given to the police to look into. Tilly had previously dated the Deputy sheriff and was now trying to get him off her back because he was still interested in her. She was no lomger interested in him.

Thanks to her reporting job, Tilly gets an interview with the sheriff. During the course of this interview, she is dragged to an interrogation room and asked to supply her sources for those 5 suspects she had given to the deputy. Tilly refuses to give up her friends. Soon after those suspects are receiving visits from the sheriff and they are told that it was Tilly who supplied their name as a suspect. One of these "suspects" visits Tilly at the newspaper. She is furious. She thinks she will lose her reputation because Tilly could not keep her nose out of other peoples personal private business.

Eventually Tilly and her friends do solve the mystery. And also, by the time I got to the end of this book, Tilly the character was clearly growing up. She was no longer depressed over the ex-husband. She donated his stuff to Goodwill and repainted the house. She was even asked out on a date by a potential new boyfriend. She has grown on me, and I might just read book 2.… (más)