Jaymie's next 10 days will be very different than usual. Her husband, Jakob and her stepdaughter Jocie are going to Poland to visit Jocie's grandparents and while they're gone, 5 of Jaymie's college friends are coming to Heartbreak island for a reunion.

But the college friends that Jaymie remembers don't seem to be in attendance - there have been many changes in circumstances as well as personality traits. Can Jaymie manage to make it through the week with these "strangers"?

After a night out bar hopping, the girls are awaken by the fire patrol battling a house fire nearby. Jaymie wonders if one of her friends may have been involved with one of the victims of the fire. Feeling uncomfortable with what her "friends" are doing to occupy their time away from the group, Jaymie sets out to find out what really happened and who was involved.

The mystery had many twists and turns and as far as I'm concerned, a surprise ending. Loved it! ( )

What first gripped me with the Cast Iron Alibi was the cover. This past summer, I went camping in a trailer similar to the one on the cover with some of my friends from high school. So that instantly brought back a fun memory, and then I read the synopsis of the book, and I was like, hmm. Sounds like our weekend in ways, but not with all the drama and definitely not the murder.

When I opened the book, the first thing I noticed was a cast of characters. And I was a little concerned with this. A cozy mystery having so many characters in a book, especially if this is the first one you've read of the series, can be challenging. I started reading and I found that wasn't the case, which was great. Hamilton described the characters wonderfully and she included enough information from previous books that you weren't lost or confused.

Some of the characters were very annoying. But this is true to life. I’ve known people from college whom I’ve remembered fondly and then later in life, I realized that they were kind of jerks the entire time and I just had rose colored glasses on. The one that really bothered me was Tiffany, who is one of the college friend’s sister-in-law. She was a very mean person, and Jaymie continued to let her stay there. She did eventually kick her out, but after the first time Tiffany was such a jerk. I would have told her to go.

The thing that I found interesting about this cozy mystery is that it didn't follow the exact formula of other cozy mysteries that I've read. Usually the murder happens within the first few chapters and the main character stumbles across the body. In Cast Iron Alibi, I think it was about 70 pages in before there was finally a murder. So that was a little unique and different. It didn't take away from the book at all that the murder happened later because there was so much drama going on with the Jaymie, all of her college friends, and all the people that they brought with them.

I did not see the killer coming, so that's always a good thing for me. And the person who was the killer was an interesting choice. The other thing about this cozy that made it a little different than other cozies is it explored more sexual topics which are relevant to today’s world. I found that refreshing, because while I love cozy mysteries, this one felt more up to date. And in cozies they rarely, if ever, swear and if they do it's hell or damn. Hamilton tried to push it a bit farther by having a character say Frick!

I am interested to get to know her husband, Jakob, and her stepdaughter, Jocie more in future books, since they were gone most of this book visiting family in Poland. I think her daughter, the brief amount of time that I met her, seems like a very fun character.

I would definitely recommend this book, and The Vintage Kitchen Mystery series. If you are interested, book one in the series is A Deadly Grind. ( )

I thoroughly enjoyed this addition to the series. In fact, I’ve enjoyed the whole series. It has been fun watching Jaymie grow and mature, find out who she is, find love and marriage and even embrace motherhood. The mysteries are always interesting, complicated enough to keep you interested, and convoluted enough to keep you guessing.

Jaymie Leighton Mueller is looking forward to a class reunion of sorts with several of her college friends. In the fifteen years since college, they have gotten together for a camping trip almost every year – except they have missed the last few years – life just interfered. Now, they are back on track and Jaymie can’t wait. Jaymie has, as we all do, forgotten the stresses of the relationships and has romanticized and idealized them instead.

The gathering this year will be a bit bittersweet for Jaymie because her beloved husband, Jakob and her stepdaughter Jocie will be in Poland for the ten days of Jaymie’s gathering. Jocie’s mother was Polish and Jakob and Jaymie want her to have that family in her life.

The gathering of Jaymie, Gabriela, Brandi, Rachel, Melanie, and Rachel – all of the friends from college – is joined by two unexpected guests, Courtney and Tiffany. One was invited by Brandi and the other invited herself. Not a particularly auspicious beginning for their adventure.

It seems that there are troubles in everybody’s marriages – well except Jaymie’s – and husbands show up to shadow the ladies. None of them is welcome and tensions tighten.

When a murder and arson occur, it seems that at least some of the ladies know the victim – and he isn’t a very savory victim, to say the least. The police quickly arrest the man’s friend – and it sure seems he could be guilty – but – Jaymie isn’t convinced. So, she’s off sleuthing out the facts – she either wants to be satisfied that the man who was arrested is the perpetrator – or she wants to find out who really did it. Could it be the husband of one of her friends?

I hope you’ll enjoy this well-plotted, well-written mystery as much as I did. I hope you’ll also enjoy meeting the ladies because we might see more of one of them in the future.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. ( )