Cozy Mystery – Murder by the Books

HL Carpenter’s Cozy Mystery, “Murder by the Books” is Action-packed

If you love a fast-paced cozy mystery, you'll want to add this one to your reading list:  Murder by the Books
A Cozy Mystery is this week’s “Saturday’s Pick.”

The mother-daughter duo known as HL Carpenter created a character in Fae Childers who can go the distance. Murder by the Books is well-paced and will hold your interest to the end.

I have a long-standing background in researching financial scams and con-artists, so the topic was a perfect one to entertain me on a cold and dreary Saturday.

Fae Childers is so horrified by the suggestion that she has embezzled from the accounting firm she leaves without defending her decades-long career with the firm.

The fact that her boyfriend has sided with the owners causes her to stay in seclusion in her apartment in Tampa. Wallowing in self-pity, she’s intrigued when a letter arrives informing her of an inheritance from a grandmother she had no idea existed.

The lawyer she encounters in Seafoam appears to be thoughtful, compassionate and handsome. Why is Fae drawn in so by his passionate green eyes? Could Ret Karaffa be at the center of the murders and break-ins that suddenly seem to happen with an unnerving regularity around all the people her grandmother came in contact with while living along the coast in Seafoam?

You’ll learn to love to hate the annoying local reporter, Pat Jablonski. Will she show up dead in the surf too?

The Mystery

The real mystery is whether or not the killer believes that Fae has inherited her grandmother’s abilities to see things most of us will never experience. Will he or she recognize the piercing headaches as the same ones Fae’s grandmother had before she solved the mysterious puzzles the inhabitants of Seafoam had with unnerving regularity?

The missing journals and balance sheets hold the answers, but will Fae discover them in time to save herself and protect the vast inheritance everyone is focused on? What of the handsome Ret? Will he provide the love connection she’s been looking for her whole life?

This book has a clever plot, interesting characters, and enough last-minute revelations to keep you interested from beginning to end. It was a fast read filled with richly defined backdrops. I thought I’d figured it out three times before I finished it. You’ll need to pick up a copy to find out if Fae has fortune-telling instincts like her grandmother.

About the Book

A letter from beyond the grave brings accountant Fae Childers face to face with murder, embezzlement, romance, and a hidden family legacy.

Certified public accountant Fae Childers is not an embezzler, despite the belief of the accounting firm that fires her for stealing.
But proving her innocence is harder than convincing an IRS agent to allow a deduction. She’s lost her mother, her job, her fiancé, and her self-respect. She’s running out of money and the lease is about to expire on her apartment.

Then the fortune-telling grandmother Fae never knew existed, whose name and psychic abilities she now learns are also hers, issues a challenge from beyond the grave—a challenge that brings Fae face to face with murder, embezzlement, romance, and a hidden family legacy.

When the mystery of Fae’s past collides with the troubles of her present, the situation veers out of control. Her very life is threatened. Who can she trust? The man she’s falling in love with? The former fiancé who has already betrayed her once? Or only herself?

With justice, romance, and her future at stake, Fae must overcome personal and professional obstacles to save herself and those she loves. And she’s going to have to do it fast before someone else dies.

About the Authors

HL Carpenter is a mother/daughter duo who write from their studio in Carpenter Country, a magical place that, like their stories, is unreal but not untrue. When they’re not writing, the Carpenters enjoy exploring the Land of What-If and practicing the fine art of Curiosity. Visit HLCarpenter.com to enjoy gift reads and excerpts and to find out what’s happening in Carpenter Country.

They have definitely mastered the concept of the Cozy Mystery!

More Books by the Authors

One thing about reading a Cozy Mystery - When you finish one, you want to pick up another.
Pick up Another Cozy Mystery and So Much More.

The SkyHorse

When fourteen-year-old Tovi Taggert moves to Honeysuckle Hollow to take care of her grandmother, she has a hard time fitting in. For one thing, she’s been tagged with the hated nickname Too-Tall Tovi. For another, everyone at Honeysuckle Hollow High believes Tovi played the Choking Game with someone else’s boyfriend – and made out with him besides.

As if she doesn’t have enough problems, after the latest stand-off in the school hallway, Tovi finds a gorgeous speckled egg nestled in a feather-lined nest.

She takes the egg home – and mysterious visitors begin appearing almost immediately. Even more worrisome, whatever is inside the egg starts chipping its way out.

When the egg hatches, revealing a winged horse, Tovi’s troubles multiply.

As she struggles to return the horse to the magical land where he belongs, Tovi must make a courageous decision – and accept what that decision will cost her.

Jack and the Fountain of Youth

Jack Ponsi Dileonardo Thomas is eighteen years old. At least, that’s what he tells everyone. He doesn’t like to lie. But he has to because he celebrated his real eighteenth birthday five centuries ago.

Some people say the Fountain of Youth is a myth. Jack knows better. He drank from the fabled Fuente in 1513. Over the five hundred years since, he’s given up believing his life will ever again be normal–and that he’ll ever rediscover the magical spring. But when he learns the Fountain is located on the property of Nessa Owens, Jack takes up the search once more. And when Nessa captures his heart, his quest acquires new urgency.

Caught in the midst of a hurricane, surrounded by centuries-old memories and present-day mysteries, Jack must risk all for a future with Nessa.

Will love prove more powerful than the enchanted waters of the Fountain of Youth?

Connect with the Authors

Website

Goodreads

Google+

Twitter

Amazon Author Page

Please follow and like us:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *