Cozy Mystery Blog Tour: Review & Giveaway: Mr. Monk and the New Lieutenant (Mr. Monk #19) by Hy Conrad

An all-new story starring Adrian Monk by Edgar® Award–nominated Monk screenwriter and coexecutive producer Hy Conrad.

It’s compulsive, page-turning fun.

Monk and Natalie have finally settled into a new office routine. Now they just need to work things out with their neighbors—a print shop run by hippies whose music leaks through the walls, driving Monk nuts. But the detectives soon have a more serious conflict to deal with: Captain Stottlemeyer’s new lieutenant, A.J. Cartledge—a man of limited skills whom Monk finds insufferable.

Even the presence of Lieutenant Cartledge won’t keep Monk and Natalie from attending the funeral of Judge Oberlin, and it’s a good thing. In typical fashion, Monk examines the body in the casket—and finds evidence of poison. The judge was murdered.

While there are no traces of the poison at the judge’s house, Monk detects that there had been an intruder. The next rainy day, when Captain Stottlemeyer begins to show the same symptoms, Monk deduces that there’s a diabolical killer at work, someone who wanted both the judge and the captain dead.  Monk and Natalie turn to the captain’s ex-lieutenant in Summit, New Jersey for help, but even that might not be enough to solve this crime. With his friend in danger and an enemy close, Monk will have to put his reservations aside to crack the case in time.

As a fan of the television show, it has delighted me to see the series continued on through literature.  I've enjoyed spending the last few books with Hy Conrad and his brilliant storytelling abilities.  It's bittersweet to think that the series is finally coming to an end (if the rumors are true), but I truly have enjoyed this ride.  

That being said, I want to tip my hat to Hy for going out in true Monk fashion!  This book was true to the character.  I enjoyed his quirkiness and I certainly enjoyed the mystery and the subplots at play.  It was yet another thrilling addition to the world of Monk.  

I'm sad to see the author end their run at this series.  With any luck, someone else will pick up where they leave off.  But if they don't, it certainly has been one heck of a fun ride! 

Rating: 4.5 stars

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.  All conclusions reached are my own.  

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Cozy Mystery Blog Tour: Review & Giveaway: The Book Stops Here (Bibliophile #8) by Kate Carlisle

You never know what treasures can be found in someone’s attic. Unfortunately for bookbinder Brooklyn Wainwright, some of them are worth killing for.…

Brooklyn Wainwright is thrilled to be appearing on the San Francisco edition of the hit TV show This Old Attic as a rare-book expert and appraiser. Her first subject is a very valuable first-edition copy of the classic children’s story The Secret Garden, which is owned by a flower vendor named Vera.

Once she hears what her book is worth, Vera is eager to have Brooklyn recondition it for resale. But after the episode airs, a furious man viciously accosts Brooklyn, claiming that Vera found the first edition at his garage sale, and he wants it back—or else. Brooklyn is relieved that she’s put The Secret Garden in a safe place, but Randolph Rayburn, the handsome host of This Old Attic, is terrified by the man’s threats. He confides in Brooklyn that he fears he is being stalked. He doesn't know who might have targeted him, or why.

In the days that follow, several violent incidents occur on the set, and Brooklyn is almost killed, leaving both her and her security expert boyfriend, Derek, shaken. Is someone after Brooklyn and the book? Or has Randolph’s stalker become more desperate? And then Brooklyn visits Vera’s flower shop…and discovers her dead. Is the murderer one of the two obvious suspects, or is something more sinister—even bizarre—going on? Brooklyn had better find the clever killer soon or more than her chance at prime time may be canceled…permanently.

One of the things that I enjoy about this series is the author's ability to create a story where the victim of the crime at hand is given the chance to be known.  She takes time to introduce the victim and give you the opportunity to get to know them.  For me, that creates an investment in discovering who committed the murder and throws me right in to the middle of the story and the subsequent investigation.  The author does just that in The Book Stops Here. 

Another thing about this book that I just loved was the whole concept of finding an item at a garage sale that was worth a relatively small fortune.  It's something we all hope for but few are able to discover.  And the fact that it led to the eventual demise of the person who discovered it - brilliant!  Of course the investigation is exciting, even though the outcome wasn't all that surprising.  

This series is always so exciting. The books are well written and Brooklyn is such an extraordinary character.  Her next adventure should be a lot of fun!  

Rating: 4.5 stars

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange of an honest review.  All conclusions reached are my own.  

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Cozy Mystery Blog Tour: Author Guest Post, Review & Giveaway: Seven Threadly Sins (Threadville Mystery #5) by Janet Bolin

Threadville, Pennsylvania, is famous for its fabric, needlecraft, and embroidery, so it’s only natural that it would become the home of the Threadville Academy of Design and Modeling. While Willow Vanderling has certainly never wanted to be a model, here she is, voluntarily strutting her stuff in a charity runway show in outrageous clothing, all to support the Academy’s scholarship fund.

But the lascivious, mean-spirited director of the academy, Antonio, is making the fashion show a less-than-fabulous affair. After Antonio plays a shocking prank on Willow and her friends that doesn’t exactly leave the ladies in stitches, he mysteriously winds up dead—and someone is trying to pin the blame on Willow.

Now, she must do whatever it takes in order to clear her name, even if it means needling around in other people’s secrets. 

Which Came First?

Sometimes, my life parallels the lives of the characters in my books in mysterious ways. In the fifth Threadville Mystery, SEVEN THREADLY SINS, my protagonist, Willow, models in a charity fundraiser fashion show. I’d already written the manuscript when I joined an Improv group. They asked me to participate in a fundraiser, a murder mystery dinner theater play. . .

Here are excerpts from Willow’s runway stint in SEVEN THREADLY SINS, along with the true story of me acting the part of a rather nasty but slightly clueless old lady.

Willow Vanderling in SEVEN THREADLY SINS: I sashayed out onto the runway with an exaggerated sway of hips, turned, started back, and looked saucily over my shoulder.

Janet Bolin in her acting debut: I stood behind another actor, waiting for our cue to go on. I was both excited and nervous. Speaking her first line, the other actor tripped out onto the stage. I followed, pirouetted to make my character’s admiration of the set obvious, and responded.

Willow: I was supposed to gracefully drop a chunky faux gold chain over my head and shrug out of the jacket to reveal the sleeveless dress. I hadn’t anticipated wrestling with the necklace, the jacket, and a cardboard briefcase at the same time, and my dropping and shrugging were anything but graceful. Finally, I unsnagged the chain from my hairdo and subdued the jacket.

Janet: I wasn’t supposed to wear my glasses. Partway through the first scene, I realized I had them on. I removed them (gracefully!) but then had to figure out how to keep them unscratched. My character had a purse, but it was for carrying the pie server and the rock  . . .

Willow:  she . . . unpinned what was left of my glamorous hairdo after the “gold” chain had pulled tendrils from it, and arranged my hair in two ponytails, one above each ear. Glancing into the full-length mirror near the stage curtains, I mistook myself for a two-year-old in a fun house mirror, the kind that stretched one to a ridiculous height.

Janet: I didn’t find a wig that suited my dotty character. Instead, I put my hair in pin curls (strange talents can survive years of disuse.) I planned to comb the curls out before the play, but the pin curls looked so funny that I asked the director if I should leave them in. We finally decided that I would take the bobby pins out, but I wouldn’t comb my hair. The curls became springs all over my head. Yes, it was ridiculous. But so was the character I was playing, and the jouncing curls reminded me to stop grinning like myself (the other actors kept making me laugh) and to frown like my character . . .

Willow: This was supposed to be a cocktail dress. It was, to say the least, a very unusual cocktail dress. Following the sketch and instructions that Antonio had given me, I had concocted a tiered, ruffled, balloon-like mini-dress from white and baby blue organza, with tiny flowers machine-embroidered at the edges of the ruffles.

Janet: It was my character’s big day. She wanted to dress up, all in lime green. A friend found the perfect, though outsized, jacket in a used clothing store. I made a matching full-length, elastic-waisted satin skirt, and pulled them both over the outfit I’d worn in earlier scenes. (In theater, aren’t you supposed to be larger than life?) My character insisted on wearing her comfy lime green sneakers with her dressy outfit. I obeyed her.

When she’s not reading, writing, playing with her embroidery and sewing machine, or hanging out with people who make her laugh, Janet Bolin walks her dogs near Lake Erie.

Visit Janet at her website: http://ThreadvilleMysteries.com/

Like her on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Janet-Bolin/267325191115

Find her on twitter: https://twitter.com/JanetBolin

This was a fun story! It started off with excitement - I mean, a Design Academy? How cool is that?! - and ended with a twist.  It was exactly the kind of story I've come to expect and enjoy from Ms. Bolin and her Threadville mysteries.  Great characters, a well-paced and thought out mystery, and of course, a lot of thread :)  I thoroughly enjoyed the concept of Seven Threadly Sins, and loved the experience of Willow's attempt at proving herself innocent come to life with each turn of the page.  

This is a wonderful story that added even more depth to an already great series.  I'm looking forward to whatever is in store for Willow and her clan next.  

Rating: 4.5 stars

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.  All conclusions reached are my own. 

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Cozy Mystery Blog Tour: Author Guest Post, Review & Giveaway: Five-Alarm Fudge (Fudge Shop #3) by Christine DeSmet

In the newest Fudge Shop Mystery from the national bestselling author of Hot Fudge Frame-Up, Ava Oosterling is after a recipe to kill for...

It’s autumn in Fishers’ Harbor, Wisconsin, and fudge shop owner Ava Oosterling is busy preparing for the harvest festival and a visit from some royal relatives who live in Belgium. According to Ava’s grandpa, a famous divinity fudge recipe from the 1860s is hidden somewhere in a local historical church—a treat fit for a prince.

But when a fire in the church reveals the body of a murdered man, it looks like someone is willing to go to any length to possess the valuable secret to the divinity fudge. As Ava searches for the killer—and the recipe—she could use a little divine intervention, because she may have bitten off more than she can chew. 

Introducing the Fudge Shop Mystery series (and a yummy, pretty recipe) 
by Christine DeSmet

Thank you, Marie, for having me as a guest. 

In the Fudge Shop Mystery series, Ava Oosterling and her Grandpa Gil operate Oosterlings' Live Bait, Bobbers & Belgian Fudge & Beer on a harbor in Door County, Wisconsin, known as the "Cape Cod of the Midwest." 

In the new Five-Alarm Fudge, Book 3 of the Fudge Shop Mystery series, Ava and her Grandpa Gil are again mixed up in a fun fudge felony - this time involving romance, royal relatives, and revenge. 

When a visiting European prince asks Ava Oosterling to unearth a priceless, 1800s divinity fudge recipe, the request fans the flames of foul play, with murder marring Ava's Cinderella dreams. 

Ava's signature fudge is "Cinderella Pink Fairy Tale Fudge," a cherry-vanilla flavor made from Door County's famous cherries. Each book features two or three fudge recipes. In Five-Alrm Fudge, a divine divinity recipe is important to a prince. 

In the story, Grandpa took it upon himself to invite the prince of Belgium to visit. Grandpa insists the prince is a shirt-tail relation but far enough removed by ancestors to qualify as marriage material for Ava. 

Ava is beside herself with Grandpa. She's in the midst of a rekindled romance with her ex, Dillon Rivers, who is refurbishing the Blue Herron Inn in order for Ava to take it over. In the meantime, Ava lives in a rundown rental cabin with an ever-present field mouse. 

Grandpa has also promised the prince that Ava will find a long, lost divinity fudge recipe supposedly hidden in a local historical church by a Belgian nun during an 1871 fire. 

The irony of being surrounded by miles and miles of water in this peninsular county is that on October 8, 1871, the very real Great Fire (also known as the Peshtigo Fire) happened - taking an estimated 1,500 to 2,000 lives in this region. This event occurred the same days as the famous Chicago fire that took about 300 lives. 

This novel delves into a lot of real history of the region. Did you know that this area is home to the only church-sanctioned Marian sighting in the United States? You'll learn about the real Sister Adele Brise, who hid in a wood church and was spared in the Great Fire. Prior to that event, she reported being visited by Mary, the mother of Jesus. Today, travelers from across the United States stop at the shrine of Champion, Wis., on their way to Door County. 

Just north of there, in Namur, Wis., Grandpa Gil feels sure that the traveling, teaching nun must have hidden an early version of a divinity fudge recipe in the brick church, thus protecting the special recipe from fires. 

Ava scours the local church for the recipe, but instead finds a dead body, a fire, and the start of a game of hide-and-seek with an arsonist out to do in Ava before she can try on the glass slipper. 

Other regular characters in my series include Ava's best friend Pauline, who's a kindergarten teacher, and Laura, who's having twins and waiting for her husband to come home from a special mission in the Middle East. 

There's also a smart gaggle of church ladies who often cause Ava no end of trouble when they volunteer at the fudge shop. 

And Dillon Rivers' American water spaniel, Lucky Harbor, finds his nose in all kinds of trouble in every fudge mystery.

My series presents a warm-hearted view of a real place popular for vacations. I hope readers have a chance to look it up online to explore and then visit sometime where reading a Fudge Shop Mystery while lazing away a day in a hammock is what Door County is all about. 

Cinderella Pink Fairy Tale Fudge Recipe

This easy, microwave recipe for a cherry-vanilla fudge is a favorite with my friends and coworkers. They like the "diamonds" they find in the fudge. (Leave out the diamonds if you don't like the crunchy texture.) 

This recipe can be made on the stovetop in a heavy pan if you prefer. Medium heat. 

Before you cook: Prepare an 8x8-inch pan by lining it with wax paper so that the wax paper comes over the edges. Spray the paper lightly with nonstick vegetable cooking spray. 

3 cups white chocolate chips (Use 2 cups if you like softer fudge)
14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup dried cherries (or can used canned whole tart cherries, chopped)
Red food coloring
1/2 cup edible white or clear glitter (large size) for "diamonds" (optional)
Pink or white luster dust (optional) 

Microwave method: 

Mix the chips and milk together and melt at medium power in the microwave for about 5 minutes. Stir and return to the microwave until fully melted. Stir in the vanilla and four or five (or more) drops of red food coloring to turn it pink. Just before pouring it into the pan, blend in 1/4 cup of the glitter if you want diamonds inside the fudge. Then pour it into the pan. Sprinkle the top of the fudge with the rest of the "diamond" glitter. 

Optional: Before you sprinkle on the diamond glitter, first brush on luster dust, which is a very find glittery edible powder you can buy in various colors. It's best to apply luster dust with a small artist's brush so that you don't waste it; don't try to shake it directly from it's container onto your fudge or use your fingers. Sprinkle the rest of the "diamond" glitter on top of the luster dust. 

Let your fudge sit for a few hours or overnight. When ready to cut, transfer it from its pan to a cutting board. Peel off the wax paper completely. Use a knife with a smooth blade or a fudge cutter. Cut into one-inch squares or any size you prefer. 

Christine DeSmet writes the Fudge Shop Mystery Series (Penguin Random House/NAL/Obsidian). She's also an award-winning scriptwriter and teaches writing at University of Wisconsin-Madison Continuing Studies where she directs the annual June Write-by-the-Lake Writer's Workshop & Retreat. You can write to her at UW-Madison, cdesmet@dcs.wisc.edu or find her on Facebook or at her website, www.ChristineDeSmet.com. 

Ava and her fudge always make for a great time. I always very much enjoy the misadventures she finds herself in, and the predicaments based on things related to her love of fudge!  In this helping of the series, the town is turned upside down because of a sacred divinity recipe. And I can't honestly say that I blame them... divinity is just to die for!  But it becomes quite the crime caper, and quite the story!  From start to finish it keeps you engaged and leaves you dying to taste something sweet - something that I would be willing to bet is the best darn fudge you'd ever eat! 

Rating: 4.5 stars

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.  All conclusions reached are my own. 

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Cozy Mystery Blog Tour: Author Guest Post, Review & Giveaway: Wicked Stitch (Embroidery Mystery #8) by Amanda Lee

When murder strikes the small town of Tallulah Falls, embroidery shop owner Marcy Singer isn’t afraid of getting into the knitty-gritty to clear her own name…

For most small-business owners in Tallulah Falls, the upcoming Renaissance Faire is a wonderful way to promote their specialty shops. For Marcy’s nemesis, Nellie, and her sister Clara, it’s an opportunity to finally put Marcy and her shop, the Seven-Year Stitch, out of business. Apparently the sisters like to keep their grudges all in the family and have set up a competing booth right next to Marcy’s at the Faire.

When Clara is discovered dead in her own booth—strangled by the scarf she had almost finished knitting—Marcy becomes the prime suspect. Now she has to do whatever it takes to keep her reputation from unraveling and get to the bottom of a most deadly yarn.

A Step Back in Time  -  Amanda Lee

Have you ever been to a Renaissance Faire or a living history museum? I’ve been to both, and I find them fascinating. At the Renaissance Faire I attended with my family many years ago, my son was knighted Sir Scooby of Doo (because he was wearing a Scooby Doo shirt) by the queen. In lieu of a sword, she used a plunger. Minstrels played unusual instruments—one even played crystal water glasses. I talked plays with William Shakespeare, watched a chess match in which the playing pieces were human, and wandered through booth after booth of wares. The costumes were beautiful, fun, or both.

The living history museum we visited was a working farm set in 1791. We learned about eighteenth century cooking tools and techniques in the log cabin’s kitchen. A costumed tour guide spoke of President Washington and asked what we thought of that upstart Andrew Jackson. I said I believed he’d become President one day, and the woman scoffed. We attended demonstrations of weaving, learned about the dye, medicinal, and culinary plants grown in the garden, and saw the Cotswold sheep.

In WICKED STITCH (an RT Top Pick!), embroidery shop owner Marcy Singer is thrilled to be taking part in a two-week Renaissance Faire. Tallulah Falls residents will be able to reside in the time of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. The RenFaire’s attractions are centered around the play, even down to Hecate and the three witches who are on hand to divine the future for faire-goers.

Clara, a petty woman who has opened a competing shop next door to Marcy’s shop, the Seven-Year Stitch, has been assigned the booth next to Marcy’s. When Marcy comes to set up her booth, she peeps into Clara’s spot and realizes that something isn’t right. Clara is lying on her side in an overturned rocking chair. She has been strangled to death with the scarf she’d been knitting. Now Marcy has to get to the bottom of this most deadly yarn.

Amanda Lee (also writing as Gayle Trent) writes the Embroidery Mystery series which features a heroine who recently moved to the Oregon coast to open an embroidery specialty shop. Marcy Singer left her home in San Francisco, along with the humiliation of being left at the altar, in order to move to Tallulah Falls and realize her dream of owning her own shop. She takes along her faithful companion, a one-year-old Irish wolfhound named Angus O’Ruff. She makes many new friends in Tallulah Falls, but she also makes a few enemies. Thankfully, her best friend Sadie MacKenzie and her husband Blake run the coffeehouse right down the street from Marcy’s shop, the Seven-Year Stitch; and Detective Ted Nash always has her back.

Publishers Weekly says, “Fans of the genre will take kindly to Marcy, her Irish wolfhound, Angus O’Ruff, and Tallulah Falls. This is a fast, pleasant read with prose full of pop culture references and, of course, sharp needlework puns.”

Ren Faires are one of my favorite things in the whole world! So when I found out that Wicked Stitch was set at one... holy cow, I was sold!  Marcy and her entire town of Tallulah Falls are at the heart of the latest Ren Faire (which lasts two weeks... how cool?!).  And when Marcy's competition at the faire is found strangled to death, she knows she has to find out who's to blame.

It's a fun, unique and fantastic story that had me thinking I knew who the murderer was, only to completely throw me for a loop.  It made me laugh, smile and had me scratching my head.  And of course, there was all of the charm and romanticism of the Renaissance Faire :) 

After Wicked Stitch, I can't wait to see what Marcy will get herself into next!

Rating: 4.5 Stars

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.  All conclusions are my own.

Readers please comment below on your experiences in “stepping back in time” for a chance to win a signed copy of WICKED STITCH. International readers will have the chance to win an ebook copy of WICKED STITCH gifted from their retailer of choice.

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Cozy Blog Tour: Review & Giveaway: A Sticky Situation (Sugar Grove #3) by Jessie Crockett

The author of Maple Mayhem returns to Sugar Grove, New Hampshire, where the Greene family—including Dani's irksome Aunt Hazel—are busy preparing for the annual Maple Festival. But nothing kills the festive spirit like murder…

Aunt Hazel isn’t exactly sweet, but she’s not the only one putting syrup maker Dani in a sour mood. Her family is trying to help renovate the town’s Opera House, but their contractor Russ Collins seems to specialize in finely crafted excuses. And his latest one is killer.

In the Opera House basement, Russ uncovers the remains of Spooner Duffy, a charming drifter thought to have skipped town decades ago with a hefty sum of the town’s money. Tapping into some unpleasant memories, Spooner’s bones also threaten to reveal a murderer’s secret, and now it’s up to Dani to catch a killer before the town is stuck with a deadly reputation.

Recipes included!

One of the best things about a cozy?  They teach you things.  Wonderful things.  A new craft, a delicious recipe, and sometimes even a new trade.  In A Sticky Situation, I was fascinated by the process in which maple syrup is made. I know there's so much more to the book than this, but it was a huge reminder to me of how much time, effort and research goes in to creating one of these series. It's always amazing to me the education the authors give themselves.  Just simply amazing. 

Of course, the story itself was great too.  I loved the festival and the whole idea of it.  I loved the "cold case" type of mystery - very noir-esque.  The characters are always a joy, especially Dani.  She's exactly the type of person I would imagine dedicating her time and energy to making something like syrup. She's just so sweet :) 

I like this series. It makes me smile, and the author has done a superb job of creating a town that I want to come back to again and again.  

Rating: 4.5 stars

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.  All conclusions reached are my own. 

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Cozy Mystery Blog Tour: Author Guest Post, Review & Giveaway: Wedding Duress (Southern Sewing Circle #10) by Elizabeth Lynn Casey

Librarian Tori Sinclair is tying the knot—as long as a murder doesn’t unravel her plans…

Tori is ecstatic to become Mrs. Milo Wentworth in a few days, but she has a lot to do before she sashays down the aisle. Favors need to be sewn, vows need to be written—and a mystifying murder needs to be solved.

When Beatrice, a fellow member of the Sweet Briar Ladies Society Sewing Circle, learns that her former nanny took a fatal fall in her new employers’ home, she suspects the death was not an accident. Now Tori’s spending her last days as a single woman untangling rumors and stitching together motives to find a killer. But can she nab a murderer and make it to the church on time?

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I Present To You, The Wedding Party…

WEDDING DURESS—by Elizabeth Lynn Casey

As anyone who has ever been to a wedding knows, all eyes are on the bride and groom.

I suspect the same will hold true for those attending the marriage of Tori Sinclair and Milo Wentworth WEDDING DURESS (the latest installment of the Southern Sewing Circle Mysteries).

Today, though, I’d like to shine a light on Tori’s bridesmaids. After all, they’re the folks who pay for dresses they’ll never wear again, yes?

Rose Winters. The matriarch of the sewing circle, Rose has spent months making Tori’s wedding gown and it is beautiful. She’s a little unsure of her role as a bridesmaid thanks to the constant needling of yet another bridal party member, Leona Elkin.

Leona Elkin.  As is usually the case with Leona (in her head if not always reality), no one in the bridal party looks as good as she does. She flaunts and struts her stuff at the final dress fitting—even bringing the cameraman from her new Cable TV show along to document that fact.  What Leona doesn’t realize at the beginning of the book is the accessory she’ll be forced to sport when she walks down the aisle at the end (and I’m not talking about her beloved bunny, Paris, who will serve as ring bearer)...

Margaret Louise Davis.  Always smiling, Margaret Louise is tickled to be in Tori’s wedding. She’s happy to wear whatever dress Tori picks out, stand wherever Tori tells her to stand, and pose for pictures however Tori wants…she just wants Tori and Milo to get married.  

Debbie Calhoun. The bakery owner has been walking a fine line between what-the-customer wants and doing her part in making sure Tori can fit in her wedding dress.

Melissa Davis.  This mom of eight is eagerly looking forward to putting on a dress and feeling like a princess for the day. The fact that one of her daughters—Lulu—will also be walking down the aisle (as a junior bridesmaid) makes the affair all the more special for her.

Dixie Dunn. Tori’s once-nemesis has the dual task of serving as bridesmaid and doing a reading at the service.

Georgina Hayes. Georgina is excited about the wedding ceremony, but she’s also excited about the reception as it will be held in her backyard. Fortunately her neighbors will be out of town during the event , so parking won’t be an issue.

Nina Morgan.  Tori’s right-hand man at Sweet Briar Public Library, Nina is looking forward to her stint as her boss’s bridesmaid.

Beatrice Tharrington.  The youngest in the sewing circle, the British nanny is trying to be excited about Tori’s wedding…and she is. But it’s hard to be focused on much of anything besides the death of her friend, Miss Gracie. Especially when she’s convinced the woman’s death is anything but an accident…

Get your camera ready, folks. It’s time for a wedding. 

Elizabeth Lynn Casey is the national best-selling author of the Southern Sewing Circle Mysteries. The latest installment in the series, WEDDING DURESS, has just released. In addition to this series, Elizabeth also pens the Amish Mysteries under her own name, Laura Bradford. For more information, visit: www.elizabethlynncasey.com or www.laurabradford.com . 

Nothing makes a woman happier than a wedding!  Especially when it's two characters that I've grown to love - Tori and Milo!  I have watched all of these characters grow over the last nine books, and preparing for their marriage made me proud.  It kept me fully invested in the story, even through the mystery that occurs!  

The sewing circle gals are still in full force.  I just love them to pieces!  Especially when they get themselves involved in the craziness surrounding the drama of bridesmaids and the wedding.  It just shows the true nature of women in a perfect light!  

I just love this series.  I can't wait for the next book! :) 

Rating: 4.5 stars

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.  All conclusions reached are my own.  

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