Sunday, January 23, 2022

Brief Mention: New Cozies from Carrie Doyle and Linda Reilly



If your TBR (to be read) stack is getting a little short, or too "heavy" with crime, you can lighten it up with new January releases from seasoned authors Carrie Doyle and Linda Reilly.

Doyle's "Trouble in Paradise" series began with It Takes Two to Mango, featuring expert but disappointed real estate pro Plum Lockhart. Now, in SOMETHING'S GUAVA GIVE, Plum's got her own villa broker agency rolling on an island in the Caribbean. But her New York City corporate lift hasn't let go of her, because her not-quite-budy Gerald Hand up there demands a return favor that drags her into investigating a murder. Whenever Plum does this, she has to negotiate how closely she'll work with a hunky director of security that she can't stop admiring and drooling over. It's a great setup for both romance and comedy, and Doyle demonstrates once again her expert handling of this lively balance.


UP TO NO GOUDA is the start of a new cozy series by Linda Reilly, already known for her cat-focused mysteries. Carly Hale isn't letting widowhood stop her from trying her dream business: a Vermont grilled cheese restaurant (this is "A Grilled Cheese Mystery").  But just a few months into the restaurant's success, the town bully tries to evict her. Guess who ends up murdered on the restaurant doorstep? Carly's efforts to save both her business and her reputation become tangled with new directions of affection, but thank goodness, she's got terrific friends to help her through. Recipes at the back, of course!

PS: Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.

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