Murder at the Spelling Bee by Lee Hollis

The murder of a moderator for a school competition spells trouble for Portland P.I. partners and moms Maya Kendrick and Sandra Wallage . . . Twelve-year-old Rocco Fanelli is a spelling bee champ in the making. He’s the odds-on favorite to win the local middle-school bee and go on to the regionals, the state, and ultimately the nationals. Which is why someone is trying to intimidate him to drop out with a threatening note in his locker. Rocco’s concerned parents hire Maya and Sandra to uncover the culprit and ensure their son’s safety. But the competition turns killer when a high school teacher who’s running the bee, clearly favoring certain students, is found dead in the school supply closet. Sandra had already confronted Ellie Lambert over unfairly grading her son Ryan—which now makes her a suspect. She’s not the only one who tangled with the teacher, however, and with suspects ranging from helicopter parents to the school custodian, Maya and Sandra will need to put their heads together to spell out who had the motive and opportunity to silence Ellie Lambert . . .

Death Of A Christmas Caterer: A Hayley Powell Food & Cocktails Mystery by Lee Hollis

Hayley likes writing her food and cocktails column.  She gets to try new things, experiment with food and drink, and gets paid for writing articles about it.  When her boss throws a last minute Christmas party at her, she knows the best caterer in town to do it, no problem.

Kensington Books sent me an ARC of this book for review (thank you).  It's being published this month, so you can grab the next book in this series now.

Hayley is a bit flighty, but she gets the job done.  The only problem is that her boss gives her a budget for food that wouldn't even work if she had the local grocery store cater it.  After some argument with the chef, they agree on a low key minimal food job.  All is good until she drops by to see how it's going and finds that he's dead.  He's inside a locked room.  What happened to him?

This is a cozy mystery (I enjoy them) and it's hard to feel sorry for Garth or his wife.  The cops aren't exactly sure how he died.  Hayley knows that something is off but not what.  And her old boyfriend is back in town and her new one doesn't like it. With Hayley's family, work and romance, her life is full.  Trying to investigate a murder is not the smartest thing to do.  

This is an unusual murder which was a nice touch.  My favorite part is that Hayley has finally made up her mind about which man she wants in her life.  It's about time!  I'm pleased with her choice.  Are you?

Death of a Coupon Clipper by Lee Hollis

Who would have thought that couponing could be life threatening?

Kensington Books sent me an ARC of this book for review (thank you).  It will be published this month, so keep your eye for the new one in this series.

Hayley has learned how to be extra efficient with coupons.  She has to, her income isn't great and she's raising two growing kids that love to eat.

When her garage roof collapses and totals her car and the furnace goes out, she's forced to look for extra money.  She tries to get a draw on her check, talks to her Mom, and knows there is no hope to find $10,000 on the sidewalk.  Especially not in all that snow.  But when a reality TV program comes to town and is going to do a show on couponing, she might have a chance!

The problem is that she's not the only one in town that's good with coupons.  Her friend, Mona, is another champ at it.  And a lady she hasn't liked since high school is also excellent at and very aggressive.  How could she beat Candace?  Soon that's a moot point because someone has killed Candace...

A fun touch in this story is the cat from hell.  When an old lady Hayley knows ends up in the hospital, she offers to care for the cat.  The cat hates everybody and makes Hayley and her brother's life ugly.  Poor Randy, he was just rescuing Hayley from her cold home and now he's got a cat ruining his place.

The murderer is unexpected, a coupon is a clue, and there is lot more going on in this story.  It's not boring, parts of it are funny, and it's almost as weird as life usually is.  I enjoyed it.

Happy reading. 

Death of a Country Fried Redneck by Lee Hollis

Here's a good cozy mystery with recipes!  Haley is back again and, without even trying, becomes a suspect in a new murder case...

Kensington Books sent me an ARC of this book for review (thank you).  This book will be published on November 6th, so you can get a copy soon.  There is another in this cozy series if you haven't run across it yet.  They're both a good read.

Hayley's "almost" boyfriend is going out of town for a couple of weeks.  She's OK with that.  Especially after she finds out one of her favorite country singers is coming to town to do a couple of benefit concerts.  She has a crush on him.

Poor Hayley has no idea how much a schoolgirl-type crush can get her in.  She gets a job cooking his meals for him and she's excited.  That means she'll get to see him and even talk to him a bit.  But it also means that she earns his ex-wife's wrath, a member of his crew turns up dead, and someone is trying to kill her!  

Lee Hollis is a brother/sister writing team and they do a nice job.  Their stories have enough mystery to make it interesting, the recipes are good, and the killer is not obvious.  I find this series fun to read.

Why not pick up Death of Kitchen Diva and read that one first?  Then you can enjoy both of their books.  There's another one coming, too.

If you'd like my copy of this ARC, please leave a comment here on my blog and then email me at info at bookfaerie.com with your name and address and why you'd like to read it.  I'll pick a winner in about a week.

Happy reading.      

Death of Kitchen Diva by Lee Hollis

Hayley Powell is a single mom who likes to cook and is the new food columnist with her newspaper.  Her rival on the other newspaper is devious and determined to outdo her, even if it means stealing her recipe.  Hayley gets angry enough about it to threaten her with death.  When she's the one to find Karen dead, she's also a major suspect...

Kensington sent me a copy of this book for review (thank you).  It's available now at your local bookstore.

Hayley is trying hard to find some extra income to help pay for repair of their home and the children's sports activities.  She's thrilled to have the chance to write another column and get an extra $50 a week.  But she sure didn't expect to be suspected of murder.  She also didn't expect half the town to believe it could be true.

This is a cozy set in Maine with some zany characters.  Hayley's two best friends are a beautiful real estate agent who dresses the best in town and a relaxed lobster woman who always seems to be pregnant.  When she gets in trouble, they attempt to help her solve the crime to protect her.

This is a fun light read that will make you smile as you watch the girls go through their various antics.  This author keeps you busy with the various relationships and the distinct lack of clues.  There are seven recipes in the book, too.  Of course, Hayley's investigation goes around the edges of legal.  That makes it even more complex when the police chief is her brother's boyfriend.

I enjoyed my walk through Bar Harbor, Maine.  Why not get a copy of this book and see what you think of the neighborhood?

I'm going to give my copy of this book away.  If you'd like to win it, leave a comment here on my blog and email me at info at bookfaerie.com with your name and address and the reason you'd like to read the book.  I'll pick a winner in about a week.

Happy reading.