Parrots Prove Deadly is Clea Simon’s Best Mystery to Date

Parrots Prove Deadly

By: Clea Simon

Copyright: April 2013

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press

Parrots will repeat anything – they don’t talk sense. Or do they?

When Pru Marlowe is called in to retrain a foul-mouthed African gray after its owner’s death, the bad-girl animal psychic can’t help hearing the bird’s words as a replay of a murder scene. But the doctor on call scoffs at the idea, and the heirs just want their late mother’s pet to quit cursing.

With the only other possible witnesses being an evasive aide, the blind neighbor, and a single-minded service dog, Pru is stuck with what may be a feather-brained theory. Even her crotchety tabby Wallis doesn’t buy it, although she’s more than willing to “interrogate” the big bird, as Pru deals with drugs, jealousy, and a potential rabies outbreak….

What do you think happens when you take one foul mouthed parrot, a service dog with issues, a neighbor who is a major yenta, and a dead woman’s daughter who appears to be slightly OCD?  You get Pru’s latest adventure in murder.

It all began with an early morning of Sept. 3^rd. when Polly Larkin AKA “room 203” was found dead on the floor of her room.  Pru checked her messages and found a mail from a woman “I need your help, it’s or death”.   Pru was being asked to retrain a foul mouth parrot into one more kid friendly so that Mrs. Larking’s son could bring him home to his house.

I could write a page or so of my thoughts of each chapter, but I won’t! I’m not that talented or I’d have my own books on the market. (insert laugh)  As the story progresses, Pru meets the aid, the neighbor and her support dog.  She also gets to find out how creepy the director of the Nursing home is.  As her questions pile up along with the body count… It’s a race to find out how Polly died, who done it, and why so many people not involved with the home are interested.

Clea Simon is one hell of a talented writer and never fails to keep my interested in her books.  She is the author of three mystery series. The Theda Krakow Mysteries, The Pru Marlowe Pet Noir, and the Dulcie Schwartz Mysteries.   Each one a mystery which will entertain you and keep you involved till the last page.

FTC Full Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher who  only requested a fair and impartial review.

Trouble in the Tarot is a Magical Treat

Trouble in the Tarot

By Kari Lee Townsend

Copyright:  March 2013

Publisher Berkeley Prime Crime

For psychic Sunshine Meadows, sometimes fortunes can be deceiving . . .

Lately Sunny has been experiencing a period of big opportunity: her business in Divinity, New York, is thriving, and Detective Mitch Stone has finally agreed to take Sunny on a date. But thanks to her clairvoyant abilities, Sunny knows better than anyone that life deals out bad cards along with the good.

When Sunny agrees to read tarot cards at the annual Summer Solstice Carnival, she meets her Granny Gert‘s “arch nemesis” Fiona Atwater, and is overcome by a vision of Fiona in a violent argument. Sunny knows trouble is brewing when Granny and Fiona start having squabbles all over town. But the fighting comes to a head when a local baker gets run over by a big white Cadillac—and Granny and Fiona are found at the crime scene.

Sunny knows she should step aside and let Mitch handle the investigating, but she’s not about to ignore her visions and leave her granny’s life in fate’s hands . . .

Sunny didn’t quite agree to read tarot at the annual Summer Solstice Carnival. Granny Gert pushed, pulled, chivvied, and basically guilted her into it by playing on her love of animals.  The money raised from the profits of the carnival was going to the new animal shelter in town.

So here she sits setting out her fortune telling supplies while her cat Morty (who has a traditional fortune telling turban tied on his head) give her what in our house would be the traditional “duh, ya think?” look.  Granny Gert group Trixie’s Sewing Circle was in charge of the carnival this year and they’d chosen .

So on an early Friday morning Sunny (not an early riser) was setting up her booth in the Gazebo, set in the middle of the park.  After hanging her shingle (five times)  from the roof which reads Sunny’s Sanctuary, a gentleman named Harry fixed it so it would stay up. Thereby giving her hope that maybe this week would turn out better then she’d hoped.  Sunny offered to do a reading  for Harry as sort of a thank you payment but he declined, explaining that he has a fishing pole waiting for him back at Divine Inspiration, the Inn her parents always stayed at.

Setting up the table by putting a silk scarf over it and setting out elemental symbols around the table representing the earth, air, fire and water.  Little knowing that her week would devolve into a murder , with her Granny Gert as one of the prime suspects.

I love this series (and own all of them) and think the characters are  very well thought out. Between Sunny, her disapproving parents, her cat Morty who knows Sunny is his, and Granny Gert, along with the ancillary townspeople make this a treat to read and twisty enough to have you wondering till the very end.

I’m not going to say any more… Not because of spoilers, but because I want you to be salivating at the thought of getting a copy of the book into your hot little hands and spending a wonderful afternoon or evening enjoying the story.

FTC FULL DISCLOSURE: I was given a copy of the book by the author who only requested a fair and impartial review.

SPECIAL NOTE:  Author Kari Lee Townsend will be guest hosting on my blog on March 12th.  Please stop by and talk to her… ask questions, or just leave comments and thoughts about this book and the whole series.

 

Copycat Killing is the Cat’s Meow

Copycat Killing

By Sofie Kelly

Copyright May 2012

Publisher: Obsidian Mystery

 

Everyone thinks their cats are special—but Owen and Hercules have powers that go far beyond an adorable look or an irresistible purr. Along with their owner, librarian Kathleen Paulson, they have an uncanny instinct for solving crimes…

It’s been raining cats and dogs in Mayville Heights. The small town’s been deluged, and now the local artists’ co-op is on the verge of flooding. Kathleen has been up all night helping her friends move their creations to the safety of the upstairs studio.

The artwork survives, but when controversial mask maker Jaeger Merrill is found drowned in the co-op basement, Kathleen questions whether the death was accidental. After she discovers the artist was using an assumed name, she realizes she can’t actually assume anything about him. With the help of handsome detective Marcus Gordon—and her cats’ extraordinary powers of detection—it’s up to Kathleen to unmask a killer.

 

It’s been raining cats and dogs in Mayville Heights and the town just might float away if it doesn’t stop. Everyone is on edge, and if they have businesses on the main strip they are shoring up the place and pumping out water as fast as they can.

Kathleen is home with her two cats Owen and Hercules. Owen is not very happy about the rain boots he is modeling (he hates to get his paws wet) and Hercules appears to be laughing at him (as much as a cat can laugh).  After removing the offending boots from Owen, Kathleen locked up the house and went to meet Maggie at the Artist’s Co-op to help move things up to the second floor so they wouldn’t get water damaged.  Kathleen and Maggie move all the perishables up to the second floor and run into one of the other co-op members, Jaeger Merrill, who just has to get his .02 cents in even when no one wants to hear it.  He has this plan to hire a manager to run the co-op and to look for corporate sponsorship.

The majority of the members aren’t interested he just keeps harping on it.  It’s no wonder that a couple of hours later when Maggie is checking the water level in the basement she finds his dead body floating at the foot of the stairs.  Who did it, and why are the main questions, and that is the crux of this story.

We find out many secrets and hidden pasts, things best left alone, and now shining in the light of day.

Copycat Killing is the third book in the Magical Cats Mystery series and by far the most complex one to date.  I enjoyed it immensely and strongly suggest that you add it to your book ordering lists.

FTC Full Disclosure: I received an ARC of this book from the author, who only asked for a fair and impartial review of it.