Krista Davis

Big Little Spies is such a fun cozy mystery series, and I definitely enjoyed this latest entry. In this one, people are coming for a major event, a charity ball, aptly named the "There's No Place Like Home" event. Gosh, how can you not love an event with a double entendre like that? With a slew of quirky characters, this was a nice, light-hearted mystery to delve into.

I enjoy all the characters in this book and love how the author goes out her way to give them all their own quirks and show more personalities. Holly and Trixie are the main characters, and yes, I know Trixie is a dog, but she is so adorable I can't help thinking of her as a main character. There is actually a lot going on with certain characters and I am happy the author takes the time to develop secondary characters as well as main ones. I also love the fact that Holly's relationship is not the central focus of the book, but just seems to fit in nicely with the story line - no drama, no angst, no other tropes that authors seem to always want to throw into books which can be so annoying. It doesn't mean they don't have disagreements or they don't get annoyed with each other, but they deal with it maturely. Enjoyable to read.

The plot was interesting and it took me a while to figure it out; the fact the author can still do this by the seventh book is impressive. Keeping things fresh and intriguing must be so hard to do, but the author does it so well. There are multiple things going on and the author uses those things as red herrings to throw you off the scent, so to speak, so you really have to pay attention to what is going on.

I have always enjoyed this author's writing style, and really enjoy the witty dialogue. Holly's inner monologue is a lot of fun too, and the sarcasm as she deals with certain people is priceless. She is never mean though, but I did have a few laugh out loud moments when she was dealing with her aunt.

And the animals. It would definitely make me feel better if there were more misbehaved animals in this book as they are all so GOOD. I have two cats and while they are great animals, they tend to do their own thing and would never obey me like the cats in this book. I would get this weird look, then they would turn their back on me to say 'whatever'. I definitely love the idea of this town and how the tourism is marketed to animal lovers though; it's a cool concept.

Big Little Spies definitely kept you guessing which is why I enjoyed it so much. With a host of quirky and fun characters, I enjoyed returning to this town and learning more about them. There are a lot of recipes included at the back of the book, for human and animal and sometimes both. I do think long-time fans of this series will really enjoy this book and while it's always nice to start at the beginning of a series, I do think you could actually read this one without having actually read the previous entries. I am looking forward to the next one when it is released. show less

Yet another cozy mystery series I will pass on.

Start with a quaint small hometown to which our heroine returns after a failed romance and several years in the big city. Make her the absolute bestest, smartest, most competent person in the ENTIRE town. Turn her into a better investigator than the investigators. In fact, make her so good that she doesn’t have to follow police protocols, at all and the cops are still thrilled she’s around to help.

Now, give her insane levels of knowledge show more about EVERYTHING, ever. But don’t telegraph any hints with foreshadowing. Just dump all that glorious knowledge on the reader out of the blue. Let our heroine take incredible leaps of logic and make assumptions she has no basis for. It’s okay, ‘cause she’s the smartest person ever.

To prove her awesomeness, she will offer sage advice to people throughout town, including advice on personal matters with which she is unfamiliar. Her advice is on-point and perfect. Every. Single. Time.

Then, spring a killer from the shadows without warning because everyone our heroine has interacted with through the story has been so nice. None of them could possibly kill our victim. Just for giggles, foreshadowing a character as important to a murder mystery as the killer should include more than one line of dialogue and a description of said killer as part of the scenery in our quaint little tourist trap.

The author needs to do more research on poisoning if she wishes to feature poisons or drugs in her story. The drug used to sicken one victim would not have caused the reaction described. It was sloppy and obviously not studied before being used as a plot device.

A cozy mystery is still subject to the same intellectual physics as any other mystery. There’s more to it than a couple of dead bodies, elaborate menus in quaint hotel dining rooms, and cute pets. It would behoove this author to learn what makes a mystery work. show less

The Stupendous Stuffing Shakedown kicked off at a local hotel in Washington, D.C., during the summer and featured 200 contestants. Sophie Winston was now one of the three amateur cooks competing for the win. The stakes were raised when three local celebrities were invited by the sponsors, intensifying Sophie's desire to win—especially since the finals included Natasha Smith, a reminder of their high school rivalry. Although the two women were no longer in direct competition, it was show more frustrating for Sophie to know that her ex-husband, Mars, was living with Natasha.

This cozy mystery is a delightful indulgence on multiple levels! It features intriguing character relationships, engaging crime elements, a featured event, holiday chaos, and, of course, the food. Oh my goodness, the food! Thankfully, I'm a nighttime reader who doesn't snack late, because the pages are filled with vivid, mouthwatering culinary descriptions that make you crave these dishes even when you're not hungry. I couldn't help but wish that Sophie, who conveniently keeps cookie dough in her freezer for unexpected guests, could be a real person. It's hard to resist the idea of warm, freshly baked homemade chocolate chip cookies. Who would ever call ahead?

One aspect that enhanced the cozy vibe for me was the Q&As at the beginning of each chapter. These came from either Natasha's or Sophie's perspective and covered topics like DIY décor, entertaining, hostess tips, and cooking solutions.

Recipes and Cooking Tips for First Murder Bourbon Pecan Pie, Brining Basics, Crusty Country Bread, Bacon, and Herb Stuffing, Chesapeake Cornbread Stuffing, and Cranberry Mushroom Wild Rice Stuffing are available at the end of the cozy mystery.

I'm excited to read more of the series! show less

Sophie Winston's sister, Hannah, is getting married (again) and Sophie is hosting a dinner at her home for the guests. Even though she doesn't like Hannah's fiancé Craig, she's willing to endure it anyway. When Sophie is returning home before setting everything up, a woman appears at her doorstep looking for Craig, Rather than give her name, she leaves telling Sophie she'll come back later.

Then, when Sophie goes to her rival Natasha's home to collect her dog, Daisy, the dog runs to the show more backyard where Sophie finds the body of the woman hanging from Natasha's new pergola. At first it's suspected the woman committed suicide, but Sophie's friend Humphrey, who is a mortician, tells Sophie the marks don't gibe, and that the woman was murdered. Now that the police are involved, the game is upped, and Sophie is doing her best to save her sister from a possible killer...

I read the first book in this series many years ago (2011), and I must have disliked it immensely to never read another one until now. I re-read my review. I was right. I dislike these characters. All of them.

Sophie is the worst excuse for a woman I can think of. She has no guts, and won't tell people to bug off - she's such a doormat she needs to have "Welcome" tattooed on her back. Her sister is mean and takes advantage of her; her mother likes Natasha much better than her own daughter; Natasha steamrolls over Sophie every chance she gets; etc.; etc. (Not to mention that not only did Natasha wind up with Sophie's ex-husband; she bought a home down the block from Sophie; she has the TV show that should have gone to Sophie; and she covets Sophie's home. Screw off, Nat).

These are horrible people. After Sophie has done a tremendous amount of work planning everything the way her sister wants, then Natasha waltzes in and changes everything to black and brown for a "modern" wedding. Gross. Ugly. And completely disrespectful to Sophie. What's up with Hannah that she would just allow this anyway?

But then it goes farther than that. Not only does everyone treat Sophie like she's a hired maid (and not a well-treated one, either), but Natasha tells Sophie's date - the homicide detective, Wolf - that he's not welcome at the dinner because he brings 'bad memories' to the guests about the murder. So what does this man do? HE DOESN'T GO. He leaves Sophie in the lurch. He's a homicide detective without a pair, if you know what I mean. I don't know of ANY detective in any book that would act this way. They'd tell Natasha to go stuff herself. Not this guy. He has a little a spine as Sophie.

What is wrong with this woman? She allows everyone to push her around, and she takes it. I couldn't stand being around these people at all. The best thing she can do is never invite any of them to her home ever again. Including the spineless detective.

Plus, are we supposed to take the advice at the beginning of every chapter? Most of it was laughable. 1) I'm not giving gift baskets to people who are invited to a wedding. My gift to them is the free food and drink. 2) An "A" list and a "B" list for a wedding? Must be nice to find out you were only invited as a seat filler. 3) You know what? I'm not a tour guide. If people show up early for a wedding and plan to stay a few days, they can go online just like everyone else and find out what the area has to offer. Also, maybe it's trending that a bride can buy two wedding gowns, but it's an extra cost that isn't needed, and is pretentious in the extreme. No thank you. Most of this 'advice' is really out there somewhere.

I couldn't stand any of these people to the extent that I really didn't care about the murders nor why they were committed. I only read the book because I wanted to see just how much abuse Sophie would take before she cracked. She never cracked. Draw your own conclusions. show less