Sam Bond

I read one to two cozy mysteries a week, sometimes more, sometimes less. I give a lot of them four and five stars… I wish I could give The Puccini Connection by Sam Bond more than five stars, it was flippity flip-flop excellent.

What often pushes a cozy towards a five star rating is how well the author describes the town, clothes, etc… and if the characters are well developed. Bond is leaps and bounds above a lot of other cozy mysteries in the description department. Even though I don’t show more read a lot of books set in England, the countryside, outfits, meals, and architecture were so vivid in their descriptions that I could smell the food they were eating and could feel Chester’s bristly fur. I always visualize what I am reading, adding my own details when need be, but the words off the page so wonderfully illustrated everything that the pictures in my mind were in technicolor!
Plus Bond seamlessly weaves in interesting facts about classical music and it’s used to add another fantastic layer to the mystery. I don’t listen to classical, but Bond has inspired me to do so.

And then there were the characters, so many fun and quirky ones. How can you not enjoy a cozy that has a zedonk, named Chester, in it?!? What is a zedonk? I didn’t know either until I read The Puccini Connection… so this is yet another reason why you should read it.
Josie and Belle make the perfect best friends, and with all of Belle’s money and connections it opens up so many adventures that they can have in future books. Even the clergy, who are so often a bit stuffy, were very enticing to read about.

Since I usually judge a cozy mystery on the love interests too, I’ll mention that the ones in The Puccini Connection were well written and I won’t annoyed by any possible love triangles lasting through eight books… and yet, Bond leaves it a bit open so things could get steamy with a bit of a love triangle… and I am more than fine with that.

And now for the mystery itself… Bond gave us lots of potential suspects and plenty of red herrings. I didn’t know who the killer was until Josie found little bits of something in the house. And the reveal had so many people who had been by the cottage with all of their juicy secrets, that it reminded me of something from an Agatha Christie novel.

Over the years there have been a lot fewer cozy mystery series that I actively search out the next book and put it on my list to make sure I read it, but The Milkwood Murder series will be one of them. I highly, highly recommend you get yourself a copy and one for any of your cozy mystery lover friends!!!! show less

This cozy is charming in every way beginning with the enchanting cover and continues the musical theme with a Treble Clef at the beginning of each new chapter. Regardless of whether you are a student of music appreciation or not you may have heard at least a few bars of either the operas of La Bohème, Tosca, Madame Butterfly, or Turandot by the Italian composer Giacomo Puccini. I loved how one of these pieces "played" into the storyline. Other special features include: "Who’s Who in show more Milkwood" and "Don’t Get Lost – A Milkwood Map."

From the opening chapter, I knew Josie Monroe who returns to the UK after the past 20 years in Austin, Texas was going to be fun to be around from her opening response to a marriage proposal at her sister’s wedding reception in Shropshire as Josie kindly replies, "That’s awfully nice of you," I murmured, trying to dislodge his whiskers from my ear. “But I don’t think we’ve been introduced."

Let me simply say Josie’s sense of humor carries throughout the cozy and there’s simply never a dull moment in any aspect of her life but definitely ramps up on her arrival in Milkwood to visit a favorite aunt.

There are some characters that capture your heart immediately and never let go and although it’s easy to read this cozy as a stand-alone it’s more of a delight knowing there will be more time with Josie, her relatives, and her friends as well as the interesting cast of secondary characters that live, work, and play in the small village of Milkwood. For all who love watching mysteries on Acorn TV or BritBox that occur in small villages across the UK, this series will soon become the next favorite. It is surely my pick to highly recommend.

As a former librarian and copy editor, it is part of my history to take note of information on the copyright page. As someone that views errors jumping off the page as I’m reading that cannot be discovered with spell check but with true copy editing and proofreading, I was enthralled with the publisher’s welcome and particularly the wording as follows: "This book has been edited and proofread, but typos are like gremlins, unwanted and insidious, sneaking in when least expected. If you spot a typo, please let us know at: boundpublishing@gmail.com."

Accordingly, not surprising but a joy to say I found not an error to be reported. Please don’t think searching for errors is my every intent but errors are very distracting to my overall reading pleasure of a novel. show less

Do you ever get a moment of fear when you pick up the second book in a series and you’re afraid that it will disappoint you because you enjoyed the first book in the series so much? I know it’s not just me…. But, you don’t need to have this fear if you loved The Puccini Connection by Sam Bond because the second book in the Milkwood Murder Mysteries, The Unread Prophecy, is just as good!

Everything that I enjoyed from the first book is in the second, along with even more characters to show more get to know and love. Bond excels at her descriptions of the English countryside, the architecture, the food (I Need to get myself some Hobnob’s!), and the character’s outfits. Some authors do a good job, but Bond is at another level.

And the characters are so well written too. To be able to write scenery and characters so strongly, this makes Bond a double threat! Even with so many characters I had no problem knowing who was who because Bond is able to make each one have such distinct personalities. And I so want to be on one of the trivia teams.
In The Unread Prophecy, Belle, Josie’s BFF, was busy taking care of the victim’s family and Claude, the zedonk, was only briefly mentioned, but I enjoyed both of them so much from The Puccini Connection that I wanted more of them in The Unread Prophecy… but that just makes me excited to read book three even more to find out what they are up to.

Even though I read so many cozies, there are very few series that I keep active tabs on and the Milkwood Murder Mysteries is one of them. So it should come as no surprise that I very highly recommend The Unread Prophecy. show less

The Rhythm of Lies by Sam Bond is another fantastic English cozy by Sam Bond. Bond’s books are always rich with detailed scenery of the English countryside, delightful food, and amusing characters. The Rhythm of Lies may have even more characters than the previous two books, but Bond gives the reader a handy character list, as well as an adorable map of the village and surrounding area.

The title is very apt since there are so many storylines taking place and people are lying left and show more right. It takes Josie and pals (and the reader) quite some time to untangle all the threads, but I thought the payoff at the end was worth it.

While the interrogation of suspects is happening, Josie is also wrestling with some very big decisions in her life, while her pals are trying to show her just how wonderful the village is… I mean, how many places have a Tomato Queen and festival every year… along with a bunch of other festivals filled with community spirit?!

If you are looking for a cozy filled with memorable characters that will give you some chuckles along the way, make sure to check out Bond’s Milkwood Murder Mysteries. show less