Catherine Bruns

With Option to Kill by Catherine Bruns is another fantastic book in the Cindy York Mysteries. It’s a bit darker than the previous one I’ve read, but I really enjoyed it because the drama made it hard to put down… I found myself reading way past bedtime.

Bruns shines in her diversity of characters and how well she has developed them. One of the many things I really like about this series is how much family is incorporated into it. In some cozies the main focus is on the business, but show more certainly not in this book where the plot focuses on family dynamics and how dysfunctional they can be. I felt Cindy’s frustration and anger coming strongly off the page and I completely felt for her.
And it makes my heart happy that more authors are including GLBTQA characters in their stories, and Jacques is definitely a boss and friend I would love to have.

Besides having wonderful characters that a reader wants to come back and visit, Bruns writes a solid mystery. Even when I thought I knew who did it, there was still a twist.

I’m looking forward to the next book in the Cindy York Mysteries, and if you haven’t read her other series, she has four more and has written a book with Gemma Halliday too, I highly recommend that you do. I’ve read her Italian Chef Mysteries and Maple Syrup Mysteries and they are both excellent series. show less

After her engagement was ended by her fiancé, Leila needs a new start. It wasn’t quite what she envisioned: she had wanted to teach kindergarteners not high schoolers. But at least it was far from home and her disappointments. She had to put her new life on hold when she got the news that her father had been murdered. Now back where she was raised and the new owner of her family’s maple tree farm and shop, she is determined to find the killer. For a cozy mystery, this book is a page show more turner. Very exciting with twists you don’t see coming, it still has a touch of pending romance in future books. The main characters are believable and likable, the plot is intriguing, and the setting is lovely. It’s a great start for a new series, and one I need to add to my list of must-read series. show less

Although Killer View is the fourth book in the Cindy York Mysteries by Catherine Bruns, it’s the first that I’ve read in the series, and I will be reading more!
It had a bit of the same vibe going that Leslie Meier does in her Lucy Stone Mysteries, which made me love this one even more because the Lucy Stone Mysteries were the first cozy mysteries that I read… what a wonderful feeling of nostalgia, but with a much more modern twist.

If you’ve never read the Lucy Stone mysteries you may show more have no idea what similarities that I am referring to. They are the ones that make both series so good, which is the strong sense of family and having such a supporting husband, even if the main character does keep finding dead bodies or helping others who have. Bruns shines in her diversity of characters and how well she has developed them. It makes my heart happy that more authors are including GLBTQA characters in their stories, and Jacques is definitely a boss and friend I would love to have.

Besides the fantastic characters, Bruns really knows how to write a well rounded mystery. She gives the reader lots of suspects, a few red herrings, and while I thought for sure I knew who the killer was, I did not… which makes me enjoy a cozy even more.

Looking forward to book five in the Cindy York Mysteries, and have already added the first three in the series to my TBR pile. show less

Catherine Bruns has other cozy mystery series under her belt (Cookies and Chance Mysteries, Italian Chef Mysteries, Cindy York Mysteries, and the Aloha Lagoon Mysteries), and how well A Doomful of Sugar (the first in the Maple Syrup Mysteries) is written just goes to prove that she is one of the Queens of Cozies!

Leila comes back to her hometown for her father’s funeral. She had been planning on returning to her dismal life in Florida (to prove she could make it on her own and because she show more doesn’t get along well with her mother), but when she finds out that her dad gave her the syrup farm and business and that he was murdered, she boils over and starts accusing everyone (except her mom and BFF) of being a suspect.

The reader is treated to descriptions of gorgeous Vermont scenery, maple making facts and history, wonderful maple and Lebanese recipes, and some well developed characters (especially for a first book in a series). We don’t get too much of the town, since Bruns focuses more on the farm in this book, so I’m looking forward to that in future books.

After Leila is town for a bit, she sweetens to Noah, an employee of the farm who has a wonderful way of calming her down, as well as protecting her. I’m enjoying how Bruns is handling this relationship. She didn’t dwell on the love interest and it actually feels organic. And I also like the surprise people that come along with Noah. It should add some touching or humorous scenes in future books.

As for the mystery, I thought this one was very well done. Lots of red herrings and clues, and I was surprised by the ending. Most cozy mysteries tend to be a bit lighter with the whodunnit aspect, but how could I expect anything less from a Queen of Cozies?!? show less