Laura Bradford

First and foremost, the Emergency Dessert Squad concept and the names of Winnie's desserts are an absolute stroke of genius. I loved reading about putting Winnie's new business together and the brain-storming sessions for dessert names every bit as much as I enjoyed the mystery.

Winnie Johnson is a fabulous character as is the secondary cast of-- mainly-- senior citizens. Winnie tends to surround herself with older people, and she has a good reason for doing so. There are so many things to show more like about Éclair and Present Danger, and one of them is the sense of community and of caring Winnie and her "old folks" have.

Winnie-- like several other heroines in cozy mysteries-- has captured the attention of two very handsome and available men, but she deals with both of them very honestly. I certainly appreciated the fact that there was no real dithering back and forth between Greg and Jay. Romantic triangles have become a bit of a cliché and tend to bore me to insensibility.

The mystery of Bart's death is pretty much kept on the back burner until almost the end of the book, but the solution is very satisfying. Bart had no real part in the book, but I was left wishing that I'd known him better-- a testament to Bradford's writing in that she took just as much care in developing a character who "had no future" as she did with her returning cast.

With such a satisfying mystery, a wonderful cast, and a brilliant concept, is it any wonder that I'm eagerly awaiting the second book in the series? show less

Originally published as Jury of One, Deadly Readings is a good solid debut mystery. The book's Jersey Shore setting rang true to this fan of Chris Grabenstein's Ceepak and Boyle mysteries. When tourist dollars are involved, solving crime quickly is the name of the game.

Elise Jenkins and Mitch Burns are the two main characters in this book, and they are almost too good to be true. I almost wanted to rough them up with a fault or two to make them more realistic. However, what really frosted my show more cake was the fact that the newspaper Elise works for is 100% ethical, and this proves that paying attention to the real world has made me too jaded and cynical.

But you know what? It was nice reading about a newspaper staff that believed finding a killer was more important than the headlines it could grab. It was nice reading about a newspaper reporter who worked with the police instead of against them. Although whodunit was a bit too easy to deduce and there were a couple of questionable procedural issues in Deadly Readings, it was still an enjoyable read for this old cynic. I may just have to track down more books in this series! show less

Emma has tried to be the perfect daughter, but her efforts to make her mother smile and win her approval never seem to succeed. Even her birthday celebrations fall short of those of her siblings, since her birthday happens to fall on the same date her mother’s beloved sister died. An English man is seen leaving trinkets on the sister’s grave every year on the day of her death, and Emma begins to collect and claim these things, and hides them from her family. When she turns 22, a locket show more with a picture unravels her past and changes her future. Searching for answers about her own life, Emma will have to decide if she really should be English, or if she should remain in the Amish community. This is an interesting story about life choices, about forgiveness, and about giving people the chance to explain their decisions and actions. It’s a well written story, and peopled with likable characters placed in an intriguing plot. show less

Claire is enjoying finding her way through the corn maze, right up to the time she finds the dead body. An Amish man has been killed, and detective Jakob Miller is fearful he may have been murdered by another Amish man, maybe even a member of Jakob's family. Claire is determined to find the killer, and she just hopes the perpetrator isn’t Amish. This is a pretty good mystery in its own right, but the interaction between the characters is also quite interesting. Jakob was raised Amish, but show more left the Amish for police work. Unfortunately for all, he was first baptized, which means he is now shunned by the people he longs to be with. How all this will eventually play out is not yet known, except maybe to the author of this delightful series! show less