Denise Swanson

Since losing her office job, Devereaux Sinclair has been trying to rebuild her life by running Devereaux's Dime Store and Gift Baskets. But no matter how hard she tries, she can't quite escape the crimes of her ex-boss or the fact that her father is in jail. The past really comes back to haunt her when her ex-boyfriend's fiancé is found murdered and a police detective would love to put Dev in jail for the murder. With the help of hunky Jake Delvecchio Dev sets out to find the killer but show more will she be able to clear her name in time?

"Little Shop of Homicide" is the first book in Denise Swanson's new Devereaux Dime Store cozy mystery series. I'm a fan of Swanson's Scumble River cozy mystery series and I was eager and curious to see how this new series is - so far I'm happy with it. Swanson has created a delightfully complex heroine in Devereaux - she is trying to build a new life and escape her past but is always looking over her shoulder. Her worries about her grandmother, who is showing signs of dementia, are very realistic and also help set up a future plot line (I hope) regarding what really happened with Dev's father. The dime store is a great setting and I loved the description of the gift baskets that Dev makes. This book is a bit sexier and grittier than most cozy mysteries I've read. In fact, while the mystery is well plotted with plenty of suspects, at times this book reads more like a romance novel with a touch of mystery thrown in as opposed to a real mystery. This isn't a bad thing - the relationship between Devereaux and Jake sizzles - but I'd like to see a more developed mystery in future books.

"Little Shop of Homicide" is a nice start to Denise Swanson's new cozy mystery series and I look forward to reading other books in the series. show less

Even though I read this first Scumble River mystery after checking out the 16th from the new mysteries shelf, the 'spoilers' I knew about what would happen in Skye's life didn't prevent me from enjoying Murder of a Small-Town Honey.

Skye Denison is experiencing the humiliation of being forced to move back to the same small town she insulted at her high school graduation. If you think her many relatives, not to mention the rest of the townsfolk, have forgotten what she said 12 years ago, show more think again. The New Orleans fiancé who dumped her after she was fired sounds like a narrow escape, but her mother is determined that Skye get married. The old high school buddy of her older brother with whom she goes on a double date is certainly no prize. The Chief of Police was the object of her 15-year-old self's crush, but Wally is married. As for Simon the coroner, he may be single, good-looking, and comfortably well off, but the way he treated Skye at the grocery store made me dislike him.

The book opens at Scumble River's annual Chokeberry Days Festival. It's grown since Skye was a girl. Some of the businesses in town make a lot of money during the festival, so they're all for it. Other inhabitants are against it because it's noisy, disruptive, and there tends to be some property damage. Is that why the festival is being sabotaged? (What happened to the Cow Chip Bingo game was particularly bad.)

There's plenty of humor in the book (loved the way Skye dealt with the little tin dictator junior high principal when they met). The problems Skye faces as the first school psychologist in over a year were an interesting subplot. The murder has a double-impact on Skye: she's the unfortunate soul who finds the body and it's her brother who is the chief suspect. If you're interested in Scumble River history, see chapter 17. show less

Dani has decided to leave her job in HR to be self employed as a caterer and personal chef. The mansion she's inherited is the perfect distance from the college and has a large dream kitchen. Added to that, she has arrangements with the three girls she's taken in to assist her. But Ivy's intended charitable donation of leftovers for the homeless has turned deadly. Will Dani be accused again because she knew the deceased?

In case you're not a regular reader of my blog, this was a cozy mystery show more and an extremely light read. I thought that it was so neat that Denise basically gave us the recipes to most of the things Dani created. The book flowed nicely but if you're not a foodie, all of the recipes tend to be a bit much. It was a great story that kept me guessing for awhile, that was quite a treat for me! Needless to say, I thought this was a wicked awesome read! show less

Skye Denison, school psychologist, thought she had done her homework before she hired the handsome and sexy Beau Hamilton to work on the house she inherited in the last book, Murder of a Smart Cookie. The acknowledgments page of Murder of a Real Bad Boy thanks the folks who told the author their stories about contractors -- not the best of the best, as you might guess.

Hamilton had good recommendations from other Scumble River citizens who had hired him, so why is his work so gosh-darned show more bad? Who killed the jerk before Skye could fire him? Why is Buck Peterson, who is about as good a sheriff as Hamilton was a contractor, so eager to pin the murder on Skye? Yes, elections are coming up, but going after a police dispatcher's daughter with as many friends and relatives in the county as May Denison has, isn't likely to win him many votes.

Other problems Skye has this time are the fact that her beloved cat, Bingo, is missing; her mother and Bunny Reid are both very anxious that she and Simon make up (Simon still isn't willing to explain what Skye discovered in the last book), and a new high school student whose past exploits are cause for concern. There's also the matter of brother Vince's strange behavior that May expects Skye to deal with.

Wally Boyd, Scumble River's sexy police chief, is more than eager to take Simon's place. May doesn't favor him for three reasons: he's divorced, six years older than Skye, and Not Catholic. Read chapter 15 for May and Bunny's attempt to get their children to reconcile.

Someone keeps breaking into Skye's house. Weird things keep going wrong with that house every time Wally and Skye are about to get to know each other in the Biblical sense. Is the place haunted?

Alana Lowe, art teacher and one of Skye's work friends, has even worse problems than Skye. Can Skye help her?

This is another funny Scumble River mystery. I enjoyed the pairing of expressions involving numbers with the chapter numbers. show less