Book Review - Murder by the Book

Welcome - Today I am reviewing:
Murder by the Book by author, Lauren Elliott.
I received an e-copy of this book from Net Galley for my honest opinions.

Murder by the Book is the debut book in a new series by the author.  I love it when I have a chance to start a book series.

Here is a description from Net Galley of the book:

Description

Addie Greyborne loved working with rare books at the Boston Public Library—she even got to play detective, tracking down clues about mysterious old volumes. But she didn’t expect her sleuthing skills to come in so handy in a little seaside town . . .
 
Addie left some painful memories behind in the big city, including the unsolved murder of her fiancé and her father’s fatal car accident. After an unexpected inheritance from a great aunt, she’s moved to a small New England town founded by her ancestors back in colonial times—and living in spacious Greyborne Manor, on a hilltop overlooking the harbor. Best of all, her aunt also left her countless first editions and other treasures—providing an inventory to start her own store.

But there’s trouble from day one, and not just from the grumpy woman who runs the bakery next door. A car nearly runs Addie down. Someone steals a copy of Alice in Wonderland. Then, Addie’s friend Serena, who owns a nearby tea shop, is arrested—for killing another local merchant. The police seem pretty sure they’ve got the story in hand, but Addie’s not going to let them close the book on this case without a fight . .

Addie Greyborne loved working with rare books at the Boston Public Library—she even got to play detective, tracking down clues about mysterious old volumes. But she didn’t expect her sleuthing skills...

           

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My thoughts on the book:  I absolutely loved this book from the very first page.  While the book was a bit fast paced and crammed a lot into the story I still found it very enjoyable and one that I wanted to keep reading without putting it down. 

 

Addie is the main character in the book and she has suffered several losses in a very short amount of time.  That part was one of the things I thought was a bit "much" to the story but it made sense as you went along in the book.  Addie inherits a family manor and opens up her own rare/used book store much to the dismay of a few of the towns residents.  Soon things start happening like break-ins to the story, near misses with cars, and murder that keep you wanting to figure out the mystery of why they are all happening to Addie.

 

What I really liked was that there were fun character's in the story and a hint of romance as well.  I like a good murder story and this one kept you guessing as to who the murderer was until almost the very end of the story.

 

I found myself rooting for Addie and wanting her to find peace from the turmoil that she had been through. - Of course with a murder to deal with that wasn't easy.  Addie finds that she has friends on her side when she meets up with Serena and her older brother, Marc who happens to be the Chief of the Police.  They team up to help solve this crime.

 

I was satisfied with the ending of the story and excited that there is another book in the series that is now available for pre-order HERE  you can also purchase this book in the series HERE -  I have already pre-order the 2nd book in the series.

 

I will say this is a more (easy) read book and not a suspense type murder mystery but one that I really enjoyed reading.

 

Willy Nilly Friday Five - The Halloween Edition

Welcome!

Joining Tom (The Back Roads Traveller) for:

WILLY-NILLY FRIDAY FIVE

For this week I'm featuring Halloween themed photos.  People love to decorate here for Halloween and all photos here were found out and about in town. - Some are spooky some are not.  Enjoy.

Click to Enlarge Photos.

1. 

                                           Rising up from the dead

2. 

A Friendly Witch Ghost

 

3.

Spooky Entryway

 

4.

A cute Scarecrow

 

5.

Witches Brew

Bonus shots:

 

Oh what a Tangled Web we Weave

 

Just Hanging Out

 

Adorably Spooky

 

Mr. Pumpkin Head

 

                                          Werewolves of London

                                            Spooky Flamingo

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My Black and White Shot this week.  This is actually part of an, Art Exhibit on the Whitman College Campus - Non-Halloween related but I thought it was scary enough to share for this post. 
















 

Leaving you this week with a Scary Musical selection:

 



 

Have a great day & thanks for stopping by.

Book Review - Deck The Hounds

Today I am Reviewing,  Deck The Hounds by David Rosenfelt. -  This book is part of the Andy Carpenter series. - I had not previously read any of this series. 

What initially attracted me to the book was the adorable cover and the description of the book.
Plus the fact that it was set at Christmas time (one of my favorite seasons of the year) and featured a Dog in the story.  Since I'm more of a "cat" person I thought I would give dogs an equal chance to be enjoyed in a story line.

Description from Net Galley

This Christmas mystery, featuring criminal defense lawyer Andy Carpenter and his faithful golden retriever, Tara, showcases Rosenfelt’s trademark humor and larger-than-life characters.
Reluctant lawyer Andy Carpenter doesn’t usually stop to help others, but seeing a dog next to a homeless man inspires him to give the pair some money to help. It’s just Andy’s luck that things don’t end there. Soon after Andy’s encounter with them, man and dog are attacked in the middle of the night on the street. The dog defends its new owner, and the erstwhile attacker is bitten but escapes. But the dog is quarantined and the man, Don Carrigan, is heartbroken.
Andy’s wife Laurie can’t resist helping the duo after learning Andy has met them before… it’s the Christmas season after all. In a matter of days Don and his dog Zoey are living above Andy’s garage and become two new additions to the family. It’s not until Andy accidentally gives away his guest’s name during an interview that things go awry; turns out Don is wanted for a murder that happened two years ago. Don not only claims he’s innocent, but that he had no idea that he was wanted for a crime he has no knowledge of in the first place. It’s up to Andy to exonerate his new friend, if he doesn’t get pulled into the quagmire first

My thoughts on the book:  I found I was able to follow this story without having previously read any of the other books in this series.  The story started out with Andy (the books main character) seeing a homeless man and his dog sitting on the sidewalk in the cold. - He offers the man a gift card to Pet Smart and goes some money then goes on his way. Later on the news Andy, his wife, Laurie and son Ricky see a news story on this same homeless man  and his dog.  The man has been attacked and the dog bit the attacker who fled the scene.

Eventually they take the homeless man in along with his dog.  Then in a  series of events the homeless man gets charged with Murder and it's up to Andy to prove him innocent.

Now I must say at times I found the story line a little difficult to follow because there were a lot of twists and turns with various characters coming in and out of the story but in the end they all fit into the plot.

One thing that was enjoyable about the book was the "wit and charm" that the main character, Andy had.  The author was very descriptive which is something that I find helps to make a story fun to read. I also liked that Andy's wife was a part of the story as well in that she helped work on the case.

One thing I did not like about the book was that the (dog) in the story really wasn't a featured part of the story.  For me personally if an animal is part of the books title I feel they should play a more significant role in the story plot then the dog in this story did.

While I did find the story interesting I would have to say for me personally I did not find this to be a series that I would continue to follow. 

I received an e-copy of this book from Net Galley for my honest opinions.

Awww Monday and a late Gottcha Day

If you are here for last Friday's WILLY-NILLY FRIDAY FIVE click on the link to be taken to that post.


Saturday was our sweet Speedy G's "Gottcha Day" and I just never got around to getting his pictures up and posted. (Shame on Me) but he had a wonderful day and got plenty of love and attention.  So today I'm sharing his photos for:

 Awww Mondays (Comedy Plus)

 

Our little "cutie" shortly after we got him.  What a difference a year makes:

 I love how he crosses his paws when he sits on the floor.

 I love that little triangle he has on his nose.

 I love how sweet he looks.

 You just want to pinch his cheeks.

Yeah this is why he grew so much!

Happy Gottcha Day (a little late) our sweet Speedy G.

Willy Nilly Friday Five

Hello! - Well it's been a couple of weeks again since I've posted but I'm back today to join Tom (The Backroads Traveller) for:
WILLY-NILLY FRIDAY FIVE

1.  This past week I took my granddaughter and her friend to the local Corn Maze. - Didn't get any pictures because we went at night but though you might enjoy this little video of this years maze.   Click on the link:

https://www.facebook.com/365WashingtonState/videos/269031427058478/

It was a lot of fun.  We had to ask for a couple of hints to get out but for the most part we did the maze on our own.  Took us about an hour to get in and back out.

2. Coleen is really into Skeletons this year and I spotted this on the Whitman College Campus so I decided to take her to see it.  After we got there though she informed me that she'd already seen it on a field trip to the campus, bummer!  Still it made for a great photo to share.  They do have some "strange" art work on the campus.

 3. This weeks Black and White Shot and a colored version as well.

4. Some Halloween fun spotted out and about.

 

5.  Fall is still in glorious color.  I liked the way the sun was shining on this tree and the leaves on top of the roof.



6.  Spotted this on a drive this morning.

 

7.  It's Balloon Stampede Week here in town.  So far this is my favorite shot that I've taken of the balloons.  More to come in another post.

 

 



  So in honor of our Balloon Stampede I'm leaving you with this musical selection.

 

Have a great weekend.

Willy-Nilly Friday Five - October 5, 2018

Welcome - Yes,  I'm still alive. - The last couple of weeks though I wondered about that. - Caught a bad cold that turned into that nasty, hacky cough and just didn't feel up to much at all.

Anyway here I am today joining Tom (The Backroads Traveller) for:
WILLY-NILLY FRIDAY FIVE

1.  One evening a about a week ago Coleen came inside and told me to grab my camera quick and come outside.  She spotted this on one of my Azaleas bushes.  We took it off the bush so I could get some photographs.  The darn thing was nearly 3 inches long.  After doing some research we discovered this is the caterpillar of the White-Lined Sphinx Moth  If you click on the link you can see the moth and the caterpillar which comes in two colors.  Green and Black like the one we found.

 

2.  Hubby had a fall about a week and a half ago.  Slipped on some scaffolding and did this to his knee.  -  It's healed up now but it looked pretty gross when it happened.

3.   Two of my entries for the 52 Frames Photography Group I participate in.  The first one was for the theme: Five and the next one was Inspired by a photograph.  - Lately I've been having fun with humorous photography as you can see from these shots.  I hope you find them amusing.

 

 

 

 

4.  I've also spotted some interesting things on cars/vehicles lately.

 

 



 

Took this one because Coleen likes anything that has skulls on it.

 

Spotted this next one in the parking lot at the grocery store.

 



 

5.  Fall is in the air.  Spotted this beautiful bunch of trees while out on a drive yesterday.

 





 

6. Bonus shadow shot.  Some flowers in my moms garden.  I though it looked like there was a little bird sitting on a branch in the pattern of the shadow.

 



That's it for today.  - Thanks for stopping by.  Have a great weekend.

 

 In honor of the arrival of Autumn in the US your musical selection today is:  Leaves that are Green.