Death by Accordion

Ella Polansky has been playing the accordion since she was a child. In fact, she names her accordions and treats them tenderly. In Death by Accordion by Cheryl Miller Thurston, Ella's favorite accordion Tillie is with her as she practices with the community theater orchestra.

Director Judith Pence has been driving everyone nuts with her orders and complaints. The two lead characters are having trouble learning the lyrics to the songs and this has pushed Judith to the limit. When the rehearsal is finally over Ella decides to leave her heavy accordion in the orchestra pit because she knows the theater will be locked at night.

The next day, much to her chagrin, Tillie is found on top of the very dead Judith Pence. It appears Tillie had been pushed off the balcony onto Judith's head. As much as Ella would love this to be an accident, she knows Tillie didn't jump off the balcony to kill Judith, but someone else did.


When Ella is questioned as a person of interest in the murder, she is suspended from her kindergarten job and decides to try to clear her name. In addition she has to deal with her crazy best friend Sammie who is pregnant by a egotistical male model who is not father material, all the while trying to keep the secret from Sammie's mother the Pickle Queen.

Ella and her friends are quite the group, especially her eighty-somethings polka band pals  A humorous and entertaining mystery with just the right amount of accordion music.



Disclosure: I received this book from the author. 

Interview with Tracee de Hahn

Tracee de Hahn

What is the title of your newest book? How many books have you published?
My most recent book is A Well-Timed Murder, the second in the Agnes Lüthi mystery series. Right now I'm working on two manuscripts, a follow up in the Agnes series (working title Poison in the Veins) and a new one set in Kentucky about a woman who inherits a distillery, working title, 120 Proof. Before turning to fiction I published several non-fiction books as part of educational series.

How did you develop your character and choose your location?
Location is key to all of my writing. My undergraduate degree was in architecture and that may have something to do with it. The Agnes Lüthi series is based in Switzerland, where my husband grew up and where we lived for some years. The characters formed after I’d chosen the location, because, after all, people are part of their surroundings – even if they are uncomfortable with that fact. Agnes was born in Switzerland, but her parents are American, which means she grew up in a household that wasn’t 100% Swiss in its customs. This was important because it helps her see the Swiss as a native and through the lens of outsiders.

I find that characters grow organically. There is a starting point (female police inspector), then they emerge as the story develops (adding age, family life), and eventually the details fill in. Habits, triumphs, and trials. What do they need for a full life, what is standing in their way and why.

What do you enjoy about the author’s lifestyle? What do you not enjoy?I do enjoy the freedom to write everyday, however, I have worked ‘in an office’ as an architect,executive director of a non-profit, and a university administrator so there are aspects of that daily interaction that I miss. I’m a member of a blog group, The Miss Demeanors, and connecting with them every day helps fill that void. We share the same ups and downs of pages coming together or edits going too slowly. We also have great conversations about writing and reading – join us on line and you’ll see! www.MissDemeanors.com or on our Facebook page

Do you model your character after yourself or any one you know?
Technically every character has elements of people I’ve met or heard about. Someone’s hair or voice or the way they use their hands. A particular problem or triumph. For example, when writing dialogue or the reaction of a character to a situation authenticity matters to the reader. As a writer I may need to research the situation (what goes through the mind of an accident victim) or rely on my own experience or the experience of someone I know. However, inevitably, that kernel of reality is manipulated to fit the fictional character I’ve created. No one ends up like their model.

How do you get yourself out of a writing rut?Writing is work and I don’t know any other job where someone walks away saying, I’m in a rut I’ll go home. My father was an ER doctor and I’m sure there were days he thought, wow, not another car wreck, but he kept at it. In the end, set a task and focus. If you really don’t know what to do then type something (or write long hand). Anything. Type names over and over, list places you’d like to visit, anything. The mind will get in gear and shift to what you really want to work on. If you walk away from the page/screen then it’s a guarantee that nothing will happen.

If your books were made into a movie, who would you want to play the lead character?
I’d love to see Jessica Chastain as Agnes Lüthi. Chastain has such a range of character, and she’d bring smart but caring to the role.

Who is your favorite author?
Too many to pick from. I think of ‘favorites’ as childhood favorites like Agatha Christie, and slightly later, Tolstoy. (I loved epics and would have to add Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove and James Clavell’s Shogun to the favorites list along with War and Peace.) As an adult I continue to return to those favorites, having added Jane Austin for a different kind of epic. In the mystery genre, I’ve long been a fan of Martha Grimes and Elizabeth George.

If you could invite five people – living or dead – to a dinner party, who would they be?Recently I’ve decided that Benjamin Dreyer has to be at the top of this list. Perhaps Winston Churchill. Elizabeth I. Cleopatra – no, wait, I’d replace Cleopatra with Marie Antoinette to see exactly how misunderstood she was. And to round out the numbers for the table, another man…. Peter the Great. It would be a political dinner with Dreyer there to keep things lively!

If you could not be an author, what would like to do as a career?
I have had other careers, so I think I’m where I should be. If I could have a skill (that might have resulted in a career) it would be a great singing voice. Operatic because I love opera and classic staging. But I’m so far from that, not even the best vocal lessons would help!

Murder by Matchlight

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Frustrated that his girlfriend was ill and unable to meet him for dinner, Bruce Mallaig takes himself on a stroll through Regent's Park. London is shrouded in darkness because of the blackout, but Bruce finds a bench and sits down to enjoy the darkness and the quiet. In Murder by Matchlight by E.C.R. Lorac, we have a classic "locked room" mystery in the style of the golden age of crime fiction.

Mallaig watches as a stranger approaches the bridge near where he is sitting and ducks underneath it. Within seconds another figure approaches the bridge and calls out "Anyone about?" The new person stops in the middle of the bridge and lights a cigarette. Mallaig is sure there is an assignation about to take place, but he wonders what the man under the bridge is planning.

When the man on the bridge strikes another match to light a second cigarette, Mallaig sees a ghastly face in the matchlight looming over the man. The matchlight goes out and then Bruce hears a a dull thud an the sound of a body falling down.

Shocked into action, Mallaig shines his flashlight down on the ground and sees a man prone, but he

also sees the man under the bridge trying to climb back down. Yelling for the police, Mallaig hears footsteps racing towards him as he struggles with the second man, Stanley Claydon.

A doctor arrives on the scene and pronounces the man on the bridge dead to the shock of everyone present. No one heard anyone else approach or flee from the scene.

As Clayton explains why he was in the park that evening, he tells the police about overhearing a telephone conversation by someone named Tim talking to a doctor in a threatening manner. When Scotland Yard Chief Inspector Macdonald hears the unusual story of a murder with two witnesses, but neither able to identify the killer, he is intrigued, especially when Mallaig claims the person he saw in the matchlight was very much taller than the victim.

When the victim is identified as John Ward, MacDonald soon learns about the charming Irishman from the other residents of the rooming house where he lived. He also learns John Ward was among the dead when a German bomb landed on a shelter, long before this John Ward was killed.

Although Murder by Matchlight was written many decades ago, it is being republished to celebrate the British Library Crime Classics. It is an atmospheric puzzler with an unusual solution. Very entertaining.

A Death at Tippett Pond

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For 40 plus years, Beth Russell's life was pretty ordinary. She had loving parents and a consulting job she enjoyed, but out of the blue, her life was turned upside down. In A Death at Tippett Pond by Susan Van Kirk, Beth is summoned to Sweet Iron, Illinois, by an attorney. (A Death at Tippitt Pond will be published by Encircle Publications on June 15.)

When she arrives, she discovers she could be the heir to a fortune and a spectacular mansion once owned by the Tippett family. All she needs to do it take a DNA test. The test shows Beth is the daughter of Melanie Tippett, who died young. Shocked by the realization her "parents" never told her she was adopted, she tries to come to grips with the information about her "new" mother.

Melanie and Brian planned to get married after she graduated from high school, but Melanie's father Judge Tippett absolutely refused to allow that to happen. When he discovered Melanie was pregnant, he forced her to give up the baby for adoption.

Digging into the past, Beth discovers there were six people at the pond on the day Melanie died, one was convicted of murder after he confessed. That one, Beth learns was her father, Brian Nash. But something doesn't feel right to Beth and she continues to dig and ask questions upsetting the small town folks who don't want to relive the past.

Beth searches through boxes and finds pages from Melanie's diary that show she still planned to marry Brian even though everyone in town thought she would marry someone else. Confused by what she is reading, Beth pokes and prods some more until she makes someone nervous.

A puzzle worth solving.


Disclosure: I received this book from the author.

Crewel and Unusual

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With a new co-op of shops opening in the Blue Plum Vault, an old bank building, everyone in town is excited. Yarn store owner Kath Rutledge is excited for the additional traffic in town. In Crewel and Unusual by Molly MacRae, it's just days before the opening and an argument brews between two shop owners - Minerva (Nervie) Bales and Belinda Moyer.

Nervie accuses Belinda of selling fake vintage embroidery and Belinda accuses Nervie of selling patterns she has copied from other crafts people. They are about to come to blows when Kath arrives at the Vault. She sends each back to their corners and browses through Belinda's shop, after all Kath had been a museum textile expert before she arrived in Tennessee. Belinda wants to show Kath a special vintage embroidered table cloth and Kath gasps in shock when she sees it. She knows it is top quality and wonders how Belinda laid her hands on it.

One day before the Grand Opening, Belinda finds her precious table cloth shredded into bits and she hysterically blames Nervie. Kath feels the pain in her heart at the loss of such a lovely piece of work, but when she touches the shredded cloth, she doesn't feel any sensation. Usually Kath is very perceptive when textiles. When Belinda decides not to call the police, Kath is suspicious, but the Grand Opening is the next day and she decides to wait and see what happens. What happens is Belinda stabbed to death in a storage closet.

Despite strong warnings from Coleridge (Clod) Dunbar to stay out of the investigation, Kath and her posse of knitters delve into the second death in town. With the help of Geneva, the yarn shop's resident ghost, Kath and friends are able to solve the murder.

Blue Plum, Tennessee, and the Weaver's Cat shop sound like a wonderful places to visit, ghosts, murder and all. Another

Trust Me

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There are two sides to every story, but when one side changes the telling of the story every time you hear it, it's difficult to know what the truth is and what is fiction. In Trust Me by Hank Phillipi Ryan, Mercer Hennessey has been wordlessly ticking off the days in the steam of her shower since her husband and daughter were killed in a car accident.

She has pretty much blocked out life for the last 18 months and is surprised to hear about the "Trial of the Century" being held in Boston. When her friend and former editor convinces her to  write the inside true story of the gruesome crime - the murder of Baby Boston, Mercer is not convinced. She knows she needs to get back to work, but sometimes the struggle is too difficult.

When Katherine explains Mercer can watch the courtroom testimony through the same feed the TV stations are using, Mercer realizes she doesn't even need to leave her house to watch. The video equipment is brought to her the next day.

Of course with all the pretrial publicity, everyone is convinced the mother, Ashlyn Bryant, is guilty and will be convicted.

Day after day Mercer watches the video feed and diligently writes what she thinks happened in the case. Her book is almost complete, call she needs is the guilty verdict. After the verdict is announced, Mercer's entire life is turned upside. She begins to doubt everything she believed in and before long isn't sure who she can trust, including her editor.

An diabolical tale of duplicity and lies and much more. Trust Me, you need to read this book.

Interview with Kylie Logan

What is the title of your newest book? How many books have you published?
The newest book is The Scent of Murder. It’s book #58 for me. Click here for a review of The Scent of Murder. 

How did you develop your character and choose your location?
Location was easy. I’ve lived in Cleveland all my life and I knew I wanted to highlight the area and

Kylie Logan

all it has to offer. There are so many interesting neighborhoods in the city and I chose Tremont (a neighborhood just south of downtown) because it’s got an amazing history and lots of old and interesting buildings. As for developing Jazz Ramsey’s character. . . I knew from the get-go that I wanted to write a book centered around cadaver dogs. So my first question to myself was, who would work with cadaver dogs? I knew I needed someone young and energetic (the work can be grueling). I also needed someone who would be looked on as the alpha by the dog she trains. So Jazz is no-nonsense, to the point, all business. Especially when it comes to the dogs. Another question I grappled with was what kind of profession to give her. I was tempted by plenty of interesting jobs, but in the end, decided to give her a pretty mundane one—she’s the administrative assistant at an all-girls school. I gave her a fairly “ordinary” job so that Jazz would have plenty of free time to work with the dogs.

What do you enjoy about the author’s lifestyle? What do you not enjoy?
It’s great being your own boss, but that’s the downside, too. I’ve got to be disciplined to sit at my desk all day when so many other adventures are calling (the park, the community garden, walks with my own dogs). It takes a great deal of focus to put butt in chair and get to work!

Do you model your character after yourself or any one you know?
No, but that being said, I think all authors’ characters are composites of the people we meet. We take one person’s personality, pair it with another person’s looks, another’s phobias, etc., to create unique characters.

How do you get yourself out of a writing rut?
Keep writing. Sounds counter-intuitive, doesn’t it? But really, the only way to push through is to keep writing. Often when I think I’m writing garbage, I go back the next day, read it, and realize it’s not so bad. And if it is as bad as I fear? I can always edit.

If your books were made into a movie, who would you want to play the lead character?
Wish I had the answer, but I’m not familiar enough with young actors to be able to choose.

Who is your favorite author?
Too many to name! I love the mysteries of Elizabeth Peters, and the historical fiction of Dorothy Dunnett. Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle. The list goes on and on.

If you could invite five people – living or dead – to a dinner party, who would they be?
First of all, they wouldn’t want to eat my cooking, so that has to be some consideration. But a mystery dinner would be great fun. Christie, Doyle, Peters (all mentioned above) and we’ll throw in Alan Bradley (he writes the Flavia DeLuce novels) and then just for fun, my dad who was a Cleveland cop and would love talking to all of them!

If you could not be an author, what would like to do as a career?
I’ve love to be a librarian/archivist. It appeals to my love of words as well as my respect for and interest in history.

The Tale Teller

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Retired Navajo Lt. Joe Leapborn is hired by a Navajo Museum director to find some missing artifacts. In The Tale Teller by Anne Hillerman, Joe, still recovering from a head wound and struggling with the English language, sets out to discover what has happened to the priceless biil or woven dress worn by the legendary Juanita during the dark time for Navajos.

The museum director wants the case solved before she retires in two weeks. Tiffany had been the staffer assigned to inventory the anonymous donation when she became ill. Joe and Mrs. Pinto, the museum director,think she is a suspect in the missing inventory. But when she dies mysteriously, the case takes on a new urgency.

Louisa suggest they might be able to track the jewelry maker from a bracelet she has that is similar to the one stolen. They head for the Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site to speak with the trader.

In his trademark detail-oriented way, Joe slowly pieces together where the anonymous donation came from and who sent it to the museum.

Meanwhile Bernie discovers a body on the running trail, and she finds herself interacting with the new FBI agent Sage Johnson. Johnson is reluctant to give Bernie any information about the victim. Bernie tries to ignore the case and sets out to work on a series of burglaries at the home of seniors.

In a parallel story Jim Chee is following up on stolen items at a flea market. Before long, all three cases intertwine and together they work to find the answers.

Another enjoyable mystery featuring Tony Hillerman's beloved characters brought to life again by his daughter Anne.













Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher.

Murder at Morrington Hall

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Stella Kendrik is excited to be heading to England for a wedding. In Murder at Morrington Hall by Clara McKenna, Stella has no idea the wedding is her own arranged marriage.

Stella is the daughter of a ambitious, boorish American millionaire who owns thoroughbred horses and treats his daughter as if she is property. It's his goal to marry her off to the financially-strapped Earl of Atherly's son Viscount "Lyndy" Lyndhurst. A spirited young woman, Stella wants no part of an arranged marriage, but she knows her father would disown her if she balks. Besides there is something surprisingly appealing about Lyndy.

Lady Atherly does not think well of the high spirited Stella, but she knows her husband's reduced circumstances have forced this marriage. But before the marriage can take place, the vicar is murdered.

Joining forces Stella and Lyndy set out to find the vicar's murderer. What they learn is he was
wearing a money bag strapped to his leg that contained ten thousand pounds. Where would a rural vicar come up with so much money and why was he wearing it on his body.

Complicating the murder is another mystery. When one of the thoroughbred horses is stolen and a visitor to Morrington Hall is attacked, Stella and Lyndy believe the crimes might be tied together. As they continue to investigate, they begin to realize they actually like each other and they set out to solve the crimes and learn about one and other.

A charming start to what I think will be an entertaining series.




Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher.

Mystery Most Edible Winner

Congratulations to Donamae Kutska from Wisconsin. She is the winner of www.MapYourMystery.com Malice Domestic Mystery Most Edible giveaway.