Down in Flames

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Savannah Webb's business is growing and she is offering different glass working classes including a bead making class. In Down in Flames by Cheryl Hollon, at the first bead-making class the Rosenberg twins try to set the studio on fire even before the class begins. Savannah realizes she'll have to watch the two more carefully. (Down in Flames will be released by Kensington Publishers on June 25.)

At the next class, the students are learning how to handle the torch when suddenly there is a loud thud, squealing tires and someone screaming outside. Everyone rushes outdoors to find Nicole Borawski, the Queen's Head Pub manager, lying gravely injured in the street. Standing and screaming is Savannah's employee Jacob.

Once she blinks past the original shock, she rushes to Nicole's side and hopes for the best. Nicole is rushed to the hospital and her wife Elizabeth bursts into the waiting room in shock.

When Nicole dies on the operating table, Savannah is devastated.

Nicole had worked at her boyfriend Edward's pub for several years and was a trusted employee. When it quickly becomes clear this was no accident, but deliberate vehicular homicide, Savannah uses her consulting clout to get assigned to the investigation.

She soon learns there was more to Nicole than her job at the pub. With her estranged family in the focus, her ambitious wife and a secretive graffiti artist, there are plenty of suspects. Savannah hopes her assistant Jacob can recover his speech and memory soon enough to assist in the case.

Another stellar performance by Cheryl Hollon and Savannah Webb.




Disclosure: I received this book from NetGalley

Etched in Tears

Local boy Dennis Lansing returns home triumphantly as a celebrated glass artist with an exhibition at the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida. In Etched in Tears by Cheryl Hollon, his glorious return is short lived.

Some time during the night he was murdered and inelegantly draped over a green bench in the museum's garden. Savannah takes his death very hard as he was her first high school boyfriend and he was an apprentice at her father's glass. Complicating the issue is a reference letter from her father found clutched in Dennis' hand.

Another complication is Dennis' not so grieving wife Harriet who is glad to be rid of him before she inherits her multi-million dollar trust fund. An excellent motive.

When Savannah tries to search her father's files, which she has resisted for some time, she finds they are encrypted, adding to the mystery. How fitting for her father to encrypt files especially because he had been a cryptographer for the Unites States during the Cold War.

Even more amazing, Savannah discovers an Engima machine from

World War II that was used to break the German code. Why in the world would her father have used this machine to code the paperwork for the students in his apprenticeship program? What secret or private information would be revealed once the code was broken?

As Savannah tries to unlock the code, she relies on Jacob her young assistant who has a knack for numbers and puzzles. Jacob also has been extremely helpful in the business. He has figured out a way to load the kiln in the most efficient manner, a huge bonus for Savannah.

The suspects abound including the elusive director of the museum, an overzealous security guard and a local politician. An entertaining and fast-paced mystery. And, oh by the way, I love the glass elements. Can't wait to get to St. Petersburg to see the Chihuly museum.

Ciphers, Codes and Clues

When Savannah Webb returns home to her father's funeral in St. Petersburg, Florida, she plans to transfer ownership of his glass shop to his trusted associated Hugh. But when Hugh is found dead days later, Savannah cannot believe the coincidence. In Pane and Suffering author Cheryl Hollon explains the fine art of stain glass making in wonderful detail.

Savannah cannot believe her father and Hugh are both dead, allegedly of heart attacks, and she believes they were murdered. But why? Her father was in government intelligence before he became a glass maker, and Savannah knows he was a bit paranoid. When she finds an envelope with her father's writing that says, "Savannah, if you find this. I've been murdered and you are in danger," she begins to worry. Inside the envelope, she finds a code and begins her geocache search to find answers.

I loved the geocache aspect of the book and I wish there had been

more of a treasure hunt for the clues. I also loved the stained glass descriptions. They gave me the itch to get back into stained glass, something I had been interested in years ago.

As for Savannah she is way to trusting of people around her and pretty much tells everyone what is going on in her investigation. I think for future books, she needs to be more mysterious and suspicious of people. Maybe it's because she lived in Seattle (just a joke).

I look forward to reading the next book which is entitled Shards of Murder.