Review: The Dead Come to Stay by Brandy Schillace

 

The Dead Come to Stay (Ardemore House #2) by Brandy Schillace

Publication Date: June 3rd 2025 by Hanover Square Press & Harlequin Audio

Pages: 368

Audio Book Length: 12hrs 26mins

Narrator: Imogen Church

Source: Publishers

Rating: ★★★★

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | HarperCollins | Libro.fm | Audible | Goodreads

My Thoughts:

After the events of the last book, Jo Jones is settling into Yorkshire in the cottage on Ardemore. The Jekyll Gardens on the estate are about to open and Jo is still investigating the mystery of her ancestors, but that doesn’t pay the bills, so she’s refurbished the attic space to rent out. However, the first booking doesn’t go as planned and a body turns up right before the Jekyll Garden opening.

 

Detective James MacAdams is called in to investigate this puzzling murder and isn’t surprised when he finds a connection between Jo and the victim.

 

Jo’s memory for detail comes in handy with the murder investigation, but she’s more involved with the mystery of her ancestors and the history between Jo’s mother and uncle. She gets more background from an unexpected source revealing information her mother never shared.

 

The Dead Come to Stay was another fun cozy murder mystery and I enjoyed seeing the relationships solidify and deepen. It was nice for Jo to get some answers and closure, as well.

 

I alternately read and listened to the audio version. I enjoyed Imogen Church’s performance of the female characters, but some of the male voices sounded stuffy and silly. Maybe it was to convey a bit of humor? Even so, I enjoyed the audio version overall.

4 Stars

Book Description:

A delightful new cozy crime novel from the award-winning author of the "twisty, engaging, and thoroughly unexpected" (Deanna Raybourne) The Framed Women of Ardemore House

An amateur autistic sleuth. A wry English detective. A murder case that thrusts them both into the wealthy world of the rare artifacts trade...

Jo Jones can't seem to catch a break. Trading in city life for the cozy, peaceful hills of North Yorkshire to take over her family estate should have been a chance for a "fresh start.” Instead, she's been driven further into the past than she thought possible -- and not just her own. The estate property is littered with traces of ancestors that Jo never knew existed, including the mysterious woman in a half-destroyed painting – and hints about Jo's late uncle, who may hold the key to her cryptic family history. Then there’s the gossipy town politics Jo must constantly navigate as a neurodivergent transplanted American… And of course, the whole murder business.

When prickly town detective James MacAdams discovers a body in the moors with coincidental ties to Jo Jones, they're forced to team up on the case. The clues will lead them into the wealthiest locales of Yorkshire, from sparkling glass hotels to luxury property sites to elite country clubs. But below the glittering surfaces, Jo and MacAdams discover darker schemes brewing. Local teens, many of them international refugees, are disappearing left and right, and each case is somehow linked to a shady architectural firm -- which also happened to employ the dead man from the moor-side ditch.

What begins as  bizarre murder case quickly plunges them both into the black market world of rare artifacts and antique trading... and a murderer who will do anything to cover it up.

About the author:

BRANDY SCHILLACE is the author of several works of nonfiction, including Mr. Humble and Dr. Butcher. She is the creator of Peculiar Book Club, a twice-monthly live-streamed YouTube show. A former professor of English and gothic literature, she writes about gender politics and history, medical mystery, and neurodiversity for outlets such as Scientific American, Wired, CrimeReads, and Medium. She is also autistic, though has not (to her knowledge) been a suspect in a murder investigation.

Connect with Brandy Schillace:

Website | BlueSky | YouTube | Facebook

Review: Matchmaking for Psychopaths by Tasha Coryell

 

Matchmaking for Psychopaths by Tasha Coryell

Publication Date: July 15th 2025 by Berkley

Pages: 336

Source: Publisher 

Rating: ★★★★★

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Audible | Libro.fm | Goodreads

My Thoughts:

Lexi gets dumped by her fiancé for her best friend on her birthday. This is especially humiliating since she had no idea and because she’s a matchmaker. No worries, Lexi has a plan to get him back and to serve up some justice to her ex-best friend. However, things go a bit wonky when her ex is murdered and the murderer starts sending her gifts. The messages included send a chill up Lexi’s spine since the culprit knows things about Lexi’s origins that she’d rather not come out.

 

Lexi is a matchmaker for psychopaths! Yep, it’s nuts, but she has a knack for it given her history which is slowly revealed. I was riveted from the first page as Lexi tried to find out who’s behind everything and as her past is slowly revealed. I had my ideas but was also surprised.

 

I loved Matchmaking for Psychopaths! It was a little unhinged and darkly funny! I liked Lexi and rooted for her to prevail and for her new romance! A definite recommend!

5 Stars

Book Description:

When Lexie's fiancé runs off with her so-called best friend on her birthday, her carefully crafted fairy-tale life shatters. Having survived horrors in her past, she was determined to finally get her happily-ever-after—and she's not giving up yet.

To distract herself, Lexie throws herself into her unusual matchmaking psychopaths (a specialty her clients are blissfully unaware of). But the loneliness is crushing. So when a gorgeous, overprotective new client named Aidan insists they're soulmates, and another intriguing client, Rebecca, seems perfect to fill the best-friend-shaped hole in her life, Lexie can't help but find the attention comforting—despite her own professional boundaries.

Then a human heart appears on Lexie's doorstep. As more threatening packages arrive and her fiancé mysteriously disappears, she must confront a terrifying did she inadvertently match herself with a killer? Between Aidan's claims that her fiancé will never return, Rebecca's growing presence in her life, and her own dark past resurfacing, Lexie's matchmaker instincts are being tested like never before.

Because someone is determined to ensure her story ends with a funeral.

Sunday Post #303

 

The Sunday Post is hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated reviewer book blog, and is a post to recap my bookish and non-bookish things from the last week. I'm also linking up to The Sunday Salon hosted by Deb Nance @Readerbuzz.

Happy Sunday!

It's been a busy week with work, cleaning and gardening! 

Lots of weeding

A cuddle with Starla

Galison Puzzle: Art of the Table by Joy Laforme

My son, his wife and two kids are out for a visit. They got in late last night and we went to a train museum. We took the mini train ride throughout the property and it was hot! Lower 90s, but it felt hotter. I was drained by the end of the day so I came home and took a nap. I hardly ever take naps.

Tomorrow we're going on a river rafting excursion on the Truckee River. We've done this a couple of years ago and it's a fun, gentle ride. 

Read:

I didn't read a bunch but what I read/listened to was excellent! 

The Spirit of Love by Lauren Kate-4.5 Stars

Exit Strategy (The Murderbot Diaries #4) by Martha Wells-5 Stars

Matchmaking for Psychopaths by Tasha Coryell-5 Stars

Received:

Thank you to Berkley!

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Review: The Spirit of Love by Lauren Kate

 

The Spirit of Love by Lauren Kate

Publication Date: July 1st 2025 by G.P. Putnam's Sons

Pages: 336

Source: Publisher

Rating: ★★★★½

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Libro.fm | Audible | Goodreads

My Thoughts:

Fenny travels to Catalina Island to prepare for her directorial debut on Zombie Hospital, the show she’s been writing for the last ten years, where she meets Sam as he rescues her in a storm. Instead of brainstorming alone, Fenny spends a passionate weekend with Sam while embarking on adventure after adventure.

 

Coming back to Hollywood Fenny’s blindsided when she finds out that instead of directing like she was promised, they’ve brought in a famous director Jude DeSilva, a man who resembles Sam in an uncanny way. She’s livid, at her network boss and Jude, and I was enraged for her, but Jude wasn’t the bad guy here and they began to form a connection as they work together.

 

I’ve seen a few reviews that recommend not reading the book description before reading, but I’m glad I did because it would’ve soured the romance for me if I didn’t have an idea of what was going on. I absolutely loved this romance! It was witty and fun but also explored deeper topics.

 

The setting was fun and featured places I love in Southern California, like the Huntington Library, Museum and Gardens. Despite having lived in SoCal for years, I didn’t know that there are really canals in Venice, California!

 

I would’ve loved an epilogue but was thrilled with how it all worked out!

4.5 Stars

Book Description:

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Lauren Kate comes a magical time-slip love triangle about a man split into two—one version young and carefree, the other suave but jaded—and one woman’s quest to reunite his broken pieces.

Two loves. One soul. One choice.

Fenny’s got that boss glow. Not only did she just have the best sex of her life, but she’s finally about to direct the TV show she’s been a screenwriter on for ten years. Only one thing could floor her—finding out she’s been replaced by a hotshot director named Jude. Wait, no. Two things. Jude looks exactly like the guy who just turned her bones to jelly. Same dimples, same eyes, but he looks older and has a sadness Fenny wants to fix.

Last weekend, Fenny met Sam when he movie-style rescued her from a storm on Catalina Island. Here he is again, just…different. Can Sam and Jude be the same man? And if they are, will Fenny’s love be enough to put him back together?

Sunday Post #302

 

The Sunday Post is hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated reviewer book blog, and is a post to recap my bookish and non-bookish things from the last week. I'm also linking up to The Sunday Salon hosted by Deb Nance @Readerbuzz.

Happy Sunday!

I'm late getting this all together! 

We got back late on Monday from Montana. Yep, we were there again our trips less than two weeks apart. There was a golf tournament our SIL was playing in and some friends from Texas were there, too. It was fun but very busy. It's nice to be home. 

 My son is coming out with his wife and their two little ones, one and three-year-old. They'll be here for the week. I don't see these two grandkids as much as my daughter's kids so it'll be nice to have the time together. We have a lot of possible activities.

It's been a mild summer so far with highs in the low 80s this last week. We heat up a little this week with upper 80s. I picked a bunch of blackberries from the yard and canned jam. I have to trim back a bunch of the vines, though. They can get out of control!

Blackberry Vines

Had one peach from our young peach tree we planted last year. We had a late frost this spring that froze the blooms so I was surprised we even got that. I'll try covering with a landscape blanket if I catch a frost in the forecast next year.

Our lone peach

Jack rabbit in our front yard. Cute and hoppy!

Smokey and Starla following us on the front property. 

Puzzle: Roll Call With a Bang (2004) by Charles Wysocki

Read:

(Click on cover for Goodreads description)

Two weeks worth of reading here since I didn't post last week:

That Last Carolina Summer by Karen White-4.5 Stars

The Blue Horse (Porter Beck #3) by Bruce Borgos-5 Stars

Atonement Sky (Psy-Changeling Trinity #9) by Nalini Singh-5 Stars

Rage (Kate Burkholder #17) by Linda Castillo-4 Stars

Eliza and the Duke (The Doves of New York #2) by Harper St. George-3 Stars

Rogue Protocol (The Murderbot Diaries #3) by Martha Wells-4 Stars

Out of the Shadows (Angelhart Investigations #1.5) by Allison Brennan-4.5 Stars

Be Afraid (Morgans of Nashville #2) by Mary Burton-4 Stars

I read more than I thought I would considering all the traveling we've done!

Received:

Thank you to G.P. Putnam's Sons, Macmillan Audio and Berkley!

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Review: That Last Carolina Summer by Karen White

 

That Last Carolina Summer by Karen White

Publication Date: July 22nd 2025 by Park Row & Harlequin Audio

Pages: 352

Audio Book Length: 11hrs 54mins

Narrators: Jorgeana Marie and Kimberly Farr

Source: Publishers

Rating: ★★★★½

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Libro.fm | Audible | Goodreads

My Thoughts:

Phoebe was struck by lightning when she was a child. Since then, she’s had premonition dreams. As soon as she could she left home to live across the country to escape the premonitions and family drama. It disappointed her mother that she didn’t care about being a Southern belle like her sister, Addie. Phoebe was more interested in exploring the beaches and marshes, spying birds along the way.

 

Now Phoebe must return home to help to care for her ailing mother and she has a lot of mixed feelings. Her dreams come back, the most disturbing one back in full force. Old resentments between Phoebe and Addie rise to the surface and her mother’s condition brings all the hurt into sharp focus. I felt bad for Ophelia, Addie’s young daughter.

 

I had my ideas about the dream. Things made sense as more came to light and I felt for all involved.

 

In all of this, Phoebe meets Celeste a woman whose granddaughter went missing years ago. Celeste her grandson, Liam and great grandson, Will are all big players in the story as well.

 

I enjoyed how each chapter opened up with interesting bird facts, how they sometimes related to human behavior. The setting of South Carolina was almost another character, hot, vibrant and mysterious.

 

That Last Carolina Summer was a captivating story with mystery, family secrets, reconciling the past and a bit of romance! I loved every minute!

 

I alternated between the audio and e-copy. I can recommend either version. Jorjeana Marie did a wonderful job with Phoebe’s chapters, the range of ages, male and female voices and emotions. I thought Kimberly Farr performed Celeste well, age appropriate, but there was little change with other voices making it a little hard to distinguish who was speaking at times. Still, I really enjoyed the audio version!

4.5 Stars

Book Description:

Beloved New York Times bestselling author Karen White returns with a brand-new contemporary stand-alone novel about sisterhood, secrets and one woman’s reckoning with the past

As a child, Phoebe Manigault developed the gift of premonition after she was struck by lightning in the creeks near her Charleston home. Plagued throughout her life by mysterious dreams, and always living in the shadow of her beautiful sister, Addie, Phoebe eventually moves to the West Coast, as far from her family as possible. Now, years later, she is summoned back to South Carolina, to help Addie care for their ailing mother.

As Phoebe’s return lures her back into deep-rooted tensions and conflicts, she is drawn toward Celeste, whose granddaughter went missing years ago. Their connection, woven through shared losses and hope, brings comfort to Phoebe, while Celeste’s adult grandson Liam resurrects complicated emotions tied to Phoebe’s past.

But the longer Phoebe spends in her childhood home, the more her recurring nightmares intensify—bringing her closer to the shocking truth that will irrevocably change everything. Unfolding against the lush backdrop of the South Carolina Lowcountry, That Last Carolina Summer is an unforgettable family drama and mystery about the unbreakable bonds of family and the gift of second chances.

Review: Rage by Linda Castillo

 

Rage (Kate Burkholder #17) by Linda Castillo

Publication Date: July 8th 2025 by Minotaur Books & Macmillan Audio

Pages: 304

Audio Book Length: 9hrs 17min

Narrator: Kathleen McInerney

Source: Publishers

Rating: ★★★★

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Librofm | Audible | Goodreads

My Thoughts:

Chief of Police, Kate Burkholder, is called to the murder of Samuel Yutzy, an Amish man who owned the local landscaping/tree farm. The scene is a disturbing one and it takes a lot of police work and interviews to get the smallest bits of information, but Kate and her team are determined to nail the bad guys. Especially when they discover another murder.

 

Kate’s background with the Amish helps pave the way for cooperation between English and the Amish community. As she questions Samuel’s family and friends it becomes apparent that he was running with an unsavory crowd but had been turning his life around.

 

The story was a page-turner, and I really like Kate, but just like the last book she charged ahead without waiting for backup and it ended badly almost every time. It was frustrating and hard to believe a seasoned police chief would do this over and over. With that being said, the mystery was hard to put down and the conclusion was a nail-biter!

 

Rage is book seventeen in the series, but I think it could be read as a standalone as each book introducing a new mystery and is wrapped up by the end. I would highly recommend reading at least the first couple of books to get Kate’s history being raised Amish and the circumstances that led to her leaving. It has bearing on how she came to be the police Chief of Painters Mill and includes the start of the romance between Kate and Tomasetti, an Ohio BCI agent.

 

I alternated between an audio and e-copy and can recommend either version. Kathleen McInerney’s wonderful narration enhanced my enjoyment! Her accents and performance of Deitsch accents are well done.

4 Stars

Book Description:

In this gripping new installment of the Edgar Award winning series, Chief of Police Kate Burkholder investigates a brutal double murder that takes her into the dark underbelly of society and exposes the dangers of Amish lives gone wrong.

Summer has arrived with a vengeance in Painters Mill, and a macabre discovery by three Amish children brings the quiet to a grinding halt. Chief of Police Kate Burkholder arrives on scene to find the dismembered body of 21-year-old Samuel Eicher, a local Amish man who owned a successful landscaping business. What twisted individual murdered him in such a sadistic way?

The investigation has barely begun when, miles away, a second body is found, stuffed into a barrel and dumped in a ravine. The deceased is 21-year-old Aaron Shetler, Samuel Eicher’s best friend. What could these two young Amish men have done to deserve such violent ends?

With a heat wave bearing down, Kate learns quickly that, for reasons she doesn’t understand, no one is willing to talk about what happened to the men. Just as she begins to fear the case may be hopeless, a mystery woman comes forward and reveals that fun-loving Aaron and Samuel had recently befriended some very unsavory characters―individuals who may have ties to a larger, more sinister, black market.

To solve the case, Kate must delve into the most sordid corners of her community, but when she gets too close, the killers target Kate herself. Will the secrets simmering beneath the surface of Painters Mill take another life before she can expose the truth? Or will Kate be the final victim?