I've Been Reading

Antiques Fate by Barbara Allan is the latest Trash 'n' Treasures mystery featuring Brandy Borne and her mother, Vivian. In this book, Vivian is performing Macbeth as a one woman show, dragging Brandy along as prop master to keep track of the hats that distinguish the various characters. Everything with Brandy and Vivian is always more complicated than it should be, especially when the theater owner drops dead while giving the two of them a tour of the building. I love the characters and the fact that they're the ones telling the story -- complete with bickering "notes" to each other and their editor.



Sarah Winston thought the the garage sale site she started online would make selling things easier, but her job as administrator has come with its share of headaches. When she keeps an appointment to buy a vintage tablecloth and finds the seller dead in her car, it's just the beginning the trouble. All Murders Final! by Sherry Harris is the third Sarah Winston Garage Sale Mystery. It kept me guessing (I was really looking in the wrong direction!) and I can't wait for the next book in the series.



Framed to Death, the fourth in the Faith Hunter Scrap This series, doesn't have much to do with scrapbooking. When Faith does a quick favor by making sure that a gathering hosted by her friend's teenage daughter is girls only, she finds herself accused of selling the girls synthetic marijuana. Local tempers are flaring and when Faith tries to clear her name, she finds herself embroiled and arson and murder as well as drug dealing.



Everything about Lydia's life is perfect. She makes all of the right decisions. Her children go to the private school that her mother chose, even if that means Lydia and her husband are pushing themselves just a bit too hard. Her mother keeps reminding her that she was fortunate to overcome her past.  And her husband can never find out her secret. I thought that After the Lie by Kerry Fisher would be right up my alley, but Lydia was a hard heroine to like and she wasn't interesting enough to hate. When her lie was finally revealed, it was underwhelming. (An awful thing if it happened in real life, but since this is fiction I expected something more earth shattering.)  It wasn't until I was most of the way through the book that I started to really worry about what was going to happen to Lydia and her children. By the end, I'd come to like the characters a bit.

Disclosure -- I was provided with an advance review copies by the publishers. All opinions are my own. This post is linked to Patchwork Times, Yarn Along, iknead2knit