Hems & Homicide by Elizabeth Penney
Iris and her Grandmother are taking the plunge and opening a physical location for their online apron shop. The historic storefront will need plenty of work to transform it into a welcoming place of business, but they're confident that they can have everything done by opening day....until Iris discovers the decades old skeleton in the basement. They're still determined to move forward with their plans, but then their unpleasant landlord is found dead in the shop.
Iris's grandmother is able to identify the skeleton by its colorful clothing, but she only knew her friend by the name she was using in the 60s. Everyone had assumed that the young woman left town, but her body has been in the basement all that time. This book has that small town/small business setting that I enjoy so much, with a cast of well developed characters. It's entertaining to watch her try to reconcile her own grandparents and their peers with the lives they led long before she was born.
Cardinal Sin by J. R. Ripley
It was the oujia board on the cover and the voodoo statue in the book's description that made me pick up Cardinal Sin, the eighth book in the Bird Lover's mystery series. I've obviously missed a lot by jumping in this far along, including the origin of the statue and lots of backstory between store owner Amy Simms and her friends and family, but the book was so enjoyable that I want to catch up on the earlier titles.
Yvonne, a new customer to her shop describes an uncommon bird that she's seen on her property and invites Amy to a dinner party at her cabin on Webber's Pond, a small community of rustic old cabins with some unusual residents. Only a few hours after the ouija board spells out an ominous warning, Amy finds Yvonne dead in her cabin. It's an atmospheric and suspenseful book that I thoroughly enjoyed.
Disclosure -- The publisher provided me with an advance review copy. This post contains affiliate links.
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