Tag: Isis Crawford

#FlashbackFriday – A Catered Wedding (A Mystery With Recipes) by Isis Crawford

Posted on By Dollycas

On Flashback Fridays I will share with you
the books I was not able to review
when they were first released that have been screaming at me
from my To-Be-Read bookshelf.


A Catered Wedding (A Mystery With Recipes)
Cozy Mystery
2nd in Series
Publisher: Kensington (September 1, 2005)
Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
ISBN-10: 0758206860
ISBN-13: 978-0758206862
Kindle ASIN: B00FN2DPCA

Bernadette and Libby Simmons have been working twelve-hour days at their store, A Taste of Heaven. And in between whipping up sweet treats and catering high school graduation parties, the sisters have to fit one more event into their busy schedule: catering a high-society wedding that takes a very low turn. . .

 

Leeza Sharp is getting ready to have the wedding of her dreams. She’s got a $25,000 dress (gorgeous and made to order), a rich Estonian fiancé (head of a multimillion dollar caviar empire) and a four-star menu (planned by none other than Bernadette and Libby Simmons). Never mind that she’s not really in love with her boring, bland groom-to-be.

 

But the dream wedding quickly turns into a nightmare. Just hours before she’s scheduled to walk down the aisle, Leeza takes an arrow to the chest–and drops dead. Now Libby and Bernadette have more on their minds than pouring Cristal and cutting up wedding cake: they’ve got an archery-inclined killer to find. . .

 

Includes 6 Delectable Recipes for You to Try!

Dollycas’s Thoughts 

Bernadette and Libby Simmons are given the chance to cater a huge reception for a bride getting the wedding of her dreams. Sadly, the event is tanked when the bride is killed before she can walk down the aisle. With a big assist from their retired police chief dad, the sisters try to find who shot down the bride with a crossbow on her wedding day.

______

This story is high on humor, low on facts, and sleuthing. The girls take their time calling the police and tamper with the crime scene all to find a killer that I was focused on pretty early on.

Sisters Libby and Bernadette are trying to grow their business but they keep finding dead bodies which makes their wheelchair-bound father worry so much he finally leaves his house to help them out. Their investigation was a little frustrating at times, they seemed to be going in circles and finding nothing. The ending falls together and my original theory was proven but I was surprised the sisters didn’t pick up what I was following the whole time.

I did enjoy getting to know these characters better than we did in the first book. There is plenty of room for growth and knowing there are 13 more books in the series I am sure the author capitalized on this. I also learned something when reading the book and that is always a plus.

This was a quick read for a weekend afternoon. It also includes some yummy recipes. A Catered Wedding has some issues but the characters are growing on me. I will give A Catered Christmas a try near the holidays.

 

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About the Author

ISIS CRAWFORD was born in Egypt to parents who were in the diplomatic corps. When she was five, her family returned to the States, where her mother opened a restaurant in Upper Westchester County and her father became a university professor. Since then Isis has combined her parents’ love of food and travel by running a catering service as well as penning numerous travel-related articles about places ranging from Omsk to Paraguay. Married, with twin boys, she presently resides in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, where she is working on the next Bernie and Libby culinary mystery.



I am giving away 1 Kindle Copy!
The book will be sent directly from Amazon.

The contest is open to anyone over 18 years old.

Duplicate entries will be deleted. Void where prohibited.

You do not have to be a follower to enter but I hope you will find
something you like here and become a follower.

Followers Will Receive 2 Bonus Entries For Each Way They Follow.
Plus 2 Bonus Entries For Liking My Facebook Fan Page.

Add this book to your WANT TO READ shelf on GoodReads for 3 Bonus Entries.

Pin this giveaway to Pinterest for 3 Bonus Entries.

If you share the giveaway on Twitter or Facebook or anywhere you will receive
5 Bonus Entries For Each Link.

Contest Will End June 5, 2020, at 11:59 PM CST
Winner Will Be Chosen By Random.org
Winner Will Be Notified By Email
and Will Be Posted Here In The Sidebar.

Click Here For Entry Form

*This was from my personal collection.

2020 Reviews, Alphabet Soup A -Z Author Edition Challenge, Craving For Cozies, Cruisin Thru Cozies, E-Book Challenge, Flashback Friday, Giveaways, TBR Pile Challenge, The Backlist Reader Challenge, You Read How Many Books Challenge

#FlashbackFriday A Catered Murder (A Mystery With Recipes) by Isis Crawford #Review / #Giveaway

Posted on By Dollycas


On Flashback Fridays I will share with you
the books I was not able to review
when they were first released that have been screaming at me
from my To-Be-Read bookshelf.


A Catered Murder (A Mystery With Recipes)
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Setting – New York
Publisher: Kensington (December 1, 2003)
Hardcover: 304 pages
ISBN-10: 157566710X
ISBN-13: 978-1575667102
Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
ISBN-10: 1575667258
ISBN-13: 978-1575667256
Kindle ASIN: B00AEWIBK0

Bernadette Simmons wasn’t sure what to expect when she left L.A.–and her no-good, cheating boyfriend–to move back in with her family in New York. And her sister Libby had no idea what she was in for when she hired Bernie to work for her catering business. But in between cutting up canapés and dishing up desserts, the two find themselves in the midst of a mystery they can really sink their teeth into. . .

It’s only been a few days since Bernie and Libby started working together at A Little Taste of Heaven, and already they’ve got their hands full–baking cookies and slicing rare beef tenderloin to serve at a high school reunion. The dinner has a “Dracula” theme and a very strange guest of honor: Laird Wrenn, a New York Times bestselling author of vampire novels. Libby and Bernie know this will be an evening unlike any other. And they’re proven right when Laird pours a glass of water, takes a long sip–and drops stone-cold dead. . .

Now, with murder on the menu and Libby under suspicion, the sisters will have to put their heads together to figure out whodunit–in a mystery that promises to be deadly to the very last bite.

Includes 7 Delectable Recipes for You to Try!

Dollycas’s Thoughts

Bernadette Simmons escaped from Los Angeles leaving her cheating ex behind along with most of her belongings to return home to New York. There she starts working with her sister Libby at A Little Taste of Heaven, a store and catering company. They have been hired to cater a high school reunion with a Dracula theme. The guest of honor, author Laird Wrenn, even arrives with his own coffin. Sadly, before the night ends he is going to need it because after a big drink of water he keels over dead. Since Libby provided the bottled water she becomes a prime suspect but everyone at the reunion had access to it so the suspect list is wide open and Bernie and Libby are going to find who sucked the life out of the popular vampire . . . author.

I found the family dynamic interesting in this first book of this series. The sisters are as different as night and day but both seem to attract jerks and deserve better. In addition to working together, they are also taking care of their father, Sean, the former police chief. He is in a wheelchair but no real story as to why as been revealed as yet. Truthfully the author has not given any of the core characters much depth so there is a lot to be revealed in subsequent books.  I did like the interactions between the sisters and with their father. They came across as realistic and true.

The girl’s investigation into the murder was fun to read. Taking along treats when visiting the suspects did loosen some tongues. In fact, the heat was soon off Libby and onto one of her friends. I also liked that they talked things over with their dad to get his expert opinion. His replacement at the police department is a real tool and needed to be put in his place.  I was able to pull all the clues together before Bernie and Libby and the police but enjoyed following along to the end.

This story was good but I wish the characters were more fleshed out so that I would feel more invested in them. I identified a bit with Sean because I too spend a vast amount of time in a wheelchair but want to know more of his story. We did learn Bernie has an eidetic memory which can be annoying and Libby is a really hard worker but again I wanted more.

For me, the book is A Satisfactory Excursion, but I am not writing the series off. I have book #2, A Catered Wedding on my Kindle so I will be giving this author another chance. It is a long-running series, book #15, A Catered New Year’s Eve was just released so I am assuming the flaws I found in this story have all be ironed out.

Your Escape Into A Good Book Travel Agent

About the Author

ISIS CRAWFORD was born in Egypt to parents who were in the diplomatic corps. When she was five, her family returned to the States, where her mother opened a restaurant in Upper Westchester County and her father became a university professor. Since then Isis has combined her parents’ love of food and travel by running a catering service as well as penning numerous travel-related articles about places ranging from Omsk to Paraguay. Married, with twin boys, she presently resides in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, where she is working on the next Bernie and Libby culinary mystery.



I am giving away 1 Kindle Copy!
The book will be sent directly from Amazon.

The contest is open to anyone over 18 years old.

Duplicate entries will be deleted. Void where prohibited.

You do not have to be a follower to enter but I hope you will find
something you like here and become a follower.

Followers Will Receive 2 Bonus Entries For Each Way They Follow.
Plus 2 Bonus Entries For Liking My Facebook Fan Page.

Add this book to your WANT TO READ shelf on GoodReads for 3 Bonus Entries.

Pin this giveaway to Pinterest for 3 Bonus Entries.

If you share the giveaway on Twitter or Facebook or anywhere you will receive
5 Bonus Entries For Each Link.

Contest Will End November 15, 2019, at 11:59 PM CST
Winner Will Be Chosen By Random.org
Winner Will Be Notified By Email
and Will Be Posted Here In The Sidebar.

Click Here For Entry Form

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of this book. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Alphabet Soup A -Z Author Edition Challenge, Craving For Cozies, Cruisin Thru Cozies, E-Book Challenge, Flashback Friday, Giveaways, Reviews 2019, TBR Pile Challenge, You Read How Many Books Challenge

#Spotlight / #Giveaway – A Catered Costume Party (Mystery With Recipes) by Isis Crawford

Posted on By Dollycas 3 Comments on #Spotlight / #Giveaway – A Catered Costume Party (Mystery With Recipes) by Isis Crawford


A Catered Costume Party (Mystery With Recipes)
Cozy Mystery
13th in Series
Setting – New York
Kensington (August 29, 2017)
Hardcover: 304 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1617733376
Kindle ASIN: B01MXUG66E

When sisters Bernie and Libby Simmons agree to cater an extravagant Halloween party in their little upstate New York town of Longely, they figured a ghost or two and a blood curdling scream might be part of the menu, but they never expected to be haunted by the deadly specter of murder . . .

Halloween is coming, and Darius Witherspoon isn’t giving up on his plan for a catered costume party—despite the recent disappearance of his wife, Penelope. He may be heartbroken, but perhaps throwing a big shindig in her honor will boost his spirits. He’s going to hold it at his stylish new co-op apartment at the Berkshire Arms, where the couple had dreamed of moving in.

Darius hires Bernie and Libby to provide the treats. They’d prefer to avoid the festivities altogether. As far as they’re concerned, the Berkshire Arms is a haunted house—or at least haunted by the memory of the murder that happened on the site, when it used to be The Peabody School. But as always, there are bills to be paid, so they accept the job. And in the midst of the celebration, Darius is discovered hanging from a noose outside one of the ballroom’s French doors . . .

Was it suicide, induced by despair over his missing spouse? Bernie and Libby think not, once they read the note he left—which includes a sum of money and a request for them to “do something” if anything should happen to him. Now, once the serving trays have been cleared and the decorations taken down, it’s time for the sisters to unmask a killer . . .

Includes Original Recipes for You to Try!

Find out more about Isis Crawford and her books on her webpage here.

Thanks to the publisher I have 1 copy to give away!
Contest is open to anyone over 18 years old
with a US mailing address.

Duplicate entries will be deleted. Void where prohibited.

You do not have to be a follower to enter but I hope you will find
something you like here and become a follower.

Followers Will Receive 2 Bonus Entries For Each Way They Follow.
Plus 2 Bonus Entries For Liking My Facebook Fan Page.

Click the Like Button at the top of this post for a Bonus Entry.
Add this book to your WANT TO READ shelf on GoodReads for 3 Bonus Entries.

Pin this giveaway to Pinterest for 3 Bonus Entries.

If you publicize the giveaway on Twitter or Facebook or anywhere you will receive
5 Bonus Entries For Each Link.

Contest Will End September 15, 2017 at 11:59 PM CST
Winner Will Be Chosen By Random.org
Winner Will Be Notified By Email
and Will Be Posted Here In The Sidebar.

Click Here For Entry Form

Dollycas
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