Book Review: Death of a Tom Turkey (Hayley Powell Food and Cocktails Mystery, #18) by Lee Hollis

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Death of a Tom Turkey (Hayley Powell Food and Cocktails Mystery, #18)  by Lee Hollis  opens with Tom Farley and his neighbors in a snit because he's the last holdout to sell his house to a property developer who wants to build a resort. When Tom is shot at a pre-Thanksgiving community gathering and hospitalized, Hayley Powell puts her amateur sleuthing skills to good use. Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Publishers for providing me with an Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) of this cozy mystery. I received a copy of this book for free in exchange of my honest opinion and review of the story. I loved the fact that this latest installment of the Hayley Powell Food and Cocktails Mystery  series had a theme around the Thanksgiving holiday and included live turkeys in the plot. It was good to visit some familiar characters. Since this is the eighteenth installment in the series, Lee Hollis didn't go into much detail of the background of those reoccurring characters; however, she...
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Book Review: Trapper Road (Stillhouse Lake, #6) by Rachel Caine and Carrie Ryan

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book review trapper road stillhouse lake 6 rachel caine carrie ryan

Gwen Proctor and Same Cade are back with the rest of the crew in Trapper Road (Stillhouse Lake, #6) by Rachel Caine and Carrie Ryan.  A school shooting happens at the local high school, and Connor's best friend is behind it.  When a teenage girl goes missing in Gardenia, South Carolina, and Gwen is sent to investigate, it's perfect timing for her family to get away from all the publicity from the shooting.

This latest edition in the Stillhouse Lake book series is a bittersweet one.  I am so thankful that Rachel Caine started outlining and writing Trapper Road before her passing and that Carrie Ryan finished it for her.  Rachel would have been proud of the way Carrie finished the manuscript for her.  Based on the acknowledgements at the end of the story, I halfway think that Carrie Ryan may be continuing the series.  One can dream, right?

For those who have yet to read Trapper Road, this book does deal with very real situation of school shootings.  I am thankful that I haven't experienced such a thing and no one I know has either, but the way the shooting and the aftermath was written seemed very realistic.  My heart was pounding throughout the chapters dealing with it, and I don't know how I'd deal with something like this if I were in that situation.  

The other very realistic situation that was written throughout the book was that of a teenage girl that goes missing when she accepts a ride with someone she met online.  I won't reveal what happens, but this whole situation is another that I couldn't imagine and wouldn't wish on anyone.

I tried to savor this novel as long as I could, but once I got halfway through, I couldn't help myself . . . I couldn't wait to find out what would happen and read it as quickly as I could.  There isn't anything I would change about Trapper Road.  It's such a fantastic read. Five out of five stars.

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