The Running Bibliophile

A Crabby Killer (Mooseamuck Island, #2) by Leighann Dobbs is the second installment in the Mooseamuck Island cozy mystery series. The story begins when the body of an “outsider” is discovered stuffed inside a crab boil pot just before the island’s annual Crab Festival opens to the public. Determined not to let a murder derail their beloved celebration, the islanders press on...until it becomes clear that several locals had motives. As suspicion spreads, can retired police investigators Claire and Dom put aside their differences long enough to solve the case? I originally bought a copy of this ebook years ago purely because I loved the title. One of my New Year’s resolutions was to read more of the books I already own instead of constantly buying new ones, so I finally decided to give A Crabby Killer a try, knowing absolutely nothing about the story beforehand. I was pleasantly surprised. Leighann Dobbs does an excellent job of providing background on recurring characters for new rea...

Assault and Buttercream (Lexy Baker, #16) by Leighann Dobbs opens with Lexy Baker thrilled to have been selected to cater the annual Brooke Ridge Falls Dog Show. Unfortunately, her excitement is short-lived. When Lexy brings her dog Sprinkles to the Doggy Diva Pet Salon for grooming, she discovers one of the employees dead behind the counter. As if that weren’t enough, a robbery has occurred at Farradays Jewelers down the street, a dog has been kidnapped from the retirement center, and someone is even stealing K-cups from the senior center. Alongside her grandmother and their group of senior-citizen amateur sleuths, Lexy soon finds herself pulled in multiple directions as she attempts to untangle all these mysteries. This installment of the Lexy Baker series was more engaging for me than some of the earlier books. Most of the characters were very likable, and while there isn’t a great deal of character development, that didn’t bother me. I was in the mood for a fun, easy read, and As...

Thanksgiving Turkey Tragedy (A Lexy Baker Holiday Novella)  by Leighann Dobbs opens at a turkey farm and various turkeys talking to one another about the one who was chosen for the Thanksgiving Dinner. When their roosting branch collapsed, it kills the owner, and the turkeys escape. Will Lexy Baker be able to find the killer? This novella was the perfect story to read before Thanksgiving. At first, I thought the entire story was going to be told from the turkeys perspectives, but it wasn't. Right off the bat, we know the tree branch broke under the weight of the turkeys roosting on it and is the reason the farmer died. However, there are boot prints near the body, so it doesn't look like an accident. Dobbs does an excellent job of throwing suspicion on several characters, which had me doubting myself on who might have sawed the branch to weaken it. I ended up being partially correct on who was involved. The majority of the characters are likable, but there are a few that do get...

My Fatal Valentine (Juniper Holiday, #5) by Leighann Dobbs opens with a Valentine's Day charity event being held at Juniper's mansion.  When the grand prize winner is found dead in one of the bathrooms, there are few clues and no witnesses.  Detective Mallard must solve the crime without the help of Juniper or lose his job. Even though this is a cozy mystery that has a murder, it still put me in the mood for Valentine's Day.  I loved the jealousy between all of the contestants because it made the story more realistic and gave a good motive.  There were a lot of red herrings, and I have to say that I was stumped as to who could be the murderer. What I loved about this edition of the Juniper Holiday series is that there was a little more fantasy involved with a witch needing to perform a spell to assist in solving the case.  The magical people of the town is something I feel like could be developed a little more in the series.  The characters were amazing,...

Masquerade Party Murder (Juniper Holiday, #4) opens with Juniper Holiday setting up for her New Years Eve party, but the party goes horribly awry during the fireworks when the mayor is found dead . . . killed by a gunshot.  Juniper must find out who the murderer is and clear her dear friend's name. I have absolutely fallen in love with the Juniper Holiday book series by Leighann Dobbs.  The books in this series are the perfect beach read and super fun.  And, if I get in a funk while reading, these books definitely pull me out of that funk.  Masquerade Party Murder definitely pulled me out of a reading funk. What's great about this series is that you don't have to read them in order, although it definitely helps, and Masquerade Party Murder can be read as a stand alone book like the rest in the series.  Even though this is a cozy mystery, there are some fantasy elements in the story lines . . . witches and werewolves play a part, and of course, ghosts do as w...

Who Slayed The Santas? (Juniper Holiday, #3) by Leighann Dobbs was published on December 15, 2022 and opens with Juniper Holiday decorating her Crescent Cove mansion for her Christmas party.  When the Santas she's interviewing for the party start showing up dead on the property, Juniper is determined to find out who the murderer is before the party is ruined. The Juniper Holiday series is fast becoming one of my favorite cozy mystery series.  It just keeps getting better!  All of the characters are such a trip, especially the main character named Juniper Holiday.  Although Who Slayed The Santas? deals with murder, it's such a fun, entertaining read that made me even more excited for Christmas.  This is the perfect book for those who are in a reading rut or looking for a beach read. Five out of five stars is what I give Who Slayed The Santas? (Juniper Holiday, #3) by Leighann Dobbs.  I hope the author keeps writing additional stories for this series.

Never Say Pie (Lexy Baker, 14) by Leighann Dobbs opens with Lexy Baker catering a dinner and pie eating contest at her grandmother's retirement community.  When one of the residents is found face down in one of Lexy's pies for the pie eating contest, Lexy, Nans, and the rest of the gang take matters into their own hands to solve the case. This edition in the Lexy Baker book series is written better than some of the books in the series.  Although I figured out who the killer was right off the bat, I couldn't figure out what the motive was, even though there were clues right in front of my face.  Leighann Dobbs did a great job with adding red herrings to the storyline because at one point I did second guess myself. Since I was in a bit of a rut when it came to reading, Never Say Pie was the perfect book to help me start reading again because it was a fun, entertaining read.  Although, having a writer, who writes books about a baker that solves murders, was a little k...

Thanksgiving Dinner Death (Juniper Holiday, #2) by Leighann Dobbs opens with Juniper Holiday overseeing the preparations for her Thanksgiving dinner party.  When the head police detective face plants into his food and dies, Juniper has to think fast. The second edition of Leighann Dobbs Juniper Holiday Cozy Mystery Series definitely helped put me in the mood for the Thanksgiving holiday.  It's the first time in a long while that I've actually looked forward to it. Like the first book in the series, Thanksgiving Dinner Death (Juniper Holiday, #2) is a quick, fun read, and I've come to love the main character even more if that's even possible, and I really enjoy Juniper's love/hate relationship with Detective Mallard.  What's more is that I foresee her goddaughter, Victoria, and Detective Mallard becoming an item in the near future. This book reminded me a little of the television show Ghosts and little bit of the book/television series The Vampire Diaries . ...

Halloween Party Murder (Juniper Holiday, #1) by Leighann Dobbs is the first book in an all new cozy mystery book series.  Wealthy Juniper Holiday lives in Crescent Cove with her goddaughter and is planning a spectacular Halloween party when a dead body is discovered in the guest house.  How did the body end up there, and who is the murderer? This newest book by Leighann Dobbs was a super fun, quick read.  I absolutely love the main character . . . Juniper Holiday.  She's so spunky and unlike any other characters I've read about.  The paranormal elements in the book were amazing too . . . ghosts and werewolves make appearances adding a spooky element to the storyline. Although there were red herrings throughout the book, I quickly determined who the killer was but couldn't figure out the motive.  However, I should have figured out the motive because there were clues that hinted at it.  Full disclosure, I did second guess myself at one point when it cam...

With Easter fast approaching, Hannah Swensen is overwhelmed with all the catering orders coming into her bakery and all the dinner parties she's attending. To make matters worse, her sister, Andrea, gets into a fight with Mayor Bascomb, who is found murdered later that night. Will Hannah be able to clear Andrea as the prime suspect in Triple Chocolate Cheesecake Murder (Hannah Swensen, #27) by Joanne Fluke? Triple Chocolate Cheesecake Murder (Hannah Swensen, #27) by Joanne Fluke is the first book I've read by this particular author. I received the ebook for free from Goodreads.com in exchange for my honest review, and I was excited to give this series a try as I've heard good things about it. Overall, I enjoyed the book and thought the concept was a great one. Of course, Andrea is going to be the prime suspect in the murder of the mayor since she was last seen fighting with him, but I knew that she wouldn't end up being the murderer. As the book progressed, there were...

A Catered Wedding (A Mystery with Recipes, #2) by Isis Crawford is a cozy mystery that takes place in New York. When Leeza Sharp is found murdered on the morning of her dream wedding, caterers Libby and Bernie Simmons take it upon themselves to figure out who murdered Leeza and why. This installment in the A Mystery with Recipes series, A Catered Wedding , was definitely written better than its predecessor A Catered Murder for the simple reason that the author refrained from using as many unnecessary synonyms for words that didn't need a fancier meaning. Don't get me wrong; she still did this, but just not as often. A prime example is she used the word lummox when clumsy or klutzy would have worked just as well. Another illustration of this is that when a character was eating a cookie, and instead of just saying he put it in his mouth or ate it, Isis Crawford wrote that he "conveyed it to his mouth".  At one point in the story, one of the supporting characters talk...

Cream Puff Killer (Lexy Baker, #13) by Leighann Dobbs opens with Lexy Baker needing a lift to deliver her pastries to a meeting. Nan and the rest of her gaggle offer Lexy a ride, but they have to get Ruth's Oldsmobile out of storage first. When their Uber driver drops them off, they find a dead body in the storage unit, which causes the police to open up a cold case from years ago. Although I thoroughly enjoyed this installment of the Lexy Baker cozy mystery book series, the one thing that seemed a bit far fetched is that Lexy, Nans, Ruth, and the rest of their group would take an Uber to get Ruth's car instead of Lexy just taking an Uber by herself for her delivery. I know that this needed to happen for the plot to play out, but this was the one thing that really bothered me about the book. I thought I knew who the killer was and what the motive was early on, but to my chagrin, I was off base. Once it was revealed who it was, I groaned to myself and put my head in the palm o...

A Catered Murder (A Mystery with Recipes, #1) by Isis Crawford opens with Bernadette Simmons moving back to New York from Los Angeles, California to work for her sister Libby's catering business called 'A Little Taste of Heaven'. They get hired to cater a high school reunion where the guest of honor is Laird Wren who writes vampire novels. But when he keels over and dies, Libby becomes a suspect.   This cozy mystery series has potential to be a great series. I enjoyed the storyline well enough to keep reading, and it kept me engaged. The main characters were likable and had some good character development.   However, the thing that annoyed me about A Catered Murder by Isis Crawford is that there were some poor word choices in my opinion. It seemed as though the author had a thesaurus sitting next to her as she wrote and would randomly throw in a more complex word. Although the reader could figure out what the word means, the sentence structure didn't flow as well. It ...

Ain't Seen Muffin Yet (Lexy Baker, #15) by Leighann Dobbs follows Lexy Baker, her grandmother, and her grandmother's friends on a case where Henry, the grandson of Nan's neighbor, is accused of murdering his wife. The only clue to the real murderer is a corn muffin with sugar on top. When I first started reading the Lexy Baker cozy mystery book series, I thought it was cute, and it gave me a nice read when I wasn't in the mood for something heavier. However, I found myself struggling with the latest edition, Ain't Seen Muffin Yet (Lexy Baker, #15) . I was forcing myself to finish the book because it just seemed like it was a carbon-copy of the last few books in the series, and it seemed very formulaic. I just so desperately wanted to love it because I was in the mood for a cozy mystery, and it fell a bit flat to me, especially after reading Gemma Halliday and Kelly Rey's Peril in High Heels (High Heels, #11) . What I did notice is that Leighann Dob...