all your Reads in Here

It's always a treat to catch up with Gemma Doyle, owner of the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium. Vicki Delany has given us a delightful, idiosyncratic character whose brain resembles Holmes'. She lacks empathy and social skills, though, and just doesn't understand why people don't appreciate her matter-of-fact comments. She's doing a little bit better in the fourth in this charming series,  A Scandal in Scarlet . Gemma is walking her dog late one evening when they discover the Scarlet House, a local museum, is on fire. Because so much of it is destroyed by the fire, the museum needs to host a fundraiser. Gemma's friend Jayne Wilson, co-owner of Mrs. Hudson's Tearoom, offers to hold an auction there. Before the auction even starts, the chair of the Scarlet House board, Kathy Lamb, has an argument with one of the shop owners, Maureen Macgregor. When Gemma finds Kathy murdered int he backroom, all the witnesses point to Maureen. Gemma and Maureen dislike e...

Georgine loves Christmas. The festive season always brings the little village of Middledip to life. But since her ex-boyfriend walked out, leaving her with crippling debts, Georgine’s struggled to make ends meet. To keep her mind off her worries, she throws herself into organising the Christmas show at the local school. And when handsome Joe Blackthorn becomes her assistant, Georgine’s grateful for the help. But there’s something about Joe she can’t quite put her finger on. Could there be more to him than meets the eye? Georgine’s past is going to catch up with her in ways she never expected. But can the help of friends new and old make this a Christmas to remember after all? It has been too long since I have read a novel by Sue Moorcroft but how could I resist such a magical cover when I am such a little Christmas fairy! A Christmas Gift introduces us to our two main characters Georgine and Joe who both knew each other way back in their school days and quite unexpectedly find themselv...

In Magnus and the Jewelled Book of the Universe, a book by S. L. Browne, readers will meet Magnus. The planet Earth is overheated and dying. He is taken from the Earth by Marlo, who is his mentor. But! Magnus discovers that all was not quite as he had thought. For Magnus is not a human from the planet Earth. In reality he is a member of a race called the Guardians of the Universe who are not

Surrogacy: Our Family's Journey is a very moving and very personal account of one family's story regarding surrogacy. It starts with the initial thoughts about the possibilities of surrogacy and then proceeds through the decision to employ a surrogate to help create a family. This is the story of James Phillips, from a single man, then as part of a same-sex couple and then onward to the story

What's Left Unsaid is a fascinating novel from Deborah Stone. Throughout the novel Deborah takes her readers on a journey through the lives of a range of highly interesting people who are all, in one way or another, deeply damaged or disturbed in one way or another. There's Sasha who is doing her best to keep her life together. She is raising her teenage son Zac. Although she isn't a single

Joy Avon's debut mystery, In Peppermint Peril , is the first "A Tea and a Read Mystery". This one is set in the Christmas season, while the second one will take readers back to Heart's Harbor, Maine, for the Fourth of July celebration. Meet Callie Aspen and her Great Aunt Iphegeneia (Iphy). Iphy owns the vintage tearoom Book Tea. She loves mysteries and puts clues on her pastries. When Callie, who is visiting for the Christmas holiday, is dispatched to Haywood Hall with a special cake, she's curious about Aunt Iphy's mystery with this one. But, neither mystery fan realize they'll be caught up in an actual murder mystery at Haywood Hall. There's a lot of tension. Mr. Leadenby, the retired gardener, doesn't get along with Sheila, Callie's childhood friend. They're snipping at each other at the door. Dorothea Finster, the oldest resident in town at 93 is throwing the tea party at her beloved home. She's about to read her will, and she'...

Cora Harrison's Reverend Mother mysteries, set in Cork, Ireland in the 1920s, are certainly realistic. She doesn't sugarcoat the conditions of life at that time, or the brutality and deaths during the period of rebellion. She doesn't hesitate to injure or kill characters that the reader has grown to care for, because that's life. It's one more reason to encourage readers to start with the first book in this series,  A Shameful Murder.  Once you've read the first couple books, the repercussions of a murder in the third book, Beyond Absolution , are all the more shocking. When Reverend Mother Aquinas sees Father Dominic's body in the confessional at Holy Trinity Church, she knows he was murdered. She sends for the police doctor so he can confirm that the priest's death was not accidental. He was stabbed through the ear by someone on the other side of the confessional. The murder of a priest becomes the talk of Cork. Reverend Mother wants to find the killer...