Gingerbread Houses Always Contain Secrets

 First Paragraph: 

"Holy crap!" Those were the first words out of my cousin's mouth when she saw me come through the door with my overnight bag the day after I fell two stories off a roof. "You look like hell!"

    Amazon / Amazon.co.uk

Where's Hansel and Gretel's Gingerbread House? is the second book in the Gabby Grimm Fairy Tale Mysteries series.

Set around Gabby Grimm, the  Deputy Sheriff of Latima Falls, who receives a call from her cousin, Nettie, asking her to come visit A.S.A.P.. So it's a long train ride on aching limbs (after a incident on a roof) from Vermont to NYC for Gabby. Once there Nettie spills her heart out about being used by (yet another) man, Joe Fortune, who has now mysteriously vanished. All he left behind was a phone number and when Gabby calls him (to give him a piece of her mind) she reaches not Joe Fortuna, but Mike Alves. Next thing she knows, she has her very angry boss calling her up, courtesy of the FBI, demanding she get both herself and cousin down to Vermont now. Nettie is a wanted woman and the FBI are coming for her.

What has her cousin stumbled into now? Who is Joe Fortuna and Mike Alves? Are they the same person? Why are the FBI involved? And does it have anything to do with Nettie's job in real estate?

It's a quick dash to gather evidence, hide it from prying eyes and prove both their innocence and uncover the conspiracy that unfolds.

The story starts pretty slow, but starts to pick up later on. Considering the length of this novella, a slow start is easily read through. It's not slow or long enough to make you lose attention. The plot itself is pretty fun and enjoyable. The book is set around Christmas (though it can be read at any point during the year), but isn't about the holiday itself, it's more of just a simple backdrop. Nice snow, cold weather and a very important gingerbread house. 

The characters are likeable and very similar to the types of characters this author creates. If you've read any of her other books, you can feel the similarities between them. For one, a lot of her stories are set in Vermont. There's usually a confident, female lead who needs to help someone in trouble, usually someone who can't help themselves.

There are also nice, little details (from the original fairytales this series is based loosely on) woven into the text. The plot of each book is set around a basic detail from the Brothers Grimm stories. In this book it's the gingerbread house from Hansel and Gretel. There are also other very small things added in. Gabby has a cat called Puss N' Boots. Her father runs a German style chalet called Black Forest. There are a few nice "easter eggs" worked in, that are fun to come across.

I haven't read the first book (Snow White and the Huntsmen), but I don't think it affected my enjoyment of this book at all. I believe each book can be a stand alone story or read as a series, with each book having a different setting, but with a few recurring characters.

A fun, light read. If you're a fan of Sara Barton you'll love these. If you're interested in cozy mysteries, why not try it? A quick read that will lead to an enjoyable afternoon.

Disclaimer: This book was sent to me by the author through a giveaway. This is not a sponsored review. All opinions are 100% my own.

Bea and Ben Return and All Murderesses are Poisoners

   First Paragraph:

 "If there's one thing I hate, it's a messy guest at the Bard's Bed & Breakfast. Oh, I'm not talking about the people who leave wet towels on the floor of the bedroom, when there's a perfectly good linen hamper in the en suite bathroom, any more that I'm talking about the guests who like to spice up their romantic interludes with whipped cream between the Egyptian cotton sheets I launder for them. I'm talking about the visitors who bring their plug ugly baggage with them when they come to stay."

   Amazon / Amazon.co.uk

A Plague O' Both Your Houses by Sara Barton is book 2 in the Bard's Bed and Breakfast Mystery Series.

A quick warning, this review will contain spoilers from the first book (as is the nature of a series). If you're interested you can check out my review of Let Slip the Dogs of War here: http://needtoreadgottowatch.blogspot.com/2013/01/shakespeare-meets-spies-and-terrorists.html.

Anyway, spoilers beyond here, so continue at your own peril.

Returning to the Bard's the story this time centres around Linda Romano- a retired CIA agent, who specialised in chemical and biological warfare. To be accurate, her job was to find antidotes, but to know how to cure it, she needed to know how it was created. Linda is a crotchety, old woman dying of lupus and plagued with the inability to treat anyone with a shred of decency. She has a nurse (the lovely Manie from Jamaica) to care for her round the clock and cater to her every need. 

Linda is at the Bard's to live out her final days in peace and comfort. Being an ex-CIA agent, they set her up at a CIA specialising B&B, much to Bea's chagrin.

Bea and Ben are their usual selves and are still bickering constantly. In this book, we are joined by the Turkmani sisters, Fatima and Wardah- going by the aliases of Emma and Rosalind (Rosie for short) respectively. It's been a few months since the events of the first book and the girls have started at school, while their mother recuperates in Boston and their father fights his brother in Syria.

Again, terrorism is the plot here. When a letter that Linda sends off get intercepted by the CIA, claiming she's poisoned someone, the Bard's is soon filled with CIA agents from around the globe (all undercover of course) to find out the truth, most of which we are kept in the dark about. But then they are spies. Is the devious plot Linda's devised as simple as it appears, or is there a more sinister plan at hand?

In my review of the first book I said it was almost too fast-paced. In this book, that problem's gone. We have some nice down-time in between all the action (which definitely builds this time), though a lot of it is information about the first book. There's a lot of deja vu as we re-read the first story in small chunks. I know it's a recap, but it's almost as if we're expected to have forgotten everything about the first book. We do get some nice extras though, giving us a little more information we didn't know about the characters or events from the first book. I was a little sad that there was virtually no mention of Yuri, but maybe he'll be in a another book, provided the series continues. And we do get a few tidbits about the mysterious Afari.

We also have a more complete ending and I can feel the books getting better as the series progresses. Again, I did enjoy this book, perhaps even more than the first. I preferred the plot of the first, but I prefer pretty much everything else about the second.

If you liked the first, you'll like this second book. If you didn't like the first, maybe give this one a try- why not? The series certainly has a charm about it that keeps me following its progress. I can't help but wonder- what dastardly plan will be the plot of the third book I wonder?

Disclaimer: This book was sent to me by the author through a giveaway. This is not a sponsored review. All opinions are 100% my own.

Shakespeare Meets Spies and Terrorists in a Vermont B&B

    First Paragraph:
    

   "It's just for two nights."

   "No."

   "Please? Do it for me?" I hate it when he looks at me like that. I hate that he knows I hate it when he looks at me like that. Most of all, I hate that he knows if he looks at me that way, I will cave in and let him have what he wants."

    

 Amazon / Amazon.co.uk

Let Slip the Dogs of War by Sara M. Barton is the first book in the Bard's Bed and Breakfast Mystery series.

Starring Bea (Beatrice) and her retired husband Ben (Benedick), we follow their adventures in running a B&B in Vermont. But not just any B&B. No this is an establishment that specifically caters to the CIA and a few others to keep the ruse up. A little history of the place then. The B&B was founded by Uncle Edward ( who used to work in the OSS as an intelligence officer). Now retired, he created the Bard's B&B (so named for his love of all things Shakespeare- in fact he used to work at the Bard's theatre as a dresser). You may have already noticed the Shakespeare references in the book titles, but we also see them in the form of quotes and as aliases for people in the book, as well as room names.

So, how did Bea and Ben come to take over? Well Uncle Edward needs a hip replacement and just couldn't take care of his guests anymore, while at the same time Bea and her bookshop, Marbury Books, were going through a whole heap of CIA mess. The CIA naturally thought of the perfect way to kill two birds with one stone.

The plot of this first instalment is terrorism. In fact, the second book's plot is terrorism too, so it may be a recurring theme. The first couple chapters are about the CIA, terrorism and explain how Bea got to where she is. Then one day, she finds a body under the bed (not her first apparently). The body is that of a young woman, who had her clothes removed and has two tattoos- one made with edible ink that is the image of a bee and one that is scented and shows the image of a rose. 

Ben and Bea figure it's a CIA code for something and the plot thickens as terrorists begin to show up, along with CIA spies. And who is the mysterious Yuri? 

This series reads like a cozy mystery, but this time with the added twist that the protagonists (and most everyone else) aren't exactly new to the game. The basic story is a little darker than your average cozy because of all of the terrorism involved. 

The plot itself is very fast-paced, A lot happens in this short book and I found it almost too fast-paced. There was never really any down time, you were constantly going from action scene to action scene, revelation to revelation. I don't often say this about a book, but it could have used a little extra padding. While too much can have a negative effect, a little goes a long way to helping the reader absorb all the information you give them, especially when throwing such fast-balls as this book does. 

I would've also liked a little more closure at the end. I don't know if the author plans to revisit that particular character, but the ending is pretty ambiguous and abrupt. But then I suppose it's a good thing that I want to know more. It's a mark of good writing if the reader wants more.

The relationship between Bea and Ben I can see some people loving and some people hating. They are constantly bickering and Bea seems forever annoyed with her husband. Their form of bickering is quoting Shakespeare at each other, which is at least nice to listen to (or read in this case), but it's so frequent that it can get a little grating sometimes. 

While I am not a great fan of unresolved endings, I did enjoy this short book. I found the characters of Yuri and Wardah to be my favourites and wanting to know what happens to each of them is enough to keep me reading. 

Disclaimer: I was sent this book by the author through a giveaway. This is not a sponsored review. All opinions are 100% my own.