Carole Brown and Undiscovered Treasures mystery review

Undiscovered Treasures, an Appleton WV mystery

Carole Brown

About the Book

Caroline Gibson is co-owner of Undiscovered Treasures, a shop of antiques, collectibles, and junk in rural West Virginia. Inside the shop is a music box that Caroline particularly relates to, believing that her own life is similar: forever spinning and never going anywhere. She dreams and prays for the right man to turn up. But when family and friends hint that the local artist could be the guy, Caroline forgets about trusting God and takes matters into her own hands. Besides, she could never love a man who paints such depressing pictures. Andrew Carrington, painter of said depressing pictures, insists there’s always one redeeming trait to each of his works. He’s loved Caroline since they were kids and thinks he’s not handsome enough, strong enough, or rich enough to impress this woman. But when God—or is it?—suddenly sends contracts begging for his signature, Andy thinks this just might be the way to win the only woman he can ever love. But there’s a hitch in their plans. Someone is stealing Andy’s pictures, and why would they do that when he’s an unknown—so far? Do they know something Caroline and Andy don’t know? Is it mischief? Or something deeper that neither understand? Andy gets the chance to work with Caroline, and she must put aside her on-going battle to avoid Andy and his art so they can discover the art thief in Appleton before Andy loses the chance of a lifetime to ‘make it big.’

Appleton, WV Cozy mystery series, inspirational

October 2016

Story and Logic Media Group

Ebook $2.99

Print $11.99

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My review

Brown’s third addition to her Appleton, West Virginia mysteries, focuses on another young resident business owner, Caro Gibson. Establishing a familiar milieu ala Jan Karon, Brown is building a repertoire of characters that figure in each other’s lives.

In this story, Caro, her brother Toby, and their lifelong friend Andy, wrestle with the direction of their adult lives. Caro and Toby run an odds and ends shop, besides what Caro does in her spare time—writing and selling plays for church groups to perform. She has begun to establish a respectable reputation in the area, and when a handsome director shows up in Appleton to hire Caro to write a play for his large church, Caro is smitten. Meanwhile, Andy has been developing a highly regarded following as an oil painter. He’s been sure Caro is his soul mate all of their lives, only somehow Caro not only missed that point, she blows off Andy and his work. For her, familiarity really does breed contempt. But when Andy needs her to help figure out who’s sabotaging his career, she hops over on one foot while keeping the other tangoing with the handsome stranger. Caro and Andy’s friends add to the fun trying to help their favorite couple realize they’re perfect for each other.

I found Carolyn Gibson needing to grow into herself and often wanted to smack her upside the head. Thank goodness for good friends who refuse to give up on her. Somewhat reminiscent of Nancy Drew, Brown’s circle of friends and mysteries are a fun clean read for those who enjoy jumping into small town life with big dreamers and achievers. Told in multiple viewpoints but mostly from Carolyn, Undiscovered Treasures is a sweet addition to the series. A sneak preview of the next book is included.

Book 1 Sabotaged Christmas

Book 2 Knight in Shining Apron

About the Author

Carole Brown's debut novel, The Redemption of Caralynne Hayman, is a 2015 Book of the Year in General Fiction from Christian Small Publishers, a RWA Oklahoma International Digital Award 2nd place winner, a Clash of the Titles top three finalist, a Selah Award finalist in debut novels, and a semi-finalist in the Genesis contest.

Besides being a member and active participant of many writing groups, she enjoys mentoring beginning writers. She loves to weave suspense and tough topics into her books, along with a touch of romance and whimsy, and is always on the lookout for outstanding titles and catchy ideas.

Bunco Baby mystery from Julie Cosgrove

Bunco Biddies, Bunco Biddies mysteries, book 2

Julie Cosgrove

2017

Prism Book Group, a division of Pelican Ventures LLC

Cozy inspirational mystery

$4.99

$15.99

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About the Book

Who would leave a newborn baby in the bathtub of a condo in Sunset Acres, a retirement community, and why?

And was a young woman slain behind the convenience store across the highway it’s mother?

Janie and the Bunco Biddies want to find out, but soon they discover sleuthing can get a bit dicey.

My Review

Sunset Acres might be for golden-agers, but those golden-agers can find a lot of ways to get into trouble when they try hard enough. This time the neighbor ladies dish up an international conspiracy, starting with a baby in the bathtub of the victim of the last Bunco Biddies story.

The latest adventure of the weekly bunco bunch poses the question of how useful can a person feel when one phase of life is over? Janie may be a golden-ager, but she’s still got a lot of vigor. Through her desire to keep hold of the best parts of pre-Sunset Acre years, she manages to grow closer to her son-in-law the detective, who not only needs her sleuthing help, but this time is willing to admit it. Through the experienced deductive reasoning of the biddies and some questionable detective techniques, law enforcement in Alamoville Texas gets a new spin on always getting their man.

I realized with a bit of surprise that I’ve aged into Sunset Acres. I could easily see myself joining Janie, Ethel, Mildred, Betsy Ann, and the crew. That thought put a new light on Cosgrove’s series and made them a little more fun for me. Told in multiple viewpoints, including the villains, Bunco Baby will leave you guessing about the latest crime wave and how widespread a terrifying gruesome practice has become.

Recipes included. I don’t know about you, but I’m going to bake some lemon bars pronto.

 

About the Author

Winner of Best Religious Fiction 2016 by the Tx Assoc of Authors and Top 50 Writers You Should Be Reading by the Author Show, Julie is a member of Advanced Writers & Speakers Association, American Christian Fiction Writers, North Texas Christian Writers, DFW Ready Writers, DiAnn Mill’s Ripplers Group, The Christians Writers Group, and Christian Writers Fellowship International. 

A freelance writer and professional speaker, Julie has published hundreds of web content and articles with secular and Christian themes, led retreats, workshops, and Bible studies, and writes regularly for several Christian websites and publications. Contact her at www.juliebcosgrove.com. 

New cozy mystery series for the Bunco set

Dumpster Dicing

Julie Cosgrove

Book review

Prism Book Group

June 10, 2016

Ebook $3.99

Print $12.99 (208 pages)

A Bunco Biddies cozy mystery, book 1

As Janie and Betsy Ann go for their morning jog, the city sanitation vehicle follows its normal five-mile Tuesday morning route through their retirement community of Sunset Acres. The two Bunco-playing biddies spot a leg dangling out of the dumpster when the truck lifts the trash container high in the air. Someone diced up one of their newest residents—a grouchy loner named Edwin Newman. Did he unpack too much of his dicey past when he moved in last weekend? 

My review:

Betsy Ann and Janie are widowed friends in their retirement community, Sunset Acres, in Alamoville, Texas. They play the dice game of Bunco with several ladies, including special friends Ethel and Mildred, whose barking puppy, Poopsy, caused the new neighbor, the despicable Mr. Newman, to complain and even hit the poor thing. While Betsy Ann accuses Janie of being a walking know-it-all encyclopedia, Betsy Ann has a walking inventory of the residents and their particular physical and mental capabilities.

Out for exercise one morning on trash day, the ladies are taking a breather when they spy a blue-jean-clad leg as the dumpster is being emptied. Janie recognizes the newly-moved-in grouch Newman, and the race to solve the murder is on between the biddies and Janie’s son-in-law, an Alamoville detective, Blake Johnson, who truly needs to spend more time with the family. They vow to help Blake whether he thinks he needs it or not.

Soon the ladies have the neighborhood divvied up and begin interrog—um, visiting with the neighbors in the search for clues. They put their wits to the test and do research in back issues of newspapers to get to the bottom of their former neighbor’s cash reserves, foul temper, and mistaken identity. When the whole Bunco group starts to help the police, Blake in particular, find the murderer so they can all feel safe again, it’s Operation Bunco Biddies to the rescue.

Told in multiple viewpoints, the ladies add their detecting skills to the adventure, all in good natured attempts to help Blake get to his daughters’ special school year-end events, and learn more about themselves and their need to uplift and support each other in the process. First of a series. Nicely done. Lots of fun for those who enjoy chatty senior citizen-set mysteries.

Visit Julie B Cosgrove's website to learn more about the author and her work.