72) Paint the Town Dead by Nancy Haddock

The Blurb :

Leslee Stanton Nix—aka “Nixy”—thought moving to small-town Lilyvale, Arkansas, would be about as thrilling as watching paint dry. But keeping up with her retired Aunt Sherry and her troublemaking housemates—collectively known as the Silver Six—has proven to be as exciting as it is exasperating.

To kick off the grand opening of their craft shop, the Handcraft Emporium, Nixy and the Silver Six invite Doralee Gordon to teach a gourd painting class. Doralee’s spirit gets squashed when her ex-husband crashes the class with his new fiancée, but things really get messy when the bride-to-be later turns up dead. Now it’s up to Nixy and the Silver Six to use their melons to find the killer—before someone else gets painted out of the picture...

My Thoughts :

It hasn't been a very productive couple of weeks in regards to my reading.  I have been in a bit of a slump and hopefully this wonderful book has pulled me out of it!  Because this is the first book I have managed to read in the last two weeks.  Nothing else has interested me, nothing else could grab me and I certainly couldn't be bothered to pick up anything else to read.  However when I realised that this second book in the new cozy mystery series by Nancy Haddock was out I suddenly felt like reading again.  Once again this author has brightened my day!

Now I know Nancy from way back when!  She wrote an amazing vampire series that I miss terribly!  So when her new cozy mystery series came out last year I was eager to start it and I remember enjoying it so much that I wanted to get a sequel a lot faster than the author can write!  Now that sequel is here and I nearly missed it.  I feel ashamed to say that even though I had it on pre-order it managed to get past me and lay in wait for a couple of weeks.  It was however worth the wait and I spent a nice few hours in bed curled up with it.

I needed a few chapters to get my head around all the characters.  After a year it is normal to have forgotten who is who.  Especially if you read a lot of books.  Once things were back into place I could start enjoying this wonderful sequel in a very unique and well thought out series.  It took a few chapters to get to the murder mystery but I have to admit that I was actually more interested in Nixy and everyone else anyway and enjoyed the chance to hang out before the sleuthing started.

What else can I say without giving the whole plot away?  I can only recommend you try this series out!  It's a great cozy mystery and has so many cute and interesting things going on.  This book even saw the arrival of some fascinating pets (even though as an Amber and as a cat person....well it was weird being the dog!) and of course the whole craft shop angle is not only fun but inspiring. I can't wait for more and look forward to visiting this lovely town again and finding out more about the secrets it holds and the people within it!

77) Basket Case by Nancy Haddock

The Blurb :

There isn’t much crime in Lilyvale, Arkansas, but local authorities have their hands full with Ms. Sherry Mae Stanton Cutler and her housemates—a crafty group of retirees who’ve dubbed themselves the Silver Six. But when Sherry Mae’s niece, Nixy, arrives to keep them in line, Lilyvale also plays host to a killer.

When Leslee Stanton “Nixy” Nix gets the latest call from Lilyvale detective Eric Shoar, she knows it means trouble. There’s been another kitchen explosion at her Aunt Sherry’s farmhouse, and the dreamy-voiced detective has had enough. If Nixy doesn’t check on her aunt in person, the Silver Six could become wards of the court. But the trouble Nixy finds in Lilyvale is not at all what she expects.

The seniors are hosting a folk art festival at the farmhouse, featuring Sherry’s hand-woven baskets, when land developer Jill Elsman arrives to bully Nixy’s aunt into selling the property. When Jill is later found dead in the cemetery, Sherry is suspected of weaving a murder plot, and it’s up to Nixy and the Silver Six to untangle the truth.

My Thoughts :

I came across author Nancy Haddock a few years ago when I read her series about vampire Cesca Marinelli.  After the series finished I was always on the look out for new work from the author.  Therefore I really enjoyed her short story in the Entangled anthology.  Medium Rare was a little different from the Oldest Vampire series but I loved the cozy mixed with the paranormal and hoped that the author would keep going in this direction.  So when I heard about Basket Case I couldn't wait to get my hands on a copy.   I was excited! There was no paranormal twists involved but I love a good cozy and the blurb looked and so did the cover.

At first I wasn't sure if I was going to like the story and started to worry.  I was a little conflicted about Nixy and didn't warm to her straight away.  However when she got to Lilyvale and really started to get involved with things I finally started  to like her and when I met the other characters I knew I was going to love the book.   Together with the location and the other little bits and pieces this turned out to be a very nice cozy experience.

Plot wise this may turn out to be slow going for some cozy readers.  There is enough happening at the beginning of the book to keep you interested and reading but it takes some time before an actual murder takes place.  Now not all cozies need a body to be a good mystery but it is expected!  Despite the late arrival of that angle the whole Jill Elsman business made for good reading and it was interesting to see what she was up to and why.

The main characters include the Silver Six, who are a wonderful group of retirees that give this new series its name.  It takes a little time to get used to them all and tell them apart but they are lovely characters who you know have a lot of stories to tell and will definitely manage to get into more trouble in the future.  Another main character, Detective Schoar was, like Nixy, not someone I warmed to straight away but when the plot got deadly he started to show a different side that I liked.  I am sure he also has some tales to tell!

What made this first in the series extremely likable is you could tell there is more to come.  It was obvious there are more stories to be told involving these characters.  The author builds up a lovely setting and fills it with nice people while making sure you feel at home.  There is always a lot to take in when you step into a new series but the writer guides you the whole time and leaves you looking forward to your next visit.  

A big thumbs up for this new series.  It will be interesting to see what others think of Basket Case when it releases in September.  I know I am eager to visit Lilyvale again and am really keen to see what the future brings for the Silver Six, Nixy and Det. Schoar.  

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