Kills Well with Others by Deanna Raybourn -a Review

Kills Well with Others by Deanna Raybourn -a Review

 

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Description:
After more than a year of laying low, Billie, Helen, Mary Alice, and Natalie are called back into action. They have enjoyed their rest, but the lack of excitement is starting to a professional killer can only take so many watercolor classes and yoga sessions before she gets the itch to get back in the game. When they receive a call from Naomi Ndiaye, the head of the elite assassin organization known as the Museum, they are ready tackle the greatest challenge of their careers.

Someone on the inside has compiled a list of important kills committed by Museum agents, all of them connected to a single, shadowy figure, an Eastern European gangster who rules her business empire with an iron fist and plays puppet master in international affairs. Naomi is convinced this criminal queen is bent upon revenge, killing off the agents who attempted to thwart her, and the aging quartet of killers is next.

Together the foursome embark on a wild ride across the globe on the double mission of rooting out the Museum’s mole and hunting down the gangster and her assassin. But their nemesis is unlike any they’ve faced before, and it will take all their experience and a whole lot of luck to get out of this mission alive.

 

 

 

Review:

Kills Well with Others by Deanna Raybourn is the 2nd book in her Killers of a Certain Age series. Our heroines, Billie, Mary Alice, Helen and Natalie, have worked for the secret Museum, an elite private network of assassins for 40 years. This was a fun, exciting & and entertaining novel. I really enjoyed this story, as this book was even better then the first book.

The retired deadly women assassins are back. After more than a year of laying low & resting, the ladies (Billie, Helen, Mary Alice, Natalie) are called back into action. The head of the elite assassin organization (Museum), Naomi, recalls them as it seems that someone may be seeking revenge against those connected to the Museum and it is up to our ladies to the find answers. 

They meet together to find out who is out to kill them, and though they are in their 60’s, they are such a riot, and wonderful friends, having been together for 40 years. Their assignments can be bloody, cold, intense& exciting, but they are also witty/charming, as they also protect each other. These women are deadly assassins for their international organization that eliminated unsavory people in various governments. But they were now retired, and yet they still get called to return to work to help eliminate the leaders who have targeted them.

Kills Well with Others has a fun, action filled, humor, friendship and exciting mystery; with plenty of humor and snark.  Kills Well with Others was a fabulous fast and fun read; which was very well written by Deanna Raybourn.  If you enjoy mysteries, thrillers, crime, and women who are fantastic together as government assassins.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher

 

 

 

 

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Don’t Trust Her by Adriane Leigh-a review

Don’t Trust Her by Adriane Leigh-a review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date March 13, 2025

Inviting her into my home might be the worst mistake I ever made.

Me

It looks like I have it all — a beautiful home, two perfect kids. But my husband is always travelling for work and I’m struggling to do it all alone.

Meeting her is a godsend. I’m late to pick up the kids and I almost knock her over. Instead of getting angry, she hands me her business card and says she’s looking for work. She’s experienced, dedicated, has excellent references. She’s everything I need.

Her

I’ll be right at home in her life. After all, I’ve been waiting for this chance.

She’s exactly like the rest of them: beautiful, uptight, controlling. Trusting. That’s the problem with people like her — they can’t imagine anyone hating them. They’re naïve. They bring people like me into their homes, let us look after their children and pay us next to nothing for the privilege.

But she owes me more than a salary. She might not know it, but she owes me everything . .

•••••

REVIEW: DON’T TRUST HER by Adriane Leigh is a contemporary, adult, psychological thriller focusing on Genevieve Moreau-DuPont, and the au pair Adeline.

Told from dual first person perspectives (Genevieve and Adeline) including present day and memories from the past, DON’T TRUST HER follows Genevieve Moreau-DuPont, wife and exasperated mother of two, as she struggles in her daily life to care for her children, and look after the house. Married to a prominent architect who is rarely home, Genevieve is desperate for help, and hires Adeline, who quickly becomes a source of contention for Genevieve and her husband Alexandre but as the story begins to unfold, not everything is as it appears to be. Genevieve begins to suspect her husband is unfaithful, and the au pair is adding fuel to the already simmering fires.

The world building focuses on the early life of one young woman as she struggles in the wake of debilitating dysfunctional family dynamics. As Genevieve battles to maintain her day to day tasks, her life begins to spiral out of control, while Adeline becomes disheartened as she finds herself taking on more responsibilities for a family that is not her own.

DON’T TRUST HER is a story of secrets and lies, mental and emotional illness. The premise is dark, dramatic and intriguing but several issues are never addressed, or lost in the melee that is a decent into madness; the characters are embattled and determined, broken and lost.

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

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SINGULARITY by Sherri Fulmer Moorer-review

SINGULARITY by Sherri Fulmer Moorer-review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date August 1, 2024

The year is 2114, and Senara and Killian are newlyweds excited to work toward being the first convergence community to relaunch Artificial Intelligence five years after the Prion Pandemic which almost wiped out humanity across the globe. Achieving ‘singularity’ is the best way to increase their chance of survival and rebuild this strange new world into something better than the one that almost died along with two-thirds of the population. As the survivors gather into convergence communities across the country to rebuild reality from the remnants of the old world, they all ask themselves the same question – this time, will we be safe?

And they were beginning to think they were until a young woman died from an infection that the AI should have cured, just weeks after the Phase One rollout. It’s dismissed as a random failure until someone else falls ill, then another … and another. Senara and Killian work to stabilize the AI and are shocked to discover that it might have contributed to the pandemic that almost killed the world. Worse yet, it might not have been completely dormant over the past five years and is just waiting for them to flip the switch to give it full control of what’s leof mankind.

Will Artificial Intelligence help humanity achieve evolution, or drive it to extinction?

••••

REVIEW: SINGULARITY by Sherri Fulmer Moorer is a stand alone, futuristic, adult, post-apocalyptic, sci-fi thriller focusing on a group of survivors in the aftermath of the Prion Pandemic, a pandemic caused by artificial intelligence.

The Singularity is a theory wherein artificial intelligence is no longer under human control, AI that has become sentient and making inroads for its’ own survival.

NOTE: The timeline and dates in the story do not match the blurb on most retail sites.

Told from several omniscient third person perspectives including psychiatrist and therapist Senara SINGULARITY focuses on the reactivation of a neural chip in the wake of the Prion Pandemic wherein sixty percent of Earth’s population did not survive. In 2109, most of humanity has been implanted with a neural chip, and the Prion Pandemic, a neurocognitive disorder, killed anyone with a pre-existing health condition. Five years later, the survivors have been forced into small, cooperative communities in the hopes of remaining illness free but the reactivation of their neural chips brings with it the fear of another pandemic, and they have been told, the only way to survive is to reach the Singularity or die trying. The problem-artificial intelligence was the cause of the Prion Pandemic, and the rush to roll out each consecutive phase, is threatening the health and safety of the integrated community.

SINGULARITY is a slow building story of power and control, illness and madness, secrets and lies, betrayal and trust. A story of artificial intelligence allowed to take control in the wake of a previous ‘betrayal’ or ‘malfunction’ but a malfunction that may have been orchestrated by the people in charge. There is more to the pandemic than anyone could have thought possible, and with the implementation of each successive Phase, more people are dying, and the lack of honesty and available knowledge is creating hysteria and conspiracy (sound familiar?). The premise is intriguing but the ‘technical’ aspects of artificial intelligence and the science fiction proposition remains allusive and behind the scenes. The characters are desperate and determined, slowly succumbing to mankinds’ loss of control.

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

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Hidden Angels by Carolyn Arnold – a Review

Hidden Angels by Carolyn Arnold – a Review

 

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Description:
As the wall is peeled back, everyone falls silent. Then they see her. The near-perfect remains of a young female, two jelly bangles and a neon necklace being the only clues to how long she had been hidden there. But who was she? And who could have possibly wanted to take such an innocent life?

When the body of girl is discovered in the walls of a Woodbridge church, Detective Amanda Steele is immediately called to the scene. On arrival she meets FBI Special Agent Sandra Vos who explains that while negotiating a hostage incident moments before, a gun was fired. The bullet missed its target but exposed human remains.

The victim has been perfectly preserved, her jewellery and summer dress taking Amanda back to her own teenage years. DNA quickly confirms that the victim was taken over thirty years ago. Thinking about her own daughter, Amanda cannot imagine the devastation for the young girl’s family and vows to find the killer.

Amanda and her partner Trent determine the suspect behind the attempted shooting, Cameron Cofell, had a very clear reason for exacting revenge on the church’s priest. As they question the wider community, a neighbour reveals her long-held suspicions too. But when she is found murdered, Amanda knows this killer is prepared to do whatever it takes to keep their dark secret from ever coming to light.

Soon the investigation takes Amanda and Trent to an abandoned farmhouse—a place that haunts Cameron’s nightmares—where they find a faded photograph that holds the mystery of another chilling cold case. But just how far back does this evil go, and how much will Amanda and Trent need to sacrifice to find the killer?

 

 

Review:

Hidden Angels by Carolyn Arnold is the 13th book in her wonderful Detective Amanda Steele series. As I have noted previously, I am a big fan of Arnold, having read most of her books, and I love this series, which continues with another fantastic addition.  Amanda Steele, our heroine, is a homicide detective in Prince William County, Virginia

When a local priest is held captive in his church, a shot is fired, hitting a wall in the Woodbridge church, which exposed a body entombed. Detective Amanda Steel and her partner, Trent are called to the scene. Amanda meets FBI agent Sandra Vos, who was negotiating a hostage situation in the church. Sandra was willing to help Amanda and Trent, getting more information for their needs.

The DNA quickly confirms that the victim was kidnapped from an amusement park over thirty years ago, with the child being 8 years old.  Her body was entombed within the wall at the age of sixteen. Cameron Cofell was the one who threatened the priest, as he thought the church was abusive, but his parents were the ones who abused him. Cameron’s parents were killed in an accident a few years ago, and it was suspected that the parents were the ones who kidnapped the girl, and killed her 8 years later.

Amanda and Trent are deep in investigating the past and the present, as they will work long into the night to find the truths. Amanda and Trent go to an abandoned farmhouse, finding faded photos that that holds the mystery of who helped the parents kill the girl.

Amanda and Trent are a great team, and I like them together. Amanda is a great detective, very strong, independent, and always able to solve any case. She also worries about her daughter, Zoey, because she always busy on a case, and feeling guilty about those long days that her job entails.   

What follows is an exciting, fast paced, suspenseful, compelling, intriguing, tense mystery, that kept me unable to put the book down, as this was another fantastic thriller. Hidden Angels was a fabulous crime thriller, that was another gripping addition to the Detective Amanda Steele series. Another wonderful police procedural, with great characters, edge of your seat thriller, with some twists and surprises at the end. Hidden Angels was once again so very well written by Carolyn Arnold, which is the norm for this author. If you like mystery thrillers, police procedural, then you need to be reading this series.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Author

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COLD AS HELL (Haven’s Rock 3) by Kelley Armstrong -review

COLD AS HELL (Haven’s Rock 3) by Kelley Armstrong-review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date February 18, 2025

Haven’s Rock is a sanctuary town hidden deep in the Yukon for those who need to disappear from the regular world. Detective Casey Duncan and her husband, Sheriff Eric Dalton, are starting a family now that they’ve settled into their life here. As Casey nears the end of her pregnancy, she lets nothing, including her worried husband, stop her from investigating what happens in the forbidden forest outside the town of Haven’s Rock.

When one of the town’s residents is drugged and wanders too close to the edge of town, she’s dragged into the woods kicking and screaming. She’s saved in the nick of time, but the women of the town are alarmed. Casey and Eric investigate the assault just as a snowstorm hits Haven’s Rock, covering the forest. It’s there they find a frozen body, naked in the snow. With mixed accounts of the woman’s last movements, the two begin to question who they can trust—and who they can’t—in their seemingly safe haven.

••••

REVIEW: COLD AS HELL is the third instalment in Kelley Armstrong’s contemporary adult HAVEN’S ROCK mystery, thriller series set in the fictional town of Haven’s Rock, Yukon focusing on Detective Casey Duncan and her husband Sheriff Eric Dalton. The HAVEN’S ROCK series is a spin off from the author’s ROCKTON series with several of the original series characters moving to Haven’s Rock.

SOME BACKGROUND: Rockton Yukon did not exist on any map, and the residents all had a questionable past, fake names and false histories. Most were once considered to be white collar crimes but with increasing regularity, hardened criminals have somehow paid their way into Rockton, seeking sanctuary against future prosecution, a safe place for two years before seeking asylum somewhere else. A serial killer destroyed the people and ultimately the town of Rockton Yukon, and with the help of some of their former friends and a big influx of cash, Detective Casey Duncan and her husband Sheriff Eric Dalton, begin the task of building a new town, known as Haven’s Rock, a town that will expose our couple to more murders and questionable inhabitants.

Told from first person perspective (Casey Duncan) COLD AS HELL focuses on several happenings in Haven’s Rock. A drugging at the local bar finds a very pregnant Detective Casey Duncan and her husband Sheriff Eric Dalton searching for a missing woman but when one woman is found, another is discovered dead, and the entire town begins to suspect everyone connected. Meanwhile Casey’s pregnancy reaches a critical point, and our heroine struggles between doing her job and protecting her unborn child, a struggle that becomes dangerous and deadly.

The world building follows several intersecting paths including the possibility of one of their own wreaking havoc on the town’s residents but not everyone is who they claim to be, and Casey and Eric will face down an enemy with deadly intent.

There is a large ensemble cast of colorful and questionable secondary and supporting characters, all of whom have a past. Accusations are made; threats are compounded with issues of trust-not everyone will survive.

COLD AS HELL is a story of secrets and lies, betrayal and vengeance, madness and murder, love and loss. The slow building story is dark, dramatic and edgy; the characters are determined, charismatic and energetic. Kelley Armstrong pulls the reader into a world of ice and cold, snow and blizzards-you can feel the temperature drop.

Reading Order and Previous Reviews
Murder at Haven’s Rock
The Boy Who Cried Bear

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

Follow: Goodreads / WebsiteTwitterFacebookAmazon Author Page/

Kelley Armstrong has been telling stories since before she could write. Her earliest written efforts were disastrous. If asked for a story about girls and dolls, hers would invariably feature undead girls and evil dolls, much to her teachers’ dismay. All efforts to make her produce “normal” stories failed.

Today, she continues to spin tales of ghosts and demons and werewolves, while safely locked away in her basement writing dungeon. She’s the author of the NYT-bestselling “Women of the Otherworld” paranormal suspense series and “Darkest Powers” young adult urban fantasy trilogy, as well as the Nadia Stafford crime series. Armstrong lives in southwestern Ontario with her husband, kids and far too many pets.

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THE THIRD ESTATE (Secrets of the Manor 1) by D.R. Berlin-review

THE THIRD ESTATE (Secrets of the Manor 1) by D.R. Berlin

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date December 31, 2024

In a busy outdoor market, in broad daylight, an apparently ordinary woman is gunned
down by a professional assassin. Twelve years later, the killer is back with a
new target – and a mysteriously sinister employer…
Sophie Allard, a promising jet pilot cadet at a prestigious military academy, finds
her world shattered when she’s summoned to the Commander’s office with
devastating news—her estranged father has died in a mysterious lab explosion at
their family estate.
What begins as a routine investigation soon spirals into something far more
dangerous. As Sophie delves deeper into the secrets surrounding her father’s
death, she uncovers hidden truths that threaten not only her career but her
very life.
Unraveling a web of deception and betrayal, Sophie discovers that her father’s involvement
with a powerful and shadowy organization—the Third Estate—could hold the key to
both her survival and her downfall.
With an assassin hunting her every step and the enigmatic Grey Lady pulling the strings
behind the scenes,
Sophie must navigate a perilous landscape of secrets, lies,
and danger.
Will Sophie uncover the truth—before it’s too late.

••••••

REVIEW: THE THIRD ESTATE is the first instalment in DR Berlin’s contemporary, adult SECRETS OF THE MANOR suspense thriller focusing on US military cadet Sophie Allard, and the people in her life.

Told from omniscient third person perspective THE THIRD ESTATE focuses on the search for the truth. Just days before her final exam and flight test, US fighter pilot cadet Sophie Allard is called home in the wake of a lab explosion that killed her father Professor Milo Anderson, a man who works for the US government. Approximately ten years earlier, Sophie’s beloved adopted mother Violet was murdered, and in the ensuing time Sophie felt the rejection of her adopted father, a man whose contract with the military was dangerous and secret. Having worked toward her accreditation as a US fighter pilot, Sophie finds herself at odds with the hierarchy, and in the face of questionable answers regarding her father’s death, begins to search for the truth but all is not as it appears to be, and Sophie finds herself on the run from an assassin, a man hired to finish the job.

The world building follows several intersecting and sensational paths including the secrets that continue to control every aspect of Sophie’s life. Raised by the manor caretakers in the wake of her mother’s death, Sophie often wonders if she was to blame but her time in the military grows increasingly controversial, and the questions surrounding her father’s death and research are at the centre of an investigation she knows nothing about, an investigation that focuses on the family’s connections to a secret group known as The Third Estate.

There is a large ensemble cast of military personnel, dark operatives, anti-government agents, spies and assassins. Not everyone is whom they appear to be: lives are lost; actions are questioned; betrayal and treason are but the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

THE THIRD ESTATE is a story of secrets and lies, betrayal and vengeance, power and control, government and military, treason and conspiracies. The premise is dramatic, edgy, haunting, and thrilling-with a little bit of thinking, I did figure out the people involved; the characters are questionable, dynamic and destructive. No one can be trusted-Sophie Allard finds herself on the precipice of danger and death. THE THIRD ESTATE ends on a cliff hanger-you have been warned.

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

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Bonded in Death by J.D. Robb – a Review

Bonded in Death by J.D. Robb – a Review

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Description:
His passport read Giovanni Rossi. But decades ago, during the Urban Wars, he was part of a small, secret organization called The Twelve. Responding to an urgent summons from an old compatriot, he landed in New York and eased into the waiting car. And died within minutes…

Lieutenant Eve Dallas finds the Rossi case frustrating. She’s got an elderly victim who’d just arrived from Rome; a widow who knows nothing about why he’d left; an as-yet unidentifiable weapon; and zero results on facial recognition. But when she finds a connection to the Urban Wars of the 2020s, she thinks Summerset―fiercely loyal, if somewhat grouchy, major-domo and the man who’d rescued her husband from the Dublin streets―may know something from his stint as a medic in Europe back then.

When Summerset learns of the crime, his shock and grief are clear―because, as he eventually reveals, he himself was one of The Twelve. It’s not a part of his past he likes to revisit. But now he must―not only to assist Eve’s investigation, but because a cryptic message from the killer has boasted that others of The Twelve have also died. Summerset is one of those who remain―and the murderous mission is yet to be fully accomplished…

 

 

Review:

Bonded in Death by J.D. Robb is the 60th book in this fantastic series.  Bonded in Death was one of the best in this series, as it was a terrific intense and exciting story that kept me unable to put the book down.  Fantastic.

Giovanni Rossi, who lives in Rome, received an urgent summons from an old friend to come to New York; when he landed and entered a waiting car, he is immediately gassed to death.  Giovanni was part of a secret organization consisting of 12 members during the urban wars (during the 2024-2026). The group, called The Twelve, were part of British intelligence, doing all they could to save people during the wars which included Summerset.

Lieutenant Eve Dallas is on the Rossi case, as he was an elderly victim who had just arrived from Rome, and immediately killed.  Eve and Peabody investigate the murder, and when she arrives at home, Summerset sees her board, and is shocked; as he reveals that he knows the victim. Summerset explains that during the urban wars, he was part of The Twelve (helping save lives for the British); which has Eve examing the conflict in Europe in 2026. She learns quickly that the man who betrayed them, was sent to prison and in recent years, he died. There was is a cryptic message from the killer, who plans to find The Twelve and kill them.  Eve will discover that the Shark, had help to escape, and another victim’s ashes were buried instead.  We do to see more of Summerset and his backstory, as well as the remaining Twelve who were all brought to Roarke’s place to keep them protected.

Connor Potter, now using a fake name, is the evil killer, who makes plans to kill each of The Twelve (with Alice, Summerset’s wife, who was killed back in 2026, when she saved the others; as well as 3 more who already passed).  Connor was an evil killer, who is determined to set up traps to kill his former friends.

Dallas, Peabody, Roarke, and the entire team work long hours to try and find Potter, before he kills again. Roarke was able to remove a device that would have had three members of the Twelve, who attended a lunch (set up secretly by Potter); which led everyone hoping to catch him. But he managed to escape, and kidnapped a young boy, threatening his life; but as we get closer to the end, Eve does set up a trap, with all of her team to get him.

I loved how the four of the wonderful women who play a large part of this series (Eve, Peabody, Mira and Reo), get Potter to reveal his plans. Especially when he treated women as nothing, and his knowing he was being sent to Britian, but when he learned his life was going to be drastic change.  I loved it.

Bonded in Death was a terrific, emotional, mystery, spy thriller, that kept me unable to put the book down.  Bonded in Death was a fantastic read that brought family and friends together, as well as betrayal, greed, connections, justice, bonds and love. Once again, J.D. Robb gives another fantastic thriller, and I thought this was one of the best.  Bonded in Death was very well written by J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts).

Reviewed by Barb

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Carousels and Characters by Elizabeth Pantley – a Review

Carousels and Characters by Elizabeth Pantley – a Review

 

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Description:
This book club is whooshed right into the pages of a cozy mystery. The quirky group of brave members must solve the mystery and reach The End to get out of the book.

In each book of the series, they travel to a different world and meet paranormal characters. It could be shifters, fairies, genies, ghosts, or anything else! It’s so much fun, you’ll wish for a book club like this!

In this book journey, they travel to an enchanted amusement theme park. It’s a magical, wonderful place, but something is disturbing the park. Robberies are occurring from every ride. It began with little things, like props or costumes, but now the stakes are rising.

The book club has entered this story so that they can find out who is behind the thefts and stop the problem. Hopefully, they can do it before chaos strikes the entire theme park and closes it down, leaving hundreds of workers jobless and thousands of park visitors disappointed.

 

 

Review:

Carousels and Characters by Elizabeth Pantley is the 9th book in her wonderful Magical Mystery Book Club series. Refresher: The magical library consists of 8 members, who choose a book, and they are transported into the story, with cozy mysteries that they have to solve. This is a fun, enjoyable, lighthearted series, with wonderful characters and a magical cozy mystery.

Paige chooses a book to travel to an enchanted amusement theme park, where the club is swept into the magical park. The workers in the park need help to figure out why there are robberies, and missing people.  Posing as park inspectors, they enter each of the attractions, to ask questions with the staff. The group tries to learn why, as each area is having issues; when one person disappears from one location, and turns up in another.  The group split up often, as they are determined to find the culprit.

While they have fun in the wonderful park, enjoying rides and all the food; but the group constantly gets thrown off, with a few red herrings and suspects. In a short time, they will begin to suspect the culprit, and the park leaders also help.

The group is always fun, as all of them are fantastic characters. I loved that Paige is now the leader, with Glo and Gee Gee staying in the previous book.  I also love Frank, who is always wonderful.  The rest of the team are all great characters, always finding clues along the way.

What follows is a another terrific, enchanting and fun addition to this series, that has all the members trying to find clues, as well as suspects. I really enjoy this series, as it is so very entertaining.  All the characters in the Magical Mystery Book Club are very good, with Paige leading the way. There were a few surprises along the way, which changes a few things at the end. Carousels and Characters was a wonderful lighthearted fun magical mystery, which was very well written by Elizabeth Pantley.  I look forward to the next book.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy supplied by Author

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