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Uncle And Ants

A Silicon Valley Mystery

by Marc Jedel

Uncle and Ants: A Silicon Valley Mystery
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
BGM Press (October 11, 2018)
Print Length: 287 pages
ASIN: B07H68L6XR

My Review

I’m always excited when I start a new cozy series and Uncle And Ants tickled my fancy on so many levels. Picture it. A man kind of full of himself and sure he’s the be all of investigations takes it upon himself to solve the mystery of who tried to kill his sister. She’s a widowed mother of two teenage girls and doesn’t seem likely to be on someone’s hit list.

Marty was determined to solve the mystery and protect his family. If only he had the slightest clue what he was doing. Good thing he didn’t take himself too seriously. I can’t count on two hands how many times I laughed out loud at his fun incompetence. And don’t even get me started on him coping with two teenage girls. The horror. LOL

Fun at every turn, a convoluted mystery with quite the list of suspects and characters you can’t get enough of. You can bet I’ll be following this series.

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Synopsis

Protect his sister. Solve a murder. Get his eye-rolling, pre-teen nieces to school. And that’s just how Marty Golden’s crazy week begins to unravel.

A mysterious crash hospitalizes Marty’s sister and a nearby murder puts her in deadly danger. Too bad Marty isn’t exactly hero material.

Working in Silicon Valley, Marty’s skills lie more in navigating technology and telling dad jokes than playing an amateur sleuth. Armed with special powers of self-delusion and the inability to leave a coherent voicemail message, Marty bumbles through investigating his sister’s zany HR clients, exposing dangerous secrets and suspects, all while becoming attracted to a suspect.

In the process, Marty stumbles into a drug gang, impersonates an IRS agent, tangles with an assassin, dodges a cantankerous school secretary and is frequently outsmarted by his two sly, yet vulnerable, nieces. This quirky, fashion-backward uncle must save his sister, solve the mystery and get his life back to normal — before it’s too late.

As his eight, or maybe nine, year-old niece would say, “Betcha, you’ll like it.”

Author Marc Jedel

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In my family, I was born first — a fact my sister never lets me forget, no matter what milestone age she hits.

For most of my life, I’ve been inventing stories. Some, especially when I was young, involved my sister as the villain. As my sister’s brother for her entire life, I’m highly qualified to tell the tale of the evolving, quirky sibling relationship in Uncle and Ants: A Silicon Valley Mystery.

My writing skills were honed in years of marketing leadership positions in Silicon Valley. While my high-tech marketing roles involved crafting plenty of fiction, we called these marketing collateral, emails, and ads.

My family and friends would tell you that Marty’s character isn’t much of a stretch of the imagination for me, but I proudly resemble that remark.

Author Links – Coming Soon

Purchase Link

Amazon

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Thread Herrings

A Mainely Needlepoint Mystery

by Lea Wait

Thread Herrings (A Mainely Needlepoint Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
7th in Series
Kensington (October 30, 2018)
Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
ISBN-10: 149671671X
ISBN-13: 978-1496716712
Digital ASIN: B079KSZ92D

My Review

I’ve dipped my toes into this series in more than one place. I’m known for jumping in anywhere. It’s good to be back, seeing what Angie and the inhabitants of Haven Harbor have been doing.

Not having read a few of the previous books, I felt like I’d been away for a while and arrived back in town, among friends, learning what all had happened while I’d been away. I could picture us sitting at a cafe table and everyone rushing to tell me all the latest news.

So what’s happening now…. Angie is at an antique auction. While perusing the offerings, she comes across a tattered embroidery of a coat of arms. She bids on it and wins. Taking it home, she discovers something hidden in it’s frame and soon after someone is dead and she’s smack in the middle of the investigation. Sorting out the clues is like finding a needle in a haystack, but that doesn’t stop Angie.

I admit I was expecting a quick mystery with some fun dialogue and a bit of romance. The author surprised me and took this a step further. There’s a mystery in a mystery, danger around every corner and she really tested the boundaries of her characters.

A bit more dark and more suspenseful, this is still a cozy mystery with the quirky characters, small town ambiance and sweet romance that comes with it. I was swept right up, ushered in, offered a chair, and settled myself in for an exciting story.

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Synopsis

Angie’s first auction may turn out to be her last—when she bids on a coat of arms that someone would literally kill to possess . . .

Tagging along to an estate sale with her fellow Needlepointer, antiques shop owner Sarah Byrne, Angie Curtis impulsively bids on a tattered embroidery of a coat of arms. When she gets her prize back home to Haven Harbor, she discovers a document from 1757 behind the framed needlework—a claim for a child from a foundling hospital. Intrigued, Angie is determined to find the common thread between the child and the coat of arms.

Accepting her reporter friend Clem Walker’s invitation to talk about her find on the local TV news, Angie makes an appeal to anyone who might have information. Instead, both women receive death threats. When Clem is found shot to death in a parking lot, Angie fears her own life may be in jeopardy. She has to unravel this historical mystery—or she may be the next one going, going . . . gone . . .

About Author Lea Wait

Lea Wait lives on the coast of Maine. A fourth-generation antique dealer and the author of the Agatha-nominated Antique Print Mystery series, she loves all things antiques and Maine. She also writes historical novels for young people set in (where else?) nineteenth-century Maine. Visit her at leawait.com.

Follow Lea on Facebook and GoodReads

Purchase Links – Amazon – B&N – Kobo

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Death, Diamonds and Freezer Burn

A Grime Pays Mystery

by Tricia L. Sanders

Death, Diamonds, and Freezer Burn (Grime Pays Mysteries)
Cozy Mystery
2nd in Series
Soul Mate Publishing, Inc.
Release Date – October 24, 2018
Approximately 254 pages
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My Review

From cleaning crimes scenes, CeCe is now tidying up condos. She’ll do whatever it takes to get her bills paid now that her divorce is looming ever closer. While having a girls night out, one of her friends has to rush home for a family emergency and CeCe offers to help clean out Carla’s mothers house while she’s gone. She didn’t take Carla’s comments about her mother being a hoarder that seriously. First big mistake. The second was opening the old freezer. Inside is a frozen body. Now Cece puts on her sleuthing cap and butts heads with her boyfriend, a detective that wants her to mind her own business.

Other character’s I came across were CeCe’s cheating ex to be and his spying mother. Sheesh, what a pair. And CeCe’s former co-worker who bulls her way into becoming an unwelcome house guest and kind of drove me nuts. She seemed so clueless, but then I began to wonder if that was an act. Especially when some Jade elephants that CeCe rescued from Carla’s mothers house get broken and out spills a shocking surprise.

I was new to this series and hadn’t read the first book. Kind of worried me whether I could hop in here. The good news is I quickly got the gist of things and easily came to recognize the characters. I then settled in for a fun cozy, a twisty mystery and some sweet brushes with romance. Now I want to go back and read the first book and find out how it all began.

Synopsis

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An unwelcome visitor, an unrequited love, and a dead body create chaos in a middle-aged woman’s plan for a productive summer.

Despite a looming divorce, an empty checkbook, and a struggling cleaning business, Cece Cavanaugh is determined to land on her own two feet. Adamant about staying a safe distance from the handsome detective who has her fantasizing about violating the morals clause in her prenuptial agreement, Cece dives headlong into her work.

Even though she has no free time to spare, Cece finds herself guilted into cleaning a hoarder’s home. Her discoveries in the condemned house are too shocking to ignore. Diamond-laden pachyderms, a secret cache of money, and a dead body lure Cece into launching an investigation that places her in direct contact with the one person she’s desperate to avoid–hunky Detective Case Alder.

With clues in hand, Cece runs down leads and eliminates suspects one by one. Her conclusion and brave accusation put a friend’s life in peril forcing Cece to hatch a plan to outsmart the killer. A daring move could either save Cece and her friend or lead to their demise.

Author Tricia L. Sanders

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Tricia L. Sanders writes cozy mysteries and women’s fiction. She adds a dash of romance and a sprinkling of snark to raise the stakes. Her heroines are humorous women embarking on journeys of self-discovery all the while doing so with class, sass, and a touch of kickass.

Tricia is an avid St. Louis Cardinals fan, so don’t get between her and the television when a game is on. Currently, she is working on a mystery series set in the fictional town of Wickford, Missouri. Another project in the works is a women’s fiction road trip adventure.

A former instructional designer and corporate trainer, she traded in curriculum writing for novel writing, because she hates bullet points and loves to make stuff up. And fiction is more fun than training guides and lesson plans.

Author Links

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Purchase Links: Amazon

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

For a list of my reviews go HERE.

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