Book Review: Annie's Attic Mysteries #11: The Wedding Dress - Mary O'Donnell

Somehow Annie missed seeing this dress in the attic before even though it was on a mannequin. True, it was covered, but...for someone who likes to solve mysteries, she sure doesn't explore the attic as much as most people would.

However you have to play along to enjoy the series and it is a fun series.

Annie knows this dress wasn't her grandmother's dress, so who did it belong to? We get to go back to the first owners of Grey Gables to find out.

And there's a new kid in town. Annie's Hook and Needle Club friend Gwendolyn has a son who has returned home, and he's brought with him his fiance, Dervla, a young woman he's met in Ireland. Trouble is Gwendolyn isn't very welcoming, so Annie takes Dervla into her home.

And there's a famous artist in town who wants to do a painting of Grey Gables.

The book's first chapter takes us back in time and is intriguing, and then the author ruins the next chapter by doing information dumps all over the place about stuff we already know. Now, some might argue that it's necessary, but this book is a part of subscription club, so it's likely that readers would have read the previous ten books, and if not, information dumps are unnecessary. Readers don't have to know everything. They can put pieces together. And important information can be put in here and there. Shame on the author and editors for resorting to this.

So once we get passed that, the book is entertaining. Gwendolyn who is normally a nice person is completely unlikable in this but that's okay. People are complicated and even nice people can act horribly. I like to see the faults in characters.

The author wraps things up nicely in the end, taking all the different elements and tying them together. And she moves the possible romance between Annie and the town mayor Ian closer without rushing it. We suspect they will eventually get together, but it might not happen. And that's just fine.

I've tried finding out more about the author, but she isn't the only one with that name and I get led to different places.

Book Review: Annie's Vineyard Quilt Mysteries #1: Threads of Deceit - Mae Fox & Jan Fields

I fell in love with Annie's Attic Mysteries and now I'm trying a new mystery series by Annie's as well.

This is the first in the Vineyard Quilt Mysteries. Antiquities bounty hunter Julie Ellis and her business partner Hannah Marks are on the run from those that want to harm them. They obtain jobs at the Quilt Haus Inn. Julie as the manager and Hannah as the cook, thinking they'll settle down to a more peaceful life in rural Missouri where Hannah can make creations in the kitchen and Julie can take up quilting again.

But it isn't long before Julie stumbles on a murder mystery when Daniel walks through the door of the inn. He convinces her he's a quilt expert (only quilters are allowed to stay in the inn) but after he's signed in he reveals he's really an archaeologist looking for a sunken ship.

Soon Julie is up to her old tricks as she helps Daniel.

This was a fun book with a unique setting and interesting characters such as the flamboyant Shirley who runs the tea and quilt shop that is part of the inn and gives wild history lessons during quilting time, and Inga, the uptight and meticulous housekeeper who disapproves of Julie.

There were a couple of spots that jumped suddenly from one moment to the next without any warning or obvious space, and one ridiculous plot point (I don't care how much you like to stitch, no one is going to embroider a threatening message). The ending seemed rushed as well. It would also be interesting to read about Julies exploits that got her into trouble in the first place.

At this point there's only two books in the series. I'm looking forward to the next one. Fields has written for Annie's Mysteries before.

Jan Fields Website

Annie's Attic Mysteries #10: Emeralds In the Attic - Jan Fields

It's masquerade party time!

While looking for the perfect outfit in the attic...

Hold on here. After two years there's still stuff in the attic that Annie knows nothing about?

Apparently so. Anyway, she, good buddy Alice, and Peggy (who can be a bossy witch sometimes as we found out from the last book but isn't one in this one) go up to the attic to see if they can find some formal gowns to wear to the party. And they do. And they fit perfectly. Of course.

And they also find some costume jewelry. Emeralds in fact. Fake ones of course. A necklace, earrings, hair comb and a brooch.

Mary Beth has also given them a challenge - that Mary Beth just can't leave them alone to do their crafts. Nope, they've always got to be working on something to give to charity. In this case, it's masquerade masks that need to be gussied up for an auction.

So Annie uses some of the emeralds from the broken earring for her mask. And on the night of the party when Ian Butler picks her up - they're dating but not dating, as in "friends". As in no kiss goodnight - Annie just can't figure out what to do with her hair, she puts in the emerald comb.

But of course, strange things are going to happen because this is a mystery series. Why on earth are rich people vying for and stealing her fake emeralds?

And her house gets broken into again! This has happened in several books now. You would think she would get a series of new locks and an alarm system attached to her phone with all these people breaking in and leaving a mess that she has to clean up.

Another fun book in the series.

*****

Jan Fields

Jan Fields Website

Jan Fields Annie's Books

Rag Doll in the Attic Review

Book Review: Annie's Attic Mysteries #9 - The Deed in the Attic - K.D. McCrite

Life really isn't fair.

I can't get one house of my own but Annie (yes, I know a fictional character), gets three.

This time she finds a deed in the attic showing that Grandma Betsy had ownership. So that means Annie owns a house in Texas which she shared with her now dead husband; Grey Gables, the house that Betsy left her, and now this other house that is apparently scary and not in good shape and haunted.

Yes, haunted.

So Annie and a few friends from the Hook and Needle club decide to go on a ghost hunting expedition and investigate the house. Turns out a couple of Hook and Needle friends don't get along so well when they're not crafting - that Peggy can be a bossy witch. And it also turns out that you need a kit to take with you ghost hunting. Not just flashlights.

It also turns out that although the house has been severely neglected because it hasn't been lived in (houses do that. The less you use them the older they become. It's like they need to be loved or something) the house itself is still in good shape, and although not big, it just needs some love and kindness to bring it back to its glory days.

Still, Annie wants to solve the mystery as to how Betsy obtained the house. She didn't just go an buy it. It was given to her. But why?

Now if I weren't so bitter about Annie getting three houses while I can't even have one...still, it was a nice little cozy.

*****

K.D. McCrite

K.D. McCrite Website

Annie's Mysteries (not just the Attic ones but others too)

Confessions of April Grace

Book Review: Annie's Attic Mysteries #8 - Boxed In - Karen Kelly

The book picks up on the return of Annie from a visit to Texas to see her family. And for some reason everyone is funnier than they were before.

Which is probably about the author. We actually get to see some of the authors style in this book. 

Annie goes back up to the Grey Gables attic with its Mary Poppins bag of never ending stuff. This time she finds a birch bark box holding a Native American ceremonial collar and a poem. And the question as always is - who's is it.

                                                                                                              

I'm starting to wonder if Grandma Betsy was a kleptomaniac and not just a holder of things for everyone else. 

So there's a trip to the museum, rose hip jelly - I have no idea what rose hips are. I didn't know roses had hips - a new friend at a senior's home, more fun with the mayor - which doesn't sound as innocent as it really is, and a new challenge to the Hook and Needle Club from Mary Beth. That Mary Beth always has something she wants the members to do instead of just letting them do their own projects.

Another fun mystery in the series. I am so hooked on them I can't wait for the next one to come to my door.

*****

Karen Kelly is an author who shares a name with several other authors. A google search revealed a Karen Kelly that writes inspirational fiction to another Karen Kelly who writes steamy romance. Not the same author as this one.

So no website link for this one.

Book Review: Annie's Attic Mysteries #7 - Rag Doll in the Attic - Jan Fields

It all begins with a dare.

And a lighthouse.

And a keeper with a tragic past.

And three girls.

Annie is having nightmares about three girls on the road to the lighthouse after discovering a rag doll in the attic of Grey Gables while looking for items to lend to the local library for a children's display.

And so we have another mystery which includes a dangerous walk on a stormy night to the lighthouse, a disapproving mayor, a handsome new man in town that has taken and interest in Alice, and a decision that Annie feels she needs to make.

First off, I liked the fact that one minute Annie and Alice (her best friend) do something entirely teenager and go on the ill advised stormy weather walk (the dark and the wind could lead to disaster) and the next minute get completely mothery when they come across their young teenage friends at the lighthouse. This is so typical of middle aged women with a sense of adventure. We are both teenagers and responsible women at the same time.

The thing that had me stumped though is why Annie had to make a decision between living in Stony Point or living in Texas where she came from. She has two houses. One that she lived in with her husband and daughter, and Grey Gables which she inherited from her grandmother, Betsy. Why not live in both? She could be in Texas between Halloween and Easter, taking advantage of the warm weather and the important holidays with her daughter and grandchildren, and then go to Stony Point after Easter to enjoy the coastal spring, summer and early fall. I see no reason to make a decision.

But that's just me being "cool, I've got two houses."

Personally, I wish I had one.

This book also breaks a bit from the rest of the series with Annie's unexplained dreams. A hint of the paranormal here? But then the series, although not religious, does not shy away from religion as we also delve in deeper to Annie's faith and her background of having missionary parents. Personally, I have no problem with Annie having dreams about what happened, but a more secular reader might.

Still, a fun addition to the series.

*****

Jan Fields is an author of mysteries and children's books. She's written several books in the Annie's Attic series, and several in other series as well.  Here's her website.

Jan Fields

And her blog Cute and Cranky

Book Review: Annie's Attic Mysteries #6 - The Map in the Attic - Jolyn Sharp

The book opens with a fire at the Coynes, a young family who manage to escape before the fire engulfs their home. Mary Beth, owner of "A Stitch in Time" takes them into her home and helps them get on their feet.

Meanwhile Annie finds an embroidered piece of linen in the attic and realizes it's a map. But a map of what? And who created the lovely piece?

Somehow the fire and the embroidered map, are all tied up with the history of Stony Point, a history not everyone wants known.  And who is trying to steal the map, even breaking into the museum to snatch it?

As always Annie has her friends Alice and Ian to help her.

Again, another fun book and this one heats up (get it - fire - heats up). No seriously, things get pretty tense. We also get to go on a lobster boat to look at the coastline of Maine.

I love that I get the sense of being in Maine in these books. I would love to visit sometime.

*****

Jolyn Sharp doesn't seem to have a website. She has written a book for the Grace Chapel Inn series from Guideposts.

Book Review: Annie's Attic Mysteries #5 - The Package - Sharon Dunn

When Annie and her handyman Wally go on a hunt for mice in the attic of Annie's Victorian house Grey Gables, they find instead a package filled with old stock certificates and a mysterious note thanking Annie's grandmother Betsy for holding on to them for her.

Realizing that the stock certificates don't belong to her, Annie sets out on a quest to hunt down the real owners. But first she has to find out who Joan and Therese are.

Meanwhile at the needlework shop "A Stitch in Time" owner Mary Beth convinces the Hook and Needle Club to take some teenage girls under their wing and teach them how to do some needlework skills. Annie gets the brilliant idea of getting the teens, and the club to work with the seniors at Seaside Hills Assisted Living making layettes for newborns.

Between teenage girls and their problems, finding the rightful owners of the stock certificates, and a strange woman who comes to Annie's door, Annie is kept busy solving yet another mystery from her attic.

Again, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Each book introduces us to more people in the town of Stony Point, Maine and we always get to visit with the regulars.

Loving the cozy mysteries. I had left them for so long and now I'm glad I'm back.

*****

Sharon Dunn is a successful and award winning writer of mystery and humor, a crafter, and a mom. 

 

Sharon Dunn's website. 

Sharon's Book Links

Love Inspired Suspense

Humorous Mystery Novels

Book Review: Annie's Attic Mysteries #2 - Medals in the Attic - Cathy Elliot

Medals in the Attic

 In this episode to the series, Annie finds a carved wooden case with a glass top. Nestled in the case are two military medals. She knows they aren't her grandfathers, those are proudly displayed in the living room.

So who do these medals belong to and why did her grandmother Betsy have them?Annie knows she needs to find the owner of these medals and this sets her on a journey that reveals a secret that causes someone to become very angry with her.

It also creates misunderstanding with a new friend that causes hard feelings within the hook and needle club. Let's face it. Women can be difficult. But then so can men and as it turns out, it is a man that causes this little scuffle. Sometimes it's not easy being the new kid in town.

While she tries to solve the mystery Annie is also renovating her kitchen at Grey Gables, and looking for things to donate to the local charity auction, plus she's getting closer to the local mayor Ian Butler.

The wonderful thing about a series whether it be books or TV shows, is that there's time to flesh out characters and revisit favorite places. If you like New England fishing towns, cozy mysteries, people with imperfections, and crafts, this is a lovely series to read.  As stated before, the writing isn't the best but that's because of the formula aspect of having all the works sound the same.

It will leave you wanting to visit Stoney Point, Maine again and again.

*****

Cathy Elliott is a retired librarian and the author of a few books. You can find her amazon link here. 

Cathy Elliott on Amazon