Kathi Daley

Abby Sullivan, her cat Rufus, her new friend Georgia Carter, and Georgia’s dog Ramos enjoy living in Abby’s cottage while the main house is being renovated to become an inn with 6 suites. Although there have been multiple property owners, only the original owners ran it as a resort until 1954. As with all renovations, but particularly with an older property, unexpected needs arise in electrical or plumbing. But imagine the surprise of finding letters postmarked in 1948 in one of the library walls that required opening because of a plumbing update for the water line. What will these letters reveal?

I love the discovery and intrigue of old letters, the mystery of the period, the sender, and the receiver. In conversation with Georgia, Abby has raised an important consideration.

"I suppose that just because the envelopes were postmarked in 1948, that doesn’t mean the letters inside them were written then."

It is only one of the glimpses into the past as a hiking invitation will be Abby’s 1st experience on snowshoes. It will bring surprises beyond the gorgeous view of the waterfall’s destination.

Another pleasure in reading this cozy mystery is the seamless weave of multiple threads flowing through the storyline. As in real life, there are always various things going on in a person’s life, and this cozy is a reflective mirror of the juggling and balancing act of priorities, commitments, and deadlines.… (meer)

Pumpkins in Paradise by Kathi Daley is a 2013 publication.

I’m not going to tell anyone how many books I have on my Kindle- but it’s pretty bad when books have loitered around on your device for over ten years. I stumbled across this one while looking for another book- and paused- looking at the cover- covered in pumpkins. I was actually looking for a Thanksgiving themed book- not Halloween- but it is still autumn- so why not?

This is not a bad start to this series. The mystery is solid and the characters likeable- the execution, though, was a bit wobbly. There were too many loose ends to tie up after the murderer is revealed- then a flat closing chapter filled with unnecessary information which didn’t leave me eagerly anticipating the next installment.

That said, it was an enjoyable story, overall. I read this book while preparing for Thanksgiving and with my DH home from work all week. My focus was divided for sure- so this was a nice, light escape from all the chaos.

Not sure if I’ll continue with this series. Daley has several long running series out there to choose from- maybe I’ll give her books another try someday- who knows, I may have more of her books on my Kindle already! 😁😁… (meer)

2 1/2 stars. Overall, I liked this mystery but it had a few flaws, some more serious than others.

Most annoying for me was the fact that the author doesn't seem to actually know what life as a teacher is like. The main character, Tj, was supposed to be a high school P.E. teacher & coach to the girls' soccer team but she never seemed to actually have any work except a few committee meetings or watching the soccer team while chatting with people. What kind of school system does she work in, where she has an office to herself, hour-long lunch breaks, and can leave the school whenever she wants to run errands without even telling anyone? She is put in charge of the school's chorus which seems to have met once and then disbanded.

I also found it "unfair" that after following every little detail of Tj's life, no matter how trivial, at the end of Chap. 20 Dan tells Tj he has something important to tell her but we the readers are not allowed to hear it. As I had already figured out who the killer was at this point, this was irritating but not critical.

Less serious is the frequency of the use of "cozy" as an adjective and the unneccessarily long last chapter after the mystery has been solved.… (meer)