The Strange Situation at Emlee by MaryJo Dawson

I'm so excited to review the third Sally Nimitz novel!  This is by far my favorite book so far, as MaryJo Dawson creates a wonderful southern backdrop at an old plantation with diverse characters and strange occurrences.  I love the fact that she takes the time to explore in detail the backgrounds of the characters and she paints a great picture with her descriptions of their voices and her nailing of their accents.  Her story is about a family going back generations whose "ghosts" are coming out of their closets, but many of the family members want them left in the past.  It is a complex story that is a fun puzzle to solve.  It does involve a murder but there is no violence.  You hear about the murder that happens next door but you do not hear about it as it is happening.  There is no sex or romance. I highly recommend Sally's intriguing look at the strange happenings at Emlee House!

Rating: PG
No sex, no violence, D-mn-1, H-ll-2.

The Disappearance of Douglas White by MaryJo Dawson

The second Sally Nimitz book is an interesting psychological mystery.  There is no violent murder to solve in this book, which I loved because this was really just a good brain teaser that really made me think. Sally is asked to help find Douglas White, who has simply disappeared.  He is the brother of the police officer who investigated the death of her neighbor in the first book, and the family really is not sure if Douglas has disappeared of his own volition or if he has met with foul play.  Sally enlists the help of her two friends Anne and George and off they go to a town and area they are unfamiliar with to start another adventure. Douglas left on his own, but then somehow along the way disappeared.   It was fun to follow Sally as she uncovered each clue in the quest to find Douglas.  If you enjoy a good puzzle, this is a great clean read! And it only costs $2.99!

Rated: G
Only one swear word in the whole book (d-mn one time). No sex and no violence.

The Death of Amelia Marsh by MaryJo Dawson

The first of the Sally Nimitz mystery novels introduces you to Sally, a labour/delivery nurse and her friends and family.  Her husband has passed and they have 2 grown children, a son who lives close, who has a son who is the apple of Sallly's eye.  Her sister-in-law lives next door but they are not close which plays into the first book's storyline.  Her late husband's best friend George has become Sally's best friend (no romance there) and her best sounding board when she needs to work things out that are puzzling her.  In this story she meets a neighbor, Anne, an older lady and they become great friends.  She is always up for any adventure Sally throws at her.
    MaryJo's writing style is intelligent, witty, gripping and flows along quickly. I usually read her books in just a few days because I can't put them down.  Sally isn't your usual frazzled housewife who outwits the cops in solving the murder.  She is an intelligent middle aged woman who puzzles out brain teasing   problems.  When her neighbor is found dead in her apartment, her head bashed in, Sally notices not a thing has been disturbed anywhere.  Someone just walked in, bonked her in the head, and walked out.  the worst part was the old woman had requested to see Sally just after it happened.  Sally was the one who discovered the body, so she feels inclined to find Amelia's killer. This is an incredibly fun book to read, very clean, very thought provoking, yet easy reading.  Her job throws in a fun secondary storyline that I enjoyed having just spent a lot of the last year in the hospital.  Another plus, you can get this book free on the website Smashwords or kindle or paperback is just $2.99

PG
H-ll 4, G-d 4

New Author!!

Check out my new Author Spotlight: MaryJo Dawson!!

Baked Alaska by Josi S Kilpack

Having suffered through a year long illness I have finally started reading again.  I'm going to attempt to do a few reviews of the few books I have read in the past few months.  I have to say I loved this latest book by Josi Kilpack.  She attempts to take an Alaskan cruise with her two grown, adopted children and her boyfriend (separate cabins of course) but nothing goes smoothly.  From the moment she boards the ship she is haunted by a woman she sees arguing with her son.  He refuses to talk to her about the woman, which confuses and hurts Josi because she and her son, Sean.  They have always been so close and Josi values honesty and cannot stand any type of secrecy.  Of course she sets out to investigate who this woman is, which leads to a tragedy and a twist I didn't see coming.  As the secondary storyline Josi's daughter,  Breanna is planning her wedding to a count who lives in England, whose mother has some very strong ideas about what the wedding should be.  It is breaking Breanna's heart, so Josi is also trying her best to deal with that at the same time.  This was a really fun  book with multiple mysteries going on all at the same time.  I highly recommend it for a fun, clean read!
Rating: G
No sex, just a few sweet stolen kisses under the moonlight :0)

No Swearing

Violence: Relatively small amount of violence.  No one witnesses any murder and no one is assaulted