Murder of a Wedding Belle by Denise Swanson

The Scumble River series by Denise Swanson is a great read.  I've been reading them for a long time.  Skye Denison is a school psychologist who returns home to Scumble River after being away for a long time.  She is the police department's psychological consultant on the side and gets mixed up in just about every murder that happens in the small town.  She is also being pursued by two men in town, Simon, the local Mortician and Wally the Police Chief.  In this outing Skye's cousin, who's been living in LA returns to Scumble River to be married in the most outlandish wedding of the century.  She asks Skye to be her maid of honor. When the wedding planner is murdered 2 weeks before the wedding, Skye steps in to both coordinate the wedding and question everyone involved. High society meets down home folks makes for a lot for humor.  I really enjoyed this book.
PG-13
Sex-mild Skye and Wally have romantic moments, the words smolder make me laugh, but they do sleep together
Violence-mild you don't see the murder, Skye just finds the body
Profanity-D-mn 12, H-ll 9, Ass 9, S-it 6, B-tch 2, G-d 1 they refer to God many times in a good way

Deader Homes and Gardens by Joan Hess

I've been reading Joan Hess books for years so I was excited to find her newest book had come out. She writes with a lot of humor but also with a serious hand on murder.  The cast of characters in this book is what amused me and kept me reading.  Claire owns the local bookstore, she is married to Peter who has secret ties to the FBI and a teenage daughter who is very dramatic and speaks in Capital Letters Mom! This cracks me up!  Her very recent marriage has made their living arrangements extremely close quarters so it is time to go house hunting.  She finds the perfect house, however buying it is complicated, the owners end up dead and the extended family (the strange, funny, wacko cast of characters) don't want outsiders buying any home in their commune. When the agent showing the house to Claire comes up missing, Claire believes it isn't a coincidence, and the deaths of the owners just might have been murder, and so the mystery begins.  I hadn't read a Claire Malloy mystery in quite awhile and I was a little surprised at how much profanity was in it.  It wasn't extreme, no words that made me uncomfortable, but enough to give it a PG-13. But I still really loved it.
PG-13
Sex-none
Violence-mild murder is discussed but nothing graphic
Profanity- D-mn 14, H-ll 6, S-it 3, Ass 3, G-d 2 other remarks referring to God, B-stard 2, B-tch 2

The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale

I don't know exactly what I was expecting when I began reading this novel, but it certainly was not what I got.  This novel was written by a Mormon author about a Mormon housewife, Becky who sells her screenplay to a hollywood producer and while in hollywood bumps into her big screen crush actor, Felix. Through a series of fumbles and coincidences (quite charming and comical) they end up having dinner together and sharing the evening shooting barbs and insults back and forth playfully and agreeing (though both not really believing it) to be friends forever as they parted ways. Becky goes back to her incredibly strong marriage (understanding beyond words husband Mike) and 4 children believing the chance encounter was just a fluke. But Felix calls and so begins and lifelong friendship between the housewife and the actor.
     Although things remain totally platonic, Becky never having a wayword thought away from her husband, I still felt uncomfortable reading much of the book.  I though about how I would feel if it were my husband spending hours on the phone with another woman. Becky sells another screenplay that is bought and she is chosen to play the part of Felix's love interest in the movie.  At this point, I did something I have never done in my whole life of devouring books..... I started reading another book.  I just had to absorb what was happening in this book and distract myself by getting involved in another fantasy for awhile.  I read both simultaneously.
    The author is an incredible story teller and I definitely had to keep reading.  The story takes you into some dark places (the part I didn't expect), which I really did not see coming!!! But just when I thought I was really going to get angry and hate the author.... she redeemed herself and the story ends exactly the way i felt it should. It was a really interesting novel and definitely clean! Just be ready for a definite ride.  This is not a fluff piece!
Rating : PG
Sex-kissing, a little bit of talking about how good Becky's marriage is including intimacy, but nothing graphic
Violence-zero
Profanity-D-mn 4, H-ll 4

Loose Ends (A Mary O'Reilly Paranormal Mystery) by Terri Reid

I just finished reading this book and I have to say I haven't enjoyed a book as much as this in a very long time. As you know, I normally read soft, cozy murder mysteries.  This book pulls you in from the first chapter, a flashback to the 1980's, the murder of a young political intern.  Then flashforward to present day and you are introduced to Mary O'Reilly a private investagator who is very serious about her profession, and as an added bonus happens to be able to see dead people.  It is kind of a "Ghost whisperer meets murder she wrote" two of my favorite tv shows.  But this is far from a cozy murder mystery.  This book has much more of a crime novel feel to it. Mary is asked to investigate the murder of the intern from the '80s.  She not only "sees" the murder (ala ghost whisperer) but in the course of the investigation she stumbles upon the murders of 6 little girls from the same time that are begging to be solved and put to rest.  There are very serious parts of this book where I was so tense I actually jumped, and one scene that had me gripped to the point I couldn't put the book down! The author has a great way that she plays with words, not only keeping you glued to the story, but also making you smile and sometimes even chuckle.  My favorite line in the whole book was her give-away wink to an old favorite primary song "choose the right, she sang softly, repeating the words from a childhood sunday school song."  That's right, the author is LDS! You would not guess, as this is NOT a Christian Mystery.  This is a mainstream novel.  There is a bit more profanity than I normally read (see below for exact) but still nothing more than I would recommend.  I still loved the book and highly recommend it if you can overlook that.  One of my favorite books in the last year and I plan to read more Mary O'Reilly Mysteries!!

PG-13
Sex-mild: It does talk about little girls being abducted by a very bad guy who has bad thoughts about them but it doesn't get graphic
Violence-mild: Talks about the little girls who went missing 20 years ago, the main murder is very simple, no graphic violence
Profanity-H-ll 26, D-mn 39, B-tch 4, Bstd-1, G-d 2, Sh-t 2