Tag: Cold Cream Murders

Bitmo Sunday book review

Sunday Book Review – Grams’ Christmas Baby by Barbara Silkstone

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Welcome to my Sunday Book Review. Today I’m sharing a fun and delightful chick-littish, cozy mystery by Barbara Silkstone. Two years ago I got hooked on Barbara’s Cold Cream Series and I picked this one out of my Kindle to read just before Christmas as the theme was appropriate for the season. The dynamic duo of Olive and Lizzie have found a new matter to investigate – Grams’ Christmas Baby. Grandma may be 94 years of age and feisty, but how could she possibly think she could keep the baby that suddenly appeared on her doorstep?

 

 

Blurb:

Christmas Eve ~*~

Grams finds a baby on her doorstep—but what about the body in the bay?
Unarmed, can Olive keep the thugs away until the cops arrive?
Will Lizzy overcook the roasted faux goose?
Is WonderDog’s bite worse than his bark?
Will all this fit in one mini-read?

COLD CREAM MURDERS – series

When Olive Peroni put out her family therapy sign, she never thought her top client would be the retired head of a New York crime family. When Olive’s Nonna dies leaving her a condo in Florida and a secret recipe for miracle cold cream, Olive grabs the chance at a new life in Starfish Cove, Florida, making designer creams for ladies who spend far too much time at the beach.

But when the quiet little community on the Gulf of Mexico soon begins to compete with a certain notorious coastal village in Maine, Olive finds herself solving odd-ball murders as often as she soothes wrinkles.

Clean, wholesome and loaded with laughs!
Each book contains a recipe for homemade cosmetics!

 

My 5 Star Review:

I enjoyed this fun little romp again with the Lizzie and Olive’s adventures in this Christmas episode of the Cold Cream murders, along with the usual characters in her stories – Officer Kal, Lizzie’s feisty Grandma, Wonderdog and Puff. In this story, Olive and Lizzie are getting ready to close their magical skincare shop to enjoy Christmas Eve at Lizzie’s for the faux goose dinner Lizzie has been hinting about. But just as they’re about to wrap up with the last customer, Gram pulls up toting a baby she’d already named Herbie. Someone left Herbie on her doorstep. And then the fun ensues as Olive is determined to find out who would leave a baby on Gram’s doorstep, despite Gram thinking the baby was now hers.

Olive wants to get her friend Officer Kal involved but decides to wait a bit, being Christmas Eve and her concern that the baby would spend Christmas in child protective custody, besides, Kal was busy working on a case about a missing body in the bay. So in the meantime, while the regulars are congregated at Lizzie’s place well before faux goose dinner, Olive suggests Gram and the baby stay with them til the new mystery is solved – after all- where did that baby come from and it may not be safe for a 94 year old Gram to be left alone with this mysterious baby. But just in case a loving mother may have left the baby with Gram in desperation, Olive wants to go back to Gram’s and leave a coded note on the door.

They leave Herbie with Lizzie, and Olive and Gram head out with Lizzie’s Wonderdog to Gram’s to leave the note and for Gram to pick up a few items she’ll need for the overnight at Lizzie’s.  But life is never simple when Olive  once again finds herself walking into part of a mystery case.

Once they arrive at Gram’s, the story of fun heats up. It’s a good thing Lizzie knows how to prepare for danger as she’s found herself embroiled in quite a few of Officer Kal’s cases out of curiousity. Fully armed with hairspray, they approach the front door and an odd discovery leads them to believe there is someone inside Gram’s house. Who could it be? They enter and discover someone in the kitchen. After discovering the surprise guest isn’t dangerous, it isn’t long before the baddies are spotted outside the house.

If you think these women are left defenseless, let’s just say that there’s a lot more ‘homemade’ weaponry going on now in the kitchen. Foolishly, they’d left their purses in the car with their cellphones inside them. We can only hope too much time has passed and Lizzie at home gets suspicious and sends help after futile attempts at trying to call the ladies. But what happens until that happens? You can’t even imagine.

Silkstone has a gift for writing these believable characters who seem to always find themselves in a pickle and find the most creative ways to help them dodge danger. This is my 3rd book I’ve read in this series and I highly recommend a Cold Cream mystery fun read for a great escape.

 

©DGKaye2020

happy Christmas New year

 

 

Bitmo Sunday book review

Sunday Book Review – Smokey Eyes : Cold Cream Murders by Barbara Silkstone

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My Sunday Book Review is for Barbara Silkstone’s – Smokey Eyes – Book 2 in the Cold Cream Murders. I was hooked on this series from book one, and despite these books being standalone capers, I plan on reading them all. And most likely, in order. This series is a fun and witty romp with Olive Peroni who sells magical face cream made from her Nonna Peroni’s secret recipe – the beloved by all the beautiful women in Starfish Cove, Florida, fountain of youth cream she left as her legacy to Olive. Lizzie is Olive’s best friend, turned business partner and it seems wherever these two go they stumble into a murder. Silkstone’s witty choice of words. descriptions and fun names for her characters, add a colorful element  to this mini whodunit.

 

 

Blurb:

SMOKEY EYES – Book 2 COLD CREAM MURDERS

Olive and Lizzy’s Cold Cream shop on the beach is jumping—business couldn’t be better. But when land shark mogul Brent Toast is found floating in the Starfish Cove marina, with his sneer-side up and a knife in his chest, the prime suspect—among his many enemies—is his brassy daughter-in-law. Can Olive & Lizzy save their friend or will this be the end of the Loud Mouth of the South?

Contains a recipe for Olive & Lizzy’s Smokey Eye Shadow

~~~

A series of quirky murders plague Olive Peroni and her Cold Cream shop partner. A psychologist by training and a miracle cold cream designer by luck, Olive leaves her family practice to start a new life in Starfish Cove, Florida. The gals make designer creams for ladies who spend far too much time at the beach. Business is brisk and life is good until bodies start popping and dropping—and Olive must rely on her people skills to separate the killers from their victims.

 

My 5 Star Review:

Olive isn’t a cop, but once again finds herself involved in a case that Chief Officer, Kal ‘Miranda’ is overseeing, and somehow inserts herself once again, as part of the investigation. With such colorful, painted characters and quick-witted dialogue, and just keeping up with Olive, this book is what I consider one of my great escape reads, offering a fun-paced story with interesting and humorously named characters, this book just takes you in to Olive’s sporadic life and keeps you engaged til the very end when only then we’ll learn who the killer is.

Olive has a compulsive need to help solve the crimes she stumbles into at Starfish Cove. Her people skills from being a psychotherapist come in awfully handy when it comes to analyzing suspects.

The story begins with the disembarking of passengers off Nancy’s boat, The Very Crabby, where Olive and Lizzie were attending a get-together with a few friends and unsuspecting characters. Lizzie is afraid of water, she doesn’t like getting her face wet, and sure enough in the kerfuffle with the boat next door with some other friends, turns out the boat owner Brent was just murdered and thrown in the water by someone on Nancy’s boat. Maybe? In the midst of it all, Olive gets thrown overboard and comes face-to-face with the killer underwater – only when it comes to identifying him, all she could see were a pair of smokey eyes in a foggy mist. Now, Olive is concerned that maybe the killer may not be done with her – and he’s not! Olive persists to snoop out who she thinks may have motive for killing Brent and discovers a few reasons why a few people may have wanted Brent dead. And besides being stalked by an unknown killer, Olive has to contend with other problems going on in her beauty business, like the gigolo chasing after her old Aunt Tillie who is really on a mission to steal Nonna’s secret magical cream recipe.

Never a dull moment in Olive’s life between the other little subplots in this book and the interesting and clever characters Silkstone bring to life in this witty little fun and cozy mystery. A bevy of suspects will keep you guessing whodunit til the end in this boat party gone wrong.

 

 

©DGKaye2020

bitmo live laugh love

 

 

 

Book reviews by D.G. Kaye

Sunday Book Review – Glossy Lips – Cold Cream Murders Book 1

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My Sunday Book Review this week is on Barbara Silkstone’s  – Glossy Lips -Book 1 of her Cold Cream series. I don’t remember where I got an introduction to Silkline’s books, but as I do enjoy a great escape, cozy murder chicklit romp once in awhile, I took a chance on this book, and was not disappointed.

 

 

 

Blurb:

Series: more books on the way! ~~~Olive Peroni put out her family therapy shingle six years ago, never thinking her top client would be Myron Meyers, head of a New York crime family. When Olive’s Nonna dies and leaves her a condo in Florida and a secret recipe for miracle cold cream, she grabs the chance at a new life in Starfish Cove, Florida, making designer creams for ladies who spend far too much time at the beach.

Business is brisk and life is good! Olive even makes a wild new best friend in Lizzy, the real estate agent who handles the transfer of Nonna’s condo. When a dead body is found in the trunk of Lizzy’s car, Olive despairs that life in Starfish Cove won’t be any different than the one she thought she’d escaped. But this time, instead of listening to confessions of murder, Olive’s going to have to solve one. Maybe two…

Contains a recipe for Olive & Lizzy’s super-creamy homemade lip gloss!

Book I in series ~ GLOSSY LIPS
Book 2 in series ~ SMOKEY EYES
Book 3 in series ~ SOAP ON A ROPE
Book 4 in series ~ SUN SCREAM – Coming July 2019

 

My 5 Star Review:

This book was a fun romp in the cozy mystery – chicklit genre that made me feel as though I was tagging along the ride with Lizzy and Olive.

Olive Peroni, a family therapist in New York receives news her Nonna (grandmother) died in Florida. Olive packs up to go there to settle Nonna’s estate and in doing so, serendipity strikes when Olive hires Lizzy to sell Nonna’s condo, and before the deal is sealed, Olive decides to keep the condo and relocate there after making fast and good friends with Lizzy. Olive had enough of listening to people’s problems and decides to start a new business in Florida selling Nonna’s prized beauty cream, a secret that only few were aware of to bring back the fountain of youth.

Once the friendship blossomed, the action heats up when strange things begin happening, starting with a dead body found in Lizzy’s trunk. Soon more characters emerge and Olive finds herself right in the thick of things when this cleverly written mission to solve the murder ensues and the new best friends become entangled in the murder investigation.

To be honest, I was only going to give this book 4 stars because I felt the story moved a bit slow through the first few chapters, but once the body showed up, I was hooked and wondering whodunit. As the evidence mounted (with well done clues dropped throughout the investigation), my suspicion was correct. And I’ll also add that the blurb may have one thinking this is a mafia story when in fact, the character of Myron is by far, not a significant character in the story. But the book offered a satisfying ending with lots of witty lines by the characters, and I will definitely be reading more in this series.

 

Copyright

©DGKaye