Sisters Bernadette and Libby Simmons are thrilled they've been asked to cater a haunted house fundraiser. But they soon discover that ghosts aren't the only unwanted guests when a murderer strikes...

With the promise of a hefty commission and some valuable word-of-mouth for their catering business, A Little Taste of Heaven, Bernadette and Libby Simmons agree to cater the charity haunted house being staged at the old Peabody School. The gothic building-complete with towers and turrets-is the perfect setting for a haunted house fundraiser. But what makes the setting even more eerie are the rumors milling about town that the school is haunted by the ghost of Bessie Osgood, a girl who died in an "accident" years before. Bernie and Libby don't believe in ghosts although they both agree there's something creepy about the Peabody School. And when wealthy socialite Amethyst Applegate is found dead in the haunted house, the sisters wonder if a murderer might also be lurking about Peabody's gloomy halls.

In life, Amethyst Applegate earned herself a reputation as a notorious home wrecker. The vicious vixen had so many enemies it's a surprise she stayed alive as long as she did. From Inez Colley, whose husband had a steamy fling with Amethyst one night, to Bob Small who went to jail for grand larceny because of Amethyst, and Zach Timberland who blames Amethyst for ruining his daughter's life. And that's just the beginning of the long list of suspects.

While almost everyone Amethyst ever met might have a motive for killing her, not everyone had access to the Peabody School. All Bernie and Libby know is that it's time for them to crack this case wide open. But when they keep hitting one dead end after another, they realize the key to solving Amethyst's death lies in discovering what really caused Bessie's death all those years ago. And if Bernie and Libby don't solve this mystery soon, they might become the next stars in a real-life horror flick.

Includes Scrumptious Holiday Recipes for You to Try!

My take: This is the fifth in a series but I jumped in hoping the author would give background and I could catch up. She did to a point... but not really.  I just couldn't get into this book at all. I don't know if I missed how old the sisters were, but they interacted with each other as if they were 10 and everyone else sounded like simpletons. There was too much fluff detail too. I don't care that someone wanted marshmallow and someone wanted cinnamon and another wanted whatever in their hot chocolate. It was too much needless information. The author would also jump from POVs at a whim, which made it confusing at times. It was like "whose head am I in right now?" 

Using this one for Supernatural: 

Rise of the Archmage by Martyn Stanley is the fourth installment of the Deathsworn Arc series. The companions are headed to Votrex's home when they stop to aid a woman thought to be a witch.

                                            ************SPOILERS************

While Martyn's writing is getting better, and the editing is also getting better, I feel that the characters are not growing enough. They seem to be the same as they were in book one. Grant you, the time in the books has only been two or three weeks, I still haven't seen any character growth. Especially Korhan. It seems Korhan has the ability to slay a Noble Dragon in book one, but gets his butt handed to him in every fight he gets into since, which seems to me that Vashni's training has had no effect on Korhan at all. It seems she just wants to humiliate him for her own amusement, which is getting a bit boring to me.

Brael is another character I was hoping to see some character growth, but the only thing I see with him is that he is so obsessed with the 'truth' that he almost caused one of the companion's death.

Saul, the wizard, has actually learned a bit of spell casting, so his character is growing somewhat.

It seems that Votrex is the only character that still hasn't had his day. The companions still haven't made it to Votrex's home. The companions are easily distracted from their destination, and seem to be well caring people, for they will stop and help any damsel in distress.

I hope the author puts more growth into his characters in the next book, for I've come to care for these characters and would like to see them learn and grow.

I was given a copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Why did I read it? I have enjoyed the Shetland series by Anne Cleeves thus far, and, as it is summer and I have time spare until next semester, I thought I'd pick up where I'd left off.

What's it about? While attending a funeral, a landslide occurs ripping through the cemetery and destroying "Tain", a nearby croft house, thought to be uninhabited.  While checking on the damage, Jimmy Perez finds the body of a woman.  Initially thought to be a victim of the landslide, upon discovering the woman was dead beforehand, Jimmy asks Willow Reeves to head up the murder investigation.

What did I like? The narration was clear, and without fault.  The narrator, Kenny Blyth was decent, and good with accents.

I loved re-visiting Jimmy, Willow and Sandy, and mainland Shetland.  As always, the descriptions of people and places were illuminating, and I felt right there with the characters.  Anne Cleeves is very good at evoking an atmosphere.

What didn't I like? As the narrator, Kenny Blyth was a little disengaging; I found myself drifting away from the audio book, and had to rewind and re-listen a few times.

I'm not sure what it was - the narration, the plot - but the whole story seemed to just drag on, and on, though, oddly, the murder is solved in a few days.  I generally like this series, but I wasn't gripped at all. 

I'm afraid, too, I guessed the culprit almost from the first meeting. This has not always been the case with the Shetland series, so I was disappointed.

Would I recommend it? Oh yes, to fans of the Shetland series, and those who like crime fiction, but start at the beginning of the series as this is not a stand-alone book, given prior knowledge of some of the characters is required in order to understand certain situations.

I really enjoyed this one and I agree with about 95% of the material in this book. Not going to say much more about this book as many out there have opinions on this subject that are all over the board and I am going to respect that. Thank you.