The amateur sleuth in this book is not terribly astute. Early on, after a kerfuffle in her front parlor between her curio-inspecting niece & a rambunctious dog, our part-time detective is stumped by the sudden disappearance of a cherished curio and the sudden discomfiture of her niece. Months later, our intrepid detective solves the case, but only after her guilt-ridden niece blurts out that she broke the aforementioned curio & smuggled the wreckage away after being startled by the aforementioned rambunctious dog. Sherlock Holmes she is not. Given her startling inability to put two and two together, I would say this self-styled investigator barely ranks as a poor man’s Nancy Drew. Yet this character stars in her own series of cozy mysteries…it boggles the mind.

And that is just one of the many problems plaguing this story.

The heroine’s name is Liss MacCrimmon Ruskin, the town is called Moosetookalook, Maine, there’s a dog called Papelbon, and a twelve year old juvenile delinquent named Boxer Snipes who has an Uncle Cracker… If that list of ridiculous names doesn’t irritate you, then the author’s incessant misuse of the word manikins instead of mannequins will.

The author clearly can not deal well with characters who have reasonably normal names because escaped probationer Lowell Danby becomes Lionel Danby at one point in the narrative before returning to Lowell Danby a few pages later on; maybe if she had given him a name like Phat Lord Periwinkle she would have had an easier time remembering his name from one chapter to the next.

When the author seems at a loss for how to end a chapter she simply sends the newlyweds suggestively up to bed…wink, wink. Cringe.

I grimaced my way through this whole book. ( )

As cozies go, it was an interesting read, as well as light & easy... Thankfully not as trite as most other cozies (which would have caused me to put it down).

A Halloween Haunted House, a bootlegger's hidden treasure, secret rooms & passages, missing tools, and a dead body where the skeleton should be!

The body ends up being that of Liss's cousin Ned, who, unknown to the family, was released from prison early. Ned's bank account shows three large cash deposits, one made by a mysterious female.

A sleazy realtor wants to buy the house, a nosy gossiper of a Librarian who keeps newspaper clippings on all the local activity & scandals, a young teen from a bad family, his down & out hardworking mother, Liss & her Aunt make for the characters.

As I said, a light & entertaining read..... ( )

Book seven in the Liss MacCrimmon cozy mystery series.
I did something I rarely do and started a series with a book other than the first, I wanted to read a Halloween based mystery at Halloween time. Considering how far into the series this book was it was still quite easy for me to follow what was going on and who was who and while it might have helped with the side stories to know more of the past books that did not really effect the overall mystery story.
I loved the characters, I loved the town of Moosetookalook and I found the mystery a bit more believable than many cozy mysteries tend to be...though it was sadly a bit light with the actual Halloween theme, though that actually helped with the believability of the mystery since it wasn't solved in a few days, it took a believable amount of time for all the pieces to fall into place and play out.
I enjoyed this book so much that I will be picking up the first one as soon as possible. ( )

VAMPIRES, BONES, AND TREACLE SCONES was a fun, not-too-complicated mystery set in the quaint town of Moosetookalook, Maine. (Cute name, huh?) I’m new to the Liss MacCrimmon series, and even though this is the seventh book, I had to read it. The Halloween theme drew me in.

The book started out strong with Liss setting up a haunted house for a town fundraiser. The location was an abandoned Gothic mansion, the former home of a deceased mobster who is thought to have left his loot hidden somewhere on the property. Liss’ big party plans are thwarted when one of the spooky props turns out to be a murder victim, someone she knows personally.

Liss MacCrimmon was a likable character and very sensible when it came to amateur sleuthing. She conducted a smart investigation that helped nudge the police in the right direction. I thought is was nifty that she was a former Scottish dancer who now runs an “all things Scottish” store in Moosetookalook. Even with me jumping in at book seven, I still got to know Liss pretty well.

The mystery itself was good though not too exciting. I had things figured out fairly early on. One thing I didn’t like was the big time jump that took place. One moment it’s Halloween, and in the next paragraph it’s February. I’m not sure what the point of the fast-forward was. Something I really liked was the side story about Boxer Snipes. Loved him. Clever kid!

If you’re into Halloween cozies, I’d say give this one a shot. I’m tempted to read the earlier books and find out more about Moosetookalook.

Ratings: 3½ Stars

Source: Review copy from the publisher. ( )

I'm prettttty sure I read this!