Death and the Easter Bunny by Linda Berry

Trudy Roundtree is the only woman police officer at the Ogeechee Police Force in Georgia. She struggles cause her cousin is the chief. She is determined to prove herself. She is just happy to be home again. A murder has them all getting fired up in more ones than one. Reed Ritter is the victim of a fire but the he was dead before the fire was lit. Secrets aren't easy to hide in a small town. There are way too many suspects, can Trudy discovers some secrets might be worthy of a murder.

Ms. Berry does fantastic job with juggling all the characters. The point of view is all through Trudy's eyes. The small town life is very well represented. I was also impressed with how clean the book was due to the fact of finding a dead body. I loved all the aspects of each character and the developments with each little storyline.

Trudy is so much fun. Even though she is a widow and is dealing with the death of her hubby, she is a very light hearted person. She sees things very well and keeps her chin up. She is a determined lady who just wants to show what she can do. Her family is a bit nutsy since she lives in her Grandmother's house as well. Henry Huckabee is the chief of police and her cousin. He is a good guy but he is stubborn as well. He is learning his position and so wants to do it all himself. Phil Pittman is the editor of the newspaper as well as a volunteer fireman. He does his best to answer any questions Trudy might have about the town since she has come back.

I truly loved this series. I have the second one and I am curious to see where a few story lines are going. It is a true cozy with no blood and guts. I couldn't get enough. I hope Trudy finally gets her feet wet and gets somewhere. Ms. Berry has me captivated from the very beginning!

Linda Berry/ New author/ Small Town/ Police/Family/ Cozy Mystery/ 251 pages/ 5 out of 5

FTC: This book is part of my personal collection that was either bought or given to me as a gift.

I am hoping to start the next one in the series tonight!!

Throw Darts at a Cheesecake by Denise Dietz

Ellie Bernstein is the leader of a Weight Winners group. But one by one, her members are getting attacked and some of them are dead. Lt. Peter Miller comes to investigate and tells Ellie to keep her nose out of things. That is better said than done. She needs to know what is going on. But could it cost her everything?

Ms. Dietz has a good story plot line through out. I just was less than awed. I felt for the characters and wanted to get through it. There were times that I couldn't put it down. Yet there were times that classified as a cozy, things were a little too detailed from other cozy mysteries that I have read. She kept all the character story lines seperate and I was impressed.

Ellie was learning to get over things that had happened in her life. She was looking out for the people she helped lose the weight to get healthy. She has a good heart and had the right motives. Peter Miller was human in this book as well. He had a case to solve but he made sure all the people in the group who had been attacked or could be next had protection. I also loved Wanda. She was there and stuck through it even though her husband was less than supportive. She kept plugging along and brushed it off.

This mystery was interesting but some of the minor characters drove me bonkers. If someone were to go on this kind of endeavor of losing weight, support is something that is needed throughout the whole journey. I was less than impressed with some of the minor characters. I don't want to say a whole lot just because well the book fell flat in parts. Humor is needed but Tubby and Lulu seemed to take it to the negative extremes. Yeah, not sure I want to pick up the next one. I am hoping it is better. It was an interesting mystery and had no clue who was behind it all. The clues were there once it was revealed. Like I said previously, things were a little over the top.

Denise Dietz/Cozy Mystery/Dieting/251 pages/ New author/ 3.5 out of 5

Off to another book on my shelf. I hope to start it today. I'll post my stats for the month of July tomorrow.