Mostly Murders

I saw @malziereadinghq on Instagram post a Match Your Eye Colour with a stack of pretty blue book covers and decided to give it a go for myself. My eyes are brown, and at first I wasn’t sure if I had any brown book covers, but luckily it turns out that I do in fact have some, so shoutout to my ridiculously big ebook collection for these seven brown books.

Do you have any books matching your eye colour?

Maple Sugar and Magic by Tara Lush

From Goodreads: Welcome to Hemlock Hollow, where the maple syrup flows, the magic never stops, and at least one moose talks…
Life’s been a struggle recently for fifty-four-year-old witch Renee Zinn. But when she returns to her Vermont hometown for Thanksgiving, her everyday troubles are turned upside down by glowing sap, enchanted fireflies, and trees that refuse to lose their leaves.

Despite her sister’s push to sell the family’s general store, Renee finds herself drawn back to Hemlock Hollow. But there’s more to the old shop than meets the eye, as Renee soon discovers — in a whirlwind of magic, misadventure, singing wildlife, and endless cups of maple-infused everything.

Murder is Elementary by Diane Weiner

From Goodreads: Susan Wiles is blissfully retired from her career as a music teacher. What a joy to be able to attend the holiday concert without worrying about how her chorus will perform. But wait. Where’s the principal? Susan offers to check, only to find the principal lying dead on her office floor. Of course, now that she’s retired she has time to help the local police (one of whom is her daughter) solve the mysterious crime.

Some Danger Involved by Will Thomas

From Goodreads: When a student bearing a striking resemblance to artists’ renderings of Jesus Christ is found murdered — by crucifixion — in London’s Jewish ghetto, 19th-century private detective Barker must hire an assistant to help him solve the sinister case. Out of all who answer an ad for a position with “some danger involved,” the eccentric and enigmatic Barker chooses downtrodden Llewelyn, a gutsy young man whose murky past includes recent stints at both an Oxford college and an Oxford prison.

As Llewelyn learns the ropes of his position, he is drawn deeper and deeper into Barker’s peculiar world of vigilante detective work, as well as the dark heart of London’s teeming underworld. Together they pass through chophouses, stables, and clandestine tea rooms, tangling with the early Italian mafia, a mad professor of eugenics, and other shadowy figures, inching ever closer to the shocking truth behind the murder.

The Belgravia Phantom by Ellis Blackwood

From Goodreads: How do you prove you didn’t scare Lady Pemberton to death with a phantom?

Such is Kate Quill’s quandary. The faked séance went horribly wrong, and now Inspector Hartwell of Scotland Yard has her in his sights.
Kate’s poor. Seamstress poor. But what she lacks in the pocket, she makes up for in allies.

There are her siblings. Daisy, the actress. Ned and Vi… There’s no way around this – they’re petty thieves.

There’s Mrs McGinty, their formidable Irish landlady. There are Vi’s Whitechapel Worthies, Little Till (adorable) and the Twins (quite odd).
And there is Frederick Page, former gentleman’s gentleman, chess aficionado, lover of puzzles, and now reluctant partner in an unlikely Victorian detective duo. Please, do not refer to him as Freddie, or he’ll be grasping for the smelling salts.

Can this glorious rabble somehow band together to investigate all those lofty lords and ladies who attended the séance?
And discover who really murdered Lady Dorothea Pemberton?

Twits in Love by Tom Alan Robbins

From Goodreads: Alcohol is like the cousin that owes you money. It promises everything and delivers nothing.

Cyril Chippington-Smythe, the world’s richest man, awakens from a drunken stupor to find that he may have engaged himself to the horrifyingly toothy Alice Witherspoon. His mechanical manservant, Bentley, concocts a plot to free his master from any possible entanglements, but Alice has more than matrimony on her mind and may destroy civilization as we know it.

Between the Lines by D. Hale Rambo

From Goodreads: Life flourishes in the Book, a world of stacked realms spanning the ages, like the pages of an epic chronicle. Each page opens to domains evoking the glory of ancient empires, the passion of the Renaissance, or the adventure of court intrigue. Those who can travel between them are page turners, blessed with the power to go from one page to the next.

For investigator Fiona Thorne, turning the page is normal life. Solving mysteries is where the excitement lives. No case is too small to ignite her curiosity, no page too familiar to explore. She is determined to leave her mark in the Book, no matter where her cases may lead.

The Mysterious Case of the Missing Motive by Michele Pariza Wacek

From Goodreads: When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Or maybe a gin and tonic.

Emily Hildebrandt has run into a bit of a rough patch. She’s lost her job, her fiance and her apartment. Still, she never expected to be desperate enough to accept an invitation to live with her eccentric Aunt Tilde in Redemption, Wisconsin.

But, beggars can’t be choosers. Even if part of the deal is she has to pretend to work at her aunt’s latest hair-brained scheme, The Redemption Detective Agency.

Seriously, the woman is a retired nurse. Why does she think she’s remotely qualified to run a detective agency, especially in a creepy little town like Redemption?

But, when a strange phone call suddenly thrusts them into an actual case, Emily finds herself hoping her aunt really does know what she’s doing … or an innocent person may be the one to suffer the consequences.