Christa Nardi

law-enforcement, murder, murder-investigation, divorce, class-consciousness, dog, romantic, domestic-violence, women-s-shelter, empowerment, family-dynamics, friendship*****

First note that the Domestic Violence is not denoted, only efforts to empower the battered.
Stacie has been married for ten years and is nearing the end of divorce proceedings because of husband's infidelities. His sister is the battered woman who is scandal averse while the brother tries to advocate. Stacie only finds out how little she knows about her husband after he is murdered and she is flabbergasted as she tries her best to help the detectives (especially after she felt re-assured that she was no longer the chief suspect). Thankfully, she has a lot of friends to help her, a very concerned papa from another state, and a recent acquaintance turns out to be a patrolman. The rich certainly are different! Good world building and fine characterizations along with excellent sleuthing (even if she does faint a time or two). Looking forward to the next in series!
The voice artist is Naomi Rose-Mock who flawlessly delineates characters, emotions, and attitudes.
I won this audio in a giveaway!… (mais)

dogs, relatives, rescue-dogs, volunteers, family, false-information, friendship, murder, murder-investigation, hoarding, bullies, kindness*****

Wish I could say that the personality of Jacob and his sister, Helen were pure fiction, but that would be a big fat lie. Lots of interesting characters, a convoluted plot full of dogs and delinquents, and a really great read!
Narrator Jeanne Pilgrim Mayo is excellent at making the differences in characters clear as well as adding more reality to the story itself.… (mais)

A New Place, Another Murder by Christa Nardi is categorized as a Cozy Mystery, but it didn’t quite have that feel to me. It was a bit darker than the typical cozy, with a middle schooler being accused of murder. And how the drug storyline ended up being played out was a bit unusual for a cozy. While I thought it was good that Nardi was writing about it, since it needs to be talked about, it just didn’t fit into a cozy for me.

Then there’s the characters… this is a spin off of the Cold Creek Mysteries, and I’m not sure why it needs to be a spin-off just because the main character moves to a new town. Since it’s technically book one in a series, this is where you would be discovering the characters for the first time and getting to know them. But since there were five books before this one in the Cold Creek Mysteries, the reader has already had time to get to know them, and Nardi doesn’t spend much/any time informing the new read about them. This was disappointing for me because one of the reasons I go back to read more in a cozy series is because the characters have become like friends… not so in this case.

It was a well written book with some topics that need to be covered, but it just didn’t enamor me like other series have done. But I don’t want to persuade you from trying it yourself… just realize it’s not a typical cozy and that you may want to read the Cold Creek Mysteries first, starting with Murder at Cold Creek College.… (mais)

Thanks to the author for a digital advance reader's copy. All comments and opinions are my own.

This is #5 in the series, but the first one I read. Taking place in the weeks leading up to Christmas, it would be perfect to read during the holidays, but was equally enjoyable in July. Stacie Maroni and her friends are doing some Christmas shopping at the mall, and for fun decide to check out the photos with Santa booth. A few minutes after they arrive, gunshots are fired, people run, and an elf is injured. Stacie and friends call 911, step in and calm the elf, (a 20-something young woman who was subbing for a colleague), and describe what happened to the police when they arrive. Turns out Stacie has been helpful to the police with past crimes (remember this is book #5) and they appreciate her input throughout the novel. This is a cozy murder mystery with several questions and suspects - who was the intended shooting victim? who was the shooter? What was the motive? Will Stacie throw off her bah humbug attitude and get into the holiday spirit?

I read an advance reader copy so am assuming the typos will be cleaned up before the book is released.… (mais)