Without a Doubt by Nancy Cole Silverman

Genre: Adult, Mystery
Source: I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

If there is one thing I really love about Nancy's books, it is that each of them can be read as a stand alone book. In this book, we find our main character at an event where she is taste testing chocolates. As she is leaving a shop, she sees her boyfriend Eric coming out of a jewelry store with one of Hollywood's socialites. She figures he is undercover. Shortly after they leave, the store they had just left explodes. What a way to set up the story. Carol finds herself involved in trying to solve a series of jewelry heists. She has become the target of one of the thieves who wants to share information only with her. This puts her in a bad position.

  The radio station she works for has changed their format to chick-lite. The station owner's wife is after Carol's job. This adds another layer of tension as we see that Bunny, the station owner's wife, really doesn't know what she is doing. Like usual, the author has done an excellent job with her characters. They are layered and very believable. She also does an excellent job showing what goes on behind the scenes of a radio station.  As I read this third book, I was taken back to my younger years. I dated a guy who worked for a radio station, worked for an engineer of one of the radio stations and was involved in volunteering there for over three years. I believe the author's previous experience in this field is what makes her stories so believable and alive. The station politics that play out in her books are spot on. I am hoping there will be a fourth book forthcoming. I am really enjoying this series.

Shadow of Doubt and Beyond a Doubt by Nancy Cole Silverman

Genre: Adult, Mystery

Source: I purchased a copy

Shadow of Doubt
I live for holidays where I can take time away from teaching and spend a lot of time reading for pleasure. This author was new to me. I was asked to read the third book in this series. I must read the others before it to really get the flavor of the book. I have to say I really enjoyed this mystery.  We have the main character Carol Childs who is trying to move up in the world of radio as a news reporter. We have her FBI boyfriend who is trying to solve the case in which he finds his girlfriend in the middle. We have Carol’s friend and neighbor who’s Hollywood agent aunt has just been murdered. Finally, we have a psychic with the name, wait for it, Misty Dawn. I love it. Carol is not one to really trust Misty, so why does she follow the clues she gives her?  Simple, Misty seems to know so much about Carol’s personal life.

Carol’s neighbor doesn’t seem all that broken up about her aunt’s death. Inheriting everything puts her as the number one suspect. All of this would seem like your normal mystery. This author does an excellent job of adding other characters to the mix that make them seem just as plausible as the murderer. Every time I thought, ‘Oh this one must be the murderer’ another curve was thrown. My list of possible murderers was beginning to stack up. She did such an excellent job of fleshing out each character and making them and their story so believable. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the second one Beyond a Doubt.

Beyond a Doubt

This is the second book in the Carol Child’s Mystery Series.  The further we go into this book the higher the level of suspense. This author definitely knows how to write.  Once again we find our radio reporter knee deep in a case. Young women have begun to disappear and a young girl’s body is dumped in Hollywood. Carol figures out early on why the girls are disappearing, and that it is not only rich white girl.  This one becomes more personal to her. A friend and co-worker goes missing. Her daughter is placed in danger. She thinks she knows who is behind it and the fact that they have a lot of influence makes her job of proving their guilt and the reasons behind it even more troubling and dangerous for her and her family.  What made this book even better than the last one was that the events in this book are happening today. People like to turn a blind eye and pretend it doesn’t happen ‘here’. The action in this one moved even quicker. It didn’t matter we learn early on who the guilty party is. Knowing this bit of information and watching Carol do her best to prove it is what made this book so deliciously good. I believe it was better than the first book which I really enjoyed.  I will definitely be reading and reviewing the third book.

The Whizbang Machine by Danielle A. Vann

Genre: Middle Grade, Young Adult, Fantasy, Adventure

Source: I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

After years of running from his tragic past, Jack Yale books a flight home. With him is a typewriter that is intended to be a gift for his granddaughter, Elizabeth. The minute Elizabeth’s fingers cradle the large black and cream keys the machine responses: popping, sizzling, and roaring to life with a Whiz-Whiz-BANG! Elizabeth quickly discovers the typewriter has powers beyond anything she has ever seen. The more she types, the more the machine spells out guarded secrets that need to be revealed in order to set history straight and remove a curse that has been on their family for centuries. To solve the mystery, Elizabeth Yale, alongside Jack, will have to crack the code of the Whizbang Machine. What they find challenges their most basic assumptions of their family, the history of the typewriter, and even Elizabeth’s father’s death. The ultimate goal is to remove the curse. The question is: will Jack and Elizabeth be able to carry out their mission?

My Thoughts:

Any time I can read a book that is so clean, yet so adventurous, it is a win-win situation. It is a win for me because I can recommend it to my students and parents. It is a win for my students because they are in for an adventure they won’t want to end. Most young kids have never seen or touched a typewriter. They may have seen pictures. They have so many different fonts available with computers today. The author used old typewriter font throughout the book so the reader knows when the typewriter is putting out a message.  This is what I call charming. One of my students thought it was cool because they had seen papers at their grandmother’s house that looked the same.

The adventures keep readers turning the pages. They are carried along on the adventure. The reader never feels like they are on the outside of the story reading along. It is more a feeling of traveling with Jack and Elizabeth as a third member.  It has a creepy, mysterious feel to it. These are all elements I love in a book.  I kept thinking about the dangerous aspects they find themselves in and if I would be the kind of grandparent to go on that adventure with a grandchild. I’d like to think I am adventurous enough I would, or that my grandchildren could persuade me to.  I definitely recommend this book to young and old alike. There are so many great things about it. You have a curse, a mystery, travel, history, and one adventure after another. I am definitely anxiously waiting for the next book by this author.

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