Board Stiff

In Kendel Lynn's Board Stiff, the first installment in the Elliott Lisbon Cozy Mystery series, this debut will give you goose bumps and take you on an emotional roller coaster ride. For Elliott Lisbon, she's a board member of the Ballantyne Foundation in Sea Pine Island, South Carolina. She's also working on a license to become a private investigator. When she was put in charge of the hotel, she had came into a crisis of her own. First she discovered a dead body of one of the board members, Leo Hirschorn, and then she ran into her ex-boyfriend, who's now also her neighbor, and the newest police detective of the Island Police Department. While she did some snooping around, she would do anything to clear one of her esteemed board member's crime from any wrongdoing. As she handled hotel issues like catering from the newest parties and other board work, she learned more about the truth about Leo and how he had gotten over his head in his personal and private life. As she avoided to butt heads with her ex, she started to put the pieces together until she came close of becoming the next victim of the hit list.

 This was a charming and an amusing cozy mystery debut that would keep you at the edge of your seat. I adored Elliott Lisbon and how she handled all sorts of crises and how she took care of heated grace under pressure. I do see how Nick can get under her skin, while Matty can leave her hot and bothered. I can see how this love triangle is headed for the rest of the series. I do think both of them would be a good match. Sea Pine Island is so picturesque and idealistic for a seaside town in South Carolina with the beaches and the briny sea air for the locations and the settings--the same for Savannah, Georgia.  This would leave you guessing and shaking your heads a few times with twists and turns and plenty of non-stop action, drama, suspense, and a hint of mystery.

Will you take a stab of reading Board Stiff tonight?

Swan Dive

In Kendel Lynn's Swan Dive, the third installment in the Elliott Lisbon Cozy Mystery series, she told us a cold mystery that took place during Christmas time. It was opening night at the Ballantyne Foundation's Nutcracker, when Elliott discovered the dead body of the Sugar Plum Fairy, Lexie Allen. This shocked the production, when the show did go on without her. It was now up to Elliot to discover how she was poisoned and why, when she dug into Lexie's past and unearthed the shocking truth, before it was too late for her. She also dealt with a love triangle of her own between her former flame and her best friend.

This was a gripping new cozy series for me to read. I did care about Elliott, Nick, Matty, and for poor Lexie. I love the location of this small island town in South Carolina for Sea Pine Island. It sounded so picturesque to set the series there for the setting. I loved the Christmas mystery theme for this one, too. There was so many shocking twists that you didn't see coming for miles, not until the end. That left me breathless and feeling cold. Great drama, good non-stop action with plenty of twists and turns with a hint of romance and suspense to the end.

Check out Swan Dive this weekend!