Leslie Keller Books

You haven't met Jayne Stanford, so you won't understand how uniquely qualified she is to write restaurant reviews.  Jayne is the main character in Menu for Murder, the soon to be released cozy mystery.  As a server at the Wild Bronco Steakhouse, she will give us her unbiased restaurant reviews.  After all, no one knows the inner workings of the business better than someone who is in the thick of it. So now I will turn over the control of this blog to Jayne. I like food. No, actually I love food. There are a few food groups that I'm passionate about and some that I can take or leave - but not much I won't eat. So, when I was asked to check out a few Arizona restaurants on a someone else's dollar there was no chance I would say no. The first place I visited was The Yard House as Desert Ridge in Phoenix. I managed to convince a few friends to join me for an early dinner before catching a movie.  We were lucky to get in on a Saturday night before t.he big rush. ...

I originally read this book because it was set in a rural town of Virginia and I grew up in such a town. I was curious how the town and its inhabitants would be portrayed. This book received more than 500 four star reviews on Amazon so I had very high expectations. I'm sorry to say that I was disappointed. It was definitely a light read but didn't ever capture my interest. The opening sentence was a great one, "The sky was black, my toes were numb and I was a lunatic." but it went downhill from there. The author tells us pretty much everything we need to know about the main character, Barbara Marr in the first few paragraphs. She doesn't give the reader time to learn about Barbara but instead lists her accomplishments and lack thereof. Barbara sets out alone at three a.m. in the cold winter with no shoes on her feet to investigate the house next door which has sat empty for thirty years. She has three daughters in the house and I don't know of any woman ...

I admit to being a bit (okay a lot) obsessively organized. I use three different calendars in my life - one for my "day job", one for my personal life and one for my writing life. Oh yes, and then there's the one with my menu planner. I write lists and more lists of what I must do over the course of an eighteen hour day.  I love the feeling of crossing items off my to do list. Although it is stressful when there's still a very long list at the end of the day which wasn't done. What's missing? I don't schedule my reading time. I squeeze in a few minutes at bedtime. I tell myself it helps me relax. In a way, that's true. When I'm reading I'm not thinking about my long to do lists. But a really good book doesn't help me fall asleep either but rather keeps me awake even longer. I can't count the number of times I have been awaken because my Kindle hit me in the face when I fall asleep with it in my hands! So I'm asking - when do you...

As a server I may sometimes have a preconceived idea of what to expect before I enter a restaurant for the first time.  Okay, not just sometimes - always. That was the case before I had dinner at the Sesame Inn in north Scottsdale. I knew this was a chain and that made the snob in me expect little. I was pleasantly surprised at the decor when I entered. White tablecloths, pretty pink napkins and a clean, welcoming atmosphere. Dining at five pm on a Monday I never expect big crowds and this was no different. Our server was attentive at the beginning of dinner, but since we lagged after completing the meal, we did have to ask for more tea and water. A basic rule of good service is to make sure the guest experience is great from the time they walk in the door until they walk out. If my server ignores me once I've paid my bill - especially in an empty restaurant - I'm not happy. The portions were sizable and my lemon chicken was good.  My group all ordered different items fr...

When you are reading a mystery how much foreshadowing do you want to see?  I loved the old series Columbo with Peter Falk. In the television series, the murder occurs at the beginning and you then follow Columbo around while he tries to solve it. Since you've already seen the murder you should have some advance warning of what is to come. Of course, Columbo always solves the crime but are there clues along the way which help you to help him?  If you figure out the whodunit before the protagonist are you disappointed or thrilled? Personally, if I know at the mid-point of the book who the killer is then I'm wondering why the hero doesn't too. However, I do want to have an idea of who I think did it and not be completely surprised at the end by something the author threw in at the last minute. If all of my clues lead me to believe person A did it and suddenly at the end it's person X, I might not be a happy reader. So far I've been referring specifically to clue...

Betty Webb is a local author who has published two prize winning mystery series - Lena Jones and the Gunn Zoo series. This is the first book I read of hers and the first in the series. I had the feeling throughout the story that I had missed the first book even though this is where her story started. Lena Jones is a private detective who has left the police force due to an injury. Her good friend is murdered and Lena uses her police and private detective skills to solve the mystery. She is aided by her business partner Jimmy Sisiwan a Pima Indian and computer geek she sets out on the trail of the killer. Was it her abusive ex-husband, a competitor in the art gallery world of Scottsdale, Arizona, a tourist or someone else with a vendetta? I enjoyed the side story the author incorporated into the main murder mystery about Lena's past. I appreciated that we learned about Lena in small doses - by her taste in music, the things in her apartment, what she eats and so on. The author...

I had to take this picture of my rescue cat Magic who was thoroughly enjoying watching fish on the iPad. He hasn't been any help in the writing process of my Jayne Stanford series or other writing projects.  He is useless when it comes to edits or plot suggestions. But the short break he gives my brain, while I watch him absorbed in the action on the iPad is worth every minute. I can't honestly say which one of us finds this more amusing. Happy trails, Leslie

I found this on Pinterest but can't recall what website it came from. I apologize to  the creator for not making note of it. With Barnes & Noble rumored to be closing a store in Phoenix, will we have any places left to shop for books? To enjoy the feel of a book in our hands and flip through the pages before we buy it. I admit that I do ninety-nine percent of my reading on my Kindle. It's lightweight, portable and easy to attach a book light to so I can read in bed without having the lamp shining in my partner, Raymond's face. I try not to print anything that I don't absolutely have to - in order to save paper. I recycle as much as allowed and re-use every chance I get. So perhaps I am as much to blame as anyone else for the demise of our bookstores. But I will miss them. For anyone who loves books, there is something very special about walking into a area filled with books. I love the library for the same reason. It's like the best birthday presen...

When I purchased this book I wasn't aware that I was reading the 18th book in the series. I haven't read any of the earlier books so I was surprised to be able to understand the character immediately. Often when you miss earlier books there is no real introduction to the character - some simply pick up where the last one left off. In this case that was not true. The overall premise is that Faith and her family are staying at their summer home while, her husband Tom, who is a pastor, recuperated from an illness.  Set during the Christmas holiday, Faith is taking pictures of her family when she discovers the body of a dead girl positioned among the mannequins in a sleigh. The secondary story is that of a newborn baby which is discovered in the barn of a woman who raises goats for their milk. Mary is a kindly lady who lives alone but is friendly with Faith. The story is woven with religious references throughout. Even the names all have religious connotations. Whereas ...

What are your favorite cozy mysteries of 2014?  If someone were to ask me that question I have to admit I would have a difficult time coming up with a list of what my favorites were. I read cozies but I also read women's literature, biographies, thrillers, - and when forced to - a technical publication. The books I'm listing here were not necessarily published in 2014 but are ones which I have read last year.  I hope they will give you a few options which you may not have tried otherwise. Many of these are the first book of a series. Only two books on the list do not necessarily meet the rule for a cozy but I liked them so much I'm including them here (the Cormoran Strike books). You will see reviews of these books on the blog so you can check back posts to see if I've already reviewed it or wait for a future post. I would love to see what books you have to add to this list. Happy reading in 2015! Read It & Weep (A Library Lover's Mystery) by Jenn Mc...