Leslie Keller Books

If you are looking for a special place to have dinner, then I would recommend Different Pointe of View at the Hilton Tapatio Cliffs in Phoenix. Let's start with the drive up to the restaurant. Hairpin curves and what feels like a 90 degree angle lead you to the top of the peak. Thank goodness we don't get snow in Phoenix because you would be skiing back down. Once at the top don't stop to enjoy the view of Phoenix to the south or North Mountain just across the road, head into the restaurant and have your first drink outside (weather permitting) on the patio. The view is amazing and if you catch the sunset the romance factor is ratcheted up. Maybe enjoy a few appetizers with a glass of Champagne until the lights from downtown Phoenix start twinkling. Inside the restaurant try to be seated by the window so you can continue enjoying the view. I haven't found anything which didn't live up to my expectations at this restaurant. The Lobster Bisque is heavenly as a s

I have been thinking about the differences between the sexes and recently posted about who makes a better killer - a man or a woman. But not every character is a killer. Some characters are just bad. Which leads me to wonder what type of man makes the best bad guy. Now we all know there are the real bad guys and then there are the bad guys we can't help but love. I'm more interested in the second type. In Pulp Fiction, which was a book before it was a movie (yes, it really was!), who didn't find John Travolta's character somehow lovable?  How about the men in The Godfather? Again, I am picturing the movie version rather than the novel but the very young Al Pacino was sexy in his own way. What about the alcoholic, womanizing Cormoran Strike from Robert Gailbraith's The Cuckoo's Calling (which I reviewed in a prior post)? You may not fall in love with him but despite his many flaws you may be drawn to him. We know that he's a good guy despite the surface b

Here is just a snippet of the beginning of Menu for Murder.  I hope it's enough to make you want to read more. “Jayne, run these drinks out and please don’t spill any this time.” “Hurry up and take this tray of appetizers to the guests before they get cold.” “Girl, bring me the dirty wine glasses and try not to break any on the way to the kitchen.” That’s me they’re ordering around, Jayne Stanford, server not so extraordinaire. I was asked—actually required—by my boss at Wild Bronco Steakhouse, to work a private cocktail party tonight hosted at the home of the mayor of our southwestern Arizona town. Even though my manager knew I rebuffed the mayor’s advances on more than one occasion, I either needed to work the party or look for another job. When your eyes are bigger than your budget, you don’t pass up the opportunity for a few extra dollars. I love my job at the restaurant but the guests at this party were enough to make me want to pull my hair out, strand by curly str

I admit that I didn't expect to like this book but I did. The main character, Toni Diamond not only sells makeup in a door-to-door party kind of way but she lives for it. She believes that makeup only enhances a woman's beauty, rather than creates it. She's not a fluffy as you might think - underneath the big hair and perfect makeup she has a brain for good business and a kind heart. As a divorced mother of a teenager with her quirky mother in tow, Toni manages to become involved in a murder at the Lady Bianca cosmetics annual convention. First someone seemingly unrelated to the convention is found murdered and then Toni's nemesis. Luckily for Toni there is a handsome detective on the scene. There was a slight twist in the end but the true killer wasn't too surprising. I might have liked the romance element to have started a little more slowly as I don't think most detectives would fall so quickly for someone who could possibly be a murderer. But then again,

I have noticed a tread in my reading of cozy mysteries where, more often than not, the killer is a woman. This makes me wonder who makes the best bad "guy"? If we assume our killer is a woman, how much strength does she need to push someone off a building, commit a drowning or stabbing while controlling the victim? I think it's easier to envision a man performing these acts simply by nature of his strength. But isn't it a bit more fun if the killer is a woman who you might pass in the grocery aisle? What if she is your neighbor or the soccer mom you see at your child's games? Let's take the soccer mom - what is it that might push her over the edge? I can see her now - dressed in her skort and Gap tank top, son and daughter fighting over a toy while strapped into the safety seats in the back of her white mini-van, late for school and the parent-teacher meeting. Maybe it's the jerk who cuts her off in traffic, maybe it's the other mom who grabbed the

In Part 1 of ways to die, I compared gunshots to stabbing. In case you missed that earlier post, I voted for stabbing. Not that I want to die by any method, other than old age, but as a writer of murder mysteries, I am always thinking of ways to kill off characters. Gunshots and stabbing are the most popular methods, with bodily force coming in a close third. Guns and knives are the easiest for the killer because he or she doesn't have to look very far to find the "tools of the trade", so to speak. If we're looking for what is the most handy, then obviously bodily force allows our killer to act spontaneously. Personally, I'm not a fan of having my killer bludgeon someone to death. A correctly placed strike to the head is one thing but repeated blows is more violence than I would enjoy before bedtime. On the other hand, I find a fall from a building somewhat appealing - as long as you aren't the one who finds the body! In a cozy, the murder occurs off the

As a mystery writer, it's hard not to take notes when you hear of a new way to commit murder.  Am I obsessed with ways to kill people? I am - but only on paper. Since I recently watched a true story about a nurse who killed his wife in a creative fashion (and yes, I was frantically writing down the chemicals involved and the way it was discovered), I decided to include a series on the different ways people are murdered. I'm curious about which ones are the most fun. Obviously not for the victim but at least for the reader! In Part 1, gunshot versus stabbing, let's first determine who is more likely to use which "tool". Is it easier to shoot someone or to stab him? Research indicates that women are more likely to use a knife in a murder due to the fact that they require less forethought. And, interestingly enough, women are more likely to use a knife to kill someone they know. Whereas shooting someone can be done from a distance it is much less personal, bu

As a reader of mysteries, are you able to predict the outcome of the book? Do you know "whodunit" by the time you're halfway through? I just finished a cozy by an author I've never read. There were so many obvious red herrings thrown in, by the time I finished I almost didn't care who did it. I couldn't understand the motivation of the main character, who has no connection whatsoever to the wrongly accursed murderer. She decides the person didn't commit the crime based on her "expertise" in reading people's eyes. What was somewhat amusing is the protagonist wasn't able to read her own boyfriend to know he was cheating on her, but was able to determine if a stranger was telling the truth or not. If I can predict the end too easily then I find it difficult to finish the book. On the opposite side are those storylines which lead you down one path, only to completely reverse direction, without sufficient foundation, at the end. As mystery