Welcome to The Avid Reader! I am a stop on the Great Escapes Murder Made to Order Virtual Book Tour. Lena Gregory is the author of A Bay Island Psychic Mystery series and An All-Day Breakfast Cafe Mystery series. Ms. Gregory lives in a small town on the south shore of eastern Long Island with her husband and three children. While growing up, she spent many lazy afternoons at the beach and in her yard where she would curl up with a book. Lena still loves reading, but she now has the added pleasure of creating her own stories. Readers can find Lena Gregory on her website, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Bookbub and Pinterest.
Murder Made to Order by Lena Gregory is the second book in An All-Day Breakfast Café Mystery series. Gia Morelli has been settling into her new
life in Boggy Creek, Florida when she receives a startling letter from Marcia
Steers, the president of the city council.
It seems that the building for the café is zoned residential and Gia
will have to close the café. Before Gia
can act, a nervous Marcia stops by and schedules a meeting with Gia for Monday. Before their meeting can take place, Gia and
Thor stumble over a dead Marcia half submerged in muck in the woods. Captain Hayes and Detective Quinn Hunter quickly
arrive, but after a disagreement, Captain Hayes tosses Quinn off the case. Following the clues, Gia finds that the issue
regarding her café started twenty years ago and can be related to the death of
Savannah Mill’s mother. But someone is
not happy with Gia’s snooping and attempts to shut her down permanently.
Murder Made to Order can be read alone. Everything a reader needs to know is included in this installment in the series. Murder Made to Order is easy to read and has a steady pace throughout. I thought Murder Made to Order was an improvement over Scone Cold Killer. Gia is settling into life in Boggy Creek, but she has doubts when the future of her café is in jeopardy. One of my favorite characters is Earl. He was the café’s first customer and has been a loyal customer as well as friend ever since. There are many cozy moments in Murder Made to Order. Cooking, visiting with Savannah, spending time with Quinn, taking care of Thor (her large and adorable dog), kayaking, eating, hiking and chatting. I am still having trouble warming up to Gia. Her terror of things related to nature continues in this book. Gia should have moved into the apartment over the café instead of finding a home surrounded by woods (which she walks in regularly). She is afraid of bears, spiders, ticks, snakes (I can relate to this one), and tornadoes in Murder Made to Order. Gia overreacts (panic attacks, hyperventilates) when confronted with things that scare her. The author intends it to be humorous, but it loses its humor the more times it happens. The mystery had some good aspects (multiple suspects, misdirection, good clues), but it was a cinch to pick out the guilty party. It is nice how the townspeople rally around to help each other out in troubling times. I like the small-town atmosphere of Boggy Creek. My rating for Murder Made to Order is 3.5 out of 5 stars. I am curious to see what happens to Gia next in An All-Day Breakfast Café Mystery series (let’s hope she does not encounter a panther). A Cold Brew Killing is the next book in the series and it will be released on November 6. Here is an excerpt of Murder Made to Order for your enjoyment:
Murder Made to Order can be read alone. Everything a reader needs to know is included in this installment in the series. Murder Made to Order is easy to read and has a steady pace throughout. I thought Murder Made to Order was an improvement over Scone Cold Killer. Gia is settling into life in Boggy Creek, but she has doubts when the future of her café is in jeopardy. One of my favorite characters is Earl. He was the café’s first customer and has been a loyal customer as well as friend ever since. There are many cozy moments in Murder Made to Order. Cooking, visiting with Savannah, spending time with Quinn, taking care of Thor (her large and adorable dog), kayaking, eating, hiking and chatting. I am still having trouble warming up to Gia. Her terror of things related to nature continues in this book. Gia should have moved into the apartment over the café instead of finding a home surrounded by woods (which she walks in regularly). She is afraid of bears, spiders, ticks, snakes (I can relate to this one), and tornadoes in Murder Made to Order. Gia overreacts (panic attacks, hyperventilates) when confronted with things that scare her. The author intends it to be humorous, but it loses its humor the more times it happens. The mystery had some good aspects (multiple suspects, misdirection, good clues), but it was a cinch to pick out the guilty party. It is nice how the townspeople rally around to help each other out in troubling times. I like the small-town atmosphere of Boggy Creek. My rating for Murder Made to Order is 3.5 out of 5 stars. I am curious to see what happens to Gia next in An All-Day Breakfast Café Mystery series (let’s hope she does not encounter a panther). A Cold Brew Killing is the next book in the series and it will be released on November 6. Here is an excerpt of Murder Made to Order for your enjoyment:
Gia stepped over a large branch blocking the
path through the woods, then patted her pocket—for the millionth time—to make
sure her canister of bear spray was still there. Though she enjoyed their
walks, which allowed her to spend time with Thor and provided both of them some
much needed exercise, her nerves sometimes got the better of her. This morning
was no exception. Thor trotted happily alongside her, sometimes
darting ahead, but always staying on the trail and within sight.
She didn’t have the heart to call him back,
even though she wasn’t in the best mood this morning and her mind was a million
miles away. Unfortunately, her hectic schedule at the café didn’t allow much
time for hiking, or anything else for that matter. So she trudged on, despite wanting
to go home and spend her morning curled up with a good book.
Savannah and Trevor had both insisted early
morning hikes would clear her head and help her get used to living at the edge
of the forest. Though they did help her focus better, they did nothing to help
her embrace her new surroundings. If anything, they terrified her even more.
Looking into the woods surrounding her property and not knowing what lurked
just behind the tree line gave her the creeps, but hiking the local trails and
actually seeing snakes, alligators, and other critters, some of which she
couldn’t even identify, brought nightmares.
And yet, here she was… She’d been looking
forward to hiking the new trail, but her mind was too cluttered with everything
else to focus on enjoying the peaceful morning. She sucked in a shaky breath,
the humidity making her chest heavy. “Don’t get too far ahead, Thor.” The big, furry dog, who still hadn’t quite
grown into his chunky paws, stopped at the sound of her voice, turned back to
her, and tilted his head, then waited for her to catch up.
Murder Made to Order is available for purchase on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Google, Kobo, and iBooks. In honor of the tour, a $25 Amazon gift card is being given away. You can enter below or click here. Make sure to stop by the other stops on the tour (stops listed below). May you have an engaging day. Take care and Happy Reading.
Kris
The Avid Reader
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TOUR PARTICIPANTS
June 20 – The Avid
Reader – REVIEW
June 20 – Socrates' Book
Reviews – REVIEW
June 20 – The Self-Rescue
Princess – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
June 21 – The Montana
Bookaholic – REVIEW
June 21 – Babs
Book Bistro – SPOTLIGHT
June 22 – Reading Is My
SuperPower – REVIEW
June 22 – Mallory Heart's
Cozies – REVIEW
June 22 – Read Your Writes Book
Reviews – REVIEW, CHARACTER GUEST POST
June 23 – Queen of All She
Reads – REVIEW
June 23 – Lisa Ks Book
Reviews – REVIEW, AUTHOR INTERVIEW
June 24 – Texas Book-aholic
– REVIEW
June 24 – Ruff Drafts – GUEST
POST
June 25 – Varietats –
REVIEW, GUEST POST
June 25 – The
Pulp and Mystery Shelf – SPOTLIGHT
June 26 – Books a
Plenty Book Reviews – REVIEW
June 26 – Escape
With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW
June 27 – Mystery
Thrillers and Romantic Suspense Reviews – GUEST POST
June 27 – Readeropolis –
CHARACTER INTERVIEW
June 27 – Brooke Blogs –
SPOTLIGHT
June 28 – MJB Reviewers
– AUTHOR INTERVIEW
June 28 – A Holland
Reads – SPOTLIGHT
June 29 – My Reading
Journeys - REVIEW, CHARACTER GUEST POST
June 29 – Back
Porchervations – REVIEW
June 30 - A Chick Who
Reads – REVIEW
June 30 - StoreyBook
Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
July 1 – Bibliophile
Reviews – REVIEW
July 1 – Laura's
Interests - REVIEW, CHARACTER GUEST POST
July 2 – Cozy Up With
Kathy – REVIEW
July 2 – A
Blue Million Books - AUTHOR INTERVIEW
July 3 – Melina's Book
Blog – REVIEW
July 3 – Rosepoint Publishing
– REVIEW
