Address For Murder: A Mail Carrier Cozy Mystery

Address for Murder by Tonya Kappes is the second A Mail Carrier Cozy Mystery. It can be read as a standalone, but I recommend reading Stamped Out first (it is such a charming book). Tonya Kappes has given us another engaging cozy mystery. Bernadette Butler is fifty years old and a widow who lives in a farmhouse outside town with her cat, Rowena. Bernadette is a kind woman who cares about her friends, family and those on her postal route. If someone is ill, she takes them chicken soup. Bernadette especially makes sure that the older folks on her route are alright. She inquires about their health, their families and their day (I wish she was my postal carrier). When she discovers Buster, Lee Macum’s dog, behind the post office, she adjusts her mail route to return him. Bernadette finds his gate open and the door open. She is distressed to find Lee dead in his overcrowded living room. Bernadette liked the cranky man and is determined to find who murdered him. She gets assistance from Vince at the senior living facility and the Front Porch Ladies who live on the same street as Lee. While I could easily identify the guilty party, there were some clever aspects to the crime (I just love a unique whodunit). I was curious to see how this tale would play out and see Bernadette get justice for Lee. The Front Porch Ladies are so cute, and they add levity to the story. Vince uses his FBI contacts and database to help Bernadette get information on her suspects. Tonya Kappes has an engaging writing style. It reminds me of talking to an old friend. I started reading and did not stop until I finished the story. Romance is in the air for Bernadette with her old friend, Mac Tabor. The trick is seeing if they can transition their friendship into a relationship. I liked the scenes with Rowena and Buster. The author captured how cats and dogs react when they first meet. The dogs are excited while the cat hisses and raises its back with fur standing on end. There are lovely heartwarming moments in Address for Murder along with a special surprise. I look forward to reading the next installment in A Mail Carrier Cozy Mystery series. Address for Murder is a delightful story with swift scuttlebutt, a cute canine, an astonishing announcement, unwanted weeds, and a compassionate mail carrier.

Address for a murder is the second instalment in the Mail Carrier Mystery Series by Tonya Kappes. I loved returning to Sugar Creek Gap Kentucky and finding out what’s been happening with Bernadette, Mac, the Front Porch Ladies and we can’t forget Rowena.

Mail Carrier Bernadette Butler makes sure she checks on all of her elderly customers on her mail carrier route during the colder months. It makes her feel good and lets face it, she’s trying to keep her mind off the feelings she’s having for her deceased husband’s best friend, Mac Tabor. Which makes putting everyone before her is easy.

Until she notices one particular customer’s dog (Buster) is on the loose, Bernadette takes the dog back and something isn’t right. The door is open. Bernadette goes in to check on her customer only to find him murdered!

Bernadette knows someone knows something about the murder in the small knit community. Now that she’s help solve one murder, she can’t resist to try her hand at it again…of course not without the help of the FRONT PORCH LADIES and Vince!

I enjoyed this instalment so much, it was even better than the first Stamped Out! Tonya Kappes has done it again writing another fantastic mystery series with characters I love and want to get to know better. I love that Bernadette aka Bernie is in her 50’s I can relate to her and life’s situations easier (“We can’t help it if we are old and can’t sleep.”)

I always know that if I need to escape for a little while that I can pick up one of Tonya’s books and be transported into a town with people I want as neighbors and friends. The stories are well written, filled with humour, compassion and a little murder.

There were just enough suspects, twists and turns to keep me guessing and not wanting to put the book down! I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves cozy mysteries.

I requested and received an Advanced Readers Copy from the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Sugar Creek Gap’s residents are being primed by Carla Ramby, president of the beautification committee, to clean up the town for a shot to earn a reward in the Make Kentucky Colorful spring campaign.

Carla has gone a little nuts with her demands, and one particular resident is a thorn in her side, Lee Macum. Lee feels he collects treasures, where others see trash. He doesn’t care about Carla’s demands one bit.

When Bernie finds Buster, a Labrador Retriever, wandering around town, she decides to take the dog back to his owner. When she arrives, the gate and door are open which are very unusual. After announcing herself, Bernie goes in to check on the owner, who is also a customer and finds him dead.

Mac Tabor asks Bernie to go out to dinner, but Bernie convinces herself, it’s just dinner among friends. One dinner, leads to another and sets everyone, including the Front Porch Ladies’ tongues wagging. They offer their unsolicited advice on how she should use the gifts they had bought her.

When Bernie can’t get the death off her mind, and runs something by Mac, he lets it be known he’s not thrilled with her snooping.

Bernie continues to keep an ear out for gossip, and who better to know about gossip than the Front Porch Ladies. One, who isn’t sharing a secret. Bernie has three suspects in mind.

Just a few of my favorite quotes that made me laugh out loud: “Okay! I’ll be more than friends! I wanted to yell so bad.” and “We can’t help it if we are old and can’t sleep.”

This has quickly become my new favorite series! This second book has many surprises, laughs and kept me guessing about the killer.

I received an ARC and I have voluntarily reviewed this book.

Mail delivery can be murder. Good story and characters. Looking forward to the next in this series.

Bernie and the gang are back in this second installment of the Mail Carrier Series. Bernie has many elderly friends on her route as the mail carrier and always tries to look after them. One day, she sees the dog of one of those friends in town. She knows that the owner never lets the dog run loose. She returns to the man’s home with his dog and finds her friend dead.

Now, Bernie and the rest of her friends hope to figure out what happened to the sometimes unfriendly man. I highly recommend this book!

Carla Ramey is going around town with a spray bottle full of weed killer in an effort to finally win the Make Kentucky Colorful spring campaign before she retires. She is especially upset with one person in town, Lee Macum, whose yard she says is a disaster. Mail carrier, Bernadette Butler has no issues with Lee and always has a treat for his dog, Buster when she delivers Lee’s mail.

When Bernadette sees Buster running loose near the Post Office, she decides to take him home. When she gets to Lee’s home, she finds both the gate and the front door open. Inside the home, she discovers that Lee is dead. The coroner says that Lee was poisoned. There are several people who had issues with Lee, but were their differences serious enough to provoke them to murder? To compound matters, the main suspects all have verifiable alibis for the time of death.

Who killed Lee? Why was he killed? Can Bernadette solve the mystery and expose the killer?

Tonya Kappes has another winner with great characters and wonderful situations. There are plenty of twists and turns in this adventure to keep the reader guessing clear to the end.

Address For Murder is the second book in the Mail Carrier Cozy Mystery series and follows the adventures of Bernadette Butler, a mail carrier in the town of Sugar Creek Gap. She always makes sure to check up on the people on her route, especially the elderly ones. When she notices the mail piling up at one home she calls the sheriff to do a wellness check. Unfortunately the customer is found dead. Bernadette doesn’t think the death was natural so she enlists the help of a group of older women she calls the Front Porch ladies to help her investigate. I love all the characters in the book especially the quirky Front Porch ladies! Well written mystery and fantastic characters make this book a definite must read! Highly recommend!

Great book!! The town beautification committee head is trying to win an award and is making the townspeople crazy with her demands. A local man, Lee Macum, is a hoarder and the committee head has been bothering him to clean up his yard. Bernadette’s friend, Mac, is also having issues when rats are discovered at one of the houses he is trying to sell. When Bernie finds Lee’s dog at the post office and takes him home, she discovers Lee dead. It turns out that he was murdered and the prime suspects include the beautification committee head, Lee’s nephew, and the local realtor. This book was good at keeping you guessing. I love Bernadette and her cat, Rowena, as well as the Front Porch Gals. I am excited to read the next book in this series and look forward to seeing what’s next for Bernadette and her new relationship with Mac!

Address for Murder earns 5/5 Sparkling Mail Carts…Entertaining Fun!

Bernadette “Bernie” Butler has an agreement with her long, long-time BFF Iris Peabody to not share when she gets one of her “feelings.” She’s not psychic, it’s just a feeling, and her track record is more miss than hit. When they were younger several misunderstandings occurred because of misinterpreting one of Iris’s “feelings. But, ten years ago the “feeling” she got about Bernadette’s husband Richard turned out to be tragically correct, and her recent “feeling” about Mac Tabor, her husband’s best friend, was oddly correct, too. But, Bernie sees Iris with a look of concern. Bernie doesn’t want to know if she’s had one of her “feelings,” but Iris can’t hold it back, “There’s something about Little Creek Road.” Little Creek Road is something alright. Mac lives there, and he has two investment properties there; one is infested with rats in the cellar which may be connected to the neighbor. Neighbor Lee Macum lives there, and his hoarding and collecting of junk impacts his living condition as well as the look of the area. Mac is concerned, the real estate agent is frustrated, the nephew is worried, and the president of the beautification committee is threatening to “kill him.” So which of these “somethings” lead to murder!

Entertainment Delivered! Tonya delivered another engaging drama in her Mail Carrier Mystery series with her entertaining writing style of descriptive language, dialogue that illustrates well the tone and various personalities, and a fun Kentucky flare. This series is at the top with a clever mystery exploring selfishness, revenge, and greed, wonderful characters from millennials to baby boomers to senior seniors, and an ending that included some nail-biting peril and “Whew!” satisfaction. Bernadette is a fifty-something widow with realistic fears and challenges entering a more romantic relationship with a close friend; she’s also still a mother, despite her son being an adult himself with the prospect of being a grandma that makes her a character to whom many can identify. Ok, it’s a cozy mystery and amateurs investigate murder with or without support from official channels (Bernie has a love/hate relationship with Sheriff Angela Hafley), but Tonya wraps it up in a quaint small southern town with characters readers might recognize as friends and family and a story that might be found in the headlines. And a bonus, too. Tonya has given everyone a little taste of recipes referenced in the story like [Iris’s] Bonbon Cookies, [her mom’s] Chocolate Crinkles along with my favorite Chocolate Chip Blondes with peanut butter and the intriguing…Pepper Cookies! Wow! I love it!

Did you hear book three “All She Wrote” releases sometime in 2020, and she has contracted audio versions for her three book Mail Carrier Mystery. It’s going to be an exciting 2020!

An excellent intrigue, i really loved how the investigation was written with all the twists to make your doubt your first impressions and such. This series is becoming better with each book it seems so it was a real pleasure and i can’t wait to see which adventure Bernadette will have next.

On element i love in this series are all the secondary characters like the porch gals who are both funny and attentive but also Mac even if he can be a little clumsy with his words he really love Bernadette and they act like people of their age which is great (after all you can be in love at every age not only when you are a teenager) so it’s another good point for this series.

I guess i was just sad about the victims because i really loved him in the first book so knowing he won’t be there anymore i’m feeling a little sad. If you are a pet lover, this is also a series for you as you get to meet Rowena the cat and now a dog both having an important role in the book they are not just cited in passing.

This is a very good southern cozy mystery with a touch of romance, humour and good investigation , it also can be read as stand alone as Tonya Kappes gives enough info about book 1 so if you missed it no fear you can jump on this one first and still love it!

to recommend!