She wants to get back to Italy. Does she have a ghost of a chance?Paige Murphy loves her new life in Italy, where she can sip wine, eat pasta, and while the days away working on her romance novel. But all that changes when her beloved aunt falls ill, and she must fly back home to Texas—a place she thought she’d left behind.In a blink, she finds herself with a failing beachside bookstore, jealous … a failing beachside bookstore, jealous cousins out to get her, and pesky suitors who won’t leave her alone. As if that wasn’t enough, buried treasure and hidden secrets could prove to be deadly!
Pasta, Pirates and Poison is Book 1 in the Beachside Books Magical Cozy Mystery Series. If you like paranormal cozy mysteries (with a cat), you’ll love this light-hearted, fun read.
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This was a delightful read. Paige is living her dream in Italy writing her first book when she gets the call and heads home to comfort cove. Did her aunt die of natural causes or could someone possibly have murdered her? Paige meets a host of characters and deals with everything at the bookstore too. This is a light easy read and seems perfect for a day at the beach. I am looking forward to where the author takes the series.
I have enjoyed the author’s (Paula Lester) other witchy books so I thought I would give this one a go to. Glad I did because it is a lot of fun and I loved it. It is slightly different to the other series, in the fact that the main character is a lot younger, which is what I loved about the other book the fact that they weren’t naive teenagers. However I think the main characters was just perfect for this book, a little bit naive but stubborn and independent. In fact all the characters were entertaining and likeable, even the annoying spoilt twins came through when it mattered. The added fun of the ghost was what made the story interesting and with a good mystery that kept twisting on you the book keeps you hooked until the end. I hope the author team up again to bring us another fun, humorous adventure In the sun.
Paige is working hard cleaning hotel rooms by day and writing her novel by night in the beautiful country of Italy. Living the life if not the dream, that is until she receives a phone call from her brother. Her aunt is in hospital. Paige arrives just in time to hear her dying words “look after Captain Dougal”. Paige has no idea what her aunt was talking about, in fact she had no idea her aunt was sick. She soon finds out her aunt hadn’t been sick and the police are treating it as murder. Who would want to kill her aunt? And was it because of the inheritance she left? Paige got her failing book shop, her brother the car he loved and her twin cousins her aunts house. The only problem is her aunt had a journal belonging to a pirate and everybody including her cousins believe her aunt found his burried treasure and everybody wants the gold coins for themselves. The police are busy trying to track down the in flux of drugs in the area so it might just be up to Paige to find the reason behind her aunts death. She nigh just discover more than she bargained for in the process.
I liked the narrator she was very expressive with her reading which made the story very entertaining.
This is the first book in a new cozy mystery series and it has a fun cast of characters. A ghost, a witch (or two), a loving yet lazy cat and a few humans.
I liked the cast, the way the interacted and played off each other. I certainly look forward to more stories with them. The characters had such distinctive and interesting personalities that I could help but turn the pages just to learn more about them.
I did think the story was a bit slow in the beginning (up until about 50%), as it took until 40% to even admit there was a murder to solve (when its written in the book description). It also took till 75% before any real action took place. There was a bit too much of the main character talking about her “failed” career and her feeding the cat and cleaning the cat box. It didn’t need to be repeated as much as it was, (I get it establishes routine, I just didn’t need it). I did really enjoyed the last 25% of the book the most.
For me, the first book in a series is often time my lowest rated because its difficult to introduce all the characters, their relationships, the setting and the plot mystery in such a way that doesn’t over or under whelm the reader. I very much look forward to more as I think this is going to be a humorous and fun ride; and if you like cozy, safe stories you will enjoy this one.
when Paige returns to her hometown after working abroad, she discovers a host of secrets about her family and town.
Sad and a little lonely, she and a ghostly pirate and cat friend face challenges.
Maybe Paige needs another fresh start from her latest fresh start!
Mysteries, drugs, smuggling and murder!
what else could a girl want besides her brother and a cool cat?
romance seems like a bad risk right now – but certainly a mostly funny one?
great KU read!