"The Good Witch's Family"

"The Good Witch's Family" DVD was checked out from my local library.  This Hallmark movie is after Cassie's marriage to Middleton Police Chief Jake Russell and she and his family are settling into their new home when her stepdaughter, Lori, decides to make a new family tree to include her new stepmother.  That's when she discovers Cassie has a cousin and Cassie invites her newfound cousin, Abigail, to visit.  Abigail has had a difficult life after her mother's death and knows how to stir up trouble but Cassie knows how to soothe ruffled feathers and create calm waters.  She has her hands full building strong relationships with new family members while running for Middleton Mayor but she's up to the challenge.  pazt

"We Were The Lucky Ones"

"We Were The Lucky Ones" by Georgia Hunter is an incredible story.  Although it is a novel, it is based on her grandfather's family's true story of  surviving the Jewish genocide during World War 2.

Her great-grandparents, Sol and Nechuma, were 52 and 50 in March of 1939.  Their oldest son, Genek, was 31 and was married to Herta.  Their daughter, Mila was 29 and married to Selim and had a 4 month old daughter, Felicia.  Addy, their 25 year old son, was living and working in Paris and he is the author's grandfather.  Jakob, age 23, married Bella and the youngest daughter was Halina, age 21, who married Adam.  Not all of the children were married when the war began but did marry during the war.  Addy met and married an American he met in Brazil.

The family was from Radom, Poland, but some of them ended up in other cities or countries as a result of the war so it is pretty amazing that the whole family survived.  Unfortunately, for their spouses the same could not always be said of their families.

The story starts with Addy in Paris in early March 1939 and each chapter focuses on another family member then returns to the ones featured in early chapters so there is a progression of their separate journeys through the war years.  The author did her research as well as interviewed family members and it is a story that is hard to believe could be based in truth.  I highly recommend this book to everyone.

At the end of the book she tells where each family member eventually arrived after the war and where Nechuma and Sol's grandchildren and spouses and progeny now live as well as the wide range of careers among them.  (P. S.  The author's father is Thomas Hunter, the author of "Softly Walks The Beast.")  pazt

"Murder, She Baked: A Chocolate Chip Cookie Mystery"

"Murder, She Baked:  A Chocolate Chip Cookies Mystery" is a Hallmark Mystery movie.  Our heroine, Hannah, has a mother who is determined to find the right man for her.  Hannah, on the other hand, seems perfectly content living with her cat and running her cookie bakery.  That is, until her mother introduces her to the dentist who has moved to town to take over his dad's dental practice and until she meets the new detective in town -- come to solve the murder of her best friend from childhood.  Hannah likes to do a little sleuthing herself and that gets her into some serious trouble until the detective and her brother-n-law show up to catch the murderer and save her life.  Now her only problem is she has made a date with the dentist and the detective for the same night.  It's a fun mystery and charming story.  pazt

"A Bone To Pick: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery"

Although this is the second Aurora Teagarden Mystery I have checked out from my library, it appears to be the first in the series.  Aurora has a friend, Jane, from her Real Murders club who is a retired librarian and she invites Ro to her home a few days after a meeting to give her some of her sleuthing books as she feels Ro will find them interesting.

Ro and her best friend have noticed that Jane doesn't particularly seem well lately so it doesn't come as too much of a shock when Jane dies.  What does come as a surprise to Ro, though, is Jane's lawyer cornering her after the funeral to inform her that she has inherited Jane's estate and her home.  Since Jane's mother had left her some money, it means Ro will no longer have to struggle to make ends meet on her librarian's salary and she'll have a home she owns.

There have been some unusual burglaries occurring in the neighborhood where Jane lives and her house is broken into the night that Ro finds she is the new owner.  Since the attorney saw fit to give her a key, she decides to go over to her new home that evening and interrupts a burglary in process.  She notices only large doors and drawers have been opened so she begins to search for what the burglar was looking for and discovers Jane has a skull hidden in her home.

It was at this point my husband could no longer watch the show -- when Ro decides to try to solve the murder herself rather than involving the police -- a stupid, stupid move that, of course, put her in danger.  I had to finish watching the movie and she does indeed solve the case -- after a few mishaps and almost ending up paying with her life for it.  I enjoyed this mystery but not as much as the first one we watched.  pazt

"Real Murders: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery"

"Real Murders: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery" is a Hallmark channel mystery movie.  Aurora (known by her friends and family as Ro) is preparing for a meeting of the Real Murders Club when the police arrive to let them know that one of their members has been murdered.  The murder exactly matches the real crime they were going to discuss tonight so everyone in the club becomes a suspect.  When another murder occurs, that throws that theory out the window, though. 

Ro and a new romance in her life (a crime fiction writer) race to find out whodunnit before another murder occurs.  This was a fun watch and I look forward to finding more movies in this series.  pazt

"Garage Sale Mystery"

"Garage Sale Mystery" is the first of a series of Hallmark Movies starring Lori Loughlin who portrays Jennifer Shannon.  Jennifer and a friend own a resell shop and spend their time going to garage sales seeking items for their shop.  As Jennifer is making her rounds of sales one Saturday morning, she encounters a friend she hasn't seen in a long time.  They get to talking and her friend asks if they can make a lunch date.

When Jennifer arrives for the lunch date to pick up her friend, she discovers her dead at the foot of her stairs.  She apparently suffered a fall while her husband was out of town.  Jennifer is suspicious , though, because a Jade statue she'd advised her friend to keep because it might be valuable is missing.

Since there have been a number of burglaries at addresses of garage sales Jennifer attended, she convinces the new, young detective to take another look at the case.  She continues to do some sleuthing on her own, however, and almost ends up a victim herself.

It's a great mystery and a "feel good" movie.  My husband is not particularly a fan of Hallmark Channel movies but he liked the "feel good" portions of this one -- people helping other people instead of trying to rip them off.  It's worth a watch in my opinion.  pazt

"Even"

"Even" is authored by Andrew Grant who is the brother of Lee Child and husband of Tasha Alexander.  After reading the three novels in his Cooper Devereaux series, I decided to start his David Trevellyan Thrillers.  "Even" is the first in this series and it has kept me engaged from the beginning.  It is a book that I started as bedtime reading and, unfortunately as far as my ability to get sleep was concerned, I couldn't put it down until I just had to.  Unlike the last mystery I read which took me weeks to read because it just didn't keep me engaged, this one has been a fast read and fast paced action!

The jacket cover introduces David Trevellyan as "James Bond for the 21st century -- taken out of dinner jackets and thrown onto the gritty streets of New York."

As a member of the British Royal Navy, Trevellyan has just completed an assignment in the U.S. and is ready to board a flight the next morning back to England.  However, on his walk back to his hotel from dinner he finds a dead body then finds himself accused of the murder.  Even the British Consulate is unable to help him with this one because the victim is an undercover FBI agent known to have taken a call from a British man.  It's up to Trevellyan to prove his innocence and  work with the U.S. authorities to uncover an international conspiracy.  Great read!  pazt