"Autumn Embers" By Tina deBellegarde: Review/Giveaway

Review by Tracy Condie

Details at the end of this post on how to enter to win an ebook copy of the book and a link to purchase it.

Autumn Embers is the third book in the Batavia-on-Hudson Mystery series. This is my first time reading this series, and I appreciate the list of characters at the start. It is especially helpful since this story has two locations: Batavia-on-Hudson, New York and Kyoto, Japan. This story is told from multiple points of view. The two main characters are author and part-time librarian, Bianca St. Denis, and town Sheriff, Mike Riley.

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Bianca has traveled to Kyoto, Japan to receive an honor (see Dead Man’s Leap) and visit with her son, Ian, who has relocated to the town for school. Kyoto is a quiet and beautiful and timeless location. The descriptive language captures your imagination and paints a picture enabling you to truly imagine what the home of the expat community and Kyoto are like. There are amazing festivals, foods, and even language. Bianca is taking in the sights and penning travel articles to send home to the local paper. She is sending articles that share her experiences, except for the murder which she is sure she witnessed. Bianca does an amazing job navigating the bus route and the language as she goes place to place to pick up souvenirs and clues.

Back home in Batavia, Sheriff Mike is summoned to New York by his former NYPD boss, Charlie Stephenson, now the assistant attorney general. Mike is also battling for reelection with not one but two opponents, one of whom is his own deputy, Vera, which makes things a little awkward around the office. Being separated from his wife is not helping the situation either. Then there are those warm fuzzies he feels when he just thinks about Bianca.

I was unsure as to how the story was going to be able to involve both “main” characters in this transcontinental cozy, but the author found a way. The mystery was well done, and I did not figure it out. The red herrings did an excellent job of misdirecting me and the Kyoto police as well. A good number of the ex-pats, essentially Ian’s new family, are suspects, including Ian. I am not sure which I enjoyed more, reading about the beauty of Kyoto or Bianca’s hunt for the truth.

To enter to win an ebook copy of Autumn Embers, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line "autumn,” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen November 16, 2024. US residents only and you must be 18 or older to enter. If entering via comment please include your email address so we can contact you. You can read our privacy statement here if you like.

Check out other mystery articles, reviews, book giveaways & mystery short stories in our mystery section in Kings River Life and in our mystery category here on KRL News & Reviews. And join our mystery Facebook group to keep up with everything mystery we post, and have a chance at some extra giveaways. And check out our new mystery podcast which features mystery short stories and first chapters read by local actors! A new episode goes up next week.

You can click here to purchase this book.

Tracy Condie is a paralegal by day and cozy armchair sleuth by night. When she is not working or reading, she enjoys preparing the recipes found in culinary cozies or researching recipes of meal items described therein and sharing reviews of both books and food on Instagram and on KRL. She lives in Corona, California with her husband and dog Zoolie, and looks forward to visiting with their grown sons when their time permits.

Disclosure: This post contains links to an affiliate program, for which we receive a few cents if you make purchases. KRL also receives free copies of most of the books that it reviews, that are provided in exchange for an honest review of the book.