H Is For Victoria Hamilton

Victoria writes the series the Vintage Kitchen Series which started in 2012. This series takes place in a small tourist town in Michigan and features Jaymie Leighton who collects vintage pieces. Jaymie lives in her parents nineteenth century yellow brick home. Her sister Rebecca visits on the weekends from London, Ontario, and together they hit the auctions and estate sales.

Victoria also writes the Merry Muffin Mystery Series which started in September 2013 and takes place in New York . It features expert muffin baker Merry Wynter. Merry is making a fresh start in small-town Autumn Vale, New York, in the mansion she’s inherited from her late uncle, Melvin. The house is run-down and someone has been digging giant holes on the grounds, but with its restaurant-quality kitchen, the place has potential for her new baking business. She even has her first client—the local retirement home....

As Amanda Cooper Victoria writes the Teapot Collecting Mystery Series which starts in June 2014. It's set in New York. Tucked away in the Finger Lakes region of Upstate New York is the charming town of Gracious Grove, where time moves slowly, gossip spreads quickly, and the scones are to die for…. When her fashionable Manhattan restaurant goes under, Sophie Taylor retreats to her grandmother’s cozy shop, Auntie Rose’s Victorian Teahouse, where serenity is steeped to perfection in one of her many antique teapots. The last thing Sophie expects is a bustling calendar of teahouse events... especially murder!

Victoria Hamilton is a pseudonym for national bestselling author Donna Lee Simpson who writes historical romance and paranormal novels.

Freezer I'll Shoot, Victoria Hamilton

Synopsis: Trying to escape her overbearing mother, vintage kitchenware enthusiast and soon-to-be columnist Jaymie Leighton retreats to her family's cottage on Heartbreak Island. While there she hopes to write an article about the Ice House restaurant, owned by good friends and neighbors, siblings Ruby and Garnet Redmond. Once an actual icehouse, the restaurant is charmingly decorated with antique tools of the trade, including a collection of ice picks.

One night, while working on her article, Jaymie overhears an argument and, ever the sleuth, sets out to explore. But when she stumbles upon a dead body her blood runs cold. It's Urban Dobrinskie, whose feud with the Redmonds is no secret, and he's got an ice pick through his heart. Now Jaymie's got to sharpen her sleuthing skills to chip away at the mystery and prove her neighbors' innocence—before someone else gets picked off.

 Thoughts: I love this series more with every installment...hope there is a new one soon!!! Jaymie's love life is nearly getting to be as complicated as the murders she finds herself solving in each book. After meeting Daniel's mother in this book, as well as finding out Daniel has not been sharing major details of his life with her, I'm almost hoping she chooses not to stay with him after the six months they discussed. 

Solving this murder was again, full of twists and turns. Although the actual murder was in fact one of my first suspects, the story had me second guessing myself several times before confirming the truth. Lots of interpersonal relationships, plus you really get a good feel for the area in Michigan where the stories take place

Bowled Over (A Vintage Kitchen Mystery #2), by Victoria Hamilton

Synopsis: Vintage kitchenware and cookbook collector Jaymie Leighton has been estranged from her high school best friend Kathy Cooper since they were teenagers, but she never knew what turned Kathy against her. After fireworks at a Fourth of July picnic, Jaymie discovers the body of her former friend in the park. On the ground nearby is Jaymie's own Depression-era glass bowl, broken in two.

With her fingerprints all over the bowl and a troubled history with the victim, Jaymie suddenly finds herself at the top of the list of suspects. Did the killer intend to frame her for the murder? If so, she is ready to mix it up, because solving crimes is vintage Jaymie Leighton .

Thoughts:  I really love this series. This particular book had so many twists and turns, which made it even more enjoyable. Figuring out "whodunit" was definitely not easy--every time I thought I had it figured out, something happened that made me suspect someone else instead. Jaymie's relationships with the other people in town are blossoming, and I'll be anxious to see what happens with her, Daniel and Zack.  Can't wait to listen to the next one!

A Deadly Grind (A Vintage Kitchen Mystery), by Victoria Hamilton

Synopsis: When vintage cookware and cookbook collector Jaymie Leighton spies an original 1920s Hoosier brand kitchen cabinet at an estate auction, it’s love at first sight. Despite the protests of her sister that the 19th-century yellow-brick house they share in Michigan is already too cluttered with Jaymie’s “junk,” she successfully outbids the other buyers and triumphantly takes home her Hoosier.

But that night on the summer porch where they’ve left the Hoosier to be cleaned up, a man is murdered, struck on the head with  the steel meat grinder that is part of the cabinet. Who is this stranger—and what was he doing on their porch? Does his death have anything to do with the Hoosier?

As the police struggle to determine the man’s identity, Jaymie can’t help doing a little digging on her own, accompanied by her three-legged Yorkie Poo, Hopalong. But in her bid to uncover the truth about the hidden secrets of the Hoosier, Jaymie may be the one who ends up going, going…gone.

Thoughts: Thanks to a Facebook page, I'm discovering many new writers of what are known as "cozy mysteries."  I've read several series of them in the past, but never knew they had a name/genre all their own. This is a good story, and it kept me guessing as to the murderer for most of the story. The interaction between the characters is very believable,and the characters are easy to care about. Looking forward to reading more by this author in the future.