The venue is set, invitations sent, and the flowers ordered. It’s almost time for Fiona and Nathan to get married…again. What could possibly go wrong?
Welcome to one of the February 1st stops on the Matrimony, Mayhem, and Murder tour with iRead Book Tours (schedule linked) and C.S. McDonald. Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for spotlights, excerpts, exclusive content from the author, many reviews of several Fiona Quinn books, and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.
This is my second of three stops on this tour! Come back tomorrow for a three pack of mini-mistery reviews for Fiona Quinn Quick Mystery audiobooks 2-4 and check out yesterday’s post for my 5-star review of Mambo and Murder.
Please note that this post contains affiliate links, which means there is no additional cost to you if you shop using my links, but I will earn a small percentage in commission. A program-specific disclaimer is at the bottom of this post.
About the Book
Matrimony, Mayhem, and Murder
Fiona Quinn Mysteries Book 10
by C.S. McDonald
Print/eBook
Published 9 November 2021
McWriter Books
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Page Count: 220
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!
The venue is set, invitations sent, and the flowers ordered. It’s almost time for Fiona and Nathan to get married…again. What could possibly go wrong? Nothing…well, until the wedding planner is found dead.
Then the woman Fiona has never met shows up–Nathan’s enigmatic mom, Rita Landry. And she’s wearing a gorgeous but mysterious necklace. Worse, Rita is being followed by two sinister-looking men, forcing her to flee the country. And who gets dragged along? None other than the bride-to be! How does a girl prepare for all of that? Looks like Fiona’s perfectly planned matrimony has morphed into mayhem and murder!
You’re formally invited to Fiona and Nathan’s wedding. Question is: Will the wedding happen?
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My Review
My Rating: 5 Stars
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I was granted complimentary audiobook access to Matrimony, Mayhem, and Murder by C.S. McDonald as part of my participation in a blog tour for this title with iRead Book Tours. Thank you to all involved in affording me this opportunity! My thoughts are my own and my review is honest.
The day of Fiona’s and Nathan’s (second, not-so-elopey) wedding is drawing near and their parents have descended upon them. Fiona’s parents come bearing 22 Yorkshire Terriers (5, actually, but Fiona exaggerates.) Nathan’s mother comes with a peculiar necklace and some very Russian shadows. Oh, and Fiona’s brother Chad is mistakenly arrested for murder! Will it all work out? Will the wedding go off without a hitch?
It turns out Nathan comes by his detective skills honestly! Err, well, perhaps “honestly” isn’t the word. I know I’ve rated every book in this series 4 or 5 stars so far and raved that “this one is the best yet” but really, this one is the best yet. We get a little 007, visit England, tiptoe around family secrets on both sides of the Fiona-Nathan marriage, and overall just have a lot of fun. Once again I felt like I was one step ahead of Fiona most of the way, but I don’t mind that in a cozy mystery. They’re supposed to be fun and relaxing, right? McDonald does a great job of handing the reader just enough information to let you solve the mystery before Fiona does in a way that doesn’t seem dumbed down or presented on a silver platter. The pieces are there to fit together if you choose, and it’s no thousand-piece jigsaw, but if you want to suspend your critical thinker and be surprised you have that option as well.
I do wish this one already had an audiobook available by the time I signed on to the tour because it just doesn’t seem right listening to the dialogue in my own inner reading voice and not Maren’s, but it was an easy, quick read none the less. Thanks again for the opportunity!
As always, I’d like to comment that all of McDonald’s cozy mysteries stand alone quite well and you don’t absolutely have to read each series in order, but with each series, I do strongly recommend reading the first book first so that you can get all the character backstory and world-building details needed in a first book and meet these characters as they were meant to be introduced.
About the Author
For twenty-six years C.S. McDonald’s life whirled around a song and a dance. Classically trained at Pittsburgh Ballet Theater School, The Pittsburgh Dance Alloy, and many others, she became a professional dancer and choreographer. During that time, she choreographed many musicals and an opera for the Pittsburgh Savoyards. In 2011 she retired from her dance career to write. Under her real name, Cindy McDonald, she writes murder-suspense and romantic suspense novels. In 2014 she added the pen name, C.S. McDonald, to write children’s books for her grandchildren. In 2016 she added the Fiona Quinn Mysteries to that expansion. She decided to write the cozy mystery series that everyone, including teens and tweens, can read and enjoy. Presently, the Fiona Quinn Mysteries nine books with a tenth slated for 2021. The books are also available on audio, narrated by Maren Swenson Waxenberg. Cindy’s newest venture is The Owl’s Nest Mysteries. Once again, she has set her cozy mystery in Pittsburgh. The female protagonist, Alexa Owl, is much different from Fiona Quinn. The Owl’s Next Mysteries has a little grit, a little time travel, a little romance, and a whole lot of cozy! Ms. McDonald resides on her Thoroughbred farm known as Fly by Night Stables near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with her husband, Bill, and her poorly behaved Cocker Spaniel, Allister.
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Giveaway Alert!
Autographed copy of MATRIMONY, MAYHEM, AND MURDER (a Fiona Quinn Mystery), plus a delightful book bag (one winner) (USA only) (ends Feb 11)
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