Member Reviews
The 6th installment of the Maggie McDonald mystery series. Maggie is a professional organizer and she is headed to Lake Tahoe with her friend Tess Olmos. Maggie and Tess and going to work on cleaning out Tess’s husbands family cabin so they can get ready to sell it. They arrive in a blizzard they did not expect and must park down the street from the cabin and the next day when they are getting everything out of the car Maggie falls and stops herself on the leg of a dead body. Turns out of the neighbors Dev Bailey went missing right after Christmas and has now appeared up. That and several days of terrible storms makes it hard to solve a mystery or declutter a cabin. I found this book fascinating for what happens in an area like Lake Tahoe during terrible winter storms. All the neighbors must pull together to help each other out and all of them are suspects. Maggie’s husband Max and their two boys along with Tess’s son were supposed to come up for the weekend but the storms prevent that from happening so Maggie and Tess are stranded along with all their other neighbors (one of who is the sheriff) and a potential murderer. Another enjoyable mystery in this series. Sleuthing was limited due to the weather but Maggie is able to once again put it all together. I like Maggie is also a really good friend to Tess and her son Teddy. She senses Tess’s heart is not really into selling the cabin and I like how she gives her the freedom to come to the right decision for her and her son. I also was glad that a few of our standard characters like Stephen were able to make an appearance and the whole family did get their ski weekend eventually after the murderer was caught. Really love this series.
4.5 Stars
I thought this book was great. But I felt it was missing the love interest connection since her husband and kids were stuck at home while she waited out the multiple storms.
The premise: Professional organizer, Maggie McDonald travels to her friend's ski cabin in order to assist her with organizing and letting go of all things that had accumulated there over the years. Tess thinks she is ready to move on and put the cabin up for sale. However, the discovery of a dead body in their cul de sac
and the multiple incoming storms gives her time to rethink her decisions.
I am not exactly sure the purpose of this setting and characters. I assume this is just a standalone book in the overall series. But the author had to practically create an entire new cast here in book six of the series. I have not read other books in this collection but I am sure there is a group of original secondary characters who are not being used.
I liked the police detective who just happened to live in the same block. Plus, the sense of community here is great. During storms they have to rely on each other and because of that grow really close.
I think I will need to read other books in the collection to really judge this series fully. I want to experience Maggie in her normal setting.
Overall, it was a wonderful read that gives you a great sense of friendship and closeness between neighbors while keeping us interested in the whodunit.
I received this as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in return for an honest review. I want to thank NetGalley,the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this title.
Maggie McDonald heads to Lake Tahoe ski country to help her friend Tess Olmos organize and prepare her vacation lodge for sale. Plans for a week of work and a weekend of skiing get quickly side tracked after nasty weather blows in and Maggie falls into a snow drift and finds a body!
The community rallies together to get through the blizzard conditions and figure out what happened to the man Maggie has discovered.
I love this series. Mary Feliz is such a smart writer and her books are always so intricate and unusual for cozies. You can tell she puts a lot into her writing and is not just going through the motions. The plot was not predictable and the killer was a surprise until the very end. I think if you are used to just reading traditional mysteries you would enjoy her cozy mystery books.
SNOWED UNDER by Mary Felix is the sixth book in the Maggie McDonald cozy mystery series. This is the second book in the series that I have read. A few of the same characters from book five showed up, but there were largely new secondary characters since this one does not take place in Maggie’s home town.
Maggie McDonald is a professional organizer and agrees to help her friend Tess de-clutter her Lake Tahoe home in advance of selling it. However, when Maggie ends up finding a body in a snowdrift upon arrival at the ski cabin, nothing goes as planned. Instead of decluttering, Maggie goes into amateur sleuth mode and tries to find the killer. But suspects are abundant, and clear answers are few.
The prose is entertaining and engaging. The plot is interesting and steady-paced. The ending was somewhat forced and unrealistic. Additionally, the local police chief was too accommodating to Maggie and her friends’ efforts to solve the case. The dogs were an excellent addition to the story.
Several themes run through the story line including human trafficking, drugs, murder, blizzards, power outages, neighbor helping neighbor and much more. Overall, the book was fun and entertaining. I recommend this series to those that enjoy cozy mysteries and I recommend reading the series in order.
Thanks to Kensington Books and Mary Felix for a complimentary ARC of this novel via NetGalley and the opportunity to provide an honest review. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way.
Snowed Under is an entertaining and well written cozy mystery. Good plot. Quirky characters and a great setting. Mystery fans will love this book. I received an arc from the publisher and this is my unbiased review.
I've only read 1 other book in this series, but still wish I had read the others to better understand the characters, this was a good read and I definitely felt the cold in the story that kept me guessing.
When Maggie McDonald volunteered to join her friend Tess to begin a pre-sale decluttering of Tess's Lake Tahoe home, she didn't know that the beautiful mountain resort town held so many dark secrets. After Maggie discovers a body frozen in a snow drift, she has no choice but to put her declutter project on hold. When a blizzard closes the Donner pass, nobody can get in or out of town., Trapped in Lake Tahoe with a murderer on the loose is not the weekend Maggie had been looking forward to.
In "Snowed Under," Book Six in the Maggie McDonald series, Maggie slips comfortably back into her amateur sleuth role as she navigates the slippery slope of a sleepy little ski resort town with too many suspects and not enough answers. This latest release from Mary Feliz is as warm and cozy as a mug of steaming hot chocolate in front of a blazing fireplace.
I received an eARC of Snowed Under by Mary Feliz from Kensington Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!
I give this book 5 stars! This was my first book in this series. I felt like perhaps I would have benefited from reading the others. I enjoyed this mystery and will read the others. Highly recommend! The puppers on the cover don't hurt either.
Snowed Under is a great addition to this series by Mary Feliz.
Professional Organizer Maggie McDonald is heading for the slopes with her friend Tess, who needs Maggie's help to prepare her winter home for sale.
Driving through white out conditions in an unknown area has Maggie clutching the steering wheel in fear, but once she reaches her destination, she feels the tension slowly dissolve, knowing the worst has past.
Poor Maggie! Stumbling upon a body is not part of the plan, but when she discovers the body of a neighbor who has been missing, her investigative instincts kick in and she can't resist getting involved.
I loved the characters in this story, and the snow storms added some intensity to the story.
cozy-mystery, mountains, snow-season, dogs, suspense
I get the feeling that I might have appreciated it better if I had read one or two of the earlier books in the series. Upon arriving at her friend's vacation home in a wealthy area of near Tahoe in the midst of a blizzard where Maggie discovers the frozen body of a nearby resident who went missing a couple of months ago. Turns out that he had a meeting with a blunt instrument to the skull elsewhere and was moved to where he was found. Much conflicting information is uncovered as well as red herrings and plot twists. Very interesting!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Kensington Books via NetGalley.
Maggie McDonald and her best friend Tess head to Tahoe to clean out and prepare Tess’ family vacation home for sale. Arriving amid a snow storm, the two get themselves and the dogs to the safety of the house and leave the car for after the storm. With the fire blazing in the hearth and the dawning of a new day after the storm they head out to unload the car. As a flatlander, one not accustomed to live in the mountains and snow, Maggie struggles to stay upright and ends up falling and sliding down the hill, only to find a leg sticking out in the snow. She and Tess call the police and find out it is a neighbor who has been missing for a couple of months. When it is confirmed as murder, Tess and Maggie look at every neighbor, including the widow, to find out who dunit. With more snow storms brewing, it’s not just Mother Nature that threatens their lives as they dig deeper. A good whodunit that keeps you turning the pages and guessing until the end. A series with six books to date, this would be a good one to add to your reading list as you can catch up with them while waiting for book seven to come out.
Regardless of season when you snuggle in to read this thrilling combination of cozy mystery and police procedural, you had best bring a blanket. You will find yourself chilled to the bone!
Headed up to a family home for a few days, to clean, declutter and prepare to sell, after the death of Tess's husband, after which Maggie is looking forward to a family ski weekend.
What they didn't plan upon arrival has a major impact on the days to come.
A neighbor had gone missing, only for his body to reappear in a snowbank, discovered by Maggie and Tess. You know they can not stop themselves from being dead center of this investigation.
Attempting to track down the big three (motive, means and opportunity) is more difficult when you add in the weather and the fact that almost everyone in town has access to snow removal equipment.
There are some "heavier themes" in this book (than previous books in series) as extended crimes move into the area, but it still has the same great characters. The dogs are wonderful, the friendships strong. The central focus is finding a killer, or discovering what happened to the neighbor.
While you may appreciate it more if you have read earlier books in series, I feel it stands well on its own two feet. The writing will make you feel cold, as if you are dashing through the snow rightbeside Maggie, Tess and other investigators.
Maggie and her friend Tess are at the mountain cabin near Lake Tahoe. A horrible storm hits and makes life harder. When a body is found in the snow, it takes a turn again. The first I've read in the series, so may be why I did not get into this as much. The author kept referring back to a previous murder, and it was hard to keep track of the many characters here and back home, their neighbors and family. The book started out fine, but then seemed to surge ahead with Maggie deciding she had to investigate. Not sure why. She didn't know these people, nor was from there. Why not let the police do their job? Just saying. A little over halfway, I started to skim a bit, but did stay interested enough to the end. Would recommend, with 3.5, especially if you have read others in the series.
This book could do with a bit of though editing. There are some things that don't quite make sense such as Tess and Maggie leaving groceries in the car when arriving and yet they pull cheese and crackers out of the fridge. At a vacation home that had not been stayed in in weeks. The mention of parking the car kept kept changing and made it difficult to visualize. I think the thing that most set wrong with me is that this series is not really a cozy mystery series. I have read the previous books and it has finally hit me that ll of them have the basis ofr a cozy and yet bring bring in heavier themes. such as organized crime. This book to me was the same as ll the previous books in that Maggie gets involved in a mystery, there is some ramped up notion of danger and her law enforcement buddies show up to create a big deal. This was not much different than book 5 in this series, just a a different location.