Things Are About To Get Messy…
The second in The Journaling Mysteries and Mandy Meadows is out to clear her friends name at whatever cost. Things are about to get messy. Another engaging instalment in this series with a likeable protagonist, a credible cast of characters and an intriguing plot in which difficult and distressing themes are dealt well with sleight of hand.

I loved the first book in this series and I loved this one.
It's a great story that mixes cozy mystery tropes with some serious issues and I loved how the author made it work and always kept the tone light.
The mystery is solid, full of twists and turns, and it kept me guessing.
Can't wait to read the next installment.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

A good man is hard to find in this book, but there are plenty of stalkers, creepers, abusers, and jerks. When I first started reading this book by Heather Redmond, I thought it was going to be something like Diane Mott Davidson's Goldy Schultz series with basically a cozy mystery touching on some serious subjects, such as Goldy's abusive ex-husband. However, in "Tattooed to Death", there is nothing cozy to be found. I would be moving to a new town if I were the main character, Mandy Meadows, since she seems to be surrounded by despicable people. There is just too much going on in this short novel so any impact that the topics of staking and abuse might have are lost. Mandy's tenant, Justin, seems to be the exception, but Mandy hesitates to date him in case something goes sour with their relationship since he would still be sharing her home.

The highlight of the book to me is Mandy's relationship with her teenaged daughter Vellum. The mother and daughter work together on their journaling blog and seem to really enjoy spending time together. I really like their scenes together and Vellum is actually my favorite character in the book. There is a diverse group of characters in the book, but I couldn't connect with most of them. I didn't read the prior book in the series, so maybe that would have helped me to get to know the other main characters better. For the murder mystery portion of the book, Mandy's friend is the prime suspect in a murder prompting Mandy to conduct her own investigation. Mandy uncovers other suspects, many of whom are logical, and she does a good job of uncovering important clues. However, the ultimate solution seems to come out of nowhere with no clues foreshadowing the terrible thing that motivates the killer.

The thing that first caught my attention in the description of the book is Mandy's journaling. The book includes a lot of interesting information about the blogging Mandy does about her journaling but not a lot of details about the journaling itself. I was intrigued, but couldn't visualize what she was doing with stickers, drawings, and writing journal entries. I like the premise of the book and like Mandy and Vellum, but ultimately there is just too much negativity and too many unlikable characters for me to fully enjoy the story.

I received this ebook from NetGalley through the courtesy of Severn House. An advance copy was provided to me at no cost, but my review is voluntary and unbiased.

This is the second book in the series " The Journaling Mysteries" by cozy author Heather Redmond. I read the first in series and loved the charcters and the sleuth. Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for the opportunity. I highly recommend this charming cozy series.

In this second in series we return to Mandy who is a successful journaling blogger. Mandy is also a Barista at a hospital , a single Mom and making a living with the help of her popular journal video blogging business. I like how the author portrays Mandy as independent and hard working as well as creative. When her friend Reese finds a body of a woman she had a disagreement with, Mandy steps up to investigate to save her friend who is the prime suspect. Mandy knows Reese as a fellow blogger and is sure she is innocent. Her investigative skills take her through red herrings and clues abound until she solves the mysterious murder of the unpleasant victim who had disagreements with many people.

This is a excellent cozy series with a well crafted sleuth, likable charcters and fast paced writing. I look forward to the third in series.

While Tattooed to Death by Heather Redmond is a cozy mystery, it actually touches on some very tough topics, and I applaud Redmond for incorporating them into the second book in the Journaling Mysteries.

It was wonderful to catch up with Mandy, her daughter, Vellum, and Mandy’s two friends, Reese and Linda. Redmond’s writing really shines when it comes to relationships. She’s created a group of woman that are caring and uplifting to each other. And how can you not love a neighbor that constantly brings over brownies?!? But the relationships are not all happy go lucky all the time, and Redmond can also write conflict in a very believable way too.

The heavier topics that are examined deal with ex-husbands who are horrible narcissists, teenage relationships, unwanted advances from men, stalking, and more. While these are heavy topics, Redmond is able to weave them into the story in a way that makes perfect sense and gives the reader something to think about, but doesn’t weigh the story down so you’re bawling your eyes out.

The killer does kind of come out of nowhere, but I am fine with that. Life is unpredictable and fiction can be as well. I like that the romantic angle shows that Mandy really is thinking about what’s best for her and Vellum, but I just hope that the uncertainty doesn’t linger for many more books. While I think romance can enhance cozies, I’m not a huge fan of the will they/won’t they (or love triangles), but that is just a personal quirk.
Tattooed to Death is another great addition to the Journaling Mysteries, and I am looking forward to book three.

'Tattooed to Death' is the second book by Heather Redmond in the 'A Journaling Mystery' series. The novel features Mandy Meadows, a barista and journaling blogger who discovers the body of a murdered woman in the hospital carpark on her way home from work.
Mandy soon realises that the victim is Coral Le Charme, a new massage therapist at the hospital and to Mandy's horror, her good friend, Reese is shortly arrested for Coral's murder. As Mandy tries to investigate, she soon discovers that Reese and Coral knew each other far better than they ever admitted and that Coral may have had several enemies.
There is a diverse and intriguing range of characters in the story, many having a different connection, or potential connection to Coral and this adds to the tension, along with adding extra layers to the plotline. The journaling element proved to be an unusual hook and for this reason caught my attention as I do not journal myself and wanted to learn more.
I did feel a little disconnect towards the ending, when the killer is revealed as there were many 'red herrings' and suspects but this particular one seemed to come out of nowhere. Though, I guess that's the surprise twist in the tale.
Thank you to Netgalley, Severn House Publishers and Heather Redmond for providing me with a free copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Diverse cast of characters were enjoyable. Mandy Meadows is a interesting and likable MC. All the characters seem to be well developed. I did not know who the murderer was until the end. Overall a good Cozy Mystery with fun characters. I really don’t understand the title of the book and how that is related to the story.
#TattooedtoDeath #NetGalley

Tattooed to Death is a fun mystery with a solid ending. I liked the diverse cast of characters. The scrapbooking hook was nice and different. The main character and her friends were likable and interesting.

The use of American English vocabulary with British punctuation in a book set in Seattle was jarring at first but did not detract from the overall story. For a book with 'tattoo' in the title, I was surprised how little tattoos figured into the overall plot, and that there were several common misconceptions about the tattooing process.

The mystery progressed at a good pace, interwoven with scrapbooking and food. The killer did come as a surprise, which is always a fun bonus in a mystery.

Tattooed to Death
by Heather Redmond
Severn House
Severn House Publishers
Mystery & Thrillers
Pub Date 05 Jan 2020


I am reviewing a copy of Tattooed to Death through Severn House Publishers and Netgalley:


Mandy Meadows is a single Mom barista and journaling video blogger extraordinaire, she finds herself distracted from her shift in the University of Seattle Hospital coffee bar when her friend , nurse as we,l as fellow journaling video blogger Reese O’Leary-Sett , receives a massage from hell at the hands of Coral Le Charme, the hospital’s new massage therapist. The concerns over Coral’s dubious skills becomes the least of Mandy’s worries after she finds a dead body by a dumpster later that evening.





Now they must find out, what the dark secrets were that Coral was hiding. Thankfully Mandy’s tenant homicide detective Justin Ahola, is on the case. He has Reese firmly in his sights.






Mandy digs deeper into Coral’s life, determined to help her friend, and in doing so she makes some discoveries that alarm her.




Can Mandy Meadows clear Reese’s name and bring a killer to justice?



I give Tattooed to Death, five out of five stars!