This was a great debut and first in a new cozy mystery series. I really liked that this had an older protagonist and that she was paired up with her adult daughter to solve the murder. Their relationship was really great to follow. I also enjoyed the paranormal elements in this cozy.

The mystery itself was interesting and was a hard guess. I was suspicious of the character who did it but hadn't figured it out by the reveal. It was simply an enjoyable cozy mystery,

Overall, I really enjoyed this one and will continue on with this series. I definitely recommend this to any cozy mystery lovers.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and Netgalley for the audio arc of this book!

I loved this book!! I could not put this down!! I loved all the twists and turns! I can’t wait for the next one to come out in the series!! An absolute must read!!

Thank you Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for the ALC.

Story: 🌟🌟🌟
Narration: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Overall: 🌟🌟🌟

Hammers and Homicide is the first in a new cozy mystery series. It follows sexagenarian widow, Dawna, who is running a hardware store alone. When her daughter moves back to town, Dawna thinks she has her hands full. Then she finds a body in the bathroom of the store.

Hammers and Homicide is a solid opener to a series. I am interested in seeing where the story goes. I loved Dawna and her daughter’s relationship. I look forward to read more about them!

ALC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

🚨 New Cozy Mystery Series Alert! 🚨

Running a hardware store can be a tough job in its own right, throw in a dead body and it becomes almost impossible! With her business on the line, Dawna Carpenter takes matters into her own hands! The issue? She uncovers way more than she bargained for!

🔨 Hardware Store
🫶 Family
🔍 Amateur Sleuth
🏡 Small Town
💀 Murder
📚 Cozy Mystery
🔐 Secrets

Full of twists and turns that kept me guessing until the last page! Super excited to see where the Hometown Hardware Mystery Series will go from here!

Method Read: 🎧
Petrea Burchard did a fantastic job bringing the story to life!

Thank you Dreamscape Media for the ALC!

I feel as though I just read, “Every Tired Cliché For Dummies.” Every-other paragraph had another tired cliché and then the author insults the reader by explaining what the cliché meant! The characters were immature and completely inappropriate for their age category. To clarify, that means a 50+ year old acted like a 12-year-old. And it was not entertaining.

The book felt like it was a first attempt by a teenager. Poorly written, overly descriptive of things that did nothing to contribute to the story, and ridiculous speech patters by someone who is supposed to be a senior adult. Throw in some well fumbled ghostly visits and truly, it was awful.

While I forced myself to finish, I greatly regret it. Dreadful waste of time.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for providing me a free audioARC in exchange for an honest review.

Hammers and Homicides has everything you could want from a cosy mystery - the small town setting and MC of an older age creates the perfect atmosphere and calm backdrop to the shocking death of a not-so-beloved newcomer to town.

Dawna’s relationship with the town, the people and her daughter especially make for an enjoyable read and the homely feeling the author creates thanks to her constant mention of food is warm and soothing.

Ultimately, it’s a great mystery and would easily have been 4/5 stars for me were it not for the addition of a borderline supernatural storyline involving her husband and cat.

Hammers and Homicide is the first novel in a smalltown cozy shopfront cozy mystery series by Paula Charles. Released 16th Jan. 2024 by Crooked Lane Books, it's 288 pages and currently available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. Paperback format due out in 1st quarter 2025 from the same publisher. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links.

This is a warm and quirky smalltown shopfront cozy with a 60something female amateur sleuth and her daughter (who has moved back to town to keep an eye on her widowed mom). It's set in the Pacific Northwest and the author does a good job with setting and descriptive prose. As with nearly all smalltown cozies, it's full of eccentric characters and light-hearted dialogue.

The setup and murder are over-the-top, but not unusually so for a cozy mystery. The late unlamented victim is a thoroughly unlikable cad with the sunny disposition of a moray eel. As with the genre, the violence occurs off-page, and the language is clean throughout. There are some fairly major oddities/plot holes which will presumably be tied up in a future installment, but readers should be aware the entire solution is not forthcoming in this book.

Additionally, there's a significant paranormal aspect with full dialogue between the MC and her 3-years-departed husband. Her deceased cat also shows up. Neither of these plot elements are fully explored and it's never clear if it really is a paranormal element or wishful thinking on the part of the MC.

The unabridged audiobook has a run time of 7 hours, 26 minutes and is read by Petrea Burchard. She has a raspy alto voice with a midwestern burr, and although her voice in some characters was a bit rough (abrasive?) it doesn't overpower the read. She does a fair job of delineating the different characters (although some of them have an odd western/Texas twang which was a little out of place), they're easy to keep distinct from one another. Sound and production quality were high throughout the read.

Three and a half stars (given the genre). It would make a good bus/commute read or a buddy read. Quite promising, especially given that it's a debut novel from a new author. Dinged a bit for the unresolved plot elements (registered letter that's never followed up, and paranormal bits).

Hammers and Homicide
by Paula Charles narrated by Petrea Burchard


A new series by a new author and what a way to start! After the last word of the book was spoken, I immediately wanted the next in the series. Alas, this series is fresh off the press. So, there will be quite a bit of waiting to go.

Hammers and Homicide is the first in the Hometown Hardware mystery series. The main character is a recently widowed woman named Dawna who owns a hardware store that she opened with her husband.

I loved that the author jumped into the story and you learned about the characters as the story progressed. Instead of giving a detailed backstory about the main character first. You meet many of the townsfolk and learn about their quirks and foibles.

There is a very small hint of paranormal to the story as Dawna does feel like the ghost of her deceased husband is still with her. She feels like she smells him around her. She talks to him regularly. Because of this, her kids think she is going a little wonky in her old age and decide that one of them has to move back in with her.

I had trouble getting to sleep last night because I didn't want to stop listening. I finally had to force myself to stop just so I could get some sleep. You know a book is good when you don't want to put it down.

I found out that Paula Charles has another book coming out in March 2024 in a new series under the name of Janna Rollins. That cozy mystery series looks to be about a goat yoga instructor. I look forward to listening to that book and any other book that this author puts out in the future.


Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for gifting me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an open and honest review.

Dawna is doing her best to keep the hardware store open and to keep her children from thinking that she is loosing it. When a murder occurs at her shop and then another one close by she feels that she needs to do something so that things can get back to normal again. This was an interesting start to a series and there are definitely openings for things to look forward to seeing how they pan out in the next one.

I enjoyed this book, it was a good light read and an great little cozy mystery. The characters are compelling, and I'm interested to see where the slight supernatural theme goes in future books. This got me through a cold day with the power out, and I appreciate it.

I adored this book. An older FMC. a cozy mystery. And a hardware store. Add in a slight paranormal aspect. And I'm all in.

This is a great first book in a new series. I found myself flying through it. The setting was great, the characters were likeable, and the storyline was fast paced. The narrator did a fabulous job. I loved the relationship between Dawna (MC) and April, her daughter. It was really nice to see a good relationship between the two, where they actually enjoyed spending time together and had fun.

Since her husband's passing, Dawna has assumed the responsibility of the hardware store they owned together. She is learning how to manage everything when she finds the body of a real estate developer in the bathroom she shares with her neighbor, Darlene. The local detective will not let her open up her shop until the murder is solved, which gives Dawnya some serious incentive to solve the murder.

I was not expecting the ghost presence component of her late husband and cat. It was a nice addition to the story.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

If you enjoy cozies set in small towns with a quirky main character, you will enjoy Hammers and Homicide, the first book in a new cozy mystery series.

Dawna Carpenter is around 60 and has been widowed for a few years. She now runs the local hardware store in Pine Bluffs, Oregon, with just one other employee. A land/real estate developer, Warren Highcastle, has come to town to renovate their historic opera house into a hotel. When he is found murdered in the bathroom connected to the hardware store, Dawna decides to “help” the police in their investigation.

I enjoyed the character of Dawna, who is a bit clumsy and not exactly a model housekeeper or cook. She feels a bit guilty over the high fat convenience foods she used to feed her husband (he died of a heart attack), but she hasn’t changed her eating habits yet. There is a smidge of possible paranormal activity, in that she senses her husband’s presence sometimes, smelling his scent of sawdust and coffee. She also sees visions of their former cat, Lilac. Perhaps this aspect will be further developed in future books in the series. Another nice aspect was April, Dawna’s youngest daughter, who has returned to live in Pine Bluff and restores old furniture. Their banter was fun and it was nice to read about a positive mother-daughter relationship.

I bounced between the audiobook and the ebook for this title, which was very convenient. The audiobook was nicely narrated by Petrea Burchard, a new-to-me narrator.

Thank you to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance reader copy of this book and to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to an advance copy of this audiobook. All opinions are my own.

So anyone who knows me knows I am a sucker for cozy mysteries! This one was perfect! I loved it!
This is a small-town cozy mystery where we start with Dawna who is in her sixties and
the owner of a small-town local hardware store. She lost her husband and she misses him a lot but, she also talks out loud to him as well. One morning she is waiting for her employee to arrive at work, and while he is not normally running late she goes about normal business in the store when her daughter comes by and asks her to watch the store while she runs to the bathroom. However, she is surprised to see a man murdered in the bathroom that she shares with the next-door store. Shocked she has her daughter call the police and her employee finally arrives at work.
The police make her close her store and the store next to her because it is now a crime scene. Dawna sets her mind to help solve the murder when her best friend's husband is the one that they arrest for the murder. Dawna along with her daughter started asking questions around town and learning many different things! Things start to get heated with threats and different twists and turns in the investigation and another murder happens at the hardware store!
This is a cute debut small-town cozy mystery and it's really good! I loved it and finished it in the afternoon! I would like to extend my gratitude to Netgally and Dreamscape Media for the opportunity to listen to this one! The narrator was awesome and fit the story very well! I enjoyed it!

📖: Hammers and Homicide
✍️: Paula Charles
🎙: Petrea Burchard
⭐️: 3 of 5
🎧: 4 of 5

My Thoughts:

This wasn't my favorite cozy mystery and honestly left me a bit disappointed. Being that this is a debut novel, I would try this author again.

Pros:
- Good writing
- Great Narration
- Likeable characters

Cons:
- Lots of spirit/ghost talk. To the point it turned me off to the book I general. I felt it was maybe setting us up for her husband to actually be alive, but that never happened. There was so much ghost talk that it really took up most of the book.

- The story was kind of all over the place and seemed to be a bit lacking in the middle. I felt like we found out the mystery and then jumped right to the end.

Thank you, NetGalley, and Dreamscape Media for the opportunity to listen and review this advanced copy.

I really liked the premise of this story - a quaint murder mystery set in a sleepy town - but unfortunately, I was left disappointed. The numerous "ghost" moments were just irritating as it was never made clear if Dawna's husband or cat Lilac really were ghosts in her home or not - and even more irritating was the fact that this paranormal aspect, which takes up a lot of the story, was never mentioned once in the book description. It also felt as though 30-50% of the novel was missing as we moved from Dawna's brief investigations to the climax of the story so abruptly that I actually rewound the audiobook to make sure that I hadn't accidentally skipped a chapter or six. There were no suggestions or hints as to the killer's identity until they were suddenly revealed, and even then, I found it incredibly difficult to believe that that character was actually the killer. In addition, there are still numerous unanswered questions that made the book feel half-finished, such as the issue with the bank contacting Dawna multiple times about a loan that had been taken out on her store - despite this being mentioned in many chapters, it was never resolved one way or the other. In fact, the only reason I am giving this novel two stars instead of one is because of its potential. The beginning was interesting and the possible motives were intriguing, yet ultimately, this book disappointed me greatly as that potential wasn't followed through.

Rating: 3.5

The writing is good, the characters are interesting and the mystery is a mystery. There is an unexpected and pervasive element that for me in small doses is fine and sometimes cute, but in this story just was a bit too much for me. You decide for yourself if it is for you. I am being a little vague here because I don’t want to give too much away.

Mother and Daughter, Dawna and April were a hoot!. It was endearing how they playfully teased each other. I laughed out laud at the “Bossy Cow” comment. I’m thinking April and I could be fast-friends, especially if we go out for BBQ French Fries! LOL

Sheriff JT Dallas - well - April has a crush, he sings, plays the guitar, and seems to be good at his job. Is there romance in the future for him and April??

The story ended with a thing or two unresolved. Perhaps intentional, perhaps an oversight, or perhaps will play heavily into the next book. We’ll have to wait to see.

Overall, a good read with potential for new stories.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the opportunity to do an early read and share my thoughts on the story.
Happy Reading!

Love, love, love this audiobook. The story and how it all flowed together kept me on the edge of my car seat driving to and from work. This was a first for this author and will definitely listen again. Thank you for the opportunity.

This is Paula Charles's debut cozy mystery, and she knocked it out of the park. I love the fact that her main character, Dawna, is starting a new chapter in her life after her husband passed away. She is still running their hardware store, and she reminded me a lot of my Nonnie. Tough, loving, and always willing to fix the problems herself. Her dry sense of humor and sarcastic comments to herself made me snort with laughter. I love her relationship with her daughter. It felt real. It wasn't a perfect relationship, they would pick at each other but you knew that the love was there.

The descriptions of the book were fantastic. I could really picture the shop, her beautiful house, and I was able to get a good picture of the town, though I can't wait to find out more about all of the shops. I'm not going to go too into the mystery because what fun is that? However, I will say that I didn't guess the whodunnit. So there is that. I highly recommend this book.

I received an ALC on Netgalley for the audiobook and it was wonderful! The narrator was fantastic!

If you are looking for a new small town cozy mystery this is an enjoyable one. This is the first in a series and is set in a small town family owned hardware store.

Dawna is running Carpenter's Corner hardware store since the death of her husband Bill. When Warren Hardcastle, a developer that is in town trying to acquire the town's historic theater, is found murdered in the store Dawna starts to poke around. Her goal is to figure out who killed him so she can reopen the store. Her daughter April joins her in asking questions around town. But can they figure it out before someone else dies?