Welcome to my stop on the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour for A Basket Case (Maddie Sparks Mystery Series) by Lesley A Diehl! Today we are featuring a review of the second book in this cozy mystery series. Stop by each blog on the tour for interviews, guest posts, spotlights, reviews, and more!  There is also a Rafflecopter Giveaway for a paperback copy of A Basket Case. ENTER HERE!

A Basket Case (Maddie Sparks Mystery Series)
Cozy Mystery
2nd in Series
Setting – Upstate New York
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Camel Press (November 12, 2024)
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 250 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1684922208
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1684922208
Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0D4MWFWSP

About the Book:

Maddie Sparks believes she has found the perfect balance in her life-Zack, the man she loves, a book she loves writing and volunteer work at a local museum with a granddaughter she adores. An old flame from Zack’s past arrives and drives a wedge into Maddie and Zack’s romance, her writing stalls and someone murders the museum’s director just as the museum is about to return a collection of Native American artifacts to the Onondaga and Oneida nations. Standing over the dead body of the museum director is an Indigenous man from neither group who insists one of the baskets in the collection belongs to his family. The authorities believe he is the killer, but Maddie does not. With her love life on hold, Maddie and her granddaughter set out to identify the killer, but their search reveals thefts at the museum and a two-hundred-year-old family secret that is the key to the motivation behind the killing. When Maddie uncovers the history behind the feud over the basket, she knows the identity of the killer, making Maddie his next target.

My Review:

A bit over seventy years young, Maddie Sparks is a retired librarian, cozy mystery author and now romance author. I am so glad to be back with Maddie in a second adventure, and I am especially delighted that this mystery features her close relationship with her granddaughter Sara. I love grandmother/granddaughter relationships in my books, and this is such a great relationship – respectful, warm and so loving. It makes me miss my grandmothers because I know they would have been fun to sleuth with. 

The plot is strong, and I was fascinated about the Native American rights and artifacts that are a focus in the story. I have read a few other books with this topic as part of the story and it is something I did not know much about before. I am always glad to learn more. 

The mystery has lots of twists and turns, and I found myself suspecting just about everyone I encountered!  Well-developed characters (as I mentioned Sara and Maddie are my favorite) are central to the storytelling, and it was interesting to learn more about Zack’s past. There are moments of humor sprinkled throughout that had me chuckling out loud as I read.

Such a well-done series and I think I might like this one even more than the first and I loved the first!  

About the Author:

Cows, Lesley learned growing up on a farm, have a twisted sense of humor. They chased her when she herded them in for milking, and one ate the lovely red mitten her grandmother knitted for her. Determining that agriculture wasn’t a good career choice, instead, she uses her country roots and her training as a psychologist to concoct stories designed to make people laugh in the face of murder. Unusual protagonists appear in many of Lesley’s works including Desdemona the crime-fighting potbellied pig, a hobo turned county sheriff and Lesley’s zany back-home-on-the-farm relatives (The Killer Wore Cranberry, all six anthologies). She is the author of several cozy mystery series (The Eve Appel Mysteries, Laura Murphy Mysteries, The Big Lake Murder Mysteries, and her newest, Maddie Sparks Mysteries, featuring a senior sleuth and her rescue cat). Her cozy mysteries have won several Readers’ Favorite Awards and a short story Sleuthfest Award. Find out more at her website. 

Author Links:

Blog 

Facebook

GoodReads 

Amazon

Purchase Links: – Amazon – B&N – Kobo  – Bookshop.org – 

TOUR PARTICIPANTS:

• December 6 – MJB Reviewers – SPOTLIGHT
• December 7 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT
• December 8 – Rebecca M. Douglass, Author – REVIEW
• December 9 – Sarah Can’t Stop Reading Books – REVIEW
• December 10 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
• December 11 – Guatemala Paula Loves to Read  – REVIEW
• December 12 – Deal Sharing Aunt – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
• December 13 – Jody’s Bookish Haven – SPOTLIGHT  
• December 14 – Reading Authors Network – AUTHOR GUEST POST
• December 14 – Frugal Freelancer – CHARACTER GUEST POST
• December 15 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
• December 16 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
• December 16 – Ascroft, eh? – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
• December 17 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW
• December 17 – Cozy Up WIth Kathy – CHARACTER GUEST POST
• December 18 – Books, Ramblings, and Tea – SPOTLIGHT
• December 19 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – AUTHOR GUEST POST

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