Review: Dead Sleeping Shaman by Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli

Emily Kincaid settled in what seemed to be a quiet corner of Michigan. There is no lasting peace there as she finds a dead body of a woman who had appeared to be sleeping, a cult-like group descends on the town spouting end of the world rhetoric, and now her best friend and detective Dolly seems to have gone off to join the cult.

Emily is on assignment for the local paper covering ghost towns when she stumbles upon what she takes to be a sleeping woman, but turns out to be a dead woman. She is identified as a shaman from Ohio by her friends. As the mystery progresses, it gets more complicated. Why was this woman here from Ohio? Did she have something to do with the end of the world group? What about her roots in the area? Is that what brought her back?

Emily finds herself smack dab in the middle of the investigation since Dolly has been hanging around at the campground for the "end of the world" group. Add in a politician, a mysterious older woman, and Sister Sally and Brother Righteous from the group and you get quite a  mystery. There are also what seem to be the usual happenings in town. The woman that owns the main restaurant is caught posting someone's family tree without permission. Emily and her dog, Sorrow, romp the land near her home. And the old bachelor nearby to her home seems to have finally found love.

The book starts out good. Then it slows down for a bit. It took persistence to finish it. I wanted to know what was going to happen, but there were times I found myself reading very slowly.

The character of Emily is interesting and is the most fleshed out in the story as the main character. I have the feeling that in the earlier books Dolly is more fleshed out as is their relationship. So, while this book can be read as a standalone, you might get more satisfaction if you've read other books in the series as well. This is the third book in the Emily Kincaid series.

The mysteries themselves have red herrings. You are given everything from Emily's point of view, so you can solve the mysteries along with her, or at least come to similar conclusions.

This book was originally published in May of 2010 by Midnight Ink. This review is of the Kindle edition published December 2016 from Beyond the Page.

I gave this book 4 stars out of 5. Overall I enjoyed it. It was slow in parts, but the events kept me reading. I wanted to know what was going to happen both with the "end of the world" group and with the mystery of the dead sleeping shaman.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Teaser Tuesday: Second Teaser from Dead Sleeping Shaman by Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Ambrosia of The Purplebooker.
Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title and author so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"Poor Jackson" - this said with mock pity,  which seemed to please Sorrow; at least his ears stood up - "to think that I, bitch of the universe, wouldn't aid and abet him in his newly chosen career. I wouldn't throw my hopes to the wind in order to place before the world his stupendous talent. Yet another victim of female selfishness."

~ 40% through on my Kindle

Sorrow is her dog. Jackson is her ex-husband. She is a writer and has submitted her first novel to an agent. Jackson was fishing for the agent's phone number.

What's your teaser this week? Share it or a link in the comments. Are you enjoying your book? Let us know! Happy Reading!

Teaser Tuesday: Dead Sleeping Shaman by Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Ambrosia of The Purplebooker.
Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title and author so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

I got the distinct feeling Crystalline, and maybe Marjory, didn't mean because the world was about to end. There was a much deeper evil at work. Even I could feel it.~ 15% through on my Kindle

Dead Sleeping Shaman, book 3 in the Emily Kincaid series by Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli, was released from Beyond the Page December 1, 2016 in a Kindle edition. A paperback edition was released in May 2010 by Midnight Ink.

What's your teaser this week? Share it or a link in the comments. Are you enjoying your book? Let us know! Happy Reading!

Waiting on Wednesday #167: She Stopped for Death by Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly event hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming releases we are eagerly anticipating. 

Synopsis from Goodreads: 

Jenny Weston and her mother, Dora, have been receiving strange midnight visits. Bear Falls's own elusive and highly secretive poet, Emily Sutton, has lived her life cloistered away with her sister in a house at the edge of Pewee Swamp. But now, Emily's started leaving scraps of poetry in Dora's Little Library, and Dora makes it her mission to befriend the sheltered woman.

Meanwhile Zoe Zola, almost famous author, Little Person, and the Weston's quirky next-door neighbor, is hard at work on a new book, this one about the inner life of Emily Dickinson. And once again, Zoe's literary work starts making uncanny connections with the events in her own world as Emily Sutton reemerges into society. But Zoe begins to suspect things aren't anywhere near normal at Emily's swamp house or in the lives of the people she claims have abandoned her...until looking further into the poet's half-truths leads Zoe and Jenny to a horrible murder.

The chaos surrounding the ensuing investigation grows even more hectic with Emily’s increasingly erratic behavior, the arrival of a young woman searching for her missing poet uncle, and yet another betrayal in Jenny's love life. And only poetry can set the truth free in Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli's charming second Little Library mystery, She Stopped for Death.

She Stopped for Death is due out January 10, 2017 from Crooked Lane Books.

Why am I waiting on this book? I find the Emily Dickinson connection interesting. I've always been a little fascinated by her. And it sounds like a good mystery. 

What book are you waiting on this week? Share it or a link in the comments so we can check it out and maybe add it to our TBR lists. Thanks for coming by and Happy Reading!