Here Comes the Body and How to Raise an Elephant

 A couple of cozy mysteries - a new series and a favorite long time running series.

Mia's father is part of the Family in Queens, NYC and has just started managing a newly acquired event center. Mia has moved back to Queens from Florida, where her husband is presumed dead and she was a suspect, and she is going to help run the event center with her father while he tries to work a clean business away from the mob's direct control. Once a body is found during a couple of events, it is clear that the local police are going to try and pin the murder on Mia's father due to his ties to the mob.

I really enjoyed this book. The first in a new cozy mystery series and I felt like it was very smart and well written and the mystery was laid out quite well. A lot of room for the characters to grow over the series. And quite a few side stories that will add to the series as well - Mia lives with her Grandmother on a street with many other Italian families and traditions; moving back home and running into old friends and enemies; wanting to avoid local journalists; a realtor trying to relocate all of the older generations out of the street so she can make a profit on selling to younger people.... The list goes on and on and I can't wait to read the next in the series that is out next week! 

Five stars for me.

I really enjoy the laid back atmosphere of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series and I wish I could say the same goes for the audio version of this installment.

The basics of the novel are the same as the rest - tea is had by all, a trip to the orphan farm happens, Mma Makutsi increases her rank in the detective agency and rankles Charlie for just being - but there is a new narrator for this book and she is awful. The way she speaks Grace's and Charlie's parts are horrible. I almost stopped listening and switched to a different version, but I did make it through. I will know not to listen to the next book if the narrator is the same as this one.

Charlie rescues a baby elephant whose mother was killed by poachers and Mma Ramotswe and MR. JLB Mataconi and everyone else try to help the elephant without getting Charlie into trouble. And a distant relative asks Mma Ramotswe for money.

The story was good. The narrator was bad. Three stars for me - mostly due to the narrator.