In the 3rd installment in Christin Brecher’s Nantucket Candle Maker Mystery series, 15 Minutes of Flame, Nantucket Candleer Stella Wright is once again in the thick of an active murder investigation.

In the back of an old Nantucket home where the Nantucket Girl Scouts are preparing to host a Halloween Fundraiser, Stella Wright decides to explore the shack in hopes of being able to use it as a prop during the festivities. While looking for a scene to house a fictious haunt, Stella finds a real one when she stumbles upon a 100+ year old skeleton. Determined to understand what happened, Stella immediately sets off on to try and uncover his / her story. As Stella gets deeper into her research, she finds out that there might just be more to this story than what it appears on the surface. So deep that someone is willing to commit murder to keep it safe.

Stella is a highly likable character whose curiosity resonates with the reader. The book follows her thought process as we travel with her to various research locations, her store, meet ups with friends, and interviews with potential suspects. By the end, I felt like I was familiar with Nantucket culture, in both current and historical time, even though I’ve never been there!

The book had just the right amount of twists and I’m happy to say I didn’t see the outcome until we were there! I appreciated learning a bit about Quaker culture, something I had no knowledge of previously. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and will definitely be going back to read the first two installments of the series.

Overall, I would rate 15 Minutes of Flame 4.5 out of 5 stars and would recommend to any fans of cozy mysteries. The perfect light read!

Stella is a curious, intelligent and fun character that owns Wick & Flame on Nantucket Island. Helping organize the Halloween Haunt she comes across a Skelton which leads to another from the eighteen hundreds. Then the historian sorting through is killed. Stella is on the case to find the murderer. I really enjoyed the town, characters and mystery.

The book was a pretty quick read and it was good, but somehow I just couldn’t really get into it. Brenda annoyed me and, maybe because I didn’t start from the beginning of the series, I felt like we just got characters and no real info on them.

I wanted to like this book more than I really did. I read the first book in this series a while back and vaguely recall enjoying the setting and the quaint store. This book hardly had anything to do about the shop, and there was just so much going on that the basics got lost.

The story involves an historical mystery, a TV producer, Girl Scouts, a haunted house, anthropologists, and more. It had too much going on and none of the secondary characters were particularly likeable. There was a curmudgeon-y old man, the wacky lady who thought she talked to spirits, the smarmy TV guy, two sort of boring scholars, etc. I wasn't rooting for anyone because I didn't care for anyone much. I hope this series get back to the candle shop and has more to do with the art/skill required.

2.5 stars

If you love Halloween and haunted houses you will love this book.

Stella and her friends are helping the less needy of the Island by putting on a haunted house tour in the old Morton house that some believe is really haunted. On Saturday morning Stella is checking out the back of the mansion in the old shack where was to believe a meat cooker. What Stella finds surprises her, above the fireplace is a sign Coppers Candles. She has heard that candles where made on this street centuries ago. She calls Mr. Morton to ask about the sign and he tells her to keep it, it was meant for her.

As Stella is pulling it from the wall she discovers a skelton. Of course Stella loves a good mystery she has solved a couple. She calls Pete her boyfriend who works for the local newspaper and Andy her cop friend and from there all the the excitement starts.

From staying over in a haunted mansion alone to climbing down a well a night to getting a little tipsy with a questionable movie person.

Does Stella get her killer? Well you will have to read to find out!
But it will be a joy and a fun time doing it!I

I love this series and Stella and the characters that surround her I can't wait for the next book.

This was the third book in this series. I expected more character development by this time, but many of the characters are still shallow. I don't like the main character Stella very much. She comes across as very self-centered and not at all self-deprecating. She does things where she acts as if she is in charge instead of just being a busy body; such as when she should have gone home she is walking all around Old Holly's house and even settles in on the deck. None of the other character have much dimension to them. By the time the murderer was revealed and the reason was ambiguous, I was ready to quit.

Halloween is descending upon Nantucket and the ghosts are ready to tell their tales as Stella helps the local Girl Scout troop prepare a haunted house to raise money for those in need. What she doesn’t count on is finding a real connection to the old house nor finding a real skeleton in one of the outbuildings. But the find leads to another ghost from the past that haunts Stella and an archaeologist is called in to assist.

As the archaeologists lead the efforts to uncover a second skeleton from the 1800s, it seems everyone wants in on the discovery, including the local historian and a Netflix spirit hunter. Little did they realize that what they discover in the well would lead to yet another body to be discovered. Stella seeks justice for the three departed and turns to her sleuthing and deduction skills to find the killer before their history is exploited and the body count rises.

I adore this series and get lost in history and Nantucket when I read one of the books. I cannot get enough of both. The story is well written and the characters show you a side of Nantucket you don’t get to see as a tourist to the island. I may never live on the island, but I sure do enjoy day dreaming about owning an old home with history on the island. I will have to settle for enjoying the books and day dreaming bout it though.

First book by this author.
A bit of paranormal, Quaker ghost.
Fun small town characters.
I enjoyed the history involved.
Will look into other books by this author.

Just in time for Halloween, Stella’s friend inherits a creepy old house in Nantucket and all Stella can think is that this location will be perfect for a Halloween Haunted House. Unfortunately the creepy factor becomes a little too real when a body is found on the property. While obviously not a recent death, police are still called in to investigate and Stella begins looking into the house’s past and discovers the death may have occurred after a lover’s quarrel gone terribly wrong. The creepy atmosphere and the depictions of Nantucket in the autumn made this a stand out read

15 Minutes of Flame is the second book in this new cozy series.
Stella lives on the island of Nantucket, where she runs her candle shop, The Flame and Wick.
While preparing for a Halloween Haunt, Stella stumbles upon the remains of a body, at least 100 years old.
The investigation takes an ugly twist when another murder takes place, and everyone seems to have a motive.

I really want to like this series, but for some reason I can’t connect to the characters. I get a weird vibe with Stella & Pete’s relationship, they act more like friends. Maybe it’s just me. My rating is based on my like of the story, the mystery, and writing style. I’m going to keep on reading this series.