This was a fun collection of short mystery stories from some of the biggest names in the game. As the stories are so short it would be best to go into this knowing as little as possible. But it’s fair to say there is something for everyone within this collection. The audio narrators all do a fantastic job of bringing the stories to life

I was excited to dive into The Busybodies Collection, as I love cosy mysteries and was intrigued by the concept of a collection of short stories in the genre. Unfortunately, I found this collection wasn’t for me.

I read the first four stories and found them to be average but not particularly engaging. In a few of the stories, I struggled to connect with the characters and felt the mysteries (whilst intriguing) lacked the depth and development I typically enjoy in longer works. This is likely a personal preference, as short mysteries often don't allow enough time for me to become fully invested in the story or characters.

I decided to DNF the final two stories, as I realised I’m probably not the intended audience for this format. While I appreciate the creativity and effort behind this collection, it didn’t align with my reading preferences.

If you enjoy quick, light reads with minimal setup and resolution, you might enjoy this collection more than I did. Thank you to the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve included mini-reviews for the stories I did read below:

Staged
⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was a fun and lighthearted whodunnit! It had me giggling a few times — I always enjoy Elle Cosimano’s writing. I liked the characters but didn’t find the mystery aspect as intriguing as I’d have liked - that said, it is only a short read and I was keen to find out how it all ended.

The Reunion Dinner
⭐️⭐️

Not sure how to feel about this one but I think I’ll land on 2 stars. There were a lot of characters introduced very quickly, so I was slightly confused at times, and I wasn’t a fan of the ending (although I will say, it did have me gasping!).

The mystery was interesting though — the story was fast paced and I just had to keep reading to find out what happened.

Crime of Fashion
⭐️⭐️

I enjoyed moments of this one and found it fast paced and intriguing. However, it did leave me feeling frustrated due to the way that OCD was depicted.

The Nosy Neighbour
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

This was fun! I always enjoy Nita Prose’s writing - this short story was quirky, fun, and intriguing, and the ending was definitely not what I was expecting!

This is a cozy mystery collection with quick, convenient resolutions that didn’t give enough depth or suspense for me. The last two leaned more into romance and were a bit more enjoyable. But the writing isn’t bad so if you’re a fan of cozy mysteries, you might enjoy this collection more than I did.

🐕 Howls Interesting concept but most stories felt rushed and hollow. Endings felt too convenient or incomplete. Some stories seemed to end randomly/mid-story. Other felt almost pointless or unsatisfying.

Staged 2
Real estate staging should be for showcasing life, not death.

Vacuum tracks in carpet. Mallet. Azalea bushes. BMW. Pink carpet.
• Real estate gone wrong
• Hot landscaper
• Amateur sleuth sisters
• Quippy dark comedy
• Hints of enemies to lovers romance

The Reunion Dinner 2.5
A sixty-something main character plans to upstage their sibling’s family holiday dinner when given the chance.

Chinese New Year. Roast pig. Cocktails. Yu sheng.
• Cozy holiday
• Dinner party gone wrong
• Family celebration and reunions
• Mother Knows Best
• Unhinged sabotage

Crime of Fashion 2
A missing necklace at a photo shoot. A responsible assistant in the hot seat.

Black dress. Wavy hair. Gems. Handbags. Yellow diamond.
• Photoshoot drama
• Gumshoe sleuthing
• Find the thief
• Job at risk

The Nosy Neighbour 3
Snooping while house-sitting for a neighbour.

Hobbies. Bungalow. Picture window. Hydrangeas.
• Older adult sleuthing
• House-sitting for a neighbour
• Unreliable, unhinged characters
• Flip the script twists

One Lucky Subscriber 4
Hide and seek in a mall for a YouTuber’s competition.

Shopping mall. Numbered contestants. Tesla. Rose wall. Livestream. Stuffed animal.
• Content creation hide and seek
• Attempt to sabotage the game or clumsy host?
• Cheating to win attempts
• Everyone’s a suspect attempted murder mystery

A Classic Case 5
A video rental customer worries when a usual customer doesn’t show up at his regular time.

Movie rental. Black-and-white movies. Peanut butter. Flannel.
• Missing acquaintance
• Clue hunting with a crush
• Quirky main character
• Meet-cute movie style romance


Content Heads-Up: Blood. Death. Dead body (discovery of). Drugging. Poisoning. Murder. Jealousy. Theft. Potential false accusation. Dementia (implied). Loss of spouse. Parental ambivalence (gave up custody to family).

Rep: American. Chinese. English. Cis. Hetero. Pansexual. Dark, pale, and ambiguous skin tones. Obsessive compulsive disorder. Stutter.

📚 Format: Advance Reader’s Copy from Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley

Thanks to NetGalley and the Publishing teams for this complimentary e-copy in exchange for the review.

I'm so saddened to say that the only one I got all the way through was the first story, Staged. I genuinely thought it was corny but so cute and easy but creative - - who thinks to look at the direction of vacuum cleaner marks?! Lol! And, was I the only one to be sad that the hot guy dies??! haha!
This short story was a 4 star read from me.

Sadly, I made it 60% or so into the second one and I just wanted to rip my hair out! Sad because I adore Jessie and her Aunties series. This just felt too over the top and extremely unbelievable -- at one point I remember thinking I wasn't feeling entertained but actually tortured :( So I gave up.

I tried the others and I just was not having fun like I wanted to. It felt more like homework and that's not want I want from a novel, nor would I feel right leaving individual reviews for that.

So I'm left with an average of 3 stars for this short story collab.

STAGED by Elle Cosimano 2.5~2★
“He stopped drinking long enough to wave at her, flashing a smile that could melt the panties off a penguin,…”

Lyda and Dani have parked outside the old house that Lyda is fixing up to sell. She’s hoping that handsome Sawyer, a former schoolfriend of both young women, will work as much magic on the garden as he seems to do with his ever-changing girlfriends. Either of these would be happy to be the next one.

Lyda is convinced that staging the house will help a sale. Dani encourages her and says it will be beautiful and she’ll have three offers by the end of the weekend.

“The house was not, in fact, fabulous. It was a century-old disaster with a sagging front porch, crooked walls, and dusty rose-colored carpets that still smelled like the old woman who’d died in it last month. We didn’t need three offers.”

Various friends are working in different parts of the house, so Lyda and Dani head for the shops to get what they need to stage it – set up display furniture to make it look luxurious. Meanwhile, they leave another friend, Sawyer’s ex, to finish up the cleaning and vacuum her way out, ensuring there’s a beautifully groomed carpet to welcome buyers.

When they return, instead of the spotless home-to-be, they find the body of a friend in a pool of blood! As they try to figure out what happened, and who did it, they realise something is wrong with the scene (other than there being a dead body, of course).

“I turned to Dani, certain I was right. ‘I think the killer staged the house.’”

The chapter headings about five rules for staging are written tongue-in-cheek. This example introduces the chapter where they discover their friend’s body.
“STEP TWO
DEPERSONALIZE, AND ELIMINATE
CLUTTER.

Get rid of memorabilia and personal objects. Make
the space as neutral as possible, allowing buyers to
visualize the potential within each room.”

It’s a silly story, written like a rom-com teen mystery but with absolutely no feeling. Lyda and Dani are just loving the sleuthing, and considering more flirting, and hoping to sell the house. No emotion about a dead friend at all.
===================
THE REUNION DINNER by Jesse Q. Sutanto
3★
“…last year, sick of Big Uncle boasting about his famous roast duck, she’d turned the timer back an extra twenty minutes when no one was looking. The duck had come out so dry it was like gnawing on a piece of plywood, so hard and fibrous that Second Aunt had lost a crown trying to chew it. It had done Big Uncle a world of good to be taken down a peg or two.”

Josephine Ying is finally getting her big chance to gain control of the family’s traditional Chinese New Year dinner. Big Uncle has a broken leg this year and last year’s pork was very dry (see above!), so the family is gathering at her home.

“ ‘Do you think,’ Adam, Josephine’s husband, said as he and Josephine staggered into the kitchen under the weight of a whole roast pig, ‘that perhaps you might’ve gone a bit overboard?’

Josephine grunted. Adam was an Englishman, and even after decades of CNY celebrations, it still hadn’t sunk in just how important it was to go all out for the big reunion dinner.”

As the guests arrive, they are greeted with drinks and food and more drinks and more food. Josephine’s dialogue is slightly stilted English, showing her Chinese background, which emphasises why this dinner might be more important to her than to others.

As they converse, the jealousies and frayed relations become more obvious, as they do at an American Thanksgiving dinner. The story feels as if it were turned out quickly, with a lot of phrases like “a night to remember” and “groaning under the weight of all the food”.

We know we will end with a body and a murder to be solved by an amateur sleuth – that’s what the series is about - but this sleuth has quite a different perspective, which made for an entertaining twist.
=================================
CRIME OF FASHION by Emma Rosenblum
3.5★
“ ’Where’s the Bulgari?’ A man’s groggy voice echoed in the cavernous photo studio.

‘The necklace is gone! Nellie, where is it?’ The woman sounded shrill and accusatory. ‘Did you put it somewhere? Did you ’tak‘ it? This is all your fault!’”

No, Nellie didn’t take it. She’s almost obsessively meticulous about what she does, and anyway, she was fetching someone a drink when it went missing. And why was the guard, who was supposed to be keeping an eye on it, dozing in his chair?

It’s a photo shoot for ‘ELLE’ with a glamorous star from the nineties modelling all the bright red outfits.

I enjoyed the sly reference to Taylor Swift (and may have missed many more) when Marlee is described this way.

“Marlee, a superstar of the nineties … wasn’t first choice for this shoot. Instead, she’d been called in as a backup when Lindsay Speed, the hottest singer on the planet, had pulled out last minute due to a scheduling conflict.”

Marlee’s happy to model gorgeous gowns and wear the $3 million dollar Bulgari necklace they’d borrowed for the cover shoot. There is history, as the saying goes, between some of the other people in the room, so everyone is blindly accusing everyone else, until eventually, poor Nellie, who is very much at the bottom of the pecking order, is saddled with the blame.

But she and her friend Charles, who knows she’d never steal anything, set about clearing her name. The subsequent ‘investigation’ and result make me glad I don’t work with any of these people.

No dead bodies in this part of Amazon’s #Busybodiescollection, but there was enough guilt to go around. I enjoyed this third story in the collection of six.
==========
THE NOSY NEIGHBOR by Nita Prose
3.5~4★
“The thing about Doris is she’s a busybody with her nose up in everyone else’s business. You know the type—the first to offer advice, the last to take it?”

Typical of us nosy busybodies, isn’t it? This entry in the #Busybodies collection really is about a busybody. It’s also about a lonely old lady, Marge, who watches her neighbours all day. Fifty years ago, Marge and Harold watched through their big picture window as Doris and Bob moved in across the street.

“Doris stepped out of the driver’s seat wearing a yellow poodle skirt, red pumps, Jackie O cat-eye glasses, and a checkered kerchief over her bottle blond bouffant. Bob emerged from the convertible next, wearing thick glasses, beige slacks, and a plain golf shirt.”

A live wire with a pleasant, quiet husband. All these years later, Doris is telling Marge she must get out and about, and get away from the picture window and stop watching her and Bob. Marge is not impressed.

“Doris has taken up hobby after new hobby in her dotage, claiming she’s on the hunt for “inspiration.” First, it was tai chi—private lessons in her living room with a strapping young man called Master Tim. But when she learned the master had a boyfriend, she quit tai chi instantly.”

When Doris asks Marge to water her plants while she and Bob holiday in Spain, the story takes a rather dark turn which becomes first one twist and then another.

I had read Nita Prose’s book, The Maid, and hoped I’d enjoy this too. I'm happy to say I did.

===========
ONE LUCKY SUBSCRIBER by Kellye Garrett
3.5★
“ ’What video you from, 4?’

It took me a second to realize the guy was talking to me, but only because he was competing with my internal monologue of questioning why I was standing smack-dab in the middle of the American Dream Mall in East Rutherford at eleven o’clock. It had three million square feet, one-hundred-plus stores, five floors, two mini-golf courses, one indoor theme park, and way too much white.

Then I remembered: $50,000.”

Yeah, she remembered all right. $50,000 prize money for anyone who can complete whatever the task is for the day. Video star Kidd runs and broadcasts events live to his rapt followers. There is money given away or won, and the contestants in this one have all appeared in the previous videos, except for her. How did she get here?

“Kidd was continuing with his spiel. ‘I’m extremely excited about today’s challenge. There’s nothing I love more than my subscribers.’ He paused, then: All ten million of you. That’s right. We just hit ten million subscribers on my channel! To celebrate, I wanted to do something special. Highlight how we all became one big, happy ten-million-strong family. If you’re one of the twenty-five million who viewed our most popular video, then you know where we are. Back at the American Dream Mall. And I also brought back these babies that you all loved so much in the comments.’”

He means the gold briefcases full of money. The contestants are wearing bright shirts with numbers on them, which is why the young woman narrating the story was addressed as “4”. But what’s ahead?

Hide-and-seek for 24 hours in the mall is the challenge. Anyone who is not found gets to keep the golden briefcase they’ve been carrying (and hiding) which has $50,000 in it.

During the hunt, someone is accused of attempted murder – not something Kidd had a contingency plan for.

I imagine there actually are influencers running strange competitions, so this didn’t seem too far-fetched. It was a quick, light read.
=========
A CLASSIC CASE by Alicia Thompson
4★
“Audrey always looked forward to Wednesdays. That was the day she biked to Keep It Classic, the local video rental store stocked only with old-timey film…

It was also the day she saw him.

Not that he cared at all about seeing her. She could count on one hand the number of words he’d said to her beyond the ones he had to as part of his job. That’ll be four fifty. Receipt is in the bag. Movie’s due back by the seventh, but if you think you’re going to be late, just give me a call.

Grant. That was his name, which she knew only because she’d heard Mr. Hoffman use it.”

Audrey, as in Hepburn. Grant, as in Cary. Classic videos. What could all this mean? Actually, it means a charming story about an awkward young woman who is crushing on the guy at the video store and also looking forward to her weekly interaction with the aforementioned old Mr. Hoffman who shows up every Wednesday at 2pm to renew his copy of ‘She Who Laughs Last’.

When asked, Mr Hoffman tells Audrey that routines make the world go round. If he doesn’t turn up one Wednesday, check the obituaries because he’ll be dead.

So of course, one Wednesday arrives without a visit from Mr Hoffman, and Audrey can’t seem to convince Grant that this could be serious.

“ ‘Mr. Hoffman,’ Grant said, ‘once saw me taking out the trash and said it inspired him to make me a pallbearer at his funeral. He told me to make sure they played “At Last” by Etta James because that’s what everyone in town would be thinking when he finally keeled over. He wanted ‘Get Off My Lawn’ engraved on his headstone to scare kids away from standing on his grave. He’s an eighty-six-year-old man. He jokes like that’ .”

Audrey isn’t convinced, so when Grant goes to the back room, she sneaks a look at the rental computer and finds Mr Hoffman’s address.

The rest, as the say is mystery. It’s a delightful short cosy that covered love, young and old.

Thank you to @amazonoriginalstories for the gifted copy of the busybodies short story collection! As an avid thriller reader I was ecstatic to see this collection, even more so when some of my favorite authors were featured.

This was a fun theme and I found each of these stories to be unique. It’s a tough feat to create an engaging story in such limited amount of words or pages. I found all of these intriguing, some more than others, but I appreciated how different each one was and the variety of settings and characters. My personal favorite was Alicia Thompson’s,A Classic Case. This is a fun collection that’s available now and free for Amazon prime members (you can read these on the kindle app, kindle, or listen on audible). I definitely recommend these if you want more from some of your fave authors or are looking to boost that reading goal. 😉

#busybodies #bookreview #bookrec #amazon #audible #arcreview

this was a cute little series that gave me major “only murders in the building” vibes. thank you to netgalley/the authors for an ARC of this collection!

I love novellas, especially toward the end of the year when I'm trying to make my Goodreads goal. I love mysteries, especially cozy mysteries. And I love seeing all of my favorite authors in one, wonderful collection. As a whole, the collection is 100% worth a read. Even if you like some more than others, there's surely to be one or two you love, and each story is so short that you can breeze through them in no time. Some standouts for me were Staged by Elle Cosimano and Crime of Fashion by Emma Rosenlbum. Cosimano's is the most "classic" mystery of the bunch, with a traditional beginning, middle, and end. I don't want to spoil any of the other books, but they didn't all have traditional mystery endings, which may be why they didn't make it to the top of my list of favorites. It's hard to discuss them all without revealing too much and writing five pages, but know that there's a lot of twists and a lot of criminals who get away with it...

Thanks to Amazon for my eARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

5 stars - 8/10

Busybodies: There’s a Mystery Around Every Corner is the collected omnibus of Busybodies 1-6. Released 15th Oct 2024 by Amazon Stories, it's 206 pages and is available in audio and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. For Kindle Unlimited subscribers, this book is currently included in the KU subscription library to borrow and read for free.

This is a mixed bag of mystery stories written around "nosey" amateur sleuths solving crimes which pop up in their orbits. The stories vary in intensity, but all are lightly humorous, and all are more or less in the cozy subgenre. There are several collections with different themes (secrets/mysteries, thrillers, adventure/fantasy, etc). All are available free to prime/unlimited subscribers and all can be downloaded as singles or collections.

In both graphics and layout, these collections are more colorful than expected, with each new story delineated with a full color cover page with cover art. The interactive table of contents is handy for flipping back and forth without having to read from cover to cover in order.

The audiobook narration contains 6 different story narrators, and the sound and production quality are high throughout.

The stories themselves are a mixed bag. Several of them are by authors with massive followings, and a couple were less familiar. All were well written and enjoyable. For readers looking to test out new authors, this is an accessible and easy way to do that without committing to a full novel.

Four stars. Diverting and fun. (And really, that's the point!).

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Overall rating for the whole collection 3.5★s
Staged is a short story by Elle Cosimano in the Busybodies Collection published under the Amazon Original Stories banner. Realtor Lyda and her friend Dani are busy staging a rundown old house for inspection, but in their small town, some of the handymen employed to bring it up to scratch don’t get on with others, especially gardener Sawyer Mackenzie who might have dated and dropped their sisters or cousins, breaking hearts. When Sawyer ends up dead in the ensuite, the list of potential killers is not short, but the sheriff settles on one person fairly quickly. Only he’s got it wrong and Lyda, having taken note of the signs, is determined to prove who the real killer is. Will likely appeal to thirty-something fans of light chick-lit. 3 stars

The Reunion Dinner is a short story by best-selling American author, Jesse Q. Sutanto in the Busybodies Collection published under the Amazon Original Stories banner. Josephine Ying uses a somewhat underhand trick to get the annual family reunion Chinese New Year dinner shifted from Big Uncle’s to her home, certain she will win them all over with her hospitality. Even though her English husband thinks she’s gone overboard, it’s all going well until her son, Keith turns up with a surprise fiancée. Josephine isn’t the only one upset. Then one of the guests dies, the cops turn up, and Josephine is worried the cops will arrest Keith. But as she chats to others, she learns that several family members have a motive to kill. Will the cops believe her? A fun tale with a great twist. 4 stars

Crime Of Fashion is a short story by Emma Rosenblum in the Busybodies Collection published under the Amazon Original Stories banner. It’s a fashion shoot for Elle magazine, and Nellie Otis, assistant to the stylist/fashion director, is responsible for the jewellry on loan when a fabulous Bulgari necklace goes missing while she has her back turned. When the ex-cop hired as armed guard (who fell asleep!) conducts a search, it’s found in the handbag of the new, young Editor-in-Chief. Also present, the photographer and the rock star’s publicist. Editor claims it was planted, and Nellie, on the lowest rung of the ladder, is looking at a slur that will stop her career dead. What else can she do but investigate? Some clever deductive work and a nice twist in this one. 4 stars

The Nosy Neighbor is a short story by Nita Prose in the Busybodies Collection published under the Amazon Original Stories banner. Since Marge retired, she spends a lot of her day at her picture window, relaying all she sees to her husband, Harold, no longer talking, but still listening. Doris and Bob are right across the road so she sees a lot of what they’re up to, something Doris is less than pleased about. Marge is way too nosy for her liking. When Doris and Bob go to Spain for a long weekend, it’s Marge’s chance to check out her suspicions: she’s sure that Doris is trying to get rid of Bob so she can play away. And what she finds (peanuts!) proves it, to her, at least. But will she have the last laugh? A lesson not to be nosy, with a nice twist. 3 stars.

One Lucky Subscriber is a short story by Kellye Garrett in the Busybodies Collection published under the Amazon Original Stories banner. Kennedy considers herself lucky to be one of ten contestants competing for the $10,000 in a game of hide and seek in a deserted shopping mall. YouTuber, Kidd is famous his ten million subscribers and for stunts in which he gives away large sums of cash. These contestants are dressed in yellow jumpsuits, carry a golden cash-filled briefcase, and have to record it all on a GoPro. By the time five have been eliminated by being found, Kennedy thinks she’s in with a chance, until someone tries to kill Kidd. A silly, confusing story made more difficult to follow by characters sometimes having names, other times, numbers. May appeal to millennials. 2 stars.

A Classic Case is a short story by Alicia Thompson in the Busybodies Collection published under the Amazon Original Stories banner. Audrey looks forward to Wednesdays for three reasons: biking down to Keep It Classic to rent a Black & White movie helps her feel connected to her late grandma; she gets to chat to sweet old Mr Hoffman as the eighty-six-year-old renews his rental of “She Who Laughs Last”; and she can try to interact with the taciturn, unsmiling store owner, Grant.
But this Wednesday, no Mr Hoffman! Audrey is concerned about his absence, but Grant, looking tired and on edge, seems unfazed by it. Audrey can’t let it go, rides to Mr Hoffmans and enters his house, injuring herself in the process. No Mr Hoffman! When Grant turns up demanding to know what she’s up to, she’s noting unusual things and guessing at possible explanations from a rich source: all the movies she watches. But Audrey has the wrong end of more than one stick. Cute twist. 5 stars.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories.

This is a review of the 6 ebook Amazon Original Short Stories Collection.

This collection contains six short stories. They are all about busybodies, nosy neighbors or meddling relatives. I thought that these stories/cozy mysteries were all good reads.

In Staged by Elle Cosimano the story is about a real estate agent who stages a house and then tries to solve a case. This was a fun story that included two friends staging a house. But then when something bad happens they try to become detectives.

In The Reunion Dinner by Jesse Q. Sutanto a family dinner turns deadly. This story takes place during the Chinese New Year celebration. Josephine is hosting the dinner, when her son surprises her by bringing an unexpected guest. This was a fun crazy story.

In Crime of Fashion by Emma Rosenblum a $3 million dollar necklace disappears during a closed photo shoot. This was a fun mystery to try to figure out who stole the jewelry.

In The Nosy Neighbor by Nita Prose Marge has been spying on her neighbors Doris and Bob for years. This was a fun story because Marge had her suspicions. I really enjoyed both Doris and Marge. This was such an amusing story.

In One Lucky Subscriber by Kellye Garrett a viral stunt takes place at the mall. A social media influencer/Youtuber sets up a a crazy challenge in a mall. This was a an enjoyable read.

In A Classic Case by Alicia Thompson a woman who loves old movies develops a crush on the store owner. In this story the video store clerk is usually grumpy. And old Mr. Hoffman rents the same film every week. When Audrey becomes concerned she tries to figure out what has happened to her favorite older gentleman.

Overall this was a fun series. If you like cozy mysteries and want to see some new stories by your favorite authors then definitely check these out.


Thanks to Amazon Original Stories and netgalley for allowing me to read this book.

This compilation of six novellas by six mystery writers highlights the 'amateur sleuth.' The introduction to the collection reads: "Every nosy neighbor, gossipy friend, and meddling relative is just one good mystery away from becoming a detective. From behind locked doors or out in broad daylight, driven by chance or curiosity, amateur sleuths get in over their heads in these six hair-raising hilarious stories."

I"ll give a brief description of each novella.

*****
Staged by Elle Cosimano

Struggling real estate agent Lyda and her friend Dani are staging a neglected Victorian house that Lyda's desperate to sell. The century old disaster has a sagging front porch, crooked walls, and dusty foul-smelling carpets.

To spruce the property up, Lyda has hired handsome gardener Sawyer Mackenzie, who's outside showing off his sun-kissed hair, tight jeans, and toned chest. Sawyer, a lothario known for 'loving and leaving 'em', has broken a few hearts around town.

Lyda and Dani go off to purchase some things for the staging and return to find Sawyer dead in the house. The gardener is sprawled on the bedroom floor, with his clothes scattered around, and a giant purple hickey on the side of his neck.

When the authorities can't nab the the killer Lyda steps up to save the day.

*****
The Reunion Dinner by Jesse Q. Sutanto

Josephine Ying is very excited to be hosting her extended family's Chinese New Year dinner for the very first time. Josephine's husband suggests she's gone overboard with the roasted whole pig, but Josephine retorts, "Everyone traveling from all over the country to come to dinner." This includes the couple's son Keith, who works on Wall Street and says he's bringing a 'fabulous surprise.'

Josephine pictures a necklace or bracelet from Tiffany's, or perhaps an expensive handbag. But when Keith arrives....VERY LATE....he says "Ma, Ba, remember how I said I had a surprise? Well, I'd like you to meet Lacey, my fiancée." Josephine is gobsmacked, as are other family members, some of whom already know and hate Lacey.

During the dinner Lacey drops dead: "Her eyes were open, staring glassily at nothing. There was foam at the corners of her mouth." Josephine is fearful her son Keith will be accused of murder, so she uncovers the killer herself.

*****
Crime of Fashion by Emma Rosenblum

Meticulous Nellie Otis is an assistant at the fashion magazine 'Elle', for which she "maintained, with precision, a systematically structured fashion closet that housed designer clothing and accessories." Nothing in Nellie's purview has ever gone missing.....until now!

A three-million dollar Bulgari necklace has disappeared from a fashion shoot. The necklace was on a designated jewelry table, with Nellie and an armed security guard beside it. When Nellie went to fetch a soda for the cover model, the guard apparently fell asleep, and the necklace vanished. If the Bulgari isn't found, heads will roll, specifically Nellie's head - ESPECIALLY because editor-in-chief Charlotte is blaming Nellie for the theft.

To save her job Nellie makes it her business to catch the culprit.

*****
The Nosy Neighbor by Nita Prose

Septuagenarian Marge has known her across-the-street neighbor Doris for fifty years. According to Marge, Doris is a busybody with her nose up in everyone else's business. Marge isn't the one to talk, however, because she stares out the window at Doris and her husband Bob all day. According to Marge, Doris is a jumped up floozy, but Bob is "slowing down, sicker than usual, wheezy and unsteady on his feet."

Marge is surprised when Doris comes over one day and announces, "I've booked Bob and me a special long weekend in Spain. We'll be studying flamenco.....[and] you never know, one of us might like it so much, we may never come back!" Doris asks Marge to look after the house while she and Bob are gone, and to be sure to water the newly planted hydrangeas in the backyard.

Marge can't resist the opportunity to snoop around Doris's house, and for various reasons, Marge suspects Doris killed Bob. Marge tries to prove Doris is a murderer....which leads to a surprising finale.

*****
One Lucky Subscriber by Kellye Garrett

Internet sensation Kidd - who does outsize stunts - is staging an event at the American Dream Mall, which has three million square feet, one-hundred-plus stores, five floors, two mini-golf courses, and one indoor theme park.

Ten contestants, flown in from all over the United States, are vying to win $50,000. The idea is that the players are given a head start to hide in the mall, each one carrying a case with fifty grand. Kidd announces, "I'll be spending the next eight hours playing the world's largest game of hide-and-seek. The [contestants] can hide anywhere they want. I find them. The money's mine." On the other hand, anyone who isn't found within the eight hours gets to keep the money. Kidd's team will film him during the search, and Kidd expects the video to make a big splash online.

Contestant #4 teams up with contestant #2, and they find (what they think is) an excellent hiding place. The game proceeds, and after some hours Kidd has located several players and is approaching the hiding place of players 4 and 2. Around this time there's a big kerfuffle and Kidd is injured. Kidd insists, "Someone tried to kill me. We're trying to figure out who...." and he begins accusing everyone in sight. This leads to surprising revelations, and a light bulb moment helps contestant #4 resolve the case.

*****
A Classic Case by Alicia Thompson

Audrey is a rather shy young woman who looks forward to Wednesdays. Wednesday is the day Audrey goes to the 'Keep It Classic' video store to rent an old-timey film. It's also the day Audrey meets up with Mr. Hoffman, "the sweet eightysomething-year-old-man who came in at precisely two o'clock to renew his rental on his favorite movie, 'She Who Laughs Last', starring notoriously reclusive 1960s ingenue Katia Kelly."

There's another reason Audrey patronizes the video store. She has a HUGE crush on the owner, Grant, a nice-looking fellow who always wears jeans, a heather-gray T-shirt, and a soft plaid flannel. Grant is polite, but other than that, seems to take no notice of Audrey.

One Wednesday, Mr. Hoffman doesn't show up at 'Keep It Classic', much to Audrey's chagrin. Audrey tries to get Grant to 'investigate', but he shrugs off Mr. Hoffman's absence. Audrey decides to go to the elderly gent's house herself....and when Grant shows up as well, things take an unexpected turn.

This little mystery has fun elements and a not-so-surprising ending.

****
All the suspense stories are fun, but my two favorites, for their 'twists', are The Reunion Dinner and The Nosy Neighbor.

Thanks to Netgalley, the authors, and Amazon Original Stories for a copy of the book.

This was such a fun series! Each short story was well crafted and left me wanting a full length version. Some of these authors were already go-to authors for me, but I’ve added a few more to my list now after reading these stories.

Thank you to NetGalley + the authors for my advance copy!

I was really excited by the premise of this collection, but overall it fell a little flat for me. I enjoyed 4 out of the 6 stories, but only one (The Reunion Dinner) really stood out.

Individual reviews with further thoughts have been left on each individual story’s page. Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and authors for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my thoughts.

STAGED
I enjoyed the format of this short story how each chapter started with a relevant quote about home staging that also fit in with the story, but overall the writing was painful. The over-use of referring to characters by their full names after the initial introduction or by name over and over again instead of switching it up with a pronoun here or there was grating. Additionally, I felt like so many of the names were fake sounding (vs realistic character names if that makes sense) and some of the plots/dialog were written quite silly as well (making lighthearted jokes about not killing each other right after your friend was murdered, tampering with the crime scene with the cop right outside). I really struggled to get through this short story, but was intrigued enough to at least see the resolution.

THE REUNION DINNER
Really enjoyed this one! I loved the family personalities and dynamics, the drama of the intertwining relationships, and the unexpected twists!

CRIME OF FASHION
The writing felt silly, half the character names were ridiculous, but the worst thing was the repeated uneducated mentions of OCD.

THE NOSY NEIGHBOR
I’m having a hard time deciding what I thought on this one but liked it for the most part. I wasn’t sure where the story was heading at first, since it was made obvious that Doris killed Bob early on but I thought it was a great reveal that Marge had been talking to her ashes the whole time. I also really enjoyed the banter between Doris and Marge, as well as Marge’s denial of her nosy nature. However, I felt like the reveal that Doris killed Harold too happened so fast and I would have liked a little more time in the story to unpack that plot point and Marge’s reaction.

ONE LUCKY SUBSCRIBER
I thought the premise for this was really interesting and unique, but maybe not well suited for a short story as it was hard to get to know the characters and fully visualize the setting.

A CLASSIC CASE
This wasn’t what I was expecting but I thought it was quite cute and sweet!

The Busybodies collection features six short stories from a few authors I've read and liked a lot and a few who I'd wanted to read. Ultimately, my favorite stories were from the authors I was already familiar with - Alicia Thompson and Jesse Q. Sutanto. I appreciated the variety in this collection.

This was a really fun short story collection from some notable, auto buy authors. I enjoyed the lightheartedness of each of story and the tongue in cheek humor that often left me chuckling. I enjoy when authors work together to establish a central theme for a short story collection.

Busybodies is an engaging anthology featuring six novellas that delve into the chaos caused by meddling relatives, nosy neighbors, and social media influencers. Each story is filled with mystery and clever twists and captures the essence of characters grappling with unexpected events.

In “Staged” by Elle Cosimano, real estate agent Lyda finds herself investigating when her landscaper turns up dead in a home she’s trying to sell. The character-driven narratives offer enthralling insights into their lives.

I was pleasantly surprised by the contributions from authors like Garrett, Thompson, and Rosenblum, alongside familiar names like Cosimano, Sutanto, and Prose. Their unique perspectives make this collection an enjoyable read.

Overall, the anthology is a delight with clever storytelling that leaves you wanting more. I’m grateful for the e-galley of *The Busybodies Collection* via NetGalley.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the Amazon Originals short story collections that are free for Prime subscribers in the Kindle app. I especially appreciate the ability to add on free Audible narration, which ultimately is how I listened to this series (although I am very grateful to have received an ARC of the digital ebook from NetGalley). As a whole this collection has some powerhouse authors and excellent narrators.

Staged by Elle Cosimano, narrated by Megan Tusing
As a fan of the Finlay Donovan series, I was looking forward to this real estate murder mystery. I liked how this book started off with friends prepping to sell a house with some suggestion of possible romance, but then there’s a turn toward murder and mystery. It’s all packed in such a brief book that I never felt like I could sink my teeth in to the plot or characters. Lots of potential but overall a bit of a miss for me. Interestingly, narrator Megan Tusing received a SOVAS nomination for this in Outstanding Audiobook Narration – Short Story Anthology – Best Voiceover!

The Reunion Dinner by Jesse Q. Sutanto, narrated by Eunice Wong
If you love Sutanto's Aunties series or Vera Wong, give this a shot. In this story Josephine Ying is eager to fulfill Chinese New Year hosting duties when tragedy strikes. A surprise guest ends up dead, and Josephine takes it upon herself to get to the bottom of it. This started out cheeky and humorous but ultimately became a bit too silly and intertwined to believable. The narration was great. This was my second favorite book in the series.

Crime of Fashion by Emma Rosenblum, narrated by Brittany Pressley,
This short story brings a bit of mystery into the fashion world as an expensive necklace goes missing on a photoshoot. I found this decently interesting because of the setting, and I would recommend it to fans of The Devil Wears Prada, The Bold Type or Gossip Girl. In general, it's probably a bit forgettable, but it's a very readable short story that fits in with the series.

The Nosy Neighbor by Nita Prose, narrated by Sherri Slater,
I am a big fan of Nita Prose, so I was really looking forward to this fourth installment. This short story really embraces the "busybody" in main character Marge who spies on her neighbors and suspects nefarious deeds afoot. This book had a fun few quirks but lacked the endearing charm of The Maid series.

One Lucky Subscriber by Kellye Garrett, narrated by Jordan Cobb
Unfortunately, this is the dud of the bunch. I had a hard time keeping track of or caring about any of the oddly-named characters. The writing felt forced with awkward analogies, misfired metaphors and superfluous similes. The plot is difficult to follow, but I might summarize the chaos as some sort of financially-motivated social media competition in a mall? I think? While I was excited to be exposed to a new author through this read, I discovered that I am not the reader for Kellye Garrett. If you read and/or listen this short story because it's free to Amazon Prime subscribers or perhaps you are committed to completing the series, I would recommend turning it into a drinking game for every "GoPro."

A Classic Case by Alicia Thompson, narrated by Helen Laser
A Classic Case of saving the best for last! This final Busybodies chapter is the best of the bunch. Admittedly, I am a biased romance devotee who will possibly over-inflate a rating for a book that involves chemistry or crushing. Alicia Thompson comes through with a cozy mystery for anyone who has nostalgia for Blockbuster video. When Audrey picks up on a break in rental enthusiast Mr. Hoffman's routine, she begins to suspect something terrible has transpired. As she tries to get to the bottom of his absence, her path must cross with the "hot and grumpy" clerk. This short book is less sinister than the rest but still plays into the busybody mystery theme.

Busy Bodies, there’s a mystery around every corner by multiple authors such as Jesse Q Sutanto,, El CosaMano, Nita Pros, Emma Rosenblum, Kellye Garrett and Alicia Thompson.. The anthology is made up of six short Cozy mysteries that range from hilarious to quirky and there’s even one that gives you a creepy uneasy feeling but all great and so worth reading once I started with the first one I couldn’t stop my favorite who is either nosy neighbor or family reunion but all are worth picking up you can either get them in this one book or separately with Kindle unlimited that also has the audio narration with it, something I absolutely appreciate it. From a necklace that goes missing in a lot door scenario to a family reunion dinner that doesn’t go the way the host thinks it should, A lonely and shy girls search for her Tuesday afternoon video searching partner and a funny but creepy one called lucky subscriber to a woman who is asked to watch the house of her neighbor who is also the vein of her existence and loses her mind in the process. These books are so funny I am laughing just remembering them I four out of the six books in my opinion were five star reads not to mention the great narration on the audiobooks I just can’t say enough about this funny quick laugh out loud fall on the ground laughing mysteries. So so good! #NetGalley, #AmazonOriginals,#Busy bodies,

The Busybodies Collection is a cozy crime/mystery short story collection featuring stories from six different authors: Elle Cosimano, Jesse Q. Sutanto, Emma Rosenblum, Nita Prose, Kellye Garrett and Alicia Thompson. Each story is a standalone and is between 30-50 pages so is designed to be read in one sitting (each one took me around half an hour to read) and the stories do not need to be read in order.

Staged by Elle Cosimano 2⭐: This book tried to do too much in 40 pages and didn’t end up doing anything particularly well. The characters so say have been friends since secondary school but there’s a complete lack of emotion when one of them is murdered. This short story tries to have a romance subplot alongside the mystery which was completely unnecessary.

The Reunion Dinner by Jesse Q. Sutanto 4⭐: This was such a fun short story! I loved the plot twist and how the clues all come together at the end. I wish this had been a full length book so we could’ve developed some of the motives a bit more.

Crime of Fashion by Emma Rosenblum 1⭐: This book made 40 pages feel so long. There were too many characters who were introduced but had zero personality. Within the first page the author uses OCD to describe someone who likes things to be neat and orderly and continues to use it in this manner throughout which was infuriating.

Nosy Neighbour by Nita Prose 5⭐: I really enjoyed this short story and definitely want to read more of Nita Prose’s books. Despite it being 30 pages long, I thought the plot was interesting and I liked the double plot twist. The characters were well developed however I would’ve love to read a full length book about Marge and Doris over the years.

One Lucky Subscriber by Kellye Garrett 3⭐: The premise of this book was so promising and I loved the setup of the high stakes hide and seek game however the plot fell flat.

A Classic Case by Alicia Thompson 4⭐: This was definitely on the cozier end of the mystery spectrum however I enjoyed it. I liked that Alicia Thompson kept it very simple for a short story and everything wrapped up really nicely.

Overall I love these short story collections and hope that this is something Amazon continues to produce in the future. They are a great way of discovering new authors and due to their length are perfect for getting out of reading slumps or for if your brain needs a break.