Cozy Corner’s back with ‘Panic Button’ by Kyle Logan

Panic Button

By Kylie Logan

Paperback, 273 pages

If you’d told me I’d fall in love with a cozy mystery series that centers around buttons — I’d ask what you were drinking.

But I have.

And that love affair continues with “Panic Button,” the third in this interesting, thoroughly enjoyable Button Box series, which stars antique and vintage expert Josie Giancola, who owns the Button Box Shop in Chicago.

I’m fascinated by the history of buttons because, well, let’s face it – buttons are for the most part objects that most people only think about when one’s loose or pops off a piece of clothing.

And then we have to find thread and a needle and try to remember how to sew one back on the garment.

That said, it takes a very clever writer to take an obscure topic like old buttons and weave a fast-paced story around them.

But Kylie Logan, who also writes as Miranda Bliss and Casey Daniels, has found an engrossing way to do it.

In this title, Josie has been asked to appraise a “charm string.” Talk about nirvana for a button expert. Made-up of 1,000 buttons – and no two are alike – legend has it that once the owner hits that magic 1,000 button mark, she will meet her beloved.

(Plus, this gave me a great idea about what to do with all those extra buttons that come with shirts and sweaters these days.)

Unfortunately, the unlucky in love owner of this particular charm string winds up being strangled with it. And Josie must figure out whodunit.

I’m not going to give away all the good stuff because I want you to buy this book and read it because I adore this series. The characters are enjoyable. The plot zips along. And in the end, Logan will make a Button Box mystery lover of you.

Then you’ll want to go back and read the first two in the series “Button Holed” and “Hot Button.”

And, as I’m known to do when I really like an author – check out her other two series: The Cooking Class Mystery series written as Miranda Bliss, although there hasn’t been a new one in this series in a while. And, the Pepper Martin Mystery Series, written as Casey Daniels, another fun one about a cemetery tour guide in Ohio.

Oh, and coming in early June, Logan will launch a new series called the League of Literary Ladies Mysteries. (There’s a preview of the first title in this series at the end of “Panic Button,” so you’ll get a sneak peak.)