Yesterday I was fortunate enough to be a stop on the book tour for 

HAPPY HOMICIDES

Thirteen Cozy Holiday Mysteries

I enjoyed this anthology so much, I wanted to read more books based on the characters from these wonderful authors.  

I know when you read HAPPY HOMICIDES you're going to read more stories with these characters as well. 

So...Here they are. The first books from each of the wonderful series featured in 

HAPPY HOMICIDES!

 

First in a new series. After her parents die within six months of each other and her son goes off to college, savvy entrepreneur Cara Mia Delgatto decides to construct a new life for herself. A road trip leads to her grandfather's home on the picturesque Treasure Coast of Florida, where she impulsively snaps up a "tear down," a building scheduled for the wrecking ball--only to discover it's already occupied by a fresh corpse. While Detective Lou Murray tries to nail the killer to the wall, Cara Mia enlists the help of two new friends to open a store specializing in one-of-a-kind, recycled, and repurposed items. But before she can get down to brass tacks, Cara Mia decides to help Lou figure out "whodunit," because she's been painted into the picture as one of the prime suspects. To make matters more complicated, tensions are building with Cooper Rivers, an old boyfriend. Cara Mia wonders whether her second chance at love will pan out--or if her carefully constructed fantasies will lead her to a new life behind bars. Includes Crafts-Skye Blue's Sparkling Votives and Recipes-MJ Austin's Pineapple Casserole, Skye Blue's Broccoli Soup, and Cara Mia Delgatto's Clams in Garlic Wine Broth. 

After a bad divorce and a brief prison term for computer hacking, 42-year-old Steve Levitan has returned to his home town of Stewart’s Crossing and taken a part-time job as an adjunct professor of English at his alma mater, Eastern College. While walking around his gated community, he becomes friendly with his next-door neighbor, Caroline Kelly, and her golden retriever, Rochester.

When Caroline is shot and killed while walking Rochester, Steve becomes the dog’s temporary guardian. Together, these two unlikely sleuths work to uncover the mystery behind Caroline’s death. 

Neil S. Plakcy is the author of the award-winning Mahu mystery series, and coeditor of Paws and Reflect: A Special Bond Between Man and Dog.

Two years ago Nori Stedworth fled the conservative mentality of both her parents and Ten Commandments, Iowa for Manhattan. She loves her new life—until one devastating afternoon that culminates with the arrival of her mother—complete with luggage, craft supplies, and a crisis of her own. 

Mom is suffering from middle-age meltdown. Her only identity is as a wife and mother, but her husband is a workaholic, and her daughter is halfway across the country. Grandchildren would give her life new purpose. 

Nori copes by resurrecting Gertie, her childhood imaginary friend, whose acerbic wit pushes Nori out of her comfort zone and into the arms of a way too good-looking radio station manager—much to mom’s dismay. She has other plans for her daughter. But when mom’s quirky crafts land her on TV, life for both Stedworth women takes an unexpected turn, and they learn it’s never too late to listen to your inner voice. 

The Vulture is dead. 

The body of Quincy McKay’s nemesis and biggest competitor in the floral business has just been discovered in a casket at the mortuary, complete with flowers on the lid. 

Derrick Gibbons, aka The Vulture, stole all of Quincy’s funeral business, and now she’s on a mission to get it back. But there’s a problem—Quincy is now the main suspect in The Vulture’s murder. 

Armed with only her Zombie delivery van, good intentions, and the business card of a handsome cop named Alex, she must find the killer, save the flower shop, and keep from ending up in the next casket. If she can dodge burning bushes, the plague of a polygamist ex, and her mother's Mormon Mafia Spy Network, her life with Alex and her shop could become the perfect arrangement.

A Mystery for Ghost Hunters! 
When Betsy's Aunt Maggie wants to drag her along on a ghost hunting excursion at the local abandoned tuberculosis hospital she isn't sure if she quite believes in ghosts. When she comes upon a fresh spirit in the form of a body, she starts to rethink about what really is haunting the hospital. 

Betsy must solve the murder in spite of her father, who is a lieutenant on the Pecan Bayou Police Force, town citizens worried about the effect of the occult on their children, and handsome stranger from Dallas. How do you get blood out of a silk blouse? Betsy Livingston can tell you in her newspaper column, "The Happy Hinter". When she's not writing, or taking care of her young son, she's busy solving mysteries in the tiny Texas town of Pecan Bayou.

Everyone has warned new-minted realtor Savannah Martin that real estate is a cutthroat business. But Savannah doesn’t think she’s supposed to take the warning literally ... until an early morning phone call sends her to an empty house on the ‘bad’ side of town, where she finds herself standing over the butchered body of a competitor, face to face with the boy her mother always warned her about. 

Rafe Collier is six feet three inches of testosterone and trouble; tall, dark, and dangerous, with a murky past and no future—not the kind of guy a perfect Southern Belle should want to tangle with. In any way. But wherever Savannah turns, there he is, and making no bones about what he wants from her. 

Now Savannah must figure out who killed real estate queen Brenda Puckett, make a success of her new career, and avoid getting killed—or kissed—by Rafe, all before the money in her savings account runs out and she has to go back to selling make-up at the mall. 

*** Contains an excerpt from HOT PROPERTY, Savannah Martin mystery #2 

All Jillian Bradley wants is to spend a quiet weekend by the ocean and enjoy her afternoon tea. But a startling discovery draws Jillian and her garden club friends into solving a mystery that threatens her life and changes her future. 

'Murder in Half Moon Bay,' Book 1 in The Jillian Bradley Mystery Series, introduces Jillian's little companion 'Teddy,' a Yorkie who falls prey to danger but rises to become a sleuth dog in the next book. 

Location scout and Jane Austen aficionado, Kate Sharp, is thrilled when the company she works for lands the job of finding locations for a new film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, but then her boss, Kevin, fails to return from a scouting trip to England. Afraid that Kevin has slipped back into some destructive personal habits he struggles with, Kate travels to England to salvage Kevin’s and the company’s reputation before word gets out that he is missing. Things go from bad to worse when Kate arrives in Nether Woodsmoor, a quaint village of golden stone cottages and rolling green hills, only to find no trace of Kevin except his abandoned luggage. Even the rumpled, easygoing local scout they consulted, Alex, doesn’t know where Kevin might be. Increasingly worried about Kevin and with an antsy director waiting for updates about the preproduction details, Kate embarks on a search that includes a pub crawl and cozy cottages as well as stately country manors. But Kevin remains missing, and she begins to suspect that the picturesque village and beautiful countryside may not be as idyllic as they seem.

Meet retired physicist Gloria Lamerino, an intrepid sleuth who signs on as a consultant with the Revere, Massachusetts police department. Gloria uncovers scientific fraud, solves a murder, and engages in her first physical combat, all in the same week.

There's nothing pretty about murder.
Meet Toni Diamond, make up artist to middle America. She's got a nose for trouble and a passion for solving mysteries. Imagine Columbo in a lavender suit. She never met a woman who wouldn't look better with a little help from the Lady Bianca line of cosmetics. But don't be fooled by appearances. Underneath the fake diamonds and the big hair is a sharp brain and a keen eye that sees the details as well as the funny side of life. When a Lady Bianca sales rep is murdered at the annual convention in Dallas, Toni is the one who notices things that some people, like sexy Detective Luke Marciano, might easily miss. Only someone who understands as much about how to make appearances deceiving could see into the mind of this killer -- a murderer who wants to give Toni a permanent makeover. Into a dead woman.

DYING FOR HOLIDAY TEA

 The Beach Tea Shop Mystery series

by Linda Gordon Hengerer 

This story is in HAPPY HOMICIDES and is the first book in the series. 

THE DOG WHO CAME FOR CHRISTMAS 

by Joyce and Jim Lavene 

This is a standalone story and is found only in HAPPY HOMICIDES.

Every scrapbook tells a story. Memories of friends, family . . .

and murder?

Mousy housewife Kiki Lowenstein has two great loves: scrapbooking and her young daughter, Anya. But her happy family album is ruined when her husband, George, is found naked and dead in a hotel room. As Kiki tracks down George's murderer, she discovers his sordid secret life.

Cruel taunts by George's former flame compel Kiki to spout an unwise threat. When the woman is murdered, Kiki's scissor-sharp words make her the prime suspect. She could be creating scrapbook keepsakes for the rest of her life-behind bars. Supported by her loyal friends, along with a little help (and a lot of stomach flutters) from the dashing Detective Detweiler, can Kiki cut the true killer out of the picture and design a new life for herself and Anya?

Includes expert scrapbooking tips and techniques.

There you have them!

I bet your TBR is going to tip over now!

As always, please leave a comment and 

let me know what you think!

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