Saturday, November 30, 2019

What's Santa Reading?
Cozy mysteries of course!
Check out these great titles that I'm 
sure are on Santa's list.


It’s Christmastime in Weatherford, Texas, and retired teacher–cum–amateur sleuth Phyllis Newsom has to deal with a cutthroat Christmas bake-off in this festive Fresh-Baked mystery.
 
Phyllis would like to think she’s entering the Christmas cookie contest just for fun. But that’s not exactly true. She can’t imagine anyone beating her delicate snowflake-shaped lime sugar cookies, although her neighbor Mrs. Simmons’s gingerdoodles might give her a run for her money.
 
Then, during her annual Christmas cookie exchange, Phyllis heads over to the elderly Mrs. Simmons’s home and finds the poor thing in a pile of lime sugar cookies, strangled by the belt of her own bathrobe. With a number of names on Santa’s naughty suspect list, this case is a cookie Phyllis means to crumble...



This Christmas, a killer's serving up a trayful of trouble in a new holiday Fresh Baked Mystery.

As Christmas approaches in Weatherford, Texas, Phyllis Newsom is decorating her house in preparation for the Jingle Bell Tour. The last thing she expects is that one of her ceramic gingerbread men will be used to commit murder....

When her friend Georgia Hallerbee asks Phyllis to have her house featured in the annual Christmas Jingle Bell Tour of Homes, Phyllis is equally flattered and flustered. She already has a bridal shower on Christmas Eve and a wedding on New Year’s Eve to prepare for, and she’s been baking gingerbread cookies like they’re going out of style. But like her tasty treats, she rises to the occasion.

Before the tour can even get under way, Phyllis hears a crash on her front porch and makes a gruesome discovery. Someone has broken a decorative gingerbread man over Georgia’s head. Santa’s naughty list just got longer—and with the police baffled, it’s up to Phyllis to catch a half-baked killer...

Includes recipes!




Wedding bells will be ringing in Weatherford, Texas, this Christmas when Phyllis Newsom opens up her home for her best friend’s wedding. And although the bride is wearing white, no one suspects that she’ll soon be wearing black…

After all the planning—and the cake tasting—the big day has arrived. Eve Turner, one of Phyllis’s boarders—and her best friend—is moving out and getting married to the affable Roy Porter. While she’s sad to see Eve go, Phyllis is more than happy to host the event in her house and to bake the bride and groom a delicious three-tiered coconut wedding cake. Even though a snowstorm in the forecast seems like a recipe for disaster, the day runs as smoothly as butter cream.

But the marriage doesn’t last long past the honeymoon. When Roy’s found dead at a Weatherford bed-and-breakfast, Eve’s the top suspect. Now Phyllis must find out who iced Roy before her friend finds herself behind bars…  

Includes recipes!



In this delectable Fresh Baked mystery, Phyllis Newsom returns with a festive Christmas recipe that’s to die for…

‘Tis the season in Weatherford, Texas, and everyone in town is gearing up for the annual holiday parade and tree-lighting ceremony in the town square, where Phyllis Newsom will be serving her much-anticipated candy cane cupcakes. Local rancher Barney McCrory manages to charm one away from her before the ceremony begins. But unfortunately, when the minty confection is finished, so is he.

This isn’t the first time someone has dropped dead after eating one of Phyllis’s treats. But when the paramedics determine the rancher was shot, suspicion swiftly falls on McCrory’s daughter and her husband—who both stand to reap some sweet rewards from his death. Though Phyllis doesn’t want to get mixed up in another murder investigation, something about this case doesn’t sit right with her. With a little help from a tabloid TV news crew, Phyllis must unwrap the truth and restore good cheer to Weatherford before it’s too late...

Includes recipes!



The holiday season turns udderly dangerous for Maddie and her paranormal museum.
Maddie Kosloski is no fan of San Benedetto's Christmas Cow, a thirty-foot straw bovine that graces the town square every December. For one thing, the cow displaces her paranormal museum as the number one tourist attraction. Plus, every year, despite around-the-clock surveillance, the cow goes up in flames.
But this year, there's more than just a fire blazing in Maddie's wine-country hometown. One of the Christmas Cow guards has been found with an arrow in his chest, and Maddie's new haunted cowbell exhibit is fueling a panic. Are the spirits in her museum getting too hot to handle? If Maddie can't stop the hysteria—and the murderous archer—her holiday plans might not be the only thing full of holes.


Anastasia Pollack’s son Alex is dating Sophie Lambert, the new kid in town. For their community service project, the high school seniors have chosen to raise money for the county food bank. Anastasia taps her craft industry contacts to donate materials for the students to make Christmas ornaments they’ll sell at the town’s annual Holiday Crafts Fair.

At the fair Anastasia meets Sophie’s father, Shane Lambert, who strikes her as a man with secrets. She also notices a woman eavesdropping on their conversation. Later that evening when the woman turns up dead, Sophie’s father is arrested for her murder.

Alex and Sophie beg Anastasia to find the real killer, but Anastasia has had her fill of dead bodies. She’s also not convinced of Shane’s innocence. Besides, she’s promised younger son Nick she’ll stop risking her life. But how can she say no to Alex?

Christmas ornament craft projects included.



Two and a half weeks ago magazine crafts editor Anastasia Pollack arrived home to find Ira Pollack, her half-brother-in-law, had blinged out her home with enough Christmas lights to rival Rockefeller Center. Now he’s crammed her small yard with enormous cavorting inflatable characters. She and photojournalist boyfriend (and possible spy) Zack Barnes pack up the unwanted lawn decorations to return to Ira. They arrive to find his yard the scene of an over-the-top Christmas extravaganza. His neighbors are not happy with the animatronics, laser light show, and blaring music creating traffic jams on their normally quiet street. One of them expresses his displeasure with his fists before running off.

In the excitement, the deflated lawn ornaments are never returned to Ira. The next morning Anastasia once again heads to his house before work to drop them off. When she arrives, she discovers Ira’s attacker dead in Santa’s sleigh. Ira becomes the prime suspect in the man’s murder and begs Anastasia to help clear his name. But Anastasia has promised her sons she’ll keep her nose out of police business. What’s a reluctant amateur sleuth to do?

Christmas craft projects included.


Santa is now getting his rest to prepare for his big night. But lucky us, we can keeping on reading!

🎅🎄🎅🎄🎅

Tomorrow, Lisa Ks Book Reviews will be back to business as usual with a new book and author guest post through Berkley Mystery.


Have a great day! 

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