We all look forward to First Tuesday with so many wonderful new cozies comes out. 

But we tend to forget, like I did yesterday, about the last Tuesday of every month. 

Did you know these great titles came out yesterday?

“If you like dogs, you’ll love Laurien Berenson’s Melanie Travis mysteries!” —Joanne Fluke, New York Times bestselling author

Melanie Travis has her hands full with her two young sons, a part-time job, and a half dozen Poodles to her name. But even with the busy holiday season approaching, she still has time to sniff out a Christmastime killer…

There’s nothing lovelier than Christmas in Connecticut, but Melanie can scarcely find a moment to enjoy the festivities. With her youngest son approaching toddlerhood, she’s decided to return to her old job at Howard Academy, a posh private school attended by the children of Greenwich’s well-heeled gentry. Balancing work, motherhood, and the hectic dog show circuit takes some fancy footwork, especially when the headmaster taps her to be the chairman of the school’s Christmas Bazaar.

The Christmas Bazaar is Howard Academy’s biggest and most important fundraiser, so Melanie feels the pressure to make it a huge success. She even enlists her longsuffering sister-in-law Bertie to help with the Santa Claus and Pets Photo Booth. But everything goes awry when a prize show dog goes missing and Santa turns up dead. The dog’s owner is one of the school’s most perfectly pedigreed alums, and she enlists Melanie to help find the purloined pooch. But just as Melanie starts pawing at the truth, she digs up a sleighful of sinister secrets that leaves everyone feeling less than merry…

MY REVIEW

Santa is dead! Well, a Santa is, and A BARK BEFORE CHRISTMAS is where it happened. Author Laurien Berenson kills off Santa and it’s up to Meanie Travis, protagonist of the fun series, to find out why and the real who, (because we all know author LB didn’t really kill him.)

It’s not easy I’m sure to keep series eighteen titles long fresh. But Laurien Berenson, being a wonderful writer, manages to do just that. And I have no doubt it will just continue to get better and better.

A BARK BEFORE MIDNIGHT was well plotted and moved at a good pace. Lots of questions raised, and I didn’t have all the answers until the reveal, which was exciting, if a bit more intense than in most cozies (at least to me).

Dog lovers will be in heaven with not only this title, but the entire series. But I guess the word Canine in the series title already gave you the idea. ;-)

I really enjoyed this book and I’m now going to have to go back and play catch up. But I’m always willing to find a series that’s new to me. If this is one you already follow, you’re going to be happy I’m sure. If you don’t follow this series, pick up a copy and give it a try!

E-Book Exclusive

Includes a Yummy Recipe!

“Fun characters, a quaint setting.” —RT Book Reviews

Ho-Ho-Ho-Homicide

This Christmas, event planner Jenn Christensen has come back to the winter wonderland of Mackinac Island, Michigan, to race for charity in the Santa Fun Run, rekindle her love for CSI tech Shane Carpenter, and indulge in her BFF Allie McMurphy’s fabulous fudge. But there’s one event she didn’t plan—chasing down a killer. After finding a deceased Santa in a snowbank, she’s shocked to discover the police suspect her of murder. It’s up to Jenn,  Allie, and a helpful  golden retriever named Marley to catch the killer and find out who’s at the top of the naughty list.

Haley Randolph’s 25th birthday is just around the corner, and the full-time fashionista knows it might be time to edge into being an “adult.” All she has to do is ace the upcoming performance review for her hot L.A. event-planning gig, and she can finally quit her credit card-paying job at Holt’s Department Store. She just has to make sure absolutely nothing goes wrong with the big party she’s planning for a Hollywood retirement home...

It really should be a fun bash—Hollywood Haven is home to a spunky group of retired actors, screenwriters, musicians, dancers, and other entertainers who have been in the biz for their whole lives. But when Haley finds Derrick Ellery, the home’s assistant director, sprawled on his bloody office floor, she sees her hope of keeping her job—not to mention the dream of owning a Sassy, the season’s hottest handbag—vanishing before her eyes.

Quietly finding the killer is Haley’s only hope…but it turns out the list of suspects is longer than her last credit card statement. It seems Derrick made a lot of enemies and had somehow become wealthy far beyond what was possible with his salary—but how?

To make matters worse, Haley’s kind-of-ex-boyfriend Ty is now a suspect in a different murder, and she just knows he couldn’t have done it. Solving two murders while planning the perfect party—and always keeping her sights on a Sassy—won’t be easy…especially now that there’s more than one killer ready to select Haley’s final outfit!

From peacekeeper to beekeeper…
 
After an injury forced her to leave the police department, Abigail Mackenzie started a second career as a farmer. Raising chickens, harvesting honey from her bee colony, and growing heirloom vegetables on her farmette in the beautiful Bay Area town of Las Flores, Abby has embraced all the benefits of a peaceful life.
 
But when she attempts to deliver her trademark honey to local pastry chef Jean-Louis Bonheur and finds him dead in his shop, her old investigative instincts kick in. After the coroner rules the death a suicide, the chef’s handsome French-Canadian brother insists on hiring Abby to find out who really killed Jean-Louis. 
 
With the patience of a farmer and the industriousness of a bee, Abby sorts through a swarm of suspects, including the chef’s landlord, his protégé, an eccentric homeless woman, loan sharks, and a brawny biker. But as she closes in on the truth, she’ll need more than her beekeeper suit to protect her from a killer’s sting…
 
Includes farming tips and delicious recipes!

Someone old, someone cruel

Debutante dropout Andrea Kendricks is beyond done with big hair, big gowns, and big egos—so being dragged to a high-society Texas wedding by her socialite mama, Cissy, gives her a bad case of déjà vu. As does running into her old prep-school bully, Olivia La Belle, the wedding planner, who's graduated to berating people for a living on her reality TV show. But for all the times Andy wished her dead, nobody deserves Olivia's fate: lying in a pool of blood, a cake knife in her throat—but did the angry baker do it?

Millicent Draper, the grandmotherly owner of Millie's Cakes, swears she's innocent, and Andy believes her. Unfortunately, the cops don't. Though Andy's fiancé, lawyer Brian Malone, is handling Millie's case, she's determined to spring Millie herself. But where to start? "La Belle from Hell" had enemies galore. Good thing Andy has a BFF who's a reporter— and a blue-blood mother who likes to pull strings.

Trick or treat—and murder—are on the menu in this first in a new culinary mystery series

Life couldn't be sweeter for Tres Amigas Café chef Rita Lafitte, decorating sugar skulls and taste-testing rich, buttery pan de muerto in anticipation of Santa Fe's Day of the Dead bread-baking contest. That is, until her friendly landlord, Victor, is found dead next door.

Although the police deem Victor's death a suicide, Rita knows something is amiss. To uncover the truth, she teams up with her octogenarian boss, Flori, the town's most celebrated snoop. The duo begins to sift through long-buried secrets and to take full measure of duplicitous neighbors, but the clock is ticking and their list of suspects is growing ever longer. Just as the clues get hotter than a New Mexican chili, one of their main suspects winds up dead. Rita fears that the killer is dishing out seconds—and her order might be up.

Hayden Mundy Moore is an expert on everything chocolate, helping clients develop new products and revamp recipes until they're irresistible. But sometimes, a dash of murder finds its way into the mix...

“A fresh and original new series! Savannah Webb is as clever at piecing together clues as she is at piecing stained glass. Well-crafted with smart and intriguing clues, Pane and Suffering will keep you guessing to the end!”--Krista Davis, New York Times bestselling author 

To solve her father's murder and save the family-owned glass shop, Savannah Webb must shatter a killer's carefully constructed façade. . .

After Savannah's father dies unexpectedly of a heart attack, she drops everything to return home to St. Petersburg, Florida, to settle his affairs--including the fate of the beloved, family-owned glass shop. Savannah intends to hand over ownership to her father's trusted assistant and fellow glass expert, Hugh Trevor, but soon discovers the master craftsman also dead of an apparent heart attack. 

As if the coincidence of the two deaths wasn't suspicious enough, Savannah discovers a note her father left for her in his shop, warning her that she is in danger. With the local police unconvinced, it's up to Savannah to piece together the encoded clues left behind by her father. And when her father's apprentice is accused of the murders, Savannah is more desperate than ever to crack the case before the killer seizes a window of opportunity to cut her out of the picture. . .

“Cheryl Hollon clearly knows her glass craft, but better still, she also knows how to craft a good mystery.”—Sheila Connolly, New York Times bestselling author 

 

“A kaleidoscope of perfection, with a feisty heroine, exquisite plot and master storytelling.”—Liz Mugavero, author of the Pawsitively Organic Mysteries

Did you order or buy any of these great titles yesterday? I'd love to hear about it!

Is there a title here that you're going to add to your TBR? Which one are you looking forward to reading?

As always, please leave a comment and 

let me know what you think!

Follow my blog by 

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LOOKING FOR MR. GOOD WITCH by Joyce and Jim Lavene

PARCHMENT AND OLD LACE by Laura Childs 

with Terrie Farley Moran

MURDER, PLAINLY READ by Isabella Alan

LOOKING FOR MR. GOOD WITCH 

Book 2 in the Retired Witches Mystery series 

by Joyce and Jim Lavene

Everyone’s favorite retired witches from Spell Booked have returned and are diving into troubled waters to find a sinister sea witch…

WITCHY WOMAN

A sea witch has been leaving bodies in her wake up and down the Carolina coast, baffling authorities who are finding drowning victims with no water in their lungs. The fin-icky female will continue to kill young male witches until she finds her perfect man—the one who survives her mating ritual—so she can live for another hundred years. And now coven hopeful Brian Fuller is about to be ensnared in her net.

Retired witches Molly and Elsie, along with the ghost of Olivia and her daughter Dorothy, need all the help they can get to stop the sea witch. Aided by a selkie and a crème puff–craving mermaid, they’re determined to keep Brian out of her murky clutches. But are they all about to get in over their heads?

MY REVIEW

LOOKING FOR MR. GOOD WITCH, book two in the Retired Witches Mystery series, is a witch’s brew of mystery, paranormal, and fun. Positively magical! I was entranced through the entire book. The story was well plotted and filled with incredible detail. The characters wonderfully flushed out for only the second installment of this series. The writing so fantastic that I felt like I was much more than a mere reader, but indeed a quiet observer hiding in the shadows of each scene.

Readers of multiple genres are going to love LOOKING FOR MR. GOOD WITCH. And be sure to pick up a copy of SPELL BOOKED, the first book in this series, if you haven’t already read it. While you don’t have to read it to understand this story, you’ll really enjoy reading them back to back.

I’m stating for a fact, I would never have started reading para-cozies if not for authors Joyce and Jim Lavene. The first cozy mystery I bought for myself (I’d been borrowing my sister’s when I first started reading the genre) was the Lavene’s first book in the Sweet Pepper Mystery series, THAT OLD FLAME OF MINE, under their pen name J. J. Cook. (You have to check out that series if you haven’t already!) Their writing had me hooked on the first page of that book, and has kept me under their spell ever since. 

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PARCHMENT AND OLD LACE

Book 13 in the Scrapbooking Mystery series 

by Laura Childs

with Terrie Farley Moran

The New York Times bestselling author of Gossamer Ghost returns to the Big Easy and the historic Garden District, where scrapbook shop owner Carmela Bertrand discovers a bride-to-be murdered in the legendary Lafayette Cemetery…

Carmela couldn’t imagine a finer evening than dinner at Commander’s Palace with her beau, Detective Edgar Babcock. The food and the company are equally divine—with the exception of Isabelle Black stopping by to brag about her upcoming wedding. Resuming the romance with a walk in the evening air, the couple is interrupted once again—this time by a terrifying scream from inside the cemetery.

Having just seen Isabelle, Carmela and Edgar now find her lying across an aboveground tomb, strangled to death with a piece of vintage lace. Carmela would rather leave the investigating to Edgar, but she can’t say no to Isabelle’s sister Ellie, the tarot card reader at Juju Voodoo, when she asks her to help. As she untangles the enemies of Isabelle’s past, Carmela hopes she can draw out the killer before someone else gets cold feet.

INCLUDES SCRAPBOOKING TIPS

MY REVIEW

I have to start by saying, I was thrilled to see that author Terrie Farley Moran collaborated with author Laura Childs on this book. I adore both of them, so this was exciting news for me.

It looks like book thirteen in the Scrapbooking Mystery series is lucky #13 for Laura Childs! You may think an author who has written so many books in different series would run out of things to write about. But you would be Oh. So. Wrong! It seems every new book by this author is better than the one before.

PARCHMENT AND OLD LACE had main character Carmela Bertrand and her boyfriend Detective Edgar Babcock, hit the ground running by page six. The mystery and excitement only continued to grow form there. This extremely well written story was fast paced, with interesting, multi layered characters. Everything readers have come to expect of this author.

You’re going to want to pick up a copy of this crafty mystery for yourself.

Don’t scrap (see what I did there? ;-) ) this book when you’re finished with the story or you’ll missing the crafting tips, yummy recipes, and the excerpt of DEVONSHIRE SCREAM, the new book by Laura Childs in her Tea Shop Mystery series! 

You're also going to want to check out author Terrie Farley Moran's Read 'Em and Eat Mystery series with WELL READ, THEN DEAD being the first. Once you've read one of her books, you'll see how her writing "voice" blended so with that of Laura Childs. 

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MURDER, PLAINLY READ 

Book 4 in the Amish Quilt Shop Mystery series 

by Isabella Alan

In the latest from the author of Murder, Served Simply, an Amish man checks out permanently, but quilt shop owner Angie Braddock’s got this mystery covered…

With so much to do between running her shop and spending time with her new boyfriend, it’s amazing Angie is able to help organize the Rolling Brook library's annual book sale. Luckily she’s working alongside brash librarian Austina Shaker, a lady who isn’t afraid to make waves to get books to her patrons—even the Amish. Unfortunately, this draws the ire of cranky Bartholomew Belier, an Old Order Amish bishop, who publicly vows to ruin Austina.

And she certainly might be ruined after Belier is found dead in her bookmobile. Now Angie must employ the help of her loyal quilting circle—as well as her beloved French bulldog, Oliver—if she hopes to prove Austina’s innocence before the real killer books it…

INCLUDES QUILTING TIPS

MY REVIEW

MURDER, PLAINLY READ is an excellent addition in the Amish Quilt Shop Mystery series. A truly enjoyable, clever story.

Author Isabella Alan has done a great job of creating a fictional community that reads would want to visit or even live in, and characters you would like to call friends.

This installment of the series flowed at a wonderful pace. Each page more enjoyable than the next. With a strong, developed plot, the writing was tight and on point. I was searching for answers right alongside of protagonist Angie Braddock. I won’t speak for Angie, but the reveal of the killer took me completely by surprise. Very well done.

You don’t have to know how to sew or quilt to enjoy this book, though quilters will no doubt really enjoy it.

Make sure to check out the back of the book for instructions on making an Amish quilted pumpkin, and for an excerpt of CRIME AND POETRY from the Magical Bookshop Mystery series by Isabella Alan, writing as Amanda Flower. 

All titles are available for pre-order

Release date: Tuesday October 6

As always, please leave a comment and 

let me know what you think!

Follow my blog by 

clicking on the link in the 

upper right hand corner of this page.

Here is the last of my Halloween list I have no doubt that I've missed titles. If you know of one that didn't make my lists from today or last week, please tell us about them in the comments section. 

Enjoy and happy reading! 

A cozy mystery series set on Madrona Island, a fictional island within the San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington State. As a fourth generation islander Caitlin Hart is struggling to make her way as the economy and culture of the island evolves toward a tourism based industry. Cait lives in a cabin on her aunt's oceanfront estate where she helps her aunt run Harthaven Cat Sanctuary. When she isn't working with the cats, she helps best friend Tara, operate the coffee bar/bookstore/cat lounge they own, named Coffee Cat Books. In the fifth book in the series, Cait and Cody join forces to track down a killer when a body is found in the hollow.

Fans will love this fast-paced cozy mystery that culminates in a life-and-death situation! Will Lexie Starr discover the identity of the murderer before it?s too late? Stone Van Patten has recently renovated an old mansion in the historic region of the small town of Rockdale, Missouri, and turned it into a thriving bed and breakfast. Stone?s girlfriend Lexie Starr and her daughter decide to promote the inn by turning it into a haunted house for Halloween. When the young man Lexie hires to dress as a vampire turns up dead in a makeshift coffin, Lexie decides to get involved with the murder investigation. She needs to crack this case before everyone starts to believe that the inn might really be haunted! With twists and turns that will keep the reader turning the pages, amateur sleuth Lexie Starr must pin-point the killer in a large group of community members that seem to have an axe to grind with the victim. Fun Halloween Recipes Included!

Domestic diva Sophie Winston is getting into the Halloween spirit- her decorations for a community haunted house are so good, it's scary. Not to be outdone, rival domestic diva Natasha is throwing a spooktacular Halloween party at her house. But when Sophie arrives, she discovers one of Natasha's guests dead in a Halloween display, and a pale, fanged partygoer fleeing the scene.

Could the killer be a real vampire-the same one rumored to have lived in Sophie's haunted house back when it was a boardinghouse? Good thing a domestic diva never runs out of garlic.

Halloween carnivals are supposed to be all fun and games, but when one of the school teachers is found strangled by a quilted table runner at the end of the night, Tess, bakery owner and amateur sleuth, is on the case. Between stalkers, small business rivals and neighbors whose hobbies clash with the victim’s, there is no shortage of suspects. Tess’s social life finally starts to take off as things get interesting with Jack and her good friend and employee, Lenny’s, wedding is only days away, Tess has got her hands full. Will she be able to catch the killer before he or she strikes again?

Halloween parties are supposed to be scary, of course. But this year, the Cabot Cove event is a real killer-when a real corpse leaves bestselling author Jessica Fletcher no choice...but to scare up a killer. 

In the midst of the annual Halloween frenzy, Tj finds herself pulled into a series of events that occur at the high school where she works. Not only must she help one of her girls deal with the increasingly popular pastime of cyber bullying, but she must help a student who has recently suffered a personal tragedy. Meanwhile, Samantha Colton, a reporter for Second Look; a television series which takes a second look at unsolved murder cases, is in town to investigate the death of a popular student after the homecoming dance ten years prior. When Samantha turns up dead Tj realizes that someone has a secret they don't want revealed.

The spirited sequel to the New York Times bestseller, Murder, She Barked

Wagtail, Virginia, the top pet-friendly getaway in the United States, is gearing up for a howling good Halloween—until a spooky murder shakes the town to its core . . .

Holly Miller doesn’t believe in spirits, but the Sugar Maple Inn is filled with guests who do. The TV series in development, Apparition Apprehenders, has descended on Wagtail’s annual Halloween festivities to investigate supernatural local legends, and Holly has her hands full showing the ghost hunters a scary-fun time.

But the frights turn real when Holly’s Jack Russell, Trixie, and kitten, Twinkletoes, find a young woman drowned in the Wagtail Springs Hotel’s bathhouse—the spot of the town’s most infamous haunting. The crime scene is eerily similar to the creepy legend, convincing Holly that the death wasn’t just accidental. Now she’ll have to race to catch a flesh-and-blood killer—before someone else in town gives up the ghost . . .

Chloe Boston, meter maid and unofficial sleuth of the Hope Falls Police Department, is on the trail of the Halloween Killer and a second troublesome criminal, the Pumpkin Thief, who has robbed every pumpkin patch in town. Aided by her dog and new boyfriend, Chloe is closing in on Hope Falls public enemies 1 and 2.

Alyson Prescott moves to Cutters Cove, Oregon, after being placed, along with her mother, in the witness protection program. In her previous life, Alyson was an A-list heiress with the excitement of a trend setting lifestyle and the security of old money. After witnessing a murder executed by two members of a powerful gang family, she is forced to leave her old life behind and become a middle class girl, living in a middle class town. Alyson struggles with the duplicity in her life as she strives to reconcile her new life with the old. In book two of the series, two Seacliff High students turn up missing just days before Halloween. The police believe that they have simply run away, but when strange and unexplained things begin to happen at the annual Haunted Hayride, Alyson begins to suspect there may be more going on than the adults in town would like to believe. After the props and decorations for the annual event turn up missing, Alyson and the gang decide to look into the case of the missing students. Could the two events be connected? And what about the symbol found splattered in blood in the barn where the annual Halloween party is to take place? Could it be connected to the gypsy curse that most believe to be simply a legend?

It's Halloween and this year Chloe is certain she'll win the pumpkin carving contest, but the night before the competition someone uses Mr. Jackman's giant pumpkin to squash an unpopular dentist. This is publicity the town doesn't need. Can Chloe solve the pumpkin caper and save Halloween? This is a short story approximately 19k words in length.

In the latest from the bestselling author of One Potion in the Grave, it’s Halloween in Hitching Post, Alabama, and potion shop owner Carly Bell Hartwell has an especially spooky customer to handle…

With all the ghosts that haunt her at this time of year, Carly doesn’t exactly rush to celebrate Halloween.  Even a costume ball organized by her boyfriend Dylan's mother, Patricia Davis Jackson, holds little allure.  But to please Dylan, who wants peace between the two women, Carly reluctantly agrees to go. 

Gossip around town is that architect Haywood Dodd plans to make a big announcement at the party. But before he can address the crowd, he’s found dead with Patricia standing over him, holding the murder weapon. Anxious to clear Patricia’s name and perhaps broker a truce with her, Carly would love to use her snooping skills to find the real killer. Only she has bigger problems to deal with—ghosts are flocking to her for help, including a very persistent Haywood Dodd…

The leaves of the calendar may be shedding faster than the sycamores on her family’s decaying Mississippi plantation, but thirty-something southern belle Sarah Booth Delaney isn’t ready to sing the blues. Not when she’s got a thriving detective agency and the outspoken, outrageously attired ghost of her great-great-grandmother’s nanny to keep her on her toes. But the matchmaking phantom may have the last word on motherhood when Sarah Booth takes on the controversial case of an accused baby killer.

Although Doreen Mallory’s been arrested for feeding sleeping pills to her ten-week-old daughter, no one could accuse her of lacking faith. A healer who, tragically, couldn’t save her own baby girl, born with multiple birth defects, Doreen has her own crosses to bear. While the local law seems convinced of Doreen’s guilt, Sarah Booth isn’t so sure. But why is Doreen reluctant to talk about the men in her life? Like the televangelist who stands to lose a lot more than his flock. Or the married politician with family ties to the Mob. Either of them could be little Rebekah’s father; either of them could also be her killer.

With Halloween approaching and her own personal life up for grabs, Sarah Booth could use a little faith healing herself. Torn between a married sheriff and an old flame who’s literally sweeping her off her feet, she’d better be prepared for the fallout of her most 
unpopular case yet. Justice may not stand a ghost of a chance as a decades-old secret explodes, unleashing a storm of fury on Sarah Booth and all those she loves.

I hope you find some new favorites!

THE SKELETON HAUNTS A HOUSE by Leigh Perry

GHOST OF A POTION by Heather Blake

TRICK OR DEADLY TREAT by Livia J. Washburn

THE SKELETON HAUNTS A HOUSE

Book 3 in the Family Skeleton Mystery series

by Leigh Perry

Sid the Skeleton bones up on clues to solve a Haunted House homicide in this mystery from the author of The Skeleton Takes a Bow…

What holiday could bring more warmth to a skeleton’s chest cavity than Halloween? And when you’re a living skeleton who’s not supposed to be seen outside the house, it’s a welcome chance to get some fresh air and rub bony elbows with people. That’s why Sid doesn’t mind wearing a full-body dog suit and going as Scooby-Doo along with Georgia Thackery’s Velma to the Halloween Howl.

Sid can’t wait to go through the Haunted House—but he gets rattled for real when a genuine dead body is discovered. Trapped inside as the police quickly seal off the crime scene, Sid makes no bones about dropping the dog suit and posing as an actual skeleton. This murder is a skull-scratcher, but as long as Sid is on the inside, he might as well case the joint to figure out who used the cover of darkness to commit the perfect crime…

MY REVIEW

I have been in love with skeleton Sid ever since reading the first book in the Family Skeleton series. THE SKELETON HAUNTS A HOUSE has only served to make me adore him even more!

I’ve mentioned in other reviews that para-cozies are not my go to choice for reading. However, series like this one have me pulling me into the sub-genre. Of course, in fairness, that has a lot to with the fact that Leigh Perry is a wonderful author. Not only does she pen an awesome mystery, but she makes you forget that one of the lead characters is dead and a skeleton, even though it’s of course mentioned in the story many times. She has given a personality and a soul to a walking stack of bones and it works!

I was hooked to this story like the leg bone is connected to the foot bone. ;-) THE SKELETON HAUNTS A HOUSE was a gripping, exciting and oh so fun a mystery. From the very first page with Sid putting on a Scooby-Doo costume, to a body being found in a Halloween horror attraction and Sid and Georgia finding themselves in the middle of another murder investigation, I read, entranced, eagerly turning each page until the surprising conclusion.

This installment of the Family Skeleton mystery series has certainly secured a place for more fun adventures with Sid. Get to writing Ms. Perry!

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GHOST OF A POTION 

Book 3 in the Magic Potion Mystery series 

by Heather Blake

In the latest from the bestselling author of One Potion in the Grave, it’s Halloween in Hitching Post, Alabama, and potion shop owner Carly Bell Hartwell has an especially spooky customer to handle…

With all the ghosts that haunt her at this time of year, Carly doesn’t exactly rush to celebrate Halloween.  Even a costume ball organized by her boyfriend Dylan's mother, Patricia Davis Jackson, holds little allure.  But to please Dylan, who wants peace between the two women, Carly reluctantly agrees to go. 

Gossip around town is that architect Haywood Dodd plans to make a big announcement at the party. But before he can address the crowd, he’s found dead with Patricia standing over him, holding the murder weapon. Anxious to clear Patricia’s name and perhaps broker a truce with her, Carly would love to use her snooping skills to find the real killer. Only she has bigger problems to deal with—ghosts are flocking to her for help, including a very persistent Haywood Dodd…

MY REVIEW

Author Heather Blake has penned another enchanting installment of the Magic Potion Mystery series. Rather you’re a returning fan or new to this series, you are going to be captivated.

I’m not a big fan on stories with witches, but with more and more coming out in the para-cozy genre, I have been finding series that I enjoy. Reading GHOST OF A POTION, I found myself absorbed in the story. It was a perfect blending of murder mystery, humor, witches and ghosts. The fact that the story is set during Halloween made it that much more entertaining.

So wonderful is the author’s writing, as I read, I could hear the characters rich Alabama accents. I could see the small town of Hitching Post and felt I was walking along its streets. I was so absorbed in the story, that before I knew it, I had reached its exciting conclusion.

Add this magical mystery to your TBR. You’re going to be happy you did!

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TRICK OR DEADLY TREAT

Book 9 in the Fresh-Baked Mystery series 

by Livia J. Washburn

It’s Halloween in Weatherford, Texas—which means Phyllis Newsom is baking up a storm of yummy seasonal treats...but she’s about to get even busier unmasking a killer...

While Phyllis and her friend Carolyn are preparing for a baking contest, her housemate Sam adopts Buck, an adorable Dalmatian who was hit by a car. To thank local veterinarian Hank Baxter for helping the dog, Phyllis and Carolyn bake a batch of doggie treats for his other four-legged patients.

But when they arrive at the clinic, the vet is in the process of being arrested—for the murder of his wife! Convinced that the police are barking up the wrong tree and that someone’s been burying evidence, Sam begs Phyllis to help find the real killer. Joined by Buck, the friends engage in a dogged pursuit of the murderer, who will stop at nothing to muzzle them…permanently.

INCLUDES RECIPES!

MY REVIEW

I thought TRICK OR DEADLY TREAT would be just as good as the other books in the Fresh-Baked Mystery series, but I was wrong. It’s better!

Extremely well written with an entertaining plot, I was drawn into this story and didn’t want to stop reading. But it did start off in a dog kennel, so it was bound to win me over.

Author Livia J. Washburn’s wonderful cast of characters find themselves once again in the middle of a homicide. Why would someone kill such a good man as the local vet? As more and more questions came about, I found myself suspecting everyone, but having no true idea whodunit. That made the reveal even more exciting.

TRICK OR DEADLY TREAT is a mystery filled confection that is sure to thrill fans of this delightful series, as well as tempt new readers to take a taste.

Be sure to keep reading once the story is done for a ton of yummy recipes for humans and dogs! Plus read an excerpt from the next book in the Fresh-Baked series, THE CANDY CANE CUPCAKE KILLER. You had me at Cupcake Ms. Washburn. ;-)

All titles are available for pre-order

Release date: Tuesday October 6

As always, please leave a comment and 

let me know what you think!

Follow my blog by 

clicking on the link in the 

upper right hand corner of this page.