I'm so happy to have author

Dianne Harman

back at the blog today!

Dianne is celebrating the release of 

Book 9 in the Cedar Bay Cozy Mystery series 

TROUBLE AT THE KENNEL

Seven time Amazon All Star author Dianne Harman with her latest book in the best selling Cedar Bay Cozy Mystery Series 

Mike, the sheriff of Beaver County, Oregon and his wife Kelly, the 
owner of Kelly’s Koffee Shop, have just returned from a fly fishing 
trip to Cuba. On the drive home from the airport Mike gets a call 
informing him that the owner of Doggie Love Kennel, where they had 
boarded their dogs when they were in Cuba, has been murdered. To make 
matters worse, all of the dogs in the kennel, including Rebel and 
Lady, have been released and are running loose in the surrounding 
area. They immediately begin to search for their dogs as well as 
trying to determine who killed Mary Barnes. 

They have plenty of suspects to choose from: the druggie kennel 
employee; the owner of the award winning Yorkie that was impregnated 
while staying at the kennel; the disgruntled head of the Pit Bull 
Sanctuary who was instructed by the owner of the kennel to get his pit 
bulls off of the property within twenty-four hours; the impoverished 
woman whose property is next to the luxurious kennel and is jealous of 
the dogs being boarded there; the kennel manager; and her husband who 
has anger issues. Will Mike and Kelly find the killer before the 
killer comes after them? And what about the dog named Skyy? Is she 
cute enough to make Mike rethink his decision to only have two dogs? 
Can she worm her way into his heart? 

*****!!!GIVEAWAY!!!*****

Dianne is giving away 3 Kindle copies of 

TROUBLE AT THE KENNEL!

Use the Rafflecopter form below to enter for your chance to win!

Giveaway open to US and Canada.

You can find a full list of Dianne's titles here. 

dianneharman.com

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.

Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Lisa Note: Correction...The title on Rafflecopter should read TROUBLE AT THE KENNEL, not MURDER. What can I say, I have murder on the mind. ;-) Sorry about that! (4/2/2/16)

Happy Wednesday. 

Please enjoy today's edition of

THE COZY TIMES

This is a weekly online publication focused on bringing you the latest news from the newspapers of our favorite cozy towns!

The Cozy Times runs every 

Wednesday and Saturday.

Today I'm featuring the

Wrensdale Weekly

The Wrensdale Weekly is the local newspaper for Wrensdale, MA.

For today's edition, I am pulling from the archives of the Wrensdale Weekly and featuring articles from the December 9, 2015 issue.

TCT Note: Coupons featured in the Weekly are no longer valid.

Check it out!

Wrensdale Weekly

December 9, 2015

by staff contributor Linda Reilly

Local Woman Found Slain after Community Center Fundraiser

Restaurateur Talia Marby made a gruesome discovery at the town gymnasium on Sunday. After returning to Wrensdale’s annual Santa Fundraiser to retrieve a forgotten bowl of sweet batter, she discovered the body of Oriana Butterforth, 37, of Wrensdale, on the floor of a storage closet. According to Wrensdale Police Detective Patti Prescott, the apparent cause of Butterforth’s death was strangulation. Additional details are being withheld pending further investigation.

Prescott, who is currently acting as liaison with the Massachusetts State Police, expressed shock at the town’s second murder in fewer than two months. “The fact that Ms. Marby discovered both deceased victims is a source of deep concern,” Prescott said. “If it’s a coincidence, it’s a bizarre one,” she added. “That’s all I can say at this time.”

Earlier this year, in October, Marby found the body of Philip Turnbull inside his lighting shop. Turnbull had been fatally stabbed with a fillet knife. Marby, according to police, was instrumental in capturing his killer, who is currently serving a life sentence without chance of parole.

Butterforth lived with her mother, Anita Butterforth, also of Wrensdale. The victim was the proprietor of Once or Twice, a vintage accessories boutique that opened just this past November in the Wrensdale Arcade.

Marby recently celebrated the opening of her new deep-fried restaurant, Fry Me A Sliver, at the site of the former Lambert’s Fish & Chips.

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Wrensdale Weekly

December 9, 2015

by staff contributor Linda Reilly

Queenie’s Variety to get minor facelift

After 78 years in operation, the country store that that represents the heart and soul of Wrensdale will undergo some long overdue renovations.

“It’s definitely time,” said Rita Gregory, granddaughter of the original founder. “About three months ago, in the canned goods aisle, a customer tripped over a crack in the linoleum and nearly broke his neck. I tell you, it was a wake-up call.”

Along with new laminate flooring, the interior of Queenie’s will be treated to a fresh coat of paint. The vintage shelving will remain, but the addition of a new feature—a cozy corner where the latest paperback bestsellers will be displayed for sale—has local book lovers celebrating.

When asked if the creaky entry door for which Queenie’s was known would be replaced, Gregory coyly replied, “We haven’t decided yet. Yes, it does stick a little. But that door has admitted generations of loyal customers. Chances are good it’ll stay right where it is.”

Queenie’s Variety will close for a three-day period during the renovations, which are slated to begin late in January of next year.

~~~~~~~~

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A special thank you to 

Wrensdale Weekly staff contributor  

Linda Reilly 

That's this week's edition of 

The Cozy Times 

I hope you enjoyed!

********

To learn more about the quaint town of 

Wrensdale and it's residents, read the 

Deep Friend Mystery series by author 

Linda Reilly

FIRST IN A NEW SERIES!

Talia Marby serves up delectable English deep fried fare in the heart of the Berkshires—but she soon discovers there’s something fishy going on…
 
Sometimes in this life, you have to fish or cut bait. After walking away from a miserable job and an even worse boyfriend, Talia Marby has no regrets. She’s returned to her hometown and is happy to help her dear friend Bea Lambert by working at Lambert’s Fish & Chips, a cornerstone of a charming shopping plaza designed to resemble an old English village.
 
But not all the shop owners are charming. Phil Turnbull has been pestering Bea to sign a petition against a new store opening up, and his constant badgering is enough to make her want to boil him in oil. When Talia and Bea stumble upon Turnbull murdered in his shop, the police suspect Bea. Now it’s up to Talia to fish around for clues and hook the real killer before her friend has to trade serving food for serving time…
 
Includes delicious recipes!

Revenge is set to sizzle in the tasty new Deep Fried Mystery from the author of Fillet of Murder.
 
For Talia Marby, the sweet smell of success is a lot like the pungent aroma of fried fish and vinegar. Her new business, Fry Me a Sliver, is rapidly expanding beyond fish and chips to become one of the best eateries in the Berkshires. But the nasty owner of a neighboring boutique is making a stink, baiting Talia in a very public fight at a community center fundraiser and nursing an inexplicable grudge.
 
When the boutique owner is found strangled with Talia’s scarf knotted around her neck, our favorite fish fryer finds herself in hot oil. Needing to clear her name, and fast, Talia’s investigation soon yields some shocking surprises as well as a sizzling suspicion: someone had good reason to want the victim dead—and it’s frying Talia’s nerves...

Includes delicious recipes!

Is there a cozy town you'd like to see featured in 

The Cozy Times? 

Please let me know in the comments section.

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.

Author

Lee Hollis 

is so excited over today's release of 

DEATH OF A BACON HEIRESS! 

How excited you ask? 

Excited enough to have an amazing 

!!!GIVEAWAY!!!

For food and cocktails columnist Hayley Powell, becoming a local culinary celebrity opens lots of doors. Unfortunately, one leads straight to cold-blooded murder…

When Hayley is invited to do a cooking demo on one of daytime's most popular talk shows, it's a welcome distraction from her empty nest blues. And the newfound fame certainly has its perks--especially when Olivia Redmond, the posh bacon heiress of Redmond Meats, offers Hayley a writing gig with a juicy paycheck. But Hayley's good fortune fizzles fast. The heiress is found dead with her pet pot-bellied pig, Pork Chop, squealing bloody murder beside her body, and clogged arteries aren't to blame. It turns out Olivia's inherited a wealth of enemies over the years, and as Hayley trims the fat off a mounting list of suspects, it's clear that being rich and hot-tempered can be a recipe for disaster… 

Includes seven delectable recipes from Hayley's kitchen!

************

*****!!!GIVEAWAY!!!*****

Use the Rafflecopter form at the end of this post for a chance to win

1 of 3 signed copies

or 

1 of 3 Audible downloads

(You do not have to have an Audible account to download this book)

of

DEATH OF A BACON HEIRESS

This giveaway is open

WORLDWIDE!

************

MY REVIEW

Another fabulous installment in a series that has been one of my favorites since the beginning!

The Hayley Powell Food & Cocktail Mysteries never fail to make me laugh. The cast of regular characters in this series are absolutely marvelous to read. They are so varied. Each character adds just the right personality to this eclectic group. Author Lee Hollis comes up with some of the best one liners, and hysterical conversations and situations. There is never a dull moment with any of them.

DEATH OF A BACON HEIRESS not only did justice to the rest of the series, it elevated it. That’s not something I would have thought possible. But this was a superb mystery written with a skill that simply amazed me. While the main mystery in the book was completely absorbing, there were also smaller storylines mix in that served to make this book even more outstanding.

I would be hard pressed to pick my favorite part of story, but I will leave you with two words that will always make DEATH OF A BACON HEIRESS memorable to me…Pork Chop. J

As always, Hollis has included yummy cocktail and food recipes. You’ll also find an excerpt from the next Hayley Powell mystery, DEATH OF A PUMPKIN CARVER!

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.

GOOD LUCK!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

BOOK TOUR

I'm so very happy to be a stop on the blog tour for 

author Connie Archer

and her new book

A CLUE IN THE STEW

Book 5 in the Soup Lover's Mysteries

Soup shop owner Lucky Jamieson stirs up more trouble in the latest mystery from the national bestselling author of Ladle to the Grave...

When Lucky Jamieson opens up By the Spoonful to host an event with a famous author, she’s not expecting a bunch of nuts to descend on her small-town soup shop. But the author’s exasperating entourage—from a prickly publicist to a snippy son and his tipsy wife—give fresh meaning to the phrase, too many cooks spoil the broth.
 
The evening is more than spoiled, however, when it ends with a homicide. When the manner of the murder—as well as another recent unsolved crime—echoes the author’s fiction, Police Chief Nate Edgerton realizes he has a copycat killer on his hands. And Lucky hopes that one of her regular customers who has mysteriously gone missing isn’t involved. Once again, the soup shop owner will need to stir up some clues to find her friend and catch a cunning killer—before things really take a tureen for the worse...

*****!!!GIVEAWAY!!!*****

Winner will be chosen after April 4

at the end of the tour

Check out the great prize and enter using the Rafflecopter form at the end of this post. 

This giveaway is through Great Escape Book Tours, not Lisa Ks Book Reviews.

MY REVIEW

A CLUE IN THE STEW is a delicious delight I didn’t want to end!

The Soup Lover’s Mystery series became one of my “must have – go to favorite” from book one, A SPOONFUL OF MURDER. Just as this series deals with comfort food like soup and sandwiches, it has become one of my most looked forward to comfort reads.

This story, is made up of all the ingredients that make not only this series, but all of cozy mysteries so enjoyable…a cast of characters that feel like friends and family, a lovely, quaint location, and a perfect blend of mystery, fun, and drama.  

Once again author Connie Archer has penned a magnificent installment in the Soup Lover’s Mysteries. A CLUE IN THE STEW is a perfectly plotted murder mystery that kept me guessing right up until the wonderful, action filled reveal! There are also sub stories with in the main one that had me smiling, and crying…just all around emotional. Well, done Ms. Archer.

Book six just can’t get here fast enough for me!

Don’t stew over getting this book. A CLUE IN THE STEW is sure to be a book you’ll devour!

And don’t forget to check out the yummy, make-your-stomach-growl recipes at the back of the book!

www.escapewithdollycas.com

About the author

Connie Archer is the national bestselling author of the Soup Lover's Mystery series set in Snowflake, Vermont -- A Spoonful of Murder, A Broth of Betrayal, A Roux of Revenge and Ladle to the Grave. The fifth book in the series, A Clue in the Stew, will be released on April 5, 2016. You can find excerpts from the Soup Lover's Mystery series and Connie's recipes in The Cozy Cookbook from Penguin Random House and The Mystery Writers of America Cookbook. 
Connie was born and raised in New England and loves writing about Vermont. Today she can be found on the other coast inventing soup recipes and designing plots. You can visit her website and blog at www.conniearchermysteries.com and sign up for her newsletter. You can also find her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ConnieArcherMysteries and Twitter @SnowflakeVT.

GOOD LUCK!

a Rafflecopter giveaway