Tuesday, July 31, 2018


It's New Release Day Tuesday!
Check out returning favorites, 
and new series starts!


When her sleepwalking aunt is accused of committing murder, Poppy McAllister finds out there's no rest for the weary . . .
 
Between trying to get her gluten-free baking business off the ground and helping her aunt remodel her old Victorian into the Butterfly House Bed and Breakfast in Cape May, New Jersey, Poppy is ready to call, “Mayday!” And now Aunt Ginny—who's a handful wide-awake—is sleepwalking on her new sleeping pill prescription and helping herself to neighbors’ snacks and knickknacks.
 
Even more alarming, a local humanitarian who worked with troubled teens is found murdered, and the police suspect the “Snack Bandit.” Other than a bad case of midnight munchies and some mild knickknack kleptomania, Aunt Ginny is harmless. Someone’s trying to frame her. Poppy will need to work tirelessly to uncover the killer and put the case to rest—before Aunt Ginny has to trade in her B & B for a bunk bed behind bars . . .

 
Includes Seven Recipes from Poppy’s Kitchen!


Managing a fitness club café and collaborating on a cookbook with her grandfather are Val Deniston’s usual specialties, but she’s about to set sail into nearby Chesapeake Bay—straight into a murder case . . .
 
Since catering themed events is a good way to make extra cash, Val agrees to board the Titanic—or at least cater a re-creation of the doomed journey on a yacht. The owner of the yacht, who collects memorabilia related to the disaster, wants Val to serve the last meal the Titanic passengers ate . . . while his guests play a murder-mystery game. But it is the final feast for one passenger who disappears from the ship. And that’s only the tip of the iceberg.
 
  Now Val has to reel in a killer before s’more murders go down . . .

 
Includes delicious five-ingredient recipes!


Finger-licking delicious, Shari Randall's Against the Claw is the second in the Lazy Mermaid Lobster Shack series.
Welcome back to the seaside village of Mystic Bay, where someone’s been found sleeping with the fishes. . .
Ballerina Allie Larkin is still back home, healing up from a broken ankle and lending a hand at her aunt’s Lazy Mermaid Lobster Shack. But now that the famed restaurant is branching out into the world of catering, Allie’s help is needed more than ever―even on the lobster boat. The last thing she expects to find once she’s out on the bay, however, is the dead body of a beautiful young woman.
When days pass and not even the police can ID the corpse, Allie takes it upon herself to learn the truth about what happened. Her investigation leads her all the way from the local piers to the secluded estates of Mystic Bay’s posh elite. But how can she crack this case when everyone seems dead-set on keeping their secrets beneath the surface?

Restaurateur Robbie Jordan is ready for the boost in business a local music festival brings to South Lick, Indiana, but the beloved event strikes a sour note when one of the musicians is murdered . . .
 
June’s annual Brown County Bluegrass Festival at the Bill Monroe Music Park in neighboring Beanblossom is always a hit for Robbie’s country store and café, Pans ‘N Pancakes. This year, Robbie is even more excited, because she’s launching a new bed and breakfast above her shop. A few festival musicians will be among Robbie’s first guests, along with her father, Roberto, and his wife, Maria. But the celebration is cut short when a performer is found choked to death by a banjo string. Now all the banjo players are featured in a different kind of lineup. To clear their names, Robbie must pair up with an unexpected partner to pick at the clues and find the plucky killer before he can conduct an encore performance . . .
 
Includes Recipes for You to Try!


Lee Hollis begins a delightful new series in which Poppy Harmon and her friends find that life after retirement can be much busier—and deadlier—than any of them ever anticipated . . .  
 
When Poppy goes from complacent retiree to penniless widow in a matter of weeks, the idea of spending her golden years as the biggest charity case in Palm Springs renders her speechless. With no real skills and nothing left to lose, Poppy uses her obsession with true crime shows to start a career as a private eye . . .
 
But after opening the Desert Flowers Detective Agency with help from her two best friends, Violet and Iris, Poppy realizes that age brings wisdom, not business—until she convinces her daughter's handsome boyfriend, Matt, to pose as the face of the agency. It’s not long before Matt’s irresistible act snags a client desperate to retrieve priceless jewelry burglarized from an aging actress at the Palm Leaf Retirement Village. Or before Poppy stumbles upon the bloodied body of the victim’s arch rival . . .
 
In a flash, Poppy’s innocent detective gig is upstaged by a dangerous murder investigation riddled with slimy suspects and unspeakable scandal. As she and her team uncover the truth, Poppy must confront the secrets about her late husband’s past and swiftly catch a killer lurking around the retirement community—even if it means turning her world upside down all over again.


Writer's apprentice Lena London is happily working on a new collaboration with her idol and bestselling suspense novelist and friend Camilla Graham, but her joy is short-lived when a dark cloud descends upon the quaint town of Blue Lake, Indiana...

Lena's best friend, Allison, is in a panic. On a walk in the woods by her home, Allison discovers the body of her mail carrier, an argumentative man who recently had a falling out with Allison's husband. Lena quickly realizes that Allison has nothing to worry about as the murder weapon points to a different suspect altogether: Lena's embattled boyfriend, Sam West. 

Sam was cleared of his wife's murder when she was found alive, and now someone is trying to make him look guilty again. Surveillance video of a break-in at his house shows a shadowy figure trying to incriminate him by stealing the weapon from his desk. Lena and Camilla work on a suspect list, but a threatening note and a violent intrusion at Graham House prove that the devious killer has decided to write them into the plot.


Bar owner Mackenzie “Mack” Dalton and her barstool detectives love to puzzle through cold cases. But when one of their own disappears, danger is on tap . . .
 
Fresh off solving a murder that hit too close to home, Mack’s trust is shattered. But when Milwaukee police detective Duncan Albright asks for her help with a shooting, she can’t resist using her extra-perceptive senses to benefit others. It turns out the victim was the ruthless businessman their friend Mal was investigating undercover. And now Mal is missing—and his fingerprints are on the gun. Was his cover blown, forcing him into hiding? Or could he be a straight-up killer on the run? Mack doesn’t know what to believe anymore—except her own gut, which leads her to secret rooms, shocking revelations . . . and the fear that this could be her final round. 


In tracing her ancestry, quilter Martha Rose discovers a ritzy half-sister, a stash of family secrets, and a decades-old mystery that only she can unravel . . .
 
Martha Rose is shocked to find she has a half-sister, especially one so different from her. Giselle Cole is wealthy, widowed, and lives a glamorous life in West Los Angeles. At least her grandmother was a quilter! But Giselle can’t answer Martha’s many questions about their father—he disappeared when she was only a child and the few clues left behind indicate he may have been murdered. So Martha and Giselle team up on an investigation that weaves them through the streets of L.A., their father’s hidden love affairs, and into some mysterious unfinished Cole family business . . .


Every town has one. The big old house which has stood empty for so long that no one really remembers anyone living there. The iconic subject of lore and folktales which hints at supernatural occurrences, tragedy, and family curses, that can be neither confirmed nor denied. For the town of White Eagle Montana the house that served as the subject of ghostly stories by the campfire was a huge old mansion built more than fifty years ago by a wealthy industrialist as a summer home for his wife and five children. The house, void of love and laughter, served as a sort of luxury prison far away from the hustle and bustle of Hartford Harrington’s full and busy life in San Francisco.

Structurally, Harrington House had weathered the long winters and hot summers of northern Montana. It had endured long after every one of those five children had been buried in the little family cemetery at the edge of the huge estate. I’m really not sure why the place was never sold, or even lived in, by whichever Harrington relation inherited the place, but after the summer Houston Harrington jumped from the third floor window to the concrete bricks of the veranda below, not a single Harrington or Harrington heir had set foot in the place.

Until now.

When Jordan Westlake inherits the house from his mother, he decides to break tradition and take up residence. He expected that the renovation on the old mansion would be an expensive and time consuming endeavor, what he didn't expect to find was a skeleton in his closet. Literally.


Purrder She Wrote is second in the pawsitively charming new feline mystery series set off the New England coast, where curiosity leads to some killer small-town secrets....
It’s the grand opening of Daybreak Island’s cat café, where customers can get cozy with an assortment of friendly felines―and maybe even take one or a few home. Co-owner Maddie James is purring with excitement over her new warm-and-fuzzy venture. . .until she becomes entangled in a petty drama between one of her volunteers, an ardent animal-rights activist, and a wealthy woman who insists on adopting a calico kitty―right this instant. The catfight that ensues is bad enough for business. But when the snubbed socialite is found dead with a tell-tale catnip toy on the scene, suspicion lands squarely on Maddie’s staffer. Now, with her reputation and her career prospects on the line (to say nothing of her budding romance with a handsome pet groomer) Maddie must do whatever it takes to solve the crime―before her nine lives are up.


Welcome to Normal, Kentucky~ where nothing is normal. 

It's Labor Day weekend in Normal, and if you know anything about camping and RVing, you know it's one of the busiest times of the year. Unfortunately, Daniel Boone National Park is in danger of being closed due to a drought and local businesses are scrambling for ideas to survive a possible shutdown.

Happy Trails Campground is at the center of a murder in which campers as well locals are suspects. It looks likely that a local resident is responsible for the dastardly deed since the victim is the one person who had the power to shut down the national park, which would be devastating to Normal’s small businesses.


Follow Mae West as she searches for clues to get to the bottom of this Labor Day campground caper!


In the latest Library Lover’s Mystery from the New York Times bestselling author of Better Late Than Never, the library’s big fund-raiser leaves director Lindsey Norris booked for trouble . . . 

Lindsey Norris and her staff are gearing up for the Briar Creek Library’s annual Dinner in the Stacks fund-raiser. The night of dinner and dancing is not only a booklover’s dream—it’s the library’s biggest moneymaker of the year. But instead of raising funds, the new library board president is busy raising a stink and making the staff miserable.

Although Olive Boyle acts like a storybook villain, Lindsey is determined to work with her and make the event a success. But when Olive publicly threatens the library’s newest hire, Paula, Lindsey cracks like an old book spine and throws Olive out of the library.

The night of the fund-raiser, Lindsey dreads another altercation with Olive—but instead finds Paula crouched over Olive’s dead body. Paula may have secrets, but Lindsey and the rest of the crafternooners know she’s not the one who took Olive out of circulation. As the plot thickens, Lindsey must catch the real killer before the book closes on Paula’s future . . .


From USA Today bestselling author Anne Marie Stoddard comes another fabulously fashionable mystery in paradise...

Kaley Kalua is ecstatic when her best friend announces that she’s getting married and bringing the pre-wedding celebration to Aloha Lagoon! As the maid of honor, Kaley can't wait to see her bride-to-be bestie, Emma—that is, until Emma shows up on the island with a few unwelcome faces in her wedding party, including Kaley’s cheating ex-husband, Bryan, one of his former mistresses, and his new girlfriend! To make matters worse, Kaley’s current relationship with the resort's hot lifeguard is on the rocks, and her
brand new handbag goes missing after a wild night celebrating Emma’s bachelorette party.

But things go from bad to downright deadly when Bryan’s girlfriend is found the next day, dead and buried in a shallow grave on the resort beach—along with Kaley’s missing bag! The police seem convinced that Kaley is involved in the woman’s untimely death. In order to prove her innocence and save Emma’s wedding weekend, Kaley must do a little investigating of her own. Did her arrogant ex-husband kill his own girlfriend? Or did the jealous other woman commit the crime? The deeper Kaley digs in her pursuit of the truth, the more secrets and lies she uncovers. It soon becomes clear that someone doesn’t want Kaley to air their dirty laundry. If she isn’t careful, she may not live to see her friend walk down the aisle.


For Alberta Scaglione, her golden years are turning out much more differently than she expected—and much more deadly . . .
 
Alberta Scaglione’ s spinster aunt had some secrets—like the fortune she squirreled away and a secret lake house in Tranquility, New Jersey. More surprising: she’s left it all to Alberta. Alberta, a widow, is no spring chicken and she’s gotten used to disappointment. So having a beautiful view, surrounded by hydrangeas, honeysuckle, and her cat, Lola, sounds blissful after years of yelling and bickering and cooking countless lasagnas.
 
But Tranquility isn’t as peaceful as it sounds. There’s a body in the water—and it belongs to Alberta’s childhood nemesis. Alberta suspects foul play and when Alberta’s estranged granddaughter, an aspiring crime reporter, shows up, it only makes sense for them to team up and investigate . . .
 

Includes Italian recipes from Alberta’s kitchen!


A Park Avenue princess discovers the dark side of 1930s New York when a debutante ball turns deadly in this gripping historical mystery for readers of Victoria Thompson, Anne Perry, and Rhys Bowen.

Manhattan, 1938. Tired of being trapped in the gilded cage of her family’s expectations, Elizabeth Adams has done what no self-respecting socialite would think to do: She’s gotten herself a job. Although Elizabeth’s dream is to one day see her photographs on the front page of the Daily Trumpet, for now she’s working her way up as the newsroom’s gal Friday.

But fetching coffee isn’t exactly her idea of fun. So when veteran reporter Ralph Kaminsky needs a photographer to fill in for a last-minute assignment, Elizabeth jumps at the chance. At the Waldorf Hotel, Elizabeth is tasked with tracking down the season’s “It girl,” Gloria DeWitt, who will be making her society debut. Working her own connections to New York’s upper crust, Elizabeth manages to land an exclusive interview with Gloria.

Then Gloria’s stepmother is shot dead in a Waldorf bathroom, placing Elizabeth at the scene of a headline-worthy scandal: “Murder of a Society Dame.” Now Elizabeth will have to get the scoop on the killer before her good name gets dragged through the gossip columns—or worse. . . .









Which ones have you been looking forward to?


As always, please leave a comment and 
let me know what you think!

Follow my blog by 
clicking on the link in the 
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Monday, July 30, 2018


Author 
Kathi Daley
has a new book!
THE HALLOWEEN HOUSE
Book 4 in the Tess and Tilly Cozy Mysteries


Every town has one. The big old house which has stood empty for so long that no one really remembers anyone living there. The iconic subject of lore and folktales which hints at supernatural occurrences, tragedy, and family curses, that can be neither confirmed nor denied. For the town of White Eagle Montana the house that served as the subject of ghostly stories by the campfire was a huge old mansion built more than fifty years ago by a wealthy industrialist as a summer home for his wife and five children. The house, void of love and laughter, served as a sort of luxury prison far away from the hustle and bustle of Hartford Harrington’s full and busy life in San Francisco.

Structurally, Harrington House had weathered the long winters and hot summers of northern Montana. It had endured long after every one of those five children had been buried in the little family cemetery at the edge of the huge estate. I’m really not sure why the place was never sold, or even lived in, by whichever Harrington relation inherited the place, but after the summer Houston Harrington jumped from the third floor window to the concrete bricks of the veranda below, not a single Harrington or Harrington heir had set foot in the place.

Until now.

When Jordan Westlake inherits the house from his mother, he decides to break tradition and take up residence. He expected that the renovation on the old mansion would be an expensive and time consuming endeavor, what he didn't expect to find was a skeleton in his closet. Literally.

📚📖📚📖📚

!!!GIVEAWAY!!!

One lucky reader will in a copy of

THE HALLOWEEN HOUSE

Use the Rafflecopter form below to enter

USA - Choice of Print or Kindle copy
Canada - Kindle copy only

📚📖📚📖📚


GOOD LUCK!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


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.

Sunday, July 29, 2018


CLAWS OF DEATH
Book 2 in the Cat Lady Mysteries
by Linda Reilly


The meow of death . . .
 
Whisker Jog, New Hampshire, is a long way from Hollywood, but it’s the place legendary actress Deanna Daltry wants to call home. Taking up residence in a stone mansion off Cemetery Hill, the retired, yet still glamorous, septuagenarian has adopted two kittens from Lara Caphart’s High Cliff Shelter for Cats. With help from her Aunt Fran, Lara makes sure the kitties settle in safely with their new celebrity mom. 
 
But not everyone in town is a fan of the fading star. Deanna was in Whisker Jog when she was younger, earning a reputation for pussyfooting around, and someone is using that knowledge against her. After being frightened by some nasty pranks, Deanna finds herself the prime murder suspect when the body of a local teacher is found on her property. Now, it’s up to Lara, Aunt Fran, and the blue-eyed Ragdoll mystery cat Lara recently encountered to collar a killer before another victim is pounced upon . . .

📚📚📖📚📚

MY REVIEW


I was so happy to finally get to read CLAWS OF DEATH! After reading the first book in the series, ESCAPE CLAWS, I knew this was a series that would half a place on my bookshelves.

It was a great amount of fun to return to Whisper Jog, New Hampshire, and spend time with Lara, Aunt Fran, and all the other delightful residents of the small town. Author Linda Reilly writes characters that I would be friends with. I can see myself spending any enjoyable hours in the company of these people, Just as I spend many enjoyable hours reading about them.

CLAWS OF DEATH is a wonderfully written story that captured my attention on page one and fed my imagination until the very last page. The mystery aspect is well crafted and intriguing, with just the right amount of twists and turns to challenge my guesses. A real page turned that I hated to see end.

I give CLAWS OF DEATH 2 paws up and 5 meows!


As always, please leave a comment and 
let me know what you think!

Follow my blog by 
clicking on the link in the 
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Friday, July 27, 2018


It's

Cozy Food Friday

with a

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

It's time to share a recipe from 
another great cozy mystery!

Today I'm featuring a recipe from
Book 5 in the Country Store Mysteries
DEATH OVER EASY
by
Maddie Day
(aka Edith Maxwell)


Restaurateur Robbie Jordan is ready for the boost in business a local music festival brings to South Lick, Indiana, but the beloved event strikes a sour note when one of the musicians is murdered . . .
 
June’s annual Brown County Bluegrass Festival at the Bill Monroe Music Park in neighboring Beanblossom is always a hit for Robbie’s country store and café, Pans ‘N Pancakes. This year, Robbie is even more excited, because she’s launching a new bed and breakfast above her shop. A few festival musicians will be among Robbie’s first guests, along with her father, Roberto, and his wife, Maria. But the celebration is cut short when a performer is found choked to death by a banjo string. Now all the banjo players are featured in a different kind of lineup. To clear their names, Robbie must pair up with an unexpected partner to pick at the clues and find the plucky killer before he can conduct an encore performance . . .
 
Includes Recipes for You to Try!

📕📖📗📚📘📖📙

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

One lucky reader will win this beautiful
Edith Maxwell/Maddie Day
Mystery Author Apron!
(Lucky duck!)


Use the Rafflecopter form at the end of this post to enter.
USA only

🍽🍽🍽🍽🍽🍽🍽

On to the recipe!

FRIED APPLES

All food photos are owned by Maddie Day/Edith Maxwell

In Death Over Easy (release date July 31), Robbie Jordan and her assistant Danna prepare fried apples as a breakfast special to celebrate the bluegrass festival, because the dish is a specialty of the Bluegrass state, Kentucky.

Makes 6 to 8 servings


Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, cubed
6 medium unpeeled tart red apples, sliced
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon


Directions:

   Melt butter in a large cast-iron or other oven-proof skillet. 
   Add apples and 1/2 cup sugar; stir to mix well. Cover and cook over low heat for 20 minutes or until apples are tender, stirring frequently. 
   Add cinnamon and remaining sugar. Cook and stir over medium-high heat 5 minutes.

Enjoy warm on top of your French toast or pancakes, or as a topping for vanilla ice cream!


Be honest. 
How many of you are heading out to buy apples the first chance you get?

🍽🍽🍽🍽🍽🍽🍽

About Maddie


Agatha- and Macavity-nominated Edith Maxwell writes the Quaker Midwife Mysteries, the Local Foods Mysteries, and award-winning short crime fiction. As Maddie Day she writes the Country Store Mysteries and a new 2019 series, the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries. Maxwell is president of Sisters in Crime New England, co-chair of the New England Crime Bake conference, and lives north of Boston with her beau, two elderly cats, and an impressive array of garden statuary.



📕📖📘📚📙📖📗

Book Beginnings on Fridays is a meme hosted by Rose City Reader
Share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading

The Friday 56 is a meme hosted by Freda's Voice
Rules: *Grab a book, any book. *Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader (If you have to improvise, that's okay.) *Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) that grab you. *Post it.

My Book Beginnings

A crow scratched out a call from a tall black maple at the edge of the music festival seating area. A shiver rippled through me, but I shook it off. I don't believe in bad omens.

My Friday 56% 

I hurried through my apartment to the back door.
And sucked in a harsh breath. Scratch marks surrounded the metal plate that held the keyhole and handle to the door.


GOOD LUCK!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

As always, please leave a comment and 
let me know what you think!

Want to follow my blog? 
Click on the link in the 
upper right hand corner of this page!