MURDER IN THE MYSTERY SUITE

Book One in the Book Retreat Mystery series

by Ellery Adams

WHO WOULD RESORT TO MURDER?

Tucked away in the rolling hills of rural western Virginia is the storybook resort of Storyton Hall, catering to book lovers who want to get away from it all. To increase her number of bookings, resort manager Jane Steward has decided to host a Murder and Mayhem week so that fans of the mystery genre can gather together for some role-playing and fantasy crime solving.

But when the winner of the scavenger hunt, Felix Hampden, is found dead in the Mystery Suite, and the valuable book he won as his prize is missing, Jane realizes one of her guests is an actual murderer. Amid a resort full of fake detectives, Jane is bound and determined to find a real-life killer. There’s no room for error as Jane tries to unlock this mystery before another vacancy opens up…

A few chapters into this first book in the Book Retreat Mystery series, I was already enjoying what I thought to be another sweet, cozy mystery series. By chapter five I had the feeling of reading a Nancy Drew story in which Nancy was now a grown woman. This of course thrilled me to no end. However, it felt as though I was also in a modern day Agatha Christie novel. Until chapter eight when Nancy and Agatha combined with Ian Fleming and my mind was blown!

Do you know how wonderful a book has to be to be compared to those three greats? Indeed, Ms. Adams has turned the modern day cozy into the very best of mysteries past, present, and I dare say future. There is so much I want to say about this book, but have to hold myself back from doing so in order not to ruin the joy of discovery for other readers.

What I can say is, Ellery Adams has delivered a story with delightful characters, beautiful surroundings, as well mystery and intrigue unlike anything I’ve ever read. She has insured that this first book will morph into a long running series.

That being said, do yourself the biggest favor of the year and read MURDER IN THE MYSTERY SUITE. Purchase a few extra copies (e-readers, get yourself a print copy), two for yourself and a few for your friends. You’re going to want to keep a mint copy of this first edition hidden away so in the next twenty years or so people will be jealous of your treasure!

MURDER IN THE MYSTERY SUITE will 

release on August 5^th. 

Don’t wait…Pre-order your copy/copies now!

Barnes and Noble

Amazon

Books A Million

The Author

Ellery Adams grew up on a beach near the Long Island Sound. Having spent her adult life in a series of landlocked towns, she cherishes her memories of open water, violent storms, and the smell of the sea. Ms. Adams has held many jobs including caterer, retail clerk, car salesperson, teacher, tutor, and tech writer, all the while penning poems, children's books, and novels. She now writes full-time from her home in Virginia.

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

Also, become a Follower of my blog by clicking on the link in the 

upper right hand corner of this page.

It's

Cozy Food Friday!

That means it's time to share a recipe from 

another great cozy mystery!

Today's recipe comes from the first book in 

Jenn McKinlay's Cupcake Bakery Mystery series 

SPRINKLE WITH MURDER. 

This series is my all time favorite cozy mystery series! It also happens to be the first cozy series I read.

With Jenn's writing style and my love of all things cupcakes, it's a match made in Heaven!

On to the recipe!

TINKERBELL CUPCAKES

Lemon Cupcakes with Raspberry Buttercream Frosting rolled in Pink Sugar

Lemon Cupcakes

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

2 cups granulated sugar, divided

4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature

1/3 cup grated lemon zest (6 to 8 large lemons)

3 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

3/4 cup buttermilk, at room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

   Preheat over to 350 degrees

   Cream the butter and 2 cups granulated sugar until fluffy, about 5 minutes

   With the mixer on medium speed, add the eggs, one at a time, and the lemon  zest

   Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl

   In another bowl, combine lemon juice, buttermilk, and vanilla

   Add flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately to the batter, beginning and ending with the flour

   Use an ice cream scoop to fill a paper-lined cupcake pan

   Bake 20 minutes

   Makes 24

Photo courtesy Jenn McKinlay

Raspberry Buttercream

1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened

4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

1/2 cup raspberries (wash and dry thoroughly)

   In large bowl, cream shortening and butter

   Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed

   Scrape sides of bowl often

   Add raspberries, and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy

   Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use

   Make 3 cups if frosting (icing)

To add a sparkle, roll sides of frosting in pink sugar (or sprinkle)

I can't wait to make these myself! 

Want to appear on my blog?

Take photos making a recipe 
featured on my blog

 and email them to me at

 lisaksbookreview@aol.com 

I will post them on an upcoming 

 Cozy Food Friday!

You can find SPRINKLED WITH MURDER and the rest of the Cupcake Bakery series by Jenn McKinlay, and at your local bookstore or online at Barnes and Noble or Amazon.

Learn even more of SPRINKLED WITH MURDER below!

Book Beginnings on Fridays is a meme hosted by Rose City Reader

Keeping my theme going my... 

Book Beginnings this week is also from

SPRINKLED WITH MURDER by Jenn McKinlay

"Does she really think we don't see her?" Angie DeLaura asked her best friend and business partner Melanie Cooper.

Mel blew her blonde bangs off her forehead and came around the counter of the cupcake display case to glance out the front window with Angie.

"How many times has she driven by today?" she asked.

"Seven times since we opened this morning, and twelve yesterday."

"You'd think if she was so worried about our shop stealing her customers, she'd be slaving away in her kitchen baking something."

"You'd think," Angie agreed.

Just then the icing pink, refrigerated van did another slow drive by their window. Angie and Mel smiled and waved. Olivia Puckett, the driver of the van and owner of a nearby bakery called Confections, gave them a wide-eyed stare and stomped on the gas, bumping the curb with one of the van's tires in her haste to get away.

"Maybe she'll get a flat ," Angie said.

"We can always hope," Mel agreed. 

The Friday 56 is a meme hosted by Freda's Voice

Continuing with the SPRINKLE WITH MURDER theme

My Friday 56

Mel felt the same helplessness she'd felt when her father died. She'd watch her own mother suffer and grieve, and had not known what to say or how to help. Now she was watching one of her closest friends go through the same thing, and again she didn't know what to do. Granted, she was not paralyzed by her own sense of loss this time, but still, she felt woefully inadequate to help ___.

Lisa's Note: Sorry, didn't want to spoil anything by giving a name. ;-)

Melanie Cooper and Angie DeLaura are finally living out their dream as the proud owners of the Fairy Tale Cupcakes bakery. But their first big client is a nightmare. She's a bridezilla who wants 500 custom cupcakes for her wedding.

When Mel stumbles upon the bride-to-be dead-by-cupcake, she becomes the prime suspect. To save themselves and their business, the ladies need to find the real murderer, before the cupcake killer ices someone else.

Jenn is the New York Times

bestselling author of

several mystery series.

She lives in sunny AZ in a

house overrun with kids,

pets and her husband's

guitars.

Visit her website at:

www.jennmckinlay.com

As always, please leave a comment and 

let me know what you think!

Also, become a Follower of my blog by 

clicking on the link in the 

upper right hand corner of this page.

 

It's

THROWBACK THURSDAY!

Ready to learn about a new old series?

Today I am featuring an author I know most of you have heard of.

Ellery Adams author of the Books By The Bay Mysteries,

 The Charmed Pie Shoppe Mysteries, 

and coming in August The Book Retreat Mystery series. 

But for today's TBT I'm posting about 

Ellery's work under her pen name, J. B. Stanley and her

Supper Club Mystery series. 

This series contains 6 books.

         eBook                                Paperback

James Henry, a kind-hearted professor of English literature, is forced to move back home to Quincy’s Gap, a tiny town in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, to care for his aging father. Shortly after moving into a house that hasn’t changed since his childhood, the overweight, divorced, book-loving cheese puff addict accepts a position as head librarian and joins a supper club for dieters who call themselves the “Flab Five.”

 Avoiding carbs is almost impossible in this deep-fried, all-you-can-eat Southern town, so the mysterious death of a young and healthy athlete provides the perfect distraction. While trying to cut carbs and avoid temptations, James and his fellow supper club members work together to shed pounds and track down a killer.

      eBook                                            Paperback

James Henry, a lovable librarian, has gotten used to being back home in Quincy’s Gap, a tiny town in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. He has a job he adores, a group of close friends and fellow dieters who call themselves the “Flab Five,” and is actually thinking about starting an exercise regime. 

Six months after starting a low-carb diet, however, James and the Flab Five have fallen off the diet wagon. A new ice cream shop has opened in town, but so has the Witness to Fitness weight loss center, run by the zealous Veronica Levitt. Maybe Veronica's fanatical approach is just what the group needs.

But when James and his fellow dieters poke around in an arson case that turns into a murder investigation, the Flab Five discover that they may have bitten off more than they can chew. It isn't long before James wonders if he can handle cardio classes, a budding romance, his cranky father, and a duplicitous killer without binging on too ice cream.

        eBook                                          Paperback 

Things are chugging merrily along for librarian James Henry. He has a closet filled with new clothes, a trimmer waistline, and a closer bond with his father. His only real problem is that his girlfriend Lucy's interest in him seems to have inexplicably cooled. 

When schoolteacher Lindy suggests the club members join a Mexican cooking class, James jumps at the idea. Over cervezas and black bean dip, the supper club members warm to their new adventure. The class heats up even more when a reporter and her friends, twin sisters with supermodel physiques, enroll. But when people start turning up dead, and the evidence points toward Lindy, things become hotter than a jalapeño. James, who was looking to add a little more spice to his life, gets much more than he bargained for.

Paperback

When the supper club members are invited to be guest judges at a regional barbecue contest, they accept the invitation faster than you can say "hog heaven." But the barbecue festival's family-oriented, finger-licking fun turns sour when a contestant is found dead. 

Things go from bad to worse when one of the five friends is accused of the murder and lands in jail. The strained relationship between James and Lucy is still no picnic, but the supper club members must stick together to find the real killer.

 Includes authentic barbecue-friendly recipes!

Paperback

There's trouble on the rise when the "Diva of Dough" arrives in Quincy's Gap to make the wedding cake for Milla and Jackson's Christmas Eve nuptials. The famous chef and television personality is Milla's sister, but while her confections are sweet and beautiful, the Diva herself makes enemies faster than you can say "praline pecan bundt cake." 

When the Diva is done in, her body found covered in cake batter, James and the other supper club members find themselves up to their elbows in suspects.

Paperback

The Flab Five's creative new strategy to slim down? Hypnotherapy! And James has new motivation for laying off the donuts: his adorable son Eliot and a rekindled romance 

with his ex-wife, Jane. 

But a radical animal rights group is stirring things up in Quincy's Gap. When two suspicious deaths occur, the Supper Club friends team up to solve another delectable, food-filled mystery.

This series is of print in paperback. 

I recommend checking with your local used book dealer or any number of online second hand book dealers.

CARBS AND CADAVERS, FIT TO DIE, and CHILI CON CORPSES are available for Kindle and Nook!

STIFFS AND SWINES, THE BATTERED BODY, and BLACK BEANS & VICE are available in Large Print editions.

To learn more about Ellery Adams, her pen names and her books, click below.

www.elleryadamsmysteries.com

Ellery Adams grew up on a beach near the Long Island Sound. Having spent her adult life in a series of landlocked towns, she cherishes her memories of open water, violent storms, and the smell of the sea. Ms. Adams has held many jobs including caterer, retail clerk, car salesperson, teacher, tutor, and tech writer, all the while penning poems, children's books, and novels. She now writes full-time from her home in Virginia.

Remember to check back every Thursday 

for more great Throwback cozy titles!

Want to Follow my blog? 

Go to the top right corner of my page 

and click to follow!

And please, leave a comment. 

I always love hearing what you have to say!

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Answer to Whodunit Wednesday

A MAZE OF SUSPECTS - Solution

   The audience of five squirmed in the narrow corner of the hedge until they were all facing the strange little man with the funny accent. "Two of your stories agree on one point. The electricity was turned off--from shortly after Mr. and Mrs. Turner's arrival until after the murder."

   The highway patrolman laughed. "It doesn't take a Sherlock Holmes to figure that out."

   "Sherman Holmes," the little man corrected the patrolman. "And as I said, the solution is elementary. Since the fountain in the center of the maze works by electricity, it couldn't have been running at the time of the murder, as Mr. McQuire testified. Of course, Mr. McQuire didn't know the fountain was off because he was somewhere else at the time--robbing and killing Kyle Turner, I presume." 

I'll admit, that got by me. 

When I read the solution, I gave myself a head thump.