Posted January 16, 2023 by Marsha in Cozy Mystery, Kensington Books, NetGalley, Series, Small Town Romance / 0 Comments
ʼTis the day after Christmas, following a wicked-busy time of year for Mac’s bike shop. It’s just as well her Cozy Capers Book Group’s new pick is a nerve-soothing coloring book mystery, especially when she has last-minute wedding planning to do.
But all pre-wedding jitters fade into the background when Mac and her fiancé, Tim, begin a cottage renovation project and open up a wall to find a skeleton—sitting on a stool, dressed in an old-fashioned bridal gown . . .
As Mac delves into the decades-old mystery with the help of librarian Flo and her book group, she discovers a story of star-crossed lovers and feuding families worthy of the bard himself. Yet this tale has a modern-day villain still lurking in Mac’s quaint seaside town, ready to make this a murderous New Year’s Eve . . .
Titles in the A Cozy Capers Book Group Mystery series include — Murder on Cape Cod —♦— Murder at the Taffy Shop —♦— Murder at the Lobstah Shack —♦— Murder in a Cape Cottage —♦— Murder at a Cape Bookstore —♦—
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Tags: A Cozy Capers Book Group Mystery #4, Cozy Mystery, Kensington Books, Maggie Day, Murder in a Cape Cottage, NetGalley ARC
Posted May 12, 2022 by Marsha in Cozy Mystery, Kensington Books, Mystery, NetGalley, Paranormal Cozy Mystery, Series / 0 Comments
Spirit Canyon’s annual Spirit Spooktacular weekend is on, and for local amateur sleuth Zo Jones, it’s boomtime for business at her Happy Camper gift shop . . . until a murderer drops in for a browse.
To celebrate Halloween at the Happy Camper, Zo schedules a talk by successful author and self-proclaimed witch Marianne Morgan. Although Marianne’s benign brand of witchcraft is more about feminine empowerment than black magic, her presence is still not welcomed by everyone. Then on a midnight stroll home, Zo spots what seems to be a new Halloween decoration propped up outside the Happy Camper. What she finds is not a mannequin but a dead Marianne, her lifeless body dressed in traditional witch’s garb. But why would someone send this good witch back to the spirit world permanently?
Soon Zo realizes that plenty of folks have motives for murdering Marianne. What’s worse, nosy TV newsman Justin Castle plans to broadcast a report associating Marianne’s murder with the Happy Camper. Zo calls on her partner in sleuthing, local forest ranger Max Harrington, to help her find the culprit before Justin’s report airs. Otherwise, Zo’s business just might go bust. But to catch this killer, Zo will have to risk much more than just her reputation . . .
Titles in A Happy Camper Mystery series include — Open for Murder — Midnight Spells for Murder — Mining for Murder —
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Tags: A Happy Camper Mystery #2, Cozy Mystery, Mary Angela, Midnight Spells Murder, Paranormal Cozy Mystery
Posted October 9, 2021 by Marsha in Author ARC, Cozy Mystery, Mystery, Series, Tule Publishing / 0 Comments
All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely killers…
Everybody’s talking about Hemlock’s annual fall festival headliner band, ShakesPierre. Everyone but Tess Harrison, whose breakup with Pierre, the lead singer, left them both singing the blues years ago. And now that Pierre is back, he’s publicly putting his feelings for Tess in the spotlight.
So when Pierre ends up stabbed in the alley outside Tess’s bakery, she’s the number one suspect—especially since she’s famously known for her quality kitchen knives. But the evidence strikes a false note with Maddie and Jenna Bell, who are determined to clear their friend’s name and make sure the real murderer plays…uh, pays for his crime.
The clues lead them out of Hemlock and into danger far outside of Sheriff Jackson Bradley’s jurisdiction. Can Maddie save everyone before the real killer strikes back and Tess goes down for a crime she didn’t commit?
Titles in The Wedding Bell Mysteries series include – Slay Bells Ring – A Crime of Fashion – Ending on a Die Note –
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Tags: Cozy Mystery, Ending on a Die Note, Nancy Robards Thompson, The Wedding Bell Mysteries #3
Posted June 16, 2021 by Marsha in Author ARC, Contemporary Romance, Mystery, Romantic Suspense, Series, Tule Publishing / 0 Comments
It’s all fun and games until the last cookie crumbles…
Ainsley McGregor and the entire town of Sweet River, Texas, are preparing for the annual summer celebration. And thanks to the extra tourist traffic, Ainsley’s shop, Bless Your Art, has never been busier. Good thing her new friend, Lizzie, has opened a bakery nearby and provides Ainsley and her staff with tasty treats and daily sugar rushes. It’s all cookies and fun until someone ends up dead in the bakery and her new pal is the prime suspect.
Ainsley is convinced Lizzie is innocent. Unfortunately, her brother, the town sheriff, and her boyfriend, Jake, have some not-so-secret suspicions. With a town full of strangers who just might be suspects, Ainsley finds herself targeted by a killer.
Even as her world crumbles faster than a cookie, she’s determined to prove her friend’s innocence—if she can stay alive long enough.
Titles in The Ainsley McGregor series include – A Case for the Winemaker – A Case for the Yarn Maker – A Case for the Toy Maker – A Case for the Candle Maker – A Case for the Cookie Baker –
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Tags: A Case for the Cookie Baker, Candace Havens, Cozy Mystery, The Ainsley McGregor Series #5
Posted February 6, 2021 by Marsha in Cozy Mystery, Kensington Books, NetGalley, Series / 0 Comments
Welcome to a specialty shop in the Oregon tourist town of Oceanview, where it’s all things honey—from taffy to body scrub. But murder can make things sticky . . .
A BALMY WAY TO GO
With her Let It Bee honey boutique buzzing along nicely, life is as sweet as nectar for Wren Johnson—until she takes a morning walk along the Pacific beach with her Havana Brown cat, Everett, and stumbles upon the body of Agnes Snow, the cranky queen of the local craft fairs, stiff as driftwood.
More unfortunate? Clutched in the victim’s fist is a label from Wren’s homemade beeswax-and-honey lip balm. Which makes Officer Jim Hampton focus his dreamy-blue Paul Newman eyes on Wren as suspect number one.
With fabulous feline support from Everett, Wren must comb the town for clues and clear her name before someone else gets stung.
Titles in the An Oregon Honeycomb Mystery series include – Death Bee Comes Her –
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Tags: An Oregon Honeycomb Mystery #1, Cozy Mystery, Death Bee Comes Her, Nancy Coco
Posted December 6, 2020 by Marsha in Cozy Mystery, Kensington Books, Mystery, NetGalley, Series / 0 Comments
Christmas cheer has sent the griddle into overdrive at Robbie Jordan’s popular country store and café. And this year, there’s a new seasonal special to feast on — murder!
As December sweeps through South Lick, Indiana, Robbie’s life seems merry and bright like the string lights glistening around town. But strange happenings signal a bumpy ride into the holidays.
First, a man raises eyebrows at Pans ‘N Pancakes when he claims to be the long-lost half-brother of Robbie’s assistant. Then a fire destroys the home of a controversial anesthesiologist, exposing skeletal remains in his attic.
Helplessly intrigued, all Robbie wants for Christmas is to stop her winter wonderland from becoming a real nightmare. With a decades-old mystery taking shape, can she run as fast as she can in pursuit of a killer who’s harder to crack than a stale gingerbread man?
Titles in the Country Store Mystery series include – Flipped for Murder – Grilled for Murder – When the Grits Hit the Fan – Biscuits and Slashed Browns – Death Over Easy – Strangled Eggs and Ham – Nacho Average Murder – Candy Slain Murder – No Grater Crime –
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Tags: Candy Slain Murder, Country Store Mystery #8, Cozy Mystery, Maddie Day
Posted November 15, 2020 by Marsha in Cozy Mystery, Kensington Books, Mystery, NetGalley, Series / 0 Comments
A cold wind is blowing off Lake Michigan, and murder is scaring the dickens out of everyone . . .
Considering her name, Marlee Jacob is an obvious choice for the role of Jacob Marley in Oriole Point’s production of A Christmas Carol. It’s just sad that the role has opened up because of the death of the elderly actor who’d originally been cast.
But Marlee, the proprietor of The Berry Basket, will do her best to keep spirits high–that is until clues start mounting that there’s danger behind the scenes. There are accidents on set, the tree in the village square topples over, and worst of all, a body is found with a sprig of holly draped over it. If Marlee can’t wrap up the case, she may not have a berry merry Christmas . . .
Titles in the Berry Basket Mystery series include — Dying for Strawberries – Blackberry Burial – Killed on Blueberry Hill – Mulberry Mischief – Hollyberry Homicide –
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Tags: Berry Basket Mystery #5, Cozy Mystery, Hollyberry Homicide, Sharon Farrow
Posted November 15, 2020 by Marsha in Cozy Mystery, Kensington Books, Mystery, NetGalley, Series / 0 Comments
Not even her impending nuptials can keep Lucy Berberian, manager of her family-owned Kebab Kitchen, from the Jersey Shore’s annual Polar Bear Plunge. But her dive into the icy ocean is especially chilling when she finds a fellow swimmer doing the dead man’s float—for real . . .
Who would kill a man in cold blood during Ocean Crest, New Jersey’s most popular winter event? When Lucy learns the victim is Deacon Spooner, the reception hall owner who turned up his nose—and his price—at her wedding plans, she can’t help wondering who wouldn’t kill the pompous caterer . . .
Perhaps the culprit is the wedding cake baker whose career Deacon nearly destroyed? Or the angry bride whose reception he ruined? With her maid of honor, Katie, busily planning Lucy’s wedding without her, Lucy will have to get to the bottom of this cold-hearted business in time for Kebab Kitchen’s mouthwatering Christmas celebration—and before her hometown’s holiday spirit washes out to sea . . .
Titles in the Kebab Kitchen Mystery series include — Hummus and Homicide – Stabbed in the Baklava – One Feta in the Grave – On the Lamb – Mistletoe, Moussaka & Murder –
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Tags: Cozy Mystery, Mistletoe Moussaka & Murder, The Kebab Kitchen Mystery #5, Tina Kashian
Posted November 13, 2020 by Marsha in Christmas Romance, Cozy Mystery, Kensington Books, NetGalley, Series / 0 Comments
It’s the first Christmas in Santaland for April Claus–but it may also be her last unless she can uncover a villain with a killer Christmas wish. . .
Love is full of surprises–though few compare to realizing that you’re marrying the real-life Santa. April Claus dearly loves her new husband, Nick, but adjusting to life in the North Pole is not all sugarplums and candy canes. Especially when a cantankerous elf named Giblet Hollyberry is killed–felled by a black widow spider in his stocking–shortly after publicly arguing with Nick.
Christmastown is hardly a hotbed of crime, aside from mishaps caused by too much eggnog, but April disagrees with Constable Crinkle’s verdict of accidental death. As April sets out to find the culprit, it’ll mean putting the future of Christmas on the line–and hoping her own name isn’t on a lethal naughty list.
Titles in the Mrs. Claus series include — Mrs. Claus and the Santaland Slayings – Mrs. Claus and the Halloween Homicide (summer of 2021) –
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Tags: Cozy Mystery, Liz Ireland, Mrs. Claus #1, Mrs. Claus and the Santaland Slayings
Posted November 9, 2020 by Marsha in Cozy Mystery, Kensington Books, Mystery, NetGalley, Paranormal Cozy Mystery, Series / 0 Comments
Salem, Massachusetts B&B owner Charlene Morris is looking into a holiday hit-and-run, with a little help from her ghostly housemate . . .
Charlene’s parents are in town for Christmas, and her mother is driving her up a tree. Her bed-and-breakfast’s resident ghost, Jack, isn’t fond of her either–and he’s showing it with some haunting high jinks. But when Charlene takes her mom and dad out for dinner, the less-than-seasonal spirits take a deadly turn.
David Baldwin has just won a fortune in the lottery–and it adds a lot of drama to the charity auction he’s hosting at his restaurant. When he caps off the evening by playing Santa and handing out checks to some of the attendees, the mood shifts . . . and Charlene observes mysterious tensions between David and his flashy, bleached-blonde wife, his neglected teenage son from a previous marriage, and his hostile business partner, among others. And they’re only a few on the long list of potential suspects when David runs into the road and is mowed down by a fleeing motorist. Now it looks like it’s going to be homicide for the holidays . . .
Titles in the A Salem B & B Mystery series include — Mrs. Morris and the Ghost – Mrs. Morris and the Witch – Mrs. Morris and the Ghost of Christmas Past –
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Tags: Cozy Mystery, Mrs. Morris and the Ghost of Christmas Past, Salem B & B Mystery #3, Traci Wilton
Posted November 8, 2020 by Marsha in Cozy Mystery, Series, Tule Publishing / 0 Comments
Ho. Ho. No…
It’s Christmas in Sweet River, Texas, and the whole town is feeling festive apart from Ainsley McGregor. Ainsley has never enjoyed the holidays and would rather ignore them, but with her shop Bless Your Art busier than ever and filled with happy shoppers, even she’s feeling some Christmas spirit. That is, until her Great Dane, George Clooney, sniffs out a dead body in the Santa House at the Christmas Festival.
When one of her favorite crafters becomes the prime suspect, Ainsley is determined to prove his innocence. The case is full of so many twists and turns that even Ainsley begins to fear the truth. Is she protecting a killer?
With help from her friends and some extremely nosey townsfolk, Ainsley and her dog hurry to find the truth—as long as they can outwit and outrun the killer first. Otherwise, this Christmas might just be her last.
Titles in The Ainsley McGregor series include – A Case for the Winemaker – A Case for the Yarn Maker – A Case for the Toy Maker –
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Tags: A Case for the Toy Maker, Candace Havens, Cozy Mystery, The Ainsley McGregor series #3