Cozy Mystery – Page 14 – Readers Alley

Category: Cozy Mystery

Spellstruck by Summer Prescott

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Did you love watching Bewitched, and I Dream of Jeannie?

How about cats, a good murder mystery, and just a touch of magic?

Babs Baldwin is a decorating diva, who loves the small luxuries in life – a nice purse, a good latte, and a well-put-together room. Her Interior Decorating business is humming right along, until she meets a mysterious couple, who just bought a house, that’s supposedly haunted.
Babs doesn’t believe in such things, but even she has to admit that there’s something fishy going on, when a body is discovered.

The owner of the bakery next door is a small-time medium, who wants to read her tea leaves, and she badgers Babs mercilessly, until at last she relents, with surprising results.
A mysterious box. A magical charm. A tragic past.

Babs is a reluctant amateur sleuth, but she has to get to the bottom of the mystery, or her own life might be in danger. Will the daring diva find the killer? Or will she be the next victim?
Find out in this fast-paced, humorous, mildly paranormal Cozy Mystery!

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About the Author:

Summer Prescott is a USA Today and Wall Street Journal Best-Selling Author, who has penned nearly one hundred Cozy Mysteries, and one rather successful Thriller, The Quiet Type, which debuted in the top 50 of its genre. As owner of Summer Prescott Books Publishing, Summer is responsible for a combined catalog of over two hundred Cozy Mysteries and Thrillers. Mentoring and helping new Cozy writers launch their careers has long been a passion of Summer’s, and she has played a key role in the incredible success of Cozy writers such as Patti Benning and Carolyn Q. Hunter.

Summer enjoys travel, and is honored to be a featured speaker at the International Writer’s Conference in Cuenca, Ecuador, in May 2018. The event draws writers from all over the world.
In an exciting development, Summer has recently been asked to write monthly for her favorite magazine, Atomic Ranch. Having been an Interior Decorator before giving up her business to write full-time, Summer is thrilled by the opportunity and looking forward to having her writing published in the only magazine to which she actually subscribes.

Summer is a doting mother to four grown children, and lives in Champaign, Illinois with her Standard Poodle, Elvis.

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Tea’d Off By Lorraine Bartlett

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With the grand relaunch of Victoria Square’s tea shop, Tealicious, just days away, Nona Fiske decides it’s time to sabotage it and its owner, Katie Bonner. With gossip, innuendo, and outright lies, Nona tries to turn the other merchants on the Square against Katie. But Katie has learned how to deal with people like Nona. Can she kill with kindness?

This story takes place between the Victoria Square mystery novels Yule Be Dead and Killer Ink.

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About the Author:

The immensely popular Booktown Mystery series is what first put Lorraine Bartlett’s pen name Lorna Barrett’s name on the New York Times Bestseller list, and garnered a coveted Agatha nomination for best novel of 2009, but it’s her talent — whether writing as Lorna, or L.L. Bartlett, or Lorraine Bartlett — that keeps her there. This multi-published, Agatha-nominated author pens the the acclaimed Victoria Square Mystery series, and the exciting Jeff Resnick Mysteries, and has many short stories and novellas to her name(s).

Lorraine has done it all–from drilling holes for NASA, to typing scripts in Hollywood. She has also been a copy editor, an MSDS coordinator, a data-entry clerk, a secretary, a used-book seller, an antiques dealer, and an Administrative Assistant. In her writing life she has been a man, a woman, a scientist, an investigator, a cop, a bookseller, a jilted bride, a widower, a doctor, a nurse, a car, an extraterrestrial, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Lorraine lives in Rochester, NY, with her husband and two felines.

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Snow Laughing Matter By Wendy Meadows

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Will Sarah fall victim to a deadly killer set on destroying her life? Or will she force herself to use her cop instincts to outsmart the riddles of a clown who turns laughter into screams?

While Conrad is away helping a friend in New York, Sarah and Amanda go see a circus that is visiting the small town of Snow Falls. Even though Sarah is sad because her attempts to become pregnant have yet to bear fruit, she decides to enjoy the circus show. After the show, Sarah and Amanda find a pie in Sarah’s jeep, and another one waiting at Sarah’s cabin door. Suddenly the fun night turns mysterious and dangerous. A killer has left a deadly message for Sarah to find.

Events turn worse when a circus worker is murdered. The killer’s style of murder tells Sarah exactly who he is. Sarah is torn, caught between the desire to walk away from being a cop and the need to catch a killer. The hunger to become a mother blocks her skill to think clearly. But after having a talk with Pete, Sarah gets back on track and begins to track down the killer. Only the killer has a new face and a completely new identity—along with a secret trick up his sleeve.

This cozy mystery is a clean read: no graphic violence, sex, or strong language.

Read all the Alaska cozy mysteries:

1. The Snowman Killer
2. Deep in the Snow
3. Snow Happens
4. Snow is Not the Time
5. Spring into Murder
6. Chasing Shadows
7. Snowy Misery
8. Hot Springs Murder
9. Danger in the Snow
10. Snow Ordinary Family
11. Snow Mercy
12. Snow Laughing Matter

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About the Author:

Wendy Meadows is a USA Today best-selling author whose meticulously crafted stories showcase witty women sleuths and engaging plots. Her primary influences include but are not limited to mystery genre greats Joanne Fluke, Ellery Adams, and James Patterson. To date, she has published dozens of books, which include her popular Sweetfern Harbor Series, Maple Hill Series, and Alaska Cozy Series, to name a few.

In a previous life, Wendy worked as a Graphic Designer, earning her Graphic Design Certification at the prestigious New York based Sessions School of Design. With this valuable artistic background, she designs her own book covers. In fact, she began writing fiction soon after designing numerous book covers for other fiction authors.

When she isn’t writing about female detectives and their tactful crime solving, you can find Wendy either tending to her hobby farm, playing video games, relaxing on her back porch, or coloring in her growing collection of adult coloring books. She also loves spending quality time with her husband, two sons, two cats, and one adorable Labradoodle. Together, they call “The Granite State” home sweet home.

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USA Today Bestselling Paranormal Cozy Mystery Series!

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New Book in the USA Today Bestselling Cozy Mystery Series!!

For Southern girl Verity Long, friendship means sitting down to stories and sweet tea on the front porch. For her gangster ghost housemate, it means dragging Verity out to a remote haunted asylum during a raging thunderstorm to do a favor for a long-dead mob boss.

But Verity is always ready to help out a friend, even one as eternally eccentric as Frankie. And in the case of Mint Julep Manor, the stakes are too high to refuse. The criminally insane mob boss holds a secret to Frankie’s past, one that might set Frankie free. Do the favor–survive the favor–and they might change Frankie’s afterlife for good. Fail, and they might never leave the asylum

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Book Information:

The Mint Julep Murders
Southern Ghost Hunter Mysteries, Book 8
By Angie Fox
Publisher: Moose Island Books
Release Date: April 25, 2019
ISBN: 978-1939661586 (print) Price $14.98
ISBN: 978-1939661586 (ebook) Price $4.99
Genre: Cozy Mystery, Paranormal Cozy Mystery

Other Books in the Southern Ghost Hunter Mysteries

Southern Spirits
Southern Ghost Hunter Mysteries, Book 1

The Skeleton in the Closet
Southern Ghost Hunter Mysteries, Book 2

The Haunted Heist
Southern Ghost Hunter Mysteries, Book 3

Deader Homes and Gardens
Southern Ghost Hunter Mysteries, Book 4

Sweet Tea and Spirits
Southern Ghost Hunter Mysteries, Book 5

Murder on the Sugarland Express
Southern Ghost Hunter Mysteries, Book 6

Pecan Pies and Dead Guys
Southern Ghost Hunter Mysteries, Book 7

About the Author:

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Angie Fox writes sweet, fun, action-packed mysteries. Her characters are clever and fearless, but in real life, Angie is afraid of basements, bees, and going up stairs when it is dark behind her. Let’s face it. Angie wouldn’t last five minutes in one of her books.

Angie is best known for her SOUTHERN SPIRITS™ mysteries and for her ACCIDENTAL DEMON SLAYER series.

Angie is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism. She lives in St. Louis with her football-addicted husband, two kids, and Moxie the dog.

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New Cozy Mystery Release – Double Agent by Gretchen Archer

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THIS JUST IN—

On the weather front, Category Four Hurricane Kevin took a last-minute left and is headed straight for the Bellissimo Resort and Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi.

In breaking news, Undercover Casino Operative Davis Way has one foot out the evacuation door when fifty million dollars disappear, and in its place, a dead body.

In other news, if forced to ride out the storm on the hotel’s thirteenth-floor fortress, Davis won’t be alone. Her husband, Bradley, her best friend, Fantasy, and a crew of highly trained first responders will be hurricane hostages too, along with Mississippi State Gaming Agents, a FEMA agent, an insurance agent, a State Special Agent, and an Emergency Response Agent—at least one of them a double agent.

The good news is her high school reunion is cancelled.

The bad news is everything else.

The fake news features a castaway pig named Bacon.

The hurricane heist headlines will be sensational. If Davis survives to see them. Grab your rain slicker and galoshes for DOUBLE AGENT, A Davis Way Crime Caper, and prepare yourself for a perfect storm of humor, hijinks, and heart.

More Books In The Davis Way Crime Caper Series:

Reader Reviews

“INTERESTING STORY LINE WITH LOTS OF ACTION AND HUMOR

I have loved the Davis Way Crime Series since the very first book in the series, Double Whammy. This is my favorite book series.

She creates characters which keep you laughing and laughing as you try to figure out who did it.

Double Agent is #8 in the series and it is my favorite after Double Whammy. I never could figure out who did this crime until the very end. These books seem to get better and better.

As soon as they clean up the damage caused by Hurricane Kevin and other misfortunes at the Bellissimo Resort and Casino, I am ready for the next adventure. Can’t wait for the action and the fun to begin.” – V. Moore – Reviewer

“It’s the perfect storm. A dead body. A $50 million heist. And a category-four hurricane.

The latest installment in Davis Way Cole’s adventures as (Bradley’s) wife, (Bex and Quinn’s) mother, (the Bellissimo Casino’s) upper-echelon security expert and computer wizard, and (Bianca’s) body-double and babysitter once again takes a crisis and makes it hilarious.

While most of Biloxi is evacuating in the path of Hurricane Kevin, a storm is already brewing at the Bellissimo. How did $50 million in cash suddenly disappear after being collected from the main casino’s slot machines? Who is the very-real corpse dressed in the fake police uniform? And just exactly how did he get to be a corpse? How will Davis prevail (or even retain her sanity) locked down for a hurricane on the “Disaster” floor of the casino hotel with a rich and varied assortment of loonies, some of whom are probably also dangerous felons?

As the first drops of Hurricane Kevin arrive, two more dead bodies with fake credentials surface. The odd goings-on inside, and the wind and rain outside, go from bad to worse. But even hurricanes come to an end, and by the time the sun comes back out, Davis and her crew have resolved another caper with the help of plenty of guts, wits, and some very good guesses.

Gretchen Archer has once again crafted a clever and intricate (and very entertaining!) plot that has so much going on I almost want to tell her to save some ideas for next time. But this is the eighth full-length book of the series and there is no sign at all that her ideas will ever start thinning out. Along with the fast-paced story line there is a large company of colorful characters—the stock players whom we get to know a little better each time out, and many new (some to be recurring?) characters who are equally well-developed. Like the seven “Double” books before it, this not-particularly-long book packs its pages with action, suspense, humor, and even the occasional pearl of wisdom. In some spots it may be a little hard to keep up, but that is only to be expected when the wind is raging at 100mph and you don’t know whom to trust!” – Miriam Van Scott, Reviewer

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About the Author:

Gretchen Archer is a Tennessee housewife who began writing when her daughters, seeking higher educations, left her. She lives on Lookout Mountain with her husband, son, and a Yorkie named Bently.

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The Next Charming Mystery from Carolyn Haines Featuring Spunky Southern Private Investigator Sarah Booth Delaney

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The next charming mystery from Carolyn Haines featuring spunky southern private investigator Sarah Booth Delaney.

Dr. Frank Hafner is an archeologist working on excavating a new-found Native American temple site in the Mississippi Delta. He’s also too handsome for his own good, and a bit of a flirt. Oddly enough, it’s the first quality that gets him in trouble when he discovers the ritualistic murder of one of his archeological crew. When Coleman Peters, Sheriff and Sarah Booth’s boyfriend, takes Dr. Hafner in for questioning in the murder, the accused doctor hires Sarah Booth to clear his name.

Soon, Sarah Booth has uncovered a number of possible suspects, but she can’t narrow them down fast enough to stem the continuing violence that seems to trace back to Dr. Hafner’s dig. When Peter Deerstalker, a member of the Tunica tribe, mentions a curse, it doesn’t seem so far-fetched–especially when a young graduate student on the site claims someone on the site is searching for something much more precious than ancient pottery…

Something spooky is going on in the Mississippi Delta, and though Sarah Booth isn’t sure who to trust, or what to believe, she knows she won’t rest until she’s dug up the truth.

FREE Sample of Games of Bones

A free sample of Games of Bones can be found in the upcoming cozy mystery sampler – Cozy Case Files

Cozy Case Files
A Cozy Mystery Sampler, Volume 6
By Various Authors
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Publication Day May 7, 2019
Pre-Order – FREE

Looking for a new cozy series? In this new edition of Cozy Case Files, Minotaur Books compiles the beginnings of eight charming cozy mysteries coming in Spring 2019 for free for easy sampling.

Jump into the latest cozies by the following authors: Donna Andrews, Shelia Connolly, Cate Conte, Leonard Goldberg, Carolyn Haines, Ellen Hart, Kylie Logan, and Allison Montclair.

With the charm of a southern belle and none of the rules, private investigator Sarah Booth Delaney is back in Games of Bones. In Terns of Endearment, Meg Langslow races to solve a mystery while aboard a broken down cruise ship. Or follow PI Jane Lawless in Twisted at the Root as she works to attain justice for a widower wrongfully convicted of his husband’s murder.

If you’re an animal lover, return to cat café JJ’s House of Purrs in The Tell Tail Heart or check out The Scent of Murder, starring cadaver dog trainer Jazz Ramsey.

For history fans, there’s The Right Sort of Man, and the proprietresses of the Right Sort of Marriage Bureau, in 1946 London, who find their livelihood in danger when a client is arrested for the murder of another. In The Disappearance of Alistair Ainsworth, the daughter of Sherlock Holmes confronts a threat to the crown. Or revisit the modern-day town that’s about to be turned into a working Victorian village in Killer in the Carriage House.

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About the Author:

Carolyn Haines is the USA Today bestselling author of the Sarah Booth Delaney mystery series and a number of other books in mystery and crime, including the Pluto’s Snitch paranormal-historical mystery series, and Trouble, the black cat detective romantic suspense books. She is the recipient of the Harper Lee Award for Distinguished Writing, the Richard Wright Award for Literary Excellence, and the Mississippi Writers Guild Lifetime Achievement Award. She is a former journalist, bartender, photographer, farmhand, and college professor and lives on a farm where she works with rescue cats, dogs, and horses.

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Hawg Heaven Cozy Culinary Mysteries By Summer Prescott

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A small Midwestern town.
The best BBQ in the state.
A single mom, determined to do what it takes.
A murder that rocks her world.

Rossalyn Channing is tough, but the odds are stacked against her. Faced with the reality of starting a new life with her teenage son, after her heroic husband is killed in the line of duty, she knows that she has to do whatever it takes to survive.

Irresistibly drawn to a mysterious little building in a small town, the determined single mom uses every dime she’s got to buy it, with plans to turn it into a diner that her late husband would have loved. When Rossalyn finds herself caught up in the middle of a murder investigation, however, she begins to wonder if the challenges she faces will defeat her.

A body is found on her property, the sheriff in town suspects Rossie of the murder, and it looks like her world is falling apart. It’s up to this determined mom to prove her innocence and save her small family. Can she do it?

Hawg Heaven Cozy Culinary Mysteries Series Reading Order
BBQ, Bikers, and Murder (#1)
Baby Back Murder (#2)
Nacho Usual Murder (#3)
Hawgs, Dogs, and Murder (#4)
Killer Barbeque (#5)
Home Grown Murder (#6)
Bittersweet Murder (#7)

Reader Reviews

“A well plotted story with very strong emotional issues. It has secrets, lies, politics and love. The strong characters and storyline pulls you in this engrossing murder plot. When a local girl is murdered in the field behind Rossayln’s cafe that she has just decided to open after landing in Illinois after the death of her Marine husband. Between trying to solve the murder, open and run her new business and other issues makes this a have to read.” – Misty, Reviewer

“Rosslyn Channing is one tough mother. After the death of her husband who was serving in the military, she moves her son and herself to a small town to start life anew. She sees a little building that she knows would be great as a diner. She knows her late husband would love the small diner in a small town. Then there is a body found on her property, and the sheriff thinks she is the killer! What!!!???!!! Just when she thought things were going fairly well, now this? Can Rosie prove her innocence or will she end up in jail and her son without a mother? You will need to read the book to see how this feisty little lady takes on the sheriff” – Bev, Reviewer

“Rossalyn Channing needs to start life over with just her son. Her husband has been killed in Afghanistan so she and her son must leave the military base where they live. She returns to her parents home in a small town in Illinois.

On the trip home, Rossalyn sees a small vacant building. She decides to fix it up and open an restaurant featuring pork BBQ, bacon roses along with many other mouthwatering pork dishes accompanied by a variety of side dishes.

Between Rossalyn, her parents and her son, Ryan, her dream becomes a reality.

A young woman is found murdered in a field behind the restaurant. The murder weapon is found in the restaurant’s dumpster. Two unsavory characters emerge to threaten the business. They are related to the Sheriff so he is no help. In fact Sheriff tries to accuse her and her staff of being involved in the murder.

A moving story with artfully drawn characters involved in a complex plot murder mystery. The action moves fast. It is nice to see how the main character is slow to judge. She is willing to give people a chance to prove themselves.

Will the town give Rossalyn’s restaurant Hawg Heaven a fair chance???” – Carol Smith, Reviewer

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About the Author:

Summer Prescott is a Wall Street Journal and USA Today Best Selling Author, who has penned nearly one hundred Cozy Mysteries, and a successful Thriller, The Quiet Type. She makes her home in the Midwest with her Standard Poodle, Elvis, at her side.

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