May 17, 2023

A public argument. A disappearance. Another cliff-hanger for Thrice Sold Tales?

After a bumpy start for the Sugar Mill Marketplace, Dena Russo finally thinks she has the ABCs of bookstore ownership under her belt. All is well until the man from whom she bought Thrice Sold Tales returns, accusing her of not fulfilling her contract and demanding the store be returned to him. When he is reported missing after their loud and very public argument, all eyes—and the full force of the internet—turn toward Dena. She’s even accused of stealing his dog!

Dena tries everything to find him, but only manages to find mysterious footprints in her snowy backyard, some financial headaches, and just how unhealthy a viral video can be. With a boycott called against her bookstore, and the internet trolls out for blood, Dena expects the worst. But she has no idea the worst also includes a dead body in her yard.

Can Dena file this deadly chapter away before she’s forced to file for bankruptcy?

PLOTTED is the second book in the Sugar Mill Marketplace Mystery series. These books are best read in order. If you enjoy laugh-filled cozy mysteries with complex and quirky characters, lots of twists, and pages you can’t stop turning, then you’ll love Becky Clark’s fun, fast fiction. Start with the prequel novella RAT RACE, then BOOKED, then PLOTTED.

Treat yourself today!

Amazon

May 18, 2023

April, 1145. Thorgar the Ploughman is found by the bloodied body of Father Edmund, a village priest in Ripple, and is summarily hanged for being caught in the act, despite his pleas of innocence.When his sister goes to Worcester to seek justice for Thorgar, the lord Sheriff sends Hugh Bradecote, with Serjeant Catchpoll and Underserjeant Walkelin, to discover the truth. They soon expose strong motives for placing the blame on the ploughman’s shoulders, some unpleasant secrets festering among the villagers, as well as the whisper of a treasure long lost and now rediscovered. The shadow the noose casts is a long one, but the Sherriff’s men will need to plumb the darkness to uncover the true killer.

Amazon

London, 1821. Former spies Malcolm and Mélanie Rannoch have been friends with Bow Street runner Jeremy Roth since they all met in the intrigues of the Peninsular War. Now settled in London, they frequently collaborate. On a chilly night, an urgent summons from Roth takes Malcolm to a tavern in the slums of Seven Dials. He finds Roth standing over the body of a murdered woman. Malcolm offers his assistance with the case, but Roth says Malcolm must investigate alone. When Malcolm asks why, Roth replies—because this is my wife.

Amazon

London, 1821. Former spies Malcolm and Mélanie Rannoch have been friends with Bow Street runner Jeremy Roth since they all met in the intrigues of the Peninsular War. Now settled in London, they frequently collaborate. On a chilly night, an urgent summons from Roth takes Malcolm to a tavern in the slums of Seven Dials. He finds Roth standing over the body of a murdered woman. Malcolm offers his assistance with the case, but Roth says Malcolm must investigate alone. When Malcolm asks why, Roth replies—because this is my wife.

Amazon

May 19, 2023

In 1927, Private Eye Frank Lozano is on a mission. After he left the corrupt Los Angeles police department, he had formed his own detective agency, and with his two fellow sleuths, a grammar-correcting secretary, and a beautiful, yet quirky researcher who makes his heartbeats soar, he looks forward to handling cases the way he thinks is best.

Then he encounters true evil. A murder that is most probably linked to either to the Klan––still alive in Southern California––or Chicago mobsters is bad enough. But when his secretary’s husband is wrongfully arrested and put in jail for the slaying, Frank and his cohorts go on the warpath to put the true killer in jail.

Much like this series’ Prequel, Trouble In Glamour Town, film stars float in and out. Here, we are introduced to the famous film idol, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, wrongfully accused of rape and murder, as well as Harold Lloyd, and Charlie Chaplin. Also surrounding the case are two of the very first policewomen in the country: Los Angeles’ Alice Stebbins Wells and New York’s undercover detective, Mary Sullivan.

Bottom line: Will this eclectic team find out who the true killer is before he––or she¬¬–– lands another victim?

Amazon

They say they have no children. So who did I see at the window?

My darling little boy Albie adores playing at our new neighbours’ house. And after the terrible year we’ve had, I feel so lucky that we can start over in this perfect place, with new friends who treat Albie like the son they never had. He can’t stop talking about the tree house they’re building him, and the cookies they bake together.

But as time passes, something starts to feel wrong. Why don’t they ever open the front door more than a crack? They told me they had no children, so who does the small pink tricycle I saw in their hall belong to? And why can I hear a lullaby drifting across the garden when I’m tucking my own boy into bed?

Amazon

Honeymoon horror leaves three newlyweds dead…

Three brides turn up murdered in the isolated vineyards and wineries of the Cascade Mountains. And three different grooms are accused of murdering their newlywed spouses.

Each of the grooms admit to the murders.

But one of the suspected killers happens to be the younger brother of everyone’s favorite coroner, Dr. Miracle Bryant. Bryant contacts her friends with the FBI, and soon, Artemis and Forester find themselves investigating honeymoon horrors.

Few places are more isolated than the sparse vineyards in the Cascade Mountains. The serene beauty is haunted by the specter of the grisly murders, and it’s up to Artemis Blythe to clear the names of three men who have already admitted to their guilt.

And what better way to investigate someone admitting a crime they didn’t commit, than by partnering with the man she assumed was the Ghost-killer for nearly two decades.

Amazon

May 23, 2023

For fans of Laura Childs’ Tea Shop Mysteries and Ellery Adams’  Culinary Cozy Mysteries, the Amish Candy Shop series combines a fascinating look at Amish life with the fun of candy making and a hint of romance between chocolatier Bailey King and her law enforcer boyfriend.

Bailey King, star of TV’s Bailey’s Amish Sweets, is building her dream candy factory in Harvest, Ohio. But no sooner is the frame of the new building up than she finds the dead body of a surly contractor who has a long list of enemies—including people in the Amish community. To add to the drama, Bailey is being filmed by a crew for her upcoming show. . .
 
When Bailey’s TV producer pitched a reality show about building the factory, Bailey was shocked that the network picked it up. She’s not shocked that many of the Amish working on the jobsite refuse to be on camera. However, local community organizer Margot Rawlings is ecstatic—because the filming coincides with Harvest’s First Annual Blueberry Bash. Margot believes the media attention will make Harvest the most popular destination in Holmes County. But now, the county may become known for all the wrong reasons . . .
 
Bailey will have to sift through a crowd of angry villagers and thousands of blueberries to solve the murder, save her new venture, and protect her Amish friends. At the same time, she and her longtime boyfriend, Aiden Brody, are making big decisions about their future together—a future that may be in jeopardy if Bailey is the next pick on a killer’s list . . .  
 
Recipe Included!

Amazon

A modern-day homicide detective is working as an undertaker’s assistant in Victorian Scotland when a serial poisoner attacks the men of Edinburgh and leaves their widows under suspicion.

Edinburgh, 1869: Modern-day homicide detective Mallory Atkinson is adjusting to her new life in Victorian Scotland. Her employers know she’s not housemaid Catriona Mitchell—even though Mallory is in Catriona’s body—and Mallory is now officially an undertaker’s assistant. Dr. Duncan Gray moonlights as a medical examiner, and their latest case hits close to home. Men are dropping dead from a powerful poison, and all signs point to the grieving widows… the latest of which is Gray’s oldest sister.

Poison is said to be a woman’s weapon, though Mallory has to wonder if it’s as simple as that. But she must tread carefully. Every move the household makes is being watched, and who knows where the investigation will lead.

New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong is known for her exquisite world building, and this latest series is no exception. The Poisoner’s Ring brings the intricacies of Victorian Scotland alive as Mallory again searches for a 19th-century killer as well as a way home.

Amazon

The #1 New York Times-bestselling author’s terrifying new thriller about one man’s ice-cold malice, and one woman’s fight to reclaim her life.

Former Army brat Morgan Albright has finally planted roots in a friendly neighborhood near Baltimore. Her friend and roommate Nina helps her make the mortgage payments, as does Morgan’s job as a bartender. But after she and Nina host their first dinner party—attended by Luke, the flirtatious IT guy who’d been chatting her up at the bar—her carefully built world is shattered. The back door glass is broken, cash and jewelry are missing, her car is gone, and Nina lies dead on the floor.

Soon, a horrific truth emerges: It was Morgan who let the monster in. “Luke” is actually a cold-hearted con artist named Gavin who targets a particular type of woman, steals her assets and identity, and then commits his ultimate goal: murder.

What the FBI tells Morgan is beyond chilling. Nina wasn’t his type. Morgan is. Nina was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. And Morgan’s nightmare is just beginning. Soon she has no choice but to flee to her mother’s home in Vermont. While she struggles to build something new, she meets another man, Miles Jameson. He isn’t flashy or flirtatious, and his family business has deep roots in town. But Gavin is still out there hunting new victims, and he hasn’t forgotten the one who got away.

Amazon

Action, adventure and a dash of mystery combine in the latest in the Lost and Found series from acclaimed, #1 New York Times bestselling author Fern Michaels, as a brother-and-sister team find clues to a decades-old case hidden in an old armoire . . .

Luna Bodman always looks forward to a new shipment of furniture at the restoration shop. Her brother, Cullen, has a knack for finding discarded pieces with an intriguing history, and Luna likes to sit with each item to see if she can feel any kind of vibrations. Usually, Cullen does his thing while Luna does hers, but the arrival of an old armoire triggers a raeaction in Luna that’s impossible to ignore.

From the moment Luna wiggles inside the armoire and closes her eyes, she feels an overpowering and disturbing sensation. Emerging, she asks for a flashlight and discovers words scraped into the wood: “Help me!” Hoping to uncover the piece’s secrets, Luna contacts her good friend, U.S. Marshall Christopher Gaines, and the group sets out to trace the armoire’s origins. The journey takes them to a military school in New England, and a mysterious, long-ago ransom case. The kidnappers were never found, but decades later, the answers may finally be within reach . . .

Amazon

From the romantic thriller powerhouses behind the instant USA Today bestseller PIVOT, comes three new interwoven stories about brave heroes who rise up to take down a treacherous gang bent on robbery and destruction, to keep their homes, and the women they love safe…

When a cop killer resurfaces in Denver, enlisting the help of a pair of local lowlifes, it marks the beginning of a violent crime spree that will wreak havoc and endanger lives. Law enforcement is on alert from the first sighting of the cold-blooded trio. To take down this brutal gang, only those willing to risk everything they hold dear stand a chance . . .
 
First, a pair of Denver police officers facing each other for the first time after one night of abandon find themselves working together to stop an ambitious bank heist. In Wyoming, a string of robberies marks the gang’s arrival, and the local sheriff springs into action when the criminals discover his estranged fiancée can identify them. Finally, in the mountains of Colorado, the gang takes shelter on a peaceful guest ranch, where a fiercely protective rancher is hellbent on roping the fugitives up for good.
 
Trusting their sharply honed instincts, three rugged men will fight to stop the rampage before the women they’d die for become the next victims . . .
 
“These twisty, sizzling love stories flow seamlessly together.” —Publishers Weekly on Pivot by Kat Martin, Alexandra Ivy and Rebecca Zanetti

Amazon

A detective on the brink.
An assassin out for revenge.
A desperate mother racing against the clock.

While the high-profile murder of a young country singer turns Nashville inside out, danger lurks in the woods beyond the city’s border. There was a witness to the terrible crime, a college student who stumbled onto the scene. When the girl goes missing, the police don’t know if she’s run for cover or been taken…or if something more sinister is happening.

The truth will shatter Taylor’s career and bring her face to face with a deadly assassin who wants nothing more than to finish what they started.

Taylor Jackson is back. And you’ve never seen her quite like this.

Amazon

The gripping new Jack Noble thriller from Wall Street Journal bestselling author L.T. Ryan

Somewhere off the shore of Portugal, a man is tortured and dumped in the ocean.
In a dilapidated studio apartment in Poland, a rogue operative holds Clarissa Abbot hostage.
With a new identity, a new legend, Jack Noble continues his hunt for the organization who put a contract out on his life.

With his connection to Clarissa now silent, Noble faces two critical missions. And he’s certain they are intertwined.

Every lead Noble tracks down turns into a dead end. Those who worked for the organization refuse to give up any information. They’d rather die than betray their boss.

With no direction to follow, the situation appears bleak. Until Noble encounters a man from his past. A man who washed ashore in Portugal. A man living a legend of his own.

With none of his connections willing to help and his back against the wall, Noble has no choice but to trust the man to help him exact his revenge.

Amazon

In this town, anyone is replaceable. . . .

After a tragic chain of events led to the deaths of their spouses two years ago, D.C. philanthropist Sloane Chase and Senator Whit Montgomery are finally starting to move on. The horrifying ordeal drew them together, and now they’re ready to settle down again—with each other.

As Sloane returns to the world of White House dinners and political small talk, this time with her new husband, she’s also preparing for an upcoming hip replacement—the latest reminder of the lupus she’s managed since her twenties. With their hectic schedules, they decide that hiring a home health aide will give Sloane the support and independence she needs postsurgery. And they find the perfect fit in Athena Karras.

Seemingly a godsend, Athena tends to Sloane and even helps her run her charitable foundation. But Sloane slowly begins to deteriorate—a complication, Athena explains, of Sloane’s lupus. As weeks go by, Sloane becomes sicker, and her uncertainty quickly turns to paranoia as she begins to suspect the worst. Why is Athena asking her so many probing questions about her foundation—as well as about her past? And could Sloane be imagining the sultry looks between Athena and her new husband?

Riveting, fast-paced, and full of unbelievable twists, The Senator’s Wife is a psychological thriller that upends the private lives of those who walk the halls of power. Because when you have it all, you have everything to lose.

Amazon

Supreme Court clerk Avery Keene is back, trying to get her feet on solid ground after unraveling an international conspiracy in While Justice Sleeps. But as the sparks of Congressional hearings and political skirmishes swirl around her, Avery is approached at a legal conference by Preston Davies, an unassuming young man and fellow law clerk to a federal judge in Idaho. Davies believes his boss, Judge Francesca Whitner, was being blackmailed in the days before she died. Desperate to understand what happened, he gives Avery a file, a burner phone, and a fearful warning that there are highly dangerous people involved. 

Another shocking murder leads Avery to a list of names – all federal judges – and, alarmingly, all judges on the FISA Court (the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court), also known as America’s “secret court.” It is this body which grants permission to the government to wiretap Americans or spy on corporations suspected of terrorism. As Avery digs deeper, she begins to see a frightening pattern – and she worries that something far more sinister may be unfolding inside the nation’s third branch of government. With lives at stake, Avery must race the clock and an unexpected enemy to find the answer.

Drawn from today’s headlines and woven with her unique insider perspective, Stacey Abrams combines twisting plotlines, wry wit, and clever puzzles to create another immensely entertaining suspense novel.

Amazon

London, 1890:
It’s a New Year, but murder never takes a holiday.

The past reaches out to the unlikely investigative team of Angus Brodie and Mikaela Forsythe when a man she was once engaged to marry seeks her assistance to find his young runaway son.

However, a simple case of following the clues left behind becomes far more as the search unravels her former fiancé’s secrets.

Mikaela is determined to find the answers, and yet Brodie can’t keep his mind off of his own questions about this woman who is too darn independent; aggravates him no end with her lists, theories, and ideas; puts her life at risk; and may still have feelings for the man she might have once married…questions that might complicate this already complicated partnership of theirs.

When the boy’s father is found dead, everything they thought they knew about the case is turned on its head and new motives start to take form.

It’s a race against time when the boy’s school jacket is discovered, along with a note, and Mikaela and Brodie must work side by side with his mother, a woman who makes no attempt to hide her dislike for Mikaela, is determined to protect her husband’s legacy at all cost, and who sends them into a place where the hunters become the hunted and they must work together once more in order to survive.

Amazon

They say life flashes before your eyes when you’re about to die. But all she could see was regret.

The people in Frankie Morgan’s life say she’s angry. Emotionally stunted. Combative. But really, who can blame her? It’s hard being nice when your clients are insufferable, your next-door neighbor is a miserable woman and the cowardly driver who killed your mother is still out living it up somewhere.

Somehow, though, she finds herself at her very first anger-management group session—drinking terrible coffee and learning all about how “forgiveness is a process.”

One that starts with a list.

Frankie is skeptical. A list of everyone who’s wronged her in some way over the years? More paper, please. Still, she makes the pointless list—with her own name in a prominent spot—and promptly forgets about it…until it goes missing. And one by one, the people she’s named start getting hurt in freak accidents, each deadlier than the last.

Could it be coincidence giving her the revenge she never dared to seek…or something more sinister?

If Frankie doesn’t find out who’s behind it all, she might be next.

Amazon

The latest in the New York Times bestselling author’s enormously popular culinary cozy series featuring a young Martha Stewart in the making, the maven of entertaining and sometimes sleuth Sophie Winston. Delicious recipes and a picturesque setting make this a delight for fans of Diane Mott Davidson and M.C. Beaton as Sophie must see through the lies of the potential suspects and try to keep a killer at a convention of ghost kitchens from making a ghost of one of the guests…

Sophie is busy handling the first ever convention of the Association of Ghost Kitchens—restaurants that do delivery only—but she’s taking a little time out for a lunch meeting organized by A Healthy Meal. The group is dedicated to providing meals for children in need, and as a bonus, it’ll give Sophie the perfect opportunity to ogle the lavish Old Town home of socialite Geraldine Stansfield. Gerrie’s dining room is impeccably furnished, the table laden with gleaming crystal and prized china. If it weren’t for the dead man lying on the floor, everything would be perfect . . .

No one knows the victim—or at least, no one claims to. But a little snooping by Sophie reveals links to many local notables. In fact, not only was he a client of Geraldine’s late husband, an attorney—every member of the Stansfield clan knew the deceased. But only one knows what he was doing in Gerrie’s house.

Gerrie’s elegant abode looks spotless, but there’s plenty of dirty linen in those family closets. Now Sophie will have to get the killer to come clean before he spoils another appetite—for good . . .
 
Includes delicious recipes and fabulous decorating tips!

Amazon

The Golden Girls meets Remington Steel in Lee Hollis’s sixth mystery set in a Palm Springs retirement community, featuring retiree-turned-PI Poppy Harmon and her Desert Flowers Detective Agency!

Poppy never planned on speaking to her old acting rival Serena Saunders again, let alone accepting her as a client. But familiar drama barges back into her life when Serena requests an urgent background check on Ned Boyce, her fiancé, before tying the knot. And the flighty film star is behaving out of character by wishing to start over with Poppy—this time as friends . . .
 
Wealthy, connected, and the owner of a breathtaking mountaintop home, Ned seems like the most unlikely private investigation subject in Palm Springs. Poppy no sooner thinks she’s nailed down her latest assignment than Serena is caught holding a smoking gun over a stranger’s dead body . . .
 
With Serena claiming self-defense and the wedding fast approaching, the Desert Flowers team must summon their showbiz talents to expose the truth about the unknown victim. But as her former enemy finds herself in another devastating position, only Poppy can determine who’s innocent and who’s ready to smile for their mug shot . . .

Amazon

FORECAST: FAIR WIH A CHANCE OF MURDER . . .

The Mackinac County fair is in full swing, and the air is rich with the scent of funnel cakes and the sound of carnival rides. Allie is focused on the fudge competition—another win would really put her hotel and fudge shop on the map. But she’s willing to take a little break and walk through the haunted house attraction with her friend Jenn.

When they come across a body, though, it turns out not to be a prop. Soon Allie’s cop boyfriend is on the scene, and the sleuthing confectioner is hunting for clues. Danger strikes too close to home when the hotel becomes the scene of a suspicious fatal accident, and Allie suspects the two deaths are connected. The case is turning into a real rollercoaster. Allie will need to hold on tight . . .

Amazon

Karen Rose Smith returns with another serving of her irresistible Daisy’s Tea Garden Mysteries set in Pennsylvania’s Amish country.

Even though spring in Lancaster County is still a bit far off, Daisy Swanson has much to look forward to: setting a date with her fiancé Jonas, a whimsical Alice in Wonderland tea event, and an anniversary celebration for her parents at a farm-to-table restaurant in Willow Creek.
 
But a grim discovery turns her thoughts to the troubled present. Meeting up for a hike with her friend, Daisy and her fiancé’s dog Felix find the woman dead on a trail, a victim of an apparent hit and run. The tire tracks clearly indicate this was no accident, and now Daisy must follow a twisted trail of clues to uncover what drove someone to murder . . .
 
Includes delicious recipes!

Amazon

Set in small-town Oregon, the latest in the witty, charming Witch Way Librarian series from Amazon bestselling and acclaimed author Angela M. Sanders features a spellbinding heroine, a clever cat familiar, colorful locals—and of course, murder. The perfect read for fans of Bailey Cates, Adele Abbott, Juliet Blackwell, and all cozy mystery lovers with a taste for the supernatural.

Josie is eager to show off Wilfred’s delights to her visiting sister, Jean—even though Josie must conceal her magic from her. In any case, Jean is excited to attend Cookie Masterson’s trademark “Ready-Set-Go!” workshop on becoming a life coach. Then there’s the grand reopening of Darla’s Café, where the doors are thrown open to reveal . . . a dead man, stabbed in the back. That was definitely not on the revamped menu…
 
Even more worrisome, the sheriff receives a report of a fresh corpse at the retreat center. Maybe murder isn’t so uncommon in Wilfred anymore, but two unfamiliar bodies within an hour certainly is! Josie’s willing to let law enforcement take the lead—after all, she’s gotten into some trouble from the hints the library’s spellbound books keep feeding her about the patrons. But when her sister receives the killer’s chilling calling card, she’ll use everything within her otherworldly powers to divine just who in town has homicide as his new slogan . . .

Amazon

Someone in Brooklyn’s Little Caribbean neighborhood has an appetite for murder in Olivia Matthews’ Hard Dough Homicide.

Spice Isle Bakery owner Lyndsay Murray is always looking for new ways to grow her family’s business. But she already regrets agreeing to host the retirement dinner for local high school principal Emily Smith. The tyrant used to be her mother’s boss and they did not get along. Six guests arrive for the celebration, but only five survive. Emily starts convulsing—right after eating the curry chicken—and dies soon after. It’s not long before the police are knocking on Spice Isle’s door, bringing the Murray family back into the heart of another murder investigation—driving away customers in the process. Lyndsay can’t help but wonder if this is the end of the bakery, even though it’s just begun. She must put aside her reservations about investigating another crime, because the Murrays refuse to go down without a fight.

Amazon

Mia Murphy is about to face her biggest challenge yet when the famous Bass Derby Strawberry Shortcake Bake-Off turns deadly. Who kills over champion shortcake? Mia and her gang of sassy gals need to figure it out before one of their own goes missing forever…

Local beauty queen Dee Dutch left plenty of carnage behind when she slunk away from Bass Derby years ago, so when she suddenly shows up in town to compete in this year’s bake-off, rumors start flying. And when she winds up dead in the kitchen of one of Mia’s friends, many folks are delighted…especially when Mia’s friend is the only suspect.

The competition must go on…but who stands to benefit the most from Dee’s demise? Mia, Hattie, Lucy, and their oversized feline sidekick must unravel years of small-town gossip, secrets, and biscuits to find out the truth…even if it means crossing lines that Mia has sworn never to cross again.

Even if it means risking her reputation…and her life.

Amazon

There are a lot of new releases this week! Do any make your tbr list? Let me know in the comments below!