Happy New Year from Maxie!

It's hard for me to get good photos of Maxie. My phone isn't the best for photos, and I have to get in close to her since the zoom is terrible. This usually results in Maxie coming to investigate my phone, and ending my photo op. Today, I got lucky.

A Christmas Peril by J. A. Hennrikus | Blog Tour with Review and Giveaway

The Blurb

Sully Must Get Her Childhood Friend Off the Naughty List Before They’re Both Scrooged.

When Edwina “Sully” Sullivan’s life imploded, she left behind her job on the police force and her unfaithful husband to start a new life as the general manager of her hometown theater, the Cliffside Theater Company.

For five years, she focused on budgets instead of crime and kept the Cliffside running alongside its mercurial artistic director. But when her childhood friend is suspected of killing his father, no one is looking for another culprit. So, in between keeping A Christmas Carol on budget and Scrooge sober, Sully dusts off her investigative skills to find a murderer. Her two lives collide when her ex-husband arrives on the scene to play lawyer and she’s forced to confront her past in order to save her present.

A Christmas Peril by J. A. Hennrikus

Series: A Theater Cop Mystery, #1

Genre: Cozy Mystery
Publisher: Midnight Ink
Publication Date: September 8, 2017

Paperback: 288 pages
ISBN-10: 0738754153
ISBN-13: 978-0738754154
e-Book File Size: 2918 KB

ASIN: B0755NC138
Amazon | B&N | BAM! | Kobo | Google Play | Goodreads

The Review

Feliz Navidead by Ann Myers | Blog Tour with Excerpt, Review, Guest Post, and Giveaway

Ann Myers, the author of Bread of the Dead and Cinco de Mayhem, is back!

The Blurb

Holly, jolly, and downright deadly — the third Santa Fe Café mystery 
unwraps surprises both naughty and nice... 

It’s the most picturesque time of the year in Santa Fe, and Chef Rita Lafitte of Tres Amigas Café hopes the twinkling lights and tasty holiday treats will charm her visiting mom. Rita is also planning fun activities, such as watching her teenage daughter, Celia, perform in an outdoor Christmas play.

What she doesn’t plan for is murder.

Rita discovers a dead actor during the premier performance but vows to keep clear of the case. Sleuthing would upset her mom. Besides, there’s already a prime suspect, caught red-handed in his bloodied Santa suit. However, when the accused Santa’s wife begs for assistance — and points out that Celia and other performers could be in danger — Rita can’t say no. With the help of her elderly boss, Flori, and her coterie of rogue knitters, Rita strives to salvage her mother’s vacation, unmask a murderer, and stop this festive season from turning even more fatal.

Feliz Navidead by Ann Myers
Series: A Santa Fe Café Mystery, #3

Genre: Cozy Mystery, Culinary Mystery, Christmas  

Publication Date: October 25, 2016
Publisher: William Morrow / HarperCollins
Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
ISBN-10: 0062382314
ISBN-13: 978-0062382313
e-Book File Size: 969 KB
ASIN: B01BBPRU32
Publisher: Avon 
Amazon | B & N | Kobo | Google Play | BAM! | iBooks | HarperCollins | Goodreads

The Excerpt

The Seven-Course Christmas Killer: A Holiday Novella from the Italian Kitchen | Review

Rosie Genova, author of the Italian Kitchen Mysteries, serves up a new dish this week with the release of her e-book holiday novella, The Seven Course Christmas Killer: A Holiday Novella from the Italian Kitchen. Priced at 99¢, the e-book is available on Amazon and most other retailers.

The story takes place on Christmas Eve, as Vic and the gang prepare the traditional Feast of the Seven Fishes for their annual holiday party. But before you can say “shrimp scampi,” Mayor Anne McCrae takes a nasty fall that may not be an accident. Add a nosy reporter, guests with grudges, and a missing kitchen knife — and Vic suddenly has all the ingredients for murder!

The Blurb

On Christmas Eve, someone might be sleeping with the fishes. . .

It’s December at the Casa Lido, which means only one thing: the Rienzi family’s traditional Christmas Eve celebration, including wine, song, and seven Italian seafood courses. As Victoria and Tim prep scungilli and calamari, Nonna directs the cooking until all is in readiness for the big night.

But the holiday cheer is interrupted by the attempted murder of Mayor Anne McCrae, who asks Vic to investigate. Trouble is, there are as many suspects as there are fishes on the Christmas Eve menu . . .

The Seven-Course Christmas Killer by Rosie Genova
Series: An Italian Kitchen Mystery, #3.5

Genre: Cozy Mystery, Culinary Mystery, Holiday

Publisher: Beyond the Page

Publication Date: November 27, 2016
Print Length: 77 pages

e-Book File Size: 421 KB

ASIN: B01NBDVUCX

Amazon | B & N | Kobo | Google Play | iBooks | Goodreads

 

The Review

Taste of Christmas by Chelsea Field | Short Story | Review

I just read the best short story, y'all — Taste of Christmas, by Chelsea Field. Let me tell you a little about it.

Synopsis, from Goodreads:

Mistletoe seems a whole lot less romantic once you’ve been poisoned by it. Isobel Avery would know—it’s one of the perks of being an undercover poison taster for the rich and famous. Still, with the weather as cold as it gets in Los Angeles and a hot new date, Izzy has a few ideas on how to keep herself warm this Christmas. They just don’t start under mistletoe. 

However, before her cozy plans can come to fruition, she needs to survive meeting her date’s family over Christmas lunch. With a long, awkward road trip that has her wondering whether she’s fallen for the Grinch, a mysterious poisoner intent on killing the holiday spirit, and a Santa’s sackful of secrets she’s not allowed to spill, Izzy will need a Christmas miracle to avoid disaster. 

The real question is, will her evening be naughty… or not? 

Taste of Christmas by Chelsea Field

Series: An Eat, Pray, Die Humorous Mystery short story, #2.5

Genre: Cozy Mystery  

Publication Date: November 24, 2016

Publisher: JFP Trust

Print Length: 38 pages

e-Book File Size: 2481 KB

ASIN: B01N468RZO

Amazon US | Amazon UK| Amazon AU | Amazon CA | Amazon DEU | Goodreads

Author's Website | Facebook | Amazon | Goodreads

Masking for Trouble by Diane Vallere | Blog Tour with Review and Giveaway

The author of A Disguise to Die For is back with another Costume Shop Mystery!

The Blurb

SOMEONE'S GETTING DRESSED UP... TO KILL.

Halloween brings more tricks than treats for costume shop owner Margo Tamblyn in the second in a new cozy series from the national bestselling author of the Material Witness Mysteries.

Halloween conjures up big business for Margo Tamblyn’s costume shop, Disguise DeLimit, but this year, the holiday comes knocking with serious trouble. Venture capitalist Paul Haverford plans to rezone historic downtown into a glitzy commercial area which would push out local business. Margo is set on saving her family’s store, especially after a nasty run-in with the chain-store tycoon, but after Haverford’s body is discovered during a spooky party at the derelict Alexandria Hotel, Margo finds herself dressed as the police’s prime suspect.

Anxious to clear her name, Margo begins hunting down anyone who might have wanted Haverford dead. Between all of his malicious maneuverings, the murdered mogul had buckets of people anxious to see him gone. Now, Margo will have to use every trick in the book to find a cloaked killer — before someone else winds up wearing a death shroud…

_______________________________________

INCLUDES RECIPES AND COSTUME IDEAS!

Masking for Trouble by Diane Vallere
Series: A Costume Shop Mystery, #2
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime / Penguin
Publication Date: October 4, 2016
Paperback: 304 pages
ISBN-10: 0425278298
ISBN-13: 978-0425278291

e-Book File Size: 2635 KB
ASIN: B01AHKXIHY

Amazon | B&N | Kobo | BAM! | Google Play | iBooks | IndieBound | Powell's | Goodreads

The Review

Murder Most Malicious by Alyssa Maxwell | Blog Tour with Review and Giveaway

The author of the Gilded Newport Mysteries is back, with a new historical mystery series!

The Blurb

In post–World War I England, Lady Phoebe Renshaw and her lady’s maid, Eva Huntford, step outside of their social roles and put their lives at risk to apprehend a vicious killer…

December 1918: As a difficult year draws to a close, there is much to celebrate for nineteen-year-old Phoebe Renshaw and her three siblings at their beloved family estate of Foxwood Hall. The dreadful war is finally over; eldest daughter Julia’s engagement to their houseguest, the Marquis of Allerton, appears imminent; and all have gathered to enjoy peace on earth, good will toward men.

But the peace of Foxwood Hall is shattered on the morning of Boxing Day, when the Marquis goes missing. Not entirely missing, however, as macabre evidence of foul play turns up in gift boxes given to lady’s maid Eva Huntford and a handful of others. Having overheard her sister and the Marquis in a heated exchange the night before, Lady Phoebe takes a personal interest in solving the mystery.

As the local constable suspects a footman at Foxwood Hall, Phoebe and Eva follow the clues to a different conclusion. But both young women will need to think outside the box to wrap up this case — before a cornered killer lashes out with ill will toward them…

Murder Most Malicious by Alyssa Maxwell 

Series: A Lady and Lady's Maid Mystery, #1

Genre: Historical Mystery
Publisher: Kensington

Publication Date: December 29, 2015
Hardcover: 304 pages

ISBN-10: 1617738301
ISBN-13: 978-1617738302

E-Book File Size: 681 KB

ASIN: B00VQFKHPQ
Amazon | Barnes&Noble |Kobo | IndieBound | Goodreads

Click here for a sneak peek! You can read Chapter 1 of Murder Most Malicious 
on Author Alyssa Maxwell's website.

The Review

A Stitch to Die For by Lois Winston | Blog Tour Book Blast with Giveaway

Lois Winston, the author of Decoupage Can Be Deadly, is back 

with another Anastasia Pollock Crafting Mystery!

The Blurb

Scrapbook of the Dead by Mollie Cox Bryan | Blog Tour with Review, Guest Post, Giveaway

The author of A Crafty Christmas is back with another Cumberland Creek Mystery!

The Blurb

Halloween means spooky scrapbooks for the Cumberland Creek Scrapbook Crop, but what’s been happening around town is truly frightening. First a dead woman is found in the freezer at Pamela’s Pie Palace, and the next day a second woman is found murdered by the river. Reporter Annie Chamovitz learns the victims were sisters and is certain their deaths are linked. Most bizarre of all, both women were found clutching scrapbook pages.

As their Saturday night crop quickly becomes an opportunity to puzzle out the murders, the ladies begin to wonder if Pamela is hiding more than her secret recipes for delicious pies — or if the crimes are related to the startling discovery that there are gangs in Cumberland Creek. As All Hallows Eve approaches, the crafty croppers must cut and paste the clues to unmask a deadly killer.

Includes tips and a glossary of terms for the modern scrapbooker!

Scrapbook of the Dead by Mollie Cox Bryan

Series: A Cumberland Creek Mystery, #5

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Publisher: Kensington

Publication Date: September 29, 2015

Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages

ISBN-10: 0758293585

ISBN-13: 978-0758293589

e-Book File Size: 677 KB

ASIN: B00RRT30J0

Amazon | B & N | Kobo | BAM! | IndieBound | iTunes | Kensington | Goodreads

Why wait? Go to the Author's website now for a sneak peek!

  

The Review

Bread of the Dead by Ann Myers | Blog Tour with Review and Giveaway

Welcome to my tour stop for Bread of the Dead, the first book in the Santa Fe Café series of cozy mysteries by Ann Myers. The tour runs September 28 - October 23 with reviews, interviews, guest posts and excerpts. Check out the tour page for the full schedule.

The Blurb

Trick or treat — and murder — are on the menu in this first in a new culinary mystery series.

Life couldn't be sweeter for Tres Amigas Café chef Rita Lafitte, decorating sugar skulls and taste-testing rich, buttery pan de muerto in anticipation of Santa Fe's Day of the Dead bread-baking contest. That is, until her friendly landlord, Victor, is found dead next door.

Although the police deem Victor's death a suicide, Rita knows something is amiss. To uncover the truth, she teams up with her octogenarian boss, Flori, the town's most celebrated snoop.

The duo begins to sift through long-buried secrets and to take full measure of duplicitous neighbors, but the clock is ticking and their list of suspects is growing ever longer. Just as the clues get hotter than a New Mexican chile, one of their main suspects winds up dead. Rita fears that the killer is dishing out seconds — and her order might be up.

Bread of the Dead by Ann Myers
Series: A Santa Fe Café Mystery, #1
Genre: Cozy Mystery, Culinary Mystery
Publisher: William Morrow / HarperCollins Avon
Publication Date: September 29, 2015
Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages
ISBN-10: 0062382276
ISBN-13: 978-0062382276
e-Book File Size: 2968 KB
ASIN: B00RTMCOWO

Amazon | B & N | Kobo | IndieBound | Goodreads

The Review

Valentine’s Day is Murder by Carolyn Arnold | Blog Tour with Excerpt

The Blurb

From bestselling author Carolyn Arnold…

Strap in for an adventure that will take you to the beautiful island of Jamaica and have you wanting a piña colada.

Jimmy finally takes a vacation — and a chance on love — only to be abducted. His female companion originally thinks he had cold feet about their relationship, but Sean and Sara know there’s more to it. Jimmy isn’t the type to just up and disappear, let alone leave a lady stranded.

Setting out on their private jet, Sean and Sara reach the tropical paradise of Ocho Rios, Jamaica with sightseeing as the last thing on their minds.

With a gold coin being their initial tie to Jimmy’s kidnapper, Sean and Sara even speculate about the involvement of pirates. Yet as the hours pass, and there’s no word from Jimmy’s captors, Sean and Sara will need to figure out the real motive before it’s too late.

With help from their friend, Adam, back in Albany, the pieces come together and not a moment too soon.

8th in the Amazon Bestselling McKinley Mystery Series

Valentine’s Day is Murder by Carolyn Arnold
Series: McKinley Mysteries, # 8
Genre: Cozy Mystery 

Publication Date: January 15, 2015
Print Length: 117 pages
E-Book File Size: 527 KB
ASIN: B00OO729NQ
ISBN-10: 1505611563
ISBN-13: 978-1505611564
Amazon US | Amazon UK | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Kobo | Goodreads

The Excerpt

Cozy Christmas Capers | Holiday Book Blitz

BOOK BLITZ for Cozy Christmas Capers,

 from CYBER MONDAY December 1 through December 4, 2014

19 holiday short stories by 19 New York Times, USA Today and award

winning authors!

Enjoy these tales of mystery, romance, and laughter

amid the backdrop of pine trees, gingerbread men, and Santas galore!

The perfect short bites for cozying up by the fire with a cup of

cocoa… or waiting in line at gift wrapping!

Purchase Links:
Amazon Kindle
Barnes&Noble Nook
Kobo
iBooks
Smashwords

Gemma Halliday Publishing

This book will only be available December 1 – January 31, 2015, so hurry!

Stories include:

Obsidian Curse, by Barbra Annino

I read a really good book recently, y'all — Obsidian Curse, book five in the Stacy Justice Mystery series.  Let me tell you a little about it.

Synopsis, from Goodreads:

Reporter Stacy Justice has finally stopped resisting who she really is—a powerfully gifted witch. And now that the Council has appointed her Seeker of Justice, she feels stronger and more attuned to her magic than ever before.

But Samhain—the night when the veil between the worlds thins—is approaching and something strange is brewing. First, a fairy with a sweet tooth appears in town unexpectedly. Then, a mysterious stranger shows up at Stacy’s newspaper, seeking info for a true crime exposé he claims to be writing. But most disturbing of all, a bloodthirsty, sexy demon has escaped the Otherworld, determined to invoke a curse that has plagued Stacy’s family for generations. Fulfilling her role as Seeker and finding out how all these pieces fit together may tear her relationship with her boyfriend apart. But if she doesn’t find answers soon, her love life won’t be the only thing in danger.

This fifth book in the Stacy Justice series offers more of the dazzling magic and heart-stopping thrills that have left readers spellbound.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Obsidian Curse is another great read from Barbra Annino — # 5 in the Stacy Justice, Reluctant Witch Mysteries.