Welcome to Connelly Court. A secluded, old money neighborhood, harboring a web of desires and deceit behind pristine facades and manicured lawns, where the lives of a group of neighbors, bound by their shared secrets and unconventional lifestyle, are about to unravel.
Michael and Amelia Ross move into their dream home, and get drawn into the seductive allure. But their house once belonged to a family whose lives were seemingly ruined by their participation, which leads Amelia to question everything about her new-found friends. Suspicions run rampant as the close-knit group turns on each other. Lies, betrayals, and hidden agendas are revealed, ripping apart the fabric that once bound the group together.
“Cul-de-Sac” is a dark tale of marriage, friendship, desire, and betrayal, where nothing is as it seems, and the truth may be more shocking than anyone could have imagined. Discover the twisted secrets of Connelly Court in this chilling domestic suspense novel that will leave you questioning just how well you truly know—or should know—your neighbors.
When the body of a celebrated journalist is fished from the Edgartown Harbor, the official report rules his death accidental. But why was he alone on a senator’s yacht during a nor’easter? That’s only the first question London-based lawyer Kyra Gibson has when she arrives on the idyllic island of Martha’s Vineyard to settle her estranged father’s affairs.
She’s not looking for closure. She’s not seen him in decades since he left her with her aunt following her mother’s death. But as Kyra delves deeper into her father’s life, she learns he had many regrets and wasn’t as retired as she believed. The more Kyra discovers, the more questions she has. With the help of world-weary detective, Tarek Collins, they uncover a web of intrigue and corruption involving a powerful senator, a dubious energy company, and brutal murder.
As they chase down clues, Kyra and Tarek flirt with danger and race against time to solve the murders and uncover the dark secrets lurking beneath Martha’s Vineyard’s picturesque façade of old money wealth and privilege.
This is the first book in the Martha’s Vineyard Murders series. The second novel, The Wraith’s Return, will be available later this summer, followed by Widow’s Walk in the fall.
In “A Chain of Pearls,” author Raemi A. Ray weaves an emotional and gripping mystery set on Martha’s Vineyard. The story follows Kyra Gibson, who arrives on the island to unravel the murder of her estranged father. With the assistance of detective Tarek Collins, Kyra delves into the shadowy underbelly of old money and power in town, determined to unmask the killer.
Ray’s vivid descriptions bring the island setting to life, immersing readers in its beauty and intrigue. While political secrets simmer beneath the surface, the heart of the novel remains a cozy mystery. Kyra and Tarek are well-developed characters whose dynamic partnership adds depth to the narrative. As the suspense builds, readers will eagerly anticipate the next installment in their thrilling adventures.
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a free copy of the book for review for this blog tour!
About the Author
Raemi A Ray’s travels to Martha’s Vineyard and around the world inspire her stories. She lives outside Boston. When not writing or traveling she earns her keep as the personal assistant to the resident house demons, Otto and DolphLundgren.
Grounds for Murder (Coffee & Cream Cafe Mysteries) by Lena Gregory
About Grounds for Murder
Grounds for Murder (Coffee & Cream Cafe Mysteries) Cozy Mystery 2nd in Series Setting – Watchogue, Long Island, New York Gemma Halliday Publishing (November 21, 2023) Number of Pages 226 Digital ASIN : B0CCLT922F
From author Lena Gregory comes a tasty new mystery with a killer twist…
Danika Delaney is thrilled to have taken over her uncle Jimmie’s old fashioned malt shop on eastern Long Island and is working hard to make it her own. In an effort to increase business, Danika invites a mystery writer to the Coffee & Cream Café for a discussion and book signing. Things seem to be going well, until a guest shows up and confronts the author, accusing him of plagiarizing his work. Embarrassed by the incident, Danika goes to the inn where the writer is staying the following morning, hoping to apologize and offer him another chance to return. What she finds instead is his dead body—beside a cup of poisoned coffee! Now it’s up to Danika to find out who wanted to silence the author… before the killer decides to write Danika a not-so-happy ending!
About Lena Gregory
Lena grew up in a small town on the south shore of eastern Long Island, but she recently traded in cold, damp, gray winters for the warmth and sunshine of central Florida, where she now lives with her husband, three kids, son-in-law, and four dogs. Her hobbies include spending time with family, reading, and walking. Her love for writing developed when her youngest son was born and didn’t sleep through the night. She works full time as a writer and a freelance editor and is a member of Sisters in Crime.
Mrs. Morris and the Wolfman (A Salem B&B Mystery) Paranormal Cozy Mystery 7th in Series Setting – Massachusetts Kensington Cozies (August 22, 2023) Mass Market Paperback : 304 pages ISBN-10 : 1496741374 ISBN-13 : 978-1496741370 Digital ASIN : B0BNWG9V65
Synopsis:
Saturday night at the movies has some added flair now that Darren and Elise Shultz are reopening one of Salem’s classic theaters. Charlene is delighted to help the couple with their venture, and Darren has lined up a cult classic double-header featuring Lon Chaney in The Wolfman. But things get hairier than expected when Elise starts to choke on her popcorn mid-movie—and once the lights go up, she’s dead . . .
When tests reveal Elise’s popcorn was poisoned, Detective Sam Holden eyes her husband as the guilty party. Charlene doesn’t believe Darren would hurt his wife—even if his company’s specialty seasoned salts were sprinkled on the fatal snack. But who else had a motive to do something so unsavory? With a little help from Jack, the handsome ghost who haunts her B&B, Charlene delves into the ill-fated couple’s past. And the more she learns, the more Charlene wonders if this time, she’s bitten off more than she can chew . . .
My Thoughts
What a fun read to start October off right. A ghost, a murder, Salem MA, this book is perfect for spooky season but still nice and cozy. The characters in this series are great. The interactions between Charlene and Jack, Charlene and Detective Holden, and Charlene and Avery all feel so genuine that they just suck you that much deeper into the story. This installment left me with a strong urge to go watch some old Lon Chaney movies! If you’re looking for a perfect fall read, give this a try. It is book #7 in the series, but you don’t need to have the read the others to enjoy this story.
About Traci Wilton
From cozy mysteries to seaside romance, USA Today bestselling author Traci Hall writes stories that captivate her readers. As a hybrid author with over sixty published works, Ms. Hall has a favorite tale for everyone. Mystery lovers, check out her Scottish Shire series, set in the seaside town of Nairn, or the Salem B&B Mystery series, as Traci Wilton. Her latest project is an Irish Castle cozy as Ellie Brannigan. Whether it’s her ever-popular By the Sea romances, an Appletree Cove sweet romance, or a fun who-done-it, Traci finds her inspiration in sunny South Florida, living right near the ocean.
Enter the Rafflecopter giveaway for your chance to win an autographed book and a movie popcorn gift set with a 50.00 dollar AMC gift card. (USA entrants only)
Josie Ashbury was a successful Hollywood actress with a booming career—until an on-set breakdown sends her back to her small Ohio hometown to recover. Taking a job teaching at her old high school, Josie is beginning to put the pieces of her life back together when one of her students dies under suspicious circumstances. The police close the case quickly, without any real answers. Josie is determined to find the truth behind the girl’s death.
At the same time, Josie is battling demons of her own. As she faces debilitating insomnia that leaves her with gaps in her memory, she dives into the tangled secrets surrounding the investigation. When she finally unravels the web, she discovers that the truth lies much closer to home than she could have ever imagined.
The Water Tower is a mystery/thriller about Josie, a former actress turned drama teacher in a small Ohio town, who finds the body of one of her students dead and decides to investigate.
This was an enjoyable read and I really appreciated Josie’s determination to do the right thing for the dead girl even when everyone else seemed ready to write her death off as an accident or suicide. She was determined to get to the bottom of the mystery even with everything with all of her own problems that she was trying to cope with. This was a good start to what looks like it may be a new series.
Read on for an excerpt from the book and your chance to win a copy!
Excerpt
She stood on the water tower, looking at the skyline she had only observed from the ground. You really could see the whole town from up here. Funny how your whole life can fit into one 360-degree glance. Peering down at the ground, she was no longer able to see individual blades of grass, all of them blurring into a sea of perfect emerald green. To her right was the roof of Lakeview High School, looking small from this vantage point. She felt as though if she leaned over far enough, she could almost touch it. But that was ridiculous; the school had to be several hundred feet away. Her vision came in and out of focus as she swayed, thinking about her life, her past, her future… Reaching out her slender arm, she twirled her wrist. She could hardly wait for graduation when, everyone said, “real life” would begin. “I can’t wait to get out of here,” her friends exclaimed, dreaming of big cities and even bigger lives in far-off places: Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, anywhere but here. But she knew they would return, just like their parents, raising 2.5 kids with a Labradoodle and a balding husband in one of the best-little-suburbs in the country. Was it really so bad? She watched all these super-educated women who had given up their careers to stay home and clean up after the kids and drive to soccer practice, instead of changing the world as they’d so hopefully planned when plotting their escape years earlier. Was that her fate? Was that what awaited her now? Dozens of similar thoughts swirled and crashed like waves in front of her, mixing in a fantastic spray of colors, lights, and sounds.
About the Author
Amy Young is an author, comedian, and actor based in Cleveland. After spending a decade in Los Angeles working in the entertainment industry and writing her debut novel, The Water Tower, she returned to Ohio to be closer to family. Amy is working on her second book, a thriller, and in her free time she enjoys going to the theatre, bingeing reality TV, and spending time with her husband and many, many cats. She has a B.A. in English from Kenyon College.
Dr. Catherine “Cat” Powers is FBI Forensic pathologist and special agent with an uncanny sixth sense for bringing murders to justice.
During a vacation in Belize with her young son, Joey, Cat gets a phone call from her boss. Young prostitutes are being picked up, murdered and left for dead in the Florida Everglades. The first victim does not fit the killer’s modus operandi. She was a legal secretary working for the Fort Lauderdale based international law firm, Black and Knight.
As Cat investigates this and other deaths, they lead back to the firm’s henchmen and to its partners. With the help of another firm employee, Cat discovers a secret web of murder, illicit drugs, prostitution, sex trafficking, corruption and more. The firm’s partners intend to kill anyone who can lead the law back to them, including Cat.
As the body count grows, powerful people will make decisions that will change lives. Decisions that will destroy families. As Cat uncovers the conspiracy, only one partner, the mastermind, will become Cat’s ally. She will walk away, after seeing that the others are brought to justice.
The Ghost Goes to the Dogs (Haunted Bookshop Mystery)by Cleo Coyle
Synopsis:
A stray dog leads bookseller Penelope McClure and her gumshoe ghost on a chase for a cunning criminal in this brand-new entry in the “UTTERLY CHARMING” (Mystery Scene) Haunted Bookshop Mysteries from New York Times bestselling author Cleo Coyle.
Pet Mystery Week brings brisk business to Penelope’s Rhode Island bookshop, but a real mystery comes barking at her door when a lost dog turns up in a panic. Pen and her son Spencer follow the furry fugitive to a wooded area where the dog’s owner lies unconscious. Mrs. Cunningham is a warm-hearted widow who volunteers at the animal shelter and runs Buy the Book’s pet lovers book club. Why would anyone shoot such a sweet soul?
The police believe it’s an accident, a shot by a careless deer hunter, but Pen remains skeptical. To straighten out this doggone mess, she whistles for the ghost of PI Jack Shepard, an expert in hounding as well as haunting. Jack has a dog story of his own, a case from the 1940s that may help Pen sniff out clues to her present predicament. Yet even with Jack’s hard-boiled help, Pen may not be able to stop the killer from striking again or letting this whole case go to the dogs…
Piper Addison is not a normal witch. If she’s even a witch at all…
Life after the big four-oh isn’t so bad. Piper Addison, resident witch and coffee shop owner, finally found her groove. Business is flourishing, her ghost familiar is miraculously supportive, and she might even have a date for the weekend.
There’s only one small catch… A dead body puts Piper in an impossible situation.
Orchard Hollow’s biggest secret is about to be revealed, and Piper might be the only one who can save the town’s paranormal residents. If only she can get a handle on her strange magic.
If that wasn’t enough, the town sheriff trusts Piper to solve the case. Can she help catch the killer before the whole world finds out about magic?
Cafe au Slay is a paranormal cozy mystery, complete with an unlucky witch, a ghost familiar, and a feisty raccoon with a talent for getting into sticky situations.
Alene Baron is dealing with frustrated employees, closed schools, and a homeless man who harasses customers outside the door of her café. Then, two dead bodies turn up in the burned remains of buildings owned by the husband of Alene’s best friend and pastry chef, Ruthie. Both bodies are wearing jackets that once belonged to Ruthie and crumbled in the pockets are the café’s distinctive wrappers. At the same time, Alene’s uncle, a convicted felon, has resurfaced after disappearing for 22 years. It’s all too much for the owner of the Whipped and Sipped Café.
Hello everyone! Welcome to The Book’s the Thing. I am very pleased to be hosting a cover reveal from author Jevon Knights – please read on to see what he has to say about his new novel, Guardian of the Cursed Crown.
I love science fiction fantasy art, especially when they describe impossible landscapes – giant ancient stone statues guarding gentle rivers, derelict star ships scraping the sky, silhouettes of unknown technology haunting lonely deserts.
I often watch the credits of favourite Tv shows and anime hoping to see relevant art of the world. Most recently Disney’s the Mandalorian has offered great treats of art at the end of every episode, and I often watch thinking, “which one of these could have been used as a book cover if this was a novel?”
My debut novel presented me with the same question, as I could imagine several scenes that I would have loved even a novice artist to have drawn.
I thought about the amazing book covers of favourites like Chronicles of the Unhewn Thrown and Mistborn and various Warhammer novels, trying to think of a common trend. Usually the main characters are depicted, sometimes a city, sometimes a weapon, representing the overall theme of the book or the ultimate goal.
My first thought was to display the protagonist Larsen carrying his wife Gwen to a ruined city, but the scene seemed too intimate to be attractive to fantasy fans. Maybe I should display a stern-faced ruler sitting in darkness on a throne, something a friend warned me might resemble too much the political twists of Game of Thrones, which my novel definitely is not. Then how about just Gwen, peacefully lying motionless on a stone tablet? After all, she is the sole force that drives Larsen forward. But still, it might apply more to romance fans than fantasy, and I wanted a picture that implied more action.
I thought about having the major characters together that Larsen drags along his journey, all huddled in a cart speeding through a dark forest, hauled by the powerful charger Ruena. While it would have been a good display of the characters, I didn’t think that the forest was enough to represent the book.
So I settled on just Larsen racing across a pitted field on Ruena.
When I contacted my artist with the description this first draft was the result. And while it had the basic features of a horse and rider on a field, it lacked urgency, danger, despair. Larsen needed to be leaning forward to show he was focused, Ruena needed a better sense of speed to show the gallop, and something about the direction didn’t fit with me (maybe it’s the way we read from left to right).
We went through a couple more drafts, and after approving the art we moved on to a coloured electronic version.
I loved Larsen’s posture on the horse, and the gallop was perfect, but there were still several things wrong. Larsen needed to look like he went through a long, arduous journey, with bloodied bandages, ripped and ragged clothes, and unkempt facial hair. The cloth wrapping Ruena’s eyes was supposed to be a stripped bloodied rag, and the field was way too serene.
The location in the book was less like a tame savannah and more like an ancient battlefield, covered in crushed bone and shards of metal, broken ribs exposed in shattered armour, battered shields, rusted swords and axes, the remains of skulls, all scattered between the remnants of carts, large wheels half buried in debris, pieces of rope and huge chains looping in and out of the dirt.
I couldn’t get all the details of the pitted field, but I still love the result, giving a preview of a land named after the demon of insanity, Larsen’s ultimate destination.
King Larsen’s entire world shatters when his beloved queen Gwen becomes infected with an unknown illness and dies. He loses the will to rule, and his city Vivek is overthrown by King Malik of Holt Harbour. A year passes, Larsen never recovers from despair, lives as a vagabond just close enough to Gwen’s grave so he can visit her daily, and all his people suffer under Malik’s oppressive laws. However, Larsen learns that Gwen never actually died from her illness and a cure is possible by taking her into Desanorbis, a land named after the Servant of Insanity.
Larsen tries to ignore it, nothing but the ravings of a crazy Cord Master. His former general Carder certainly thinks so, and wants the fallen king to join the rebellion to take back the city. Meanwhile, the giant Dirk has found a new purpose as a member of the Guls in the remote village of Seaben, keeping it safe from the outlaws that frequently make port. Sounds easy enough. He was a feared warrior during the Battle of Vivek, he could certainly keep any scum from causing trouble, or so he thought. Something stalks the shadows of the village, and the Guls must catch it before it kills them all.
But to Larsen, none of it matters. Haunting dreams of Gwen are too much to bear. So he disregards all warnings, ignores better judgment, digs his love up from her grave and embarks on the quest, setting into motion a series of events that puts not just Vivek or Seaben, but the entire world in danger.
My debut novel Guardian of the Cursed crown releases on the Kindle bookstore March 4th 2023. Get parts I and II right now for free.
Author Bio
Jevon Knights is a fantasy writer and blogger who wants to entertain with amazing stories and enlighten with great content. He posts science fiction fantasy topics on his blog, Knights Writes, and invites you to download part I and II of his debut novel Guardian of the Cursed Crown for free.
Synopsis:
The Water Tower: A Lakeview Mystery by Amy Young
The Ghost Goes to the Dogs (Haunted Bookshop Mystery)
Synopsis:
Cozy Mystery 3rd in Series Setting – Chicago, Illinois DX Varos Publishing (February 21, 2023) Paperback : 320 pages ISBN-10 : 1955065675 ISBN-13 : 978-1955065672 Digital ASIN : B0BLMFHSQX Print length : 254 pages 
The Book's the Thing 