To Be Read Thursdays is a meme hosted by The Writer’s Inkwell. This is a way to feature the books you’ve added to your TBR list over the past week or a newly added book that you are excited about reading in the near future. Anyone is welcome to participate in this meme. Please just link back to the hosting page so she can read your posts.
Hi everyone. Please welcome Melissa Lynn, author of Between the Two of You, to The Book’s the Thing. Melissa will be sharing some indie author recommendations today. Have a look, and be sure to stop by Amazon or Melissa’s website to check out her new book!
What Are You Reading Wednesdays is a weekly meme hosted by It’s A Reading Thing. To participate, open the book you are currently reading to page 34 (or 34% in your ebook) and answer these three questions.
The Questions are:
1. What’s the name of your current read?
2. Go to page 34 in your book or 34% in your eBook and share a complete sentence. (or two!)
3. Would you like to live in the world that exists within your book? Why or why not?
Now for my answers this week…
1. I actually just finished the short story Knock, Knock, You’re Dead by M.C. Beaton this morning, and am about to start my review copy of Death of a Nurse, also by M.C. Beaton. It’s Hamish Macbeth #31.
(short review of the short story – it is very short, and you will be able to figure out who did what right away, but it’s so typically Hamish that I enjoyed it, and recommend giving it a read if you are a fan.)
2. “The suspects seem to be building up,” he said. “It’s going to take a lot of research unless Hamish gets one of his flashes of intuition.”
3. I would definitely like to visit the Scottish Highlands. I wouldn’t even mind living there for a while, but I think I’d miss home too much to stay permanently.
Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every Tuesday they post a new Top Ten list prompt. This week it’s a Valentine’s Day freebie! I’m not much of a romance reader, but i don’t mind a romantic sub-plot, so here’s my list of Top Ten Romantic Suspense novels for Valentine’s Day.
Be sure to visit the tour page for more info and a chance to win a copy of Drawing Blood!
Synopsis:
CeCe Prentice returns with her band of Dumpster-diving pals in this fast-paced mystery that puts the eco-friendly heroine back on top—of a pile of trash.
When Big Bob, manager of the town dump, goes missing, CeCe is worried about more than where she’ll score her next salvaged car. First at the scene when Bob’s body is recovered from under the weekly recycling haul, CeCe is quick to identify potential witnesses and provide crucial scene sketches. But when CeCe is uncharacteristically startled by an unidentified woman at Bob’s abandoned house, her artistic talents are challenged, and her drawings, much to her frustration, come up short.
With CeCe’s observational talents on the fritz, Detective Frank DeRosa, CeCe, and her network of Freegans are forced to recreate Big Bob’s life from the garbage up. The team is soon thrust into the underworld of recycling where what appears to be junk could actually be the clue that saves a life.
Enter the Rafflecopter giveaway for a chance to win your own copy!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
About This Author
Deirdre Verne (Scarsdale, NY) is a college professor and an active college blogger. A writer for the millennium crowd, Deirdre’s interest in green living inspired her to create an off-the-grid character who Dumpster dives her way though a suspense-filled mystery series. A member of Sisters in Crime, Deirdre’s short stories appear in all three New York chapter anthologies –Murder New York Style, Murder New York Style: Fresh Slicesand Family Matters.
Author Links
www.deirdreverne.com (Web Page)
www.deirdreverne.com/blog/ (Blog)
@deirdreverne (Twitter)
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8276614.Deirdre_Verne (GoodReads)
Be sure to visit the Murder on Wheels blog tour page where you can enter to win an ebook copy of the mystery, and you’ll find a list of participating blogs to visit if you are interested.
Please join me in welcoming Lynn Cahoon, author of the Tourist Trap Mystery series, to the blog today. Lynn’s latest book in the series, Murder on Wheels, is available now, and she’s stopped by to tell us why the Book’s always been The Thing for Lynn Cahoon! 
Thanks for having me over to The Book’s The Thing. I have to say, my life has always been about the book. I’m in a Lean In circle and we were led through an imagery session. When I looked back at my childhood and the focus of my teen years, books and storytelling were important. No, that’s not quite right—books saved my life.
As a kid, reading gave me other worlds to live in besides the rural country farm where we lived. A Wrinkle in Time is one of my all-time favorites still.
In middle school, I hid in the library with a few kindred souls during lunch, setting up new books on the shelves and in the card catalog. I think this is where I fell in love with mystery series. Nancy Drew, (The Secret of the Old Clock) Hardy Boys, I loved checking in with my favorite characters on their new adventures.
As a teen, I learned about love by reading Gone with the Wind and developed my affection for bad boys with a heart of gold. Which was only more entrenched with my band geek friends and their love for the Tolkien books. Lord of the Rings kept us sane in a world of teenage angst and football frenzy.
As a young mother, I fell in love with Stephen King and the way his bad guys always get their due in the end. The Stand was my go to read for more summers than I’ll admit here. I still love his ability to build new worlds that seem to be just on the other side of the invisible wall.
Finally, I learned to love cozies when I was going through breast cancer treatment in 2007. We’d moved 1600 miles away from my home state of Idaho and all my support peeps when I was diagnosed. The library was my favorite place to visit. During a weekend shot visit at the hospital, the nurse noticed I was reading a cozy. She asked if I’d read Susan McBride’s Debutante Dropout mystery series. Susan is a St Louis resident and a breast cancer survivor. When I said I hadn’t, the nurse brought me Blue Blood and her entire collection that next day when I arrived for my daily shot.
I realized then that there are many people who want to support you during your walk through hell, you just have to be open to the opportunities.
I started writing cozies after that and Murder on Wheels is part of the Tourist Trap mystery series that started with Guidebook to Murder releasing in 2014. And as I write the books, I find I’m as in love with the characters as I was when I read other series.
Writing the Tourist Trap books is like going home and seeing my peeps. I hope reading the series feels the same to my readers.
Lynn
Bio
Lynn Cahoon is the author of the NYT and USA Today bestselling Tourist Trap cozy mystery series. Guidebook to Murder, book 1 of the series won the Reader’s Crown for Mystery Fiction in 2015. She’s also the author of the soon to be released, Cat Latimer series, with the first book, A STORY TO KILL, releasing in mass market paperback September 2016.She lives in a small town like the ones she loves to write about with her husband and two fur babies. Sign up for her newsletter at www.lynncahoon.com
Links
Nook – http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/murder-on-wheels-lynn-cahoon/1121955305?ean=9781601834195
iBooks – https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/book/murder-on-wheels/id1018633392?mt=11
Goodreads –http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5857424.Lynn_Cahoon
Twitter – https://twitter.com/LynnCahoon
Facebook –https://www.facebook.com/LynnCahoonAuthor
Website – http://lynncahoon.com/
Amazon author page – http://www.amazon.com/Lynn-Cahoon/e/B0082PWOAO/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1
Thanks Lynn! And here’s my Review….
Genre: Cozy Mystery
My Rating : **** (4 of 5 stars)
Goodreads Description:
The food truck craze has reached the charming coastal town of South Cove, California, but before Jill Gardner—owner of Coffee, Books, and More—can sample the eats, she has to shift gears and put the brakes on a killer . . .
Now that Kacey Austin has got her new gluten-free dessert truck up and running, there’s no curbing her enthusiasm—not even when someone vandalizes the vehicle and steals her recipes. But when Kacey turns up dead on the beach and Jill’s best friend Sadie becomes the prime suspect, Jill needs to step on it to serve the real killer some just desserts.
A Tourist Trap Mystery – #6
I love a protagonist who feels like someone I could be best friends with, and that’s exactly how I felt about Jill Gardner. She isn’t afraid to eat cheesecake, tacos, and fries, she reads everything from romance novels to stories about dragons, and she isn’t afraid to (or doesn’t know when not to) speak her mind. I’d also love to quit my day job and work at Coffee, Books, and More!
This is another new-to-me series that I enjoyed so much I will be going back to the beginning to get caught up. It was full of believable characters, a touch of romance, and just enough personal drama to keep Jill on her toes. The mystery kept me guessing, and the solution did not disappoint. If you enjoy cozies, be sure to check out Murder on Wheels!
NOTE: I received a free copy in exchange for my honest review.
To Be Read Thursdays is a meme hosted by The Writer’s Inkwell. This is a way to feature the books you’ve added to your TBR list over the past week or a newly added book that you are excited about reading in the near future. Anyone is welcome to participate in this meme. Please just link back to the hosting page so she can read your posts.
Since I’ve signed up to participate in several cozy mystery book tours, most of my TBR right now is comprised of soon-to-be-released mystery novels, some of which I do not even have my hands on yet. Besides those cozies, here are a few I hope to get to soon….
I won a copy of this graphic novel in a Shelf Awareness sweepstakes a couple of months ago, and I’ve been trying to get around to reading it ever since. I love the illustrations and the rather unique description (from Goodreads):
Discover the horrible fate of Jonathan York as he sets out on his journey through a spooky forest with an alarming party of travelmates!
Jonathan York has led a boring life — a pointless degree from the community college, a lackluster job at the General Store, and never any desire for something more exciting. But when fate leaves him stranded in a sinister land, he finds himself seeking an adventure of his own. Along the way he encounters ghoulish thieves, ravenous swamp monsters, a dastardly ice cream conspiracy, and a necromancer bent on human sacrifice.
This one has been sitting on my bookshelf staring at me since November!
From Goodreads:
In a heartbeat, everything changes…
Rachel Jenner is walking in a Bristol park with her eight-year-old son, Ben, when he asks if he can run ahead. It’s an ordinary request on an ordinary Sunday afternoon, and Rachel has no reason to worry—until Ben vanishes.
Police are called, search parties go out, and Rachel, already insecure after her recent divorce, feels herself coming undone. As hours and then days pass without a sign of Ben, everyone who knew him is called into question, from Rachel’s newly married ex-husband to her mother-of-the-year sister. Inevitably, media attention focuses on Rachel too, and the public’s attitude toward her begins to shift from sympathy to suspicion.
As she desperately pieces together the threadbare clues, Rachel realizes that nothing is quite as she imagined it to be, not even her own judgment. And the greatest dangers may lie not in the anonymous strangers of every parent’s nightmares, but behind the familiar smiles of those she trusts the most.
Where is Ben? The clock is ticking…
What Are You Reading Wednesdays is a weekly meme hosted by It’s A Reading Thing. To participate, open the book you are currently reading to page 34 (or 34% in your ebook) and answer these three questions.
The Questions are:
1. What’s the name of your current read?
2. Go to page 34 in your book or 34% in your eBook and share a complete sentence. (or two!)
3. Would you like to live in the world that exists within your book? Why or why not?
Now for my answers this week…
1. Gone by Midnight by Joyce and Jim Lavene
A collection of 13 stories
2. “I wanted your death. Slow and painful. I wanted to hear you to beg.” Her weapon was just out of reach near the bed port under the light. If she could manage to stretch forward-
3. Too hard to say – with 13 different stories, I think I’ll just plan on staying home to read this week. 🙂
Don’t forgot to tell me what you’re reading this Wednesday, or leave a link to your own post if you have one.
Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every Tuesday they post a new Top Ten list prompt. This week’s theme is Top Ten Historical Settings you love to read about. Not sure if I can come up with 10, but here goes….
Off the Books by Lucy Arlington
A Novel Idea Mystery, #5
Goodreads description:
Literary agent and amateur sleuth Lila Wilkins is back to seal the deal in the New York Times bestselling Novel Idea Mystery series.
Lila is showcasing some of her biggest authors at a bridal expo. But when the joyous event turns deadly, she’ll have to figure out who penned the perfect crime…
The Novel Idea Literary Agency has planned a wedding-themed week for Inspiration Valley, celebrating not only North Carolina’s best vendors but also some of the agency’s most popular bridal books. The fact that Lila can use the event to plan her own impending nuptials is just the icing on the cake.
But wedding bells turn to warning bells when Lila finds a dead man facedown in the frosting. Soon it’s discovered that the victim was connected to several Novel Idea authors, all of whom quickly become suspects in the case. It’s up to Lila and her fellow agents to find the real killer before one of their clients winds up scribbling stories from behind bars…
Genre: Cozy Mystery
My Rating: ***** 5 of 5 stars)
I have been lucky with my book choices lately, and this cozy mystery was another great read. I jumped in at book #5, but still felt a connection with the characters almost right away. You definitely don’t need to have read the first four books in the series before diving into this installment.
In Off the Books, Lila is helping prepare for a bridal expo jointly presented by an event organizer and the literary agency she works for. The event no sooner gets started than Lila, already nicknamed the “murder magnet” by some in town, finds yet another corpse. This one turns out to have been murdered in a way suggestive of scenes from two of her agency’s authors’ books. With A Novel Idea’s reputation at stake, Lila’s boss decides that the staff of the agency need to band together to find out who the real murderer is.
An unusual method of murder and a plethora of suspects kept me guessing until the end, and Lila’s personal life kept it interesting as well. I enjoyed getting to know the staff at A Novel Idea and Lila’s family and friends, and can’t wait to return to Inspiration Valley to learn more about them. I’ve already picked up book #1 in the series so that I can catch up.
I would highly recommend this one to all cozy mystery lovers, or to anyone who has ever thought about publishing a book (or is even a little bit curious about the process). I enjoyed the glimpses into Lila’s professional life – enough to give you a taste of a literary agent’s life but not bog down the story with too many details. 🙂
NOTE: I received a free copy from the author in exchange for my honest review.
The Book's the Thing 