Cozy Mystery

A Clue in the Stew by Connie Archer – #WAYRW

~ Erika K ~ 8 Comments

whatareyoureadingwed

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. A Clue in the Stew by Connie Archer
A Clue in the Stew (Soup Lover's Mystery #5)
A Soup Lover’s Mystery, #5

2. As good as the book has been so far, nothing too exciting is happening on page 34! 🙂

Lucky finished laying placemats along the countertop, then unlocked the front door and flipped the sign over. The Spoonful was open for the day.

3. A small Vermont skiing town actually sounds perfect! I’d like it even better in the off-season when all the tourist had gone home. As long as murder wasn’t a regular occurrence, I think Snowflake would be a great hometown.

Will PRH be cancelling your favorite cozy mystery series?

~ Erika K ~ 15 Comments

For my cozy mystery readers who may not be aware….

There has been a merger between Random House and the Penguin Group, and  Random House has now decided not to renew several cozy mystery series. I won’t pretend to understand the reasoning behind this, but it does include cozies published by Berkley Prime Crime and NAL Obsidian lines. It sounds like they will be cutting the number of these books that are published drastically. I do not have a comprehensive list of series that will not be continued, but Avery Aames Cheese Shop Mysteries (one of my favorites!) and Molly McRae’s Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries are among the casualties.

For those who are so inclined, please take a minute to visit Penguin Random House’s contact form (click the logo, scroll to the Send Us a Note drop-down near the bottom, and select General Feedback) and ask them (in a polite and respectful manner, of course! 🙂 ) not to discontinue their cozy mystery series.

Penguin Random House

A Facebook group called Save Our Cozies has been created for those who would like to stay informed – please visit them for an up-to-date list of series that have and haven’t been renewed. Please feel free to use the sharing links below to tweet or to share this post on Facebook.

AS ALWAYS – the best way to keep your favorite series alive is to buy the books, or ask your library to buy them so you can check them out, and of course READ the books, and review them! 🙂

 

The Skeleton Garden – WAYRW

~ Erika K ~ 6 Comments

whatareyoureadingwed

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. The Skeleton Garden (Potting Shed Mysteries #4) by Marty Wingate
The Skeleton Garden (Potting Shed Mystery #4)

2. “I remember the first time I saw you kitted out in that Land Girl uniform, your hair all tied up in that way you have so all your curls just fairly burst to get out. I saw you smile at me and i knew you were the one.” ~Letter from Ratley Airfield

3. This is the story of Pru, a Texas-born gardener who has relocated to a beautiful estate in the English countryside. I think I’d be quite happy in her surroundings. 🙂

What are you reading now?

 

Note: I’m a Random House Monthly Mystery Chatterbox, and received this ebook free in exchange for my honest review – coming soon!

 

The Perfectly Proper Paranormal Museum – Review / Giveaway (ENDED)

~ Erika K ~ 9 Comments

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The Perfectly Proper Paranormal MuseumGoodreads Description:

When Maddie Kosloski’s career flatlines, she retreats to her wine-country hometown for solace and cheap rent. Railroaded into managing the local paranormal museum, she’s certain the rumors of its haunting are greatly exaggerated. But a new ghost may be on the loose. A fresh corpse in the museum embroils Maddie in murders past and present.

With her high school bully as one of the officers in charge, Maddie doubts justice will be served. When one of her best friends is arrested, she’s certain it won’t be.

Maddie grapples with ghost hunters, obsessed taxidermists, and the sexy motorcyclist next door as outside forces threaten. And as she juggles spectral shenanigans with the hunt for a killer, she discovers there truly is no place like home.

Genre : Cozy Paranormal Mystery
My Rating: **** (4 stars)

Continue reading →

Shards of Murder by Cheryl Hollon – Review / Giveaway (ENDED)

~ Erika K ~ 8 Comments

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SHARDS OF MURDER Description:

When a glass-making competition turns deadly, glass shop owner Savannah Webb must search for a window into a criminal’s mind…

As the new proprietor of Webb’s Glass Shop, Savannah has been appointed to fill her late father’s shoes as a judge for the Spinnaker Arts Festival, held in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida. With her innovative glass works, the clear winner is Megan Loyola, a student of Savannah’s former mentor.

But when Megan doesn’t show up to accept her $25,000 award, rumors start flying. And when Savannah discovers the woman’s dead body on festival grounds, the police immediately suspect her of murder. To keep from appearing before a judge herself, Savannah sorts through the broken pieces of glass scattered around the victim for clues as to who took this killer competition too far…

Webb’s Glass Shop #2
Genre: Cozy Mystery

Continue reading →

Review / Giveaway – Death of a Nurse by M.C. Beaton (ENDED)

~ Erika K ~ 6 Comments

Death of a Nurse by M. C. Beaton
Hamish Macbeth #31

Death of a Nurse (Hamish Macbeth, #31)

Goodreads description:  

M. C. Beaton’s New York Times bestselling Hamish Macbeth series continues with a new mystery featuring Scotland’s most quick-witted but unambitious policeman.
James Harrison has recently moved to a restored hunting lodge in Sutherland with his gorgeous private nurse Gloria Dainty. When Hamish visits Mr. Harrison to welcome him to the neighborhood, the old man treats him very rudely. Gloria apologizes for her employer’s behavior, and Hamish takes the plunge and invites her out for dinner. On the appointed evening, Hamish waits for Gloria at the restaurant. And waits. Gloria never shows up. Four days later, Gloria’s body washes up on the beach near Braikie. Now without a date and without his former policeman Dick Fraser (who left the force to buy a bakery), Hamish must find out who killed the beautiful new resident of Sutherland, and why, before the murderer strikes again….

On sale 2/23/16 from Grand Central Publishing, but available for pre-order now.

Enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway (ENDED) for a chance to win a print copy! (US and Canada addresses only please)

Genre: Cozy Mystery
My Rating: ***** 5 of 5 stars)

Continue reading →

What Are You Reading Wednesdays – M.C. Beaton

~ Erika K ~ 2 Comments

whatareyoureadingwed

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.
 Death of a Nurse (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.

So what are you reading this Wednesday?

 

Drawing Blood – Blog Tour Spotlight & Giveaway

~ Erika K ~ 3 Comments

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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:

deidre

 

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)

Murder on Wheels Blog Tour & Guest Post from Author Lynn Cahoon

~ Erika K ~ 9 Comments

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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! scroll

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

CahoonBio

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

Amazon – http://www.amazon.com/Murder-Wheels-Tourist-Trap-Mystery-ebook/dp/B00XSVSCHQ/ref=sr_1_4?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1445392851&sr=1-4&keywords=Lynn+Cahoon

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

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Thanks Lynn! And here’s my Review….

Genre: Cozy Mystery
My Rating : **** (4 of 5 stars)

murder on wheelsGoodreads 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.