Synopsis

Amelia Moore, the founder of the Moore Detective Agency, specializes in missing persons. With the help of her partner, Rick Bonito, the business is flourishing. Dell Murphy has passed on and left a fortune to his nephew. He wants his nephew to continue his work at the orphanage in Mexico, but there is one problem. Neal Woods is missing! If Amelia and Rick can’t find him soon, the fortune will be turned over to Dell’s brother and sister who intend to close down “Uncle Dell’s Orphanage.” If that happens, where will the children go?

Review

This series gets better and better!

Reading these books is like taking a mini vacation! The first book was to Bali and the second book was to Ireland. This time we are heading south to Mexico. The author has always done a great job of describing the scenery and I can imagine the locales in my head. It isn’t always fun, there is some danger from people and nature.

The characters are interesting. Amelia and Rick are the main characters in each book and the additional characters are related to the mystery they are solving. Amelia and Rick have worked their way up to a relationship and it is fun to watch them interact with each other as they explore this new relationship.

The mystery itself might not be too hard to figure out with the limited cast of characters. However, I wasn’t 100% sure until the end. As it often happens when someone dies, greed is involved. The rest you’ll have to figure out on your own!

I like this series so far because they are also shorter books and don’t take a lot of time to read. But enjoyable no matter the length!

We give this 5 paws up!

About the Author

I was raised on a farm surrounded by the rolling hills of southern Idaho and have made my home in southern Utah among the beautiful red mountains and desert heat. I have been happily married for 42 years and am the mother of six daughters and have five wonderful grandchildren.

After my family began to leave the nest, I decided it was time to finish what I had started long ago. I decided to go back to college and get a degree. It had been 30 years since I had been to college and it was one of the most frightening things I had ever done. I had to learn how to study and take tests all over again. The first day of college, I was a nervous wreck and wondered if I could do this, but with the support of my husband and children, I was able to graduate. I received my Bachelor of Arts Degree in Theatre and Music at Southern Utah University and received the Outstanding Non-Traditional Student Award for the College of Performing Arts in 2002. During the meantime, I cut a CD named “Romantic Love Songs of Sigmund Romberg and Victor Herbert.”

I have enjoyed writing short stories and novels for several years but it took a lot of courage to begin submitting them. After “Melinda and the Wild West” was published, I entered it in the Reader Views Literary Contest and my book was chosen as a Semi-Finalist in the “Reviewers Choice Awards 2007.” It was one of the top ten out of hundreds of other entries.

I have traveled throughout the United States, teaching people to write their family history and autobiography. I have traveled to seventeen states and given over 500 workshops. I am the author of six historical sweet romances, four mystery adventure novels, a children’s book, and a new cozy mystery series. All of my books are family friendly.

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Yesterday’s Tears (Yesterday’s Paranormal Mysteries)
Paranormal Mystery/Women Sleuths
5th in Series
Electric Prose Publications (September 28, 2018)

Synopsis

It might be a murder from decades ago, but it still has its claws in the present…and someone seems determined to drag Anna into it.

It’s way too soon to be returning to a haunted mansion, and Anna’s favorite cowboy ghost does his best to talk her out of it. But the opportunity to pick from the beautiful antiques left to her in a Crocker resident’s will is just too tempting for Anna and Pratt to pass up. So they’re going in…

They’re prepared to deal with a few cold spots. Maybe the occasional flickering light. But what Anna and the boys weren’t counting on was bumping up against the ghost of Josiah Bumgartner, a contemporary of Joss’ from the 1800s. And when Josiah claims the old woman who lived in the house hid his bones around the place, Anna agrees to help him find them. But something much darker is at work there. And, unfortunately for our happy little gang of antique hunters…Anna seems to have unwittingly stepped right into the middle of it.

Amazon.CA * Amazon.UK * Amazon.AU

About the Author

Let’s face it, nobody really cares that Sam Cheever is a USA Today Bestselling Author. Nobody cares that she’s written a whole ton of fun and snappy books. Let’s face it, the most interesting thing about Sam is the fact that she’s a dogaholic. Yeah, there’s no Dogaholic’s Anonymous chapter that can help her. Believe me, she’s looked. So Sam deals with her problem the best way she knows how. She digs into the mountains of personal experiences (mostly involving dog poo) to write GREAT dog characters.

Oh, and there are some people in her books too. She’s also pretty good at those.

Want to ask Sam about her dogs…erm…books? You can connect with her at one of the following places. Just don’t ask her why she has 15 dogs. Nobody in the whole wide world can answer that.

NEWSLETTER: Join Sam’s Monthly newsletter and get a FREE book! You can also keep up with her appearances, enjoy monthly contests, and get previews of her upcoming work!

TEXT NEWS ALERTS: Or if you’d rather not receive a monthly newsletter, you can sign up for text alerts and just receive a brief text when Sam’s launching a new release or appearing somewhere fun. Just text SAMNEWS to 781-728-9542 to be added!

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In Cold Chocolate: A Southern Chocolate Shop Mystery
Cozy Mystery
3rd in Series
Crooked Lane Books (September 11, 2018)
Hardcover: 350 Pages

Synopsis

In Dorothy St. James’s third delectable Southern Chocolate Shop mystery, a new batch of chocolate and troubles of the heart cause a string of disasters for the Chocolate Box’s new owner, Charity Penn.

The vintage seaside town of Camellia Beach, South Carolina seems like the perfect place for romance with its quiet beach and its decadent chocolate shop that serves the world’s richest dark chocolates. The Chocolate Box’s owner, Charity Penn, falls even further under the island’s moonlit spell as she joins Althea Bays and the rest of the turtle watch team to witness a new generation of baby sea turtles hatch and make their way into the wide ocean.

Before the babies arrive, gunshots ring out in the night. Cassidy Jones, the local Casanova, is found dead in the sand with his lover Jody Dalton—the same woman who has vowed to destroy the Chocolate Box—holding the gun. It’s an obvious crime of passion, or so everyone believes. But when Jody’s young son pleads with Penn to bring his mother back to him, she can’t say no. She dives headfirst into a chocolate swirl of truth and lies, and must pick through an assortment of likely (and sometimes unsavory) suspects before it’s too late for Penn and for those she loves in Dorothy St. James’s third rich installment of the Southern Chocolate Shop mysteries, In Cold Chocolate.

Guest Post

The Magic of Sea Turtles

I lived at the beach for twenty years. My husband and I moved there shortly before I’d graduated from graduate school. The salty water washing the ever-changing sandy shore, the constant hiss and crash of the waves, and the summer laughter of children—the beach is a wondrous place. But, for me, there is nothing as magical as the birth of sea turtles.

Sea turtles seem like such ancient creatures. It’s as if their large, slow-moving bodies below to another time. And yet, whenever I see a majestic mother turtle dragging herself onshore, I can’t help but feel as if I’m glimpsing into the knowing and often weary eyes of a being that has more wisdom than I can ever hope to possess.

The mother sea turtle, in the darkness of night, digs a hole with her back flippers and lays a nest that often contains more than a hundred eggs. She then covers them up and returns to the ocean with nothing more than the hope that at least some of her children will survive to continue her line. If all goes well (and the nest is left untouched by crabs, coyotes, raccoons, fire ants, and man), about sixty days later the eggs will hatch. The tiny sea turtles, with shells not much bigger than a silver dollar, dig themselves out of the nest. And following the light of the moon and the stars, they hurry toward the ocean.

 

Once in the water, they swim for up to thirty-six hours without rest, to reach the relative safety of floating clumps of Sargassum seaweed. They’ll stay floating within the seaweed, camouflaged and feeding on small invertebrates for up to ten years. These long lived reptiles won’t start breeding and returning to the beaches until they are between twenty and fifty years old.

In all my years living at the beach, I always felt the same thrill of excitement as the first time I walked on the beach in the morning and happened across the tracts left from a nesting sea turtle and the little mound where her eggs had been hidden. These ancient wanderers never cease to amaze me.

When I started to write the third book in my Southern Chocolate Shop Mystery series, I knew right away that I wanted to include these amazing and yet so vulnerable animals. The main kind of sea turtle that nests on the South Carolina shores—where the series is set—is the loggerhead sea turtle. And what better pairing for sea turtles than to come up with a sea salt chocolate turtle recipe? I also enjoyed sharing conservation ideas for sea turtles in the book.

While sea turtles have done well enough without our help, their numbers are dwindling as we increase our fishing in their waters and keep developing our beaches. Luckily, there are some things we can do to help protect sea turtles:

• Never disturb a sea turtle crawling to or from the ocean.
• Once a sea turtle has begun nesting, observe her only from a distance.
• Do not shine lights on a sea turtle or take flash photography.
• Turn out all lights visible from the beach, dusk to dawn, from May through October.
• Turn off all outdoor and deck lighting to reduce disorientation for nesting adults and hatchlings.
• Close blinds and drapes on windows that face the beach or ocean.
• Fill in holes on the beach at the end of each day as adults and hatchlings can become trapped.
• Do not leave beach chairs, tents etc. on the beach overnight.
• Never attempt to ride a sea turtle.

Sea turtles, chocolate turtles, and a murder chill the eccentric residents of Camellia Beach in my latest Southern Chocolate Shop Mystery series, In Cold Chocolate.

About the Author

A lover of puzzles and perhaps a bit too nosey about other people’s lives, Dorothy St. James is a former Folly Beach beach bum. She now lives in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina with her husband, precocious daughter, a slightly (OK, terribly) needy dogs, and the friendliest cat you’d ever meet. She has degrees in Wildlife Biology and Public Administration and as an urban planner, worked for many years telling the stories of small southern towns.

Author of a dozen novels, Dorothy enjoys writing both cozy mysteries and romance. Her works have been nominated for many awards including: the Southern Independent Bookseller’s Alliance Southern Book Prize, Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award, Reviewers International Organization Award, National Reader’s Choice Award, CataRomance Reviewers’ Choice Award, and The Romance Reviews Today Perfect 10! Award. Reviewers have called her work: “amazing”, “perfect”, “filled with emotion”, and “lined with danger.”

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Shattered at Sea (A Webb’s Glass Shop Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
5th in Series
Kensington (August 28, 2018)
Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages

Synopsis

A Mediterranean cruise gives glass shop owner Savannah Webb a chance to demonstrate her expertise—and fire up her skills when it comes to foul play . . .

When Savannah signs on to perform glassblowing on a ship, part of the appeal is that she’ll get a chance to reconnect with her boyfriend Edward’s family. An added bonus is that Edward’s cousin, Ian, will be joining them on board. But when Ian disappears at the beginning of the cruise, the ship’s authorities initially consider it suicide.

Savannah tries to balance her growing suspicions with work on her shows, but her relationship with the other glass artists begins to crack. And she can’t let love color her judgment when Edward suddenly jumps to the top of the suspect list. His fate is in Savannah’s hands, and she’ll do everything she can—on land and sea—to clear his name . . .

Guest Post

Art Inspires Writing – Filling the Well

Writing for me is exhilarating and at the same time draining. I tend to push very hard for several weeks near the deadline before turning a book over to my publisher. That means sixteen-hour days living and breathing in book world. I’ve heard this phase called Book Jail. As a result, I’m a quivering mass of nervous energy and completely empty of words. I have trouble writing the simplest e-mail.

My solution? I walk into a museum. I wander with no set plan or no set time limit. I just let the art wash over me and it begins to recharge my creative energy. For the artist, this is cross training at its most pleasant.

I’m lucky enough to live in downtown St. Petersburg, FL. There are four museums within a dozen blocks. A mere block away is the Chihuly Collection with a permanent exhibit of world-renowned artist Dale Chihuly’s unique artwork in a magnificent setting.

When I’m in the mood for the Chihuly, I want to stay longest the gallery with the stunning installation titled “Ruby Red Icicle Chandelier,” whose red-hot swirls dangle from the ceiling. I also adore the multicolored chandelier known as “Milli Fiore.” After I’ve walked through the museum, I spend some time in the gift shop where items for sale are not the typical selection of cups and postcards.

Along Beach Drive is the Museum of Fine Arts with a large permanent collection of French Impressionist paintings. They also host the Hot Gatherings/Cool Conversations/Wine and Lecture series that feature a touring glass artist. The guest glass artist bring slides of the process used in creating his/her pieces.

Around the corner is the St. Petersburg Museum of History with a permanent interactive exhibition of the chronology of St. Petersburg’s history filled with priceless artifacts, documents and photographs. The Benoist Pavilion houses a replica of the world’s first commercial airliner which made the first scheduled commercial flight from St. Petersburg to Tampa on Jan. 1, 1914.

Finally at the south-end of the downtown area is the world-famous Dali Museum with touring exhibits as well as the largest collection of Dali art outside of Spain. Salvador Dalí’s art is often as shocking as it is brilliant. The Dali museum in downtown St. Pete offers the largest, most comprehensive collection of the famous Spanish artist’s work in America. There are changing and special exhibits throughout the year, including children’s activities, film, music series, lectures and more. I enjoy the Spanish themed Cafe and wander the waterside Avant Garden.

This technique for ‘filling the well’ refreshes my creativity and in little more than an afternoon, I’m ready for the next writing challenge. I highly recommend it.

See more at Visit St Pete Clear Water Museums

About the Author

Cheryl Hollon now writes full-time after she left an engineering career of designing and building military flight simulators in amazing countries such as England, Wales, Australia, Singapore, Taiwan, and India. Fulfilling the dream of a lifetime, she combines her love of writing with a passion for creating glass art. In the small glass studio behind her house in St. Petersburg, Florida, Cheryl and her husband design, create, and produce fused glass, stained glass, and painted glass artworks.

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A Stewed Observation (A Dinner Club Murder Mysteries)
Cozy Mystery
4th in Series
The Wild Rose Press, Inc (August 6, 2018)
Print Length: 214 pages

Synopsis

The Gourmet Dinner Club travels to Ireland to enjoy Irish cuisine while staying at a medieval, ivy-covered castle. Jane Marsh hopes Dale Capricorn will ask her to marry him at this romantic dream destination. But her plans are put on hold when the elderly castle owner becomes violent, a club member restrains him, and he collapses and dies.

The police believe the mysterious death is murder and begin to suspect one of the club’s members. Dale leaves for home on a business emergency, and as the lone single gal in the club full of couples, Jane is thrown into the company of Griffin O’Doherty, the handsome Irishman who stands to inherit the castle.

Jane must prove her friend’s innocence by solving the crime. Which of the sweet-tempered Irish could be a callous killer?

The Wild Rose Press

Guest Post

The long, long weekend

Hubby and I’ve been camping in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado for over thirty years and decided for several reasons—such as comfort and sturdier shelter—to move up from a tent to a camper. We’re now the proud owners of a hard-sided, pop-up A-frame camper that looks like this:

Now, isn’t that the cutest thing you ever saw? It has the most adorable, doll-sized table with bench seats, a double bed, a mini-fridge, and an itty-bitty stovetop. Now we can make a hot pot of coffee in the cool mornings by reaching across the stove and turning on the burner before even getting out of our comfy, warm sleeping bags.

When we first spotted the camper parked in the sales lot next to twenty-foot trailers, looking so tiny in comparison, I thought that we would be able to pull it easily with our SUV, but that was not the case. Living in Colorado, driving at 10,000 feet altitude and above, the hit on our gas mileage and the toll on our engine required the purchase of a truck. The camper doesn’t look so tiny anymore, does it? Notice how it is not only parked in front of our house, but the neighbor’s too.

We were starting to feel like Lucy and Desi Arnez in the movie, The Long, Long Trailer, because after the newlyweds purchased a trailer, they had to buy a new vehicle to pull it, just like we did.

And, just like Lucy and Desi, we had to go up some pretty steep mountain passes to get to where we wanted to go. And, what a destination. We are truly blessed to live in such a beauty spot as Colorado.

Unlike Lucy, who had a place for all her wedding gifts, we were at a loss as to where to store our food, pots and pans, and clothes. In the storage under the bench seats? That’s where the water heater and the wheel chocks fit. In the space under the bed? No, that’s where the furnace and grill are stored. On the floor in front of the stove? That was the only place left. So, the bins and cooler were assigned to the truck bed. (Good thing we bought the truck.)

We took the camper out for its maiden voyage over a long weekend. Once at the state park, we had difficulty hooking up the water and electricity, it rained and the wind blew, and we were unable to make a campfire due to a fire ban because of the dry grasses and high winds.

Stuck, I mean, protected in our camper from the elements throughout that long weekend, my hubby had a hard time settling in. When he yanked off his shirt, his shirt tail caught and spilled my glass of wine on the table, and when he reclined in the bed his foot kicked over my glass of water sitting on the microwave. After I complained, he said, “Don’t put your drinks right next to my feet.” I asked him if my coffee cup in the sink would be safe from his elbow.

Maybe getting that long, long trailer, with the closets and storage cabinets big enough for all of Lucy’s wedding presents and souvenir rocks, is the ticket after all. Otherwise, we’re looking at many more long, long weekends.

In the third book of the dinner club mystery series, Jane Marsh organizes a camping trip in the Rocky Mountains with lavish menus and provisions. If you’d like an adventuresome read, you will enjoy this culinary cozy series.

About the Author

Karen C. Whalen is the author of a culinary cozy series, the “dinner club murder mysteries.” The first four in the series are: Everything Bundt the Truth, Not According to Flan, No Grater Evil, and A Stewed Observation. The first book in the series tied for First Place in the Suspense Novel category of the 2017 IDA Contest sponsored by Oklahoma Romance Writers of America. Her books are similar to those written by cozy authors Jessica Beck and Joanne Fluke. She worked for many years as a paralegal at a law firm in Denver, Colorado and has been a columnist and regular contributor to The National Paralegal Reporter magazine. She believes that it’s never too late to try something new. She loves to host dinner clubs, entertain friends, ride bicycles, hike in the mountains, and read cozy murder mysteries.

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Just in Time (A Dodie O’Dell Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
4th in Series
Lyrical Underground (September 25, 2018)
Print Length 220 pages

Synopsis

FACE THE MUSIC

Business is humming at Dodie O’Dell’s Windjammer Restaurant, where she offers theme menus connected to the Etonville Little Theatre’s amateur productions. This June, the theatre is collaborating with the neighboring Creston Players to stage Bye Bye Birdie under the stars—their first musical! There’s a contest in the play to pick a fan to receive rock idol Conrad Birdie’s last kiss before he ships off for the Army, so Dodie plans a contest to pick the food for a pre-show picnic.

But before the show opens, Ruby, the rehearsal accompanist, is found dead in her car. Why would anyone murder the crusty old gal who loved to sneak a smoke and a nip between wisecracks? Once again, the resourceful restaurant manager must play the part of amateur sleuth, accompanied by Police Chief Bill Thompson, who also happens to be her beau. Confronted with a chorus of suspects, she’ll need to stay composed to catch the killer—or it’ll be bye bye Dodie…

Guest Post

Suzanne and I have something in common, we both cut our teeth on Bobbsey Twins and Nancy Drew!  I’m glad she could join us today and answer the question – why write mysteries.

People like to ask “why write mysteries?” Good question! There are three answers. First, I’ve been writing since grade school—essays, short stories, plays—and as I grew up, my interest in scribbling only grew stronger. At the same time, I’ve always been an avid reader and my genre of choice from a young age has been mysteries. I started with the Bobbsey Twins and segued to Trixie Belden and Nancy Drew.  As a pre-teen, I could bury my nose in one of these books and not come up for air until I was coaxed out of my detective story cocoon. I could so easily visualize the capers of these young private eyes and imagine myself in their midst, solving the mysteries right along with them.

So when I turned to novel-writing a decade ago—after moving through a screenwriting and playwriting period—it was only natural that I started with mystery stories. (I had a wonderful editor early on who steered me through the maze of genres until I chose to write cozy mysteries, a decision that suited me and my sense of humor.) And the Dodie O’Dell Mystery Series was born! With book number four, Just in Time, coming out in September, the characters of my books are happily established in small town Etonville, New Jersey. Dodie O’Dell, my protagonist, juggles her day job—managing the Windjammer restaurant—with her investigative activities: solving murders in Etonville and its environs. She also provides culinary and organizational support for the Etonville Little Theatre, next door neighbor of the Windjammer restaurant. Dodie is busy…

There’s a second reason I was drawn to writing mysteries. I’m a puzzle fan. I like crosswords, jigsaws, whatever requires one to fit pieces together, whether the pieces are words, bits of a picture, or clues to a murder. I am thrilled when I finish a particularly thorny crossword puzzle, or place the remaining fragments in a five hundred piece jigsaw. Or when I figure out “whodunit” in one of my favorite mysteries or thrillers. (Currently that would be any book in the Louise Penny Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series) I enjoy being kept in the dark while surrounded by a succession of clues and red herrings. I also enjoy keeping my own readers guessing. Just as I feel satisfied seeing how all of the intricate parts of the murder investigation come together, I want my readers to wonder about the guilty party, and maybe his or her motivation, until very nearly the end of the book.

In Just in Time, for example, Dodie once again finds herself ensnared in the back story of a murder victim while trying not to intrude too much on the actual investigation. Along the way, her detective work will take her out of town to Creston, New Jersey, the community next door to Etonville, as well as New York City, only a stone’s throw away. Interviewing folks, visiting the crime scene, making a few calls, avoiding Police Chief Bill Thompson’s—Dodie’s current beau—official investigation allow Dodie to rely on her instincts and collect evidence that is sometimes missed by the formal inquiry. She puts the pieces of the puzzle together just in time to nab the murderer.

Finally, writing mysteries requires a bit of unusual research…an activity I’ve always loved. For example, I find myself scouring the Internet, as well as more traditional sources, for quirky, unique, believable ways to kill off the victim. I’ve also enjoyed digging into electronics as tools for solving crimes: computers, cell phones, and the Internet are the territory of Dodie’s teenage tech guru, Pauli Palmieri. A digital forensics expert.

My interests have come together nicely—mysteries, puzzles, research—in this cozy series. See if you agree!

About the Author

Suzanne Trauth is a novelist, playwright, screenwriter, and a former university theatre professor. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and the Dramatists Guild. When she is not writing, Suzanne coaches actors and serves as a celebrant performing wedding ceremonies. She lives in Woodland Park, New Jersey.

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Read and Gone: A Haunted Library Mystery
Cozy Mystery
2nd in Series
Crooked Lane Books (September 11, 2018)
Hardcover: 320 pages

Synopsis

Twenty million dollars’ worth of missing gems bring Carrie Singleton’s long-lost and larcenous dad back into her life and it’s up to Carrie to clear his name.

A devoted dad is as precious as diamonds, but Carrie Singleton wouldn’t know since her dad Jim’s been on the lam most of her life. In an unusual family reunion, she finds Jim breaking into her cottage in the middle of the night. The fun really starts when he begs her to help him recover his half of a twenty-million-dollar gem heist he pulled off with the local jeweler, Benton Parr. When she refuses, Jim takes off again.

Carrie finds her father again behind bars for the recent murder of Benton Parr. Who made the connection? Unbeknownst to her, Carrie’s boyfriend Dylan, an insurance investigator, has been searching for the gems. Determined to find the jewels herself, she starts examining every facet of Parr’s life. She turns up a treasure trove of suspects, one of whom bashes her on the head as she’s searching the victim’s country cabin.

Retreating to the quiet confines of the library where she works, Carrie watches as Smokey Joe, the resident cat, paws at a hole in the wall. Is he after the library’s ghost Evelyn, or something shinier?

Review

As a book lover, how could I not enjoy a series that is set in a library and is haunted too?! Ok, so the haunting isn’t a scary haunting, but that is ok because Evelyn, the ghost, is caring and comical at the same time.

Family means a lot to Carrie and she was quite surprised when her father, Jim, showed up. Who could blame her since he wasn’t around much and he is a thief? I could see where it might be hard to have him around but at the same time want him around because he is family. I did like watching the progression of their relationship in this book.

So the big mystery is what happened to $7+ million in gems that were stolen by Jim and the local jeweler, Benton. Of course being a mystery somebody has to end of dead and Benton is the victim. But where are the gemstones? Carrie, of course, gets involved in this case. I’m not sure she would have if her dad wasn’t involved and wanting to find the gems, but not to turn them in and collect the reward but to fence them. The author throws quite a few characters into the mix as suspects and when the real killer is revealed I was surprised. This person wasn’t really on my radar! I thought this character could be the culprit but they were near the bottom of the list. I thought the mystery was well written.

Then there is the romance part of the story. Here is where Carrie got on my nerves a little bit. She started thinking different things about Dylan and why he was involved with her and perhaps he only wanted to use her to get to her dad. I thought it was kind of crazy for her to think this and why didn’t she talk to him about her thoughts? I didn’t remember that Dylan was in the insurance business but it has been a bit since I had read the first book.

Overall very enjoyable and can’t wait to see what happens in the next book.  We give this 4 paws up

 

About the Author

 

Allison Brook is the pseudonym for Marilyn Levinson, who writes mysteries, romantic suspense and novels for kids. She lives on Long Island and enjoys traveling, reading, watching foreign films, doing Sudoku and dining out. She especially loves to visit with her grandchildren on FaceTime.

 

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Fatal Flip: A Home Renovator Mystery
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Cozy Cat Press (October 27, 2017)
Paperback: 220 pages

Synopsis

Flipping houses can be fatal! When Katelyn finds a dead body in her first home renovation project, she seriously doubts her decision to “follow her bliss.” After getting fired from her steady job, her plan to flip houses takes a hit when she becomes a suspect. After all, possession is nine points of the law, isn’t it? Especially, when it’s a dead body.

To keep herself in pizza, peanut butter, good coffee, and her stray cat, Boots, in kitty chow she takes survival jobs as a wine sample hostess and market researcher. Meanwhile, Sheriff Don is kind of hunky, and her ex-husband, Eddy (it’s complicated) is back in her life sleeping on her sofa. How’s a girl supposed to solve dead body mysteries, make a living, and find love?

Review

This is a good start to a new cozy series and has all the basic elements: non-professional sleuth, set in a smaller town, the main character is a primary suspect (at least in the first installment), and there is a spunky sidekick.

I liked that the story is set around a home renovator/flipper. Granted her first house doesn’t start out with a bang like she had hoped, but that doesn’t stop Katelyn from giving 100% in doing her job and finding out how a dead body ended up in the home she purchased. Her friend, Myra, helps her uncover the clues to multiple crimes that Katelyn finds herself in the middle.

This series has some potential but I found that the story didn’t flow as easily as I would have hoped. It seems like there was a lot of action towards finding out how the body came to be in her house but then all of a sudden there was another mystery/death to solve and they did not appear to be related. It felt a little disjointed. Everything comes together in the end and it is tied up nicely. There are a few red herrings thrown into the mix and it actually took me down a path of believing the killer might be someone that it wasn’t. There are not a lot of characters so you might be able to figure out the who and why fairly easily.

There are a few laugh out loud moments when it comes to Katelyn working a few part-time jobs and the situations she finds herself in at those times. Plus she has an ex-husband she apparently can’t say no to very often.

I think this series will improve as the characters develop in future books and we learn more about Katelyn, Myra, and even Ed (the ex). And maybe even a potential romance between Katelyn and the Sheriff.

We give this 3 paws up.

About the Author

M.E. Bakos has published several short stories in national women’s magazines. Her love of mysteries has led to writing cozies. Her first mystery short story, “Carpe Diem or Murder at the Carp Fest” appeared in the Festival of Crime, a SINC Anthology. Her second, “Perfect Storm . . . Perfect Murder” will be in Dark Side of the Loon, May 2018 also a SINC Anthology.

Her first cozy, FATAL FLIP, A Home Renovator Mystery has several home improvement tips for the reader.

Mary is a member of Twin Cities Sisters in Crime, the SINC Guppies Group, and an alumna of the University of Minnesota. She is a lifelong resident of Minnesota and resides in Minneapolis with her husband, Joe Sebesta, and their spoiled Morkie.

Website

 

check out the other blogs on this tour, some have giveaways!

September 12 – Maureen’s Musings – REVIEW

September 12 – Mallory Heart’s Cozies – REVIEW

September 12 – Babs Book Bistro – HOME IMPROVEMENT TIP POST, GIVEAWAY

September 12 – Laura’s Interests – REVIEW

September 13 – The Avid Reader – REVIEW

September 13 – Cozy Up With Kathy – GUEST POST

September 13 – I’m All About Books – SPOTLIGHT, GIVEAWAY

September 14 – Book Babble – REVIEW

September 14 – The Montana Bookaholic – CHARACTER GUEST POST

September 14 – Socrates’ Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

September 14 – fundinmental – SPOTLIGHT, GIVEAWAY

September 15 – StoreyBook Reviews – REVIEW

September 15 – My Reading Journeys – REVIEW, EXCERPT POST

September 16 – A Wytch’s Book Review Blog – REVIEW

September 16 – Ruff Drafts – HOME IMPROVEMENT TIP POST

September 16 – Brooke Blogs – SPOTLIGHT, GIVEAWAY

September 16 – Here’s How It Happened – REVIEW

Out and In

a mystery-thriller

Marie Donovan Mysteries, #1

by

Pat Dunlap Evans

  Genre: Fiction / Romantic Suspense

Publisher: A.M. Chai Literary

Date of Publication: April 27, 2016

Number of Pages: 316

Scroll down for Giveaway!

Stunning beauty and amateur cellist Marie Donovan finds herself in deep trouble after her pro-quarterback husband dives off a Dallas high rise—many say in shame after his shady investments go sour. Just months later, the grieving Marie faces capital murder charges for the death of a lecherous opera maestro. When hard evidence points squarely at her, only her best friend and defense lawyer believe her.

Marie is no stranger to struggle. During her six years as an NFL Football wife, she fends off groupies eager to take her man, all the while feeling lost in her husband’s macho culture. Studying the cello becomes Marie’s solace until her hard-drinking husband retires after an injury. Returning to Dallas, he plays with high society’s money in an investment scheme until winning at all costs leaves Marie and her twin sons on the hook for millions.

Scorned by society friends, charged with murder, Marie pins her hopes on hunky defense lawyer Ryan Ingles, one of Cole’s college football pals. After Ryan’s legal team discovers some of the maestro’s dark secrets, Marie and Ryan’s investigative troupe travel to exotic islands in search of clues Cole left behind. As the tropics weave a romantic spell, a corrupt offshore banker dashes Marie’s hopes. She wonders if she’ll ever be free of blame…and able to claim her own place in this world.

 

 

The ebook will be free September 22 – 24th on Amazon

Praise

“Out and In is the perfect mystery-thriller for the beach, a long flight, or to savor before bed…an exciting but heartfelt story about a beautiful woman who struggles to prove her innocence … As for the ending, I am still stunned.” — Lara Reznik, Amazon best-selling author of The Girl from Long Guyland and Bagels and Salsa.

“Could not put it down, once I started reading. Definitely a must-read. Look forward to reading more books from Pat Dunlap Evans. ” — five-star Amazon review by reader “Mimi”

“Awesome…flowed nicely … definitely kept you on your toes to who actually committed the murder. The lead character was a perfect blend of hard and soft. A great read.” — five-star Amazon review by reader “Tiffany”

 

 

Pat Dunlap Evans was born in Michigan but “got to Texas as soon as I could,” she says. Her family lived in San Antonio and later Dallas, where she attended South Oak Cliff High School and Southern Methodist University. Pat eventually completed her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English at University of Missouri, Kansas City, with emphasis on creative writing. She also taught freshman writing courses as a part-time lecturer.

After a divorce, Pat stressed her way as a single mom through twenty-five years of high-stress advertising and marketing roles before retiring to write fiction and screenplays. She lives in the Lake Travis area with her second husband Dr. Bill Evans and enjoys travel, golf, volunteer work, sailing, and the chaos of the couple’s combined five adult children, five grandchildren, and two cockalier dogs.

Pat has published two novels, To Leave a Memory and Out and In, with a third novel Those Who Try due out soon.

 

◆  WEBSITE  ◆  FACEBOOK  ◆  TWITTER  ◆

◆  AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE  ◆  BLOG  ◆

 ◆  GOODREADS  ◆  BOOKBUB  ◆

—————————————

GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY!

 1^ST PRIZE:

Signed Copy of Out and In + $10 Amazon Gift Card

2^ND PRIZE:

Signed Copy of Out and In + $5 Amazon Gift Card

3^RD PRIZE:

$5 Amazon Gift Card

(US ONLY)

  September 12-21, 2018

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Check out the other blogs on this tour

9/12/18	Author Video	StoreyBook Reviews
9/13/18	Review	The Clueless Gent
9/14/18	Guest Post	Forgotten Winds
9/15/18	Deleted Scene	Chapter Break Book Blog
9/16/18	Review	Hall Ways Blog
9/17/18	Author Interview	Books and Broomsticks
9/18/18	Notable Quotable	Book Fidelity
9/19/18	Review	Reading by Moonlight
9/20/18	Top Ten List	All the Ups and Downs
9/21/18	Review	Missus Gonzo

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A Crafter Knits a Clue: A Handcrafted Mystery
NEW COZY MYSTERY SERIES
SET IN WISCONSIN
Crooked Lane Books (October 9, 2018)
Hardcover

Synopsis

For fans of Betty Hechtman and Maggie Sefton, the latest craft frenzy is Holly Quinn’s Handcrafted series debut.

Sammy Kane just moved back to her hometown to run a craft store. But when the owner of a nearby yarn shop is murdered, Sammy will needle little help finding the killer.

When a heartbroken Samantha “Sammy” Kane returns to her hometown of Heartsford, WI, for her best friend Kate’s funeral, she learns that Kate’s much-loved craft store is in danger of perishing with its owner. Confounding all her expectations of the life she would live, Sammy moves back home with her golden retriever and takes over Community Craft. A few doors down Main Street, fellow new arrival Ingrid Wilson has just opened the Yarn Barn, a real “purl” of a shop. But when Sammy strolls over to see if Ingrid could use a little help, she finds Ingrid’s dead body—with a green aluminum knitting needle lodged in her throat.

Detective Liam Nash is thrown for a loop as every single citizen of Heartsford seems to have a theory about Ingrid’s murder. And nearly everyone in town seems to be a suspect. But the last time Sammy did any sleuthing was as a little moppet. And this is not fun and games. Sammy is eager to help the handsome Liam—who seems to be endlessly inventive in finding reasons to talk with her—and when Liam arrests affable woodworker Miles Danbury, Sammy puts everything on the line to help clear Miles.

As the case comes dangerously close to unraveling, Sammy must stitch the clues together. But the killer has other plans—and if Sammy’s not careful, she may wind up in a perilous knot in A Crafter Knits a Clue, the first warm and woolly yarn of Holly Quinn’s new Handcrafted mysteries.

YOU CAN PRE-ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY!!!

BAM * Powell’s  * Walmart

About the Author

Holly Quinn is both an avid reader and crafter. Holly sells her artistic creations locally and dreamed of one day opening a gift shop to sell local artist’s handiwork. Instead, she began writing about it and thus her journey of the Handcrafted Mystery series was born.

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