Recent Posts

Review & #Giveaway – Blueberry Cobbler Blackmail by Jodi Rath #CastIronSkilletMystery @jodirath #cozy

Posted in 4 paws, Cozy, Giveaway, mystery, Review on March 8, 2020

Blueberry Cobbler Blackmail (The Cast Iron Skillet Mystery Series)
Cozy Mystery
3rd In Series
Publisher: MYS ED LLC; 1 edition (February 28, 2020)
Print Length ~140 Pages

Synopsis

Welcome to Leaven—oh wait—Santo Domingo, where DEATH takes a DELICIOUS turn!

Family bombshells, sibling rivalries, blackmail, and a trip that could be deadly…and the new year has only just begun! After a disastrous Thanksgiving, Jolie Tucker is beside herself and feeling the walls closing in around her. She feels like she needs to escape Leavensport before she loses her mind. She unexpectedly gets her wish when her best friend and co-owner of Cast Iron Creations, Ava Martinez, gets a terrifying email revealing that her papa, Thiago, is in danger in Santo Domingo. The girls are off on a dangerous adventure in new territory. Will they be able to save the day before danger finds them?

Review

Another fun installment into this series. This book finds Jolie and Ava in Santa Domingo helping Ava’s family deal with blackmail. I enjoyed learning more about the country and feel like the author did a great job researching the details to include in her book.

Jolie is still a hot mess and Ava has a hard time letting others help her when the chips are down. But they manage to solve the mystery and learn some new things about themselves in the process. The mystery is woven throughout the book and just when you think you have something figured out, the author throws a twist and you have to rethink everything again.

I have to say there is one part where Jolie stands up to her family because let’s face it, they are a helicopter family which would drive me crazy! I’m not sure how that is going to play out in future books but only time will tell. I also wonder if Jolie is going to give Meiser a second chance after what she learned about him in the last book. I think they could be good together but both have their own baggage to deal with before they can really move forward in a relationship.

We give this book 4 paws up.

About the Author

Moving into her second decade of working in education, Jodi Rath has decided to begin a life of crime in her The Cast Iron Skillet Mystery Series. Her passion for both mysteries and education led her to combine the two to create her business MYS ED, where she splits her time between working as an adjunct for Ohio teachers and creating mischief in her fictional writing. She currently resides in a small, cozy village in Ohio with her husband and her seven cats.

Website * Facebook * FB Author Page * Twitter

Goodreads * BookBub * Pinterest

Monthly Newsletter Link: Get Short Story “Sweet Retreat” for free by subscribing to my monthly newsletter. Subscribe to my newsletter to receive free flash fiction, A Mystery a Month, serial scenes from series, and deleted scenes).

Giveaway

Review & #Giveaway – On The Lamb by Tina Kashian @TinaKashian1 #cozy #KebabKitchenMystery

Posted in 5 paws, Cozy, Giveaway, mystery, Review on March 6, 2020

On the Lamb (A Kebab Kitchen Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
4th in Series
Publisher: Kensington (February 25, 2020)
Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages

Synopsis

Lucy Berberian is busy preparing her family’s Mediterranean restaurant for Easter on the Jersey Shore—but a batch of sweets is to die for . . .

Bikers are thundering into the seaside town of Ocean Crest for the annual Bikers on the Beach gathering that raises funds for injured veterans. It’s a big boost for the Kebab Kitchen, as well as for local businesses like Melanie Haven’s candy shop. But Melanie is about to find herself in a sticky situation.

When Melanie and Lucy attend a beach bonfire, a local landlord is found dead after apparently choking on a piece of salt water taffy. Melanie, who was known to have a contentious relationship with the victim, is quickly skewered as the prime suspect. But Lucy is determined to prove her friend’s innocence before the real killer coasts free . . .

Recipes included!

Amazon – Barnes & Noble – Kobo

Google Books – iBooks

Review

My mouth waters every time I read a book in this series. I love Mediterranean food and the thought of a hummus bar just puts me over the top! Food aside, this series has a perfect equation of mystery, intrigue, romance, and quirky characters that draw me in each and every time.

I was drawn into this story from the beginning. Lucy’s search for affordable housing is something I can relate to in Texas. It is hard to find a decent place at an affordable place. Lucy gets lucky and her agent helps her find an apartment in a senior’s home so she can fend off her nephew’s attempts to move her into a nursing home. Eloisa is a hoot! She doesn’t care what anyone thinks about her and does her own thing. Unfortunately, it is her nephew that ends up dead and she becomes a suspect.

Melanie is a friend of Lucy’s that is also a prime candidate for the murder because of an argument. I enjoyed getting to know a little bit more about Melanie and her sister. There is tension and deception surrounding her, but could Melanie have killed someone?

The mystery is well written and there are several possible killers in the mix but the author doesn’t reveal anything too soon and throws other possible suspects into the mix. I was a bit surprised, but not too much when the killer was revealed. The character wasn’t on my radar as a strong possibility….there were too many other good choices!

The romance between Lucy and Azad continues to heat up and I enjoy their relationship. There is a friend of Lucy’s, Michael, that could have been a contender for Lucy’s heart but there is something about her past with Azad that pulls her in to him.

I’m glad to see Lucy’s parents slowly letting her truly manage the restaurant. I know that her father continues to push back against change, but sometimes there are better ways to do things, like digitizing inventory. Part of me feels like they don’t trust her, but part of me also realizes it is hard to give something up that you have controlled for thirty years.

Side note – I was able to meet the author at Bouchercon in 2019. She is delightful and appreciates her readers!

Overall we loved this book and suggest reading the whole series (in order) if you haven’t yet.

About the Author

Tina Kashian spent her childhood summers at the New Jersey shore, building sand castles, boogie boarding, and riding the boardwalk Ferris wheel. She also grew up in the restaurant business where her Armenian parents owned a restaurant for thirty years. She worked almost every job—rolling silverware and wiping down tables as a tween, to hosting and waitressing as a teenager.

After college, Tina worked as a NJ Deputy Attorney General, a patent attorney, and a mechanical engineer. Her law cases inspired an inquiring mind of crime, and since then, Tina has been hooked on mysteries. The Kebab Kitchen Cozy Mystery series launches with Hummus and Homicide, followed by Stabbed in the Baklava and One Feta in the Grave by Kensington Books. Tina still lives in New Jersey with her supportive husband and two young daughters. Please visit her website and join her Newsletter to enter free contests to win books, get delicious recipes, and to learn when her books will be released.

Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram * Goodreads

Giveaway

4 Comments

Guest Post & #Giveaway – Murder At The Marlowe Club by Kate Parker #cozy #mystery

Posted in Cozy, Giveaway, Guest Post, mystery on March 4, 2020

Murder at the Marlowe Club (The Milliner Mysteries)
Historical Cozy Mystery
2nd in Series
Publisher: JDP Press (February 24, 2020)
Print Length: 209 pages

Synopsis

A corpse in a corset. A dangerous gambling den. A perilous path between safety and peril.

London, 1905. Leading milliner Emily Gates’ illegal shortcut through a private park in the rain brought her straight to a scantily clothed corpse. Then her route took her straight into the hands of the indefatigable Lady Kaldaire, who recognized the body as a relative of her longtime friend, the Duchess of Wallingford. Lady Kaldaire blackmailed Emily before to find Lord Kaldaire’s killer. Why not this murderer, too?

Emily has plenty of reasons why not, but finding links between her father’s nefarious family of crooks and conmen and the debauchery of the secretive Marlowe Club involves her in the investigation led by the handsome Inspector Russell of Scotland Yard. Emily discovers more than she expects about the licentious world of the corpse through her aristocratic customers, including Georgia, heroine of the Victorian Bookshop Mysteries, now the Duchess of Blackford.

Are the scandal rags correct, or has the victim been maligned by a mastermind who’ll stop at nothing to gain everything?

This is a historical cozy mystery with no graphic violence, sex, or foul language. Just exciting action, mysterious events, and surprising endings.

Amazon – B&N – Apple –Kobo

Guest Post

Kate Parker found this letter of Lady Kaldaire’s in her morning room and copied it for your enjoyment. Kate’s newest story is Murder at the Marlowe Club.

London, 1905

My dearest Helene,

It seems an age, dear cousin, between letters, but I was overjoyed to receive your latest news. I’m glad to learn that your grandson’s pneumonia has finally cleared. From what you have told me about Ontario winters, I’m surprised the rest of you aren’t ill as well. I traveled to Scotland ten years ago, and I’m still recovering from the shock. I’m perfectly happy to stay in London and let the rest of you travel to the Empire.

The flowers are just beginning to break through the beds and I can see buds on the tree branches in the parks. We’ve had beastly amounts of rain, but it will serve to give us a beautiful spring.

With the warmer weather has come a most perplexing problem. Do you remember my friend Lulu from our days on the Grand Tour? You may recall she’s the Duchess of Wallingford now. Well, her second son’s wife, Lady Theo Hughes, was found a few days ago in the park with her neck slit. It was most surprising since she was found in a rather garish corset and a cape. No shoes, stockings, or jewelry.

The lucky things is, she was found by my milliner, Emily Gates. You’ve heard me speak of her before. She found Horace after he’d been attacked in his study. That was the first time I’d spoken more than a dozen words to her, although when you find someone burgling your home who was considerate enough to summon help for poor Horace, you tend to speak although we’d never been formally introduced.

That night was when I learned Emily is the daughter and granddaughter of notorious criminals. As a child, she learned to pick locks and burgle homes and find hidden compartments. That was how she broke into Kaldaire House. Of course, I was shocked, but I also saw how her talents could be used to help solve Horace’s murder. And they did.

So now I’ve recruited Emily to help me discover who killed poor Lady Theo, scandalous woman that she is. Lady Theo, not Emily, who is the pinnacle of discretion despite her unfortunate family. It’s very simple, really. I’m the only one of her clients who knows about her family line, and she has many customers who would leave her and never return if they knew. Some aristocrats are such snobs, even concerning their tradespeople.

When I threatened to tell everyone about the criminals in her family, Emily had no choice but to help find the killer. Now Helene, I can hear you across the ocean calling me cruel. Perhaps, but it is the fastest way to convince the child to do what she must. She is a child, perhaps in her mid-twenties, and quite lovely, but stubborn. It is her duty to use her considerable skills to see a wrong is righted, as we all must.

Emily is what is best in our nation. She just needs a little incentive to see things my way. I can hear you now, Helene. Don’t be like that. I am, as always, right.

Affectionately,

Your loving cousin,

Roberta, Lady Kaldaire

About the Author

Kate Parker grew up reading her mother’s collection of mystery books and her father’s library of history and biography books. Now she can’t write a story that isn’t set in the past with a few decent corpses littered about.

Website,* Facebook * BookBub

Giveaway

7 Comments

Review & #Giveaway – Here Comes the Body by Maria DiRico #cozy #mystery @ellenbyronla

Posted in 5 paws, Cozy, Giveaway, mystery, Review on March 1, 2020

Here Comes the Body (A Catering Hall Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Publisher: Kensington (February 25, 2020)
Mass Market Paperback: 304 page

Synopsis

After her philandering husband’s boat went down, newly single Mia Carina went back to Astoria, the bustling Queens neighborhood of her youth. Living with her Nonna and her oversized cat, Doorstop, she’s got a whole new life—including some amateur sleuthing . . .

Mia is starting work at Belle View, her father’s catering hall, a popular spot for weddings, office parties, and more—despite the planes that occasionally roar overhead on their way to LaGuardia and rattle the crystal chandelier. Soon she’s planning a bachelor party for a less-than-gentlemanly groom. But it goes awry when the gigantic cake is wheeled in and a deadly surprise is revealed . . .

Since some of her family’s associates are on the shady side, the NYPD wastes no time in casting suspicion on Mia’s father. Now, Mia’s going to have to use all her street smarts to keep him out of Rikers Island . . .

Italian recipes included!

Amazon – B&N – Kobo – Google Play – IndieBound

Review

I’m a huge fan of this author’s other series written under the name Ellen Byron because of my Cajun connections. So, of course, I wanted to check out a new series and was intrigued by the family with mob connections. Let’s just say it makes for some humorous situations sprinkled throughout when people learn who Mia’s father is and his connections.

Mia arrives back in Astoria to assist her father in running a legitimate business – a catering hall. The building has seen better days but has a lot of potential despite being so close to La Guardia airport. Mia is basically thrown into the deep end as she takes over several events that lead to deadly results. Considering who her father is, he does not escape scrutiny by the police. Clues and red herrings are peppered throughout the story and had me stumped and I did not figure out who the criminals really were in this case.

This series is going to be a lot of fun and I already like Mia’s brother Posi who is trying to go viral as a sexy convict. It isn’t working but gotta give him an A for effort! Mia’s grandmother and the “army” are a hoot especially when it comes to the Virgin Mary statues in their yards. Don’t mess with their statues. Then there is a past love with Jamie who keeps ending up as Mia’s Uber driver. Sure he has a girlfriend, but I’m thinking that relationship might fizzle in future books.

There are some delicious recipes at the end of the book worth trying out next time I have time to experiment.

We give this book 5 paws up and look forward to the next book.

About the Author

Maria DiRico was born in Queens, New York, and raised in Queens and Westchester County. She is a first-generation Italian-American on her mother’s side. On her father’s side, her grandfather was a low-level Jewish mobster who disappeared in 1933 under mysterious circumstances. She also writes the award-winning, bestselling Cajun Country Mystery series under the name Ellen Byron.

Website * Facebook * Twitter

Giveaway

3 Comments

Excerpt & #Giveaway – Murder Makes Scents by Christin Brecher #cozy #mystery

Posted in Cozy, excerpt, Giveaway, mystery on February 27, 2020

Murder Makes Scents (Nantucket Candle Maker Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
2nd in Series
Publisher: Kensington (February 25, 2020)
Mass Market Paperback: 272 pages

Synopsis

Stella Wright loves creating candles at her Nantucket store—and she also has a burning passion for justice. Now, after visiting a perfume conference, she must solve a vial crime . . .

Stella and her globe-trotting mom, Millie, have come home from a perfume industry conference in Paris, where their trip was marred by witnessing the stabbing death of a young man. It’s a relief for Stella to be back on her picturesque island, with the comforting company of her cat, Tinker. But lingering danger may have followed them back across the ocean.

After someone breaks into her candle store, the Wick & Flame, Stella starts feeling spooked. And just as things threaten to ignite, Millie suffers a blow to the head. Stella receives an anonymous note claiming that her mother smuggled a secret formula out of France—and threatening her life if it isn’t returned. Now Stella’s picked up the scent of a cold-hearted criminal and an intriguing puzzle, and things are about to get wicked . . .

Amazon – B&N – Kobo – BAM

IndieBound – Hudson Booksellers – Google Play

Excerpt

Emily was the last to go, and Peter offered to drive her home since her husband had left earlier to relieve the babysitter. When I shut the door behind them, my mom and I fell onto my double-sized mattress. A few minutes later, she was snoring, her body stretched diagonally, and I was thinking from my two inches of bed space that Tinker was living like a king at my store in comparison.

Sitting up, I texted Peter to see if he was still awake. There was no answer. Sleep, however, still eluded me, and after a few more minutes of tossing and turning, I got up and headed to my sofa. That solution was no better, because my back was stiff from the airplane and now the cushions felt too soft. Finally, I scribbled a note to my mom, and tiptoed down the stairs with my coat and car keys. There was a comfy chair in my workroom at the Wick & Flame. A few hours of sleep there would be better than a sliver of mattress and stereophonic snoring.

When the wheels of my bright red Beetle hit the cobblestones of Main Street, they sounded like bombs going off in the otherwise silent town. Fortunately, the population on Main Street at this hour was zero, so I didn’t feel too badly. Turning the corner onto Centre Street, I parked in front of my store. As I approached, the moonlight lit my breath in the cold night air.

Fall was upon us.

I hadn’t taken more than one step inside the Wick & Flame when I noticed the mess. Tinker,

evidently, had disliked his lodgings. My candle displays had been knocked over, his water bowl spilled, and some receipts on my counter were now on the floor. Across the room, I saw his shining, green-saucer eyes staring at me.

“Bad boy,” I said to him in a whisper.

Tinker swished his tail across the floor. He casually walked over to me as if the scene was my fault. I supposed it was. I’d never left him overnight at the Wick & Flame. Lesson learned. He circled my feet in what I decided was his apology. I picked him up, appreciating his warmth, and decided not to worry about the mess tonight.

Carrying Tinker into my workroom, I settled into my comfy chair with a blanket and Tinker to keep me warm. Immediately, I started to drift to sleep. My dreams were starting to take hold of me when something urged me to wake. I tried to pat Tinker, thinking he had nudged me. A moment later, I stirred again. There was no doubt about it. I heard the bell over my door jingle slightly, and then stop.

About the Author

Christin Brecher was born and raised in NYC, where her family and many childhood friends still reside. As such, she feels she is as much of a small-town girl as any. The idea to write the Nantucket Candle Maker series sprang from her life-long connection to the small island off the coast of Massachusetts. Spending summers there as a child, Christin read from her family’s library of mystery novels, after which she began to imagine stories inspired by the island’s whaling heyday, its notoriously foggy nights, and during long bike rides to the beach. After many years in marketing for the publishing industry, followed by years raising her children, Murder’s No Votive Confidence is Christin’s debut novel.

Website * Facebook * Instagram * Goodreads * BookBub

Giveaway

Spotlight & #Giveaway – Death by Baguette by Jennifer S. Alderson @JSAauthor #cozy #mystery

Posted in Cozy, Giveaway, mystery on February 18, 2020

Death By Baguette: A Valentine’s Day Murder in Paris (Travel Can Be Murder Cozy Mystery Series)
Cozy Mystery
2nd in Series
Publisher: Traveling Life Press (February 7, 2020)
Print Length ~200 Pages

Synopsis

Paris—the city of love, lights … and murder? Join tour guide Lana Hansen as she escorts five couples on an unforgettable Valentine-themed vacation to France! Unfortunately it will be the last trip for one passenger…

Lana Hansen’s future is looking bright. She has money in her bank account, a babysitter for her cat, and even a boyfriend. Regrettably she won’t get to celebrate Valentine’s Day with her new beau, Chad. Instead, she will be leading a lovers-only tour in France. Luckily for Lana, her best friend, Willow, and her partner, Jane, will be joining her.

Things go downhill when Lana’s new boyfriend shows up in Paris for her tour—with his wife. Chad is not the website developer he claimed to be, but a famous restaurant critic whose love of women rivals his passion for food.

After Chad drops dead during a picnic under the Eiffel Tower, a persistent French detective becomes convinced that he was poisoned. And the inspector’s sights are set on several members of the tour—including Lana!

While escorting her group through the cobblestone streets of Montmartre, the grand gardens of Versailles, and the historic Marché des Enfants Rouges market, Lana must figure out who really killed Chad before she has to say bonjour to prison and adieu to her freedom.

Introducing Lana Hansen, tour guide, reluctant amateur sleuth, and star of the Travel Can Be Murder Cozy Mystery Series. Join Lana as she leads tourists and readers to fascinating cities around the globe on intriguing adventures that, unfortunately for Lana, often turn deadly.

The Travel Can Be Murder Cozy Mysteries are heartwarming stories about making friends, traveling, and celebrating new experiences. Book One—Death on the Danube—is available now. Coming soon: Books Three (Death by Windmill) and Book Four!

About the Author

Jennifer S. Alderson was born in San Francisco, raised in Seattle, and currently lives in Amsterdam. After traveling extensively around Asia, Oceania, and Central America, she moved to Darwin, Australia, before settling in the Netherlands. Her background in journalism, multimedia development, and art history enriches her novels. When not writing, she can be found in a museum, biking around Amsterdam, or enjoying a coffee along the canal while planning her next research trip.

Jennifer’s love of travel, art, and culture inspires her award-winning mystery series—the Zelda Richardson Mysteries and Travel Can Be Murder Cozy Mysteries—and standalone stories.

Website * Goodreads * Facebook

Twitter * LinkedIn * BookBub

Giveaway

#MysteryMonday & #Giveaway – Southern Double Cross by Caroline Fardig @carolinefardig #cozy

Posted in Cozy, Giveaway, Monday, mystery on February 17, 2020

Southern Double Cross: A Southern B&B Mystery
Cozy Mystery
3rd in Series
Publisher: Alibi (February 11, 2020)
Print Length: ~260 pages

Synopsis

A fundraising party goes south in a delightful cozy mystery from the USA Today bestselling author of Southern Discomfort and the Java Jive novels

Quinn Bellandini is ready to get back to running her grandfather’s B&B in Savannah, Georgia, with her sister, Delilah—but first, she has to coordinate a fundraising event at the house of local philanthropists, with the help of her boyfriend, Tucker Heyward. Everything is running smoothly until Quinn’s friend, Pepper Fox, frantically calls her with the horrifying news that the lady of the house was found dead. Pepper’s brother, who was working as a caterer, is soon charged with her murder.

Pepper knows her brother didn’t commit the crime and asks Quinn, now a veteran detective with two solved murders under her belt, to prove his innocence. Quinn can’t bear to see her friend upset and enlists Delilah and Tucker to help investigate.

The invite list quickly turns into the suspect list as tensions mount and old feuds are brought to light. Could Quinn have hired the only catering company in Georgia that throws in a murder on the side?

Amazon B&N Kobo

About the Author

CAROLINE FARDIG is the USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR of the Java Jive Mysteries series and the Lizzie Hart Mysteries series. Fardig’s BAD MEDICINE was named one of the “Best Books of 2015” by Suspense Magazine. She worked as a schoolteacher, church organist, insurance agent, funeral parlor associate, and stay-at-home mom before she realized that she wanted to be a writer when she grew up. Born and raised in a small town in Indiana, Fardig still lives in that same town with an understanding husband, two sweet kids, two energetic dogs, and one malevolent cat.

Facebook * Twitter * Goodreads * Website * Pinterest * Amazon

Giveaway

Guest Post & #Giveaway – Playing the Devil by R.J. Lee #cozy #BridgetoDeathmystery

Posted in Cozy, Giveaway, Guest Post, mystery on February 16, 2020

Playing the Devil (A Bridge to Death Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
2nd in Series
Publisher: Kensington (January 28, 2020)
Paperback: 304 pages

Synopsis

Reporter and bridge player Wendy Winchester once again plays ace detective when a country club member is murdered in a hot tub . . .

Now an investigative reporter for the Rosalie Citizen in the Mississippi River port of Rosalie, Wendy still likes to unwind over a game of cards. Following the demise of the Rosalie Bridge Club, she’s started her own group at the Rosalie Country Club. During the first meeting of the Country Club Bridge Players, the dummy has barely been laid down when another dummy gets in a scuffle at the bar across the room. Bridge player Carly Ogle’s husband Brent is at it again.

After the club’s new female golf pro breaks up the fight, Brent storms off to soak in a hot tub. But Carey soon finds the bullying Brent dead in the water, clubbed over the head with the pestle the barkeep uses to crush leaves for mint juleps.

Racist, sexist, homophobic, and an all-around lout, Brent made enough enemies to fill a bridge tournament. So Wendy has to play her cards right to get the story—and stay out of hot water long enough to put the squeeze on the killer . . .

Amazon – B&N – Google Play – IndieBound – Kobo

Guest Post

Today we welcome R. J. Lee to StoreyBook Reviews as he shares with us the role of women in his books and others. Thanks for joining us today and sharing your thoughts.

Do you like strong female characters? Do you like women represented in positions of power in your fiction?

Then R. J. Lee’s A BRIDGE TO DEATH MYSTERY series is for you. The series debuted last year about this time with GRAND SLAM MURDERS, now in its second printing and enthusiastically reviewed by KIRKUS, BOOKLIST, PUBLISHERS’ WEEKLY, MIDWEST BOOK REVIEWS, MYSTERY SCENE MAGAZINE and SUSPENSE MAGAZINE. In that one, Lee’s ambitious young, female amateur sleuth, Wendy Winchester, solves the simultaneous poisoning of the four wealthy widows comprising the Rosalie Bridge Club.

In the just-released second installment—PLAYING THE DEVIL—Wendy decides to form her own bridge club (she’s hooked on the game!) because she was in line to join the one that is now wiped out. She is able to round up a table of four which she convenes at the Rosalie Country Club. The other three players are Deedah Hornesby, the RCC’s first female director, Hollis Hornesby, Deedah’s artist son, and Carly Ogle, wife of the RCC’s major contributor and benefactor, Brent Ogle.

But there’s much more to Brent than that. A former star college quarterback turned ‘personal injury/billboard’ lawyer, he is furious that the RCC has a female director, who has then turned around and hired the club’s first female golf pro. When Wendy and Deedah introduce bridge to the club, Brent fears they are trying to turn his ‘jock zone’ into a ladies’ ‘tea party.’ Used to throwing his weight around, he has become Rosalie’s most notorious bully, sexist, xenophobe and homophobe.

No sooner have Wendy and Deedah convened their first bridge game in the RCC’s Great Room, than Brent rolls in, feisty and annoyed that his two golfing partners have beaten him on the front nine for the first time ever. He then proceeds to get drunk, provoke a fist fight, which has to be broken up by the female golf pro, and then finishes by calling out everyone in the room. With a flourish, he then retires to the club’s outside hot tub to soak and pout.

Fate soon intervenes when a horrendous weather cell hovers over Rosalie, knocking out the power all over town and at the club for a good thirty minutes. When Carly decides to check on her husband during the blackout, she finds him dead in the tub, clubbed over the head with the pestle the barkeep uses to make his famous mint juleps.

The official investigation, conducted by Wendy’s detective boyfriend and Chief of Police father, begins once power is restored. So, who are the suspects beside the bartender? Who isn’t? Everyone inside the building was continually taunted, abused and mistreated by Brent. So it’s impossible to dismiss the possibility that anyone, besides the bartender, could have swiped the pestle and done the deed.

Wendy’s female editor and mentor orders up a separate investigation for the paper, and Wendy dives in, just as she did in GRAND SLAM MURDERS. But both investigations bog down. There are no prints or DNA around the hot tub because the water and steam have compromised any that existed. Meanwhile, the prints and DNA of everyone in the building at the time are everywhere abundant because they were all there all afternoon and evening, proving nothing. Furthermore, identities and whereabouts prove vexing to document because of the darkness. Glimpses of cell phone flashlights here and there aren’t much to go on or prove anything.

Wendy encounters twist after twist until she puts herself in harms’ way enough to come up with who was and who wasn’t involved in Brent Ogle’s death? Was it a solo crime? Or were two or more involved? Or—except for Wendy—was everyone at the RCC at the time in on it?

Don’t miss this follow-up to GRAND SLAM MURDERS, with the third installment—COLD READING MURDER by R. J. Lee—to follow this time next year.

R.J. Lee

About the Author

R. J. Lee follows in the mystery-writing footsteps of his father, R. Keene Lee, who wrote fighter pilot and detective stories for Fiction House, publishers of WINGS Magazine and other ‘pulp fiction’ periodicals in the late ’40’s and ’50’s. Lee was born and grew up in the Mississippi River port of Natchez but also spent thirty years living in the Crescent City of New Orleans. A graduate of the University of the South (Sewanee) where he studied creative writing under Sewanee Review editor, Andrew Lytle, Lee now resides in Oxford, Mississippi.

Facebook

Giveaway

Guest Post & #Giveaway – Black Cat and the Secret in Dewey’s Diary by Elaine Farber #cozy #mystery

Posted in Cozy, Giveaway, Guest Post, mystery on February 14, 2020

Black Cat and the Secret in Dewey’s Diary:
A Tale of History, Mystery, Riddles and Gold.
Cozy Mystery
4th in Series
Publisher: Elk Grove Publications (September 6, 2019)
Paperback: 264 pages

Synopsis

In this dual tale of mystery, lost treasure, and riddles, while Black Cat narrates the exciting events in Fern Lake, Kimberlee discovers a cryptic clue in a diary about a hidden treasure, and heads to Austria to solve the puzzle.

When Kimberlee and Dorian arrive in Austria, they attract the attention of a stalker determined to steal the diary in hopes the clues will lead him to the treasure first. On a collision course, it is inevitable that Kimberlee and the stalker meet in Hopfgarten.

Black Cat and Angel’s lives are endangered with the arrival of Kimberlee’s grandmother in Fern Lake, and the return of a man presumed dead for twenty-five years. With both arrivals, emotional and financial difficulties loom for Kimberlee’s family. Since their return to Fern Lake, Angel seems reluctant or unable to adjust to her new home. Does she regret leaving Texas and Grandmother? And, when the opportunity arises, will she decide to leave Black Cat and Fern Lake?

Guest Post

The Elevator Pitch – Elaine Faber

The blurb on the back of my cozy cat mystery reads something like this. ‘While Black Cat narrates his own challenges back home, his mistress, Kimberlee, follows a clue to a lost treasure she found in a WWII soldier’s diary. It sends her on a treasure hunt to Austria. Little does she know she is on a collision course with a stalker determined to steal the diary and reach the treasure…blah…blah…blah…’

The back of the cover cannot explain the plot’s humor, drama, intrigue, or the battle on the beaches of Normandy and the friendship struck between Dewey and a German soldier recorded in the diary, or the beauty of Austria, or the intrigue as Kimberlee matches wits with the stalker.

When I first starting writing years ago, no one told me there was more to ‘being an author’ than plots and dialogue. In these days of limited acceptance by traditional publishing houses, unless one has achieved personal fame or fortune and a platform of 10,000, an author must resort to Indie Publishing and be a jack of all trades.

Beyond writing talent, one must master the skills of publicist, bookkeeper, full-time blogger, cover artist, and skilled orator, always keeping an eye and ear open for opportunities to participate on author panels and speaking engagements. Though not necessarily a ‘master’ at any of the above mentioned skills, I’ve become somewhat competent in most. Now, I’ve learned I must master one more skill… Memorize an ‘elevator pitch’ on the off chance that, perhaps in a coffee shop or the dry cleaners, I should run into a literary agent sipping a Carmel Macchiato or picking up dry cleaning.

It is imperative to command the agent’s undivided attention with an opening hook and define my scintillating plot’s originality. I must convince him everyone from a cowboy in Texas to a stockbroker in Hollywood would buy my book with his last green dollar, and how it will become a Best Seller…and accomplish all this in sixty seconds or less.

I have practiced my ‘elevator pitch’ in front of a three-way mirror and perfected where to smile, when to pause for special effect, and when to use hand motions to emphasize the final sentence. It has become second nature and the words now roll off my tongue like scotch tape at a Christmas party.

Unfortunately, in my case, I fear if I should ever be fortunate enough to find myself on that much discussed elevator with an agent, in spite of my good intentions and hours of practice, I expect the conversation would more likely go something like this.

“Uh… You’re that Zondervan guy, right! Wait. Let me push this button and stop the elevator. I never thought… I have some notes here somewhere. Where is that paper? Well, never mind. I wrote a book, see? You’re not going anywhere special right now, right? About that book I wrote… You’re gonna love it. I called it Black Cat and the Secret in Dewey’s Diary. Do you like cats? It’s narrated partly by the cat. At least half of it. The other half is in Austria. There’s a stolen treasure, see and Kimberlee…that’s the lady, not the cat. She finds a clue in a diary. Well, you have to read it. So, there’s this cat…see….

****

About the Author

Elaine Faber lives in Northern California with her husband and feline companions. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, California Cat Writers, and Northern California Publishers and Artists. She volunteers with the American Cancer Society Discovery Shop. She enjoys speaking at public venues, sharing highlights of her novels. Her short stories have appeared in national magazines and multiple anthologies.

Black Cat’s Legacy, With the aid of his ancestors’ memories, Thumper helps pursue a cold case murder.

Black Cat and the Lethal Lawyer, Thumper accompanies his family to a Texas horse ranch where they confront wild horses, embezzling, false identities and attempted murder.

Black Cat and the Accidental Angel, Black Cat and his companion are left behind following an MVA. Taken in by a family facing personal and financial disaster, Black Cat and Angel encounter danger and a spiritual encounter.

Mrs. Odboddy-Hometown Patriot, Eccentric Mrs. Odboddy believes Nazi spies and conspiracies run amuck through her town.

Mrs. Odboddy-Undercover Courier, Mr. O carries a package by train to President Roosevelt that she presumes are secret war documents. She is equally sure Nazi spies are after her package and will to anything to deliver the package to the president.

Mrs. Odboddy-And Then There was a Tiger, Falsely accused of various crimes, Agnes sets about to restore her reputation and missing war bond money.

Website * Facebook * Goodreads

Giveaway