The Skeleton Makes a Friend (A Family Skeleton Mystery)
Diversion Books (November 6, 2018)
Paperback: 280 pages

Synopsis

Georgia Thackery is feeling pretty good about her summer job teaching at prestigious Overfeld College, and she’s renting a rustic cabin right by a lake for herself, her daughter, Madison, and her best friend, Sid the Skeleton. Together again, the trio are enjoying the quiet when a teenager named Jen shows up looking for her friend. Georgia doesn’t recognize the name, but she learns that the person Jen was looking for is actually Sid.

Sid reveals that he and Jen are part of a regular online gaming group that formed locally, and one of their members has gone missing. Sid admits that he might have bragged about his investigative prowess, enough so that Jen wants him to find their missing player. Given that Sid doesn’t have many friends offline—none, really, unless you count the Thackery family—Georgia agrees to help him search. They manage to discreetly enlist Jen, who lives in town, and follow the clues to… a dead buddy.

Now they’ve got a killer on their hands. Probing the life of Sid’s friend, they realize a lot is wrong both on campus and in the seemingly quaint town, and someone doesn’t want them looking deeper.

Excerpt

Sid unzipped the rest of the way, pulled himself out of the suitcase and back together, and tried to turn the knob. “It’s locked.”

“Can you open it?”

“Easy peasy,” he said, pulling a set of lock picks from inside the suitcase. My locksmith sister Deborah probably hadn’t realized that teaching my daughter Madison how to pick locks was tantamount to teaching Sid. Madison had shared everything she’d learned with him, and he’d promptly ordered his own picks online. “You really should learn to do this, Georgia. It’s not that hard.”

Despite his assurance, it seemed to take an awful long time to get the door open. Or maybe it just seemed like a long time because I kept looking down the stairs, worried that somebody would hear us and come to see what was going on.

Finally there was a loud click, and Sid said, “Nailed it!” He opened the door, and cold air streamed out.

“Brr!” I said. “Wouldn’t you know that a department with everybody on vacation would be the one with overachieving air conditioners?” The window unit in my classroom had gone out twice. “Not to mention the waste of electricity.”

“You can complain about it later,” Sid said. “Come on.”

I followed him into the human resources department, pulling the empty suitcase along.

There were four more closed doors: three offices labeled with names and one marked File Room.

“Here we go,” Sid said, using his picks on one of the office doors.

This lock was easier to deal with, which was a relief, but unfortunately, the smell seemed to be coming from that office. “I’m going in.”

“Remember what I said. Get in, look around fast, get out.”

“Got it.” He stepped inside.

Between the cold, the horrid stink, and the fear of being caught, I was hoping that Sid would be swift, but I was surprised when he came out in under two minutes. “That was fast. Did you find something?”

“Don’t go in there.”

“I wasn’t going to—”

Then I looked at him.

He shouldn’t have been able to look like anything but bone-colored, but somehow he seemed paler than usual, and his bones were so loose he was nearly falling apart. “What’s wrong?”

“He’s in there. At least I think it’s him.”

“Did he see you?” I said stupidly.

He slowly shook his skull, and only then did I realize what it was we’d been smelling.

About the Author

Leigh Perry is the author of the Family Skeleton Series: A Skeleton in the Family, The Skeleton Takes a Bow, The Skeleton Haunts a House, and The Skeleton Paints a Picture.

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My Alter Ego

Toni L.P. Kelner

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Uncle and Ants: A Silicon Valley Mystery
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
BGM Press (October 11, 2018)
Paperback: 287 pages

Synopsis

Mysterious attacks. Mischievous nieces. Can a clueless uncle catch a tech-savvy killer … and be home before bedtime?

When a freak accident hospitalizes Marty Golden’s sister and condemns him to babysitter duty, he thinks it’s just another case of hardwired bad luck in Silicon Valley. Until a suspicious murder suggests the mishap was no mere coincidence. Something must be done.

Too bad this quirky, fashion-backward uncle isn’t exactly hero material.

Convinced his sister is in mortal danger, this amateur sleuth follows clues to an oddball array of suspects. Armed with nothing but an eye for detail and powers of self-delusion, Marty tangles with gangsters, a cantankerous school secretary, and a perplexing woman he can’t help but fall for. Glitches in his investigation seem like a piece of cake compared to dinner-prep and bedtime stories with his two precocious, pre-teen nieces.

Can Marty catch the culprit, save his sister, and get his life back in order before he gets unplugged?

Uncle and Ants is the first novel in a refreshingly modern mystery series set in Silicon Valley. If you like clever humor, sassy side characters, and average Joes facing extraordinary circumstances, then you’ll love this twisty mystery.

Buy Uncle and Ants to login to a fresh, funny mystery today!

Review

This new series could take the cozy world by storm.  It has quirky characters, Texas Crazy Ants, a mystery with multiple suspects, and two precocious girls that sometimes steal the spotlight, OK often steal the spotlight!

Marty is a very cerebral male and I sometimes wonder if it is his chosen career field or if he might be on the spectrum that makes him say and do the things that he does during this book.  His thought process is different than mine but he does eventually put the pieces together but the ending was still quite surprising with how the whole story line plays out and what started as something innocent turns into murder and attempted murder.  I think Marty does need to work on his communication skills.  I’m sure he came off a little wacky with some of the messages he left on the detective’s voice mail.

The clues are there to lead you to the killer but they are buried quite nicely so you have to actually work a little to figure out how each piece fits into the puzzle.

We think this will be a great series and look forward to the next book.  We give this 4 paws up

About the Author

In my family, I was born first — a fact my sister never lets me forget, no matter what milestone age she hits.

For most of my life, I’ve been inventing stories. Some, especially when I was young, involved my sister as the villain. As my sister’s brother for her entire life, I’m highly qualified to tell the tale of the evolving, quirky sibling relationship in Uncle and Ants: A Silicon Valley Mystery.

My writing skills were honed in years of marketing leadership positions in Silicon Valley. While my high-tech marketing roles involved crafting plenty of fiction, we called these marketing collateral, emails, and ads.

My family and friends would tell you that Marty’s character isn’t much of a stretch of the imagination for me, but I proudly resemble that remark.

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The Killer Christmas Sweater Club (A Seaside Cove Bed & Breakfast Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
3rd in Series
Publisher: Satori 
Print Length: 342 pages

Synopsis

All ten-year-old Alexandra Atwood wants for Christmas is to get her dad and the B&B’s cook Marquetta under the mistletoe. After all, how can they get married if they don’t kiss first?

When murder strikes in Seaside Cove, bed-and-breakfast owner Rick Atwood is asked to help find the killer. But this will not be an easy case to crack. Not only did the killer contaminate the crime scene, but there are suspects all over town. And they all received the same Christmas sweater from the victim.

Alex hears rumors about the murder and decides that since she’s on Christmas break, she has time for a little multitasking. She launches her own investigation even as she continues her efforts to get her dad and Marquetta together.

Just when Rick thinks he’s identified all the suspects, he discovers a new one—his estranged wife. With the days until Christmas ticking down, Rick feels pressured from all sides. He needs to solve the case. He needs to send his wife back to New York. But the one thing he doesn’t need is for his daughter to be one step ahead of him and the cops.

Guest Post

Today I welcome Terry Ambrose.  He is sharing his thoughts about treasure hunting.  Fascinating stuff!

When I started writing the Seaside Cove Bed & Breakfast Mystery series, I decided it would be a good opportunity to stick my toe back into the world of treasure hunting. I’d studied archaeology in college and, at its core, archaeology always felt like hunting treasure to me. I’m not talking about the gold-and-silver riches of an Indiana Jones tale, but the kind that tells us what ancient societies did on a daily basis.

I know. Boring.

But nautical archaeology can be a bit different. Throughout the ages, ships carried large cargoes, some worth millions, or even billions, in today’s dollars. The current Seaside Cove treasure fever is all about the San Manuel, a four-hundred-year-old Spanish galleon with one of those invaluable cargoes. Of course, as yet, nobody has actually seen the San Manuel, so the fever is driven by speculation. And isn’t that just like the real world?

The stock market goes up—or down—based mostly on speculation. Would-be stars rush to Hollywood or New York or Nashville in hopes of hitting it big. Even though the failures far outnumber the successes, the success stories are large enough to eclipse reality.

The great thing about fiction is it’s not based on reality. It’s all about transporting the reader to a world where they can suspend their disbelief and escape. That world needs to feel real and offer the reader hope. And hope to achieve the next big thing is what life is all about.

How about you? What’s your next big thing? Do you have your sights set firmly it?

About the Author

Terry Ambrose is a former skip tracer who only stole cars when it was legal. He’s long since turned his talents to writing mysteries and thrillers. Several of his books have been award finalists and in 2014 his thriller, “Con Game,” won the San Diego Book Awards for Best Action-Thriller. He’s currently working on the Seaside Cove Bed & Breakfast Mystery series.

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A Cold Brew Killing (All-Day Breakfast Cafe Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
3rd in Series
Lyrical Underground (November 6, 2018)
Print Length Approximately 250 Pages

Synopsis

When an ice cream vendor discovers a frozen stiff, Florida diner owner Gia Morelli has to serve up some just desserts . . .

Gia has become good friends with Trevor, a fun, flirtatious bachelor who owns the ice cream parlor down the street from her popular All-Day Breakfast Café. Trevor has the scoop on all sorts of local attractions and activities. But when he bursts into her diner, trembling and paler than a pint of French Vanilla, she can tell something’s very wrong. Trevor points her toward his shop then passes out cold. When Gia runs down to his shop, she discovers a chilling sight—a dead body in the open freezer. But the ice cream man’s troubles are just beginning. The police suspect him of this murder a la mode, especially when details of his questionable past surface. Gia believes in her friend and is determined to clear his name and find the real cold-blooded killer before someone else gets put on ice . . .

Guest Post – Recipe

While I haven’t read this series, any time a series revolves around food I find myself drooling imagining the various dishes.  Today I have a recipe and a photo to share of breakfast pie, or quiche, whatever name you want to give it, it all is the same and is very tasty.  I did notice that the crust isn’t a pastry crust but rather made up of bacon and potatoes.  I am going to have to try this recipe very soon!  Thanks for sharing this with us today Lena.

Breakfast Pie

One of the dishes All-Day Breakfast Café owner, Gia Morelli, loves most is Breakfast Pie. In her case, it makes life easier, since they are made ahead of time and are easy enough to just slice and serve. They are also delicious re-heated, so they make for a great time saver when you’re in a hurry and want to grab something quick. Simply make them up on the weekends, slice them, and all you have to do is heat one slice up whenever you’re hungry.

Gia makes several different kinds; western (ham, peppers, onions, and cheese), meat lovers (bacon, sausage, ham, and cheese), veggie (spinach, squash, zucchini, broccoli, mushrooms, and tomatoes), and my personal favorite, my dad’s original Breakfast Pie, which he makes every Christmas morning!

Original Breakfast Pie Recipe

You will need:

1 lb. Bacon

1 Package Breakfast Sausage

½ lb. ham

1 large green pepper

2 medium onions

5 medium potatoes or 1 bag shredded potatoes

1 dozen eggs

1 bag shredded cheddar cheese

Salt & Pepper (to taste)

Prepare:

Cut up and shred 5 medium potatoes (or use 1 bag of pre-shredded potatoes)

Chop onions (keep separate)

Chop ham

Chop sausage

Chop green pepper

Crust:

Fry bacon in a large skillet (an electric frying pan works perfectly), then keep the fat in the pan, and chop the bacon. Keep 1/3 for the crust and set 2/3 aside.

Fry potatoes and one chopped onion in the bacon fat (add salt and pepper to taste). When cooked add 1/3 of the chopped bacon and stir.

Press into a pie dish to form the crust.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Filling:

Using the same pan (you can use non stick spray on the bottom if needed) combine and cook breakfast sausage, ham, remaining bacon, green pepper, and remaining onion.

While cooking, scramble 1 dozen eggs.

Once mixture is cooked, add eggs and mix while cooking. Add salt and pepper (to taste)

When done, stir in about 6 oz. of shredded cheddar, then add filling to pie crust. Put in oven.

Bake for 45 minutes.

When just about done, sprinkle shredded cheddar (to taste) over the top and return to oven until cheese melts.

Serve and enjoy!

 

About the Author

Lena lives in a small town on the south shore of eastern Long Island with her husband and three children.

When she was growing up, she spent many lazy afternoons on the beach, in the yard, anywhere she could find to curl up with a good book. She loves reading as much now as she did then, but she now enjoys the added pleasure of creating her own stories.

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LET HER GO: Lillian Dove Mystery
Suspense Mystery
3rd in Series
Horatio Press (November 6, 2018)
Paperback: 448 pages

Synopsis

Murder. Betrayal. Love Gone Wrong

With her ability to present clues without giving away the endings and offering surprising twists encouraging the reader to the next page, D. J. Adamson delves into a family tragedy ending up in murder and a teenage daughter missing. When Lillian Dove finds herself involved in the police investigation, she realizes the daughter holds the key to unravel who killed her mother.

It is three days before Christmas when Lillian Dove comes across Dr. Conrad standing out in front of his house, covered in blood. When going inside the house to help other members of his family, she finds his wife killed, his son seriously injured, and his teenage daughter, Peyton Clayton, missing. Even more shocking, the police suspect Dr. Conrad. Understanding how emotional dilemmas have strained the family emboldens Lillian to help Detective Jacque Leveque, Major Crimes Detective for the Frytown Police Department, find the prime witness to the Conrad truths.

Let Her Go is a nerve-wracking exploration into a family lost, and the extent love elicits both the good and the bad. In this Third Step in Personal Recovery Lillian works to find Peyton Clayton, while battling the worse arctic freeze in Frytown’s history, untangling human frailties, and confronting the ghosts of Christmas.

Character Guest Post

Today I’m lucky enough to have Dahlia, Lillian’s mother, visiting us and sharing her thoughts about her relationship with her daughter.  Thanks for joining us today Dahlia!

Sweet and Sour, A Mother-Daughter Relationship

As the protagonist, readers easily know Lillian Dove’s wants, dislikes, struggles, urges, and misadventures in the Lillian Dove Mystery series. But Dahlia—Lillian rarely refers to her as mother—is only known through Lillian’s eyes. Yet, Dahlia’s actions and reactions are just as complex as her daughter’s. What does Dahlia have to say to it all:

Some people might say I come across as an abusive mother. Well, I’m here to tell you, Lillian came into the world wailing, thinking life’s unfair. I tried to teach her that no matter what you want out of life, you’re going to get something different.  I know she blames me a lot. And that’s right I guess. Her father wasn’t there much in raising her. He had his own trouble. Not that I’m saying he didn’t love his daughter. He loved us all, and he did the best he could with what he’d been given. You can’t ask for more than that from any human being. I did the best I could, working two jobs, raising three kids. I tried to keep bad things from happening to that girl. Don’t think I didn’t. No matter what I did,  she was bound and determined to ruin her life. Doesn’t listen any better today. The girl’s lucky she doesn’t get herself killed, getting involved with the police, running after criminals.

Will we be close some day? I’d say were pretty close now. Mothers and daughters don’t always see eye-to-eye. But, I love my daughter.

About the Author

D. J. Adamson is an award-winning author for both her mystery novels and her science fiction novel. She is the editor of Le Coeur de l’Artiste, a newsletter which reviews books, and a blog, L’Artiste with offers authors the venue to write on craft, marketing, and the creative mind. D.J. teaches writing and literature, and to keep busy when she is not writing or teaching, she has been a board member of Sisters in Crime Los Angeles and Sisters in Crime Central Coast, a member of the Southern California Mystery Writers Organization, California Writers Club and Greater Los Angeles Writer’s Society. Her books can be found and purchased in bookstores and on Amazon.

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Synopsis

The Agatha Award–winning author of Pressing the Issue returns to the Cookbook Nook, where Jenna Hart is busy decking the halls and ducking a killer . . .

The holidays are Jenna Hart’s favorite time of year, but just as she’s decorating the Cookbook Nook for all the festive events, her imperious older sister makes a surprise visit, anxious that her husband’s been more naughty than nice. To make matters worse, her father’s good friend Jake shows up on her doorstep with a frantic report that his friend has been murdered—trussed with Christmas lights and impaled with a tree star.

Worried that Jake was the intended victim, Jenna makes a list of suspects and checks it twice. Swapping her Santa’s hat for a sleuthing cap, she gets busy investigating Jake’s long-lost sister, his Grinch of a neighbor, and a stamp collector who covets Jake’s most treasured piece. When Jake himself is poisoned and nearly dies, Jenna knows she’ll have to do whatever it takes to corner the culprit before it’s lights out for Jake . . .

Includes tantalizing holiday recipes!

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Read an Excerpt here

About the Author

Agatha Award-winning Daryl Wood Gerber writes the French Bistro Mysteries as well as the nationally bestselling Cookbook Nook Mysteries.  As Avery Aames, she pens the popular Cheese Shop Mysteries. Daryl also writes stand-alone suspense which include the titles DAY OF SECRETS and GIRL ON THE RUN. Fun tidbit: as an actress, Daryl appeared in “Murder, She Wrote.” She loves to cook, and she has a frisky Goldendoodle named Sparky who keeps her in line!

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House of Ashes: A Haunted Bluffs Mystery
Supernatural Mystery
1st in Series
Crooked Lane Books (November 13, 2018)
Hardcover, 336 pages

Synopsis

A family patriarch’s dying proclamation, an enigmatic disappearance, and a century-old curse converge in the shadows of a majestic home on Cape Cod’s craggy coast.

Thirty-seven-year-old painter Cassandra Mitchell is fourth-generation to live in the majestic Battersea Bluffs, a brooding Queen Anne home originally built by her great-grandparents, Percy and Celeste Mitchell, and still standing despite tragedies that have swept the generations. Local lore has it that there was a curse placed on the family and the house is haunted, though opinions are divided on whether it’s by malicious or benevolent spirits. Cassie believes the latter―but now she stands to lose her beloved home to mounting debt and the machinations of her dream-weaving ex-husband.

Salvation seems to arrive when a nomadic young couple wanders onto the property with the promise of companionship and much-needed help―until they vanish without a trace, leaving behind no clue to their identities. Cassie is devastated, but determined to discover what’s happened to the young couple…even as digging into their disappearance starts to uncover family secrets of her own. Despite warnings from her childhood friend, now the local Chief of Police―as well as an FBI agent who pushes the boundaries of professionalism―Cassie can’t help following the trail of clues (and eerie signals from the old house itself) to unravel the mystery. But can she do so before her family’s dark curse destroys everything in its path?

Review

There are some days I want to read a suspense filled book and this one did the trick. There were so many stories to unravel, personal histories to understand, and a mystery to solve that I had a hard time putting this book down each night.  I also can’t discount the descriptive words of the town, Battersea Bluffs, the residents in the town, and the area in general.

The story starts off 80 years in the past with the deaths of Percy and Celeste, Cassie’s Great Grandparents that came to the US from England.  Throughout the book we get glimpses of the past which helps us understand the spirits in the home and Cassie’s quest to find the truth about her ancestors, her sister, and her newest friends that have disappeared.  The crux of the book focuses on Cassie’s new friends, Ashley and Vince, who have suddenly disappeared.  Is there foul play involved?  Did they leave on their own accord?  Are they even who they claim to be?  Cassie formed a bond with Ashley and Vince, even if she really doesn’t know the truth about them and their past, so when they vanish she is concerned about them and their safety especially since they left their dog behind.  As a dog lover, I would have thought exactly the same as Cassie, that something has happened because they loved Whistler and wouldn’t leave him behind.

The book moves at a somewhat slower pace which is good and bad.  Good because it layers of the mystery are peeled back like an onion, but bad because I wanted to know what the heck happened to Ashley and Vince!  There are several other minor mysteries encapsulated in this book – why Cassie’s sister Zoe won’t come back to Whale Rock?  Who is behind an art purchase?  Is the house haunted or are the spirits friendly?  What is the real story of the supposed curse on the family?  All of these play a minor part in the story and some even tie in to the disappearance.

There is a little bit of a romance too between Cassie and FBI agent Daniel, but she also has a past with a deadbeat ex-husband and a high school love that she has a fling with when she realizes the marriage is dying.  There is also Brooks, aka Chuckles, who has a thing for Cassie but also dated her sister in high school.  That kind of makes him off limits in Cassie’s mind.

I will admit that Cassie does not have her life together at 37.  Sometimes you just have to wonder how people like her make it this far in life, but at the same time wonder if there is an underlying psychological issue that is the root cause of her actions.

Many questions are answered in the book with some twists I didn’t expect and we might not have known if Cassie didn’t push for the truth from those she questioned about her family and the past, and about her missing friends.

We give this 5 paws ups for keeping us in suspense for the whole book!

About the Author

An author of fiction, Loretta Marion’s writing bridges the genres of mystery and suspense and women’s fiction, always with hints of romance and humor, sometimes delving into the psychological and paranormal. She creates strong but flawed and struggling characters as appealing as the rich atmospheric settings in which the stories take place.

Loretta is a true bibliophile and has loved reading and creating with words since she was a young girl. And that affection for the written word followed her like a shadow throughout her life as she put pen to paper crafting marketing and advertising copy, educational brochures, and newsletters. But her passion for writing fiction evolved from the unlikely world of hospice. As a volunteer, she set out to establish a Legacy Story program to honor and preserve the rich heritage of the fascinating people who were soon to leave this world. The meaningful experience inspired her to create her own interesting characters and stories. Her debut novel, The Fool’s Truth, was a twisty and suspenseful mystery with whispers of romance. Her newest novel, HOUSE OF ASHES – A Haunted Bluffs Mystery, is the first in a series published by Crooked Lane Books.

Though born and raised in the Midwest, Loretta fell in love with New England and has made it the setting for much of her writing. When not whipping out words on her laptop, she is traveling, enjoying outdoor pursuits, or is curled up with a delicious new book. Loretta lives in Rhode Island with her husband, Geoffrey, and their beloved Mr. Peabody, a sweet, devoted and amusing “Corgador” (Corgi-Labrador cross).

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Murder in Her Stocking (A Granny Reid Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Kensington (October 30, 2018)
Hardcover: 304 pages

Synopsis

As the Moonlight Magnolia Agency revisits old memories on Christmas Eve, Granny Reid takes the reins back thirty years to the 1980s—back when she went by Stella, everyone’s hair was bigger, and sweaters were colorful disasters. But murder never went out of style . . .

Christmas has arrived in sleepy McGill, Georgia, but holiday cheer can’t keep temperamental Stella Reid from swinging a rolling pin at anyone who crosses her bad side—and this season, there are plenty. First an anonymous grinch vandalizes a celebrated nativity display. Far worse, the scandalous Prissy Carr is found dead in an alley behind a tavern. With police puzzled over the murder, Stella decides to stir the local gossip pot for clues on the culprit’s identity . . .

Turns out Prissy held a prominent spot on the naughty list, and suspects pile up like presents on Christmas morning. Unfortunately, the more progress Stella makes, the more fears she must confront. With a neighbor in peril and the futures of her beloved grandchildren at risk, Stella must somehow set everything straight and bring a cunning criminal to justice before December 25th . . .

Guest Post

The Frosting on the Cake by G. A. McKevett

Like many professional storytellers, I was raised in an environment rich with the sharing of family lore. Not all of it was sparkling or even repeatable in polite company, but it was entertaining, nevertheless.

One of the more prolific yarn spinners in my immediate circle was my father. Sunday afternoons, over an early dinner, he would tell and re-tell his life stories, many of which centered around the time he spent as a soldier in WWII.

“Squeaky and the Coconut Cake” was one of my personal favorites, and I’d like to share it with you now.

My father was a marine, stationed for a while in the Philippines, in a tent camp in the jungle. When the war finally ended, he returned home to southern Missouri, to his newly-widowed mother and younger sisters.

He brought with him a tiny monkey he had adopted, known as Squeaky, named after the little sounds he continually made whether he was happy and contented or wanting something—usually a food treat. He was so small that my father could tuck him into the front pocket of his shirt and button the flap, where Squeaky often took naps, close to the warmth of his “dad’s” chest.

The first Sunday after Dad’s return, my Grandma Cora Bell insisted that her non-church-attending son go to services with her and his sisters. Reluctantly, he did.

In celebration of his safe return from the war, Grandma had baked one of her delicious, moist, made from scratch, coconut cakes. It was a thing of beauty, which she placed in the center of the table before the family left. Everyone was looking forward to enjoying a generous slice of it, along with a pot of fresh, hot coffee, when they returned. But, alas, it was not to be.

While they were gone, the highly intelligent and ever-resourceful Squeaky, angry that he had been left behind, managed to escape from his cage.

The family returned to carnage.

They walked into the kitchen to find the usually immaculate room in chaos. Not only were flour and sugar bags torn open and their contents scattered, utensils pulled from cupboards and lying on the floor, and some dishes broken…but every single surface, both horizontal and vertical, in the entire room was covered with a thin coat of white stickiness.

Yes, coconut frosting. (My father would later say that he even scrubbed it off the top of the refrigerator and from the insides of the cupboard doors.)

It didn’t take long to find Squeaky. He was a gleeful little fellow. Sitting in the middle of the mangled cake. Casually licking coconut frosting from between his toes.

About the Author

G.A. McKevett is the author of the acclaimed Savannah Reid mystery series. Also writing under the name Sonja Massie, she has authored over 60 books ranging from cozy mysteries to historical romances, to nonfiction works on the history of Ireland. Her earthy humor and fast-paced plots delight her fans, while critics applaud her offbeat characterizations and incisive observations on human nature. Irish by ancestry, she has lived in Toronto, Ireland, and Los Angeles, but now resides in New York.

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Thread Herrings (A Mainely Needlepoint Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
7th in Series
Kensington (October 30, 2018)
Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages

Synopsis

Angie’s first auction may turn out to be her last—when she bids on a coat of arms that someone would literally kill to possess . . .

Tagging along to an estate sale with her fellow Needlepointer, antiques shop owner Sarah Byrne, Angie Curtis impulsively bids on a tattered embroidery of a coat of arms. When she gets her prize back home to Haven Harbor, she discovers a document from 1757 behind the framed needlework—a claim for a child from a foundling hospital. Intrigued, Angie is determined to find the common thread between the child and the coat of arms.

Accepting her reporter friend Clem Walker’s invitation to talk about her find on the local TV news, Angie makes an appeal to anyone who might have information. Instead, both women receive death threats. When Clem is found shot to death in a parking lot, Angie fears her own life may be in jeopardy. She has to unravel this historical mystery—or she may be the next one going, going . . . gone . . .

 

Excerpt

“What about this one?” I asked, passing several oil paintings and pointing to another large needlework. “It looks like a coat of arms.”

“It does. Although about a third of the stitching is gone. I wonder if it was done here, or in England? Stitching coats of arms was more common there. Americans didn’t have family crests or coats of arms.”

The coat of arms was in poor condition. The glass protecting it was cracked, and dirt had sifted onto the embroidery. Threads were broken or missing in several places, so only part of the crest was clear, and the linen backing was torn in several places. Still, it fascinated me.

“Is that an eagle?” I said, trying to make sense of what might have been part of a bird on the crest.

Sarah shook her head. “I’m not interested in it. No one wants someone else’s coat of arms, and that one isn’t in good enough condition to sell, anyway.”

“It could be repaired,” I suggested. “Gram is pretty good at that.” I kept looking at the crest, wondering who’d stitched it, and when. Who’d been proud of a heritage that included a coat of arms? The other embroideries were from the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. I wasn’t an expert on American history, but I knew not a lot of Americans had bragged about their connections to nobility—especially English nobility—right after the American Revolution.

Or maybe the coat of arms was from another country? I didn’t know enough to guess.

“Why bother trying to repair it?” Sarah asked. “It’s not beautiful. It’s in poor condition. Its only value might have been to the person it represented, and, if it’s here, no one in his family wanted it.”

“But don’t coats of arms belong to families?” I asked.

“They were awarded to individuals, not families,” Sarah corrected. “Embroidered coats of arms originally were worn over armor, so knights could be identified when they were in competitions or battles.” She glanced at the embroidery in front of us. “I don’t see any identifying name, either of the owner or the woman who stitched it. In any case, I need to look at the other lots.” She made a couple of notes on her catalog. “I’ll bid on the four other samplers,” she said softly to me. “I’ll have to think about how high to go. That last sampler may be a budget-killer.”

“You go ahead. I’m going to wander and see what else is here,” I said.

Sarah headed for the cases of china, which had no interest for me.

I took one more look at the coat of arms. I couldn’t say exactly why, but it fascinated me.

About the Author

Lea Wait lives on the coast of Maine. A fourth-generation antique dealer and the author of the Agatha-nominated Antique Print Mystery series, she loves all things antiques and Maine. She also writes historical novels for young people set in (where else?) nineteenth-century Maine.

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Giveaway

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Synopsis

Callie Reed makes a long overdue visit to her aunt Melodie, who lives in a fairy-tale cottage in quaint Keepsake Cove, home to a bevy of unique collectible shops on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Just as they’re beginning to reconnect, Callie discovers her aunt’s body on the floor of her music box shop. Grief-stricken, Callie finds she can’t accept Melodie’s death being called accidental. How could her strong and healthy aunt take such a fatal fall? And why was she there in the middle of the night?

As Callie searches for the truth, signs seem to come from her late aunt through a favorite music box, urging Callie on. Or are they warnings? If Callie isn’t careful, she could meet a similar deadly fate amid Melodie’s collection.

 

Review

I borrowed this book from the library since I have the 2nd book on my Kindle. I love cozies and this one was just a little different from what I am used to reading but not in a bad way at all. Someone dies but no one except Callie thinks that foul play might be involved. This sets up an interesting plot line and a variety of characters and a quaint shopping town with unique shop names.

I enjoyed getting to know the various people in the town and there are several “not so nice” characters but even then, those characters add depth to the story and the history of the town and relationships they had with Callie’s Aunt Melodie (the one who dies).

I did figure out who the killer was but not by any overt clues. I think it was just that the number of possibilities was limited in my mind and this character seemed the most logical.

I can’t wait to read the next book and take another visit to this Eastern town.

We give it 4 paws up