New Releases For The Week Of November 1st, 2020–Part 1

A smitten woman is about to marry a dangerous man—unless Detective Hooper and his new wife, Celia, can prevent it—in this wickedly tangled holiday mystery from bestselling author Anne Perry.

Detective John Hooper, William Monk’s right-hand man at the Thames River Police, is blissfully happy in his new marriage to Celia, the cousin of a victim in one of the river police’s recent murder cases. Celia wants the same happiness for her good friend Clementine, who’s just announced her engagement to Seth Marlowe, a member of her church. Christmas is nearing, and this should be extra cause for celebration, but when Marlowe begins receiving threatening letters about his first wife’s death, it becomes clear that he is far from the devout man Clementine thought he was. In his rage, Marlowe accuses Celia of sending the letters, claiming she wants to ruin his engagement to Clementine. At a loss as to how to defend herself, Celia enlists Hooper to investigate the letters’ claims, and what he finds makes her desperate to show Clementine the truth about her soon-to-be husband.

But Celia herself has not always been truthful, especially not during the murder trial following her cousin’s death. How can she be believed now, when she lied on the stand? Especially when Marlowe knows that she did, and could use it against her. This Yuletide season finds love and faith put to the test—and Celia’s and Clementine’s lives on the line. (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle, Hardcover, Audiobook

After the death of a police officer, assassin Kahllah (aka the Black Lotus) is forced out of retirement in an attempt to clear her name while outrunning a mysterious enemy.

“K’wan delivers a lean, tightly plotted tale that balances noir aesthetics with comic book flair. Fans of pulp and urban lit will be well satisfied.”
—Publishers Weekly

“From page one to the last, K’wan’s Black Lotus 2: The Vow is a high-wire act with no net. A smart refiguring of hard-boiled with a nitro injection of new-age sensibilities.”
—Reed Farrel Coleman, New York Times best-selling author of Walking the Perfect Square

“Like a cool, hip, and fun evening at a vintage drive-in, Black Lotus 2: The Vow takes me back to a time when Jim Kelly, Pam Grier, and Fred Williamson graced the big screen. Throw in some Bruce Lee and a little The Last Dragon and you have a hell of a butt-kicking, action-filled ride.”
—Ace Atkins, New York Times best-selling author of The Shameless

“Black Lotus 2: The Vow is a thrilling roller-coaster ride of a mystery that kept me on the edge of my seat!”
—Bernice L. McFadden, author of The Book of Harlan

It’s been months since Kahllah El-Amin, aka the Black Lotus, hung up her pistols, retired from the murder-for-hire business, and finally found peace. But when a police officer is murdered and a familiar flower is left at the crime scene, all signs point to it being the work of the Black Lotus. Someone is trying to frame her. Things get more complicated when the case is handed to Detective James Wolf, a former adversary who has since become a friend.

To clear her name, Kahllah is forced out of retirement and once again must don the mask of the Black Lotus. She races against time to catch the real killer while trying to outrun her most formidable rival. Their deadly game leads to a shocking truth buried under a mountain of lies, as Kahllah attempts to find justice in a world devoid of light. (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle, Hardcover, Paperback

Following Susan Cox’s Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel award-winning debut, The Man in the Microwave Oven is her next delightfully quirky mystery featuring San Francisco transplant Theo Bogart.

Fleeing from a murder and family tragedy in her native England, where she was the scandal du jour for the tabloid press, Theo Bogart changed her name and built an undercover life in a close-knit San Francisco neighborhood. She didn’t expect to find love and friendship there, and now she doesn’t know how—or if—to reveal the truth.

After a confrontation with a difficult neighbor, Theo fears her secrets are about to be uncovered after all. When the woman who threatened to expose her is murdered, Theo is embroiled in the kind of jeopardy she crossed an ocean to escape. Worse yet, dangerous family secrets have followed her. Theo’s grandfather unveils a glimpse of the shadowy world he once inhabited as an agent for the British Secret Service, bringing an even bigger breed of trouble—and another death—to Theo’s doorstep. She finds herself fighting to protect herself, her family, and her new friends, aware that one of them might be a murderer.

Susan Cox has once again painted a delightfully quirky portrait of a colorful San Francisco neighborhood and a woman finding her way through exactly the kind of scandalous mystery she was trying to leave behind. (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle, Hardcover

1912. Released from the Secret Service, Wiggins sets out for New York and his lost lover Bela. But after an altercation on board, he finds himself among the low-life of Britain’s poorest city, Dublin.

Wiggins falls in with gangster Patrick O’Connell and is soon driving the boss’s girlfriend around town. Molly wants O’Connell to support her Irish nationalist cause – a cause needing guns to defeat the British – and then they go to find them in America.

Finally, Wiggins can solve the mystery of Bela – and meet his old mentor, Sherlock Holmes in a story of escalating intrigue, danger and violence. (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle, Hardcover, Audiobook

1 DOWN: DEATH BY HOMICIDE

Quinn Carr wishes her life could be more like a crossword puzzle: neat, orderly, and perfectly arranged. At least her passion for puzzles, flair for words—and mild case of OCD—have landed her a gig creating crosswords for the local paper. But if she ever hopes to move out of her parents’ house, she can’t give up her day job as a waitress. She needs the tips. But when a customer ends up dead at her table—face down in biscuits and gravy—Quinn needs to get a clue to find whodunit . . .

6 LETTERS, STARTS WITH “M”

It turns out that solving a murder is a lot harder than a creating a crossword. Quinn has plenty of suspects—up, down, and across.  One of them is her boss, the owner of the diner who shares a culinary past with the victim. Two of them are ex-wives, her boss’s and the victim’s. A third complication is the Chief of Police who refuses to allow much investigation, preferring the pretense their town has no crime. To solve this mystery, Quinn has to think outside the boxes—before the killer gets the last word . . .

“FRESH, FAST, AND FURIOUSLY FUN . . . Becky Clark writes with wry wit, a keen eye, and no shortage of authority.”
—Brad Parks , Shamus Award-winning author (on Fiction Can Be Murder)

Includes original crossword puzzles! (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle, Paperback

Masquerades, mimosas … and murder

It’s a dream come true for Frances Palmer: A voyage from Australia to

England on the “Empress of the Sea”, together with her fiancé Jack

Sullivan and her Uncle Sal, aka “Salvatore the Magnificent”. They’ve

been hired to entertain the passengers with magic tricks and daring

stunts.

But all is not well below deck, with jealousy and larceny ruffling the

cheerful atmosphere.

Frances and Jack soon find themselves in stormy seas, together with

newfound allies. When a passenger is found dead after a costume ball

and one of Frances’s new friends is accused of murder, they decide to

secretly dive into the case.

Nothing is plain sailing, though, against a cunning murderer. Will Jack

and Frances and their friends get to the bottom of the truth, or will they

sink in the sea of deception?

Murder Makes Waves is the third mystery in this cozy series set in the

early 1930s. (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle, Paperback

A quiet life for Aubrey?
After spending several months banged up in Sunny Banks rescue centre, Aubrey, a large tabby cat, has finally found his forever home with Molly and Jeremy Goodman, and life is looking good.
However, all that changes when a serial killer begins to target elderly victims in the neighbourhood.
Aubrey wasn’t particularly upset by the death of some of the previous victims, including Miss Jenkins whom Aubrey recalls as a vinegar-lipped bitch of an old woman who enjoyed throwing stones at cats, but Mr Telling was different.
Mr Telling was a mate… (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle, Paperback

It’s Christmastime in idyllic Saddle Hill, Kentucky. As the town hums with the excitement of the season, no one suspects that something sinister is bubbling beneath its merry surface.

Old rivalries are reignited, and family tension reaches a breaking point when a special Christmas piece is stolen from Stockton’s Jewel Palace and one of the town’s prominent Santa Clauses is arrested for the crime.

Now it’s up to Marian Bright, a veteran mall elf, to get to the bottom of a scandal that threatens to ruin relationships, businesses, and lives. (Amazon)

Editions Available: Paperback

Family is everything. Unless they kill you

Franklin and Wendy Becker’s motorhome trip across the country skids off course when they discover Charlie Gosling’s body in a campground. Charlie’s dysfunctional family offers no shortage of suspects: the man’s ex-wife, two disgruntled brothers-in-law, a ditzy sister-in-law, and more. When the county sheriff leaves for an emergency and the Elk Rump, Idaho, townspeople fail to help, the Beckers speed ahead with their investigation. But someone is trying to stop them dead in their tire-tracks.

Cooked Goose is the first quirky installment in the Motorhome Murder Mysteries. This series follows bumbling, big-hearted Franklin Becker and his acerbic, technology-loving wife Wendy through a chain of campground capers. Join this mismatched couple as they stumble into and out of homicides throughout the country and face life’s perplexing questions. Will Franklin find a new occupation as fulfilling as his successful Puss and Pooch Pamper Parlors? When will Wendy quit the corporate quagmire and pursue her own dreams? What piece of Grizelda, their old motorhome, will fall off next? (Amazon)

Editions Available: Paperback

“A smart, snappy writer who hits your funny bone!” (Janet Evanovich).

It’s Davis Way’s first slot-tournament season. And it may be her last. Things are dicey at work. A personal assistant goes missing, a little old lady goes on a suspicious winning streak, and a Bellissimo executive goes gaga for Davis. She follows a disappearing slot-tournament player trail to the So Help Me God Pentecostal Church in Beehive, Alabama, then jumps headlong into a high stakes holy scandal. She’s on a losing streak at home, too. Her days, nights, and dinners run together, as Davis juggles a revolving door of uninvited guests, namely her rotten ex-ex-husband, Eddie Crawford. And Bradley Cole thinks three’s a crowd. The worst? Davis doesn’t feel so hot. Maybe it’s the banana pudding, or maybe it’s a little bundle of something else. Double Dip. A reckless ride in the fast lane, and Davis Way can’t find the brakes. (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle, Hardcover, Audiobook

A heartwarming cozy mystery series about losing everything, taking a chance, and starting again.

After suffering a personal tragedy Abby Sullivan buys a huge old seaside mansion she has never even seen, packs up her life in San Francisco, and moves to Holiday Bay Maine, where she is adopted, quite against her will, by a huge Maine Coon Cat named Rufus, a drifter with her own tragic past named Georgia, and a giant dog with an inferiority complex named Ramos. What Abby thought she needed was alone time to heal. What she ended up with was, an inn she never knew she wanted, a cat she couldn’t seem to convince to leave, and a new family she’d never be able to live without.

In book 12 in the series, Lacy takes over as director for the local Thanksgiving Pageant after the director they had appointed is bitten by a snake. The pageant seems to have met with bad luck from the beginning but when the star is found dead in the trap-room Abby becomes convinced the entire production is cursed.

Meanwhile new guests check into the inn including three half sisters, all the same age, who never even knew of the existence of their half siblings prior to the reading of their grandmother’s will. Their grandmother left each granddaughter a third of her extensive fortune but in order to collect the inheritance the sisters must work together to find answers and make decisions in the ten days allotted them to do so. (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle, Paperback

Bay Winchester is living the high life. She’s engaged, owns her own business, and is undergoing a magical transformation, complete with growing powers at every turn. All that changes when a local teenager goes missing at a festival and nobody knows who took her.
The girl’s friends saw the abduction but the description they provide doesn’t match anybody in town. The only other witness is Marcus, her cousin Thistle’s boyfriend, and he was seriously injured in the attack and can’t provide additional information.
Bay is determined to solve the case, although she’s not sure where to look. On top of that, her normal partner in crime is otherwise engaged, which means her mother has decided to tag along for the ride.
Bay is the sort of witch who is willing to put herself on the line to save those who need saving. Unfortunately, this time around, the answers she finds only lead to more questions. On top of that, her great-aunt Willa and cousin Rosemary have arrived in town out of nowhere and they seem to be harboring their own secrets, and it’s something that could change the entire trajectory of Bay’s life.
The Winchesters are loyal, and it’s going to take all of them working together to solve this one. It seems new magic is afoot, and whoever is wielding it is deadly.
Magic, mystery and mayhem are about to collide. Batten down the hatches. The Winchesters are about to take you on a wild ride. (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle, Audiobook

A mysterious guest, rumors of a haunting, and a Halloween-themed murder which will leave you scratching your head.

Eager to celebrate their yearly Halloween party, Brenda Rivers and the staff at Sheffield Bed and Breakfast are absorbed in decorating, preparing menus, and quelling runaway rumors of ghosts. Her guests are fascinated with the idea of hauntings – and while Brenda thinks it would be bad for business, she can’t help but dream up a paranormal surprise that would quickly become the talk of the town…

But when their harmless trick leads to a terrible discovery, their party soon takes a darker turn. With a guest found dead and no shortage of suspects, Brenda soon learns that behind those creepy costumes lurk far too many secrets.

Teaming up with detective Mac Rivers, Brenda must unravel the mystery behind the murder and solve this puzzling case. Can Brenda find the killer and put the paranormal rumors to rest? Or does her inn harbor something much more sinister?

If you’re a fan of cozy mysteries with an amateur sleuth and a sprinkling of the paranormal, then you won’t want to miss Ghouls of Engagement. Grab your copy today! (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle

“Very entertaining. I highly recommend this book to the permanent library of any reader that appreciates a very well written mystery, with some twists and an intelligent plot. You will not be disappointed. Excellent way to spend a cold weekend!”
–Books and Movie Reviews, Roberto Mattos (regarding Murder in the Manor)

PERISHED BY A PAINTING (A LACEY DOYLE COZY MYSTERY—BOOK 6) is book six in a charming new cozy mystery series which begins with MURDER IN THE MANOR (Book #1), a #1 Bestseller with over 100 five-star reviews—and a free download!

Lacey Doyle, 39 years old and freshly divorced, has made a drastic change: she has walked away from the fast life of New York City and settled down in the quaint English seaside town of Wilfordshire.

Fall has arrived in Wilfordshire, bringing with it Fall festivals of food, charming holidays and refreshing return to simple normalcy. To celebrate their new proposal, Lacey and Tom finally get a romantic countryside trip together, and Lacey is thrilled to stumble upon a rare painting in the most unexpected place—a shack on the side of the road.

But Lacey has no idea how rare and valuable his painting actually is. When she finds out the shocking news, she grapples with whether she should return it—when a shocking twist and a dead body put her right in the middle of a crime that she must, with her beloved dog at her side, solve—or else lose all that she has worked for.

SILENCED BY A SPELL (Book #7), FRAMED BY A FORGERY (Book #8), and CATASTROPHE IN A CLOISTER (Book #9) are also available for pre-order! (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle

It’s time to get your jingle bells on and celebrate the holiday season with a whole lot of fun and a little bit of murder with the Christmas Crackers Cozy Mystery Collection.

This limited-time festive collection of holiday whodunits includes 10 new paranormal cozy mystery novellas from ten of your favorite authors, including:

Jane Hinchey, Nancy Warren, Patti Larsen, Beth Prentice, Dionne Lister, Kelly Ethan, Maggie Mundy, Christine Bernard, Polly Holmes, and Susanne Becker.

…happy holiday reading! (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle