New Releases For The Week Of November 8th, 2020–Part 2

Christmas mystery, magic, and matchmaking.

It’s Joanie’s first Christmas as a bakery owner, and although her recipes are perfect, her holiday window decorating skills leave something to be desired.

As items around town disappear, the spirit of the season gets overshadowed. Rumors swirl as residents speculate whodunnit. And when one of the missing pieces is an engagement ring last seen in her shop, Joanie’s reputation as a baker and matchmaker is put in jeopardy.

Joanie thought her new town was safe, but is it? Is it all a prank, or tied to the Christmas gnomes that get moved each night, or is something more sinister going on?

Will Christmas magic be on her side, allowing Joanie to find the ring and win over Heartwood Hollow with her cookies? Or will her efforts for a sweet holiday season for all turn sour?

Sweets and Santa is a paranormal Christmas cozy mystery novella. It and the rest of The Matchmaking Baker series can be read in any order before, during, or after reading The Matchmaker’s Grimoire series. (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle, Paperback

Have you ever been blackmailed?
How would you feel if you were?
We all have secrets we don’t want others to know about.
Several members of the book club did.
But how did someone find out about those secrets?
The blackmailer demanded $3,000 from each of them,
Or the secrets they’d carefully kept would become public knowledge.

When several members of Brigid’s book club are threatened with blackmail and ask her to help them, she can’t refuse. Their secrets are too private to be exposed, so she tries to handle the case on her own, without any help from the sheriff.

Her family isn’t so sure she should get involved. The blackmailing case and her marriage are on a collision course, and she doesn’t know what the right thing is to do.

And then Brigid gets a demand from the blackmailer.

This is the 13th book in the Cottonwood Springs Cozy Mystery Series by a USA Today Bestselling Author and Amazon All-Star. (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle

Have yourself a very Merry Witchmas in Holiday Haven, where the magic and mystery of Christmas is snow joke!

Aurora Hart hates everything Christmas, but how could she turn down the opportunity to serve one year of probation in Holiday Haven versus a full sentence for her crimes? Saddled with a talking squirrel roommate, Aurora is doing her best to keep a low profile as she bides her time. Everything is going fine…until Santa’s sleigh gets stolen.

Now, all eyes are on her and the other town Humbugs, and it’s up to Aurora to keep her behind from ending up back in jail. With the help of a very important person from the North Pole, she finds herself hot on the trail of the real culprit. But it will take her having to do something she’s never done before—accepting new friends and their assistance. Only then will Aurora be able to turn not only her own life around but also Christmas for the entire world!

Will Aurora be able to solve the mystery of who stole Santa’s sleigh in time? Or will the culprit get the final sleigh?

Grab your cup of cocoa, sit in a comfy chair by the cozy fire, and find out now in Sleigh Spells! And be sure to check out the other magical mysteries of the Winter Witches of Holiday Haven series! (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle

This is book 3 in the Hope Herring cozy mystery series by USA TODAY Bestselling Author, J.A. Whiting and Nell McCarthy.
It is a chilly winter season in North Carolina with Hope and her daughter, Cori, getting ready for the holidays.
As she faces her first Christmas without her husband, Hope continues to search for the person responsible for her resident ghost’s century-old murder. After interviewing a descendant of one of the suspects, trouble begins to brew with a false accusation, an unusual gift, and an unpleasant surprise.
Will Hope be able to figure out what’s going on without putting her own life in danger? (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle

2020 is going to be the coziest holiday season yet with cozy mysteries from Ava Mallory, Summer Prescott, Jenna St. James, Laina Turner, Gretchen Allen, Joanna Campbell Slan, S. C. Merritt, Minnie Crockwell, Mona Marple, Rachael Stapleton and Loraine Hudson – along with their favorite holiday cookie recipe!

Gretchen Allen – Lost Claus
Charlotte Moss is one tough cookie, but her new job as Mrs. Claus isn’t what she expected. When Santa goes missing and a body is found, the most wonderful time of the year looks bleak.
Joanna Campbell Slan – How the Cookie Crumbles
Cara Mia Delgatto never met her maternal grandmother. But Nonie Josephina reaches out from the grave with a message for Cara: I left behind a treasure! Can Cara Mia find it before Santa comes to town?
S.C. Merritt – Caramelized Casualty
With the annual holiday unveiling of a giant gingerbread village quickly approaching, Kate Kennedy’s stress level is sky high. When one of the event’s diva celebrity chefs turns up dead, Kate decides she has no choice but to team up with the town’s newest detective if she’s going to pull off the big event. Can she expose the killer in time to save the event?
Minnie Crockwell – Death By Cookie
Widow Sallie Chilcoat decides to get into the holiday spirit by baking up a batch of cookies for her lakeside condominium neighbors only to have one of them turn up dead – with the remains of her cookies! Did Sallie kill her neighbor with her vegan cookies?
Ava Mallory – Christmas Cookie Catastrophe
When Consuelo “Cookie” Alvarez inherits a bakery from her aunt Birdie, she doesn’t expect to take her late aunt’s place in the Christmas Cookie Bake-Off. Now she has two weeks to perfect the super-secret recipe, but there are major obstacles in her way: she can’t bake, the recipe is missing, and her competitors are a who’s who of shady characters.
Summer Prescott – Hang Out The Stalkings
Someone is stealing Nancy’s cookies…will they steal her holiday spirit too?
Jenna St. James – Christmas Cookie Caper
When Ivy O’Brien learns her mother has been injured at the annual Couples Christmas Cookie Contest, she runs to the rescue. Looks like she needs to fill in for her mother and hunky policeman Anthony Romano has to help bake the cookie and question the suspects. Between dough-making disasters, nips of peppermint Schnapps, and rolling pin thefts, the pair slowly whittle down their suspect list.
Mona Marple – The Santa Run Is Murderous Fun
Emily Monk’s run out of excuses not to take part in the annual Santa run, but the festivities are threatened when the long-running Santa Run champ is found dead the day before the race.
With a killer to be caught, and a Christmas dinner to be bought, Emily needs to think fast if she’s going to solve this case before Santa comes.
Rachael Stapleton – Christmas, Corpses & the Gingerdead Flip-Flop
When house flippers Jack Young and Juniper Palmer purchase a colorful Queen Anne home, Juniper assumes the exterior gingerbread trim will be the most outlandish thing to see. That is until a prominent wine merchant dressed as Santa is murdered, and Jack’s mother is caught on the naughty list.
Loraine Hudson – Holly, Jolly Misdeeds
First, it’s a thieving Santa. Next, it’s a prowler that threatens Jenny’s peace. It all seems to revolve around a box of cookies.  Why? And what’s next?  
Laina Turner – Cookies and Crime
What is supposed to be a joy-filled awards ceremony for the Romero Boy Scouts turns out to be anything but when Jean Sartor, Scout co-leader, drops dead on stage.
Trixie lands herself on the suspect list since she baked Christmas cookies for the ceremony. She knows she didn’t poison Jean, but who did? (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle

Have yourself a very Merry Witchmas in Holiday Haven, where the magic and mystery of Christmas is snow joke!

Lumi Northrop is a powerful guardian of the north—the North Star Reindeer Sanctuary, that is.

When Rudolph vanishes the week before Christmas, Lumi is thrust from the peace and quiet of her family’s farm, into the magical town of Holiday Haven to help find him.

Lumi quickly discovers that Rudolph isn’t the only local celebrity who’s gone missing. Jack Frost is also MIA, just days before his coronation as the next Frost King.

Teaming up with Corbin Frost, Jack’s reclusive brother, Lumi finds more questions than answers. What she thinks is an odd coincidence quickly turns into something more sinister.

With time running out for Rudolph and Jack, can Lumi use her powers to save the North Pole?

Grab your cup of cocoa, sit in a comfy chair by the cozy fire, and find out now in Reindeer Runes! And be sure to check out the other magical mysteries of the Winter Witches of Holiday Haven series! (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle

Have yourself a very Merry Witchmas in Holiday Haven, where the magic and mystery of Christmas is snow joke!

Hardworking witch, Rudie Hollybrook, adores her quaint town of Holiday Haven, located near Santa’s Workshop at the North Pole, but can’t help feeling like an outsider. Not only does she have the unique ability to see ghosts, but she also runs the Hollybrook Funeral Home with her sisters. In a town where the holiday cheer is turned up to eleven all year round, Rudie’s slightly eerie abilities make her feel like a misfit.

While volunteering at the Christmas Market days before the big celebration, Rudie witnesses a tragedy. One of the volunteer club’s chairwomen is murdered by poisonous hot cocoa, sending the charming town reeling.

When Rudie’s tasked by the dead woman’s ghost to find her killer, she teams up with her crush at the local paper to do some sleuthing. Together, they uncover embezzlement, bribery and an illegal potions ring, all with ties to the murdered woman. Could it be the rebellious teenage granddaughter with a less-than-stellar taste in men? Or maybe the town doctor with a mysterious past? Rudie’s investigation even leads her to suspect her nemesis, the bully with a history of getting what she wants–no matter the cost.

With the countdown to Christmas nearly at an end, and the restless spirit threatening to haunt her holiday, Rudie races to catch the cocoa killer and make her beloved town safe again.

Will Rudie unmask the culprit and prove she’s a vital member of this charming Christmas town? Or will a murderer roam free and ruin Christmas for all of Holiday Haven?

Grab your cup of cocoa, sit in a comfy chair by the cozy fire, and find out now in Cocoa Curses ! And be sure to check out the other magical mysteries of the Winter Witches of Holiday Haven series! (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle

Blissful is locked in a house full of spirits two days before Christmas? Will she escape in time to enjoy Christmas with Roan?

Blissful Breneaux is expecting a quiet, uneventful Christmas with her fiancé Roan, but all that changes when a ghost from her past needs her help locating someone—Blissful’s father, Vince Breneaux, who happens to be dead. With the help of a local medium and her annual Christmas seance, Blissful is ready to tackle the job.

But things go haywire when the medium winds up with a knife in her chest. Things get worse when Blissful finds herself locked in the house with the seance guests, one of whom is a murderer. Unable to escape until morning, Blissful has one night to find the killer and contact her father. Can she survive long enough to do both, or will Blissful become the next victim of the Christmas murderer?

Find out now! (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle

Have yourself a very Merry Witchmas in Holiday Haven, where the magic and mystery of Christmas is snow joke!

Top toy designer Star Clearwater is convinced that Christmas is cursed. What’s supposed to be her hard-earned vacation turns into chaos when her mother lures her to the North Pole only for all spell to break loose at her arrival.

A heinous hex threatens the entire toy production inside Santa’s Toy Workshop, putting millions of children’s wishes in jeopardy. If her mother—who reports directly to Mrs. Claus—can’t get things under control, Christmas won’t be the only thing getting canned.

Star has no choice but to crash at her mother’s cottage in the charming magical town of Holiday Haven. The sooner she can find the Scrooge responsible for the crime, the faster she can get back to her normal life.

Armed with her witchy wits, Star accepts help from a talking husky and the cute guy running the town bookstore as she follows the trail while the countdown to Christmas Day ticks away.

Will Star find a way to catch the criminal and reverse the hex? Or will Christmas be canceled this year?

Grab your cup of cocoa, sit in a comfy chair by the cozy fire, and find out now in Holiday Hexes! And be sure to check out the other magical mysteries of the Winter Witches of Holiday Haven series! (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle

Have yourself a very Merry Witchmas in Holiday Haven, where the magic and mystery of Christmas is snow joke!

After five years of running the Holiday Haven Inn, Carolyn Highcrest thinks she can handle anything. She and her best friend Mercy are determined to make their festive weekend celebrations the best they can possibly be, despite being surrounded by scheming rivals, melodramatic theatre group members and overenthusiastic carollers.

What Carol didn’t anticipate was a visit from her eccentric family, whose knack for trouble and attachment to their cringeworthy custom-made hats threaten to derail her focus. To make things worse, a magical wishing box intended for the weekend’s event disappears, and soon after, a string of inexplicable pranks hits the inn, seemingly a result of the box’s powerful magic.

Carol is inclined to blame both the theft and the pranks on her long-term business rival, Janice, but all too soon, events are spiralling out of control. Can Carol fix the trouble before the holiday cheer is ruined?

Grab your cup of cocoa, sit in a comfy chair by the cozy fire, and find out now in Winter Wishes! And be sure to check out the other magical mysteries of the Winter Witches of Holiday Haven series! (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle

A baker who sees the dead. One too many suitors.
And a killer. Living in Honey Hollow can be murder.

*A laugh out loud cozy mystery by New York Times Bestseller Addison Moore* Each book in the series can be read individually so dive on in! ***Includes RECIPE***

My name is Lottie Lemon, and I see dead people. Okay, so I rarely see dead people, mostly I see furry creatures of the dearly departed variety who have come back from the other side to warn me of their previous owner’s impending doom.

It’s time for the Jingle Hop Ball in Honey Hollow, and the Christmas Angels are hosting an auction to go along with it to help benefit needy families. When a painting rumored to be haunted is auctioned off to Carlotta, it brings more trouble than one could imagine. The snow is falling, the accusations are flying, and it’s beginning to look a lot like murder.

Lottie Lemon has a brand new bakery to tend to, a budding romance with perhaps one too many suitors, and she has the supernatural ability to see the dead—which are always harbingers for ominous things to come. Throw in the occasional ghost of the human variety, a string of murders, and her insatiable thirst for justice, and you’ll have more chaos than you know what to do with.

Living in Honey Hollow can be murder. (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle, Paperback

It is royal race day at Ascot, 1923. Lady Dorothea Dorchester, Dodo, has been invited by her childhood friend, Charlie, to an exclusive party in a private box with the added incentive of meeting the King and Queen.
Charlie appears to be interested in something more than friendship when a murder interferes with his plans. The victim is one of the guests from the box and Dodo cannot resist poking around. When Chief Inspector Blood of Scotland Yard is assigned to the case, sparks fly between them again. The chief inspector and Dodo have worked together on a case before and he welcomes her assistance with the prickly upper-class suspects. But where does this leave poor Charlie?
Dodo eagerly works on solving the murder which may have its roots in the distant past. Can she find the killer before they strike again? (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle, Paperback

FenellaWoods is happy to look at apartments with her boyfriend, police inspector Daniel Robinson. He wants to move closer to Fenella and central Douglas, and she’s delighted. While they’re visiting an apartment, however, someone unearths a box labeled “poison” behind an unused wine cellar in the building next door.

Daniel is quick to offer to investigate while Fenella keeps apartment hunting. When she finds the perfect apartment, though, it’s just a little bit outside the inspector’s budget. Before Fenella can try to persuade him to let her help buy the place, however, a skeleton is discovered in the same unused space and Daniel is back on duty.

Before long, the police have a list of men who went missing around the time they believe the body was hidden. Now they simply have to search for the men and try to work out how the body ended up under what had once been a luxury hotel.

Can Fenella help Daniel work out which missing man has been found? Can they discover how the man died and who hid the body? And can they find an apartment that Daniel can afford, or will Fenella persuade the man to let her help him buy the perfect, if slightly too expensive, apartment just a few doors away from her building? (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle

ROMANTIC GETAWAY BUZZKILL:
DEATH NEVER TAKES A HOLIDAY!

Harried, overworked architect Kate Benedict has no sooner stepped off the ferry to a tiny, remote island in Seychelles, primed to de-stress and celebrate at a destination wedding, than she spots imminent danger – auras spinning above the heads of two people on the dock. One’s a stranger, but the other’s the groom!

Kate has a gift – or possibly a curse. Unfortunately for her, she can predict death. When she sees the spinning circle of air above someone’s head, her heart sinks. She calls it an aura, and unless she can locate the source of danger and intervene, the person is destined to die within a matter of days.

But since the potential victim must be convinced of the danger, usually there’s no way to intervene with a stranger. When the second man is found drowned, Kate knows she has to tell her boyfriend Josh that the groom, Josh’s close friend from college, has an aura.

It’s hard to convince Josh’s friends that a murderer is lurking among the gracious islanders, the chill tourists, and serene natural beauty – but with a suspicious fire and a third aura sighting, the evidence is mounting. Until they can find the murderer, Kate and Josh have to keep the groom safe and fend off the worst wedding crasher ever – Death!

Who will like it? Everyone who fancies a tropical paradise adventure, especially those who delight in a slight hint of the paranormal. Fans of American cozy writers like Barbara Michaels and her colleague Carolyn Hart (in her Bailey Ruth series) as well as fans of traditional British mysteries, from Agatha Christie right through Tana French, will love Kate. (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle

With foxes and wolves at each other’s throats, the only solution is to listen to the witch!

Homecoming fever is gripping Ardensville and it’s all Thea Beal can do to keep up in her shop. Life has been going great, recently. She and Blaine have been dating and thoughts of a future together fill her mind.

But then…another murder rocks the festivities.

The victim? A local bad boy wolf shifter. He was also a lady killer. Maybe it was his wolfish good looks that women were drawn to. And perhaps the reason husbands abhorred him. He lived with his kind on the edge of town in beaten up trailers and campers. Most folks leave them be…there’s nothing good that can come out of there, at least that’s what’s been told down through the years.

But this murder will prove they weren’t really all that bad. And it might even bring up some of the town’s older, deeper secrets that everyone wants to keep buried.

Just in time for homecoming. (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle, Paperback