Review of Frothy Foul Play

Frothy Foul Play

Killer Coffee, Book #9

Tonya Kappes

5 Stars

Synopsis:

Welcome to the Bean Hive Coffeehouse where the coffee is as hot as the gossip!

“Fabulous fun and fantastic fried food! Kappes nails small town mystery with another must-read hit. Don’t miss this one!”

– Darynda Jones, New York Times Bestselling Author of Eighth Grave After Dark

Welcome to Honey Springs where the gossip flows as freely as the coffee. and The Bean Hive Coffee shop was usually the magnet to where it all occurred.

Honey Springs, Kentucky is abuzz with the opening of a new holistic health spa. There are all sorts of outsiders in town to visit and participate in the opening. A reviewer from a famous magazine is there, but he has the bad habit of writing scathing reviews of everywhere he visits.

Could this be trouble for the grand opening?

Add to the mix Loretta Bebe (the town socialite) wants her granddaughter, Birdie, to work for Roxy, so what if she has a bad reputation that’s a mile long?

Things get a little frothy after the famous magazine reviewer turns up dead and the weapon is found on Birdie.

Do you think Loretta is going to let anyone but Roxy Bloom use her lawyering skills to solve the murder?

You’re darn-tootin’ she aint!

Grab your coffee and hold on to your hat, this southern mystery is full of red-herrings with all sorts of snorts that’ll having you wanting to stay for bit longer at the Bean Hive! (Goodreads)

Review:

The characters are well developed and well rounded.  Roxy is a hard worker and she wants her coffee shop, the Bean Hive, to succeed.  She has friends and family that are very willing to help her with that goal.  When someone is killed and her new employee is a person of interest, she knows she has to find the killer.  Hopefully, she will succeed.  

The writing style flows smoothly and the book is an easy read.  The author is very talented in her descriptive writing and it took me for a ride in Honey Spring, Kentucky.  If it was a real place to visit I would be going there on vacation.  

The mystery was well plotted and not easily solved.  There were enough clues to sift through, suspects to consider and twists and turns to navigate through.  You will need to be on top of your game to solve this one.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a well crafted cozy mystery.  You can never go wrong reading a book by this author.

New Releases For The Week Of February 21st, 2021–Part 4

Ellery Page, aspiring screenwriter, reigning Scrabble champion, and occasionally clueless owner of the village’s only mystery bookstore, the Crow’s Nest, is both flattered and bemused when he’s invited to the annual Marauder’s Masquerade, the best and biggest social event of the season in the quaint seaside village of Pirate’s Cove, Rhode Island. The event is hosted by the wealthy Marguerite Bloodworth-Ainsley—a descendant of the famed pirate Tom Blood.

Ellery doesn’t even know Mrs. Bloodworth-Ainsley—nor, it turns out—does Mrs. Bloodworth-Ainsley know him. But Marguerite’s son, Julian wants to know Ellery. Julian, handsome, rich and engaging, is a huge mystery buff. In fact, he’s bought quite a few books at the Crow’s Nest bookstore, but never quite worked up the nerve to ask Ellery out.

As his relationship with Police Chief Carson seems to be dead in the water, Ellery is grateful for a little flattering attention from the village’s most eligible bachelor, but any hopes of romance hit the shoals when Julian is accused of murdering his mother’s unlikable second husband during the Masquerade’s annual ghost hunt in the family’s spooky cemetery (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle

Delicious chocolates and mysterious gifts are leaving quite a deathly impression in the next installment of the Paramour Bay Mysteries by USA Today Bestselling Author Kennedy Layne…

Someone seems to want the local librarian—who just happens to be the town’s friendly neighborhood werewolf—erased from Paramour Bay’s history!

After some strange turn of events, it’s concluded that regifting a box of heart-shaped chocolates might not have been such a great idea. The recipient ends up dead and a puzzling whodunit ensues, while Raven and the gang must band together to protect one of their own.

You’ll want to brew up your own cup of tea before reading this quirky murder mystery…just to be safe! (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle, Hardcover, Paperback

To solve a case so strange, this witch could use a stronger cup of tea.

Fifth Wind witch Ruby True has spent seventeen years wrangling stubborn spirits in the magical town of Eastwind. Now in her mid-forties, she’s starting to feel like she’s seen it all.

But that’s about to change.

When a simple case of a missing werebear takes an unexpected turn, Eastwind’s angel sheriff enlists Ruby’s psychic gifts to help find the culprit. But a string of suspicious attacks and rumblings of an old sinister legend lead Ruby True and Sheriff Bloom into uncharted territory.

Will they find the one responsible for the carnage before it finds them?

Werebear Scare: An Eastwind Witches Paranormal Cozy Mystery is the first book of the Ruby True Magical Mystery series that takes place 30 years before the Eastwind Witches Cozy Mysteries. If you like strong female friendships, gossipy quaint towns, and lighthearted humor, you will love Nova Nelson’s delightful tale!

Buy Werebear Scare to solve the mystery today!

Note: This is a second edition and was previously published under the series True & Bloom. (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle

Reviewers are giving this new mystery series five stars! Perfect for fans of Christy Barritt and Molly Fitz.

A heated religious argument. A murder that’s not as obvious as it seems. A first date gone very, very wrong.

Mallory Beck didn’t expect to start dating her detective friend and childhood crush, Alex Martinez. At the very least, after her husband’s recent death, she didn’t expect to date someone she really likes so soon. But this isn’t a real date anyway. It’s a Bible study, and she has some questions about God, not to mention the pressing need to escape her recently freeloading father for an evening. Besides, how heated could things get at a Bible study?

The heat, it turns out, burns between two other attendees with opposing opinions on alcohol. When one storms out of the meeting early and then later turns up dead, Alex and Mallory find themselves at the heart of another murder investigation.

Can they uncover the secrets simmering through their cozy community town to get to the truth? Download this new mystery now to find out! (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle, Paperback

Death is on the horizon…

When recently divorced Chloe Canton is gifted her grandmother’s house in Bermuda in her will, it seems a perfect time for a fresh start.

Her chance at paradise comes with a rundown business, a neighbour who is putting pressure on her to sell up for development, and another who quickly makes herself comfortable in Chloe’s house.

If that wasn’t enough, Chloe discovers a dead body on the local riding trail soon after she arrives and finds herself dragged into a murder investigation.

With tensions rising and island gossip to contend with, as well as a murder in their midst, has Chloe bitten off more than she can chew?

Will Chloe stick it out and help solve the case or will paradise turn out to be too hot to handle?

Murder on the Island is the first book in the gripping Chloe Canton Mystery Series.

Set on beautiful Bermuda, Murder On The Island is perfect escapism. It will appeal to readers of Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club as well as fans of authors like LJ Ross and Faith Martin. (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle, Paperback

More puzzling apparitions mystify Mina Scarletti in her next investigation! Perfect for fans of Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christie and Antonia Hodgson…

Someone from Mina’s past has returned to plague her…

Brighton, 1872

.

Mina Scarletti is helping prepare for her brother Edward’s imminent wedding when she finds out Mr Beckler – a man who previously courted her under false pretences – is once more on the scene.

Mr Beckler claims to be able to capture spirits when taking photographs, and with her brother Richard now working for him, Mina is curious to see his pictures for herself.

She is shocked when the ghost of her father does indeed seem to appear in a photo taken of her family, yet certain it must be a fraud.

Mina soon realises that Beckler is targeting the families of the deceased whose spirits appear in his photographs, many of whom have died in mysterious circumstances.

And before long, Beckler’s claims attract her worst enemy back to Brighton…

Is Mr Beckler genuine in his claims to be able to photograph the dead? What connects the families he is targeting?

And is he determined once again to try and ruin Mina’s reputation…?

THE CYANIDE GHOST is the sixth cosy mystery in Linda Stratmann’s intriguing historical series, the Mina Scarletti investigations, a traditional British detective series with a feisty woman sleuth set in Victorian Brighton.

‘Linda Stratmann has provided an indomitable heroine in Mina Scarletti’ – Promoting Crime Blog

‘Linda Stratmann is happily feeding the unquenchable thirst for Victorian crime fiction’ – Crime Fiction Lover

THE MINA SCARLETTI MYSTERY SERIES:
Book One: Mr Scarletti’s Ghost
Book Two: The Royal Ghost
Book Three: An Unquiet Ghost
Book Four: The Ghost of Hollow House
Book Five: His Father’s Ghost
Book Six: The Cyanide Ghost (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle

Maggie’s friend Nora is charged with trying to murder her younger boy toy husband, and Maggie is sure it’s a bum rap. But to clear her friend’s name, she’s going to have to break a few laws herself….

Maggie McJasper is starting over in a little California beach town. She has a craft shop, a nice circle of friends, and a handsome movie star who keeps flirting with her. Life would be pretty great if she could just stop stumbling over dead bodies….

The Carita Cove romantic mysteries are fun and heartwarming reads, with no swearing or love scenes, and no gruesome violence to keep you up at night. Collect them all:

1. Maggie and the Black-Tie Affair
2. Maggie and the Inconvenient Corpse
3. Maggie and the Mourning Beads
4. Maggie and the Empty Noose
5. Maggie and the Hidden Homicide
6. Maggie and the Whiskered Witness
7. Maggie and the Serpentine Script
8. Maggie and the Rattled Rake (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle

It’s autumn and to Jasmine Mai that means happiness.

No more scorching hot days, or sweltering nights. It’s the time for comfort food and hot drinks and sitting on her patio watching the leaves turn the landscape into glorious shades of red, yellow and orange.

It’s undoubtedly her favourite time of the year.

That is, until Jasmine finds an unwanted guest on her precious pumpkin patch.

An unwanted, un-moving, un-breathing, un-alive guest.

Her least favourite kind.

Now with a pumpkin patch covered in shattered pumpkins and a town of shattered pumpkin growers’ hearts turning to her for answers, Jasmine finds herself looking around at the people she’s known her whole life wondering who could be the culprit of such a callous act.

Now if only she could focus on finding the killer instead of having to field the questions about what will happen to the inaugural Pinot and Pumpkins festival.

Join Jasmine in Pinot and Pumpkins, the third book in the Barossa Valley Cozy Mystery series. It’s a rollicking good time on the rolling hills of the beautiful Barossa Valley with the usual band of big-heart, big-mouthed inhabitants of South Australia’s premier wine country. That is, if you don’t mind the appearance of a corpse or two. (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle

What seems like an unfortunate fall turns out to be far more disturbing, as a blind detective discovers, in this mystery from the author of The Last Express.

Following the loss of his sight in World War I, ex–intelligence officer Capt. Duncan Maclain honed his other senses and became one of the most successful and well-known private investigators in New York City . . .

Wealthy businessman Dryden Winslow spent over twenty years self-exiled in Australia, but he’s recently returned to the United States. He’s staying at Doncaster House, a luxury hotel in Manhattan, where he’s rented out six suites for himself and his estranged family. Given Winslow’s weakened heart has him on the verge of death, the hotel staff are on high alert, knowing he could drop at any moment. Of course, no one expects him to drop from his balcony . . .

Captain Maclain is playing chess with the hotel manager when a startled housekeeper reports her account of Winslow’s accident, claiming she heard whistling before the fall. Stranger yet, when Maclain examines the body, he declares Winslow was hanged. Now, with his seeing eye dog at his side and a hotel full of secrets, Maclain sets out to prove his case. It’s a lofty goal and, with a lunatic killer still roaming the hotel, a dangerous one too.Baynard Kendrick was the first American to enlist in the Canadian Army during World War I. While in London, he met a blind English soldier whose observational skills inspired the character of Capt. Duncan Maclain. Kendrick was also a founding member of the Mystery Writers of America and winner of the organization’s Grand Master Award. (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle

When opera singer André Bernardi arrives in the tiny mountainside town of Idyllwild, California, as yet the Wild West of 1912, mysterious accidents follow him. Can Loveda Brown prevent his murder while dealing with the advances of a passionate artist, and will a zealous paleontologist dig up more than he expected? A shocking package on the stagecoach might hold all the answers. (Amazon)\

Editions Available: Kindle

Pepper Boucher is a witch running for her life.

Haunted by dreams of murder and witch burnings, Pepper wants nothing more than a normal life but everything changes when she meets Leon. Will he kill her or save her from a fate worse than death.

The murders of the Graves Parish witches are just the beginning. Someone wants pepper dead and they will stop at nothing to see it happen. Her only chance is a rogue vampire and a long-dead witch. (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle

Three mystery novelettes featuring a blind detective and his two trusty German Shepherds by the author of Out of Control.

Following the loss of his sight in World War I, ex–intelligence officer Capt. Duncan Maclain honed his other senses and became one of the most successful and well-known private investigators in New York City. These are some of his adventures . . .

In “The Silent Whistle,” the captain heads west to California with his seeing eye dog Schnucke to advise on a television series about a blind man, but things go south when he discovers the studio head’s secretary with a knife in his back . . .

In “Melody in Death,” the captain is visiting a friend at the Knickerbocker Opera Company with Schnucke when he finds the body of a wealthy benefactor backstage . . .

In “The Murderer Who Wanted More,” a young artist is on edge after she’s attacked in her Manhattan apartment building and almost shot near her aunt’s Staten Island mansion. Fortunately, she has one friend whose unique powers of detection come in handy in times like these: Captain Maclain!Baynard Kendrick was the first American to enlist in the Canadian Army during World War I. While in London, he met a blind English soldier whose observational skills inspired the character of Capt. Duncan Maclain. Kendrick was also a founding member of the Mystery Writers of America and winner of the organization’s Grand Master Award. (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle

A blind PI’s latest case involves two impostors, one uranium mine, and murder in this mystery by the author of Reservations for Death.

Following the loss of his sight in World War I, ex–intelligence officer Capt. Duncan Maclain honed his other senses and became one of the most successful and well-known private investigators in New York City . . .

The man following Captain Maclain home from the Marshall Chess Club is only the beginning of the detective’s troubles. Later that day, Maclain has an appointment with Pat Ashley and Henry Wilkins, the two operators of New York state’s only uranium mine, but the wintery weather causes a car crash that sends Ashley to an early grave and Wilkins to the emergency room. Hoping to speak with Wilkins the moment he comes to, Maclain rushes to his bedside, but a clever assassin prevents Wilkins from ever uttering another word.

The next morning, the FBI takes Maclain across town for a rude awakening: the two dead men were not Ashley and Wilkins—and Maclain needs to stay away from this case. Unfortunately, that’s easier said than done, considering who’s waiting for him back home . . .Baynard Kendrick was the first American to enlist in the Canadian Army during World War I. While in London, he met a blind English soldier whose observational skills inspired the character of Capt. Duncan Maclain. Kendrick was also a founding member of the Mystery Writers of America and winner of the organization’s Grand Master Award (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle

Carmen Bleu and Hester Razzlebaum have been best friends since preschool. When tragedy strikes the Bleu Pop Shop, Hester invites Carmen to set up her soda shop in a small corner of Razzlebaums, a wildly popular 1950’s style diner. Trouble follows Carmen, though, and before long Hester finds her own business in jeopardy. Through Hester’s uncanny ability to speak with the dead, she discovers that there’s something more than carbonic acid and high fructose corn syrup behind Carmen’s signature BleuRazz soda pop.

Hester must figure out Carmen’s secret before Razzlebaums fizzles out, and they both end up bankrupt, maybe even dead…or worse. (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle, Paperback

It’s just a little wooden angel…

… or is it?

Kris is sure it’s the key to a murder.

Thrilled by her new journalist gig, Kris’s first story blows up when a source turns up dead. Now she’s after the big scoop, even when her boss says to drop it. Aided by the most eligible bartender in town and a sidekick who talks to ghosts, she follows a trail that leads to the past.

Is someone killing today…

… to hide a decades-old secret?

There’s a murderer on the streets of Silver City, and Kris is in way over her head. But if she doesn’t stop them, nobody will.

A horrific message makes one thing clear…

… Kris is next on the list.

You’ll love this cozy mystery because the past won’t stay buried, and enthusiastic reporters get into so much trouble.

Get it now. (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle

An antique marketplace is coming to Harmony! Everyone in the village is excited about the big event, whether wanting their antiques appraised or finding some to buy. Also eager for this weekend event are those who operate at the fringe of the antique world. Con artists offering questionable wares. Scammers claiming knowledge they don’t possess. Grifters working in teams to trick the unwary. When a body is discovered and a local antique dealer falls under suspicion as the murderer, Jackie agrees to help prove his innocence. But is she defending a guilty man?
An Appraisal to Die For is fourth in the Parker Photography Cozy Mystery Series. Enjoy this fun cozy mystery set in the village of Harmony on the banks of the Wisconsin River. (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle