New Releases For The Week Of June 20th, 2021–Part 4

Ever since moving to Pinecroft Cove, Tamsyn has been faced with more questions than she can shake a stick at. What type of witch is she? What happened to her mother? Why can’t she bake a pie without it exploding?

As this final mystery unfolds, she may finally get the answers she’s been seeking. Or, an evil witch and a demon baby might bring about the end of the world. It could go either way.Don’t miss the thrilling conclusion of the Witches of Pinecroft Cove series! (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle

Framed and Frosted, the third book in the Cupcake Catering Mystery series, finds cupcake caterer, Emory Martinez, working at a Laguna Beach society Fourth of July soiree, with her sister and their new employee, Sal. With a host who seems intent on accosting both catering employees and guests alike, things go from bad to worse when he accuses Sal of murdering his long-dead son. As the crescendo of exploding fireworks overhead becomes the backdrop for cupcakes and champagne, a deadly murder occurs. Can Sal and Emory explain why the cupcake the host ate, after shoving a trayful of buttercream-frosted cupcakes onto Sal, resulted in his death? Or will the detective and guests alike believe that Sal is a murderer? Emory and her octogenarian employer, Tillie, whip into action to find out who framed Sal after he was frosted by the victim. Includes recipes! (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle

Witty and irascible Rose McKenzie tackles Denver’s criminal cases with a woman’s intuition and a loaded Smith and Wesson tucked in her skirt pocket.

Eager for adventure beyond her scientific experiments, Rose accepts her uncle’s challenge to become Denver’s first female private detective. When a wealthy woman employs her to track down a burglar, Rose zealously applies her unique investigative talents to prove she can handle any job. After two more home invasions turn violent, Rose races to find the perpetrator before another innocent shows up on a slab at the city morgue.

With the stakes raised, Rose employs the help of her friend, the attractive Dr. Taylor Whitman, to lure the perpetrator out of hiding—with Rose as the bait. What Rose fails to foresee is the complexity of the crime, involving more than one perpetrator tasked with silencing her. Will her cunning be enough to unravel the clues before it’s too late?

Step into Denver’s bustling city streets at the turn of the century with Rose McKenzie, a spirited private investigator, and a woman brave enough to undertake any case.

Don’t miss The Case of the Peculiar Inheritance, a stand-alone novel in the delightfully entertaining McKenzie Sisters Mystery series. (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle, Paperback

Clever and feisty Cassandra McKenzie engages her newest assignment for the Pinkerton Agency with a knack for deception and a blade in her boot.

Smart, skilled, and unafraid to get her hands dirty, Cassandra grudgingly takes on a new assignment in one of Colorado’s busiest mining towns, where murder and theft draw her deep into a puzzle of lies, quarries, and forgery.

When the mysterious and handsome Quinn Morgan is enlisted to help solve the case, she reluctantly accepts his presence for an undercover scheme meant to draw out the crooks and retrieve the stolen money before they end up buried in a mountainside. Will their talents be enough to untangle truth from deceit before they run out of time?

Ride the rails to Durango at the turn of the century with Cassandra McKenzie, a woman cunning enough to solve the toughest cases in some of the Rockies most rugged and beautiful places.

Immerse yourself in The Case of the Copper King, a stand-alone novel in the delightfully entertaining McKenzie Sisters Mystery series. (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle, Paperback

Sometimes in Landover, the puzzles fight to stay unsolved.

In 1962, the Landover History Museum was quietly robbed in the dead of night. Thieves made off with precious jewels worth millions of dollars including ones loaned to the museum by one of Landover’s richest residents.

As police began tracking down leads, they discovered the body of Wyatt Mills in an abandoned building they believed the missing jewels were hidden in. 

The young man had a stolen engagement ring from the museum heist in his pocket, but no other jewels were found in the building. And the case was never solved.

Now, Wyatt’s family has come to Carly for help solving his murder and uncovering the story. They say they want to clear his name, but Carly knows they’d really like her to use her mediumship abilities to find out information about where the stolen jewels are. 

There’s a reward for their return, and many in Landover believe they’re hidden somewhere in town and that a puzzle was left behind about their whereabouts, involving the room Wyatt was found in. 

But when Carly meets Wyatt’s ghost, she knows there’s much more to the puzzle than that.

And it involves Landover’s curse, the scrapbooks, and the ring itself.

Can Carly figure out where she fits into this puzzle and solve Wyatt’s murder, even as the pieces start falling apart around her? (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle, Paperback

Deep in the wilderness, murder awaits…

Jasmine imagined a relaxing camping trip along the beautiful White Mountain trail would be the perfect way to take a break and forget about the murder investigations plaguing her life. However, she can’t shake the feeling that something is wrong—and when she experiences a harrowing vision soon after embarking on her trip, her suspicions are confirmed.

After she and her group stumble upon shocking new information about a long-lost cold case, Jasmine’s hopes of a quiet getaway are crushed. Isolated from the outside world and armed only with her wits, she becomes determined to solve the murder—but it quickly becomes clear that somebody is hell-bent on stopping the truth from ever being brought to light…

As the weather turns sour and tensions rise within her group, Jasmine scrambles to unmask the killer and identify the elusive threat that haunts her visions. Is a mysterious killer lurking on the mountainside? Or does someone in her group harbour a dark secret?

If you love thrilling detective stories with plenty of tension, a loveable sleuth, and a head-scratching who-dun it, then Jasmine’s adventure on the White Mountain trail is a fun and cozy paranormal mystery that will keep you coming back for more. (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle, Hardcover

Wicked witches. Murder. Mystery.

A cozy mystery with magic, witches, and a ghoul at a magical boarding school.

You’ve never experienced a spelling bee until you’ve tried one at a magical boarding school for witches. Magic is never more dangerous than when it is misspelled. Prepare to be stung by this spelling bee.

As a teacher at the most prestigious magical boarding school for witches, Ms. Vega Bloodmire is in her element doing what she does best—namely, boss people around. She’s ready to show off her academic coaching skills as queen of the spelling bee, demonstrate she’s worthy of being hired back the next school year, and take the Merlin-class Celestor exam to prove she is a powerful and skilled witch.

Yet when a mysterious message is slipped under Vega’s door, alluding to knowledge of her ghoulish secret, her world is turned upside down. She must find out who has discovered her taboo cravings for cadavers and dabblings in forbidden magic before she loses her job or is tried as a criminal.

Unfortunately, she has a mountain of obstacles keeping her from finding her enemy, including an uncooperative magical purse, a nemesis sabotaging the school spelling bee, an interfering do-gooder of an ex-boyfriend, and rival students intent on cursing each other with more than profanities. These teenagers have big hexes and know how to use them.

How is she supposed to keep her word helping a sick student and ghosts she’s promised to do good deeds for when rival students, vengeful teachers, and a micromanaging principal all stand in her way?

Vega must find her new enemy before her life is ruined, she is fired from her summer job before she’s even hired for it, and she becomes the most unfashionable witch in the land.

Can Vega discover who knows her ghoulish secret before they expose her?

This book starts with Vega Bloodmire’s life before working at Womby’s School for Wayward Witches when she was a new and inexperienced teacher at Lady of the Lake School for Girls. GHOUL BOSS is the 10th book in the series of mysteries taking place at a magical academy, but these whodunnits are fine to be read in any order.

Clean, cozy, no sex or swearing, PG 13—perfectly fine for teens or grandmas who like mysteries with magic. (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle

A power struggle for a prominent position. A forbidden romance about to be exposed. A desperate deed that could solve both problems.

Titus Strong finds himself in a once familiar situation—a gathering of the distinguished, wealthy members of the upper class. When he’d moved to this small seaside town, he thought he’d left all of that behind.

The gentlemen have need of a counselor to draw up documents for the establishment of the Whitby Yacht Club, and who better to call upon than the town’s most famous lawyer? It’s a simple task that will bring him a healthy fee to tide him over until he acquires additional clients.

But when one of the rivals for commodore of the club is found murdered in his study, the attorney’s role undergoes a sudden change. Although reluctant, he agrees to employ his skills in defense of one of the members, even though he’s not sure of his innocence.

Is he once again trapped into defending a guilty man? Or is his new client truly blameless?

The only way he’ll find out is to lead his own investigation in a search for the killer. Along with his secretary, Elisabeth Wade, and former Pinkerton Detective Owen Campbell, Titus must once again solve a murder. (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle

The Island – where everyone knows everyone, and secrets are impossible to keep…

‘Be careful, you don’t know them as well as you think. Remember – anyone can kill.’

Juliet has returned to the Isle of Wight from years abroad to visit her sick father and to be reunited with her three sisters – Cassie, a professional musician who seems to have lost her way in life, Mira, who is profoundly deaf, is married to the local vicar but their relationship is falling apart, and Rosalind, glamorous and charming but now deeply unhappy and secretive about her life.

As Juliet’s father lies dying, he issues her with a warning. There is a killer on the loose, and they may be closer than she can ever imagine. He anxiously tells Juliet that he confided a family secret in son-in-law Rhys, and now regrets ever saying a word.

Days later, as the clock strikes one in the morning, a man comes out of Rhys’s church, walks along the path and is run down by a car driven by an unidentified person. When the finger of suspicion points to Juliet, she realises the only way to clear her name is to uncover the secrets her family has been keeping from her for years. But with a killer on the loose, danger is getting closer all the time…

The Island is set on the Isle of Wight – insular, claustrophobic, and where secrets are hard to keep. Mary Grand’s heart-stopping who-dunnits are perfect for fans of Louise Candlish, Agatha Christie and Lucy Foley.

What readers are saying about Mary Grand:

‘Truly a great puzzler with a superb ending! I HIGHLY Recommend!!!’

‘Wow I’m so so impressed it had me gripped start to finish and I couldn’t put it down. I completed within 1 night and such a page turner’

‘So many twists and turns to keep the reader guessing to the very end. An excellent read.’

‘Brilliant if you love psychological thrillers like me.’

‘A sinister “whodunit” that is not your typical police procedural.’ (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle

A piece of cake can prove deadly in the wrong hands…

After a rough first year at Chiswick Park Academy, Ginger has made quite a reputation for herself in the small town of Little Chiswick. Keeping her friends close, and her enemies even closer, Ginger is gearing up for another school year to start, with her delicious recipes and sleuth instincts at bay.

On an inaugural day, in a baking extravaganza where the school is welcoming local media to cover the festive event, everyone is cheerful, celebrating the start of another school season and leaving last year’s events in the past…but things will take a cruel turn when one of the reporters is found dead! What is the cause and who could possibly want the reporter dead?

Ginger is about to dust off her detective skills, especially as the official investigation starts pointing towards herself and her sweet creations as the main suspect for the crime. But can she find the killer in time before her name gets dragged in another mud-sling?

Even more, can she find the truth before another murder occurs on school grounds?

Find out in this cozy mystery full of twists and humour, where our lovely baker and sleuth are about to reveal the darkest secrets of the prestigious school!

*If you like quirky characters, heart-wrenching twists and turns, and lots of mystery and humour, then you’ll love “Piece of Cake”!

Buy “Piece of Cake” and unlock the exciting story of Ginger Burnet today!

Also available with Kindle Unlimited! (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle, Paperback

This classic mystery features a family feud, feline intervention, and the spirited septuagenarian sleuth from The Cat Saw Murder.
 
A strange encounter with a little girl named Claudia and a dead toad sparks Rachel Murdock’s obsessive curiosity, and she winds up renting the house next door just to see how things play out. But soon after she and her cat Samantha move in, Rachel realizes they’ve landed right in the middle of a deadly love triangle that’s created animosity among the three families who now surround her.
 
When Rachel finds Claudia’s great-grandmother dead in her basement, she reaches out to a friend in the LAPD to solve the crime. They soon learn the three households have been torn apart by one husband’s infidelity and a complicated will that could lead to a fortune. In a house plagued by forbidden love, regret, and greed, Rachel will have to trust her intuition, as well as Samantha’s instincts, to survive—and keep Claudia out of the hands of a killer whose work has just begun . . .
 
“You will never regret having made the acquaintance of Miss Rachel Murdock.” —The New York Times

 
The Alarm of the Black Cat was originally published under the pseudonym D. B. Olsen.
 
Praise for Dolores Hitchens
 
“High-grade suspense.” —San Francisco Chronicle on Stairway to an Empty Room/Terror Lurks in Darkness
 
“For those who enjoy Little-Old-Lady detectives, this should be a pleasing mystery, particularly if active LOLs are preferred. . . . Both interesting and unusual is the motive for murder.” —Mystery*File on Cats Don’t Smile (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle, Hardcover

A magician never reveals his secrets. And that goes double for the dead ones.

All Becky Robinson wants is a quiet night in Las Vegas with her ex-boyfriend. Not a lot to ask. But when a magician ends up dead in the middle of his show, it’s up to her and her team to solve the murder.

The police are stumped by the nature of the crime. A theater packed with witnesses saw the magician alive on stage. Ten seconds later, he’s found electrocuted across the room. One thing is clear. When dealing with magic, you can’t trust your own eyes.

To discover whodunit, they must first figure out the how. Can Becky navigate a world filled with illusions, misdirection, and trickery to thwart the perfect crime?

———————————–

Trap Door Murder is the magical fourth installment in the Hollywood Whodunit cozy mystery series.

If you love clumsy heroines, a Hollywood backdrop, quirky suspects, and an adorable rescue puppy this series is for you!

Hollywood Whodunit Series Order

• Book 1: Prime Time Murder
• Book 2: Stand-In Murder
• Book 3: Music City Murder
• Book 4: Trap Door Murder (Amazon)
• Editions Available: Kindle