New Releases For The Week Of July 11th, 2021–Part 2

The first book in a new Norfolk cozy mystery series

In the sleepy Norfolk village of Lipton St Faith, the locals are getting used to their new rationing books and blackout curtains.

The Second World War has brought much change to Lipton St Faith, as well as handsome Lieutenant Eddie Elsner, on a mission all the way from America. But when one of the villagers is found dead, suddenly the war feels much closer to home…

Detective Inspector Edmund Spillers is quick to declare it an unfortunate accident, but young, spirited Anna Grix is less convinced. After striking up an unlikely friendship with Lieutenant Eddie Elsner, the amateur sleuths are determined to find out what really happened.

If you love murder mysteries by Margaret Mayhew, Faith Martin or Joy Ellis, then this unputdownable novel full of unexpected twists and turns, from the bestselling author of Norfolk cozy crime, will have you hooked!

Praise for A Deadly Coincidence:

“A brilliant story.”Tracey, Netgalley ★★★★★

“The conclusion is shocking and unexpected when it is revealed.” Pete, Goodreads Reviewer ★★★★★

“His writing transported the reader to a small market town in Norfolk during World War Two” Peter Rolfe, Goodreads Reviewer ★★★★

“This is the first in a new series by Keith Finney. I enjoyed another Norfolk mystery. Wonderful characters, the outstanding one here being Anna.” Jo Westwell, Goodreads Reviewer ★★★★★

Praise for Keith Finney:

“Loved this cozy mystery set in the British countryside. An intriguing mystery.” Karla, Goodreads Reviewer ★★★★★

“My first Keith Finney read and I am hooked. Love the setting and the characters and subplots are wonderful. Cannot wait for the next in the series.” Alan John Davis ★★★★★

“Great easy read that holds your interest to the end. Look forward to more in this series.” Jeanne, Goodreads Reviewer ★★★★★ (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle, Paperback

She’s the guest of honor… and she’s on her way to jail!

It’s opening day of the convention for Betty Snickerdoodle’s superfans. As fans arrive in droves, the woman behind Betty, Bea Sickles, drives away—in the back of a cruiser!

She’s accused of tampering with a crime scene—and possibly even murder! It’s true, Bea couldn’t resist nosing around a dead body. She’s convinced, though, that the “victim’s” death was an accident. So while she’s under lock and key, her best pals must prove there was no murder—and get Bea out of jail.

Top of the list is Angela, who runs their Betty Snickerdoodle, Inc. enterprise. With the convention underway, though, Angela’s juggling a lot—including a big baking competition, a high-maintenance chef, and the expectations of Betty’s devoted fans. Luckily, Angela’s got help from handsome tech whiz Aseem and Bea’s private detective friend, Pat.

Did the corpse Bea fiddled with die in an accident… or was it murder? And if it was murder, who was the killer? If they don’t find out fast, Bea might pay a steep price for a single moment of curiosity….

Bake It Like Betty is book three of the Betty Snickerdoodle cozy mystery series, which blends mystery, humor, and adventure.

PEPPER FROST traded the snowy New England winters of her youth for the City by the Bay years ago. But through the magic of imagination, she travels home every Christmas. (Amazon)

Editions Available: Paperback

From USA Today Bestselling Author, P.D. Workman!

Blast from the past!

Spring equinox was supposed to be a fun time in Black Sands.

The magical Spring Games are being held in town, with all kinds of new talent and tourists pouring money into the economy. Of course, Reg wasn’t invited to participate, but she figured she’d have a good time watching the entertainment, learning more about how magic works outside of fairy tales, and maybe making some coin with psychic predictions for the tourists.

But instead of the promised state of balance the equinox was supposed to bring, a power shift within the community has disrupted everything, Reg is under investigation for magical crimes, and her footing in Black Sands is more precarious than ever.

“Tell me again how this was all supposed to be fun?”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ P.D. Workman’s witchy writing carries you through a world that can make you stop and wander. Could something like this really happen? Could it be possible? You sure wish it could be. Even the smile you have at the end says this might just be the beginning of a magical new life.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This book has all my favourite things: heart, great writing, nearly-flawless editing, something unusual in the air, and a cat.

Like paranormal mysteries? Psychics, witches, fairies, and more! Award-winning and USA Today Bestselling Author P.D. Workman waves her wand to transport readers to the myth- and magic-filled small town of Black Sands for another paranormal cozy mystery to be solved by Reg Rawlins and her friends.

A self-professed con artist practicing as a contact to the dead, a drop-dead gorgeous warlock, and a psychic cat—what could go wrong?

Fall under Reg’s spell today. (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle, Paperback

Death follows the mysterious Penny like it was her shadow.

Shaking it seems impossible – or is it?

Penny befriends two podcasters of the paranormal as she does her best to keep her unique gifts from killing anyone and everyone she meets. In the form of a Raven, death omens roar in her wake, causing her to skirt the edges of society in her tiny house on wheels.

Will life ever be normal for Penny Nicols?

Or does death have other plans?

One thing’s for sure; The Raven is Watching.

Fall into friendship with the Paranormal Penny Nicols in this convenient boxset containing books 1,2 & 3.

Max Watson – Early Reviewer of Grounded- “Complex, quirky, and compelling. I was gripped from the first sentence and read it straight through–and I was kept guessing at every turn!” (Amazon)

Editions Available: Paperback

I am desperate for freedom, for peace, and for justice.

As I leave captivity and step into the bright sun-filled day, a wave of relief washes over me. I am not free yet, though. Walking between barbed wire topped walls toward the exit gate, I breathe in fresh air, preparing for the next challenge. An enemy posing as a lover waits for me. 

I will evade him, though.

Robert Maxim meets me at the prison gate, his smile predatory and victorious. I blank my mind. If I think about my plan, Robert will see it on my face. He expects me to do something—it’s part of the fun for him.

Is this fun for me, too?

His hand cups my upper arm as he bends to brush a kiss against my cheek. Robert’s scent engulfs me: low notes of sandalwood and fine leather balanced by a sharp tang of cold metal.

“You look lovely,” Robert says.

I’m wearing lightweight black cargo pants, unbuttoned to make room for my growing pregnancy, and tucked into my boots which are laced tight at my ankles—they keep spiders out when in the jungle. Under the parka that Special Agent Consuela Sanchez gave me when we flew back to the States all I have on is a thin tank top. It’s cold here in DC, not so much in Costa Rica.

Robert is wearing a camel hair overcoat a few shades yellower than the copper in his beard. The collar is pulled up and his cheeks are tinged pink from the cold. A soft wind plays with his dark hair gone silver at the temples.

Behind Robert, a black SUV with tinted windows idles. Brock, his head of personal security opens the back door. Brock is big and broad with weathered skin the color of brushed brass. His dark coat captures the sunlight, seeming to hide it somewhere it will never be found.

“Good to have you back, Ms. Rye,” Brock says as I get into the back seat.

“Thanks, Brock. It’s good to be back.” Robert joins me. “Where are we going?” I ask. “To my apartment?”

Robert smiles. “Yes.” 

When Robert faked his own death he really went the extra mile by leaving me most of his worldly possessions, including his apartment in Washington DC. Now that he is forcing me to marry him to avoid prosecution—a husband can choose not to testify against his wife—he’ll be getting his wealth back.

“I may need you to sign a prenup,” I say. “You realize I’m a very wealthy woman.”

Robert laughs as we merge onto the highway. “Your wish is my command.”

“Yeah, right,” I grumble, looking out the window. The industrial area we’re leaving slides by in a smear of speed.

Robert captures my hand, pulling it into his lap. “Sydney,” his voice is serious and I turn to look at him. “I recognize this isn’t what you wanted.”

I huff a laugh. “You’re so observant Robert, was it the threat of giving birth in prison, or just the regular old forcing me to marry you?” I hold my chin with my free hand, pretending to be really thinking. “I wonder if I’m being triggered by the fact that you’re treating me like an object rather than a person.”

“Sydney,” his voice is lower now, a warning. I have to look away to keep the thoughts bubbling up in my mind hidden from him.

You will learn that I am not an object. Only a thinking, feeling, sentient being can ruin you the way I plan to.

P.S. The dog does not die.

**Beware: If you can’t handle a few f-bombs, you can’t handle this series.** (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle, Hardcover, Paperback

Julie Carter was celebrating her high school graduation with five friends on a rainy weekend in 1985. Her murder is the third case that Andrew Cheatham presents to his cold case unit. One of the five people at the cottage with Julie killed her, but, more than a decade later, no one has ever been arrested.

Bessie is determined to get justice for poor Julie, but she’s also busy with other things. Christmas at the Castle is less than a month away, and her friend, Grace, is worried about a friend of hers who has gone missing.

Can Bessie help Andrew and the others work out what happened in the luxury cottage during graduation weekend? Can she find Grace’s friend? And can she talk some sense into Andy Caine, who seems determined to marry the wrong woman? (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle

Have you ever wished your cat could talk to you? If so, allow my story to be your cautionary tale.

My life was going just fine by most standards. I ran a successful business in a tight-knit magical community, and lived just blocks from a beautiful lake and series of hiking trails.

Then Selene showed up.

According to some magical code I inherit my aunt’s ancient familiar; a grumpy ten-pound cat with a broken filter. She fancies herself something of a saber-toothed tiger, and claims to have wrestled the thread of her ninth life from the hands of the Fates themselves — although, I’m pretty sure that last part isn’t true.

Almost positive.

I’m still looking into the magical fine print, but in the meantime I’m stuck as the guardian to a cat with the personality of Sophia from the Golden Girls. Oh, and by another cruel twist of fate, my ex-husband just moved back into town. I thought I couldn’t take any more, but when a murder rocks my small community, I wind up entangled in the investigation thanks to a handsome stranger.

If only life came equipped with a rewind button.

**Witchy Whiskers is the first book in a brand new series by paranormal mystery author, Danielle Garrett. Grab your copy now and dive into a colorful world filled with magic, mystery, adventure, and a spark or two of romance.** (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle

Jilted at the altar a month before her fortieth birthday. Poor Hailey. Midlife really does have a crisis. Or is it that midlife is the crisis? Either way, it sucks. Hailey Whitfield can’t take anymore run-ins with her ex. It’s time for a big change.She’s never considered moving away, but it’s her best plan yet. Bonus – her bestie lives next door! However, her new neighbor is… weird, to say the least. Extremely hot, but odd. So are his friends. But Hailey will take strange neighbors over facing her lying, cheat, deadbeat ex-fiancé all day, any day.Finding a job in a new town is more challenging than she realizes. With her savings depleted from the move, Hailey has to suck it up and take what she gets. After taking a job as a private nurse for an injured bounty hunter, things start to look up. Then a skip falls into her lap. Okay, sure. She was being nosy and reading an incoming fax intended for her patient. But with a little encouragement, Hailey takes on the task of tracking down the skip. It’s easy money. Right?Wrong. This skip is far more than Hailey bargained for. And her life is about to change in a very bloody and pointy kind of way. What a bite in the… Well, you know.With the help of her witchy best friend and her new, very pale neighbor, Hailey is going to collect her bounty.Or die trying.Fanged After Forty is a new witty spin-off from the bestselling series Witching After Forty by international bestselling authors Lia Davis and L.A. Boruff. (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle

Never get into a bidding war with a demon. Winning could be murder.

One phone call from her mother, and Selena Marx’s relatively quiet summer ends with the clang of alarm bells in her head. Mom and her husband are coming to Globe…and not just to meet Selena’s boyfriend of two months, Calvin Standingbear. They’ve also dipped a toe into the local real estate market.

By buying the most haunted Victorian mansion in town. Sight unseen.

Resigned that there’s no talking them out of their vacation rental dreams, Selena checks the place out for herself. Oddly, she senses nothing. But there’s no mistaking the unholy racket of bangs, wails, and evil laughter blasting through the walls. Something is infesting this house, and it’s not your garden-variety ghost.

This time, her arsenal of moon water, coffin nails, and rock salt isn’t going to cut it. Selena needs backup, but when it arrives, the house strikes back — hard and deadly. Now her parents are murder suspects. If Selena can’t find the true culprit, she could be the haunted mansion’s next victim. (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle, Paperback

Visiting a small Lancashire town to learn their culinary secrets, a retired detective and his former police dog dream of delicious dishes …… what they get is the dead body of a famous TV chef. Instantly plunged into a mystery that threatens to test their limits, Rex and Albert must stay one step ahead of the killer. However, it seems that everyone around them had a motive for wanting the TV chef to meet an untimely end.With no end of suspects, who can they turn to for help? Everyone around them could be the killer and it quickly becomes clear that someone does not want this mystery solved.Taking the lead, Rex puts his nose to the ground and drums up some help, for when all else fails, the dog can be relied on to smell what the humans cannot see.Get ready for adventure as your favourite man and dog duo get deadly in Lancashire.Baking. It can get a guy killed. (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle, Paperback

FORENSIC SCIENCE MEETS LITERARY FICTION. A skull in one place, a torso in another. Are they connected? Thirty years ago, the authorities didn’t think so. But the ingenious forensic anthropologist Dr. Sebastien Grey is now on the case, and he believes they both belong to the same victim – an unidentified man who was shot, dismembered, scattered in two states and burned. But time is not the only thing standing in the way of the truth. A pair of professional rivals, a spy inside the sheriff’s office and a local family with a dark secret are all obstacles to untying this murderous knot.

This second book in the Sebastien Grey series finds Dr. Grey once again in the Black Hills of South Dakota and teamed up with Tiffany Reese – a shrewd and tough detective who doubles as the love of his life and the only woman who can coax him out of his awkward social isolation. Will their relationship survive the pressure of high stakes cold case work? (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle

When Nikki’s ex-lover Will hires her to protect the horses used to film a movie at Santa Anita Racetrack, she learns evil is alive and well in Hollywood.

Keeping Thoroughbreds safe from a director who doesn’t know a horse from a hamster is tricky. More difficult are the unresolved feelings between her and Will, especially when sexy, young movie star, Jamie Jackson, sets his sights on Nikki.

But when a sniper’s bullet shatters the brain of a cameraman close enough that she can smell his blood, Nikki’s need to protect the film crew overrides everything. Her sleuthing unearths a trail of corruption and when she must lie to Will to protect his life, she’s on her own. Can she identify the evil behind the scenes before she and Will become the next victims?

Shooting Star is the fifth rocket-paced story in the award-winning Nikki Latrelle mystery series. If you like protagonists with heart and courage, unexpected twists, and a thrill ride to the finish, you’ll love Shooting Star.

Find out why this series has so many fans. Buy Shooting Star today! (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle, Paperback

I don’t ask for much, and I know for sure I didn’t ask to communicate with cats.

But when I agree to cat sit my best friend’s cats, that’s exactly what I get for my trouble—well, that and a baffling murder mystery to solve.

Now my next-door neighbor is dead under mysterious circumstances, the talking cat is giving me orders, and my cat is missing, and somehow both are connected.

It’s up to me to figure out how and why and solve the murder in a town full of potential suspects.

I’m going to need a little more than luck and a chatty cat to help me solve this puzzle, but there’s one big problem. I’ve never solved a crime before, let alone investigated one. (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle

This beauty witch has to rescue herself when her hometown gets a close shave with a Scrooge of a thief.

When it comes to hair, my long, silky mane of fairytale renown is the envy of every woman in town. These lovely locks aren’t only for looks—they’re also the source of my beauty magick!

Unlike another long-haired princess trapped in a turret, the only tower I’m hiding in is one of my own makings. An unprincely royal broke my heart during a Christmas Eve past and left my emotions in a tangled mess.

When a thief steals the angel topper from our town’s Christmas wishing tree, I’m forced out of my holiday funk to ferret out the bandit. Soon I get an unwanted fringe benefit—the return of the pompous prince, and he’s determined to help.

No potion or spell will heal my heart, (believe me, I’ve tried), but perhaps working side-by-side with him will. Can I leave my comfort zone and comb the town for the tree’s lost topper and the person who took it? Or will my hair tie me—and my prince—up in a fatal end? (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle

Sometimes all a witch wants to do is stay in, make some pimple-clearing potions, and watch some TV. Is that really too much to ask?

Though Mila Maganti prefers running her fun little potions and lotions shop, somebody’s gotta slay the bad guys when nobody’s looking. When a warlock runs past her shop knocking over carts, pushing little old witches down in the street, and wreaking havoc on general, she writes it off to another weird day in Abaddon’s Gate. When one of her regulars falls under the same spell, she realizes something is afoot in her small but mysterious town.

Can Mila capture the mischief demon before somebody gets hurt?

This is book 2 in my Witches of Abaddon’s Gate series (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle