New Releases For The Week Of March 12th, 2023–Part 1

Travel to Syria isn’t always the safest choice, but it isn’t the political tension that’s the danger for Poe. No, the danger is linked to her latest book acquisition.

Poe Baxter once heard a man say if he could travel anywhere in the world, he’d visit Damascus, and she hasn’t thought about a visit to the city since. So when she hears that a rare codex from the 1st century has come onto the market there, she and Beattie book the next flight to see if they can buy it. Yet, when they arrive, they find there’s much more at stake than just a rare scroll.

Can centuries of secrets be unearthed safely? Or do they need to be buried again? (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle, Paperback

“Retired” detective and police captain’s wife Molly Murphy Sullivan tangles with Tammany Hall in the next in Rhys Bowen and Clare Broyles’s New York Times bestselling historical mystery series.

New York, Autumn, 1907: Former private detective Molly Murphy Sullivan is happy with her place in the world. She and her policeman husband, Daniel, have built quite a life for themselves in Greenwich Village, in their modest-yet-beautiful-home in Patchin Place, filled with family, friends, and laughter. Molly and Daniel have a good marriage, a true partnership where they value each other’s opinions in all things.

So when he tells her they’re moving to a fancy home on Fifth Avenue—and that he’s running for the sheriff of New York—Molly is left reeling. Daniel begs Molly to trust him, but why would he run for sheriff on the Tammany ticket? A party known more for kickbacks and quid pro quo than anything else, it used to be everything Daniel despised. So what’s changed? And why didn’t he discuss it with her beforehand? Molly can’t help but wonder what Daniel’s got himself tangled up in… and whether he needs her help to get out.

In this next installment in this beloved series All That Is Hidden, the incomparable Molly is drawn into the dangerous world of politics, forced to navigate through the webs of lies and deceit which are hidden behind a veil of vast wealth and grandeur. (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle, Hardcover, Audiobook

Cozy Craft Mysteries can be read in any order. A funny whodunnit series, full of charming characters and mysteries that will keep you guessing to the very end.

A wedding is a cause for celebration. Not only do dressmakers Penny and Izzy get an invite to the big day but they have an unusual dress commission to complete for one of the guests.

It seems Penny’s only problem is deciding which potential boyfriend to take as her plus-one guest — practical handyman Aubrey or cultured fabric expert Oscar.

But bigger problems arise when the maker of the wedding cake is found dead in the grounds of the stately home where the wedding is to take place.

And when another key individual in the wedding plans is also murdered, it seems like someone has deadly plans to prevent this marriage.

Can Penny and Izzy unravel the mystery and solve this crime before the big day is fatally ruined?

If your ideal book features mystery, friendship, cute romance, crafting and a charming rural setting then this is the book for you. (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle, Paperback

Sophie and Hector are heading to the Highlands.

For Sophie it’s a trip home and for Hector it’s time to meet Sophie’s parents… Though their trip has village tongues wagging about a stop at Scotland’s notorious elopement spot, Gretna Green.

No matter what, it’ll make a nice break from the murder and mayhem that has been plaguing their beautiful Cotswolds village. But Sophie and Hector are barely across the border on the way to Inverness before a sinister encounter leaves them shaken.

Then comes a series of mishaps that leave poor Hector a little worse for wear. Is someone after Hector? Why is he certain the attacks are just accidents? Sophie is determined to find out.

Starting and finishing at the Hector’s House bookshop in Wendlebury Barrow, this adventure is Debbie Young’s celebration of Scotland as her second favourite place after the Cotswolds, and will make you feel as if you’ve taken a trip to the Highlands yourself! (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle, Paperback, Audiobook

TWO HUMAN SKULLS ON A PILE OF BONES. EMPTY EYE SOCKETS STARE UP AT JERI HOWARD.

Looking for a riveting private eye tale? This is the one.

Oakland PI Jeri Howard finds a battered footlocker hidden in a dusty storeroom. When she pries open the lid, she’s shocked at what she finds.

Human bones. Whose bones? How did they get there—and why?

Jeri is a detective who grabs a case and doesn’t let go. Especially a case like this. It twists and turns as Jeri sorts out the truth from the lies that stretch back decades. She’s determined to find answers and put flesh on those bones. When she digs into the past, someone has a lot to lose—and will kill to keep those secrets.

Janet Dawson is a writer who always delivers. This one will keep you guessing as you race through to the end. (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle

Within In My Life, the third book of the Hart’s Ridge small-town mystery series, Deputy Taylor Gray investigates a triple murder alongside her unofficial partner, Detective Shane Weaver. While juggling her professional duties, Taylor also struggles to navigate personal decisions and determine what it will take to help bring balance to her life.

Meanwhile, Catherine, recently released from a 20-year prison sentence, attempts to reintegrate into society, but faces rejection from potential employers and distrust from her adult daughters. Will she be able to find the stability and peace that she longs for?

As readers delve deeper into the town’s secrets, they will discover the darker side of Hart’s Ridge, proving that even seemingly perfect places have hidden flaws. Bratt masterfully weaves a thrilling tale that will keep readers on the edge of their seats.

In My Life is book three of the new Hart’s Ridge small-town mystery series, written by Kay Bratt, million-copy best-selling author of Wish Me Home and True to Me. (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle

Black Knight in the secret passageway with a candlestick.

Amateur sleuth Becky Robinson is taking a break from murder to film a movie on location in a historic castle. But an ill-tempered tropical storm has other plans and strands the cast with a killer.

When the hated producer is found dead in a suit of armor, replicating the movie script, all signs point to someone in the cast. Isolated on a remote island off the coast of Galveston, Texas due to the storm, Becky is compelled to help the overwhelmed small-town cops solve the case.

Will the killer continue to follow the script and commit another murder? Or will Becky and the gang rewrite the ending and save her first big break?

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Castle Island Murder is the eighth 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 0: Lake Day Shenanigans
• Book 1: Prime Time Murder
• Book 2: Stand-In Murder
• Book 3: Music City Murder
• Book 4. Trap Door Murder
• Book 5: Fool’s Gold Murder
• Book 6: Holly Jolly Murder
• Book 7: Blue Suede Murder
• Book 8: Family Reunion Murder
• Book 9: Summer Vacation Murder
• Book 10: Sunlight Swindler Murder
• Book 11: Castle Island Murder (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle

Phoebe Marks, a reluctant medium, is called on to investigate a mysterious death in a haunted mansion. And there she finds one angry ghost.

Nora makes all the other angry ghosts Phoebe’s faced look like Casper. Not that Phoebe can blame poor Nora—although the girl was said to be well-liked, it seems like everyone who knew her had a reason to want her dead.

As Phoebe delves deeper into the investigation, she finds a second murder to solve: who killed the mansion’s previous owner? With the help of her familiar, Sean, his brother, C-list actor Morgan O’Hanlon, and her best friend Gia’s book club, Phoebe gets closer to cracking both cases.

But the closer she gets to the truth, the closer she comes to the same danger that claimed Nora’s life.

Can Phoebe help another ghost rest in peace? Or is she about to join her? (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle

Catfishing in America is the 8th installment of the Camilla Randall Mysteries — a laugh-out-loud mash-up of mystery, rom-com, and satire.

At her beach-read bookstore in Morro Bay California, everybody tells Camilla their troubles. When the body of talkative widow Ginny Gilhooly shows up on Camilla’s doorstep, Camilla is sure the online scammer who has been “catfishing” Ginny has murdered her.

Then former boyfriend Peter Sherwood appears at Camilla’s door after three years, carrying a large fish, and things take a turn for the strange.

Ginny’s body disappears, along with Peter. The body reappears in a homeless camp, and Camilla’s unhoused friend “Hobo Joe”— who has his own dark secrets — is accused of killing Ginny.

Camilla, with the help of two precocious Nancy Drew wannabes and her cat Buckingham, has to solve the mystery of the travelling corpse and prove Joe had nothing to do with Ginny’s demise. (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle, Paperback

An explosion rocks the local community, especially when the dead body of a famous rock star is pulled out of the burning embers.
Halloween night wasn’t meant to go off with a bang but that was precisely what happened when Dotty and her friends went out trick or treating. Zombies, ghosts and witches looked on in horror as the scene unfolded. The explosion at the barn shocked everyone, even more so when Stevie Sheriff’s dead body was pulled from the wreckage along with a trunk full of famous art paintings. Stevie was the bass guitarist with Trevolution, the successful local band that had made good.
The annual fancy dress party took on a more sinister flavour this year.and Dotty soon becomes embroiled in unravelling the mystery surrounding the deadly incident.

This is Book 11 in the Dotty Drinkwater mystery series but can be read as a standalone.

Another entertaining cozy mystery, great for fans of Robert Thorogood and Frances Evesham. (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle

Please note that this is the only Edward Crisp mystery that gives explicit spoilers for all other books in the series, due to the nature of the plot. Please read the others first!

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Read for FREE on KINDLE UNLIMITED!

‘You won’t put it down!’ (Amazon Reviewer, October 2022)
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And if one green bottle should accidentally fall…

Reluctant amateur detective Edward Crisp has vowed not to get involved in any more murder investigations, and has instead decided to move to writing fictional murders.

But when Edward launches his debut murder mystery novel, a mystery serial killer decides to replicate the plot by naming ten of Edward’s loved ones and announcing that they will be killed one by one, in an unknown order…

As the bodies start to pile up, Edward, along with his trusty self-appointed teenage sidekick Noah, has to face his deadliest enemy yet, in a battle that is very personal indeed.

Can Edward and Noah solve the mystery of the TEN GREEN BOTTLES killer?

And can YOU?
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The Edward Crisp Mysteries are cozy mysteries aimed at adults, old and young! They are easy reads for adults or ideal for a young adult or teenager’s first ‘grown up’ read. Don’t be fooled though… the reading is easy, but the mysteries aren’t!
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Books in this series:

1. Who Killed Miss Finch (novel)
2. The Snow Day Murders (novel)
3. The Mystery of Jackson King (novella)
4. Death In The Closet (novel)
5. Death In A Deckchair (novella)
6. The Christmas Card Killer (novelette)
7. Ten Green Bottles (novel out February 2023)

Edward Crisp Boxset (First 3 full novels)

PRAISE FOR THE SERIES FROM AMAZON REVIEWERS:

‘Thoroughly delightful!’
‘This book is a little treasure to be shared.’
‘A happy place book.’
‘A fantastic traditional whodunnit brought to modern day.’
‘Phenomenal.’ (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle, Paperback

Keep your friends close…
And the suspects closer.
Food truck entrepreneur and amateur sleuth, Billie Halifax, meets her boyfriend Asher’s college buddies when they come out to beautiful Sea Glass Island for a visit, and what starts out as a fun outing on the water for the guys, leaves Billie in over her head trying to figure out what went wrong.

One buddy is found dead, two are missing, and unfortunately it looks like Billie’s recently hired truck manager might be involved.

None of the clues seem to add up, and an odd case of amnesia only complicates things as Billie searches for the truth.

Can she console her grieving boyfriend/business partner, get to the bottom of the case, and still somehow get her new cupcake truck up and running?

Find out in this exciting Culinary Cozy Mystery! (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle, Paperback

Five years ago, an innocent man began a life sentence for murdering his own son. Today he found out his son is still alive.
 
David Burroughs was once a devoted father to his three-year-old son Matthew, living a dream life just a short drive away from the working-class suburb where he and his wife, Cheryl, first fell in love–until one fateful night when David woke suddenly to discover Matthew had been murdered while David was asleep just down the hall. 
 
Half a decade later, David’s been wrongly accused and convicted of the murder, left to serve out his time in a maximum-security prison—a fate which, grieving and wracked with guilt, David didn’t have the will to fight. The world has moved on without him. Then Cheryl’s younger sister, Rachel, makes a surprise appearance during visiting hours bearing a strange photograph. It’s a vacation shot of a bustling amusement park a friend shared with her, and in the background, just barely in frame, is a boy bearing an eerie resemblance to David’s son. Even though it can’t be, David just knows: Matthew is still alive.

David plans a harrowing escape, determined to achieve the impossible – save his son, clear his own name, and discover the real story of what happened. But with his life on the line and the FBI following his every move, can David evade capture long enough to reveal the shocking truth? (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle, Hardcover, Paperback, Audiobook

Hairstylist Marla Vail and her husband get tangled up in murder when their Fourth of July visit to a living history village ends with a bang—and a body.

Salon owner Marla Vail and her detective husband Dalton are having a blast visiting a Florida living history village over Fourth of July weekend. But when a Seminole battle reenactment turns up a real dead body, it sets off fireworks among the villagers. One of the cast members has gone off script to murder the town marshal with a tomahawk.

As Dalton gets involved in the investigation, Marla determines to help him solve the case. Her flare for uncovering secrets reveals that everyone in the village is a suspect. Instead of celebrating the holiday with red, white, and barbecues, she discovers secrets, lies, and false avenues. Did the marshal’s murder have anything to do with a lost Confederate payroll, or did his plans to renovate the park light a fuse that he couldn’t snuff out?

In a place where history comes alive, the dead bodies are piling up. Marla would rather be chilling and grilling, but somebody’s mind is on killing. If she’s not careful, her sleuthing might blow up in her face like a faulty firecracker and she’ll become the next victim. Recipes Included! (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle, Paperback

Ali Reynolds and High Noon Enterprises face the dangerous consequences of one man’s desperate search for revenge in this unputdownable thriller from J.A. Jance, the New York Times bestselling author who “has been delivering must-read books for a long time” (The Real Book Spy).

After spending twenty years behind bars, Frank Muñoz, a disgraced former cop, is out on parole and focused on just one thing: revenge. The wife who abandoned him after his arrest, the mistress who ratted him out for abetting a money-laundering scheme, the detectives who presided over his case all those years ago—they all have targets on their backs.

For Ali Reynolds, the first Christmas without her father is riddled with grief and uncertainty. And with her husband and founding partner of High Noon Enterprises, B. Simpson, preoccupied by an upcoming New Year’s trip to London, she is ready for a break. But when Stu Ramey barges into her home with grave news about a serious—and suspicious—accident on the highway to Phoenix involving B.’s car, things reach a breaking point.

At the hospital, a groggy, post-op B. insists that Ali take his place at a ransomware conference in London, as troubles brimming around High Noon come to light. But questions remain: Who would go to such lengths to cut the tech company from the picture? And what if Ali and the rest of the team are also in danger? (Amazon)

Editions Available: Kindle, Hardcover, Paperback, Audiobook