Recently received

Threadbare (Needlecraft Mystery #15) by Monica Ferris (Berkley Prime Crime hc, 6 December 2011).
When an elderly homeless woman is found dead on the shore of Lake Minnetonka, she's wearing something that holds the key to her identity but also opens up a mystery. Embroidered on her blouse is her will, in which she bequeaths everything she owns to her niece-Emily Hame, a member of the Monday Bunch at Betsy Devonshire's Crewel World needlework shop!
Emily's aunt turns out to be the second homeless woman to be found dead under mysterious circumstances. It's up to Betsy to discover the common thread between the deaths-and to determine if a murderer may strike again...

Foul Play at Four (Lois Meade #11) by Ann Purser (Berkley Prime Crime hc, 6 December 2011).
A series of robberies have begun to plague Long Farnden, and Lois's own daughter, Josie, is shaken when a thief makes off with a hundred pounds from the till in her grocery shop. But before her policeman fiancé can crack the case, someone cracks Lois's husband on the head when he interrupts a burglary in progress. Now Lois-and the besotted Inspector Cowgill-must determine who's cleaning out Long Farnden, and clean up after an increasingly violent crime spree...

A Play of Heresy (Joliffe the Player #7) by Margaret Frazer (Berkley Prime Crime trade, 6 December 2011).
While performing in the theatrical and religious festival of Corpus Christi Day in Coventry, Joliffe is summoned by Bishop Beaufort to use his skills as a spy to uncover the mysteries of the town's elite. A merchant has gone missing, presumed dead-and members of Joliffe's company are implicated in the crime. To uncover the truth, Joliffe must unravel the devilish machinations of a secret sect of heretics bent on destroying the Church.

The Boy Who Shoots Crows by Randall Silvis (Berkley Prime Cirme trade, 6 December 2011).
Yesterday, a local boy went missing in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. Transplanted painter Charlotte Dunleavy was used to seeing him go into the woods, rifle in hand, to shoot at crows. Suffering from the debilitating aftereffects of a migraine, Charlotte is shrouded in a fog of pain and barely remembers the details of the day, just splinters of memory, as if they were a dream-but nothing concrete enough to help the local sheriff in his search.

Dead Bolt (Haunted Home Renovation Mystery #2) by Juliet Blackwell (Obsidian mm, 6 December 2011).
Turner Construction's latest restoration project is a historic Queen Anne Victorian in San Francisco. This time general contractor Mel Turner has to work around the owners who insist on sticking around- along with some ghosts that insist in their own way that the work stops...
The ghosts aren't the only ones standing in the way of the renovations. A crotchety neighbor, Emile Blunt, secretly wants this house, and could be behind some of the disturbances. But when Emile is found dead, it's Mel who appears guilty. Now she must restore the building-and her reputation-before it's too late.

You Might as Well Die (Algonquin Round Table Mystery #2) by J.J. Murphy (Obsidian mm, 6 December 2011).
When second-rate illustrator Ernie MacGuffin's artistic works triple in value following his apparent suicide off the Brooklyn Bridge, Dorothy Parker smells something fishy. Enlisting the help of magician and skeptic Harry Houdini, she goes to a séance held by MacGuffin's mistress, where Ernie's ghostly voice seems hauntingly real...

The Cocoa Conspiracy (Lady Arianna Mystery #2) by Andrea Penrose (Obsidian mm, 6 December 2011).
Lady Arianna's gift of a rare volume of botanical engravings to her husband, the Earl of Saybrook, has something even more rare hidden inside-sensitive government documents which would mark one they hold dear as a traitor of King and country. To unmask the villain, they must root out a cunning conspiracy-armed only with their wits and expertise in chocolate...


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