Recently received

The Last Word (Books by the Bay #3) by Ellery Adams (Berkley Prime Crime mm, 6 December 2011).

Olivia Limoges and the Bayside Book Writers are excited about Oyster Bay's newest resident: bestselling novelist Nick Plumley, who's come to work on his next book. But when Olivia stops by Plumley's rental she finds that he's been strangled to death. Her instincts tell her that something from the past came back to haunt him, but she never expects that the investigation could spell doom for one of her dearest friends...

Double Booked for Death (Black Cat Bookshop #1) by Ali Brandon(Berkley Prime Crime mm, 6 December 2011).

As the new owner of Pettistone's Fine Books, Darla Pettistone is determined to prove herself a worthy successor to her late great-aunt Dee...and equally determined to outwit Hamlet, the smarter-than-thou cat she inherited along with the shop. Darla's first store event is a real coup: the hottest bestselling author of the moment is holding a signing there. But when the author meets an untimely end during the event, it's ruled an accident-until Hamlet digs up a clue that seems to indicate otherwise...

Endangered (Summer Westin #1) by Pamela Beason (Berkley Prime Crime mm, 6 December 2011).

A child has gone missing, and Sam Westin knows it's her fault. She nudged the boy down a dark path toward a man she presumed was his father. Now there's a media campaign targeting the cougars she helped rehabilitate and release a year ago, blaming them for the boy's disappearance. It's only when FBI Agent Chase Perez joins the case that human suspects are considered.
Clues lead Sam and Chase to the high country, where they comb the rocky canyons for evidence of the boy and for the one man who may be a vital witness. But as hours pass, and the media frenzy escalates, Sam fears they won't uncover the truth in time to save both the boy and the big cats...

A Spirited Gift (Missing Pieces #3) by Joyce and Jim Lavene (Berkley Prime Crime mm, 6 December 2011).

As the mayor of Duck, North Carolina, Dae is playing host to twenty North Carolina elected officials attending her first Mayors' Conference Weekend at the Blue Whale Inn. When the body of Mayor Sandi Foxx is discovered the morning after a severe storm, Dae receives a vision through the mayor's ring; that there's a killer among the guests who's as deadly as any hurricane.


A Cookie Before Dying (Cookie Cutter Shop #2) by Virginia Lowell (Berkley Prime Crime mm, 6 December 2011).

On a stormy night, Olivia Greyson and her Yorkie discover the body of a man stabbed to death-which looks suspiciously like the intruder seen fleeing the local health food store The Vegetable Plate. Charlene Critch, owner of The Vegetable Plate, has a grudge against Olivia's cookie cutter shop, but could Charlene be hiding a secret serious enough to kill for?



Crops and Robbers (Farmer's Market #3) by Paige Shelton (Berkley Prime Crime mm, 6 December 2011).

Bailey's Farmer's Market is all abuzz with the impending visit of the Central South Carolina Restaurant Association. Becca is quite excited, especially since her parents are visiting. But when the president of the Association vetoes Becca's strawberry preserves, she finds herself reeling from the snub. After pulling herself together, Becca heads home, only to find the president's body in her kitchen and her mother with bloody hands. Now, Becca has to use her sleuthing skills to get her mom out of this terrible jam...before she winds up preserving in prison.

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