Luke 2:8-14

Peanuts Comic Strip, December 22, 2013 on GoComics.com

Happy holidays!

Since my group blog, Crime Fiction Collective, is taking a break until January 6, I decided I would, too. 

Image credit: subbotina / 123RF Stock Photo

Merry Christmas!  Stuff and Nonsense will return on January 6, 2014 with a guest post by mystery author Annie Knox.

The Book Thieves

The Sayers Swindle (Book Collectors Mystery #2) by Victoria Abbott.

It feels as though I've been waiting forever for this book,  the first book in the series, The Christie Curse, was released only eight months ago.

Jordan Bingham is still working for Vera Van Alst, finding and purchasing rare mystery books for the elderly woman's library.

Vera's complete set of Dorothy Sayers novels has been stolen, and accidentally purchased and sold by Jordan's friend, rare book dealer Karen Smith.  Unfortunately, a serious blow to the head has caused Karen's memory to be erratic, and not only can she not remember the buyer, she was never an efficient record-keeper.

Thanks to the uncles who raised her, Jordan knows a bit about covert investigations, but her continual encounters with police officer Tyler Dekker are worrisome.

I adore Jordan, and even though I love my profession, I would be thrilled to have her job.  I whizzed through this book in a day, and am now anxious for book three in the series.



FTC Full Disclosure:  Many thanks to the publisher for the review copy of this book.

Teen Tuesday - Christmas Reads

Here are some of my favorites, most of which you may not be familiar with:


Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (Penguin Classics paperback).

This is the most traditional on my list, but I sitll love the opening Christmas scene, when the four sisters are trying to have a "normal" holiday while their father is off at war, is still one of my favorites.




The Haunted Tea-Cosy by Edward Gorey (HMH hardcover).

 

Edward Gorey's take (subtitled A Dispirited and Distasteful Diversion for Christmas) on Dickens' A Christmas Carol, will be enjoyed by fans of Lemony Snicket, as well as those who already love Gorey. 

 
Dave Cooks the Christmas Turkey by Stuart McLean (Viking Canada hardcover).

Even if you aren't familiar with The Vinyl Cafe, a weekly programme on CBC Radio, you'll laugh yourself silly at this story of  Dave, the blunderful record store owner who offers to cook the Christmas bird while his wife Morley and their two children volunteer at the local food bank.


Flat-out Love  by Jessica Park (Skyscape e-book).

I loved this charming story about Julie Seagle, a young woman who moves to Boston to go to university, but finds that the apartment she (thought she) rented through Craigslist does not exist.  Her mother contacts her own roommate from college, who invites Julie to stay with them until she finds a place.

The family is welcoming, but Julie finds something not-quite-right about them, and is determined to figure out what it is. Matt is an expectedly geeky MIT student with few social skills,  13-year-old Celeste carries around a life-sized cardboard cut-out photo of her eldest brother Finn, who is apparently travelling around the world, and parents Erin and Roger spend most of their time at their university offices.

The story of Julie's first Christmas on her own is why it's on this list.

Holiday gifts for the mystery reader or writer

If you're a reader of this blog, chances are you know somebody who's going to get you a book you've already read for Christmas. Print the following list, and give it to that person.

A chocolate pistol,

typewriter bookends,

 

British mystery knowledge cards,

The Ex kitchen knife set ,

 a bloody bath mat,

 

 and a shower curtain to go with it.

There are many, many gifts to be found for people like us.  Tell your friends to try sites like Think Geek, Cafe Press, The Literary Gift Company, or just google "gifts for mystery book lovers".  Many places will ship in time for Christmas until December 20th. And if they're really running late, tell them you'll be happy with a gift card from your local bookstore.

Happy holidays!  Merry Christmas!  Joyeux Noel!  Buon Natale! Feliz Navidad!

All About Jane

I've been very neglectful of this blog in the past few weeks, as I've been busy making Christmas presents, but I thought I'd share a few gift ideas for things that your Janeite friends might not already have.  As a Janeite myself, I'd be thrilled to receive any of these.

Pride and Prejudice Soy Candle + Goat's Milk Soap

 Pride and Prejudice Trivia Game

500-piece Jigsaw Puzzle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pride and Prejudice Paper Dolls

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

iPhone cases

Teen Tuesday

My apologies for not publishing Teen Tuesday for the past couple of weeks.  I've been trying to get some Christmas presents made, and it's taking up a lot of time!

In the spirit of the season, here are some gift recommendations for teens who like to read.


The American Library Association's online shop has some cool stuff:

A bracelet featuring titles of banned books (The Adventures of Captain Underpants, King & King, Annie on My Mind, To Kill A Mockingbird, In the Night Kitchen, Athletic Shorts, and Blubber).

 READ Renew Return Water Bottle made of lightweight aluminum, with an attached carabiner.

 

The HBO store has hundreds of gifts for the Game of Thrones or True Blood lover:

 

Stuffed Direwolf pups, as well as copies of all the books in the series so far, including two graphic novel compilations.

Merlotte's aprons and t-shirts, the original novels by Charlaine Harris, and comic book collections.







The Literary Gift Company has gifts for readers and writers, such as bookrests and writer's guides.

 

At Penguin's online gift shop, you can find  t-shirts, book bags, and also many, many stocking stuffers.

If you have any other wonderful and original ideas, please share them in the comments!

Visiting Vienna + A Giveaway!

City of Lost Dreams by Magnus Flyte (Penguin trade paperback, 26 November 2013).

Musicologist Sarah Weston has headed to Vienna in search of a cure for her student and friend Pollina Rutherford, who is dying of a rare illness.  She's hoping to convince a brilliant, but eccentric Viennese doctor to take on Pollina's case.  Meanwhile, the dwarf Nico Pertusato is on a similar quest in London, except that he is searching for an alchemical answer from artifacts in various museums. 

As Pollina gets sicker and weaker, her friends become more and more desperate to find a treatment for her.  But not only do both Sarah and Nico continue to be thwarted in their search, they somehow manage to not only follow wild geese, but get into trouble at every turn.

City of Lost Dreams is an intriguing sequel to City of Dark Magic (2012).  Many of the core characters return:  Sarah, Nico, Prince Max, Pollina and her caretakers, and even Sarah's former Boston roommate Alessandro, now studying medicine in Vienna.  Although there isn't as much time-shifting as in the first book, City of Lost Dreams makes up for it with bloodthirsty nobles, espionage, sorcery, humor, and yes, a certain amount of sex and bawdiness.

For a 355-page book it's a remarkably quick read, mostly because it's impossible to put down once begun.  Although a sequel is not even hinted at, the possibility is certainly there.  Here's hoping.


Now, just for fun:




The Penguin Group has very kindly offered a copy of CITY OF LOST DREAMS to one of my readers.  Please comment on this post, and make sure you include your contact information.  Entries from the US only, please.


FTC full disclosure:  Many thanks to the publisher for the review copy of this book. 

Welcome Betty Hechtman!

When I started writing, I began noticing everything with the idea that someday I might want to include it in something.  I was only a kid at the time and the noticing had to do with checking out a  loaf shaped rural mail box and spending a long time looking at an irrigation ditch that had a tiny waterfall just the right size for a couple of fairies to play in.  I used those two details in the first story I ever wrote when I was eleven.

 

It’s a lot of years later and the habit has stuck.

 

My crochet mystery series takes place in the area of Southern California where I live, so you I pay careful attention to everything, starting with my own backyard (which happens also to be my character Molly Pink’s).  So every morning when I look out through my kitchen windows, I take in the exact color of the sky.  Is it the deep cloudless blue when it’s very dry and the air feels like silk?  Or is that lumpy sort of angry gray that means rain?  I look at the clouds and decide if they are thick mounds that remind me of whipped cream that’s been beaten almost to the point of turning into butter or if they are mere wisps that seem to have been smeared across the sky.

 

When I checked the flower beds this morning, the dirt was black and still damp from the rain we had a few days ago.  With the colder weather, the carnations have come back to life and have a few brightly colored spicy scented blooms.  Beyond, the orange trees are covered with two kinds of fruit.  There are a few of the very ripe oranges left that are so sweet and juicy just waiting to be eaten.    The rest are the new crop, more green than pale orange and hard to the touch.

 

I frequently go walking in the Santa Monica mountains and have set scenes in my books up there.  It affects the way I experience the walk.  I look and smell and feel everything as if I’m going to write about it.  How to find the right words to describe the sandy colored rocky outcroppings.  Or the way the air smells of wild sage and a bushy tree whose shiny green leaves have a pungent fragrance .  Or the way a red tailed hawk, almost eye level with me, rides the wind.  Or the way the search helicopter flew along the side of the mountains looking for someone and later landed not far away from me, sending out a rush of turbulent air and rocks.

 

The locale of my yarn retreat series is the Monterey Peninsula which is either in  Northern California or on the Central Coast depending on who you talk to.  Personally, I consider it Northern California. Cadbury by the Sea is the fictitious town where the books take place and is really Pacific Grove with a little Carmel thrown in.  It is such distinctive area, I want to capture all that makes it special and put it into the books.  So, when I go up there, I really look at the Monterey cypress trees and the way the wind gives the foliage a unique horizontal shape.  I notice that the air around the real version of the hotel and conference center where the retreats are held always smells of wood smoke, but then it’s is always fireplace weather there. 

 

I spend time walking along the beach and note how it goes from white silky sand to piles of jagged rocks with danger signs posted nearby.  As the waves roll in, I look at the color of the water which is really sea foam green like the crayon. 

 

When it comes to the yarn part, I focus on the way crochet and knitting make me feel.  How my hook moving through some yarn takes me to a calm place and I am  unbothered by the bumps and jiggles of the plane I’m on as it goes through choppy air.

 

It’s not just scenery and stitches that I pay close attention to.  People, too.  I’ll let you in on a secret.  I use a lot of the people from my gym as characters.  While the rest of the class is zoned out doing aerobics, I’m watching the women in the mirror.  I look for what is distinctive about them and then make up my own backstory.  One woman comes to mind.  There was something about her placid expression and choice of exercise clothes that struck me.  Most of the other women wear some kind of stretchy stuff, but she had on regular long shorts, a well worn tee shirt and instead of the high tech sports shoes most of the group had, she wore old white Keds.  I imagined her as one of those salt of the earth sort of people.  The kind who’d helped out at PTA bake sales and chaperoned Girl Scout trips.  Her hair had some gray streaks and my version of her had her kids grown.  But what if her husband had left her and was marrying someone else?  What would that feel like from the inside. And suppose her kids are torn between going to the wedding and siding with her..  It went on from there. The funny part is, I have no idea if any of it could be true or even what her name is.  And I’ll never find out because she stopped coming to the gym, but she has become a continuing character in my books.

 

Thanks to writing nothing just goes by me unnoticed.  The color of the sky when there is a forest fire, the way moon looks so big when it is close to the horizon, the fragrance and taste of tea with rose petals mixed in, and on and on.  You could say I that I truly do stop and smell the roses and then stick it in a book..

 

 

Betty Hechtman writes two national best selling mystery series for Berkley Prime Crime.  Her Crochet series features Molly Pink and the Tarzana Hookers, who get tangled up in murderers and yarn. For Better or Worsted, the eighth in the Crochet Series is her November release.   If Hooks Could Kill, the seventh in the series, also just came out in a paperback edition.  Yarn to Go is the first book in the  Yarn Retreat Series which follows Casey Feldstein, a dessert chef, who puts on a knitting retreat at a slightly sinister hotel and conference center on the Monterey Peninsula.  All the books include recipes and patterns.   In addition she has written a middle grade mystery Blue Schwartz and Nefertiti’s Necklace that will be re-released as an e-book in December.  For more information or to read excerpts go to www.BettyHechtman.com.  Betty blogs on www.Killerhobbies.blogspot.com on Fridays. Connect with Betty on Facebook and Twitter.

 

 

Visit me at CFC!

I'm over at Crime Fiction Collective today, with a review of  The Wicked Girls by Alex Marwood.

Please drop by!

Surviving Fairyland

The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic by Emily Croy Barker (Pamela Dorman hardcover, 1 August 2013).

The heft of this book made me put off reading it for a few months, but I finally picked it up last week, and I'm so glad I did.

It's the story of Ph.D. candidate Nora Fischer, whose dissertation on John Donne has become bogged down by lack of enthusiasm (on her part).   Her adviser has more or less dumped her, and her boyfriend has completely dumped her. 

In an effort to get her mind off her troubles, Nora goes away for the weekend, to a friend's wedding.  Going for a solitary morning hike, she stumbles upon a huge estate, owned by a beautiful woman named Ilissa, who invites her to a party that evening.  Ilissa gives her a "makeover" and Nora finds herself transformed from a boring doctoral student into a beautiful socialite who charms everyone she meets.

But the glamorous life eventually turns into the pit of despair, Nora realizes that she must escape in order to survive, and discovers that it will be harder to return to her real life than she ever imagined.

This book completely drew me in, and although it's too long to be read in one sitting, I hardly put it down for a couple of days.  She's a pretty realistic 21st Century woman, who's been raised to believe she can "have it all" and discovering how difficult that really is to achieve.

Fans of  Deborah Harkness' All Souls books, and City of Dark Magic by Magnus Flyte, will love this book!'



FTC Full Disclosure:  Many thanks to The Penguin Group for the Advance Reading Copy.

Teen Tuesday

It's 35 days till Christmas; do you know what books your teen wants?

Here are ten possibilities for those who just have to own the latest book in their favorite series:


Horde (Razorland Trilogy #3) by Ann Aguirre (Feiwel & Friends hardcover, 29 October 2013).

Altered (Crewel World #2) by Gennifer Albin (Farrar, Strauss and Giroux hardcover, 29 October 2013).

Daylighters (Morganville Vampires #15) by Rachel Caine (NAL hardcover, 5 November 2013).

Curtsies & Conspiracies (Finishing School #2) by Gail Carriger (Little, Brown hardcover, 5 November 2013).

The Trap (The Hunt Trilogy #3) by Andrew Fukuda (St. Martin's Griffin hardcover, 5 November 2013).

Firebrand (Elemental #2) by Antony John (Dial hardcover, 14 November 2013).

Contagion (Toxic City #3) by Tm Lebbon (Pyr hardcover, 5 November 2013).

Champion (Legend Trilogy #3) by Marie Lu (Putnam Juvenile hardcover, 5 November 2013).

Revelations (The Elysium Chronicles #2) by J.A. Souders (Tor Teen, 5 November 2013).

In the Age of Love and Chocolate (Birthright Trilogy #3) by Gabrielle Zevin (Farrar, Strauss and Giroux hardcover, 29 October 2013).

Image credit: dodi31 / 123RF Stock Photo

Visit me at CFC!

I'm over at Crime Fiction Collective today, with a review of Lisa Scottoline's latest book.  Please drop by!

Teen Tuesday

Publishers Weekly has released their "Best Children's Books" list for 2013.  The fiction list includes both children's and young adult literature, but my list below only includes the teen fiction titles.  (Listed alphabetically by author.)

• Kingdom of Little Wounds by Susann Cokal (Candlewick Press hardcover, 8 October 2013).
• The Golden Day by Ursula Dubosarsky (Candlewick Press hardcover, 6 August 2013).
• Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner (Candlewick Press hardcover, 12 February 2013).
• Reality Boy by A.S. King (Little, Brown hardcover, 22 October 2013).
• Hostage Three by Nick Lake (Bloomsbury hardcover, 12 November 2013).
• Far, Far Away by Tom McNeal (Knopf hardcover, 11 June 2013).
• Sex & Violence by Carrie Mesrobian (Carolrhoda Lab hardcover, 1 October 2013).
• The Infinite Moment of Us by Lauren Myracle (Amulet hardcover, 1 August 2013).
• Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick ( Little, Brown hardcover, 13 August 2013).
• Picture Me Gone by Meg Rosoff (Putnam hardcover, 3 October 2013).
• Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell (St. Martin's Griffin hardcover, 26 February, 2013).
• The War Within These Walls by Aline Sax (Eerdmans hardcover, 1 October 2013).
• Midwinter Blood by Marcus Sedgwick (Roaring Brook hardcover, 5 February 2013).
• Winger by Andrew Smith  (Simon & Schuster hardcover, 14 May 2013).
• Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein (Hyperion hardcover, 10 September 2013).
• The Lucy Variations by Sara Zarr (Little, Brown hardcover, 7 May 2013).

Lest We Forget

 Princess Patricia of Connaught, the original Colonel-in-Chief of Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry designed and made their regimental flag, known as the Ric-a-Dam-Doo (reportedly from the Gaelic for "cloth of your mother").

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the regiment, the current Colonel-in-Chief, the Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson commissioned the following song, written by Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance.  The song is performed by Homefire (the wives of the Princess Patricia’s Regiment) and features two principal singers, Edmonton-based Brittany Hancock and Angela Larson.

The Princess Pat's Infantry is based in my hometown of Edmonton, Alberta.

11/11/13 :  Apologies, it seems the video won't play.  Here's a link to the original article on the CBC blog:
http://m.music.cbc.ca/blogs/2013/11/New-Remembrance-Day-song-Bryan-Adamss-Ric-a-dam-doo-performed-by-Canadian-soldiers-wives

Teen Tuesday

Skin by Donna Jo Napoli (Skyscape hardcover, 6 August 2013).

Sixteen-year-old Giuseppina (Sep) wakes up on the first day of school and is startled when she looks in the mirror to see that her lips are completely white.  She can't get an appointment with her doctor until Thursday afternoon, so she has to wait three whole days.  

Her mother suggests she wear lipstick until then, which her friends notice, because she never wears makeup.  Still it's better than having them see her lips as they really are.  She manages to forget about it during the interesting classes like biology, but she runs to the bathroom after class to make sure the lipstick hasn't worn off.  In boring English class, all she can think about is her lips. 

Then, at lunch, football jock Joshua Winer says he hopes to see her at the party on Saturday, and she's shocked.  She was good friends with him back in fifth grade, but since then he became one of the popular crowd and she didn't.

Dr. Ratner doesn't know what could be affecting her, but he takes a bunch of blood tests and suggests a number of possibilities.  Although he assures her that whatever it is, it's not fatal, she doesn't like the look in his eyes and begins to imagine all kinds of serious illnesses.She eventually decides to begin a relationship with Joshua before she turns into a freak.

Having gone through something similar when I was sixteen, I empathized with Sep's situation.  Her social reactions, such as withdrawing from her friends and isolating herself are credible, as are her emotional ones like depression and irritability.

Sep's acceptance of her illness, which turns out to be vitiligo, happens rather quickly, but that can be attributed to her supportive and understanding family and friends.

Since Napoli usually writes fantasy, I was expecting the cause of Sep's "condition" to be magical, but it wasn't until I finished the book (in one afternoon!) that I recalled this, so obviously it wasn't an issue once I got into the story. 


FTC Full Disclosure:  I borrowed this book from my local library.

Visit me at CFC!

I'm over at Crime Fiction Collective today, with a review of Hilary Davidson's latest Lily Moore novel.  

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Ghosts and witches and magic, oh, my!

In celebration of All Hallows' Eve, I'm reviewing two books with paranormal themes.   Enjoy!


Charms and Chocolate Chips (Magical Bakery #3) by Bailey Cates (Obsidian mass market, 5 November 2013).

Katie Lightfoot is settling nicely into life in Savannah.  She's made some friends (especially the members of her "book club"), is volunteering at a local conservation non-profit, and  her relationship with firefighter Declan McCarthy is progressing nicely.  She's concentrating on developing her craft (both as a baker and as a witch), and hoping not to stumble over any more dead bodies.

Unfortunately, the latter wish doesn't come true.  She arrives at the offices of Georgia Wild for her volunteer shift and finds her friend Wren in shock after discovering another volunteer sprawled across her desk, obviously dead, probably murdered. 

Katie feels compelled to investigate the killing, not only because of her association with  Georgia Wild, but also because she senses that dark arts might be involved. 

The third installment in this series lives up to the standards of the first two.  We learn much more about Katie's history, and why she's still a novice witch.  As always, there are detailed (and tempting) descriptions of food and cooking, and recipes for some of Katie's concoctions are included.


The Thrill of the Haunt (Haunted Guesthouse #5) by E.J. Copperman  (Berkley Prime Crime mass market, 5 November 2012).

Alison Kerby's guesthouse is doing quite well, despite the lingering effects of Hurricane Sandy, thanks to her agreement with the tour company whose clients want to stay in a haunted house.  Her hopes that she won't have to make use of her P.I. license are dashed when a homeless man is killed soon after asking her to help him get rid of the ghosts that are haunting him.  A longtime nemesis of hers insists that Alison investigate the man's death, because obviously it resulted from Alison's declining his request.

Meanwhile, a strange woman checks into the guesthouse just to ask Alison to prove her husband is cheating on her. Another guest wants to rid the house of evil ghostly spirits, and Alison has a tough time convincing her that her ghosts aren't evil, and she doesn't want them exorcised.

At the same time, she's renovating the game room, raising her daughter, and trying to establish her budding relationship with her childhood friend Josh.  Yes, Alison is feeling a little overwhelmed, and she finds herself taking her frustrations out on resident ghosts Maxie and Paul. 

Once again, E.J. Copperman has concocted an absorbing story of the normal, abnormal and paranormal, laced with humor and charm. 



FTC full disclosure:  Many thanks to the publisher for review copies of the books. 

Teen Tuesday

Last night, I went to an event at Mysterious Galaxy in Redondo Beach that featured three teen authors, Michelle Gagnon, Lauren Miller, and Amy Tintera. 

There was a fairly small group in attendance, which allowed the discussion to be rather informal.

Although both Amy and Lauren have been writing since they were kids, and have written for television,  Reboot (first in a duology) and Parallel (a standalone) are their debut novels. Both of them also  have books being released next May.

Michelle had already published four adult thrillers before taking a crack at writing for teens.  She has published two of the three books in the Persefone trilogy (Don't Turn Around and Don't Look Now)  as well as a standalone called Strangelets.  The third book in the trilogy is due next fall.

After the requisite signings and picture-takings, I browsed the stacks for a while, and managed to limit myself to buying only two (more) books, Maggie Stiefvater's The Dream Thieves (the second book in The Raven Cycle) and Enchanted (The Woodcutter Sisters Book 1) by Alethea Kontis.

Reviews of Parallel, Reboot, The Dream Thieves and Enchanted will be posted on Teen Tuesday in coming weeks.

Stay tuned!

Cozy Monday

Releasing Tuesday, November 5 from the Penguin Group.

For Better or Worsted (Crochet Mystery #8) by Betty Hechtman (Berkley Prime Crime hardcover).

When Molly is invited to a major society wedding, she expects some wedding drama. Though she never anticipated this much trouble. The bride is the daughter of Molly's close friend Mason - who has been planning this wedding for a long time. But at the reception, things go amiss when the wealthy groom ends up dancing with the grim reaper.

 ***

Mulled Murder (Pennyfoot Hotel #21) by Kate Kingsbury (Berkley Prime Crime trade paperback).

As Cecily Sinclair Baxter scrambles to hire and train new staff in time for the holidays, one of her guests is beyond help. Gerald Evans is found stabbed to death on the beach, and Cecily soon discovers he was a private investigator from London looking into dark doings involving the Pennyfoot. Who among the staff or guests was being pursued, and what secret drove that person to cold-blooded murder?

 *** 

The Whispering of Bones (Charles du Luc #4) by Judith Rock (Berkley trade paperback).  

The last thing Jesuit Charles du Luc and his elderly confessor expect to find in an ancient crypt is a newly murdered body. Even more troubling, the shock of discovering the victim—a young man about to enter their order—proves too much for Charles’s companion. Vowing justice, Charles wants nothing more than to discover the killer.  All signs point to someone targeting Jesuits—and not even an ex-soldier like Charles may be able to escape...

 *** 

The Fatal Funnel Cake (Fresh-Baked Mystery #8) by Livia J. Washburn (Obsidian trade paperback).

Phyllis and her friends Carolyn and Sam are ready to whip up their best dishes and win some ribbons in Dallas.  When Phyllis’s funnel cake is picked as one of the best of that category, and she and the other finalists are invited to prepare their delicious recipes live on the air.
But Phyllis’s moment in the spotlight is spoiled after the host suffers a deadly allergic reaction from one bite of her funnel cake. Now she’s gone from top entry to top suspect. In order to clear her name, Phyllis will have to turn up the heat on this investigation before the real killer slips through her fingers.... 

 *** 

Freezer I'll Shoot (Vintage Kitchen #3) by Victoria Hamilton (Berkley Prime Crime mass market).

Trying to escape her overbearing mother, vintage kitchenware enthusiast and soon-to-be columnist Jaymie Leighton retreats to her family’s cottage on Heartbreak Island. While there she hopes to write an article about the Ice House restaurant, owned by good friends and neighbors, siblings Ruby and Garnet Redmond.
One night, while working on her article, Jaymie overhears an argument and, ever the sleuth, sets out to explore. But when she stumbles upon a dead body her blood runs cold. It’s Urban Dobrinskie, whose feud with the Redmonds is no secret, and he’s got an ice pick through his heart. Now Jaymie’s got to sharpen her sleuthing skills to chip away at the mystery and prove her neighbors’ innocence.

 *** 

The Thrill of the Haunt (Haunted Guesthouse #5) by E.J. Copperman (Berkley Prime Crime mass market).

As Alison’s reputation as “the ghost lady” grows, so does her business—and not always in a way she’d like. Tourists may be flocking to her guesthouse for a chance to glimpse her resident spirits, but her special abilities are also bringing unwanted private investigation cases to her door. And she has no choice but to take a case when the local homeless man is found murdered under mysterious circumstances, just hours after asking for help in exorcising a specter.
If that weren’t enough to deal with, Alison’s other PI case soon turns fatal, as the mistress she was spying on for a jealous wife turns up dead as well. The cases seem like they couldn’t possibly be linked, but with a mountain of clues, motives and suspects, Alison will have to think fast before someone else checks out for good…

 *** 

 
Charms and Chocolate Chips (Magical Bakery #3) by Bailey Cates (Obsidian mass market).

Between brewing magically spiced treats at Honeybee Bakery and volunteering with a local conservation group, Katie Lightfoot barely has time to see her firefighter boyfriend, Declan McCarthy, much less delve further into her destiny as a witch.
When a fellow volunteer for the conservation group is found dead, Katie’s mystical senses tell her that there’s more to the death than meets the eye. Her suspicions are confirmed when members of her coven are targeted next. Katie will have to embrace her powers quickly...or she may find herself chewed up and spit out by some serious black magic.

***

Words With Fiends (Black Cat Bookshop #3) by Ali Brandon (Berkley Prime Crime mass market).

Lately, Hamlet hasn’t been chasing customers or being his obnoxious self—something Darla surprisingly misses. Concerned, she hires a cat whisperer to probe Hamlet’s feline psyche and then decides to get out of her own funk by taking up karate to learn how to defend herself in case the need arises again.

But when Darla finds her sensei dead at the dojo, she decides to investigate the matter herself, and the promise of a mystery snaps Hamlet out of his bad mood. After all, Darla may be the sleuth, but Hamlet’s got a black belt in detection…

***

Fixing to Die (Josie Marcus #9) by Elaine Viets (Obsidian mass market).

Josie and Ted have finally tied the knot, and they’re ready for the next step: buying a house. Ted’s business partner, Christine, has one she’s willing to sell, but it needs a lot of love. Luckily, the newlyweds are up for the challenge.

But when they tear down a rickety gazebo in the backyard, they find the body of Christine’s sister, a free spirit who supposedly took off six months before. The police arrest Christine for murder, leaving Ted to work overtime at the office to cover for his partner. With no time to work on the house or be with her husband, Josie will have to find the real killer quickly, before both her house and marriage are beyond repair....

***

The Quotient of Murder (Professor Sophie Knowles #4) by Ada Madison (Berkely Prime Crime mass market).

Winter Intersession is in full swing, and campus is buzzing over the concert celebrating the bell tower’s reopening. The building has been shuttered for twenty-five years, since a student leapt from it to her death. But Sophie’s even more troubled by the secrecy surrounding the case. After Sophie performs some quick calculations, she’s left with a nagging question: Was it really suicide?

When one of Sophie’s favorite students, is brutally beaten and left in a coma, Sophie’s mind kicks into overdrive. The horrific incidents seem too coincidental to be unrelated, but can Sophie put together the pieces from a twenty-five-year-old murder before any other students get hurt?

***

Read it and Weep (Library Lovers' #4) by Jenn McKinlay (Berkley Prime Crime mass market).

Former Broadway actress Violet La Rue is holding auditions for A Midsummer Night’s Dream—and everyone from the sour spinster librarian Ms. Cole to Lindsey’s youthful library pages are trying out for parts. 

Brought in to play the mischievous Puck is the flirtatious professional actor Robbie Vine, who seems to have eyes for Lindsey. Before her blush has faded, the Bard’s dream turns into a nightmare—when one of the cast is poisoned. Now Lindsey and her crafternooners must take center stage to unmask the culprit before the final curtain call…