Address to Die For

 

Address to Die For
(A Maggie McDonald Mystery)

New Series
Cozy Mystery
Lyrical Underground (July 19, 2016)
E-book – 320 pages
ASIN: B01B0KK5P8

For professional organizer Maggie McDonald, moving her family into a new home should be the perfect organizational challenge. But murder was definitely not on the to-do list . . .

Maggie McDonald has a penchant for order that isn’t confined to her clients’ closets, kitchens, and sock drawers. As she lays out her plan to transfer her family to the hundred-year-old house her husband, Max, has inherited in the hills above Silicon Valley, she has every expectation for their new life to fall neatly into place. But as the family bounces up the driveway of their new home, she’s shocked to discover the house’s dilapidated condition. When her husband finds the caretaker face-down in their new basement, it’s the detectives who end up moving in. What a mess! While the investigation unravels and the family camps out in a barn, a killer remains at large—exactly the sort of loose end Maggie can’t help but clean up . . .

What I Thought:

This the first in a new series, Maggie McDonald Mysteries.  I thought the cover looked really inviting and the story was just as great as the cover.  I enjoyed reading about Maggie and her adventures moving her family.  I should have been easy because she is an organizer, after all, but she didn't organize murder into the move.  I thought this was  a well written book with a good plot.  It kept me turning pages and guessing up until the end.

I received a complimentary copy of this book for my honest review.





About The Author

Mary Feliz has lived in five states and two countries but calls Silicon Valley home. Traveling to other areas of the United States, she’s frequently reminded that what seems normal in the high-tech heartland can seem decidedly odd to the rest of the country. A big fan of irony, serendipity, diversity, and quirky intelligence tempered with gentle humor, Mary strives to bring these elements into her writing, although her characters tend to take these elements to a whole new level. She’s a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and National Association of Professional Organizers. Mary is a Smith College graduate with a degree in Sociology. She lives in Northern California with her husband, near the homes of their two adult offspring. Visit Mary online at MaryFeliz.com, or follow her on Twitter @MaryFelizAuthor.

Purchase Links
Amazon –  B&N



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Show Time

Show Time (A Dodie O’Dell Mystery)
Lyrical Underground (July 19, 2016)
Paperback: 228 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1601837202
E-Book ASIN: B0174PKHFG

The tide has turned for Dodie O’Dell since a hurricane upended her life on the Jersey Shore. Now she’s further up the coast in sleepy Etonville, managing a restaurant that dishes dinners themed around the community theater’s latest productions. But Dodie just never imagined she’d land the starring role in a case of bloody homicide . . .

Intrigued by rumors of vanishing box office money, Dodie has agreed to help oversee the casting of Romeo and Juliet at the modest Etonville Little Theater. If nothing else, it’s a welcome escape from the thirty-something’s usual going-to-bed-with-a-mystery-novel routine. But when Jerome Angleton, a well-respected member of the theater company, is inexplicably found murdered on the loading dock, deadly drama transcends the stage—and the page. As a crime wave crashes over the small town, the spotlight is on Dodie to orchestrate her own investigation behind the scenes . . . before someone has a chance at a killer encore.

What I Thought:

This one started out a little slow and it took me a little bit to get into, but when I did, I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I enjoyed the sitting and the characters.  I thought it had a good plot and it was well written.  Dodie is helping to cast for the local production of Romeo and Juliet, when one of the actors is murdered, of course she has to get involved.  This one kept me guessing and there were many twists and turns.  This was a great first in a series and I look forward to more.

I received a complimentary copy of this book for my honest review.

Suzanne Trauth, Harvard Studio, Montclair, NJ. 06/27/2014 Photo by Steve Hockstein/HarvardStudio.com

About The Author

Suzanne Trauth is a novelist, playwright, screenwriter, and a former university theatre professor. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and the Dramatists Guild. When she is not writing, Suzanne coaches actors and serves as a celebrant performing wedding ceremonies. She lives in Woodland Park, New Jersey. Readers can visit her website at www.suzannetrauth.com.

Purchase Links
Amazon – B&N 

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Somethings Knot Kosher

Something’s Knot Kosher
(A Quilting Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
4th in Series
Kensington (June 28, 2016)
Mass Market Paperback: 288 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1496701800
E-Book ASIN: B0165HUVWS

Funerals can be patchy affairs for Martha Rose and her close-knit circle of friends–especially in the case of a missing body. . .

When Birdie Watson’s husband Russell is killed during a bank robbery, Martha just wants to support her grieving friend. But en route to the burial plot in Oregon, Martha makes a harrowing discovery about the casket’s contents–instead of Russell, she finds an unidentified man. Now Martha and her quilting klatch can’t rest in peace until they unspool the truth behind the macabre mix up. . .

What I Thought:

Each installment of this series just gets better and better.  In this installment the, Martha and her friends are comforting Birdie, whose husband was killed in a bank robbery, but Martha makes a grizzly discovery and changes the whole story.  There are mores twist in this book than on a country road.  If you are looking for a fast paced read that will keep you turning pages and guessing till the very end, then this is the book for you.

I received a complimentary copy of this book for my honest review. 




About the Author

Born and raised in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, Mary Marks earned a B.A. in Anthropology from UCLA and an M.A. in Public Administration from the American Jewish University in Los Angeles. In 2004 she enrolled in the UCLA Extension Writers Program. Her first novel, Forget Me Knot, was a finalist in a national writing competition in 2011. She is currently a reviewer of cozy mysteries for The New York Journal of Books at www.nyjournalofbooks.com.

Readers can visit her at www.marymarksmysteries.com and https://www.facebook.com/mmarks2013
Purchase Links
Amazon – B&N 




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Caught Bread Handed

Welcome to my tour stop for Caught Bread Handed by Ellie Alexander! This is the fourth book in the Bakeshop Mystery series and released June 28 by St. Martin's Press. The tour will have reviews and excerpts as well as a fabulous giveaway! You can find more information and the tour schedule on the tour page.

About the Book:

Welcome to Torte—a friendly, small-town family bakeshop where the oven is heating up as high as the body count…



Jules Capshaw is still chewing over her husband Carlos’s return to Ashland, Oregon. Could there be too many cooks in the kitchen? Whatever is stirring between those two will have to wait. Despite the Oregon Shakespeare Festival being dark for the winter, the bakeshop is bustling, the dough is rolling, and there’s no rest for the weary… especially when murder is thrown into the mix.



When Mindy Nolan, the owner of a new restaurant in town, turns up dead, the batter at hand thickens. Jules knows that there was bad blood between Mindy and others in town, and tracking the killer could prove to be an unwelcome treat. And to top it all off, there’s Carlos, who is pleading—with those delicious dark eyes and sexy Spanish accent—for Jules to take him back. Is home where the heart is or will she make a fresh start… and risk getting burned?

Goodreads | Amazon | Vintage Books (for signed copies!)

What I Thought:

This is such a great series and this was another great installment in that series.  Torte would be a great place to visit, and Jules is such a cool character, but she always seems to get herself in a mess.  On top of a murder to solve, her estranged husband Carlos is in town.  Boy Jules sure does have a lot of problems.  As with all the other books in this series, this one was well written and flowed really well.  It is a fast read that will keep you entertained throughout.

I received a complimentary copy of this book for my honest review.

About the Author:

Ellie Alexander is a Pacific Northwest native who spends ample time testing pastry recipes in her home kitchen or at one of the many famed coffeehouses nearby. When she’s not coated in flour, you’ll find her outside exploring hiking trails and trying to burn off calories consumed in the name of research. Follow her on Facebook or Twitter to learn more.

Website | Twitter | Facebook 

GIVEAWAY:

Signed copies of all 4 books in the Bakeshop Mysteries, Cupcake tea towel and pot holder, Love cake topper, Bakeshop page flags, Assortment of gourmet lemonade and Triple Chocolate Chunk cookie mix. 

US only.

Ends July 20th

Must be 13 or older to enter and have parental permission if under 18. Void where prohibited by law. No purchase necessary to win.

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This event was organized by CBB Book Promotions.

Final Fondue by Maya Corrigan

Final Fondue (A Five-Ingredient Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
3rd in Series
Publisher: Kensington (June 28, 2016)
Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1617731426
E-Book ASIN: B0165HVIPM

Val Deniston certainly has her plate full running a café, dabbling with recipes, and helping her grandfather prepare for the town’s upcoming tri-centennial celebration, but she’s grown fond of her new life in the Chesapeake Bay town of Bayport. . .

So when Val is asked to reclaim her old position as a cookbook publicist in New York City, she puts off her decision in order to help her grandfather perfect his chocolate fondue for the weekend festivity’s dessert cook-off. But after the opening ceremonies, Val finds a houseguest strangled to death in her grandfather’s backyard. She suspects a classic case of mistaken identity, especially when another guest nearly bids her life a fondue farewell. Now it’s up to Val to keep the killer from making another stab at murder . . .

Includes 6 five-ingredient recipes!

What I Thought:

This one grabbed me from the start and sucked me right in, I was hooked from the beginning.  I enjoyed the plot of this story, the characters in this story, and the setting of this story.  There is so much going on, that there is no way to get bored when reading this story.  Val is not sure who the killer was trying to kill, so of course her and her grandfather have to do some investigating, after all, he has to put his new Private Investigator license to use.  This is a page turner that kept me guessing to the very end.

I received a complimentary copy of this book for my honest review.

About This Author

Maya Corrigan lives near Washington, D.C., within easy driving distance of Maryland’s Eastern Shore, the setting for this series. She has taught courses in writing, detective fiction, and American literature at Georgetown University and NOVA community college. A winner of the Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery and Suspense, she has published essays on drama and short stories under her full name of Mary Ann Corrigan.

Author Links
WebPage: mayacorrigan.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Maya-CorriganBooks/305167769636032

Purchase Links
Amazon – B&N 

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Guest Post:

Maya Corrigan, Final Fondue

Five-Ingredient Murders

Where did your idea for a mystery series originate? Why five ingredients? Why not four or six? I often hear those questions about my Five-Ingredient Mystery series. When I decided to write a culinary mysteries, I analyzed popular culinary series. Many of them had cooking professionals as sleuths—chefs, caterers, bakers. I was none of those things, nor did I have experience as a food writer, restaurant worker, or seller of culinary products. I’m just a home cook, but people who come to dinner often ask me for my recipes. 

Decades ago, as a Mom with two jobs and two preschoolers, I began collecting recipes with few ingredients for dishes that didn’t take long to cook. After the kids were older, I had the time to make more elaborate meals, but I rarely found complicated recipes with dozens of ingredients worth the time and effort.

My large collection of recipes with few ingredients gave me the theme for my series. I went with five instead of four or six ingredients because it works well with the classic mystery setup, which often involves five suspects. Incorporating five suspects allows writers to explore a variety of motives without requiring the reader to keep track of too many people. In traditional mysteries, five is often the number of suspects that remain when the detective summons everyone to expose the culprit. You’ll find that scenario in many Agatha Christie books, including my favorite one, Five Little Pigs, a perfect example of the classic whodunit.

As long as I had five suspects, I figured why not also have five clues to help the armchair detective solve the mystery. A reviewer of the first book in my series, By Cook or by Crook, said she found five red herrings. That wasn’t intentional, but I must have fallen into a groove. The pattern is holding for the series itself. Final Fondue is the third book in the series. Two more are in the works. As of now, there will be five five-ingredient mysteries.

My sleuth, Val Denniston, left a stressful job Manhattan and now lives with her widowed grandfather in a historic town on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Val runs a café and solves murders, which she, like other sleuths in cozy mysteries, encounters with amazing frequency. While she investigates, Granddad takes up cooking and pares down her recipes to five ingredients. Each book in the series contains Granddad’s five-ingredient recipes.

In Final Fondue Val and Granddad are preparing for the town’s Tricentennial festivities. He reminisces about the fondue parties of the 1970s and makes chocolate fondue to greet houseguests, weekend visitors to the town’s festival. Chocolate fondue requires only chocolate and cream. Flavorings like vanilla, orange juice, or liqueurs are optional. For a change, Granddad has to add, not subtract, ingredients to get to his magic number of five. The guests are decidedly icy to each other as they sit around the table dipping fruit and cake into the warm chocolate. Later, one of them is murdered while indulging in a private fondue party. Though Val and her grandfather disagree about which of five suspects is guilty, they agree on one thing: the police are wrong about who did it. It’s up to Val and Granddad to keep the culprit from making another stab at murder.

Read to Death by Terrie Farley Moran

Read to Death(Read Em and Eat Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
3rd in Series
Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Berkley (July 5, 2016)
ISBN-13: 978-0425270301
E-Book ASIN: B016JPTN5W

Synopsis

The national bestselling author of Caught Read-Handed revisits Fort Myers Beach, Florida, where the proprietors of a local bookstore café occasionally take a stab at solving murder…

At their seaside Read ‘Em and Eat bookstore café, Sassy Cabot and Bridgy Mayfield offer fresh scones, great books, and excellent detective work…

With their book club season wrapping up with The Florida Life of Thomas Edison, Sassy and Bridgy decide to take their group on a day trip to the beautiful Edison and Ford Winter Estates. Hiring driver Oscar Frieland, who’s known for his colorful stories and love of the café’s Robert Frost fruit tartlets, the bibliophiles set off for a day of sunshine and history.

After a lovely excursion, the club returns to the café for lunch and a book discussion, but the group falls silent after Oscar is found dead in his van. The sheriff’s deputies have some questions of their own for the group, and if the ladies don’t find some answers soon, the next book they read might be from a prison library.

What I Thought:

This was another great installment in the Read Em and Eat Mystery Series.  Sassy and Bridgy seem to always get themselves embroiled in a murder somehow.  This time, the driver who took them to the Edison and Ford Winter Estates is the one who is found murdered, and Bridgy is the main suspect because she is the one who found Oscar.  Of course, Sassy takes it upon herself to investigate so she can prove her best friend is innocent.  On top of all that, Sassy's and Bridgy's moms make a visit.  Of course Emelia, Bridgy's mom, and Ophie do not get along at all, so that is more drama for Sassy and Bridgy to have to deal with.  Sassy is bound and determined to solve this mystery.This is a fast paced story that will have you turing pages and it kept me guessing till the very end..

I received a complimentary copy of this book for my honest review.

About This Author

Short-listed twice for The Best American Mystery Stories, Terrie Farley Moran is delighted to introduce mystery fans to the Read ’Em and Eat café and bookstore, which debuted with Well Read, Then Dead. The only thing Terrie enjoys more than wrangling mystery plots into submission is playing games and reading stories with any or all of her grandchildren.

Author Links:
Webpage – http://terriefarleymoran.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/terrie.moran.9
Blog:  www.womenofmystery.net
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/23186092-terrie-moran
Pinterest – https://www.pinterest.com/1terriemoran/
Purchase Links – Amazon            B&N          Google Play

Guest Post:

Read to Death is the third book in the nationally best-selling Read ’Em and Eat cozy series. Imagine a gorgeous spring day in the island community of Fort Myers Beach, Florida. Perhaps you would want to picnic on Lovers Key, go charter fishing off San Carlos Island or go shelling on the beach.

The Cool Reads/Warm Climate Book Club meets monthly at the Read ’Em and Eat Café and Bookstore and on this particular spring day they have opted for an outing to the mainland to visit the Edison and Ford Winter Estates, where Thomas Edison, Henry Ford and their families wintered a century ago. A glorious day for all until their van driver is murdered in the parking lot of the Read ’Em and Eat.

When Bridgy Mayfield discovers Oscar Frieland sprawled across a seat with a pair of scissors stuck in his neck, she becomes the prime witness, if not the prime suspect. What’s a girl to do when she is in major trouble? She calls her mom! Bridgy’s mother, Emelia, flies down from Brooklyn. While she is a great comfort to Bridgy, Emelia is also the very buttoned down sister of the flamboyant Aunt Ophie. Just watch those sparks fly.

Oh and a surprise guest arrives with Emelia, a highly entertaining, although occasionally troublesome guest. Fun to watch!

The book clubs are reading (and disagreeing over) some really interesting choices. (I really liked the Anna Quindlen book) And the Teen Book Club brings their usual spunk and some colorful additions to their meeting.

All the while Sassy and Bridgy are trying to find Oscar’s murderer before Bridgy is carted off to jail.

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