Category: Cozy Mystery

RAMBLING THOUGHTS ON BEING
AN AUTHOR OF A “COMFORT FOOD “ SERIES
by
CHRISTINE WENGER

First, let me explain that wild title above.  My series for Penguin/Obsidian Books are all cozy mysteries and each one has a comfort food theme.

You might ask, “Hey, Chris, what is COMFORT FOOD? “  Well, dear reader, it is what I’d like to think of is food or sweets that grandma used to make, or mom used to make, or dad always made, or Joe at the diner makes.  It’s your favorite go-to food when you are feeling low and need some comfort.  It’s the way mom makes that sweet potato casserole.  It’s that meatloaf you grew up on.  It’s grandma’s apple pie and now you have the recipe and make it every Thanksgiving for your kids.  And hopefully, one of your kids will make it for their kids.

You might also ask, “Hey, Chris, what’s the setting for your comfort food series?”  Well, dear reader, I picked the perfect setting for my series: a diner!  My character, Trixie Matkowski’s Silver Bullet Diner, located in small town Sandy Harbor, New York, is on the shore of Lake Ontario.

Trixie Matkowski has the same first name as my favorite childhood sleuth, Trixie Belden.  As a kid, you could always find me lying on my bed reading and re-reading Trixie’s adventures. I’d be done with one book, and have the next open so I wouldn’t miss a word.  I’d like to think that Trixie Matkowski is a lot like me.  We have a lot of things in common: love of food and desserts, love of Lake Ontario, small towns, little rental cottages, quirky friends and Polish heritage.

Like Trixie Matkowski, I’ve always been a foodie and love to cook and bake. As for diners, I have my local favorites that have stood the test of time and various owners.  A lot of the old diners, like the Silver Bullet, were fashioned after railroad dining cars.  My grandfather used to work at Onondaga Pottery (which turned into Syracuse China and is now defunct) which made china for various diners, restaurants, and even railroad dining cars.  I have several collectible railroad china pieces, and whenever I use it, I think of where it might have traveled and the dining cars in which it sat.

Friends who have read my books relish in sharing their favorite diners with me.  Oh, the hardship!  Great food and great company.  So, while I should be writing, instead I am eating at various new and old diners.

But my favorite will always be diners like the Silver Bullet, a shiny aluminum establishment from the 1950’s or so, with a grand history and food that comforts.  The smell of coffee permeates the air, and deserts take a ride on a lighted carousel.  The waitresses are friendly and no one rushes you out.

Think of me sitting across from you in a booth with a worn Formica table and red vinyl seats that ergonomically form to my butt.   I’ll be the one eating fried chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy and buttered corn on the side.

“Of course, Nancy, I’d love desert.  I’ll have a cup of thick black coffee with my apple pie.  Definitely, a la mode.  Vanilla ice cream, please!”

About the Author:

Christine has worked in the criminal justice field for more years than she cares to remember. She has a dual master’s degree in Probation and Parole Studies and Sociology from Fordham University.

Unfortunately, the knowledge gained from way too many years in night school, didn’t prepare her for what she loves to do the most – writing romances and cozy mysteries.

Website/Facebook

For Sandy Harbor’s tastiest comfort food, venture to the Silver Bullet Diner. But head next door to the new drive-in theater if you have an appetite for murder….

Trixie Matkowski has a tall order to fill this fall. Aside from dishing out delicious fare at the Silver Bullet during peak fishing season, she’s helping her friend—Antoinette Chloe Brown, or ACB for short—open a drive-in movie theater in the vacant lot beside her diner. It’s just the thing to take ACB’s mind off Nick, her missing biker beau.

But their plans are fried after Nick’s body is discovered during the groundbreaking for the drive-in. And when the police connect the murder weapon to ACB, she becomes the prime suspect in eighty-sixing Nick. With the fate of her innocent friend and her business on the line, Trixie must make the guilty party pay up before someone else gets stiffed….

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Jennifer’s Review of Diners, Drive-ins, and Death

Review (4.25 Stars): Trixie has a lot on her plate in this new mystery with running a busy restaurant, helping her friend open a drive-in movie theater and she has also agreed to host the contestants of the Miss Salmon pageant.  While all this is going on, her friend Antoinette Chloe is trying to figure what happened to her boyfriend, who just up and disappeared on her.  When they find his body on the land where she is going to open her drive-in, Antoinette Chloe becomes the prime suspect in his murder.  Trixie doesn’t believe that her friend is a murderer so she is off to find the real killer before everything goes up in smoke.

This is the third book in the Comfort Food mystery series and this book is action-packed for the get go.  Trixie has way too much going on in her life but that is the way she likes it.  She has wonderful friends, a great business and a sexy potential love interest.  I love how loyal Trixie is to the people that she cares about and is willing to do almost anything to help her good friend, Antoinette Chloe.  After everything they have been through together, Trixie is supportive of Antoinette Chloe when she trying to figure out what happened to her boyfriend, Nick.  Finding Nick on the drive-in property was a shock because no one had a clue how he got there or who was looking to hurt him.  Antoinette Chloe is eccentric with a larger than life personality but that is what I love about her.  The mystery was very intriguing and it was easy to fly through the pages  with Ms. Wenger’s humorous writing style. Diners, Drive-ins, and Death has the perfect mixture of thrills, snappy dialogue and delicious down-home style flavor that will have you asking for seconds.

Giveaway

Guest Post for NO GHOULS ALLOWED
by Victoria Laurie

The Sandman

I spent a whole lot of my childhood and perhaps more than a bit of my adulthood being afraid of things that go bump in the night.

Like,…terrified to the point of keeping a light on at all times and sleeping on a platform bed lest some spooky entity be able to crawl under it and stab me in my sleep.  (Hello, Jason, a la Friday the 13th.)

Much of this was born of sensitivity to spooks from early childhood.  My first spook sighting in fact was when I was just three years old.

It started one afternoon after we checked into some old hotel in Pennsylvania.  The hotel was well over a hundred and fifty years old and, over breakfast on the way there, my sister had innocently asked why was it that, when she woke up in the mornings, there was sand in her eyes?

My father had replied that every night, to help her sleep, the Sandman came and dropped a little bit of sand there.

It’s funny to me to retell that part of the story, because, in today’s world, I think I’d hesitate telling my six-year-old daughter that every night some guy carrying a sack of sand visited her while she slept.

Anyhoo, my sister, being the logical type, took explanation in stride.  I have only the vaguest memory of that part of the story – mostly because some kind waitress had set down a plate of strawberry covered pancakes topped with a generous portion of whip cream in front of me.  The rest of the day was lost to a sugar coma, I’m sure.

So, that night my parents tucked my sister and me into the king bed in our suite, and headed off through the door to their suite.  Sandy, my sister, lay way across the bed to my left, and I had the spot closest all the way to the right, by the door.  Sands fell asleep immediately.  I was still wound up a little and drifted only into a light doze.

Shortly after my parents wished us goodnight, I heard the sound of a door closing.  It was soft, no more than a click really, but it made me open my eyes and sit up.  There, at the foot of the bed, was a dark silhouette in the shape of a tall man with a stove-piped hat atop his head.

In the dim light of the room, he had no discernable features; he merely stood there at my feet.  Watching me.

Feeling uneasy I rolled over to my sister’s side.  The man at the end of the bed moved along the foot of the bed with me.  I nudged my sister.

“Whaaaaaat?” she moaned.

“Sandy!  There’s a man in here!”

My sister didn’t lift her head from the pillow.  “It’s the Sandman.  Go back to sleep,” she told me.

I lay back down and rolled back to my side.  The Sandman moved with me.

He continued to stand there, watching me for what felt like an eternity.  So I rolled back to my sister’s side, (the Sandman following me), and nudged her again.  “He won’t go away!” whispered.

“Close your eyes and let him put the sand in,” she advised, still not lifting her head from the pillow.

I remember being very frustrated with her.  I didn’t want the creepy dude with the tall hat coming any closer to me.  I didn’t even want him in the room.  Still, if it would make him go away, I figured I’d give it a try.  So off to the other side I went, with the Sandman in tow, and plunked my head down on the pillow, curling myself into the fetal position.  Closing my eyes tightly, I waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Nothing happened.

Sneaking a peak, I looked over my shoulder and the Sandman stood there ominously.  It was like I could sense his mean little eyes boring holes into me.  This time I rolled back over to my sister’s side of the bed and kicked her in the leg.  She sat up angrily and was ready to yell at me when she caught sight of the dark silhouette at the end of the bed and began to scream her head off.

Finally!  A reaction I could get behind!  I began to scream too.

My parents rushed into the room, flipping on the lights as they came, and the Sandman vanished.  Poof!  Just like that.  Gone.

We checked out of the hotel early the next morning after my mother shared more than a few angry words with the hotel staff after one of them admitted they’d given us a room that was reportedly haunted.

Since then I’ve had at least a dozen other such encounters – one that shook me so terribly that I couldn’t drive at night for months afterward.

And I never really got over my fears of the dark until I started writing the Ghost Hunter Mysteries.

Writing has always been my therapy, and I can’t think of a better example than how much it’s helped me to write about the scary encounters that M. J., Gilley, and Heath routinely get themselves into.  There’s just something about creating a super scary scene, which is so vivid for you as a writer that you can feel and see and sense everything that your characters are experiencing, except that, in this case, you have absolute control over the outcome.  It establishes a feeling of confidence, and, after nine books in the series, I’d like to say that I’ve completely overcome my fear of the dark.

I realized just how much when I began writing this particular installment, No Ghouls Allowed and introduced a new spook to the scene.  The Sandman.

Did I still get a little creeped out while writing the book?  Definitely.  But it was a good creeped out.  One I had total control over.

Of course, the quart of ice cream I had on hand as comfort food whilst I wrote the book maaaaay have helped too.  🙂

About the Author:

Victoria Laurie is the New York Times bestselling author of over twenty books.  With two series in full swing, Victoria divides her time between The Psychic Eye Mysteries and The Ghost Hunter Mysteries.  As a professional psychic herself, Victoria knows all too well the tricky world of the paranormal in which her protagonists psychic Abby Cooper, and spiritual medium M. J. Holliday tackle murder, mayhem, and the occasional demon with plenty of plucky humor and determination.

On a trip to Georgia to see her father, M. J. Holliday finds herself trapped in a haunted mansion and discovers…

THE SOUTH WILL RISE AGAIN—FROM THE DEAD

M.J. has had a distant relationship with her father since her mother died more than two decades ago. But when M.J., her boyfriend, Heath, and BFF, Gilley, take a break from their show, Ghoul Getters, and visit her family home in Valdosta, Georgia, they find Montgomery Holliday a changed man. The source of his happiness seems to be his new fiancée, the charming Christine Bigelow.

But despite the blush of new love, Montgomery and Christine are dealing with a big problem in the form of the antebellum mansion she is having renovated. After a series of strange accidents, the work crew is convinced the place is cursed, and the contractor has walked off the job. At Christine’s request, M.J. and her pals agree to find out if they’re really dealing with some spirited saboteurs and a possessed plantation home.

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Jennifer’s Review of No Ghouls Allowed

Review (5 Stars): I absolutely love this series!!!!  I can never get enough of M.J., Heath and Gil and I impatiently count the days until there is a new book in the series.  In No Ghouls Allowed, M.J. returns home to Georgia to spend time with her estranged father and his new fiancée, Christine. While there, they discover that Christine’s home is being renovated and she is having a problem keeping the construction crews from walking off the job. They investigate to see what is happening at the house and what they encounter is a dark, destructive evil that they have never experienced before.

Ms. Laurie does an amazing job keeping this mystery series fresh and exciting and has made me a fan for life.  I loved going back to Georgia with the gang and learning more about M.J.’s life as a child. It helped me see how M.J. has grown as a character and how her past has shaped her to be the wonderful, stubborn and loyal person that she is. I have to say that I would like Christine to be my future step-mom because you can tell that she has a warm accepting personality and she was just the person to bring M.J. and her father closer together.  No Ghouls Allowed is a fun, exciting, ghost-hunting thrill ride that will keep you laughing until the wee hours and now I will have to wait not so patiently until I can meet up with these characters again.

Giveaway

I’m excited to give away a copy of No Ghouls Allowed. This giveaway is for US Residents only.  To be entered in the drawing by January 25th, please leave me a comment below:

With a needle and thread, Harlow Jane Cassidy is capable of magic. Her neighbors in Bliss, Texas, on the other hand, are capable of murder….

Any garment Harlow stitches together has the power to grant the deepest desire of whomever wears it. So when she’s asked to sew aprons for a local women’s group, Harlow must get to know each member. First up is Delta Lee Mobley, who doesn’t care much for Harlow’s family—or anyone else in Bliss, for that matter. Granting Delta’s greatest wish could only lead to trouble….

But trouble finds Delta all the same. The day after Harlow delivers her apron, Delta’s body is discovered in the cemetery. It seems one of the townsfolk harbored ill will toward one of their own. Harlow’s sleuthing skills are a cut above the rest, and with a few magical tricks up her sleeve, she is determined to cuff this killer once and for all.

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About the Author:

Melissa Bourbon, who sometimes answers to her Latina-by-marriage name Misa Ramirez, is a middle school teacher by day, and a writer by night. She lives lives in an inspiring century old house in North Texas and loves being surrounded by real-life history.  She fantasizes about spending summers writing in quaint, cozy locales, has a love/hate relationship with yoga and chocolate, is devoted to her family, and can’t believe she’s lucky enough to be living the life of her dreams.

She is the author of the Lola Cruz Mystery series, as well as A Magical Dressmaking Mystery series. She also has written two romantic suspense novels, a light paranormal romance, and is the co-author of The Tricked-out Toolbox, a practical marketing guide for authors.

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Jennifer’s Review of A Seamless Murder

Review (4 Stars): What a spellbinding series! Harlow is working on a new project in this mystery where she has been asked to sew aprons for the Red Hat Society dinner party. While she is trying to come up with the perfect design for each apron, the leader of the Red Hat Society is found dead in the local cemetery.  Harlow must now use her sleuthing skills to track down a killer before they decide to add another victim to their list.

A Seamless Murder is the sixth book in the Magical Dressmaking series and I am completely enchanted by this series.  Harlow is a great character that has the wonderful ability to create the perfect designs for people based on her magical abilities.  She gets a vision of what fabrics would look great on a person and then she is able to make that design come to life.  With this mystery, Harlow has the job of sewing several aprons in a short amount of time, when the body of Delta Mobley is found in the cemetery.  Delta’s family hasn’t cared much for the Cassidy clan, so Harlow had hoped that this assignment would make amends between the two families and it is a bit of shock to find that Delta has been killed.

I liked how Ms. Bourbon has the ability to create an intriguing mystery that has the right amount of plot twists and turns that will keep people guessing. For me, Harlow has grown so much as a character and I loved to see how far her relationship with Will has come over the course of the series.  The ending of this book made me very happy and I want to see what happens next with Harlow and Will in the next installment of this series.

Giveaway

Questions readers asked Beverly Allen about the Bridal Bouquet Shop Series

How did you come up with the characters? Are they based loosely on some folks you know?

Perhaps I had a little inspiration. Audrey Bloom’s Grandma Mae is patterned loosely after my own wonderful grandmother. But that’s probably the closest parallel. Much of the character development starts with Audrey. She’s really the girl next door, or at least that’s what I was aiming for. She doesn’t have it all figured out, but she’s getting there. She has a bit of a romantic streak, especially shown in her love of flowers and for the language of flowers, but it’s balanced with an inherent practicality, normal insecurities, and just a tinge of residual angst, so she’s not so idealistic and sentimental that her feet ever leave the ground.

Where the other people come from is a little more complicated. It’s hard to create a person out of thin air. Some characters, like her cousin Liv, have helped Audrey become the person she is. Others might be antagonistic. Just like real life. A few might have been inspired by real people I knew or people I wish I knew, mixing and matching traits and details, kind of like playing Mr. Potato Head with your friends and family.
The cats, however, are definitely patterned after my cats.

Did you always know a lot about flowers? Or did you learn it for the series?

True confession: Because of some pretty severe allergies, flowers were never really my thing. I had a crash course when I first started writing the series. Since part of Audrey’s charm is that she likes to create bouquets based on the language of flowers, I started a Pinterest page to keep track of the meanings. That helped me learn to recognize a number of unfamiliar flower varieties.

A couple of very nice florists allowed me to hang around their shops for a while and answered a lot of my newbie questions, and there’s a lovely lady at my church who used to run her own flower shop. She reads over the novels before I turn them in. She says I made the flower shop pretty realistic, except maybe a little more pleasant than the norm. She’d love to work with Audrey and Liv!

Besides all the online references and books, I also was able to sign up for a floral design course offered by a local florist to get some hands-on practice. Considering the allergies, that was fun. I was wearing gloves, since sap of some flowers will give me welts, and by the time the class was over, my eyes were burning and I could barely see to drive home. It did, however, give me the inspiration for a character, a police chief with intense allergies to flowers. And for some reason (wink), all the murders in Ramble, Virginia, now take place in the presence of lots of flowers.

What is a day in your writing life like? What is your process?

Well, this is a little embarrassing. Let me first say that a couple of years ago, after my daughter vacated her bedroom, I took the opportunity to repurpose the room into a proper office: floor to ceiling bookshelves (jam-packed with mysteries and my writing and reference books), a daybed (perfect for reading), a sleek glass desk, laser printer, and a display board where I can pin up maps or plots or things I want to keep handy. I imagined long hours in my comfy desk chair, typing away.

Well, that room sits unused, for the most part. Because here’s what really happens:

I wake up half comatose and use the wall to guide myself down the stairs and to the Keurig. I watch a few minutes of the morning news and check email and Facebook. Generally, there’s something waiting on my DVR, so I catch up on that while the caffeine is kicking in. After breakfast and a little more procrastination, I’ll sink into an overstuffed leather chair in my family room, put my feet up, and get to pounding the keys of my laptop.

I tend to plot ahead of time, but my characters don’t always obey my outlines. I write in segments, and I aim for about 500 words in a segment. On busy days, or when I’m struggling with a section, I might only get 500 words in. Most days, however, I try for at least 1,000. But when the words are coming easily and quickly, or if a deadline is looming, I try to capitalize on this by adding segments. I think my record high was about 7,000.

In between segments are usually breaks for coffee, food, maybe a little housework, sometimes a mental break with a game or a program on television. (I’m watching through the Gilmore Girls at the moment.)

For those interested in the details, I generally do not have music on while I write, but when I do, it tends to be instrumental because lyrics distract me. My beverages of choice are decaf coffee, sweetened and with chocolate soymilk, and water with a splash of cranberry juice. And I’m definitely a pajama writer. Only after I’ve finished my writing for the day will I shower and dress. Personally, I think that is one of the biggest perks of the writing life.

About the Author:

Barbara Early (A.K.A. Beverly Allen) grew up buried in the snowy suburbs of Buffalo, NY, where she developed a love for all things sedentary: reading, writing, classic movies, and Facebook Scrabble. She holds a degree in Electrical Engineering, but her penchant for the creative caused her to run away screaming from the pocket-protector set.

She taught secondary English and science for several years before home schooling her daughter successfully through high school. Barbara cooks up cozy mysteries with a healthy dose of comedy and sometimes a splash of romance.

When not reading or writing, she enjoys cooking, crafts, home-improvement projects, and spending time with her husband and daughter.

Website/Facebook

Florist Audrey Bloom, co-owner of the Rose in Bloom, creates fragrant bouquets for brides. But when a wedding goes fatally wrong, it’s up to Audrey to sniff out a killer . . .

Everything is coming up roses for Audrey when her dazzling creations are picked to be featured on a wedding reality show. The hot series is filming an episode about a bride who’s bonkers for bells, and Audrey’s bouquets of campanulas, calla lilies, and Bells-of-Ireland are perfect for the bridal theme.

But Audrey’s debut quickly becomes a hothouse of trouble. Her ex, Brad, shows up as a crew member on the show, threatening her blossoming relationship with Nick the baker. To make matters worse, when one of the show’s hosts is found dead in the bell tower of a historic church, all the evidence points toward Brad.

Now Audrey needs to weed out the real killer before someone else’s chance at stardom is permanently nipped in the bud . . .

Amazon/B&N

Jennifer’s Review of For Whom The Bluebell Tolls

Review (4.5 Stars): Audrey Bloom has the amazing ability to create beautiful bouquets while understanding the meaning of each flower that will be the perfect addition to the bridal theme. Audrey soon discovers that her shop is chosen to appear on the reality show, Fix My Wedding and Audrey is excited to be a part of her favorite television guilty pleasure.  But when one of the hosts is found dead and her ex-boyfriend is blamed for the murder, she must find a killer before her screen debut is permanently cancelled.

This is the second book in the Bridal Bouquet Shop mystery series and I was captivated by the characters in this well-written cozy mystery. I loved the reality show aspect in this mystery because it made the story exciting and fun and kept things moving right along.  The mystery itself had several plot twists and turns, which made For Whom The Bluebell Tolls a delightful addition to this enchanting series.  Looking forward to reading more about Audrey Bloom and her dazzling flower shop in the future.

Giveaway

I’m excited to give away a copy of For Whom The Bluebell Tolls. This giveaway is for US Residents only.  To be entered in the drawing by January 21st, please leave me a comment below:

Sisters Lucinda and Ricarda Ricardo—better known as Lucy and Rikki—are at each other’s throats over the family business, Roble Foods. Lucy wants to sell and Rikki is against it. Rikki asks medium Emma Whitcastle to contact their deceased father, Felix, to help her convince Lucy not to sell, but the ghost of Felix Ricardo has his own bombshell to drop. Now it’s up to Emma and the ghost of Granny Apples to chip away at the mystery and stop a killer from double dipping in death.

Amazon/B&N

About the Author:

Sue Ann Jaffarian is the author of the popular Odelia Grey mystery series, the Ghost of Granny Apples mystery series and the Madison Rose vampire mysteries, as well as short stories.

Like the character Odelia Grey, Sue Ann Jaffarian is a middle-aged, plus-sized paralegal. She lives in Los Angeles with her two cats, B and Raffi.

In addition to writing, Sue Ann is sought after as a motivational/ humorous speaker. You can visit her on the web at www.sueannjaffarian.blogspot.com.

Website/Facebook

Jennifer’s Review of Ghost in the Guacamole

Review (5 Stars): Emma Whitecastle is asked to consult on a new case involving two sisters that are at odds with each other about selling a family restaurant business.  Emma has been asked to contact their deceased father and seek his advice on keeping the business while another wants to sell it to the highest bidder.  What Emma finds out is that their deceased father wants them to sell and his untimely death wasn’t an accident but murder.  Now Emma and her ghostly sidekick, Granny Apples, must find a killer quickly before they make murder a family affair.

This is the fifth book in the Ghost of Granny Apples mystery series and I have to say this one is a winner.  I was immediately sucked into the story and didn’t look up until I was almost done with the book.  Emma is a fun, likable character and Granny Apples always seems to steal the spotlight with her sharp wit and entertaining dialogue.  The mystery was complex and engaging and I think that Ghost in the Guacamole is one of my favorite mysteries so far this year.  Can’t wait to read more adventures of Emma and Granny Apples because I know that it will be a fun, entertaining thrill-ride.

Giveaway

The Ghosts of Sweet Pepper
From a story in the Sweet Pepper Gazette
By Pat Smith

Sweet Pepper isn’t exactly the ghost capitol of the world or even on the most haunted places tour. The people exploit their peppers, but not their ghosts. Ghost are too personal – even family – and no one would want to put family on display to make a few dollars.

But there are plenty of ghosts in the little town of Sweet Pepper, Tennessee. It is home to a headless man, the ghost of a former fire chief, and some nameless haunts, as well as a witch or two.

No one knows who the woman is who cries on the bridge going out of town. She begs strangers for rides, telling them that she’s trying to get home. As soon as the persona agrees to take her home, she vanishes, leaving the person with a feeling of breathlessness and a rapidly pounding heart. People have been writing about her since the 1800s. Some recently have even tried to take her picture, but she’s camera shy.

A headless ghost holding a lantern winds his way through the streets on certain nights during the winter. He seems to be weaving as though he’s had too much to drink. His clothes are that of a gentleman from the late 1800s with shiny buckles on his shoes. He disappears when anyone shines a light on him.

There is a ghost hound who some have claimed howls before a sick person’s death, and there is the ghost horse that runs through town, sometimes taking passengers with him who are never seen again.

My favorite is Fire Chief Eric Gamlyn who died in the line of duty forty years ago. He was killed in a grain silo fire. He was the founder of the Sweet Pepper Fire Brigade and also built their firehouse and the log cabin on Firehouse Road. He loved Sweet Pepper and did many good things for the town.

Chief Gamlyn has been seen walking around his log cabin and visiting the old firehouse. It should be pointed out that no one was able to live in his cabin until the new fire chief came to Sweet Pepper.

Chief Stella Griffin doesn’t have much to say about living with the ghost of the old chief. “He doesn’t bother me – I don’t bother him,” she said in a recent interview. “I guess we get along well because we have something in common.”

If anyone knows of any other ghost stories from Sweet Pepper, contact the newspaper.

About the Author:

J.J. Cook writes award-winning, bestselling mystery fiction as themselves, Joyce and Jim Lavene, and Ellie Grant. They have written and published more than 70 novels for Harlequin, Berkley, Amazon, and Gallery Books along with hundreds of non-fiction articles for national and regional publications. They live in rural North Carolina with their family. Visit them at their website.

Stella Griffin should be bubbling over with joy now that she’s the full-time fire chief of Sweet Pepper, except trouble is brewing on her doorstep. An angry resident has purchased her cabin, and—with a bulldozer in tow—is ready to tear it down. But as Stella worries over the fate of her home and Eric, her ghostly roommate, there’s soon an even greater cause for alarm.

A suspicious house fire in the pricey Sunset Beach community at Sweet Pepper Lake claims the life of ex-state representative Barney Falk. The nature of the death has Stella feeling out of her depth, so she teams up with the state’s arson investigator. Moving full steam ahead with the case, they must smoke out a killer before the firebug strikes again…

Amazon/B&N

Jennifer’s Review of In Hot Water

Review (4.5 Stars): Stella Griffin has always been one of my favorite mystery heroines because she is just this spunky firecracker that is the fire chief of Sweet Pepper Fire Brigade and doesn’t seem to be afraid of anything. In Hot Water, after the cliffhanger in Playing With Fire, I’m glad to see that Stella’s home is safe for now but she may be evicted before too long.  While she is dealing with housing issues, her fire brigade responds to a suspicious house fire at the home of Barney Falk and discover his body after a deadly explosion. Stella now has to deal with a case of arson and has to find a killer before another victim goes up in smoke.

In Hot Water is the third book in Sweet Pepper Fire Brigade mysteries and I love each one more than the last. I enjoy reading Stella’s adventures in Sweet Pepper and this mystery is filled with action, thrills and a little bit of a love triangle.  I can’t get enough of Stella and Eric and I wish there was some way that the two of them could be together as a couple. My only complaint about this book is that it ended on another cliff hanger and I want the next book in the series right now.

Giveaway

Guest Post

by Elizabeth Lee

You know how you’ve been around a guy forever and then one day you get mad at him and your whole world seems to blow up?  That’s what happens to Lindy Blanchard when even Deputy Hunter Austin, her sometimes lover and sometimes adversary, and sometimes plain pain-in-the-neck, comes to suspect that her meemaw, Miss Amelia, who runs The Nut House in Riverville, Texas, could’ve been the one who poisoned Pastor Jenkins at the Riverville Agricultural Fair.

Suspect her Meemaw?  The love of her life?  The woman who sets standards for everyone in the Blanchard family?  The greatest cook in all of Riverville, who just happened to lose an important blue ribbon because of a contrary vote from the pastor?

So what if it was Miss Amelia’s Heavenly Pecan Texas Caviar that killed the man?  (In the recipes at the end of the book Miss Amelia renames this famous dish Socrates Favorite Texas Caviar in a kind of ghoulish attempt to make people forget that poison killed the good pastor.)
Anybody could have slipped the poison into Meemaw’s dish, especially since a hog got loose from one of the barns right about then and Hunter, police presence at the fair, was out trying to rope the scared animal, then was dragged through the red Texas dirt for his trouble.  And nobody was watching the entries in the food tent.

It doesn’t help the two of them, trying to make up later, when, on a trip to Tupelo to interview a possible suspect, Meemaw keeps calling to make sure they have separate rooms when they stop for the night in New Orleans.  She may be the number one suspect in a murder, but Miss Amelia will be damned if her dear granddaughter will be called a “loose woman” by town gossips like her friend, Ethelred Tomroy.

Once in Tupelo, they are all business, interviewing this ex-husband who got religion since he hurt his first wife so bad and swears he didn’t have anything to do with hurting the pastor.  They’d been hoping this was the murderer, but they both know the man is telling the truth—and has an alibi from his current wife—they were in church all that day.

Even a stop at Elvis’ original home in Tupelo and a tour of the grounds doesn’t lift the depression they’re sharing:

“Poor Meemaw.  What do we do next?  You have any ideas?”Lindy asked.

He shook his head, glanced down at the speedometer and slowed.  “One thing’s     still bothering me though.  I hate to bring it up.  Probably it doesn’t have anything     to do with anything, but it’s about why Miss Amelia dished up more of her Texas     caviar for the parson?  It’s the only solid thing I know of that doesn’t fit anywhere     and it’s driving me crazy.”

I thought a minute.  “I asked her.”

“What’d she say?”

“Something about wanting him to taste the real thing.”

That answer doesn’t cure a thing between them.  Things go from bad to worse (you could say) when Treenie, Meemaw’s helper at The Nut house sticks her finger in a jar at the store, puts in her mouth and lands in the hospital—poisoned by the same poison that killed the pastor.

There’s this thing about Texas women, they may be sweet as molasses but they can also be as tough at rattlers.  When the women of Riverville muster around Miss Amelia—knowing a killer from a sweetheart—Deputy Hunter either gets with the program or is out of Lindy’s life forever.

Doesn’t matter how much a woman likes or loves a man, when it comes to allegiance to him or her meemaw, there’s no contest.

Thank goodness for Hunter Austen (and me, the writer) things look like they’ll work out all right.  They still have to find the real murderer to get Meemaw off the hook, then find the poison—which comes from a surprising place—and they still have to face down a couple of serious threats from the people behind it all.  The wonderful part of all of this is that when a relationship is tested in this way, there’s not much more that can ever tear it apart again.  Well, that is until I get the two of them tied up in another murder and their stubborn natures come out again.  I love writing books about people I like as much as I like Hunter Austen and Lindy Blanchard, and all the other folks in Riverville—good, bad, mean, testy, or angelic.

Everybody’s got a story for me.  Makes my work so easy.

About the Author:

Elizabeth moved to the shores of a little lake in northwest northern Michigan and never looked back. She lives, sometimes uncomfortably, with the crows and bears and turtles and finds her material in the villages and forests that surround her. With degrees from Macomb County Community College, Oakland University, and the University of Michigan, she now teaches creative writing at Northwestern Michigan College and at writers’ conferences around the country.

Her novels include: Gift of Evil (Bantam), Dead Dancing Women, Dead Floating Lovers, Dead Sleeping Shaman, and Dead Dogs and Englishmen (Midnight Ink).

Elizabeth is also fascinated with the craft of the short story and hers have appeared in The Creative Woman, The Driftwood Review, Passages North, The MacGuffin, Quality Women’s Fiction (Great Britain), and elsewhere. With a grant from the State of Michigan she also created short stories that have been produced onstage as well as being read on NPR.

Her essays have appeared in magazines and books and newspapers, and she writes book reviews for The Northern Express, an alternative newspaper in Traverse City, Michigan.

For many years she taught in the International Women’s Guild summer program at Skidmore College and appeared as a moderator and panelist at writing conferences. Her fascination with all things murderous began with a love for puzzles of all sorts, which was handed down to her by a mother who devoured mysteries. Sometimes playful, sometimes deadly serious, her books reflect a wide interest in women’s lives and futures.

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Lindy Blanchard’s family pecan farm is known county-wide, but it’s the goodies her grandmother sells at their store, the Nut House, that really bring in the crowds—until someone turns one of her tasty treats deadly……

The “Most Original Pecan Treat” contest at the Ag Fair is the talk of Riverville, Texas, especially when it’s clear that Miss Amelia Blanchard’s Heavenly Texas Pecan Caviar will take home a blue ribbon. Which is why everyone is amazed when her dish doesn’t even place—and even more shocked when one of the judges, Pastor Jenkins, keels over dead, right after taking a second taste of Miss Amelia’s food.

No one in town truly believes that Amelia would even hurt a fly, but all the evidence points to poor Pastor Jenkins’ death being caused by poison in the caviar. Now, unless Lindy figures out who wanted to frame Amelia for murder, her meemaw may have baked her last famous pecan pie….

Amazon/B&N

Jennifer’s Review of Snoop to Nuts

Review (4.75 Stars): Snoop to Nuts is definitely a mystery that you can sink your teeth into. I love Lindy and her sassy grandmother, Amelia, as well as the eccentric cast of characters in this delightful series. In this mystery, Amelia is accused of murder when a judge dies after eating her Pecan Caviar at the Ag Fair.  I couldn’t imagine anyone thinking that Amelia would hurt anyone but there was so much competition for the coveted blue ribbon that I’m not surprised that someone tried to sabotage her yummy food and blame her for a murder she didn’t commit.  Every time I read a Nut House mystery, it reminds me of being a young child watching my grandmother cooking her delicious pies and treats and I want to go to visit the Nut House just so I can try a piece of Amelia’s pecan pie.

Snoop to Nuts is a fabulously delicious mystery that will keep readers hungry for me.  Ms. Lee does a great job bringing these characters and this town to life that you can’t stop yourself from smiling during certain scenes of this book.  The mystery was well-written and engaging that is sure to keep readers entertained until the last page.  Looking forward to more wonderful recipes and a charming new mystery in the next installment of this series.

Giveaway

I’m excited to give away a copy of Snoop to Nuts. This giveaway is for US Residents only.  To be entered in the drawing by January 17th, please leave me a comment below:

Another murder in small town Cold Creek has tensions rising. Clive Johnson, the groundskeeper at Cold Creek College, is a convenient scapegoat for a police chief who seeks an easy solution. Convinced Chief Pfeiffe has it all wrong, professor and psychologist Sheridan Hendley sets out to help prove Clive’s innocence. But not everyone is pleased by her enthusiastic search for the truth. Just as her life is looking up personally, it looks like she might be the next victim.

Amazon

About the Author:

Christa Nardi is and always has been an avid reader. Her favorite authors have shifted from Carolyn Keene and Earl Stanley Gardner to more contemporary mystery/crime authors over time, but mystery/crime along with romance are her preferred choices for leisure reading. Christa also has been a long time writer from poetry and short stories growing up to technical, research, and nonfiction in her professional life. With Murder at Cold Creek College, Christa is joining many other reader/writers in writing one genre she enjoys reading – the cozy mystery. Christa Nardi is a pen name for a real life professor/psychologist from the Northeast.

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Jennifer’s Review of Murder in the Arboretum

Review (3.5 Stars): I love mysteries that take place on a college campus and Murder in the Arboretum was an intriguing whodunnit that definitely surprised me.  There is another murder on the Cold Creek College campus and Sheridan Hendley is out to find a killer to protect an innocent man from going to jail.  While Sheridan is on a race against the clock to find clues, someone knows she is on their trail and she may soon become their next victim.

Murder in the Arboretum was a fast-paced mystery that just seemed to grab you from the very beginning.  This is the second book in the series and I would recommend reading the first one before this one just so you are more familiar with the characters.  I’m hooked and looking forward to reading more from this author.

Giveaway

Guest Post for FETA ATTRACTION

by Susannah Hardy

I love mysteries! You’re here visiting this blog because you do too. Did you ever solve a real mystery? Not ones like what that smell is emanating from your teenager’s bedroom, or who put the toilet paper on the roll backwards. Not that those aren’t important or that you shouldn’t get credit for your detective skills, LOL! But I’ve solved a couple of family mysteries, and I’ll tell you about one here today.

Genealogy is one of my hobbies, and there is a genealogical element to FETA ATTRACTION, one that will become more important in Book Two (sorry, I don’t have an official title or a release date on that yet!). My heroine, Georgie, will find out some very interesting things about who she is and where she came from and why murders keep happening around her in Bonaparte Bay.

My real-life family, and I suspect just about everyone else’s too, has its own mystery. Family legend says that my great-great grandfather was a Native American (Mohawk), that he and my white great-great grandmother had an affair, then he ran off when she found out she was pregnant. She left the baby with her widowed mother, and ran off herself. I’ve always taken that story with a grain of salt.

Now, thanks to the Internet and some digitized old newspapers, it turns out I was right to be skeptical.

The real story, which I pieced together from old newspaper articles and online census records—did I mention, I LOVE research?—is rather more Downton Abbey or Upstairs, Downstairs. Not nearly as romantic or interesting as having a Mohawk ancestor! The documentation proves that Great-Great-Grandma was a servant in the home of a wealthy shopkeeper, and they had a relationship, which resulted in a baby, my Great-Grandfather. A lawsuit was brought by the girl’s mother for loss of the girl’s services due to the pregnancy, and damages were awarded against the shopkeeper. My Great-Grandfather either never knew the real story, or deliberately lied about who his parents were on his marriage certificate, which other members of my family have taken as truth. Even though I’ve presented my proof, most still cling to the legend rather than the reality.

Not that I can blame them. Stories are often so much better than real life, aren’t they? Which is why we keep reading novels, and especially cozy mysteries with their familiar characters and satisfying endings. I hope you enjoy FETA ATTRACTION!

Wishing each and every one of you peace and prosperity in the New Year,

Susannah

About the Author:

Susannah Hardy is the author of the Greek to Me Mysteries, coming January 6, 2015 from Berkley Prime Crime. If you like your mysteries cozy, culinary, and a little bit crazy, you’re going to love Georgie and the gang at Bonaparte Bay. It’s available for order now! Click here.  Please!

Suze is a member of the New England Chapter of Sisters in Crime, the Romance Writers of America and the Connecticut Chapter of RWA.  Susannah is originally from Northern New York State (Way north!  Only a few miles from the Canadian border), graduated from St. Lawrence University, and now lives in Connecticut with her husband, teenaged son, and Elvira the Wonder Cat.

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Georgie Nikolopatos manages the Bonaparte House, a Greek restaurant and historic landmark in beautiful upstate New York rumored to possess ghosts and hidden treasure. But when her husband disappears and her main competitor is found dead, it’s up to Georgie to solve a big fat Greek murder.

With her husband, Spiro, inexplicably gone for days, Georgie has her hands full running the restaurant and dealing with the crew of the TV show Ghost Squad, called in by Spiro to inspect the house for haunting. So when she has a chance to take a boating excursion on the St. Lawrence River with her friend Keith Morgan, she jumps on it. But their idyll is quickly ruined when they discover the body of rival restaurant owner Domenic “Big Dom” DiTomasso floating in the water.

When the police start asking questions, it doesn’t help that Spiro can’t be found—and with Georgie on their suspect list, it’s up to her to find her missing husband and find out who killed Big Dom before someone else’s order is up.

Amazon/B&N

Jennifer’s Review of Feta Attraction

Review (4.5 Stars): Georgie Nikolopatos is the manager of a Greek restaurant called the Bonaparte House, which is owned by her husband, Spiro and his spunky mother, Sophie and she currently has her hands full.  Georgie’s husband has been missing for several days and even though this isn’t unusual, she now has to deal with the film crew that her husband set up to investigate claims that the restaurant is haunted.  To make matters worse, Georgie finds the body of a wealthy competitor and has been receiving threatening notes that may be related to her husband’s disappearance.  Now, Georgie has to find a murderer before it’s too late and she becomes the next person to suddenly disappear.

This is the first book in the Greek to Me mystery series and I already love this series!  Georgie was an enjoyable heroine that you will instantly like and want to spend more time with.  I thought that her relationship with her husband was very complicated and I was surprised that Georgie had lived that way for so long.  Her coworkers at the restaurant were hilarious and I enjoyed that the restaurant was being investigated by paranormal investigators to discover if it was really haunted while Georgie was dealing with a murder mystery.  The mystery was well-written with clever twists and turns that will definitely keep people guessing. Feta Attraction has the perfect combination of humor, mystery and romance that will have readers hungry for more.  Can’t wait to read the next installment in this charming series.

Giveaway

I’m excited to give away a copy of Feta Attraction. This giveaway is for US Residents only.  To be entered in the drawing by January 17th, please leave me a comment below:

It’s an old adage that too many cooks spoil the broth. But when a tour of the White House kitchen by a group of foreign chefs ends in murder, it’s Olivia Paras who finds herself in the soup… 

Due to a government sequester, entertaining at the White House has been severely curtailed. So executive chef Olivia Paras is delighted to hear that plans are still on to welcome a presidential candidate from the country of Saardisca—the first woman to run for office—and four of that nation’s top chefs.

But while leading the chefs on a kitchen tour, pastry chef Marcel passes out suddenly—and later claims he was drugged. When one of the visiting chefs collapses and dies, it’s clear someone has infiltrated the White House with ill intent. Could it be an anti-Saardiscan zealot? Is the candidate a target? Are the foreign chefs keeping more than their recipes a secret? Once again, Olivia must make sleuthing the special of the day…

Amazon/B&N

About the Author:

Julie Hyzy’s very first job had her flipping burgers and chopping onions at a neighborhood hot dog stand. She traded that experience for a job as a singing waitress at Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlour — but gave that up when she started college (and because she couldn’t carry a tune).

Over the years, she’s acted in community theater productions, appeared in television commercials, and crashed a previously all-male fraternity to become one of the first female brothers in Loyola University’s Chapter of Delta Sigma Pi. Julie had dreams of becoming a writer, but family, friends, and frat brothers convinced her otherwise. Having held positions as junior officer at a downtown bank, office manager at an architectural firm, and financial advisor at a prestigious wealth management company, she realizes that the business degree was probably a good choice — but fiction is truly her passion. Now, with some well-earned life experience behind her, she’s delighted to finally be able to make writing a priority in her life.

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Jennifer’s Review of All The President’s Menus

Review (4.75 Stars): This is a fabulous series and I can never get enough of Ollie and the wonderful cast of characters in this series.  In this story, Olivia finds herself entertaining foreign chefs and a presidential candidate from Saardisca at a time when she least expects it, during the middle of a sequester.  While taking the foreign chefs on a pastry tour, Marcel passes out and claims that he has been drugged and soon one of the visiting chefs ends up dead, leaving Olivia to believe that there is more going on than meets the eye.  Now, she must find a killer before it is too late and another victim is found at the White House.

This is the eighth book in the White House Chef mystery series and this is one of my favorite series to date.  Olivia is a fabulous character and I love reading about her life at the White House and the wonderful culinary creations she comes up with for Presidential events or just to feed the First Family.  I enjoyed this mystery because I’m always amazed at the way she handles herself in any situation, whether it is life or death or dealing with difficult chefs and she does it all effortlessly. I can’t say enough great things about this series and I can’t wait to read what is in store for Olivia and her team at the White House.

Giveaway

I’m excited to give away a copy of All The President’s Menu. This giveaway is for US Residents only.  To be entered in the drawing by January 12th, please leave me a comment below:

About the Snow Globe Shop Mystery Series

by Christine Husom

We’re in the season of winter and I live in Minnesota, the Land of 10,000 Frozen Lakes. Christmas 2014 is now part of our memory banks, but I know there are people of all ages who were given a snow globe as a gift and are this very minute picking them up, giving them a shaking, and watching the snow settle over a wide variety of scenes.

From little on, I have been drawn to the seeming magic of snow globes. I loved giving them as gifts for my children because they always appreciated them. Even now, when I see one on display in a store, I can’t resist flipping it over then back again to see how the scene looks in a snow fall.

When the opportunity arose to write a series set in a shop that specializes in snow globes, it was a natural fit. The catch is that Camryn Brooks, the one running Curio Finds, never planned to do anything like that in her lifetime. She had a successful career as a senator’s legislative affairs director in Washington D.C., and thought she’d be working there forever.

But a scandal changed her career path and she returned to her hometown of Brooks Landing in a hurry. For how long, she had no clue. But it appears to be the best place for the time being. Her parents need help running Curio Finds, and an added bonus is Cami has a large family and many friends who love and support her, no matter what the media had to say about her.

The cast of characters who are part of a small community in Minnesota often get pulled from their day to day activities to deal with events that are anything but ordinary. Alice “Pinky” Nelson, Erin Vickerman, and Mark Weston are Cami’s childhood friends who stayed in Brooks Landing and are glad Cami came back. Pinky runs Brew Ha-Ha, a coffee shop adjoining Curio Finds.

When Snow Way Out opens, Jerrell Powers, a man that had wreaked havoc in Brooks Landing a few years before has returned to town. And Erin was one of his victims. Cami and Pinky are getting ready for a snow globe making class that evening, and they’re also wondering what Erin will do if she runs into her nemesis. What they have no way of knowing is the role Jerrell Powers will play in the evening’s events or how the night will end after the class is over.

This is a snippet from the back cover, “After the flurry of activity has ended and everyone has gone off with their handmade snow globes, Cami spots on a shelf a new globe left behind, featuring an odd tableau—a man sleeping on a park bench. On her way home, she drifts through the town park and is shaken to come upon the scene from the globe—a man sitting on a bench. But he isn’t sleeping—he has a knife in his back.”

I’d love to have you join me on this Snow Globe Shop Mystery series adventure, I hope you make the people of Brooks Landing and their relationships, and all the things they get involved with, a part of your reading pleasure.

About the Author:

Christine Husom lives in Minnesota with her family. She is a small business owner and author of Murder in Winnebago County, Buried in Wolf Lake, and An Altar by the River, the first three in the Winnebago County mystery thriller series. She holds an undergraduate degree in business from Concordia University in St. Paul and a law enforcement certificate from Metropolitan State University in St. Paul. She is a former corrections officer, mental health practitioner, and deputy sheriff. Experience has taught her that fact truly is usually stranger than fiction. She enjoys reading, writing, family time, volunteer work, entertaining, gardening, and exercising.

Website/Facebook

Curio shop manager Camryn Brooks thought she’d seen every kind of snow globe—until she saw one depicting a crime scene…

Ever since she was a child, Cami has loved the sparkling beauty of snow globes, and now, she sells them. In fact, they’re so popular, Cami and her friend—coffee shop owner Alice “Pinky” Nelson—are hosting a snow globe making class.

After the flurry of activity has ended and everyone has gone off with their own handmade snow globes, Cami spots a new globe left behind on a shelf, featuring an odd tableau—a man sleeping on a park bench.

On her way home, she drifts through the town park and is shaken to come upon the scene from the globe—a man sitting on a bench. But he isn’t sleeping—he has a knife in his back. When the police arrive, it’s clear they consider Cami a little flaky and possibly a suspect. After her friends also come under suspicion, Cami starts plowing through clues to find the cold-blooded backstabber—before someone else gets iced…

Amazon/B&N

Jennifer’s Review of Snow Way Out

Review (4 Stars): Great start to a new series and I just love the idea of a mystery with the heroine being the owner of a snow globe shop.  Camyrn Brooks runs Curio Shop, a lovely little shop that features snow globes, which is situated right next door to a coffee shop that is owned by her best friend, Pinky.  The girls decide to hold their first ever snow globe making class but find that the students have more in common than they originally thought.  When the body of Jerrell Powers is found in the park by Camryn, she learns that several members of her class had reasons for wanting him dead and finds herself on the hunt for a killer to keep herself from being sent to jail for a crime she didn’t commit.

I liked Camryn and I think that this is going to be a great series.  She is smart, intriguing and definitely doesn’t seem like someone that you can push around. I love the idea of having snow globes involved in the mystery and I think that this is a very creative idea for a mystery series.  Snow Way Out is a delightful new mystery that is sure to entertain readers and I’m looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

 Giveaway

I’m excited to give away a copy of Snow Way Out. This giveaway is for US Residents only.  To be entered in the drawing by January 12th, please leave me a comment below: