by Sunny Frazier

Details at the end of this post on how to enter to win a copy of The Gun Also Rises by Sherry Harris-from a past Coming Attractions columns.

Lots of foodie mysteries and recipes in my St. Paddy’s Day Edition.

‘Tis the luck of the Irish and Corned Beef and Casualties that Lynn Cahoon brings us this month. The small California coastal town of South Cove is holding its big St. Patrick’s Day Festival and Coffee, Books and More is doing a brisk business. Owner Jill Garner couldn’t be happier until a customer is found dead. This is the tenth in the Tourist Trap Mystery series. It’s a novella in the series and includes Gertie’s St. Patrick’s Cheesecake.

Lacy Marie Crocker has been home in New Orleans for a year. Her Furry Godmother pet boutique and organic pet treats are embraced by the Garden District crowd. But with the National Pet Pageant coming she’s going to need help keeping up with the demands for pupcakes. When the pageant emcee nose dives over a balcony, detectives focus on Lacy’s friend who was standing behind the man. As the investigation goes on, more suspects come to the fore. Cat Got Your Crown is fourth in the Kitty Couture series by Julie Chase and contains recipes for your pet.

Another sort of festival is coming to Prince George’s County, Maryland. It’s a very chic hair convention. Mahalia Watkins restaurant, Sweet Tea, has the best soul food in the county and visitors are flocking to it. As Mahalia dishes out collard greens, a killer dishes out death to a pop culture icon. Turns out the woman was surrounded by bitter rivals, explosive affairs, and backstabbers. Murder with Collard Greens and Hot Sauce is the third in the Mahalia Watkins Soul Food Mysteries by A.L. Herbert.

We go from soul food to Chinese food in Vivien Chien’s third Noodle Shop Mystery. Lana Lee, manager of her family’s restaurant Ho-Lee, has entered Cleveland’s Best Noodle Contest. When a local food critic finds a threatening fortune in his cookie and later is found face down in a bowl of lo mein, Lana takes matters into her own hands. While digging up backgrounds on everyone involved in the contest, she also gets an ill-fated fortune. Murder Lo Mein will leave you craving for more.

Hope Early was also in a contest, this one was in a reality TV baking show. Now she’s trying to establish herself as a Connecticut food blogger. But when her elderly neighbor dies in a fire, a second body is found in the basement. It looks less like an accident and more like premeditated murder. The Hidden Corpse is the second in Debra Sennefelder’s Food Blogger Mysteries. There are recipes from Hope’s kitchen from cookies to casseroles to muffins and bread.

Laura Childs includes recipes for sandwiches, scones, pasta, pies, mushrooms, scallops, and flavored butters along with tea time tips for hosting the perfect afternoon tea in her latest Tea Shop Mystery. Theodosia Browning, owner of Indigo Tea Shop in Charleston, is catering a formal tea at a hot-air balloon event. While enjoying the ride, the sky turns gray and clouds appear along with a drone. Theodosia watches in horror as the drone targets the balloon next to hers. A fiery explosion erupts and all three passengers are killed, including the CEO of a software company. It’s Broken Bone China in this twentieth outing for Theodosia.

BEST OF THE REST:

Lynn Cahoon One Potato, Two Potato Farm-to-Fork Mystery #3
J.C. Eaton Pinot Red or Dead? Wine Trail Mystery #3
Linda Fairstein Blood Oath Alexandra Cooper Mystery #20
Deanna Raybourn A Dangerous Collaboration Veronica Speedwell Mystery #4
Leslie Karst Murder From Scratch Sally Solari Mystery #4
Denise Swanson Leave No Scone Unturned Chef-to-Go Mystery #2
Jacqueline Winspear The American Agent Maisie Dobbs Mystery #15
Elly Griffiths Stranger Diaries
Emily Brightwell Mrs. Jeffries Delivers the Goods Mrs. Jeffries series #37
Kirsten Weiss Chocolate a la Murder Perfectly Proper Paranormal Museum #4

To enter to win a copy of The Gun Also Rises by Sherry Harris-from a past Coming Attractions columns simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line “st paddys day,” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen March 2, 2019. U.S. residents only. If entering via email please include your mailing address (so if you win we can get the book sent right out to you), and if via comment please include your email address. You can read our privacy statement here if you like.

Check out other mystery articles, reviews, book giveaways & mystery short stories in our mystery section. And join our mystery Facebook group to keep up with everything mystery we post, and have a chance at some extra giveaways. Check back every month for Coming Attractions! Don’t forget to to check out for our mystery podcast which feature mystery short stories and first chapters read by local actors. A new episode went up this week.

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Sunny Frazier worked with an undercover narcotics team in Fresno County for 17 years before turning her energies to writing the Christy Bristol Astrology Mysteries. Based in the San Joaquin Valley of California, the novels are inspired by real cases and 35 years of casting horoscopes.

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