by Sunny Frazier

Lounging next to the ocean, a mountain stream, or on the patio, now’s the time to start a new series or catch up with an old favorite. Enjoy!

Sally Goldenbaum introduces us to the Queen Bees in A Patchwork of Clues. Set in Crestwood, Kansas, Portia Paltrow is out for a jog when she finds the body of the antiques store owner sprawled on the backdoor step of the fabric and quilt shop. In no time, the Queen Bees Quilters are on the case, stitching together clues.

Take a trip to Greenwich, Connecticut, where exotic pet-sitter Belinda Blake is moving into the carriage house of a wealthy landlord. When the python in her care slithers away, the landlord’s handsome son shows up to help capture the critter. A walk in the garden leads to a discovery of a designer shoe sticking out of a hedge with a body attached. Everyone in the circle of rich friends is a suspect, even the son. Belinda Blake and the Snake in the Grass is the first in Heather Day Gilbert’s Exotic Pet-Sitter mysteries.

We go from snakes to rabbit rescue and introduction to Juliette “Jules” Bridge and her New Hampshire rescue farm, Fur Bridge. One special rabbit named Bun can communicate telepathically with her and has a lot to say. During a walk, Bun spots the body of a local mime. Nothing doing but the two of them have to hop in and investigate. Left Fur Dead is the first in J.M. Griffin’s Jules & Bun mysteries.

Also in New Hampshire, we turn from telepathic bunnies to psychic cats and ghost whisperer Willa Chance. She owns Last Chance bookstore in Mystic Notch. When a series of robberies escalates to murder, Willa has no luck communicating with the victim’s ghost. However, Pandora and the cats of Mystic Notch know the reason for the crimes. It’s the Wrong Side of the Claw, Leighann Dobbs’s Mystic Notch Cozy #7.

Murder’s No Votive Confidence in the first Nantucket Candle Maker Mystery by Christin Brecher. Stella Wright creates unique candles for every occasion at her Wick & Flame candle shop. The unity candle for a wedding is a work of art until the bride’s uncle is found dead with the candle as the murder weapon. When a local bartender is arrested and the bride canceled her orders, Stella has to solve the mystery before the killer snuffs out her own flame.

Welcome back to a cat café run by Maddie James on Daybreak Island off the Massachusetts coast. She’s busy with renovations, scoping places to open a juice bar, and her dog grooming boyfriend. When a big name author is found floating in a canal, the investigation proves her neighbors have deep secrets. The Tell Tail Heart is the third Cat Café Mystery by Cate Conte.

Melanie Travis’s Connecticut Bite Club book club introduces dog enthusiasts to murder mysteries. When she reluctantly agrees to train a Bulldog puppy for a member, the man winds up in an early grave and Melanie is a suspect. She uncovers a scandal and collects her pack of suspects at their next book club meeting. Bite Club by Laurien Berenson is the twenty-third in the Melanie Travis series.

BEST OF THE REST

Mary Daheim Bitter Alpine Emma Lord Return #2

Rita Mae Brown Whiskers in the Dark Mrs. Murphy #28

Martin Walker The Body in the Castle Well Bruno, Chief of Police Investigation #2

Kaitlyn Dunnett Clause & Effect Deadly Edits #2

Kate Carlisle The Book Supremacy Bibliophile #13

Darci Hannah Cherry Scones & Broken Bones A Very Cherry Mys #2

Juliet Blackwell Bewitched and Betrothed Witchcraft Mystery #10

Hope Callahan Transatlantic Tragedy Cruise Ship Christian Cozy #16

Amanda Flower Toxic Toffee An Amish Candy Shop #4

Susan Wittig Albert A Plain Vanilla Murder China Bayles #27

Melinda Mullet Died in the Wool Whisky Business Mys #4

Victoria Houston Dead Bull Dawg Loon Lake Fishing #19

Cheryl Hollon Down in Flames Webb’s Glass Myst #6

Maddie Day Strangled Eggs and Ham Country Store #6

Julie Mulhern Telephone Line Country Club Murders 9

Cindy Bell Pelicans, Piers and Poison Dune House #16

Leslie Budewitz Chai Another Day Spice Shop #2

JB Lynn The Hitwoman’s Juggling Act Confessions of a Slightly Neurotic Hitwoman #20

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. Also listen to our new mystery podcast where mystery short stories and first chapters are read by actors! They are also available on iTunes and Google Play. 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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