by Sunny Frazier

Details at the end of this post on how to enter to win an ebook copy of Destination: Murder, A Travelogue of Cozy Mysteries which includes books by 8 different authors, among them Leigh Selfman. You can also purchase the set here.

Poodles and pugs, lighthouses and cruises, knitting and noshing, this month’s column has it all—plus astrology! Enjoy these summer reads.

There’s a new doggie mystery series debuting this month. Author V.M. Burns puts Lilly Echosby’s husband In the Dog House when she finds him cheating on her. She adopts a toy poodle dubbed Aggie after Agatha Christie. She’ll need the pup for comfort when her husband is found dead and Lilly is the #1 suspect. Her defense attorney’s daughter and best friend leaves Chattanooga for Indiana to lend support and a K-9 cop is also on her side. Before they can collar the killer, another murder occurs. Welcome to the Dog Club Mystery Series.

The second in the Pet Palace Mystery Series by Lane Stone wants you to Support Your Local Pug. Buckingham Pet Palace in Lewes, Delaware, is run by Sue Patrick. When a break-in at the doggy daycare and spa occurs, Sue must make some decisions about her business. But she’s called to rescue a pug stranded at a lighthouse in Delaware Bay. While she’s gone, a murdered body is dumped on her driveway. Aided by her partner, the two must sniff out the backstory of the pug and ID the car seen at both crime scenes.

Another lighthouse, this one on Skull Island, is a century old and steeped in legend. It’s been abandoned since the last keeper died under mysterious circumstances. When an author investigating the story turns up dead, it’s up to the Mystery Mastermind group to solve the death of the lighthouse keeper once and for all. Seventh Chapter is seventh in Kathi Daley’s Writer’s Retreat Mystery series.

It’s A Reel Catch in the second Lotus Bay Mystery Series by Lorraine Bartlett (aka Lorna Barrett). Swans Nest Inn is about to open and Kathy Grant solicits her friend Tori to help spruce up the place and the marshy end of the bay. They didn’t expect to find an unidentified body in the marsh. Kathy also didn’t expect two entrepreneurs with vast business ties to be interested in helping Tori reopen the Lotus Lodge.

Paramedic Ashley Grant is settling into her life in the Caribbean, but sometimes she feels like a fish out of water. There’s a fire at a prestigious resort, and Ashley recognizes the victim as the hotel chef and cousin to her friend Darlene. A second murder happens, and the police want to close the cases quickly. But Darlene wants answers and drags Ashley into investigating. Blue Water Hues is the second Ashley Grant mystery by author Vicki Delany.

Meanwhile, cruising the Mediterranean, Savannah Webb of Webb’s Glass Shop is performing glassblowing for the guests. Not only does she get to demonstrate her skills, but also gets to reconnect with her boyfriend’s family. When a cousin disappears, Savannah’s boyfriend suddenly becomes a suspect. Shattered at Sea is the fifth in Cheryl Hollon’s Webb’s Glass Shop Mysteries.

Pamela Paterson and the Knit & Nibble knitting club is making aardvarks to sell at the annual Arborville, New Jersey, festival. Proceeds go to the high school sports program. However, when a history teacher, who was against the sports program, is found dead under the knitters’ table with a stuffed aardvark on his chest, the knitters are on the case. Died in the Wool is the second Knit & Nibble series by Peggy Ehrhart. Knitting tips and recipes included.

We stay in New Jersey for Tina Kashian’s second Kebab Mystery, Stabbed in the Baklava. Lucy Berberian has left a Philadelphia law firm and taken over the family’s Mediterranean restaurant on the Jersey Shore. Asked to cater a society wedding is lucrative and good publicity for the restaurant. After the best man winds up skewered like a shish kebab, the eatery’s chef and Lucy’s ex become the prime suspect. Recipes included.

Another wedding is ruined in Goodbye Cruller World. Emily Westhill’s donut shop in Fallingbrook, Wisconsin, has started catering weddings. One bride wants a “donut wall” at her nuptials. Emily’s father-in-law/business partner/ex-police chief of the town is there to help. But that night the groom is found on the floor, poisoned to death. Despite a guest list of suspects, Emily must find out who made the killer confection to save her shop’s reputation. This is the second in a series named after Emily’s cat, Deputy Donut and penned by Ginger Bolton.

Down in Key West, food critic Hayley Snow has just landed a ticket to a swanky three-day conference her mom is catering. Before dessert is served, Hemingway’s Nobel gold medal is stolen from its case. Suspicion lands on a family friend and a busboy who went missing right after the theft was discovered. He’s found in the storeroom stabbed to death. Death on the Menu is Lucy Burdette’s eighth Key West Food Critic Mystery.

Lana Lee is reluctantly waiting tables at her parents’ Ho-Lee Restaurant. Just when she has a chance for another job, her folks decide to go to Taiwan, leaving her to run the restaurant. When the newlywed couple who just opened a souvenir shop next door are found dead, was it a murder/suicide or just plain murder? It’s the Dim Sum of All Fears as Lana finds herself in the middle of an Asian Village mystery. This is the second of the Noodle Shop Mysteries by Vivien Chien.

While working as an astrologer is great, Julia Bonatti finds it doesn’t always pay the bills, especially in a city like San Francisco. A temp job for her old boss is too good to pass up. On her first day the law office becomes a crime scene as a partner is found dead. Julia discovers death threats were sent to several employees. Will her knowledge of astrology reveal motives? Before she can convince the skeptical authorities, another murder happens. It’s a Tail of the Dragon in the third Zodiac Mystery by Connie di Marco.

To enter to win an ebook copy of Destination: Murder, A Travelogue of Cozy Mysteries which includes books by 8 different authors, among them Leigh Selfman, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line “dog days,” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen August 4, 2018. U.S. residents only. If entering via email please include your mailing address, and if via comment please include your email address.

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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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