by Sunny Frazier
Details at the end of this column on how to win a copy of Murder Has Nine Lives by Laura Levine from a past Coming Attractions column.
We say good-bye to a well-loved series, hello to the Farmer’s Daughter, and celebrate Christmas just a wee bit early. Looking for recipes? Have we got books for you!
Margaret Coel is wrapping up her Wind River Reservations Mysteries with book 20, Winter’s Child. In the middle of a blizzard an abandoned baby is found on the doorstep. Nobody claims her for five years, but the couple is afraid they will be found out when they enroll her into school. They go to a lawyer who enlists Arapaho attorney Vicky Holden for help. When the attorney is run down by a truck and killed, Vicky and Father John O’Malley uncover one of the darkest secrets in the reservation’s history.
Also marking 20 is Joanne Fluke’s Hannah Swensen series, Christmas Caramel Murder. In Lake Eden, Minnesota, the holidays have arrived, and Hannah and Lisa are supplying goodies for the town’s production of A Christmas Carol. Before anyone can say, “Bah, humbug!” Mrs. Claus is found dead in the snow. Suspects pile up while a murderer remains on the loose. It might take the ghosts of Christmas past to wrap up this mystery. The book includes a dozen holiday recipes from The Cookie Jar!
No Farm, No Foul is the first in the Farmer’s Daughter Mystery series by Peg Cochran. Set on a farm in Lovett, Michigan, Shelby McDonald runs a lifestyle and cooking blog. She posts recipes, gardening tips, and her experiences raising two kids and running a farm. Her peaceful life is shattered when the minister’s wife is murdered on the farm, and the local veterinarian is the prime suspect. Shelby digs in to find the murderer, and she’ll have to move fast before someone else buys the farm. The book includes delicious recipes.
It’s High Kicks, Hot Chocolate, and Homicides for the Happy Hoofers Mystery in their fifth caper. They’ve scored a gig at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall with the Rockettes, but when a diva is found dead under the stage, there’s a lineup of suspects. Between rehearsals and sightseeing, the troupe has to sort things out before another victim kicks the bucket. Mary McHugh includes cooking tips and recipes.
The Christmas holidays are one of caterer Lilah Drake’s favorite times of the year in Pine Haven, Illinois. But Lilah’s Yuletide cheer ends when she sees the murder of a Santa in a school parking lot. Kris Kringle had a long list of people who might have wanted him dead, and Lilah will have to team up with a detective she was once romantically involved with to unwrap the mystery. Some people are Cheddar Off Dead according to author Julia Buckley in the second Undercover Dish Mystery.
From Christmas we go to Halloween. It’s Your Party, Die if You Want To is the second Liv and Di In Dixie Mystery by Vickie Fee. Between a riverboat engagement party and a murder mystery dinner for charity, party planner Liv McKay is feeling more flustered than festive in Dixie, Tennessee. When the body of a party girl with a thing for married men is found in the cemetery, any scorned wife or lover could be the killer. As Liv and Di dig up the truth their efforts are hampered by a killer with a haunting vendetta.
After discovering her mystical heritage and being adopted by feline Alistair, artist Annabelle Britton makes Portsmouth, New Hampshire, her home. She needs to figure out her new abilities and host her grandmother on a visit to the town and her old coven after 30 years. Being a witch isn’t a steady income, so Annabelle takes a job painting murals for a new coffee house. Spooky sounds and strange happenings convince the owners that their new shop is haunted. They want Annabelle and her coven to evict the restless spirit. She’s certain the hauntings are just hocus pocus until a search reveals hidden smugglers’ tunnels beneath the shop—and a dead body. By Familiar Means is the second book in the Witch’s Cat Mysteries by Delia James.
It’s Murder at the Witching Hour when Kailani Pope is asked to serve as a bridesmaid for her friend’s wedding. The weeklong event, which ends with a costumed wedding ceremony on Halloween night, is being held on an island only reached by boat. When a tropical storm hits and one of the groomsmen turns up dead, the list of suspects includes the mummy in the kitchen, the best man dressed as Frankenstein, the blind butler, the sexy vampire, and one of the spooky guests. This is the third in the Sand and Sea Hawaiian Mystery Series by Kathi Daley.
Will past murders at Crozat Plantation B&B spell the death of their beloved estate? The Crozat’s survived the scandal, but now there’s a bigger story in Pelican, Louisiana. Maggie Crozat’s nemesis, the chief of police, is marrying her co-worker, and Maggie reluctantly agrees to be the maid of honor. Just days before the wedding, the body of the bride’s cousin is found on the bayou. With the bride-to-be the primary suspect, Maggie has to keep her out of jail. Body on the Bayou is the second in Ellen Byron’s Cajun Country Mystery series.
Miranda James is Digging Up the Dirt in the third Southern Ladies Mystery series. An’gel and Dickce Ducote are busy with plans for the Athena, Mississippi, Garden Club’s spring tour of grand old homes. The other club members aren’t much help; they are all a-flutter with a dashing and unmarried bachelor who is back to restore his family mansion. Things turn deadly serious when a body turns up on the estate after a storm. The remains might belong to the man’s long-lost sister-in-law, who everyone thought ran off with him. Now An’gel and Dickce will need to get their hands dirty if they hope to reveal a killer’s deep-buried motives before someone else’s name is mud.
Leslee Stanton Nix, aka “Nixy,” thought moving to small-town Lilyvale, Arkansas, would be boring, but keeping up with her aunt and housemates, known as Silver Six, is exciting and exasperating. To kick off the grand opening of their craft shop, Nixy and the Silver Six invite a friend to teach a gourd painting. When the instructor’s ex crashes the class with his new fiancée, who later turns up dead, Nixy and the Silver Six have to find the killer. Nancy Haddock offers her second in the Silver Six Crafty Mysteries, Paint the Town Dead.
A sustainable winery in Long Island becomes the backdrop for murder in Dandelion Dead by Chrystle Fiedler. Solving crimes comes naturally to amateur sleuth Willow McQuade, who owns Nature’s Way Market & Café. Her medicinal herb garden is a hit, she’s in love with an ex-cop and animal rescuer, and teaches seminars about edible plants and natural remedies. Everything changes when Willow’s old boyfriend ask her to cater a party at Pure, their new organic vineyard, and someone tries to poison him, but kills the wrong person. The truth may be a bitter vintage to swallow. This is the fourth in the Natural Remedies series.
When Senior Editor Val Cameron’s curator best friend returns from an abbey in England, she invites Val to see a priceless relic that has mysteriously found its way into her carry-on. But by the time Val arrives at the museum, her friend has been murdered and the relic is gone. Val learns that a young monk at the abbey has also been murdered, too. What dark purpose is attached to the relic? When Val discovers her apartment has been broken into, New York feels like a place she no longer knows. Now she has to unmask a killer who will stop at nothing to fulfill an ambitious plan. A Killer’s Guide to Good Works is the second in the Val Cameron Mystery series by Shelley Costa.
In the second book in the Postmistress Mystery series, Cancelled by Murder by Jean Flowers, Cassie Miller returned to her sleepy hometown to start over as the new postmistress. With a massive storm about to hit North Ashcot, Massachusetts, Cassie is forced to close up the post office along with the rest of the local business owners who are battening down the hatches. Although the storm is not as bad as predicted, a shop owner is found dead, seemingly killed by a fallen branch. But the police determine that her death wasn’t due to foul weather, but with foul play. When the widowed husband asks Cassie to help solve his wife’s murder, she vows to find the killer before another innocent victim is taken by storm.
From Massachusetts we go to Shadows on a Morning in Maine. Antique print dealer Maggie Summer has taken a sabbatical from her college teaching job and moved to the coast of Maine to run an antique mall with her significant other. She’s hoping to adopt, but the troubled girl only shows affection for harbor seals which remind her of her “real mother.” Then someone starts shooting the seals and a fisherman is murdered. Maggie wonders if moving to Maine is the biggest mistake of her life. This is the eighth in the Shadows Antique Print Mystery series by Lea Wait.
Merry Wrath saw danger as a former CIA agent, but nothing prepared her for an overnight Mommy and Me lock-in with her Waukegan, Iowa, Girl Scout troop. There’s movies, dodgeball, four cats, a baby…and a dead body. When the mysterious corpse’s identity is revealed, Merry and her former handler realize they might have a domestic terrorist situation on their hands. Merry uses her skills to track down a killer. Between the demanding President of the United States, the world’s second largest snail collection, and an incident with pink hair dye, Merry has her work cut out for her. Can she stop an attack before it begins? Or will this be a Movie Night Murder without a happy ending? Leslie Langtry keeps us on the edge of our seats in the fourth Merry Wrath mystery.
Zen student and stunt double Darcy Lott is thrilled to be reunited with her brother who disappeared 20 years ago. But bringing him home to San Francisco turns to fear when she learns that he has become the victim of escalating attacks. He has no idea who is targeting him, and Darcy is determined to find out before the attacks turn deadly. But when Darcy searches his apartment, what she discovers makes her wonder if she really knows her brother anymore or trusts him. Susan Dunlap takes us Out of Nowhere in the sixth Darcy Lott mystery.
Chocolate whisperer Hayden Mundy Moore is in London to lend her expertise to chocolaterie-pâtisserie Primrose. When a famous culinary bad boy is found dead under suspicious circumstances in her lodgings, Hayden’s eagerness not to be involved makes her the prime suspect in the ensuing investigation. Colette London gives us The Semi-Sweet Hereafter, third in the Chocolate Whisperer Mystery series.
To enter to win a copy of Murder Has Nine Lives by Laura Levine from a past Coming Attractions column-simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line “christmas attractions” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen after September 3, 2016. U.S. residents only.
Check out other mystery articles, reviews, book giveaways & short stories in our mystery section. Check back every month for Coming Attractions!
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I love these reviews so many good he’s to look forward to reading.
What a wonderful group of books and thank you for the chance to enter for “Murder has nine lives.” It sounds great…Marilyn ewatvess@yahoo.com
Thanks for a chance to win Murder Has Nine Lives.
bah195@yahoo.com
So many good books to look forward to! And thanks for the chance to win Murder Has Nine Lives, love those books!
JHolden955(at)gmail(dot)com
Great reviews! A couple of these are new to me series. I can’t wait to check them out! Thanks!
I would love love love this. I’m looking for new authors to read. Good luck and God Bless to all
Oh need to read all these books… As the saying goes, so many books, not long enough life. 😛
So many good books to look forward to reading!! They all sound so good!!
I would love to win Murder Has Nine Lives!
Would love to win this one! Love the cover!!!! New to this author!!!
Lots of good books to add to my TBR list!
Love these titles. Can’t wait to read these books. I do love holiday themed books.
Wow great reads. Can’t wait for their releases.
WOW! What a great selection. I say “Bring on the pets!!”
I am looking forward to so many of these mysteries. Thank you for sharing!
All these sound good. Have to put these on my TBR pile.
All these books sound delightful!
So many good Cozies coming up next month! Can’t wait to get my hands on quite a few of them! Thanks for the info and chance to win!
Thanks for the info on the new releases coming out, looks like a lot of great reads coming out soon. Love Laura Levine’s books and would really enjoy reading “Murder Has Nine Lives”. Thanks for the chance.
diannekc8(at)gmail(dot)com
I love to see the new books that are coming out this fall. Thanks for the chance.
Wonderful post on all these great books. Thanks for the giveaway.
Thank you for the chance to win the Laura Levine’s newest book! Can’t wait to read Prozac’s inner dialog!
Thanks for the reviews – I spotted a few books I want to read!
Thanks so much for the opportunity to win! Love Laura Levine!
Love reading, thank you for a chance!!
What a terrific selection of books to review. Would love to do that.
Hi Sunny, Thanks for the chance to win “Murder Has Nine Lives.”
Thanks for great list of books coming out! I would love to read them all!
This sure gives me many more books to add to my TBR list. Thanks for the chance to win MURDER HAS NINE LIVES.
Looking forward to reading “Murder has Nine Lives”?! Love Laura Levine!!??
I always look forward to reading your reviews. You do such a great job. Thanks for the chance to win.
Mary from Pittsburgh, Pa
Murder Has Nine Lives sounds amazing, Thanks for this very generous giveaway, I’m keeping my fingers crossed. lindamay4852@yahoo.com
Can’t wait for new books to come out. Especially Murder Has Nine Lives by Laura Levine.
Love Laura Levine! Her books are so hilarious!
An excellent post, Sunny, filled with some of my very favorite series! Please don’t enter me to win MURDER HAS NINE LIVES. I already have a copy. Good luck everyone! It’s a great book!
Thanks for the great feedback, Lisa! I love doing this column and then letting your know. It gives me a rush every month.
I can’t wait to read this book.
Thanks for all the new reads to look for!
Love all these. I need to retire so I can read more.
That’s exactly what I’m doing!
What a collection of interesting books!
By Familiar Means is on my Amazon list. I loved the first book. Thank you for some new recommendations. And thank you for the giveaway.
The reviews are excellent! I want to read all of them. Donamaekutska7@gmail.com thanks for the chance to win the book!
I’m sad to see Margaret coeliac end her series. It’s one of my favorites. But you gave me a list of new books to add to my TBR pile
What great books that we have to look forward to! Can’t wait to read all of them.
I love Laura Levine. Love all her books. Did I mention that I love Laura Levine and her books? 🙂
Lots of great mysteries coming out this fall! So many that I’m looking forward to. Thank you for the chance to win ‘Murder has Nine Lives’!
jeaniedannheim (at) ymail (dot) com
Lots of great books coming!! Yay!!!
Your review covers a lot of my favorite writers. I’m glad you like them, too. Saw your post to Camille Minichino on Facebook. Love KRL!
Placing them on my TBR list.
Lots of cozies here. Perfect for the winter time and it will be here in no time. Loved the reviews and book covers.
So many books coming out in such a short time i better read the books that i have fast so that i can get ready for all these good books. Wow and that is the best part they all sound just like wonderful books that i would read so i am so excited for them to come out my hubby isn’t going to like it much as i am disabled so he is the one that has to find them and get them for me but he enjoys it he says it is part of my present starting to buy christmas books in Sept. thats all i want is books anyway! peggy clayton ptclayton2@aol.com if there is a choice i would want print as due to disability can;t use fingers or hand as crippled.
Lots of great books here! Can’t wait to curl up and read them with my tea.
Looking forward to my books and fireplace as winter approach es
This is such a great place to find books! Thankyou for the opportunity to win a copy of Murder Has Nine Lives!
Really exciting books here, I want to read them all!
We have a winner!