by Sunny Frazier

Details at the end of this post on how to enter to win an ebook copy of There’s a New Witch in Town by Carolyn Ridder Aspenson, which was featured in a past Coming Attractions.

The way to a man’s heart may be through his stomach, but a way to a reader’s heart is through books about food. Enjoy these culinary delights!

New on the scene is Stephanie Cole’s Tuscan Cooking School mysteries. When things get stale in America, Nell Valenti is offered a chance to move to Tuscany and turn an old villa into a cooking school. She’ll also have a chance to work under a famed Italian chef. She arrives the day before a dinner for dignitaries, and the villa is in shambles. Plus, the filmmaker turns out to be Nell’s ex-boyfriend! Later, he is found murdered and the chef missing. Things heat up in Al Dente’s Inferno.

It’s Pies Before Guys in the fourth Pie Town mystery by Kirsten Weiss. Is it weird to hold a poetry slam in a bakery? Not in California! When an employee wants to do it, bakery owner Val Harris gives the green light. But when one of the poets is accused of plagiarism and then murdered, the Pie Town bakery is the center of the investigation. The Baker Street Bakers are on the case!

When you’re craving a sweet read, what could be more yummy than a Coconut Layer Cake Murder served up by Joanne Fluke? In her twenty-fifth outing, Hannah Swensen left Lake Eden, Minnesota, to help a friend in sunny California. But when she learns her sister’s detective boyfriend is a suspect in a murder case, it’s back to frigid Minnesota. His story is that he went to a local bar, drove an impaired woman home, and helped her to the bedroom. He slept on the couch, and the next morning discovered her dead. Can Hannah crack the case or is she walking on eggshells?

In Vivien Chien’s fifth Noodle Shop mystery, it’s the first catering job for Lana Lee of the Ho-Lee Noodle House. When a domestic worker is found dead, is the hostess to blame? Before the police arrive, the woman gives Lana a thumb drive shaped like a terra cotta soldier. It leads to a secret world and Lana must solve the case before she’s Egg Drop Dead.

Vivien Chien is also part of Cozy Case Files Mystery Sampler, Volume 8. Along with Paige Shelton, Diane Kelly, Elizabeth Penney, Susan Cox and M.C. Beaton, authors get to show their stuff with samples from books in their series. Start in Cleveland in Egg Drop Dead, where a dinner party catered by Ho-Lee Noodle House has deadly consequences. From there pop down to Nashville, where the real estate market is to die for, in Dead in the Doorway. Travel to Maine in series debut Hems and Homicide; this apron shop will have readers on pins and needles! You’ll finish your journey across the pond. In The Stolen Letter, pandemonium ensues in Edinburgh when bookseller Delaney Nichols meets a woman who believes she is Mary, Queen of Scots, reborn. And in Beating About the Bush, Agatha Raisin must investigate a case of industrial espionage at a factory where nothing is quite what it seems.

Karen MacInerney also has a story collection published which is based on her Gray Whale Inn mysteries. Four Seasons at the Gray Whale Inn includes Blueberry Blues, Pumpkin Pied, Iced Inn, Lupine Lies and a short story, Alter Flowers. There are also recipes to savor.

BEST OF THE REST

Christin Bretcher—Murder Makes Scents Nantucket Candle Maker #2

Annelise Ryan—Dead Ringer Mattie Winston #11

J. D. Robb (aka Nora Roberts)—Golden in Death 51st in the non-Cozy Eve Dallas in Death Mystery Series

Dianne Harman—Holly and the Ruined Party A Holly Lewis Mystery #6

Leslie Meier—British Murder Lucy Stone #27

J.M. Griffin—Who’s Dead, Doc? Jules & Bun Mystery #2

Carlene O’Connor—Murder in an Irish Cottage Irish Village #4

Lily Harper Hart—Boot Scotin’ Boogeyman A Hannah Hickok Witchy Mystery #3

Sam Cheever—Croakies Monster Enchanting Inquiries #6

Julia Buckley—Death with a Dark Red Rose A Writer’s Apprentice Mystery #5

Elly Griffiths—The Lantern Men Ruth Galloway #12

To enter to win an ebook copy of There’s a New Witch in Town by Carolyn Ridder Aspenson, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line “sweet reads” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen February 1, 2020. U.S. & Canada residents only, and you must be 18 or older to enter. 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. Be sure to check out our new mystery podcast too with mystery short stories, and first chapters read by local actors.

Or click on this link to take you to Mysterious Galaxy’s website where you can purchase any of these books & a portion will go to help support KRL:

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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