by Sunny Frazier

Details at the end of this post on how to enter to win a signed copy of 4 Sleuths & A Burlesque Dancer by Traci Andrighetti with some Mardi Gras beads, mentioned in a past Coming Attractions column.

Candy? Flowers? Dinner out? No, a reader just wants more books! Take a romantic walk through B&N or a give her a Valentine with a generous gift card inside.

First up in the candy box is Six Sweet Under, Sarah Fox’s first book in her True Confections series. Actress Becca Ransom returned to Larch Haven, Vermont, the Venice of North America. It has canals instead of streets, gondolas instead of cars. Becca is back to be a chocolatier at her grandparents’ chocolate shop, True Confections. The annual Gondola Races bring in tourists, but a curmudgeon is determined to ruin the event because he doesn’t like tourists. When the man is found floating in the canal, Becca’s grandfather is a suspect. Now she must solve the murder or things will come to a sticky end.

Down in Louisiana, Ricki James-Diaz runs her store, Miss Vee’s Vintage Cookbook and Kitchenware Shop, housed in the magnificent Bon Vee Culinary House Museum. When she finds hidden crates of valuable French wine and posts about it, the Charbonnet family shows up to reap the rewards. When a body turns up and the matriarch of the family is fingered, Ricki is determined to uncover the real culprit. But she can’t help noticing that the suspect is acting strangely. Ricki wonders what kind of secret the woman has bottled up, and fears what might happen if she uncorks it. Wined and Died in New Orleans is Ellen Byron’s second book in her Vintage Cookbook series.

Bellamy Farms in Michigan is going organic. Shiloh Bellamy knows the last few winter months will be busy with repairs, spring planning, and networking with local businesses. She’s also trying to form a partnership with an organic brewer. But when he’s found murdered during the Ice Fishing Derby, her plans go belly-up. With one of her friends on the hook for the crime, Shiloh mush look into the town’s fishy characters. In Farm’s Way is Amanda Flower’s third Farm to Table mystery.

It’s Primer and Punishment in Nashville. Carpenter Whitney Whitaker is ready to rehab and sell a fiberglass houseboat. Living in an adjacent slip is a handsome man with six angry ex-wives. He’s also in cahoots with some unsavory types. When his cabin cruiser blows up with him inside, several people confess. It’s not until Whitney starts getting threats that she knows she must discover the real killer. This is the fifth House-Flipper mystery from the pen of Diane Kelly.

Author Joanne Pence brings us Nine O’Clock Retreat, the ninth in the Rebecca Mayfield mysteries. Someone is trying to kill either the homicide detective or her boyfriend. When a pal is caught in the cross-fire, Rebecca takes them all to her old stomping ground in Idaho. But even rural towns have big-city crimes. The three must grapple with life, love, and murder when the clock strikes nine.

Molly Madison, her Saint Bernadoodle Noodle, and her Golden Retriever Harlow are adjusting to their new California beach town. Her ex-cop instincts kick in when she takes the dogs to the Playtime Academy and finds a trainer’s body. She agrees to take the deceased woman’s dog as well as dog-sitting a French Bulldog. When her friend is arrested for the murder, Molly wonders if the case is as simple as the local cops think or is something more devious going on. Playing Dead is the second doggy mystery by Peggy Rothschild.

BEST OF THE REST
Charles Todd — The Cliff’s Edge: A Bess Crawford Mystery #13

Peter Davidson — The Dish Dog

Carlene O’Connor — Murder on an Irish Farm: An Irish Village Mystery #8

Carlene O’Connor — Murder at an Irish Bakery: An Irish Village Mystery #9

Rhys Bowen — Wild Irish Rose: A Molly Murphy Mystery #18

M.C. Beaton/R.W. Green — Death of a Traitor: A Hamish Macbeth Murder Mystery #35

Alice Duncan — Domesticated Spirits: A Daisy Gumm Majesty Mystery #18

To enter to win a copy of 4 Sleuths & A Burlesque Dancer, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line “February” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen February 4, 2023. U.S. residents only, and you must be 18 or older to enter. If entering via email please include your mailing address in case you win. 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. A new episode went up this week.

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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