by Sunny Frazier

Time to “Spring” into new books. This month I have several for you to dine on. Plus, my local library has reopened, so I included two library-themed mysteries. Enjoy the weather and the reads!

Cool off with the first book in the Ice Cream Shop mysteries by Dana Mentink. Trinidad Jones was the third wife of an embezzler. After the divorce, she moves to Upper Sprocket, Oregon, and opens the Shimmy and Shake Shop. The two ex-wives also live there. When her neighbor, the Popcorn King, is found head-down in his kettle, one of the ex-wives is accused of murder. Trinidad’s at the Pint of No Return unless she uncovers the killer.

There’s an annual carnival in Fallingbrook, Wisconsin, that celebrates Friday the 13th. Emily Westhill, owner of the Deputy Donut Café, is manning a tent to sell corn fritters. First, the bucket of powdered sugar disappears, then a mime distracts people while a magician robs the cash register. When the mime is found in her assistant’s loft suffocated in the sugar, Emily knows she has to find the killer before someone else kicks the bucket. Beyond a Reasonable Donut is the fifth in Ginger Bolton’s Deputy Donut Mysteries.

Another street fair is going on in Old Town, Virginia. Entertaining maven Sophie Winston, AKA the Domestic Diva, is busy with the celebration when a friend asks to be picked up at the airport. Coming back from a trip to Portugal, she’s got her traveling companions with her. When one is murdered, it’s staged to look like an accident. The only clue is a drawing the victim scratched into the dirt. The body count grows until Sophie knows she must solve the murders. The Diva Serves Forbidden Fruit in her fourteenth outing of the Domestic Diva series by Krista Davis. Recipes and decorating tips included.

Speaking of strange clues…Author Becky Clark, in her second Crossword Puzzle mystery, has Quinn Carr Punning with Scissors. Since high school, Quinn’s been creating puzzles for the local newspaper in Chestnut Station, Colorado. It’s not much income, so she lives with her parents and works at the local diner. Among her regulars are The Retireds, a cantankerous group of old men. New to the group is a retired tailor. When his husband is killed with fabric shears, the man is arrested. But a cryptic crossword clue at the scene is tailor-made for Quinn’s skills

Lynn Cahoon gives us a prequel to her Cat Latimer mysteries. In Aspen Hills, Colorado, Cat’s just started her graduate degree to become a Covington professor. Her mom works at the local library, but with a board member cutting costs, her job is in jeopardy. When he’s found dead with mom’s banana bread knife, Cat must find the real culprit. Nobody wants a Body in the Book Drop!

Librarian Lucy Richardson is getting married! Her friends throw the couple an engagement party in North Carolina’s Outer Banks, close to the Bodie Island Lighthouse Library where Lucy works. An unwelcomed guest is her former boyfriend with his mother, who wants to get the pair back together. Mom plans an uncomfortable dinner party before returning to Boston. All plans are off when a body is found by the restaurant’s door. Lucy is again forced to play detective. Deadly Ever After is the eighth of the Library Lighthouse Mysteries by Eva Gates.

BEST OF THE REST
Kathi Daley—Clue in the Clam: The Inn at Holiday Bay #15

A.R. Winters—Just Deserts in Las Vegas: Tiffany Black #20

Carolyn Haines—Independent Bones: Sarah Booth Delaney #23

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 goes up next 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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