by Sunny Frazier
Details at the end of this post on how to enter to win an ebook copy of The Dying Five by Jennifer Wright-Berryman mentioned in a past Coming Attractions column.
After record rainfall in California and throughout the country, it’s time to put the umbrellas away and read in the sunshine. Here’s a bouquet of books to enjoy.
It’s spring break in Rainbow Falls, Oregon. Annie Abbott came to the town to house sit for her parents for a year. As a true crime aficionado, she decides to host a Gatsby-themed murder mystery party for the kids. When a despised social media influencer is left for dead, Annie calls on her online friends to help solve the crime. With her parents returning soon, she must decide whether to set down roots in the coastal town and make a future with the local vet. Spring Break Slaying is the third outing in Jody Holford’s Wannabe Sleuth mysteries.
Springtime also brings challenges for Penny and Izzy at the Cozy Craft Sewing Shop in Suffolk, England. The women are asked to make “Memory Bears” to honor a recently deceased woman. Things turn sinister when coded hints about the woman’s demise start showing up in a newspaper crossword puzzle. The women learn that the dead lady authored a puzzle book with clues to a hidden treasure. The Tie-Dyed Kaftan Murders is fifth in the Cozy Craft Mystery series by Millie Ravensworth.
Life is sweet in Blueberry Blunder, eighth in Amanda Flower’s Amish Candy Shop Mystery. Bailey King stars in her cooking show and is building a candy factory in Harvest, Ohio. The show’s producer pitched a reality show of the building of the factory, which coincides with the first Blueberry Bash. Problem is, the Amish refuse to be on camera. Things get sticky when the body of the hated contractor turns up. Everything goes sour until the killer is found.
Do you want coffee with your blueberry dessert? Welcome to The Bean Hive, the only coffee café in Honey Springs, Kentucky. Run by Roxanne Bloom and her Schnauzer, Pepper, the caffeinated business is perking right along. That is, until a body shows up in her shop. But as Roxy starts investigating, she finds herself in hot water. Cappuccino Criminal is Tonya Kappes’ twelfth in her Killer Coffee Mysteries.
Or would you prefer tea? Hettie and Tilly, feline detectives of the No. 2 Feline Detective Agency, are summoned to a tea party hosted by Tilly’s great-aunts who live in an ancient windmill. It holds terrifying secrets of murder and betrayal. And who are the hippy cats camped in the field? All will be revealed in The Windmill Murders, eleventh in the series by Mandy Morton.
The Diva is back! Entertaining guru Sophie Winston is handling the first convention in Alexandria, Virginia, of the Association of Ghost Kitchens (restaurants who do delivery only). She’s invited to visit a socialite to talk about meals for children in need. Sophie is dying to see the inside of the lavish home until a dead man is found on the floor. Nobody knows who he is, but with a little snooping, the Diva finds out that’s not true. There’s plenty of dirty linen in the family closet that needs to be aired out. The Diva Delivers on a Promise is sixteenth of the Domestic Diva Mystery series by Krista Davis. Recipes and decorating tips included.
Not a ghost kitchen but a real ghost is the sidekick of Quindicott, Rhode Island, bookseller Penelope McClure. In their ninth caper, it’s Pet Mystery Week and business is brisk. But when a stray dog leads her to the unconscious owner, Pen realizes the woman has been shot. The police believe it’s a deer hunting accident, she whistles for spirited PI Jack Shepard, a detective from the 1940s. The Ghost Goes to the Dogs by Cleo Coyle is ninth in her Haunted Bookshop mysteries.
BEST of the Rest
Kate Carlisle—Dressed to Drill: Fixer-Upper Mystery #10
Carolyn Haines—Tell-Tale Bones: Sarah Booth Delany #26
Tamara Berry—Murder Off the Books: By the Book Mystery #3
Cindy Bell—Hobbies and Homicide: Dune House Cozy Mystery #25
Elizabeth Spann Craig—Murder at a Yard Sale: Myrtle Clover Mystery #12
Lee Hollis—Poppy Harmon and the Shooting Star: Desert Flowers Mystery #5
Helena Dixon—Murder at the Beauty Pageant: Miss Underhay Mystery #12
Merryn Allingham—Murder at Abbeymead Farm: Flora Steele Mystery #6
Clare Chase—Mystery at Fairfield Castle: Eve Mallow Mystery #10
M.A. Comley—To Endanger Lives: A Lake District Thriller DI Sam Cobbs #9
To enter to win an ebook copy of The Dying Five, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line “May” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen May 6, 2023. U.S. 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. 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:
Disclosure: This post contains links to an affiliate program, for which we receive a few cents if you make purchases.
Looks like may will be a good month! Count me in!
Would love to read “The Dying Five”. Looks like a lot of great books coming out in May. Thanks for the info.
diannekc(at)gmail(dot)com
This sounds like a great book. I’d love to read it. Thanks for sharing this book with us.
Sounds like a very interesting book. I would love a chance to be able to read and review this book for the author. Thank you for this amazing opportunity!!!
We have a winner!