by Sunny Frazier

Details at the end of this post on how to enter to win a copy of Ashes to Ashes, Crust to Crust by Mindy Quigley, mentioned in a past Coming Attractions column.

“It’s summertime and the reading is easy …”

Sample mouth-watering beach reads in this month’s line-up.

First up is a surf ‘n turf war going on in Bar Harbor, Maine, between two seafood leaders. Food columnist Hayley Powell is best friends with one of the combatants but must stay neutral. When a Romeo and Juliet situation happens, the patriarch tries to break them up, only to be found dead in the clam flats. People clam up, making it hard for Haley to uncover the killer. Death of a Clam Digger is the nineteenth outing for Lee Hollis’ Hayley Powell Food and Cocktails mysteries.

Maddie Mills is the protag of Lifeless at the Lighthouse, fourth book by Cindy Bell. She’s loving her new life in Bayview, sharing her life with two puppies and reopening her parents’ bakery. The first big job is catering the lighthouse’s anniversary. She’s ready for any emergencies, but not for a body plunging to his death. The victim had a dodgy past but solving the crime isn’t going to be piece of cake. Speaking of cake, there’s a yummy recipe for Lemon Meringue Cupcakes.

Joanne Fluke never fails our sweet tooth with her Hannah Swensen mysteries. This time it’s Pink Lemonade Cake Murder at The Cookie Jar Bakery. In the twenty-ninth Hannah Swensen mystery, the Tri-County Summer Solstice Celebration has come to Lake Eden, Minnesota. While serving up lemonade treats, things go sour when the body of a retired baseball player turns up. The list of suspects is long and includes Hannah’s mother. The book also includes over a dozen cookie and dessert recipes.

Nothing goes better with sweet treats than a good cup of tea. At her Tea by the Sea tea shop in Cape Cod, Lily Roberts loves visiting antique fairs for tea sets. She finds a Peter Rabbit tea set in a wicker basket, perfect for children’s tea parties. A few days later, a woman marches in and demands to buy it back. When the woman returns, she removes a hidden envelope from the basket’s lining. Her half-sister also wants the paper, which might contain her mother’s will. Steeped in Malice is the fourth in Vicki Delany’s Tea by the Sea series.

Best of the Rest

Leslie Budewitz—Between Wok and a Dead Place: A Spice Shop Mystery #7
Darci Hannah—Murder at the Pumpkin Pageant: A Beacon Bakeshop Mystery #4
Libby Klein—Mischief Nights Are Murder: A Poppy McAllister Mystery #8
Olivia Blacke—A Fatal Groove: A Record Shop Mysteries #2
Sofie Ryan—Scaredy Cat: Second Chance Cat Mystery #10
David Rosenfeld—Flop Dead Gorgeous: Andy Carpenter #27
LynDee Walker—Tell No Lies: A Faith McClellan series #6
Lorna Barrett—A Questionable Character: A Booktown Mystery #17
Ellery Adams—Murder in the Book Lover’s Loft: A Book Retreat Mystery #9

Check out KRL’s Crime Writers of Color Coming Attractions column, and our Queer Mystery Coming Attractions column in the Coming Attractions section.

To enter to win a copy of Ashes to Ashes, Crust to Crust by Mindy Quigley, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line “July” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen July 1, 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.

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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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