by Sunny Frazier
What do witches, ghosts, psychics, bibliomancy, and ghost dogs have in common? They’re in spooky reads to help you get ready for October. Plus, Amanda Flower has started a new series starring Emily Dickinson.
Prolific Amanda Flower has started her eleventh series. Emily Dickinson as a sleuth? Why not. Set in 1855, Willa Noble interviews for a job at the Dickinson home in Amherst, Massachusetts. She doesn’t make a good impression, but Emily hires her anyway. When Willa’s brother is killed in a tragic accident in the town’s stables, Willa confides in Emily with suspicions that it wasn’t an accident. They uncover corruption generations deep. Stop to read Because I Could Not Stop for Death.
Another famous writer is the inspiration for a murderer in Ellery Adams latest, Murder on the Poets Walk. Storyton Hall in Virginia is hosting a contest for the coveted greeting card contract. When corpses turn up posed like characters in Lord Alfred Tennyson’s poems, resort manager Jane Steward must dust off her sleuthing skills to bring poetic justice for the literary louse. This is the eighth in the Book Retreat series.
Allison Brook (aka Marilyn Levinson) continues her Haunted Library Mystery series. There is no rest for the eerie as Carrie Singleton is faced with another dead body and another ghost. He happens to be the uncle of her fiancé. The ghostly newcomer is not welcomed by her feline Smoky Joe and Evelyn, the resident library ghost. Carrie is also involved with the town council and the debate over a piece of property. When a council member is also murdered, Carrie wonders if there’s a connection between the deaths in Clover Ridge, Conn. Dewey Decimated is book six.
Janelle Brighton is about to launch her jewelry store, Whimsy, in Wyldwood Springs. While not a witch, she does have psychic abilities she’s still figuring out. She brings dead shelter dogs back to life and teams them with the right owners. Plus, they help her solve crimes. When a ghost of an angry dog shows up in the store next door, Mr. Bixby, a sassy and previously dead Dachshund, acts as interpreter. Another death convinces Janelle that the killer’s bite is worse than his bark. Any Way You Haunt It is the second in the Mystic Mutt Mysteries by Ellen Riggs.
In the Outer Banks in North Carolina, there’s a 2,000 year-old curse haunting Pippin Lane Hawthorne’s family. Eager to lift the legacy, Pippin resorts to her gift of bibliomancy. Books “speak” to her with cryptic passages and codes. But when a reporter asks one question too many, she winds up dead. Pippin contacts her West Coast contacts, determined to get to the truth once and for all. Murder and an Irish Curse is the fourth in the Book Magic series by Melissa Bourbon (aka Winnie Archer).
Author Elizabeth Varadan moved to Portugal for her husband’s job, so did interior decorator/amateur sleuth Carla Bass. In Deadly Verse, the second of the series, a friend gives her for safekeeping an original sonnet by Portugal’s greatest poet, Luis Vaz de Camoens. But with this obligation comes theft, deception, intrigue, and murder. Set during the exotic Braga Romana five-day festival celebrating the town’s Roman past, readers are invited to enjoy a taste of Portugal.
BEST OF THE REST
Lynn Cahoon—A Vacation to Die For: A Tourist Trap Mystery #14Mona Marple—Mistletoe Murder: A Christmas Cozy Mystery #4
Daniella Bernett—A Mind to Murder: An Emmeline Kirby/Gregory Longdon Mystery
Donna Andrews—The Twelve Jays of Christmas: Meg Langslow #30
Hillary Avis—A Liar and a Layer: A Clucks & Clues Cozy Mystery #7
Anne Perry—A Truth to Lie For: Elena Standish Mystery #4
Alice Duncan—Christmas Angels: A Mercy Allcut Mystery #7
Krista Davis—A Good Dog’s Guide to Murder: A Paws & Claws Mystery #8
Maddie Day (aka Edith Maxwell & Tace Baker)—Murder in a Cape Cottage: Cozy Capers Book Group Mystery #4
Sally Goldenbaum—A Dark and Snowy Night: A Seaside Knitters Society Mystery #5
Sofie Kelly (aka Sofie Ryan & Darlene Ryan for Young Adult)—Whiskers and Lies: A Magical Cats Mystery #14
Mother Daughter Traitor Spy-Susan Elia MacNeal–This is a stand-alone
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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