by Sunny Frazier

Details at the end of this post on how to enter to win a $25 USD gift card from mystery author Victoria Hamilton who was featured in a past Coming Attractions.

Welcome 2020 with one of these fresh new series, either for yourself or for someone who likes a good cozy as much as you!

Amanda Flower shows us that Matchmaking Can Be Murder with her first Amish Matchmaker Mystery. When widowed Millie Fisher moves back to Harvest, Ohio, she notices the young Amish are bungling their courtships and marrying the wrong people! A quilt maker by trade, Millie also stitches together lives. Her first project is her niece, set to marry a louse. But later she finds him dead in her niece’s greenhouse. To keep her niece out of prison and protect her own reputation, Millie has to piece together a patchwork of clues to find a killer.

Nestled in the quaint, seaside hamlet of Westham, Massachusetts, is Mac’s Bikes owned by Mackenzie “Mac” Almeida. Summer means tourists and business. When a handyman she argued with is found dead, she’s on the suspect list. While she didn’t do it, she recognizes the weapon—her brother’s fishing knife. Mac’s only experience with murder investigations is limited to the cozy mysteries she reads with her local book group, the Cozy Capers. To clear her name Mac will summon help from the group. Armed with a library full of detectives’ tips and tricks, the Cozy Capers are on their first case. Murder on Cape Cod is the first in Maddie Day’s Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries.

Paige Shelton has you skating on Thin Ice in her new series. Thriller author Elizabeth Fairchild (AKA Beth Rivers) is the victim of a fan’s obsession. After being held in a van for three days, she escapes her kidnapper and heads to Alaska. Beth winds up in a sparsely populated area where everyone seems to be hiding or running from something. When she learns of a woman’s murder, she wonders if it’s the work of the man who kidnapped her.

How about a supernatural cozy set in a speakeasy? Welcome to New Orleans and Ofelia Archer’s establishment. Being a witch, Ofelia doesn’t want undue attention when a body shows up in her backyard. Officer Zach Sully, a panther shapeshifter, is on the case. Both want to solve the crime but are uneasy with each other. They need to trust each other and unite in order to crack the case. The Hexorcist is the first in the Supernatural Speakeasy Mystery by Lily Harper Hart.

It’s Christmas Cow Bells in the new Buttermilk Creek Mysteries by Mollie Cox Bryan. Set in the Blue Ridge Mountains, organic micro-dairy farmer and cheese maker Brynn MacAlister has settled in Shenandoah Springs. She’s got three Red Devon cows and Petunia’s bellowing sets the town on edge. But when Brynn’s neighbor dies in a mysterious fire, she learns there were folks against the victim’s plan to renovate the Old Glebe Church. Now the neighbors want to muzzle Petunia for a silent night.

Over in Blossom Valley, West Virginia, Winnie Montgomery and her granny are trying to drum up business for Smythe Orchards with the First Annual Christmas at the Orchard. The old-fashioned festival will hopefully draw apple pickers and cider-loving tourists and pick up business. But when Granny’s nemesis is found dead in the apple press, Granny Smythe is the #1 suspect. Apple Cider Slaying came out in October and is the first in the Cider Shop mysteries by Julie Anne Lindsey.

In the twelfth Christmas Village Cozy, Augusta (Gus) Chance is taking a break from her duties as Sheriff of Mystic Notch to play jazz piano. But something sinister is lurking beneath Christmas cheer in the village. Gus finds solving a murder is harder without the Sheriff’s badge. There’s Grievances in Gingerbread Alley by Leighann Dobbs.

Meanwhile in Vista Beach, Southern California, computer programmer and tole painter Aurora (Rory) Anderson is enjoying the season with school concerts, a pier lighting ceremony, and the sand-snowman contest. When the house across the street is torn down, long dead secrets are revealed, and her dad is involved. Ghosts of Painting Past is fifth in Sybil Johnson’s Aurora Anderson Mysteries.

Although Six Merry Little Murders came out in October, you can sample stories from some of your soon-to-be favorite authors: Molly Fitz, Lee Strauss, Karen MacInerney, Addison Moore, Nancy Warren, and CeeCee James. Recipes included.

More recipes are included in Christmas Sweets. Joanne Fluke, Laura Levine, and Leslie Meier combine their talents and confections for a sweet read.

Leslie Meier also gives us a two-for-one of her Lucy Stone mysteries in ‘Tis the Season Murder. Set in Tinker’s Cove, Maine, New Year’s Eve Murder and Christmas Carol Murder will help you unwind after the holidays are over.

Now sit by the fire with hot chocolate and savor the Christmas Cocoa Murder Collection by Maddie Day, Carlene O’Connor, and Alex Erickson. Happy holidays!

Best of the Rest

Stephanie Blackmore—Marry Christmas Murder Wedding Planner Mystery #5

Arlene Sachitano—12 Quilts of Christmas Loose Threads Mystery #12

Lynn Cahoon—Have a Deadly New Year Farm-to-Fork Mystery #4

Krista Davis—The Dog Who Knew Too Much Paws and Claws Mystery #6

Laurien Berenson—Here Comes Santa Paws Melanie Travis #24

Ellie Alexander—A Cup of Holiday Fear Bakeshop Mystery #10

Kathi Daley—The Catnip Before Christmas Whales and Tails Mystery #19

Kathi Daley—The Mystery Before Christmas A Cat in the Attic #2

Sarah Fox—An Ale of Two Cities Literary Pub Mystery #2

Barbara Ross—Nogged Off A Maine Clambake Mystery #9

Meg Macy—Have Yourself a Beary Little Murder Teddy Bear Mysteries #3

Jennifer Chiaverini—The Christmas Boutique Elm Creek Quilts Mystery #21

Laura Bradford—A Killer Carol Amish Mystery Series #7

Miranda James—The Pawful Truth Cat in the Stacks Mystery #11

Amanda Flower—Verse and Vengeance Magical Bookshelf Mystery #4

Elly Griffiths—Now You See Them Stephens and Mephisto Mystery #5

Cynthia Baxter—Last Licks Lickety Splits Ice Cream Shoppe #3

Christopher Fowler—Bryant & May: The Lonely Hour A Peculiar Crimes Unit #16

Cleo Coyle—Brewed Awakening Coffeehouse Mystery #8

Lorraine Bartlett—Murder Ink Victoria Square Mystery #6

J.C. Eaton—Sauvigone for Good Wine Trail Mystery #4

T E Kinsey—Christmas at the Grange Lady Hardcastle Mystery #3.5

Lee Hollis—Poppy Harmon and the Hung Jury Desert Flowers Mystery #2

To enter to win a $25 USD gift card from Victoria Hamilton, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line “gift card” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen December 7, 2019. U.S. & Canada residents only, and you must be 13 or older to enter. If entering via comment please include your email address. 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.

Disclosure: This post contains links to an affiliate program, for which we receive a few cents if you make purchases.