by Sunny Frazier

Details at the end of this post on how to enter to win a copy of Bookclubbed to Death by VM Burns, mentioned in a past Coming Attractions column.

Finally getting time to relax after all the holiday bustle? Use your gift cards to buy books. Here’s a few suggestions.

Jeri Westerson is starting a new series featuring Henry VIII’s jester, Will Somers. It’s 1529 in London, and Will has an enviable position in Henry’s court. He’s not just a fool but also a gossip-monger, spy, and royal adviser. When he stumbles across the body of a Spanish count, he’s blackmailed and told to get info on the king. Will is Courting Dragons to get to the bottom of the conspiracy.

Scarlet House is the oldest building in West London, Massachusetts. It’s now a historical re-enactment museum. When objects start moving around, the board members turn to Gemma Doyle and Jayne Wilson to figure out what’s going on. Gemma, owner of the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium, doesn’t believe in ghosts but does believe in the power of deduction. When the women stumble across a dead body on the property, they realize it’s not a haunting but a human wreaking havoc. The Game is a Footnote in Vicki Delany’s eighth book in Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mysteries.

It’s a castle wedding in Sussex, England. Where there’s a wedding, there are plenty of “fascinators.” Hatmakers Scarlett Parker and Vivian Tremont are on board to make hats for the wedding party, and they are dying to see the castle. But someone else was dying to see the groom dead. Nobody is allowed to leave the castle while an investigation is complete. That doesn’t stop Scarlett and Viv from doing their own snooping and discover a secret affair between the groom and a bridesmaid. When another murder occurs, the ladies cannot keep it under their hats. It’s a Fatal Fascinator in Jenn McKinlay’s seventh Hat Shop mystery.

Groom’s don’t fare well in this month’s mysteries. Carly Hale runs Carly’s Grilled Cheese Eatery in Balsam Dell, Vermont. When a former classmate decides to throw an elaborate bridal shower, she asks Carly to be the caterer. But the groom crashes the bash and a heated argument ensues. The guests are shocked. They are even more aghast when the groom is found dead at the bottom of the stairs, his drink spiked with poison. It’s Cheddar Late Than Dead in Linda Reilly’s third in her Grilled Cheese Mystery series.

BEST OF THE REST
Maddie Day—Four Leaf Cleaver: Country Store Mystery #11

Kathi Daley—Fit or Fatality: Resort at Castaway Bay #7

Jessica Fletcher & Terrie Farley Moran—Death on the Emerald Island: Murder, She Wrote #56

Erin Johnson—Steep With One Eye Open: Magical Tea Room Mystery #7

To enter to win a copy of Bookclubbed to Death, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line “2023” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen January 7, 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.

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.