by Sunny Frazier
Spring brings flowers but also the first in four budding new series to grow in your TBR piles. Enjoy!
Love old Hollywood? Mollie Cox Bryan has started the Classic Star Biography Mysteries. First up is The Jean Harlow Bombshell. Charlotte Donovan works for a famous biographer of Hollywood stars. When Charlotte is summoned for an emergency meeting, she finds her boss dead. But the book must go on, despite an online stalker and danger from a Jean Harlow look-alike.
Jazz Ramsey is thirty-five, owns a home in a colorful part of Cleveland, works at an all-girls school and is a cadaver dog handler. While training Luther in an abandoned building, he alerts and she finds the corpse of a goth girl she recognizes from high school. The detective on the case is an old lover. The Scent of Murder keeps Jazz on the case and Kylie Logan keeps us on the seat of our pants.
Sheila Connolly gives us Murder at the Mansion, the first of her Victorian Village Mysteries. When the Baltimore hotel she worked for was bought out by a chain, Katherine Hamilton returned to Asheboro to advise town leaders on how to save the town from bankruptcy. They’ve bought an old mansion as a tourist attraction, but Kate’s high school nemesis has other plans. A few days later, the woman is found dead in the building. (This is the paperback release of an earlier hardcover).
A Twist in the Tail is billed as an absolutely purrfect cozy mystery. Also set in a mansion, the Oyster Cove Guesthouse in Maine is a money pit for new owner Josie Waters. Along with cranky guests, cats Nero and Marlowe are part of the package. Could things get worse? The death of her first guest confirms that it can. Leighann Dobbs invites us to her new Oyster Cove Guesthouse mysteries.
Also located in Maine is Strange Herbs and Teas, a small teashop in Moody Bog. It’s run by Kylie Strange and her patrons include a coven of Wiccans. Kylie is also keeper of Booke of the Hidden, a mystical book that has conjured up demons, supernatural assassins, and an angry god who is hellbent on stealing the Booke. Strange creatures are stalking the locals but this time it’s not the Booke’s doing. Shadows in the Mist is the third entry in Jeri Westerson’s Booke of the Hidden series.
Finally, we celebrate Mother’s Day with Mother’s Day Mayhem, another Tourist Trap mystery by Lynn Cahoon. Jill Gardner is the owner of Coffee, Books, and More in South Cove, California. Most of the Mother’s Day cards are sold out, but she’s put a few aside to pick one for her boyfriend’s mother. The antique store owner next door is also looking for a card for his mom, whom he hasn’t seen since he was five. That’s when she went to jail. But her return isn’t actually a celebration because of her behavior toward her son.
BEST OF THE REST
Kathleen Bridge: Murder By the Sea By the Sea Mystery #3
Lynn Cahoon: Sconed to Death Cat Latimer Mystery #5
Sujata Massey: The Satapur Moonstone Mystery of 1920s India #2
Christine Trent: A Murderous Malady Florence Nightingale Mystery #2
Lorraine Bartlett: The Best from Swan’s Nest Lotus Bay Mystery #5
Jenna Bennett: Conflict of Interest Savannah Martin Mystery 17
Roberta Isleib: A Deadly Feast Key West Food Critic Mystery #9
Peg Cochran: Murder, She Uncovered Murder, She Reported Mystery #2
Jessica Fletcher: Murder in Red Murder She Wrote Mystery #49
Nora Page: Read on Arrival Book Mobile Mystery #2
Sarah Fox: Crêpe Expectations Pancake House Mystery #5
Carolyn Haines: Game of Bones Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery #20
Charlaine Harris: Small Kingdoms and Other Stories
Linda O. Johnston: For a Good Paws Barkery & Biscuits Mystery #5
Sheila Lowe: Proof of Life Beyond the Veil Thriller Mystery #2
Jenn McKinlay: Dying for Devil’s Food Cupcake Bakery Mystery #11
Clare O’Donohue: Breaking the Dance World of Spies Mystery #2
Katherine Hall Page: The Body in the Wake Faith Fairchild Mystery #25
Nora Page: Read on Arrival Bookmobile Mystery #2
Karen Rose Smith: Murder with Cucumber Sandwiches Daisy’s Tea Garden Mystery #3
Lane Stone: Changing of the Guard Dog Pet Palace Mystery #3
Laura Bradford: A Daughter’s Truth
Victoria Gilbert: Past Due for Murder A Blue Ridge Library Mystery #3
Leslie Nagel: Codebook Murders Oakwood Bookclub #4
Elly Griffiths: The Stone Circle Ruth Galloway Mystery #11
Lucy Burdette: A Deadly Feast Key West Food Critic Mystery #9
Laurien Berenson: Ruff Justice Melanie Travis Canine #22
Bethany Blake: Something Borrowed, Something Mewed Lucky Paws Pet Sitting Mystery #5
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. Also listen to our new mystery podcast where mystery short stories and first chapters are read by actors! They are also available on iTunes and Google Play. A new episode went up this week featuring Boxes in the Basement by Kathi Daley.
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.
thanks for the listing.