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#MidweekMystery: Bayou Book Thief by Ellen Byron

A fantastic new cozy mystery series with a vintage flair from USA Today bestselling and Agatha Award–winning author Ellen Byron.

 

Twenty-eight-year-old widow Ricki James leaves Los Angeles to start a new life in New Orleans after her showboating actor husband perishes doing a stupid internet stunt. The Big Easy is where she was born and adopted by the NICU nurse who cared for her after Ricki’s teen mother disappeared from the hospital.

 

Ricki’s dream comes true when she joins the quirky staff of Bon Vee Culinary House Museum, the spectacular former Garden District home of late bon vivant Genevieve “Vee” Charbonnet, the city’s legendary restauranteur. Ricki is excited about turning her avocation – collecting vintage cookbooks – into a vocation by launching the museum’s gift shop, Miss Vee’s Vintage Cookbooks and Kitchenware. Then she discovers that a box of donated vintage cookbooks contains the body of a cantankerous Bon Vee employee who was fired after being exposed as a book thief.

 

The skills Ricki has developed ferreting out hidden vintage treasures come in handy for investigations. But both her business and Bon Vee could wind up as deadstock when Ricki’s past as curator of a billionaire’s first edition collection comes back to haunt her.

 

Will Miss Vee’s Vintage Cookbooks and Kitchenware be a success … or a recipe for disaster?

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Review

Ellen’s Cajun Country Mysteries were a delight, and the series wrapped up satisfyingly. Happily, Ellen takes us back to Louisiana with a new series. Bayou Book Thief, the first installment of the new Vintage Cookbook mystery series, transports us to the heat, humidity, and hustle of New Orleans.

I love the way Ellen plays with the cozy mystery tropes we all know and love: Ricki (short for Miracle) James, a newly-widowed Los Angeles transplant, starts up a vintage cookbook – themed gift shop in the Bon Vee Culinary House Museum, in a historic mansion in the Garden District. Instead of big-city girl in the small town, our protagonist relocates to another big city (arguably, one with more personality and pizazz than Los Angeles). The circumstances of her widowhood are tragic, but at the same time darkly comical. Ricki’s mother is not the nagging matchmaker we know from other popular cozy series; Ricki’s parents are happily retired and too busy taking dance lessons to meddle with her life. And is this a book shop mystery, a culinary mystery, or an antique shop mystery? Why not all three at once?

One element that was satisfyingly to expectation was the murder: The discovery of the body is shocking but not gruesome, and the victim (mild spoiler here) will not be much missed. A mystery featuring an amateur sleuth needs to provide a good reason for the protagonist to get involved and not simply leave it to the police, and this is done deftly in Bayou Book Thief. Enough is at stake, including Ricki’s own livelihood, that she is inevitably drawn in to investigating the murder.

Bayou Book Thief is an enjoyable and well-plotted mystery with plenty of well-researched local detail and a satisfying conclusion. Warning: you may finish the book and find you have an irresistible craving for a Po’Boy. I’m looking forward to the next installment of the Vintage Cookbook Mystery Series, which is scheduled for release in February.

About the Author

Ellen’s Cajun Country Mysteries have won the Agatha Award for Best Contemporary Novel and multiple Lefty Awards for Best Humorous Mystery. Bayou Book Thief will be the first book in her new Vintage Cookbook Mysteries. She also writes the Catering Hall Mystery series under the name Maria DiRico.

Ellen is an award-winning playwright, and non-award-winning TV writer of comedies like Wings, Just Shoot Me, and Fairly Odd Parents. She has written over two hundred articles for national magazines but considers her most impressive credit working as a cater-waiter for Martha Stewart. An alum of New Orleans’ Tulane University, she blogs with Chicks on the Case, is a lifetime member of the Writers Guild of America and will be the 2023 Left Coast Crime Toastmaster. Please visit her at https://www.ellenbyron.com/

Author Links

Newsletter: https://www.ellenbyron.com/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/ellenbyronauthor/

https://www.facebook.com/CateringHallMysteries/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/ellenbyronmariadirico/

Bookbub:

https://www.bookbub.com/profile/ellen-byron

https://www.bookbub.com/authors/maria-dirico

Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/23234.Ellen_Byron

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19130966.Maria_DiRico

Purchase Links

Amazon – B&N – Kobo – Google Books – Alibris – IndieBound – PenguinRandomHouse

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#Midweek Mystery: Bear Witness (an Alaska Untamed mystery)

Alaska tour boat guide Stacie Calder faces the deep freeze in this scenic cozy series debut perfect for fans of Paige Shelton.

No nine-to-five cubicle career will suit Stacie Calder—the naturalist much prefers working in the great outdoors. Specifically, the spacious and spectacular Alaskan wilderness, whose rugged charms she shares with sightseers on the top deck of the tour boat where she works. But one May afternoon, Stacie’s passengers see more than glittering glaciers, frolicking harbor seals, climbing bears and soaring seabirds…they also witness a man lying dead in the frigid Alaskan waters. And it seems likely that someone gave him a fatal push.

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Lark O. Jensen is the pseudonym of Linda O. Johnston, a former lawyer who is now a full-time writer. Lark has written Bear Witness, the first Alaska Untamed mystery for Crooked Lane. Linda has written the Barkery & Biscuits Mystery series and the Superstition Mysteries for Midnight Ink and the Pet Rescue Mysteries and Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter mysteries for Berkley Prime Crime. Linda also writes for Harlequin Romantic Suspense, and her stories often involve dogs.

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Header image created by freepik – www.freepik.com

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Cover Reveal: Murder is no Picnic

Murder Is No Picnic (A Cape Cod Foodie Mystery) by Amy Pershing

COMING JUNE 7, 2022

 

When a celebrity chef is found dead,

             

Samantha Barnes, the “Cape Cod Foodie”,

         

finds her search for the world’s best blueberry buckle

               

turning into a search for a killer . . .

                 

READY!

                   

SET!!

                     

REVEAL!!!

Murder Is No Picnic (A Cape Cod Foodie Mystery) Cozy Mystery 3rd in Series Setting – Cape Cod, Massachusetts Publisher ‏ : ‎ Berkley (June 7, 2022) Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 336 pages ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0593199189 ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0593199183 Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09K66BGZF

The Fourth of July is coming, and for professional food lover Samantha Barnes, it’s all about the picnic. Okay, and the fireworks. And the parade. But mostly the picnic. What could be better than a DIY clambake followed by the best blueberry buckle in the world? Sam has finally found the perfect recipe in the kitchen of Clara Foster, famed cookbook author and retired restaurateur, and she’s thrilled when Clara agrees to a buckle baking lesson.

But when Clara dies in a house fire blamed on carelessness in the kitchen, Sam doesn’t believe it. Unfortunately, her doubts set in motion an investigation pointing to the new owner of Clara’s legendary restaurant—and a cousin of Sam’s harbormaster boyfriend. So, in between researching the Cape’s best lobster rolls and planning her clambake, Sam needs to find Clara’s killer before the fireworks really start….

You can Pre-Order Your Copy Today!

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About the Author

Amy Pershing, who spent every summer of her childhood on Cape Cod, was an editor, a restaurant reviewer and a journalist before leading employee communications at a global bank. A few years ago she waved goodbye to Wall Street to write full time. Murder Is No Picnic is the third of the Cape Cod Foodie mysteries featuring Samantha Barnes, a disgraced but resilient ex-chef who retreats home to Cape Cod where she finds herself juggling a new job as the local paper’s “Cape Cod Foodie,” a complicated love life, a posse of just-slightly-odd friends, a falling-down house, a ginormous dog and a propensity for falling over dead bodies. Elizabeth Gilbert called the first book in the series, A Side of Murder, “the freshest, funniest mystery I have ever read,” and Kirkus Reviews gave the second book, An Eggnog to Die For, a starred review, saying, “A delightful sleuth, a complex mystery, and lovingly described cuisine: a winner for both foodies and mystery mavens.”

Website: AmyPershingAuthor.com

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Featured Image: Thomas Cole’S “The Picnic” 1846
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#Midweekmystery: Mining for Murder by Mary Angela

A Happy Camper Mystery

The South Dakota Gold Rush might be long over, but Zo Jones feels like she’s hit the mother lode when she and her friends browse an estate sale, where a rare old book about the history of Spirit Canyon is causing quite a commotion. In addition to local stories and secrets, the book may even contain the location of a famous stash of gold—a treasure worth killing for Canyon’s annual Spirit Spooktacular weekend is on, and for local amateur sleuth Zo Jones, it’s boomtime for business at her Happy Camper gift shop . . . until a murderer drops in for a browse.

Zo’s friend Maynard Cline wins the bid on the book, to the chagrin of many interested parties, including the historical society and college history department. But when Zo and Hattie head to Maynard’s mansion to borrow the book for a library event, the only thing they find is Maynard—at the bottom of the mountain. The valuable book is gone. Zo knows this must be murder because there’s no way a germophobe like Maynard would have voluntarily dived into a pile of dirt. Now she’ll have to dig into a new case, and go prospecting for a perpetrator

Mary Angela

Mary Angela

The Happy Camper Mysteries

Mary Angela is the author of the Happy Camper cozy mystery series, the Professor Prather academic mystery series, and several short stories. When Mary isn’t penning heartwarming whodunits, she’s teaching, reading, traveling, or spending time with her family. She lives in South Dakota with her husband, daughters, and spoiled pets. You can find out more about her loves, including her writing, at MaryAngelaBooks.com.
Author Links
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Instagram
Purchase Links   
Amazon | iTunes | Google | Kobo | B&N

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Header Image: Spearfish Canyon, South Dakota
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Midweek Mystery: Welcome to Piney Falls

Winner of the Literary Titan Silver Award

Lanie has no idea what awaits her in Piney Falls…

Lanie Anders has a perfectly-ordered life. From her half-foam morning latte to her high-powered executive job – she controls every outcome. But when her house burns to the ground in mysterious circumstances, her life is thrown into confusion.

Searching for some kind of purpose, she stumbles across a century-old mystery and flees to Piney Falls, Oregon, an oceanside hamlet with a curious past. But something isn’t quite right in the picturesque town. Her neighbor speaks in riddles, the death rate is alarmingly high and the impossibly handsome town baker is hiding something.

With each clue she unearths in the present and the past, she becomes more convinced that the townspeople are in imminent danger.

Will Lanie be able to solve both mysteries without putting her own life in jeopardy?

Find out why readers are calling Welcome to Piney Falls “immensely immersive and totally gripping.” Don’t miss the first in this exciting new mystery series!

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Joann Keder spent most of her years in the Midwest, growing up and raising a family on the Great Plains of Nebraska. She worked for sixteen years as a piano teacher before returning to school to receive a master’s degree in creative writing. A mid-life move to the Pacific Northwest lead her to re-examine her priorities. She now creates stories about life and relationships in small towns while her ever-patient husband encourages her.

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Amazon | GoodReads

Header image: Tumalo Falls, OR

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#Midweek Mystery: What Happened on Box Hill

What would happen if you combined all of Jane Austen’s characters into one modern-day novel?

Murder, of course.

When Caty Morland’s roommate, Isabella, falls to her death on Initiation night, Austen University is quick to cover up the scandal and call it a tragic accident. But avid true-crime lover Caty remains convinced that Isabella didn’t fall; she was murdered. With the help of Pi Kappa Sigma President Emma Woodhouse, Caty organizes a dinner party with the most likely suspects, including familiar faces such as Darcy, Elizabeth Bennet, Knightley, and Marianne Dashwood. The theme of the night is murder, and Caty has three courses to find out what happened to Isabella–and to try to keep the killer from striking again.

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Elizabeth Gilliland

Elizabeth Gilliliand

Austen University Mysteries

Elizabeth Gilliland teaches English at the university level, putting as much Austen into her syllabi as she can get away with. In 2018, she completed her Ph.D. from Louisiana State University, where she wrote her dissertation on Jane Austen adaptations and fever-dreamed this series in a caffeine-induced haze. She is a proud member of the Jane Austen Society of North America, and excerpts of the Austen University series have won awards through JASNA and Jane Austen & Co/The Jane Austen Summer Program. She lives in Alabama with her husband and son.

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#Midweek Mystery: Enter a Wizard, Stage Left by Connie di Marco

Julia Bonatti wasn’t always a crime-solving San Francisco astrologer.


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She was engaged to the love of her life and preparing for a teaching career when her fiancé was killed in a hit and run accident.

Julia takes refuge with her grandmother Gloria. But there’s little time to grieve. Gloria, a retired seamstress, needs Julia’s help. Gloria’s been hired to create costumes for a production of Agatha Christie’s Appointment with Death at the newly opened Theatre Mars in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood.

Theatre Mars is a stunning jewel, the cast is talented and the script is brilliant.

But Julia gets the first hint of trouble when the owner of The Mystic Eye bookshop warns that all might not go well. The dire prediction comes true when the lead actress is murdered before the final curtain, echoing the play itself. Then Julia’s sleuthing puts her grandmother Gloria’s life in grave danger. Can Julia rescue her grandmother before it’s too late? And will a black cat play a leading role?

Author Connie di Marco
Author Connie di Marco

About The Author

Connie di Marco is the author of the Zodiac Mysteries, featuring San Francisco astrologer, Julia Bonatti.  Writing as Connie Archer, she is also the national bestselling author of the Soup Lover’s Mystery series from Berkley Prime Crime.  Some of her favorite recipes can be found in The Cozy Cookbook  and The Mystery Writers of America Cookbook.  Connie is a member of International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime.  She lives in Los Angeles but dreams constantly of the San Francisco fog.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon  |   B&N  | IndieBound

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Holiday Throwback: Letters to Santa, Hilo, Hawaii Edition

Before she was with the legendary mystery blog Chicks on the Case, author  Leslie Karst had a culinary blog called Custard and Clues.  In this 2014 post she shares highlights from the Hilo, Hawaii Tribune Herald’s Letters to Santa.  

 

Local kids provide evidence to bolster their case for getting on the Good List (“I’ve been helping my mom at dinner time by washing the rice”), or get Santa oriented so he doesn’t lose his way (“If you come down our chimney, one you will get dirty, and two, our Christmas tree will be right in front of you”). Some simply throw themselves on the mercy of the court (“Can I know if you give people on the bad list another chance?”).

Read the whole thing HERE!

Header image: Victorian Christmas card depicting Santa stuffing a child into his sack.

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#Midweek Mystery: Mystery of the Eight Islands by Terry Ambrose

Mystery of the Eight Islands (Trouble in Paradise) by Terry Ambrose

About Mystery of the Eight Islands

Mystery of the Eight Islands (Trouble in Paradise) Cozy Mystery 11th in Series Independently Published (November 2, 2021) Length: 325 pages ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09HK1BBRY

If you love senior sleuths in cozy mysteries, you’re going to love McKenna and his pal Chance Logan

 

Apartment manager and amateur sleuth McKenna wants a break from solving murders. Too bad his best friend, wannabe PI Chance Logan, doesn’t feel the same. Chance has found a case he thinks McKenna’s going to love—the death of prominent attorney Julian Carr, and the theft of a 125-year-old necklace that’s worth a quarter of a million dollars. Before long, McKenna’s feeling pressured from all sides—find the necklace, solve the murder. Sure. Why not just add save the world?

 

McKenna’s sure something fishy is going on when he and Chance meet with Julian’s granddaughter about the case. She’s created her own murder board with five suspects. The list includes an unstable, art-collecting veterinarian, a convicted felon, a disbarred attorney, a suspected art thief, and Julian’s new business partner.

 

As the investigation ramps up, McKenna and Chance see their leads drying out faster than laundry in the tropical sun. The really bad news is they’re not sure they can even find the Eight Islands or solve the murder. For once, McKenna’s worried they just might fail.

 

Why you might love this book Tired of the same old cozy mystery fare? Then cozy up with male amateur detective McKenna and his PI wannabe pal Chance Logan in this Hawaii murder mystery. When it comes to senior sleuths in cozy mysteries, McKenna’s as sharp as they come, but with a fun dose of snarky attitude thrown in. Enjoy the ambience of Hawaii while you’re savoring a little murder in paradise.

 
; ;

About Terry Ambrose

Once upon a time, in a life he’d rather forget, Terry Ambrose tracked down deadbeats for a living. He also hired big guys with tow trucks to steal cars—but only when negotiations failed. Those years of chasing deadbeats taught him many valuable life lessons such as—always keep your car in the garage.

Terry has written eighteen books, several of which have been award finalists. In 2014, his thriller, “Con Game,” won the San Diego Book Awards for Best Action-Thriller. His series include the Trouble in Paradise McKenna Mysteries, the Seaside Cove Bed & Breakfast Mysteries, and the License to Lie thriller series. You can learn more about Terry and his writing at terryambrose.com.

Header image: Four Mile Beach, Hilo, HI