Dorothea Roberts is beginning her first year of undergraduate study at the Victoria University of Manchester in 1934, when a chance encounter with a stranger on a train turns deadly.
Matilda Abbott, an undercover MI5 agent with a secret, fearful that she is being followed by an assassin, hands Dorothea a letter to give to an eminent professor at the university. Then Matilda is shot at by an unknown assailant. She is injured but manages to escape from the train.
After giving her statement to the police Dorothea arrives at her halls of residence, Grangebrook Hall, to begin the start of term. There has recently been a hit and run accident killing the Secretary of the Women’s Student Union Committee, and Matilda, also a member of the WSUC, has disappeared. Everything points towards there being a serial killer on the loose on campus.
Just what exactly is going on and who is responsible?
Lizzie Bentham started writing during the 2020 lockdown with the aim of creating some imaginary friends to talk to, who could get out and about a bit more than she could.
With Murder in Her First Degree, the first book in the Red Brick Mystery series, she combines her love of all things academic with another of her passions – murder mystery novels from the golden age of crime writing.
Lizzie currently lives in the West Midlands with her husband and two small children. When she is not writing, watching children’s television or visiting parks, Lizzie enjoy walks in the countryside, reading, flower-arranging and crocheting.
Find out more about the Red Brick Mystery series at http://www.lizziebentham.com and follow @lizziebentham on Twitter or on Facebook.
There’s no problem Charlie Kingsley can’t solve with tea, but when it comes to love, she doesn’t do love potions. So when her client asks about poison instead, Charlie thought she was kidding, that is until her client’s husband turns up dead. Fans of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple Series will devour The Murder Before Christmas by Michele Pariza Wacek, a fun, twisty cozy mystery.
If you’ve got a problem, Charlie Kingsley probably has a tea that’ll help make it right.
EXCEPT when it comes to love. She does NOT do love potions.
Not even for Courtney, her pregnant new client who showed up three weeks before Christmas seeking a love potion because her husband was cheating on her.
So, Courtney asked about poison, instead.
She said she was joking That’s what happens between wives and husbands. They get angry and talk about killing each other. They don’t really mean it.
It seems to make sense … until Courtney’s husband turns up dead on Christmas Eve.
He was poisoned, of course.
And who is the number one suspect? Courtney. Of course.
But did she actually do it? Or is she being set up?
It’s up to Charlie to sort through all the twists and turns in a case that gets more complicated the deeper she digs.
Meet Charlie. Better known as “Aunt Charlie” from the award-winning Secrets of Redemption series. She’s back, making teas and solving cases in this quirky, twisty, cozy mystery series set in the 1990s in Redemption, Wisconsin.
“Why are you here again?” Officer Brandon Wyle asked me, his chair squeaking as he shifted his lean, lanky figure into a more comfortable position. His dark hair was longer than he normally wore it, curling around his collar and into curtain bangs that he absentmindedly brushed off his forehead. I found myself wondering if this was a new hairstyle, or if he kept forgetting to make an appointment with a stylist. His expression was carefully blank, but his dark eyes didn’t miss a thing. I hadn’t quite figured it out myself, but was doing my best to sound more confident than I felt. The longer I sat there, the more convinced I was that it was a huge mistake. But at that point, it would have been even worse if I’d left, so I had to brazen my way through it. “She’s my client,” I said, which was true. She had bought some tea from me. Once. “And you’ve seen her condition.” Wyle’s eyebrows went up. “Condition? You mean her pregnancy?” “Exactly. Stress isn’t good for mothers-to-be. Well, stress isn’t good for any of us, but it’s especially not good when you’re pregnant. And she’s already dealing with the stress of losing her husband …” “Who she likely poisoned,” Wyle said. Now it was my turn to raise eyebrows. “Are you saying she’s a suspect?” More squeaking as he moved again. We were sitting by his desk, which was tucked away in the corner of the police station. The room was too hot—Wyle had mentioned there was something wrong with the heater—but the combination of the heat, cigarette smoke, and the burnt-coffee-old-sweat odor made my stomach turn. Even though we weren’t alone, no one appeared to be paying any attention to us. The constant collective noise of the phone ringing, typewriters clacking, and people talking filled the space. “Oh come on, Charlie. You’re smarter than this. Everyone is a suspect in the beginning. Heck, you even made the list.” I was aghast. “Me?” “Yes, you. Don’t you think it’s pretty suspicious you’re even in here?” “I never even met Dennis,” I said. “You don’t need to meet the guy to sell his wife some poison.” “I don’t sell poison,” I said firmly, deciding I would definitely not be mentioning Courtney’s request for something to kill her husband to Wyle. “I sell teas and tinctures.” “Uh huh.” Wyle tapped his pen on his notebook, which was balanced precariously on top of a stack of paperwork. His eyes continued to study me.
About Michele Pariza Wacek
When Michele was 3 years old, she taught herself to read because she wanted to write stories so badly. It took some time (and some detours) but she does spend much of her time writing stories now. Mystery stories to be exact, ranging from psychological thrillers to cozies, with a dash of romance and supernatural thrown into the mix. If that wasn’t enough, she also hosts a virtual book club you can check out and join (for free!) at MPWNovels.com.
Michele holds a double major in English and Communications from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Currently she lives in the mountains of Prescott, Arizona with her husband Paul and southern squirrel hunter Cassie.
There’s no problem Charlie Kingsley can’t solve with tea, but when it comes to love, she doesn’t do love potions. So when her client asks about poison instead, Charlie thought she was kidding, that is until her client’s husband turns up dead. Fans of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple Series will devour The Murder Before Christmas by Michele Pariza Wacek, a fun, twisty cozy mystery.
Blurb
If you’ve got a problem, Charlie Kingsley probably has a tea that’ll help make it right.
EXCEPT when it comes to love. She does NOT do love potions.
Not even for Courtney, her pregnant new client who showed up three weeks before Christmas seeking a love potion because her husband was cheating on her.
So, Courtney asked about poison, instead.
She said she was joking That’s what happens between wives and husbands. They get angry and talk about killing each other. They don’t really mean it.
It seems to make sense … until Courtney’s husband turns up dead on Christmas Eve.
He was poisoned, of course.
And who is the number one suspect? Courtney. Of course.
But did she actually do it? Or is she being set up?
It’s up to Charlie to sort through all the twists and turns in a case that gets more complicated the deeper she digs.
Meet Charlie. Better known as “Aunt Charlie” from the award-winning Secrets of Redemption series. She’s back, making teas and solving cases in this quirky, twisty, cozy mystery series set in the 1990s in Redemption, Wisconsin.
“So, Courtney, is it?” I asked with what I hoped was a comforting and nonthreatening smile. I set the mug holding my newest tea blend I created for the Christmas season down on the kitchen table. A blend of a variety of fresh mint and a couple other secret ingredients, I called it “Candy Cane Concoctions,” and hoped others would find it as soothing as it was refreshing. “What can I do for you?” Courtney didn’t look at me as she reached for her tea. She was young, younger than me, and extremely pretty, despite looking like something the cat dragged in. (And believe me, I know all about what cats can drag in. Midnight, my black cat, had presented me with more than my share of gifts over the years.) Courtney’s long, wavy blonde hair was pulled back in a haphazard ponytail, and there were puffy, black circles under her china-blue eyes. She was also visibly pregnant. “Well, Mrs. Kingsley,” she began, but I quickly interrupted her. “It’s Miss, but please, call me Charlie.” Yes, she was younger than me, but for goodness sake, she wasn’t THAT much younger. Maybe it was time to start getting more serious about my morning makeup routine. Her lips quirked up in a tiny smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Charlie then. I was hoping you could make me a love potion.” I quickly dropped my gaze, busying myself by pushing the plate of frosted Christmas sugar cookies I had made earlier toward her, not wanting her to see my shock and sorrow. She was pregnant and wanted a love potion. This just couldn’t be good. “I don’t actually do love potions,” I said. “I make custom-blended teas and tinctures.” Her eyebrows knit together in confusion. “But people have been raving about how much you’ve helped them. Mrs. Witmore swears you cured her thyroid problems.” I tried not to sigh. “My teas and tinctures do have health benefits, that’s true. Certain herbs and flowers can help with common ailments. In fact, for much of human civilization, there were no prescription drugs, so all they had to use were herb and flowers. But I can’t promise any cures.” “What about Ruthie?” Courtney asked. “She claims those heart tinctures you made are the reason Bob finally noticed her.” I gritted my teeth. Ruthie’s dad had been recovering from a heart attack, so I had made a couple of teas and tinctures for him. Ruthie, who had a crush on her coworker Bob for years, was apparently so desperate for him to notice her that one day, she decided to bring one of my tinctures to work (I’m unclear which) and slip it into his drink. And apparently, shortly after that, Bob started up a conversation with her, and eventually asked her out on a date. It didn’t help matters that Jean, Ruthie’s mother, had claimed my tinctures had reignited her and her husband’s love life, which is probably how Ruthie got the idea to try them with Bob in the first place. Needless to say, that was an unintended benefit.
When Michele was 3 years old, she taught herself to read because she wanted to write stories so badly. It took some time (and some detours) but she does spend much of her time writing stories now. Mystery stories to be exact, ranging from psychological thrillers to cozies, with a dash of romance and supernatural thrown into the mix. If that wasn’t enough, she also hosts a virtual book club you can check out and join (for free!) at MPWNovels.com.
Michele holds a double major in English and Communications from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Currently she lives in the mountains of Prescott, Arizona with her husband Paul and southern squirrel hunter Cassie.
A charming tea room owner and her excitable talking corgi will need to work together to bring a killer to heel in this delightful cozy mystery.
For ex-accountant Emma Reed and her beloved corgi, Oliver, opening Reed’s Classic Tea & Cakes in the idyllic village of Trevena in Cornwall has been the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. Her cakes are popular, she has a host of wonderful new friends, and even a potential new romance. There’s even time left over for plenty of long country walks with Oliver, who is not only the cutest corgi on record (at least to Emma), he happens to talk (at least to Emma). What could be better?
How about being asked to help cater the local Daphne DuMaurier literary festival?
But when the festival organizer is found dead and foul play is suspected, Emma, Oliver and their friends are plunged deep into a poisonous mix of village jealousy, family tension, money troubles, and secret love affairs. Emma quickly realizes it’s up to her and her intrepid corgi to discover a canny killer whose bite is worse than their bark.
About the Author:Jennifer Hawkins is a Michigan-based author of cozy mysteries. She’s also a mom, binge reader, corgi enthusiast, and a lover of All Things British. For tea, she prefers a second flush Darjeeling with milk. She also makes a killer (so to speak) lemon curd.
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Maizie’s mixing with international stars, spies, and her mother’s dark past in her sixth case in The Wall Street Journal bestselling series.
“Hollywood glitz meets backwoods grit in this fast-paced ride on D-list celeb Maizie Albright’s waning star. Sassy, Sexy, and Fun.” — Phoebe Fox, author of the Breakup Doctor series.
#WannabeDetectiving While ex-celebrity Maizie Albright’s dreams of becoming a for-real private investigator have not exactly been dashed, they have been slightly thwarted. Her ex-manager and still-mother, Vicki Albright, has taken the helm of Nash Security Services while rebuilding her entertainment management company. Sometimes with the same clients. Like Chinese action star, Lili Liang, who’s making the film Unlucky 18 in Georgia.
Thus far, Lili’s living up to her movie title. Her kung fu coach is missing. Her boyfriend’s disappeared. And her director, who gambled on her with the part, might be gambling with her life.
Maizie’s luck is also running out. Maizie and Nash find themselves struggling to balance a new partnership and new relationship between missing persons’ cases, wild goose chases, and tracking a bullet into dangerous places. Sometimes it’s enough to make a girl NOT want to put a ring on it. When it comes to facing an 18-caliber killer, what will Maizie put up as the target? Her heart or her life?
Books in the Maizie Albright Star Detective series:
15 MINUTES
16 MILLIMETERS
NC-17
A VIEW TO A CHILL
17.5 CARTRIDGES IN A PEAR TREE
18 CALIBER
Other Series by Larissa Reinhart:
A Cherry Tucker Mystery
Finley Goodhart Crime Capers
I’m one of those people who has to read all the previous books in a series before reading a new book. So I went and purchased books 1-5 because I needed to meet Maizie Albright and all the characters in her life. And I am SO glad I did! While you can read this book as a standalone, you really should read the adventures of Maizie and how she is in Georgia trying to be a PI from being a former starlet.
I really loved reading about Maizie and her misadventures because I think I would be a PI like she would be. At least I hope so. Although I haven’t been a Hollywood actress, so that’s different – but either way, I find bits of myself in her.
This installment brings us more insight into Maizie and her relationships with Vicki, Boomer and even Nash. We find out a little more about how Maizie was treated in Hollywood by Vicki, how Maizie processes her feelings, while solving the mysteries that seem to always find her.
5 stars!
A Wall Street Journal bestselling author, Larissa writes the Cherry Tucker Mystery, Maizie Albright Star Detective, and Finley Goodhart Crime Caper series as well as romantic comedies and women’s fiction. She loves to tell funny stories about Southern women looking for love (and sometimes dead bodies) in all the wrong places. You might have seen Larissa and family with their little dog, Biscuit, on HGTV’s House Hunters International “Living for the Weekend in Nagoya” episode, but they’re back in Georgia now. Visit LarissaReinhart.com to learn more.
All We Buried: A Sheriff Bet Rivers Mystery by Elena Taylor
About All We Buried
All We Buried: A Sheriff Bet Rivers Mystery Cozy Mystery 1st in Series Publisher: Crooked Lane Books (April 7, 2020) Hardcover: 304 pages ISBN-10: 1643852914 ISBN-13: 978-1643852911 Digital ASIN: B07RQH353V
For fans of Julia Keller and Sheena Kamal, All We Buried disturbs the long-sleeping secrets of a small Washington State mountain town.
Interim sheriff Elizabeth “Bet” Rivers has always had one repeat nightmare: a shadowy figure throwing a suspicious object into her hometown lake in Collier, Washington. For the longest time, she chalked it up to an overactive imagination as a kid. Then the report arrives. In the woods of the Cascade mountain range, right in her jurisdiction, a body floats to the surface of Lake Collier. When the body is extricated and revealed, no one can identify Jane Doe. But someone must know the woman, so why aren’t they coming forward?
Bet has been sitting as the interim sheriff of this tiny town in the ill-fitting shoes of her late father and predecessor. With the nightmare on her heels, Bet decided to build a life for herself in Los Angeles, but now it’s time to confront the tragic history of Collier. The more she learns, the more Bet realizes she doesn’t know the townspeople of Collier as well as she thought, and nothing can prepare her for what she is about to discover.
I haven’t read Elena Taylor before but after being thoroughly captivated by Bet Rivers, this is definitely not the last! Bet’s character is quite interesting. She’s a tough sheriff yet she’s also giving credence to the dreams/premonitions she has, which is traditionally not something law enforcement would do.
Bet came home to help her Sheriff dad out when he unexpectedly passes. So she ends up becoming the temporary sheriff in her former town. And Bet isn’t really sure about being back home in Washington. Her father was beloved as sheriff and Bet is constantly reminded of that and that she went to California, whether it’s from the secretary, deputies or even her dad’s dog. But Bet isn’t letting Collier and its inhabitants scare her away from solving the mystery.
I can’t wait for more of this series! And Bet!
5 stars!
About the Author
CREDIT MARK PERLSTEIN
Elena Taylor spent several years working in theater as a playwright, director, designer, and educator before turning her storytelling skills to fiction. Her first series, the Eddie Shoes Mysteries, written under the name Elena Hartwell, introduced a quirky mother/daughter crime-fighting duo. With All We Buried, Elena returns to her dramatic roots and brings readers a much more serious and atmospheric novel. Located in her beloved Washington State, Elena uses her connection to the environment to produce a forbidding story of small-town secrets and things that won’t stay buried. Elena is also a senior editor with Allegory Editing, a developmental editing house, where she works one-on-one with writers to shape and polish manuscripts, short stories, and plays. If you’d like to work with Elena, visit www.allegoryediting.com.When she’s not writing or coaching writing, her favorite place to be is at the farm with her horses, Jasper and Radar, or at her home, on the middle fork of the Snoqualmie River in North Bend, Washington, with her husband, their dog, Polar, and their cats, Coal Train and Cocoa. Elena holds a B.A. from the University of San Diego, a M.Ed. from the University of Washington, Tacoma, and a Ph.D. from the University of Georgia.
Competition is hotter than the pre-heated ovens as The Great British Baking Competition moves into cake week. Amateur baker Poppy Wilkinson has a lot to deal with, from learning she has talents she never knew about, to trying to keep cool and bake under pressure.
She’s also trying to track down the secrets of her parentage. Meanwhile, she’s saved from death by a local Border collie who seems to think she’s part of his flock and herds her out of danger. Was it an accident or does someone want her out of the baking competition permanently?
With witches, an energy vortex, an ancient manor house that holds it’s secrets tight, Poppy’s barely got time to practice her fondant icing, never mind escape from a killer.
Taste this culinary cozy mystery series from USA Today Bestselling author Nancy Warren. Each book is a stand-alone mystery, though the books are linked. They offer good, clean fun, and, naturally, recipes.
Nancy’s a USA today bestselling author of more than 60 novels. Nancy’s originally from Vancouver, Canada but she tends to wander. She currently lives in an 18th century house in Bath, England where she loves to pretend she’s Jane Austen, or at least a character in a Jane Austen novel. When she’s not writing, she’s hiking, skiing, traveling or sipping wine. She’s appeared on the front page of the New York Times (when her book, Speed Dating launched Harlequin’s NASCAR series), has been a clue in a crossword puzzle (National Post, Canada) and she’s been a finalist for the RITA award three times, honored by Romantic Times Magazine and often shares her love of writing in her popular workshops.
Welcome to Adlebury where village life can be downright deadly.
Veterinarian Petronella Knight seems to have it all. A job she loves, good friends, and patients who adore her. But when she gets into an argument with dog breeder Gladys Harrington, and she finds the woman dead, she also finds herself accused of murder.
Ella will need all her friends, including the new and very handsome American policeman, and all her sharpest sleuthing skills to figure out who murdered the dog breeder before another dead body pops up.
Paws for Murder contains one enthusiastic amateur detective with a penchant for rescuing animals, a guard duck called George, a large amount of homemade gooseberry wine, and a very confused American who has never met an English village quite like this one.
You’d be Barking Mad to pass this one by.
Review Coming Soon!
About Scarlett English
Scarlett English is a crazy cat lady who likes solving mysteries. Or actually, make that a dog lady. Much to her chagrin, the police have never sought to consult her, which is why there seems to be so much unsolved crime. Especially—surprisingly enough—in the small English village where she lives. So, armed with curiosity, a penchant for taking in strays, a love of homemade wine and a good gossip, she puts her detecting talents to good use murdering her imaginary friends and neighbors and solving the cases one story at a time.
The USA Today bestselling author of Southern Discomfort and Southern Harm returns to the delightful B&B in Savannah, Georgia, where trouble always seems to be checking in. LONGER SYNOPSIS COMING SOON
Review Coming Soon!
About Caroline Fardig
CAROLINE FARDIG is the USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR of the Java Jive Mysteries series and the Lizzie Hart Mysteries series. Fardig’s BAD MEDICINE was named one of the “Best Books of 2015” by Suspense Magazine. She worked as a schoolteacher, church organist, insurance agent, funeral parlor associate, and stay-at-home mom before she realized that she wanted to be a writer when she grew up. Born and raised in a small town in Indiana, Fardig still lives in that same town with an understanding husband, two sweet kids, two energetic dogs, and one malevolent cat.
When an Oxford caretaker is killed by a fall down the library stairs, and a professor attacked, rumors fly that it’s the work of a poltergeist who’s been causing havoc at the college.
The prof is a knitter, and a customer at Lucy Swift’s shop, Cardinal Woolsey’s. But Lucy thinks a very human killer is shifting the blame onto a ghost who can’t defend themselves and she’s determined to trap the real killer and get justice for the dead man.
However, danger lurks at the college where old secrets and new crimes collide. Vampire and old book expert Rafe Crosyer has been called in to value the college’s literary collection, and he witnesses first hand how angry the ghost really is.
Furious enough to kill? Or is there something else the tantrum-throwing spirit is trying to tell them?
And will they decipher the message before it’s too late?
This is book 9 in the best-selling Vampire Knitting Club series of paranormal cozy mysteries. Each book can be read on its own and there’s no gore, bad language or sex in these books, just a lot of humor, quirky characters and, of course, Oxford. “This series just gets better and better.”
About the Author:Nancy’s a USA today bestselling author of more than 60 novels. Nancy’s originally from Vancouver, Canada but she tends to wander. She currently lives in an 18th century house in Bath, England where she loves to pretend she’s Jane Austen, or at least a character in a Jane Austen novel. When she’s not writing, she’s hiking, skiing, traveling or sipping wine. She’s appeared on the front page of the New York Times (when her book, Speed Dating launched Harlequin’s NASCAR series), has been a clue in a crossword puzzle (National Post, Canada) and she’s been a finalist for the RITA award three times, honored by Romantic Times Magazine and often shares her love of writing in her popular workshops.
CAROLINE FARDIG is the USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR of the Java Jive Mysteries series and the Lizzie Hart Mysteries series. Fardig’s BAD MEDICINE was named one of the “Best Books of 2015” by Suspense Magazine. She worked as a schoolteacher, church organist, insurance agent, funeral parlor associate, and stay-at-home mom before she realized that she wanted to be a writer when she grew up. Born and raised in a small town in Indiana, Fardig still lives in that same town with an understanding husband, two sweet kids, two energetic dogs, and one malevolent cat.
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