Adams, Richard
Fiction. The lives of rabbits told from their view. Hazel, a brave rabbit, takes a few followers with him when he flees his home warren. Life there had been well-ordered, but hard on the general population. He, along with his young brother with special gifts, encourage the others to follow him far away to begin their own warren. Along the way, they face terrifying experiences, and even when they finally reach the Promised Land, life still hands them dangers to face.
Ball, Donna
- A Wedding on Ladybug Farm
Fiction. Sixth book in the Ladybug Farm series. Lindsey and the ladies are busy getting ready for her wedding to Dominic, while he has his hands full running the winery. Lindsey wants the perfect wedding, but something keeps preventing her from nailing down the wedding date. Calamity after calamity befalls the preparations, while secrets held by their children end up being the biggest surprise of the season.
Befeler, Mike
Fiction. Fifth book in the Paul Jacobsen cozy mystery series. Paul, his wife and his son’s family are vacationing in Hawai’i over the Christmas holidays. They’re taking an after-dinner stroll along the dock when a rowdy group of men pass by. One of them crashes right into Paul and words are exchanged. The next morning, the man is found dead in the water. Renewing his acquaintance with Detective Saito, Paul seeks to solve the murder for which he has become a prime suspect.
Fiction. Sixth book in the Paul Jacobson Geezer-Lit series. Paul and his wife, Marion, are getting ready to leave Hawai’i to return to their home in Venice, California, when Detective Chun requests that they stay and help solve a crime that took place in a nursing home. Paul agrees, and Marion is set up in a nearby condo for the week, while Paul is checked into the nursing home as a patient. With some new friends and some old friends, he sets about trying to solve the mounting crimes before he, himself, becomes a victim,
Berry, Steve
Fiction. Fourth in the Cotton Malone adventure/thriller series. Cotton’s father died when Cotton was 10 years old. Forrest Malone was commanding an innovating new submarine, when the sub and the entire crew was lost. The public story was that it occurred in the northern Pacific Ocean, but the reality was much different. In his search to find out what happened to his father, Cotton stirs up an ancient quest and becomes involved with a ruthless family who holds the key to what happened.
Bowen, Rhys
Fiction. First in a cozy mystery series set in a small village in Wales. Constable Evan Evans has fled the city to live in quiet Llanfair. While the local women try to woo him, he tries to keep busy with work, which can be difficult in such a bucolic setting. But one day, the own of the new resort hotel above the town bursts in with the announcement that one of his customers has gone missing up on Snowdon. At first, Evans is disinclined to make a fuss, believing the man would make his own way down, but when another body is reported, Evans knows something bad is visiting his village.
Carroll, Rick
- Madame Pele: True Encounters with Hawai’i’s Fire Goddess
Non-fiction. Collection of spooky tales starring Hawai’is favorite goddess.
Galenorn, Yasmine
- Tales from Otherworld: Collection One
Fiction. Collection of short stories from the Otherworld series.
Hannah, Sophie
Fiction. Policeman Catchpool is staying at the same boarding house as the famous Hercule Poirot, who seeks to spend some quiet time away from solving crimes. The crimes find him, unfortunately, when a woman rushes into a cafe looking as if she fears for her life. Poirot attempts to calm her, but she is convinced someone will be coming to execute her. Not murder her, because she deserves the death, at least in her eyes. The mystery intrigues Poirot later, when three bodies are discovered at the Bloxham Hotel, and Catchpool is assigned to solve the murders. Poirot can never resist sticking his toe into mysteries, and he and Catchpool team up to track down the murderer.
Befeler, Mike
- Cruising in Your Eighties Is Murder
Fiction. Fourth installment in the Geezer-Lit cozy mystery series about Paul Jacobson, an 80-something man with short-term memory who is on a cruise to Alaska with his bride, Marion. Even before he boards the ship, he stumbles into trouble when he finds a dead homeless man in a garden. A man he had just had an argument with.
Berry, Steve
Fiction. Second in the Cotton Malone mystery/thriller series. Cotton is surprised to see his ex-wife, Pam, in Copenhagen. She has come for his help. Their son has been kidnapped, and they must put aside their animosity toward each other to try to rescue him. Part of his ransom is to find the location of the ancient Library of Alexandria, and Cotton and Pam race from country to country to find the solution to the clues, while the Israeli, Arabian and even the American governments all seek to obtain the location, putting everyone in grave danger.
Fiction. First in the Cotton Malone adventure series. Cotton, and American ex-government agent now owns a bookshop in Copenhagen, Denmark. His former boss, Stephanie Nelle, is in Denmark to buy an antique book, but has decided to work with another bookseller in obtaining it, which raises Cotton’s interest. He is further involved in her business when a thief grabs her bag and runs off with it. Cotton, upon seeing what happened, races after the man, only to see him plummet to his death soon after. The look of peace on the thief’s face seems oddly curious, and Cotton is swept into an intriguing, and centuries-old, mystery.
Fiction. Third in the Cotton Malone mystery/thriller series. Cotton once again teams up with Henrick, Cassiopeia and Stephanie to stop the Supreme Minister of the Central Asian Federation, who fights with no rules, kills indiscriminately and plans on using biochemical weapons of mass destruction to get her way. At the root of the mystery is the location of the tomb of Alexander the Great and what the elephant medallion coins were used for.
Bevill, C.L.
Fiction. Second in the Moon trilogy of Cat Clan shifters. Mirie and Jack have been sent to keep an eye on an elvish prince. A hot elvish prince. When his bodyguards chase them down, Jack escapes, but Mirie is captured and is taken to the elven realm to face the king. She explains that she is searching for the Eyes of the Amber Moon, a quest that will challenge her life, while at the same time revealing secrets about her own heritage.
Fiction. Third in the Lake People paranormal trilogy. A woman is hit by a truck and taken to a local hospital, where she finds that she has no memory of who she is or what her past is. The fact that she has also been beaten and is wearing handcuffs deepens the mystery. The doctors try to help, to no avail. One day, she is shocked to find a note under her meal tray telling her that she is in grave danger, so flee the hospital she must. Can he get to her in time to save her? Or will the bayou magic be too much for them?
Fiction. First in the Moon trilogy of the Cat Clan shifters. Donovan watches from the trees as Isabella runs past him as fast as she can. On her heels are some of the Whitelaw werewolves to reclaim what she has stolen. In scenting her, Donovan realizes he has no choice but to try to save her, as he is well aware that she is his mate.
Fiction. Second in the Cat Clan shifter series. Sage is taking a couple of days off from college and her jobs to head up into the Colorado Rockies for an overnight camping trip. As she hikes up the trail, enjoying her time alone and all the fresh air, a warning shouts in her head. She’s in trouble! She drops her backpack and grabs a large branch lying on the ground and runs back down the trail. But she’s too slow, and a heavy body crashes into her, and a blindingly painful wrench on her calf. She’s been bitten!
Fiction. Third in the Cat Clan shifter series. After the seige at the facility in Wyoming, Ula is desperate to find her sister. Although all of the living weres have been evacuated from the underground building, and after being warned not to by Killian, she rushes back inside to find any records that might tell her where her sister has been taken to. The Council has its own agenda and has set explosives through the tunnels that are set to go off any minute. Killian is aware of the danger but runs back in after the wolf-shifter to get her safely out.
Fiction. Second in the Mignon Thibeaux mystery series set in the bayou country of Louisiana. Mignon’s and John Henry’s relationship continues to have problems, as the two can never seem to communicate properly with each other. John Henry’s rigid sense of right and wrong versus Mignon’s stubborn independence and struggle to get over the past collide time and again. While Mignon is out in the bayou taking photographs of the sun filtering through the trees, she feels a bump against her leg and fears the worst. But rather than an alligator, it’s the hand of young woman floating in the water, a rope still tied around her neck.
Fiction. Fourth in the Cat Clan shifter series. Claire had been abducted from her Canadian wilderness home with her sister and taken to an unused military base in Wyoming. While Ula is left behind, Claire is taken to Paris and dumped in a cage far below Paris in the catacombs, kept prisoner by the Council who will use her to bait her father, the Bloodletter, to come looking for her. Once there, the Council plans to use him as an example to other weres who oppose the Council. But there are a few there who despise the Council’s avaricious and cruel tactics, and one in particular will do whatever he can to free Claire and support her father.
Fiction. Book two in an apocalyptic YA series. Sophie reaches Washington, D.C. with the intent of speaking with the new president about all the changes in the country and the new creatures that have appeared. What she finds is chaos and the power-hungry man who believes his personal power is more important than the people and creatures he is supposed to govern. When Sophie finds out that he has been kidnapping people and creatures, she gathers forces to go against him, wanting to show everyone the kind of man he really is. Putting herself in danger is a byproduct of her quest, but she has a job to do and won’t quit until she’s accomplished it.
Fiction. First in an apocalyptic YA series starring 17-year-old Sophie who goes hiking with her father only to wake up the next day and find that he is missing. Unable to find him, she sets out on a journey to find someone to help her and runs across strange new creatures and a psychopath before she finds others like herself who have been left behind in this strange new world.
Fiction. Third in the Moon trilogy of the Cat Clan shifters. Jack Drake must continue on where his former partner, Mirie, has left off and track down the location of the Silver Moon’s Mystery, one relic of a trio that can cause the obliteration of the world. The problem is that the Whitelaw clan of werewolves are also after the item, and Jack must think on his feet to stay alive long enough to find and recover the Mystery. A not-so-friendly black and white cat seems to be helping him, though the connection he feels for the feline confuse him greatly and might cost him his life.
Blackwell, Juliet
Fiction. Six in the paranormal cozy mystery series starring Lily Ivory, owner of a vintage clothing shop in San Francisco. Lily buys a trunk full of old clothing, and nothing is of value except for the gold velvet cape she gets a strong feeling for. The cape takes her back in time to the witch trials of 17th century Massachusetts and whirls her into a new mystery, in which the life of her beloved familiar is in jeopardy.
Dugan, Ellen
- Practical Prosperity Magick
Non-fiction. Theory, lessons and rituals on the history and practice of prosperity magick.
Harwin, Patricia
- Slaying is Such Sweet Sorrow
Fiction. Second in the cozy mystery series set in Far Wychwood, England. American Catherine Penny has fled to England after the demise of her marriage and has settled into a quaint village in the beautiful countryside. Though she has no interest in seeing her ex-husband and his current girlfriend who have shown up to visit their daughter, Catherine is persuaded to attend a gathering at the college where her son-in-law teaches. He is due to receive the nomination for head of the department, but things turn sideways when the detestable Edgar Stone wins the chair. His troubles only increase when Edgar is found dead, and Catherine’s son-in-law is the prime suspect in his murder.
Shaber, Sarah
Fiction. First in a cozy mystery series starring history professor Simon Shaw who works at a small NC university. While dealing with clinical depression after his wife left him, he’s called upon by a fellow professor to identify the body of a woman found buried on campus 50 years prior. Rooting through old documents and files, Simon believes he knows who the body belongs to, a murdered young woman whose family used to own the property the university now sits on. But Simon can’t let things go with just that. He wants to know who put the bullet hole in her head, and that leads to danger for the professor.
Winspear, Jacqueline
Fiction. First in a cozy mystery series starring Maisie Dobbs, investigator and former WWI nurse. From her humble beginnings as the daughter of a costermonger (fruit and vegetable vendor), Maisie intelligence and quick wit leads her on a journey into the patronage of Lady Rowan, who introduces her to the man who will become her mentor as she goes off to university. Her plans changed when the Great War began, and she felt the need to do something more for her country.
Today is the day that the Chicken Soup for the Soul cat book goes on sale, how exciting! The first in many such experiences, I'm hoping.
Haven't been posting much, but I've been doing a lot of reading (148 books so far this year), and I've started studying Spanish with Rosetta Stone. Even with all the Spanish I've taken in school, I decided to begin with level 1, and I'm so glad I did. This is a whole new way of learning. Rather than making you memorize the laws of grammar, they show you in context, so you learn in an organic way, the way children learn their first language. It's also quite fun.
I've also joined Luminosity and have been faithfully playing the games every day. They suggest that you work on them 3-4 times a week, but they're too fun not to play them every day. Memory has my lowest score, which comes at no surprise, but I'm hoping to bring those numbers up with practice.
I've sent several poems and short stories off to contests and am hoping that something will come of them.
Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Cat Did What? edited by Amy Newmark, goes on sale August 19, 2014. On page 283 will be my first published short story called, "Cat-astrophe Avoided" as written by my pen name, NL Shank. Yay, me! It is exciting and addictive, and I can't wait to see my name in print on other projects in the near future.
Whatever shall I do to celebrate? Ah yes, the purchase of an extremely finely crafted knife by Jay Fisher and James Beauchamp, called Creature EL. It's the second knife I've bought from Jay, and I'm so excited to receive this present to myself.
Ashley, Jennifer
Fiction. First in a shapeshifter series. Set in Ireland, Alanna travels through the standing stones portal to get the blacksmith Niall to forge a special silver sword for her brother. Shifters and the fae do not get along, and now that the shifters are free and not tied to being the fae’s servants, Niall has no intention of granting her order. When she informs him that his cubs have already been kidnapped and taken to the land of Faerie, Niall is forced to create the sword, one that Alanna intends to use in stopping her brother from his nefarious purpose.
Ball, Donna
Fiction. Derrick and Paul have their hands full trying to get The Hummingbird House B&B up and running. The problem is not that the B&B isn’t ready, it’s that they aren’t, and running a B&B isn’t turning out quite how they thought it would be. The ladies at Ladybug Farm decide it’s time for the boys to stand on their own two feet, and with the assistance of some unique characters, their Grand Opening is a success.
Bevill, C.L.
Fiction. Mignon Thibeaux returns to the Louisiana bayou country where she had been born and lived until her mother’s disappearance when Mignon was five years old. A lifetime of unanswered questions revolve around the event, and Mignon is determined to find the truth even if it puts her own life in jeopardy.
Christie, Agatha
- The Under Dog and Other Stories
Fiction. Collection of Hercule Poirot short stories.
Daley, Kathi
Fiction. First in the Lake Paradise cozy mystery series set in Nevada. Tj lives at the resort that her family owns, and she juggles her coaching job at the high school with raising her two half-sisters and helping to run the family business. When her good friend dies, she questions his apparent suicide and follows a trail that takes her back in time and leads to the killer.
Galenorn, Yasmine
Fiction. The final book in the Indigo Court series starring Cecily Waters, Queen of the Snow and Ice. Cecily and her cohorts ready themselves for the final battle with Myst, Queen of the Indigo Court.
Glazer, Melissa
Fiction. First in a cozy mystery series set in a small Vermont town. Carolyn Emerson, owner of a pottery store, arrives at work one day to find a town nemesis dead inside her store, and the sheriff thinks Carolyn is a great suspect. She, along with her friends known as The Firing Squad, work together to discover the true murderer.
Hopkins, Shawn
Fiction. The story of an ex-Ranger who has found God and refuses to kill any more. Ex-SEALs, who worked with his brother, have contacted him to let him know that his brother has gone missing from Bermuda, and though they’ve been estranged, he agrees to travel to the island to help find his brother, only to find himself lost in a nightmare of epic proportions.
Hosseini, Khalid
Fiction. Heart-wrenching tale of a young Afghani boy growing up in the turbulent 60’s and 70’s in Kabul, Afghanistan, his friendship with the son of his father’s servant, and how he betrayed that friendship, not once, but twice. The guilt follows him through his life even after he moves to America and can possibly only be released by returning to his war-torn homeland to save one of his own.
Newmark, Amy
- Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Cat Did What?
Non-fiction. Collection of short stories written by humans who share their homes with felines. Happy, sad, heartwarming, they’re all entertaining.
Ross, Barbara
Fiction. First in a clambake cozy mystery series set in Maine. Julia Snowden received a frantic call from her sister begging her to return to the small coastal town in Maine where she grew up. Leaving her New York life behind her, she returns to Busman’s Harbor to pick up the reins of her family’s business, The Snowden Family Clambake Company, which is on the edge of being taken over by the bank. Her experience as a venture capitalist might help her straighten out the company’s finances, but nothing will help her deal with a dead body.
Aames, Avery
Fiction. First in a cozy mystery series centered around a cheese shop in Providence, Ohio. Charlotte Bessette and her cousin, Matthew, run Fromagerie Bessette and the attached wine shop. Her grandmother is the town mayor, and with the next election coming up soon, stakes are raised as her grandmother’s rival begins casting aspersions on the mayor. What could be worse than her grandmother being accused of murder?
Abbott, Victoria
Fiction. Second in a cozy mystery series starring Jordan, who works as an assistant to the most hated woman in town. Vera Van Alst’s Dorothy L. Sayers’ collection has been stolen, and it’s Jordan’s job to recover it. One that leads her into all kinds of trouble.
Andrews, V.C.
Fiction. First in the Dollanganger series. Corrine and Chris are living a wonderful life with their four precious children. Flaxen-haired and blue-eyed, the neighbors call them the Dresden Dolls. When the police come to tell Corrine that her husband has been killed, she panics and flees back to her childhood home, a home that she’d been banished from years ago.
Fiction. Second in the Dollanganger series. The children have escaped and try to rebuild their lives with the help of Paul Sheffield, a doctor who takes them in. Catherine is eaten up by hate and the need for revenge against the mother that treated them so badly, but Chris wants to put the past behind them and move forward. Carrie, who suffered so badly, struggles to make friends in their new home.
Fiction. Third in the Dollanganger series. Life has changed for Cathy and Chris. Paul, Bart and Julian are dead. Chris has moved the family to Northern California, where he works as a physician. Jory, Julian’s son, is growing up kind and healthy, but his half-brother, Bart, lives inside his own fears and hatred. Jory knows there is a secret that haunts his mother and step-father, but he is also afraid of learning the truth. A mysterious veiled woman rebuilds the mansion next door, and Bart can’t resist finding out more about her. He finds much more than he expected.
Fiction. Fourth in the Dollanganger series. Cathy, Chris and their children have returned to Foxworth Manor, which Bart has inherited from his grandmother. The Sheffields plan only to spend a few weeks there before moving to Hawai’i, but tragedy strikes, putting their plans on hold indefinitely. A surprise guest awaits them at Foxworth, a long-lost brother of Corrine who had been thought dead. He moves in with a fanatical religious zeal that he learned from his parents, and Cathy is worried that he wields too much power over Bart.
Fiction. Fifth and final book of the Dollanganger series. This prologue tells the story of Olivia Foxworth, how she met Malcolm Foxworth and became the mistress of Foxworth Hall. Though she expected to have a warm and loving marriage, she suffered through many disappointments and heartaches with few moments of joy to see her through.
Bradbury, Ray
- Zen in the Art of Writing
Non-fiction. Collection of his essays having to do with his writing process.
Childs, Laura
Fiction. Fifteenth book in the Tea Shop cozy mystery series set in Charleston, SC. Theodosia and Drayton are invited to a local winery for a wine tasting. As the oak barrel for the winery’s newest creation is being opened, a slight accident causes the barrel to tip over revealing an even greater sensation...a dead body.
Christie, Agatha
Fiction. Captain Hastings is back from Argentina on business and to visit with his good friend Hercule Poirot, who has recently retired from solving mysteries. A letter arrives address to Poirot and announcing a murder that will take place an Andover, where someone whose name begins with A shall be the victim. It’s the beginning of a series of murders that follow the alphabet, and time is running out for Poirot to find the killer.
Cohen, Nancy J
Fiction. First in a cozy mystery series set in Florida and starring Marla Shore, proprietor of the Cut ‘N Dry beauty salon. As if dealing with a vindictive ex-husband and his equally annoying girlfriend isn’t enough, Marla begins the day working on her nemesis, Bertha, a wealthy older woman for whom blackmail is a pastime. When Bertha demands a cup of coffee while waiting for her perm to set, Marla fixes it with Bertha’s special cache of powdered creamer. A few minutes later, when Marla returns from the back room, she finds Bertha dead in the chair, her coffee cup in pieces on the floor.
Evanovich, Janet
Fiction. Stephanie Plum works as a bond enforcement agent in her cousin Vinny’s bail bonds office. She also moonlights with Rangeman, a high-tech, high-end security company. Along with Lula, she has to figure out who is killing members of a poker game, who keeps bombing Randy Briggs’ apartment, and how to help Ranger stop a Russian terrorist.
Fifield, Christy
Fiction. Second book in a paranormal cozy mystery series set in the Florida panhandle. Glory Martine owns Southern Treasures, a souvenir shop in the small fishing town of Keyhole Bay. Her friend, Karen, needs Glory’s help in trying to get Karen’s ex-brother-in-law out of jail, but his troubles are just beginning when murder charges are added, and Glory and her friends, along with the help of her deceased Uncle Louis in the form of her parrot, must scramble to solve the case before danger comes for them.
George, Anne
Fiction. Second book in a cozy mystery series set in Alabama. Two sisters in their 60’s attend an art show gathering where Mary Alice introduces Patricia Anne to the owner of the gallery. The next day, they find out that the owner has been found dead of an apparent heart attack, but that diagnosis is altered when digitalis is found in her system, a drug she doesn’t take.
Golden, Karen
- The Cats that Surfed the Web
Fiction. First in a cozy mystery series that begins in New York and ends up in Indiana. Katz Kendell’s great aunt died and left her a fortune, a gorgeous old house, and a cat. The stipulation is that Katz has to move into the house and take care of the cat. With the sudden loss of her job, there’s nothing left for her in New York, so she heads west with her three cats to start a new adventure...one that begins with a murder.
Harris, Charlaine
Fiction. Third in the Lily Bard cozy mystery series set in Arkansas. Lily’s sister is getting married, and Lily needs to reconcile with her family in order to attend the wedding. When her significant other, Jake, follows her to town, he tells her that he’s working on a kidnapping case and is looking for a young girl. The man that Lily’s sister, Verana, is about to marry has a young daughter of the right age and coloring, and it’s up to Lily to figure out if her sister is about to marry a kidnapper.
Herr, Michael A.
- Is “Chicken Skin” A Local Delicacy?
Fiction. A second collection of stories about the locals on Kaua’i staged around Primo’s Bar.
Hoffman, Alice
- The Museum of Extraordinary Things
Fiction. Odd and depressing story of two people who grew up with strange lives who finally find each other, as a lotus that rises out of the mud.
Jaffarian, Sue Ann
Fiction. Second in the Madison Rose Vampire cozy series. Madison is living with the Dedhams, working for the California Vampire Council and attending college classes. It keeps her busy, though she gets lonely for human contact. Early one morning after an all-night Council meeting, she walks outside to relax before heading up to bed when she finds a body floating in the pool, a body with a stake through the heart.
Fiction. First in a paranormal cozy mystery set in California. Madison Rose is a full-time waitress and part-time college student with no family. Coming out of the foster care system, she’s been working hard to find her place in the world. One night changes her entire life, when she’s kidnapped and beaten and in her dizzy haze, watches as her attacker is attacked by a creature in black, one that changes everything.
Landis, Jill Marie
Fiction. Second in the Tiki Goddess series. Things are back to normal, as normal as they can be, at the Tiki Goddess bar. The Hula Maidens are quarreling, Sophie is tending bar, and Em is trying to make sure the bar brings in more money than it sends out. Roland, the hunky fire dancing detective asks Em for help in trying to solve two murders that nobody believes have happened. As part of the ruse, she needs to convince the Hula Maidens to enter a hula competition, one that they did very poorly in several years ago, so Em has to work to talk them into it.
Archer, Connie
Fiction. First in a cozy mystery series set in a small Vermont ski town. Lucky Jamieson owns a soup restaurant that features the cooking of her star chef, Sage. A woman enters Spoonful to pick up a to-go order, and when Sage sees her, he has a strange reaction and ducks back into the kitchen. Lucky doesn’t understand why, but she starts to wonder when the woman is found dead in the alley behind the restaurant.
Ash, Maureen
Fiction. Mystery set in Lincolnshire, England during the Middle Ages. Templar Knight, Bascot de Marins, and his servant, a mute boy named Gianni, are living in Lincoln Castle working for the sheriff and his wife, Nicolaa de la Haye. One day a young squire is found hanged in the forest next to a slaughtered deer, and Lady Nicolaa charges the Templar to find the boy’s murderer.
Befeler, Mike
- Senior Moments Are Murder
Fiction. Third in the Geezer-Lit Paul Jacobson cozy mystery series. Paul suffers from a short-term memory issue that causes him to begin each day not knowing anything that happened in the previous six years, including the fact that he’s about to be married. While out for an early morning walk along the canals in Venice, California, he looks down and sees a dead body. Murder and mayhem run rampant in the artist colony, and Paul is right in the middle of it.
Castle, Richard
Fiction. First in the Nikki Heat police procedural. Nikki and reporter Jameson Rook are hot on the heels of a murderer who shoved a wealthy entrepreneur off his sixth floor balcony.
Charles, Ann
Fiction. Third in the humorous paranormal cozy mystery series set in South Dakota. Violet Parker is trying to drum up business so she can keep her job at Calamity Jane Realty. One day, a strange Abraham Lincoln-look alike shows up in the realty office looking for her. His request: to buy a haunted hotel, and Violet knows just the one to show him.
Connolly, Sheila
Fiction. Second in the cozy mystery series set in County Cork, Ireland. Maura is getting used to owning a pub she inherited from a family friend she never knew. Another American woman bursts into the pub and announces she is looking for an old portrait painted by a famous artist and asks Maura for her help in locating the manor house she believes the painting is in. The next morning, a gardener is found dead at the manor house, and Maura can’t help but think that the American woman has something to do with it.
Fluke, Joanne
Fiction. Mystery set in snowy Minnesota. Marian waits at home for her husband and daughter, Laura, to return from an afternoon of snowmobiling. They’re late, and she’s getting worried. Her worry turns to fear when the police cruiser pulls into her driveway.
Galbraith, Robert
Fiction. First in the Cormoran Strike mystery series set in London. Cormoran is a wounded veteran who now works as a private investigator. He is hired by the brother of a young woman who was found dead after jumping from her balcony. The young woman happens to be a famous model worth millions of pounds. Who will benefit from her death?
Gerritsen, Tess
Fiction. First in the Rizzoli & Isles police procedural/medical mystery series, on which the TV show is based. Rizzoli is struggling to make a name for herself on the homicide squad, but being the only woman surrounded by chauvinistic males, she’s chosen a difficult profession. Dr. Catherine Cordell is trying to piece her life back together after a horrific attack. Her attacker, who she believed that she’d killed that night, suddenly makes a comeback and more women are targeted. How can that be?
Jaffarian, Sue Anne
Fiction. Fifth in the Granny Apples paranormal cozy mystery series. Kelly is home in California for spring break and goes to a party with her old high school friends, one of whom is a professional ventriloquist. While he is showing off for their friends, Kelly notices a shimmer on the face of the grandmotherly dummy. A shimmer that forms into the face of a ghost.
Fiction. Sixth installment in the Ghost of Granny Apples paranormal cozy mystery series. Asked by her fellow medium, Milo, to drive to Las Vegas to assist him with a ghost, Emma Whitecastle visits with his mother, Dolly, a former showgirl, whose house seems to be haunted. Multiple ghosts link the present to an old casino theft and murder, as Emma tries to save the lives of some of her new friends.
Fiction. Fourth in the Ghost of Granny Apples paranormal cozy mystery series. Granny has gone to visit Kelly at college and assists her in helping a young woman who is bothered by a ghost.
Kingsbury, Kate
- A Bicycle Built for Murder
Fiction. First in a cozy mystery series set in WWII England. Lady Elizabeth Hartleigh Compton is the lady of the manor trying to keep her estate from falling to pieces. As she travels the narrow road from the village to Manor House, she is flagged down by a tenant. The woman says her daughter has gone missing, and Lady Elizabeth is determined to solve the mystery.
Kress, Nancy
- Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint
Non-fiction. Information on writing characters that ring true, the use of emotions in writing, and how to use the different POVs.
Landis, Jill Marie
Fiction. First book in a cozy mystery series set on Kauai. Emily and her Uncle Louie own a bar on the North Shore. As part of their entertainment, they host a weekly luau complete with kalua pig baked in an imu. The festivities crash to a halt when Louie’s next door neighbor and nemesis is found face down in the oven, and Em and the oddly eccentric resident hula troupe must find the killer before another murder takes place.
Parra, Nancy J.
Fiction. Second in the Gluten-Free Bakery cozy series. Toni keeps busy baking fresh goods at her bakery and also spending time with her family. Her grandmother Ruth is quite a handful, and Toni gets dragged into her many schemes, though Toni refuses to get involved with investigating any more murders...until her grandmother ends up as the prime suspect.
Patterson, James
Fiction. 6th book in the Alex Cross mysteries. Alex is trying to hold onto his relationship with Christine, who is having trouble dealing with her recent kidnapping and Alex’s pre-occupation with his job. In this new case, a series of bank robberies seem to be linked together, and Alex is hot on the trail of The Mastermind.
Roberts, Anthony
Fiction. Historical fiction account of a young boy’s experiences during the Iranian Revolution, as told from the points of view of all concerned parties.
Silva, Daniel
Fiction. First in the thriller series starring Israeli Gabriel Allon. Part time art restorer, part time assassin, he is called out of retirement to help the Office take down the Palestinian spy who planted the bomb in the car Gabriel’s wife and son were in. He enlists the help of a famous fashion model to infiltrate the enemy.
Speart, Jessica
Fiction. Wildlife agent, Rachel Porter, has recently been assigned to work in New Orleans. As the newest rookie, she has the least exciting assignments, and as a woman working in a typically male environment, she has to work harder to prove to her boss that she can do the job. After a night in the swamps trying to catch a duck poacher, she just wants to rest, but her phone rings with another assignment. A stripper has been found murdered in her apartment with a very unusual pet chained in her bathroom.
Sprinkle, Patricia
Fiction. First in a mystery series revolving around a woman trying to solve several mysteries through genealogy. While trying to trace the origin of an ancient bronze circlet, Katharine Murray, who is dealing with an empty nest, an absent husband, and recent deaths in the family, gets involved with mysteries old and new and finds a new passion.
Styers, John J.
Non-fiction. Instruction manual used by the Armed Forces for close combat techniques including bare hands, knives and sticks.
Tan, Amy
- The Hundred Secret Senses
Fiction. Olivia is half-Chinese, half-Caucasian and grow up with her two brothers in San Francisco. When she is twelve, Olivia finds out that she has an older half-sister in China Her father had another family before hers. Her sister, Kwan, travels to the US and moves in with Olivia’s family, and Olivia tries hard to accept the cultural differences, as well as Kwan’s insistence that she sees ghosts. Their sisterhood has strange twists and turns, and Olivia only really gets to know her sister when they travel back to China.
Thomas, Rob
- The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line
Fiction. First in the Veronica Mars mystery series. Veronica is holding down the shop as her father recuperates from his injuries, and she’s worried about the bottom dollar at Mars Investigations. The city of Neptune is host to Spring Break, and students from numerous colleges converge on the town for a week of drinking and debauchery. While attending a lavish party at a mansion, a college coed is seen partying it up with one of the party hosts but goes missing.
