Review & Giveaway: Cat Got Your Diamonds by Julie Chase

Series: Kitty Couture Mystery #1
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: November 8th, 2006
Challenges: NetGalley & Edelweiss Reading Challenge
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | OmniLit* | BAM! |  IndieBound | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Grandeur and opulence are everything in the famed New Orleans Garden District where pets are family and no bling is too big. Opening Furry Godmother, pet boutique and organic treat bakery, is Lacy Marie Crocker’s dream come true--until the glitter gun used to make her Shih Tzu tutus becomes a murder weapon. And Lacy becomes public enemy #1.

Now Detective Jack Oliver is hounding Lacy, and her Furry Godmother investor wants out before his name is tarnished by association. To make matters worse, a string of jewel heists with suspicious ties to the murder case has New Orleans residents on edge. To save her dream, Lacy must take a stand, put her keen eyes to work, and unravel what really happened at her shop that night. But can Lacy sniff out the killer cat burglar in time to get her tail-raising designs on the catwalk?

Witty and whimsical, Cat Got Your Diamonds, the first in a new cozy series by Julie Chase, will be the cat's meow for fans of Rita Mae Brown and Miranda James.

Spotlight: Closed Casket, A New Hercule Poirot Novel by Sophie Hannah

 

Listen to After the Funeral by Agatha Christie

A Free Serialization of the Complete Audiobook in Eight Parts

Presented by Sophie Hannah

Blog Tour Review of A Story to Kill by Lynn Cahoon

Series: Cat Latimer Mystery #1
Publisher: Kensington
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: August 30th, 2016
Challenges: NetGalley & Edelweiss Reading Challenge
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | OmniLit*  | iTunes* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

A new series from the author of the Tourist Trap Mysteries!

Former English professor Cat Latimer is back in Colorado, hosting writers’ retreats in the big blue Victorian she’s inherited, much to her surprise, from none other than her carousing ex-husband! Now it’s an authors’ getaway—but Cat won’t let anyone get away with murder…
The bed-and-breakfast is open for business, and bestselling author Tom Cook is among its first guests. Cat doesn’t know why he came all the way from New York, but she’s glad to have him among the quirkier—and far less famous—attendees.

Cat’s high school sweetheart Seth, who’s fixing up the weathered home, brings on mixed emotions for Cat…some of them a little overpowering. But it’s her uncle, the local police chief, whom she’ll call for help when there’s a surprise ending for Tom Cook in his cozy guest room. Will a killer have the last word on the new life Cat has barely begun?

Blog Tour Review of Fall Into Crime, a Happy Homicides Anthology

Series: Happy Homicides Anthology Series #4
Publisher: Spot On Publishing
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: August 24th, 2016
Challenges:
Buying Links: Amazon* | * affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

• Joanna Campbell Slan / Vendetta: A Cara Mia Delgatto Mystery – The House of Refuge on Gilbert’s Bar is known for its 150-year history as a way station for shipwrecked sailors. But when Cara Mia visits, the museum becomes the scene of a crime.
• Linda Gordon Hengerer / Dying for School Tea: A Beach Tea Shop Novella – Chelsea Powell and her sisters are providing treats for Citrus Beach High School’s freshman orientation. Can they solve the murder of the beloved softball coach before someone else dies?
• Carole W. Price / The Glass Birdhouse – Will Bella find clues to Fawn Daniel’s death in her unfinished glass birdhouse?
• Lesley Diehl / Bobbing for Murder – A visit from Darcie’s family is always chaotic, and this time the relatives bamboozle Darcie into having a Halloween party. Will that decision come back to haunt her?
• Nancy Jill Thames / Raven House – When reporter Karla Wilson is murdered after the Raven House Ball, will Jillian Bradley and her Yorkie Teddy uncover the killer and unleash Karla’s secrets?

Review & Giveaway - Murder at the Mansion by Janet Finsilver

Series: A Kelly Jackson Mystery #2
Publisher: Lyrical Undrground
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: June 7th 2016
Challenges: NetGalley & Edelweiss Reading Challenge
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | OmniLit*  | iTunes* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Fortunes, fineries, and foul play . . .

It’s whale-watching season in Redwood Cove, and B&B manager Kelly Jackson’s battening down the hatches for the tourist rush at Redwood Heights—a Victorian-style estate owned by her boss. And due to recent jewelry thefts, her duties include keeping track of the many dust-covered artifacts spread throughout the property. But when Kelly finds Sylvia Porter’s lifeless body, menial tasks don’t seem so terrible. Enlisting the help of a ragtag group of brainy retirees, aka the “Silver Sentinels,” Kelly’s on the hunt for clues hidden behind the mansion’s glamorous facade. . .and for a killer who may want to make history of her next! (

Review & Giveaway: The Perfectly Proper Paranormal Museum by Kirsten Weiss

Series: A Perfectly Proper Paranormal Museum Mystery #1
Publisher: Midnight Ink
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: March 8, 2016
Challenges: NetGalley & Edelweiss Reading Challenge
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | OmniLit* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

When Maddie Kosloski's career flatlines, she retreats to her wine-country hometown for solace and cheap rent. Railroaded into managing the local paranormal museum, she's certain the rumors of its haunting are greatly exaggerated. But a new ghost may be on the loose. A fresh corpse in the museum embroils Maddie in murders past and present.

With her high school bully as one of the officers in charge, Maddie doubts justice will be served. When one of her best friends is arrested, she's certain it won't be.

Maddie grapples with ghost hunters, obsessed taxidermists, and the sexy motorcyclist next door as outside forces threaten. And as she juggles spectral shenanigans with the hunt for a killer, she discovers there truly is no place like home.

Bea Reviews A Ghostly Demise by Tonya Kappes

Publisher: Witness
Series: Ghostly Southern Mysteries #3
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: August 25, 2015
Challenges: Cruisin' Through the Cozies |  NetGalley and Edelweiss Reading Challenge
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | OmniLit* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

The prodigal father returns—but this ghost is no holy spirit

When she runs into her friend's deadbeat dad at the local deli, undertaker Emma Lee Raines can't wait to tell Mary Anna Hardy that he's back in Sleepy Hollow, Kentucky, after five long years. Cephus Hardy may have been the town drunk, but he didn't disappear on an epic bender like everyone thought: He was murdered. And he's heard that Emma Lee's been helping lost souls move on to that great big party in the sky.

Why do ghosts always bother Emma Lee at the worst times? Her granny's mayoral campaign is in high gear, a carnival is taking over the town square, and her hunky boyfriend, Sheriff Jack Henry Ross, is stuck wrestling runaway goats. Besides, Cephus has no clue whodunit…unless it was one of Mrs. Hardy's not-so-secret admirers. All roads lead Emma Lee to that carnival—and a killer who isn't clowning around.

Bea Reviews The Musubi Murder by Frankie Bow

Publisher: Five Star Publishing 
Series: Molly Barda #1
Source: the pr firm in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: July 22, 2015
Challenges: COYER Summer Scavenger Hunt | Cruisin' Through the Cozies
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | iTunes* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from the author:

In the remote college town of Mahina, Hawaii, Molly Barda just wants to stay out of trouble until she gets tenure, but there’s a problem. A grisly prank targeting a controversial donor puts her college in financial jeopardy. Molly’s hapless ex is implicated, and Molly soon finds herself neck-deep in a stew of corruption, revenge, and murder. Along the way, she finds herself drawn to a local fast-food entrepreneur, the too-good-to-be-true Donnie Gonsalves, who seems to like her for all the wrong reasons–and has a few secrets of his own.

Review & Giveaway - Bite the Biscuit by Linda O. Johnston

Publisher: Midnight Ink
Series: Barkery & Biscuits Mystery #1
Format Read: paperback
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: May 8, 2015
Challenges:  Cruisin' Through the Cozies |  May 2015 Clean Sweep ARC Challenge |  What An Animal |
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | OmniLit* | Barnes & Noble | 
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Carrie Kennersly, a veterinary technician, has become known for offering healthy and popular dog treats at the clinic where she works. When the local bakery's owner moves away, Carrie jumps at the chance to convert it into the Barkery, a shop to make and sell her canine delights.

But Myra Ethman, co-owner of another pet product store, hates the new competition. At the Barkery's opening party, she badmouths Carrie's homemade dog biscuits, insisting she'll find a way to shut the place down. So when Myra is found dead with a Barkery biscuit beside her, Carrie must prove she didn't do it before she's collared for murder.

Bea Reviews The Body in the Birches by Katherine Hall Page

Publisher: William Morrow
Series: Faith Fairchild #22
Format Read: eGalley
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: May 12, 2015
Challenges:  May 2015 Clean Sweep ARC Challenge | Cruisin' Through the Cozies | NetGalley and Edelweiss Reading Challenge
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | OmniLit* | Barnes & Noble |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

At home on Sanpere Island, Maine, caterer and amateur sleuth Faith Fairchild discovers that real estate can be murder, especially when it's all in the family, in this twenty-third book in the popular mystery series.

The Fourth of July is one of the hottest on record and even the breeze off Penobscot Bay can't seem to cool things down for Faith Fairchild and the rest of the folks on Sanpere Island. But the fireworks are just beginning. After the celebrations are over, Faith discovers a body in the woods near The Birches, an early twentieth-century "cottage."

The body is identified as The Birches' housekeeper, who seems to have succumbed to a heart attack. The death is only one of the dramatic events upending the historic house. A family gathering has been called to decide who will inherit the much loved, and very valuable, estate that has been in the Proctor family for generations. With this much money involved, it's just a matter of time before trouble arises.

Faith is juggling her own family problems. Her teenage son, Ben, has started a new job as a dishwasher at The Laughing Gull Lodge--learning things that could land him in very hot water. And her daughter Amy is worried about her new friend, Daisy Proctor. Daisy is terrified--convinced that someone is trying to eliminate her mother from getting a share of The Birches. To protect her children, Faith has to find a possible murderer--before he strikes too close to her own home.

Bea Reviews The Deadly Dog Show by Jerold Last with a Giveaway

Publisher: Jerold Last
Series: Roger and Suzanne South American Mystery Series #6
Format Read: Kindle
Source: the author in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: July 20, 2013
Buying Links: Amazon* | 
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from the author:

The sixth book in the popular Roger and Suzanne mystery series finds Roger and Bruce hired to go undercover impersonating the owner and handler of a Champion German Shorthaired Pointer named Juliet to investigate certain irregularities that might be occurring at dog shows in California. To complicate this case the bodies of dead judges start popping up and Suzanne picks up a mysterious stalker sending her most unwelcome gifts. Throw in drug cartels and corrupt cops and it sounds like a typical job for our detective couple.

The Deadly Dog Show can be read as a stand-alone novel.

Review & Giveaway of Criminal Confections by Colette London

Publisher: Kensington
Series: A Chocolate Whisperer Mystery #1
Format Read: Kindle galley
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: January 27, 2015
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | OmniLit* | Barnes & Noble |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Hayden Mundy Moore is an expert on everything chocolate, helping clients develop new products and revamp recipes until they're irresistible. But sometimes, a dash of murder finds its way into the mix. . .

Hayden Mundy Moore has bushwhacked through African jungles and haggled in exotic markets to find the finest cacao beans and the most flavorful blends. It's thrilling work but rarely dangerous--until a colleague turns up dead at the exclusive chocolate-themed Lemaître resort spa in San Francisco.

Adrienne Dowling's heart attack is blamed on an accidental overdose of the secret ingredient used in Lemaître Chocolates' new line. Hayden can't believe that conscientious Adrienne would make that mistake. And between chocolate body scrubs, cocoa mud baths, and a non-stop frenzy of chocolate-based treats, Hayden starts to suspect that she, not Adrienne, was the intended target. Finding a killer among the rival chocolatiers and potential suspects won't just be satisfying--it might save her life.

Blog Tour Review and Giveaway - Kill 'Em with Cayenne by Gail Oust

Publisher: Minotaur Books
Series: Spice Shop Mystery #2
Format Read: print ARC
Reading Challenges: Cruisin' Through the Cozies 2015, goodreads 2015
Source: the author in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: December 16, 2014
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | OmniLit* | Barnes & Noble |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Kill 'Em with Cayenne, a brand new finger-lickin’ good mystery from Gail Oust, featuring small-town Georgia spice shop owner Piper Prescott, a smart and spunky amateur sleuth.

Spices are flying off the shelves of Spice It Up!, and Piper Prescott couldn’t be happier. It’s that time of year again—time for the annual Brandywine Creek Barbecue Festival. Soon contestants and BBQ aficionados from all over the Southeast will converge on the town. Many of Brandywine Creek’s citizens plan to participate in the week-long festivities and are busily concocting savory rubs and sassy sauces. Among the locals vying for the grand prize are Becca Dapkins and Maybelle Humphries. The women have been arch enemies ever since Buzz Oliver dumped Maybelle after a thirteen-year courtship and started seeing Becca.

When Becca’s body is found near one of the festival booths, bludgeoned by a brisket, Maybelle becomes one of Chief Wyatt McBride’s top suspects. Determined to help clear her friend’s name, Piper begins her own investigation, much to McBride’s consternation. As the festival draws closer, will Piper and Reba Mae be able to find the real killer and clear Maybelle’s name? Will Piper make it to the annual shag contest with Doug Winters, the mild-mannered vet she’s been seeing? And, who will win the BBQ cook-off?

Blog Tour Review & Giveaway of Shadow of Doubt by Nancy Cole Silverman

Publisher: Henery Press
Series: Carol Childs Mystery #1
Format Read: eGalley
Source: the author in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: December 2, 2014
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | Barnes & Noble | 
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

When a top Hollywood Agent is found poisoned in the bathtub of her home, suspicion quickly turns to one of her two nieces. But Carol Childs, a reporter for a local talk radio station, doesn’t believe it. The suspect is her neighbor and friend, and also her primary source for insider industry news. After a media frenzy pits one niece against the other—and the body count starts to rise—Carol knows she must save her friend from being tried in the court of public opinion.

But even the most seasoned reporter can be surprised, and when a Hollywood psychic shows up in Carol’s studio one night and warns her there will be more deaths, things take an unexpected turn. Suddenly nobody is above suspicion. Carol must challenge both her friendship and the facts, and the only thing she knows for certain is that the killer is still out there. But the closer she gets to the truth, the more danger she’s in.

SPOTLIGHT: Cozy Christmas Capers, A Cozy Mystery Anthology

Christmas AND cozy mysteries? Oh yeah, works for me. I'm not familiar with most of these authors but for $1.99, it's hard to pass up.

Blog Tour Review And Giveaway of Fatal Brushstrokes by Sybil Johnson

Publisher: Henery Press
Series: Aurora Anderson Mystery #1
Format Read: egalley
Source: blog tour company in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: November 18, 2014
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords*
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

A dead body in her garden and a homicide detective on her doorstep…

Computer programmer and tole-painting enthusiast Aurora (Rory) Anderson doesn’t envision finding either when she steps outside to investigate the frenzied yipping coming from her own backyard. After all, she lives in Vista Beach, a quiet California beach community where violent crime is rare and murder even rarer.

Suspicion falls on Rory when the body buried in her flowerbed turns out to be someone she knows—her tole painting teacher, Hester Bouquet. Just two weekends before, Rory attended one of Hester’s weekend painting seminars, an unpleasant experience she vowed never to repeat. As evidence piles up against Rory, she embarks on a quest to identify the killer and clear her name. Can Rory unearth the truth before she encounters her own brush with death?

Blog Tour Giveaway & Review of Once Upon A Crime by Evelyn Cullet

Publisher: Wings ePress
Format Read: ebook
Source: the author in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: September 1, 2014 
Buying Links: Amazon* | Kobo* | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords*
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from the author:

Love isn't always a fairy tale…and Charlotte Ross has kissed her share of frogs, but that’s all behind her. Fleeing her life for a short break, Charlotte, along with her best friend Jane Marshall, find themselves at her aunt’s home in the sleepy town of Raven’s Caw, Michigan. Charlotte hopes to recover from another breakup with her fiancé, and her friend Jane, a new mystery writer, is looking forward to somewhere relaxing. But life has different plans for the two friends and they find themselves swept up in a whirlwind of romance, mystery and murder.

Sparks fly between Jane and Charlotte’s attractive, Machiavellian cousin, Kenny. But is the attraction too good to be true or just a diversion from a mystery that has piqued her interest? Charlotte is pulled along on this roller-coaster of emotion when she meets up with her first love, as she and Jane discover links between a murder that happened twelve years earlier and a recent crime. Risking their lives and hearts, the friends race against the past in an effort to solve the crimes before one of them becomes the next victim.

Blog Tour Review of Bewitching Boots by Joyce and Jim Lavene And A Giveaway

Publisher: J. Lavene
Series: Renaissance Faire Mystery #7 (Amazon has it incorrectly marked as book 8)
Format Read: Kindle book
Source: the authors in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: 
Buying Links: Amazon* | Barnes & Noble 
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Jessie is thrilled when she finds Bill Warren, an old fashioned shoemaker, and he agrees to come back to Renaissance Village with her. She’s not so thrilled when claims to have elf magic, and he falls for Princess Isabelle. The dancing slippers Bill makes for Isabelle make him a suspect when the princess takes a leap from the castle terrace. Now, Jessie must find the lady or lord who helped the princess with her last dance before she loses her star attraction.

Blog Tour Review of A Biscuit, A Casket by Liz Mugavero

Publisher: Kensington
Series:Pawsitively Organic Mystery #2
Format Read: paperback 
Source: from the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: April 1, 2014
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | OmniLit* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

The small town of Frog Ledge, Connecticut, has wholeheartedly embraced Kristan "Stan" Connor's new business--preparing quality organic treats for dogs and cats. On a healthy diet, the animals may live longer. . .but one local farmer won't be so lucky. As Halloween approaches, Stan is asked to cater a doggie costume party hosted by the Happy Cow Dairy Farm. Part of a local co-op, Happy Cow specializes in organic dairy products, and farmers Hal and Emmalee Hoffman have started opening up the farm for parties, offering a "haunted" corn maze as an added attraction.

When Hal's lifeless body is found in the maze, the police at first suspect his wife, but Stan soon learns the dairy farmer had plenty of enemies--from bitter family members to shady business associates. If Stan can't extract a kernel of truth from the labyrinth of lies, she may be the next one to buy the farm. . .

Blog Tour Review & Giveaway of Be Careful What You Witch For by Dawn Eastman

Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime
Series: Family Fortune #2
Format Read: paperback
Source: the publisher in exchange for a honest review
Release Date: July 1, 2014
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | OmniLit* | Barnes & Noble 
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Leaving a traumatic police career behind, Clyde Fortune has returned to her seemingly quiet hometown of Crystal Haven, Michigan. In spite of the psychic powers of its residents, there’s no telling what trouble is brewing in this burg…

The highlight of this year's fall festival in Crystal Haven is a bonfire with a witch’s cauldron resting over it. Clyde’s best friend, Diana, leads a ritual to divine the future, but it seems no one foresees that one of their own will drop dead—or that Diana will be a prime suspect.

Clyde already has her hands full with her eccentric family, runaway nephew, and burgeoning secret romance with a hunky homicide detective. But after another coven member is attacked, Clyde suspects there’s a witch hunt afoot and focuses her psychic and sleuthing skills to clear her friend’s name and catch a killer.