Diners, Drive-Ins, and Lies (Sunny Side Up Mysteries Book 1) by Misty Simon

Welcome to the Sunny Side Up Diner, where the pancakes are fluffy, the bacon is crisp, and murder should not be on the menu…

Jax Tapman has lived in the same small town her whole life. On one hand, it's helped her dream of buying the local diner with her best friend come true, and their newly opened business is hopping. On the other hand, it means everyone knows her, and she pretty much never gets away with anything. There are a lot of expectations that come along with being the town darling.

So, when Jax finds a dead body behind her Aunt Hildy’s restaurant, surely no one will truly believe she did it, right?

Wrong. The victim was strangled with swag from Jax's diner, and suddenly every eye is squarely on her, town darling or not! Enter Eliot Taylor, Aunt Hildy’s new cook and a former cop who grudgingly agrees to help Jax clear her name and save the diner's reputation. Only the deeper they dig, the more dirt they churn up, proving there’s far more happening in the small, innocent town than meets the eye.

Together they’ll uncover more secrets than Jax can shake a spatula at and far more danger than she might be ready to handle. Can Jax save her reputation and solve a murder...or will this order be her last?  (Summary via Goodreads)

Diners, Drive-Ins, and Lies is the first book in the Sunny Side Up Mystery series written by Misty Simon and I can tell you right away that this is going to be a series to watch and will become one of your favorites to read !!!

Ever since Jax can remember she has always wanted to own a diner, and not just any diner, she wanted the one that she and her best friend Dani worked in when they were teenagers in high school.  So when the owner Jeb decides to sell, Jax talks Dani into moving back to their hometown and co-owning in with her.  And now after being open for six months, they are celebrating !!!  Unfortunately things are going to turn quickly .....

While Jax and Dani are trying to celebrate their success at Jax's aunt Hildy's upscale restaurant, there is a commotion and Hildy asks Jax to go out the back and give Roderick the keys to her car so that he can make a hasty escape and not deal with Delilah's outburst.  Of course Jax does what she is asked of but when she slips out the back door, Roderick is no where to be found.  But when she walks around she finds him out in the garbage enclosure dead .... and strangled by a lanyard with her diner information on it that she just picked up from the printer and are locked in her car.

Luckily for Jax her father is a detective with the police force.  Unluckily for Jax her father is a detective with the police force.  So Jax has no choice but to play by the rules ... mostly.  But then her father asks her to do some investigating of her own with the help of Hildy's chef, Eliot, who happens to have been a police officer until recently.

Eliot has secrets of his own as well as Jax keeping a huge one from her family, friends, and business partner so working together will be a piece of cake !!  Especially seeing as Jax, with coaxing from Dani, cannot help but notice how attractive he is !!!

Readers cannot help but fall in love with this first book !!!  Simon has you laughing out loud when you read the part where Jax stumbles upon Roderick's dead body and the dilemma she goes through on what to do and how unprepared she is when she doesn't have her phone at the ready.  She is probably the most laid backed person in cozy history to ever be in that position.  And you continue to fall in love as you dive deeper into the story.  I, for many, congratulate Simon on her new release and new series and I, for one, look forward to more books in the series !!!!

A Dark and Stormy Knit (A Knit & Nibble Mystery Book # 11) by Peggy Ehrhart

Pamela Paterson and Bettina Fraser call their crafting group Knit and Nibble, in honor of its two main activities. But on a stormy Halloween night, their peaceful chat over spiced cider and cookies is interrupted by homicide . . . 

With the houses of Arborville, New Jersey, decked out in festively frightening decorations, it’s easy to mistake a real dead body for a fake. But Pamela and Bettina are alerted by the screams of teenage trick-or-treaters to the corpse next door. Their neighbor Adrienne’s sister, visiting from New York City, is slumped on the porch, fatally stabbed. And with countless people traipsing around in costume, the killer might be as elusive as an apple in a bucket of water. 

The victim was a charismatic college professor and fierce feminist, and soon the women are infiltrating her social and academic circles to collect clues. But some scandalous local gossip also suggests that Adrienne, not her sister, might have been the target. Now, Pamela and Bettina will need all their creative skills to solve this ghoulish crime . . .  (Summary via Goodreads)

Just in time for the fall and Halloween seasons Peggy Ehrhart releases her eleventh book in the Knit & Nibble Mystery series ..... A Dark and Stormy Knit.  Sadly I have only read novellas written about this series but that didn't take away from the story and the excitement surrounding it.

In A Dark and Stormy Knit main characters Pamela and Bettina are enjoying a treat with Bettina's husband Wilfred after attending a Halloween themed event but are roused from the house when they hear screaming and determine that it is something serious and not a Halloween prank.  The screaming leads them to Wilfred and Bettina's neighbor's house where a few last minute teenage trick-or-treater's happened on a dead body ..... It is soon learned that the woman stabbed on the front porch is not the homeowner, Adrienne, but her sister, Mel, who is in town to take a break from her city life.

Adrienne asks Bettina and Pamela for their help in solving her sister's murder seeing as she doesn't really trust Detective Lucas Clayborn to do the job effectively.  And the first thing she wants them to do with her is go to the city and look around her sister's apartment for clues.  Mel was a member of a feminist group and they took their cause very seriously but serious enough to kill over ?

While Bettina and Pamela help Adrienne they are still going on with things in their own lives like lunches with Wilfred as the chef, their Knit and Nibble group and their personal jobs.  The small town of Arborville may be small but it is hopping for these ladies.

Readers will enjoy their time in Arborville and wish they lived on Orchard Street and was a neighbor so that they could partake in the shared meals with this group.  You may even think about taking up knitting so that you can be a part of the group even more.  Or maybe just the occasional visitor when Ehrhart releases the latest book in the series.  Regardless you will be an instant fan and love your time in Arborville.

Isabella and the Missing Sphinxella by Margaret Evans

A Missing Statue, Ancient Egypt, a Camel Who Talks, and a Cat Named Isabella? Wow.

Written history, oral traditions, and hieroglyphs tell us there were originally TWO Sphinxes built at Giza. More stories tell us invaders destroyed one of them.

What if the story is different?

Join Isabella on her captivating journey through intrigue and mystery in Ancient Egypt. You’ll laugh and shed tears as she searches for the truth behind the Missing Sphinxella.  (Summary via Goodreads)

Oh where to begin after reading this latest tale of Isabella and her newest adventure ....  I honestly am still trying to wrap my head around what I read and trying to figure out what is in the brain of author Margaret Evans .... But I will try my best to explain and maybe after you have read it, you can explain what I may have missed because I know there was something I missed .... LOL.

Isabella and the Missing Sphinxella sees Isabella being sent to the hot desert in Ancient Egypt to help a cat named Zixi.  Pharaoh Rumses the 24th, a powerful local leader is building two statues and holding a contest to choice the cat whose likeness will sit atop the statues in high honor.  Zixi is one of the female contestants and Isabella is sent to get to know her and the other contestants and help as she sees fit.

Unfortunately in Isabella style, she gets into a bit of trouble and has to enlist the help of her friend Patton.

In Isabella and the Missing Sphinxella there is a lot going on that will keep the readers attention throughout this fun packed novella.  You have talking cats, and now talking camels, secrets, lies, love, envy, jealousy and so much more.  Like I said I don't know what goes on in Evan's brain but I guess readers really shouldn't look behind the big curtain to see how it all works ... all we really need to know is that when you see the words Isabella and Margaret Evans together, you know you are in for a crazy fun ride !!  So sit down in a comfy seat, grab a drink and a snack and get reading !!!