Murder at the Blarney Bash (Beacon Bakeshop Book # 5) by Darci Hannah

Follow the aroma of shamrock sugar cookies to the Beacon Bakeshop, a lighthouse on the shores of Lake Michigan where amateur sleuth Lindsey Bakewell is busy preparing for Beacon Harbor’s St. Patrick’s Day festivities – with a little help from her adorable Newfoundland, Wellington, of course!

Lindsey is baking up a storm—shamrock sugar cookies, Guinness chocolate cupcakes, Irish soda bread—for the well-timed grand opening of the Irish import gift shop, the Blarney Stone, owned by her boyfriend’s uncle, Finnigan O’Connor, recently relocated from the Emerald Isle.

But it’s Uncle Finn himself who seems full of blarney when he gleefully reveals a pot of real gold he claims he stole from an actual leprechaun. And Finn’s fortune takes a turn for the worse when he’s arrested for the bludgeoning of a small unidentified man dressed as a leprechaun—the murder weapon alleged to be his now-missing shillelagh.

Eccentric Uncle Finn may enjoy believing he’s outwitted a leprechaun, but he would never be so deluded as to clobber one with his walking stick. Now Lindsey will need more than the luck of the Irish to seize a golden opportunity to catch the real killer . . .  (Summary via Goodreads)

I admit that I am quick to say that a book is fun to read, which I'm not lying when I say it, but with Murder at the Blarney Bash everyone is going to agree with me !! How can you not think it's fun ....  it has St. Patrick's Day, green beer, a group of great friends, a bakery, and leprechauns !!!

Murder at the Blarney Bash is the fifth book in the Beacon Bakeshop by Darci Hannah and even though I have only read this one and the first book in the series, Murder at the Beacon Bakeshop, I was able to catch on real quick and immediately start enjoying the story.

Beacon Harbor is a little village in Michigan right on the shores of Lake Michigan and main character Lindsey Bakewell's lighthouse bakery is perfectly located there.  And new to the little village is The Blarney Stone which is set for its grand opening on St. Patrick's Day.  Lindsey's boyfriend's uncle and cousin are the owners, Uncle Finn will be manning the bar section while cousin Colleen will be working in the gift shop portion.  Rory, Lindsey's boyfriend, is very excited to have them living and owning a business in town .... as well as most of the residents and store owners in Beacon Harbor.

Unfortunately the day before the grand opening Fred Landry, who works at City Hall, is attacked and eye witnesses say it was by a leprechaun !!!  Lindsey can't even dispute that when she has one run into the side of her car by City Hall.  That thought is pushed aside very quickly as there is no such thing as leprechauns and it was during the time of the grade school kids Leprechaun Parade.

Everything changes when Uncle Finn starts telling everyone that he trapped a leprechaun on St. Patrick's Day evening and followed him and stole his pot of gold at the end of the rainbow .... and when that "leprechaun" is found murdered shortly after and Uncle Finn's walking stick could have been the murder weapon, everyone is dumbfounded to say the least....

Everyone in Lindsey's circle of friends get together to discuss the case and put their heads together to figure out what is going on and to prove Uncle Finn's innocence.  Unfortunately Uncle Finn is not helping his case as he refused to turn in the gold or tell anyone where he hide it.

Readers cannot help but love this story and the way thatr Hannah has crafted this tale is amazing !!  You will want to drink green beer and have a plate of corned beef and cabbage at the ready.  The story, the characters, the shops and the village will make readers instant fans !!  I cannot say enough good things about this series !!

Showdown at the Saloon (A Ghost Town Mystery Book # 3) by Jamie L. Adams

From author Jamie L. Adams comes a cozy mystery that fans of Yellowstone will fall in love with! 

Lily Cranston couldn’t be happier with the way her life has turned out thus far. Managing the Calico Rock Mine and Ghost Town in her hometown of Grady, California is a dream come true. Employed by the city she and her sisters grew up in gives her a sense of belonging and stability. Like a well-oiled machine, the work of her faithful and dedicated staff allows her to spend more time with her hunky boyfriend, CSI Cody West. Life is finally looking up...until the night she finds the body of an apparent hitman on the side of the road! As if that weren’t bad enough, in his pocket is her sister’s name and address.Has someone really put a hit out on sweet, lovable Ava? To keep her sister safe, Lily must once again use her sleuthing skills to unlock the mystery. Her search for answers takes her on a journey filled with family secrets, ghost seekers, organized crime, and more suspects than she can count. As the possibilities mount without any clear answers, time may be running out for more than just one of the Cranston sisters. 

"The Ghost Town Mystery book series is going to be a favorite of mine!"~ Cozy Mystery Book Reviews "

Murder at the Mine Earns 5/5 Calico Bonnets … Clever Cozy Fun!"~ Kings River Life Magazine.  (Summary via Goodreads)

Showdown at the Saloon is the third book in the Ghost Town Mystery series written by Jamie L.  Adams.  The Ghost Town Mystery series is such a treat to read that it will become one of your favorite series to keep track of.

In the Ghost Town Mystery series readers are introduced to the Cranston sisters .... Lily, Ava, and Pat.  Lily and Ava live together in the family farmhouse while Pat who is married lives with her husband Jack, who is the local Sheriff and their two kids.  Lily is dating Cody who is also in law enforcement and Ava who is widowed recently started dating Parker who works at the Calico Rock Mine and Ghost Town with Lily and Ava.

In the Showdown at the Saloon Lily comes across a dead body on the side of the road on her way home from work one night.  The deceased man does not have any identifaction on him but does have Ava's name and address on a sheet of paper in his pocket.  Once the man is identified it is learned that he is a hitman.  This puts everyone on high alert with Pat, Jack and the kids moving into the farmhouse to look after Ava.

Even though Jack and Cody tell Lily to leave the investigation alone and let the professionals do their jobs, there is no way she can ignore the fact that her sister could be in danger.  Lily, Ava and Pat do one of the things they do best and stay up late into the night discussing the case after Lily has done her own investigation and talking to people they suspect.

The police determine that the hit and run accident was just that an accident and Ava is not in any danger so everyone lets down their guard .... until it is almost too late for Ava and Lily.

The Ghost Town Mystery series will become a favorite for readers !!  You will love everything about this series and be on the look out for the next installment so that you can dig in as soon as it is published !! 

My Old Kentucky Homicide (A Bourbon B&B Mystery ) by Gin Jones

From USA Today bestselling author Gin Jones comes three sisters, one corpse, and a whole lot of trouble...Kentucky native Jess Walker's big-city career has kept her too busy to visit her sisters and hometown. However, she relents when she's invited to celebrate her nephew's third birthday at the newly established Three Sisters B&B in the heart of bourbon country. The nostalgic bubble is quickly popped however when Jess realizes her family hasn't been entirely honest with her. She was invited not so much for a family reunion, but to help them impress some VIP guests for inclusion in a tourism co-op on the bourbon trail. Old resentments arise, and the sisters are at loggerheads immediately. But when one of the VIP guests is found dead, things only get worse. The sheriff is intent on treating the death as an accident, blaming it on unsafe conditions at the B&B. But the sisters know this was murder. Jess has always been the fixer of the family, so she jumps in to protect her sisters and their B&B's reputation. With the remaining guests and the attractive—and single—owner of the nearby whiskey barrel factory all suspects, Jess has her work cut out for her. And it turns out, she can't do it alone. All three sisters will need to work in perfect harmony in order to find the perpetrator of the Old Kentucky Homicide."Gin’s writing style and wonderful characters made an entertaining page-turner."~ Kings River Life Magazine.  (Summary via Goodreads)

Gemma Halliday Publishing has a new amazing series out .... A Bourbon B&B Mystery series by author Gin Jones with the first book, My Old Kentucky Homicide, out now....

In My Old Kentucky Homicide Jess Walker is returning to her home state to help her two sisters out with their new B&B.  Jess has not been home in ten years as she was building her career in Washington DC.  But when her sisters, CJ and Em, reach out that they need her, she gets in the car to go help them ... with none of them knowing just how much help they will need.

CJ and Em have opened up the Three Sisters B&B and are trying to get into the local tourism co-op and have found out that members of that group are going to be staying at the B&B and doing a surprise inspection and they need Jess to be there so that the Three Sisters image is true.  Little did they know that one of the members of the group was going to die and the cause of death means that any one of the rest of the group could have killed him.

The three sisters have to come together to find out who killed Mark Pleasant and save the B&B's reputation.  Unfortunately while they get to know the other members of the group, they soon learn that everyone disliked Mark and all of they could have killed him.  This does not make it easy for the sisters as they try to work together to solve Mark's murder as well as work out their own family issues.

Readers will thoroughly love reading My Old Kentucky Homicide.  You will want to move into the B&B so that you can be a part of the experience.  Jones knows how to paint the picture for readers so that you will feel like you are right there with the guests sitting on the front porch or the veranda ... you will also be able to picture the barn where the three sisters are camping in style.  And I can almost bet that you will not believe who the guilty party ends up being.  I'm sure you will have your own ideas on who killed Mark and why and I'm almost certain you will just as shocked as I was when they are discovered !!!

Dogged Pursuit (A Veronica Kildare K-9 Mystery) by Tracy Carter

Gold Medal winner in the 2023 Readers' Favorite International Book Award Contest in the Fiction-Animals genre! The debut book in the Veronica Kildare K-9 Mystery series opens with escalating suspense and intensifies into a resilient fight for survival. With its engaging combination of canine and human personalities, thrilling plot, and gorgeous Colorado backdrop, "Dogged Pursuit" will appeal to dog lovers, outdoors enthusiasts, and mystery lovers alike.Veronica Kildare cannot believe her luck – being shot at, again, by the bad guys. The sound, the feel of the bullet, and the hatred resonate for more than just the transitory moment of impact. She has relocated to a new state, but brutality has rampaged into this life as well. As the survivor of a senseless act of violence in her former life, Veronica struggles to recover from the lingering physical and emotional scars by working as a dog handler near Boulder, Colorado. Empowered by her intense bond with her search and rescue and drug detection dog, Leda, she finally begins to shake off the pain of her past. Then Veronica is drawn into the puzzling search for a scientist who has vanished near Rocky Mountain National Park. Dr. Randy Jeffers has inexplicably disappeared on the eve of his testimony in the high profile murder trial of a pro basketball player and the police are baffled. As Veronica and Leda traverse rugged Roosevelt National Forest in a desperate search testing the limits of their abilities, it is not initially clear who has targeted Dr. Jeffers, or why. But it becomes shockingly obvious that someone will stop at nothing to silence him forever. The kidnappers with murder on their mind have guns, but Veronica has Leda and her own blossoming resilience as her weapons in their struggle for survival.  (Summary via Goodreads)

Dogged Pursuit by Tracy Carter will have readers on the edge of their seats.  I very seldom want to jump ahead to the end of the story to see what happens, I like to enjoy everythng the story and author have to give, but boy, was I tested with this story !!!

In Dogged Pursuit readers are introduced to main character Veronica Kildare.  Veronica had a very traumatic experience in Ohio so her father moves them to Colorado and helps her set up their new lives.  Veronica starts her own dog handling and obedience training business and is doing real well.  Her and her dog, Leda, are being called for more and more cases and their latest will test them to their limits !!

Veronica's friend Tim, who works for the Boulder County Sheriff's Department asks Veronica and Leda to assist in a missing person's case.  A scientist, Dr. Randy Jeffers, has gone missing after talking to his wife and telling her he is going for a hike in the Rocky Mountain Natonal Park.  Dr. Jeffers is scheduled to be a witness in a high profile case regarding a famous basketball player who is accused of murdering his wife.   Veronica and Leda are asked to try to locate him in the park.

Not only does Veronica have her own business to run, dogs to train, but she has also taken on a new employee.  Michael came into her life when she saw a dog being attacked and he helped save the dog.  When Veronica learns that Michael is sleeping in a cot in the back of a business because he aged out of foster care, she immediately takes him home and sets him up in the apartment in the training building.  Michael becomes a great asset for Veronica so that she can focus on the Jeffers case. 

Readers will fall in love instantly with everything in this book and story !!  You will love the relationships, Veronica's business and what she and Leda do.  You will also love the suspense of the story and will be shocked at the outcome of parts !!!  I highly recommend grabbing your copy and getting lost in this book ... I also recommend having a mug of hot cocoa on the table next to you and a furry companion by your side.

The Sign of Four Spirits (Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery Book # 9) by Vicki Delany

Gemma Doyle won’t be spooked when a body shows up at the psychic fair in bestselling author Vicki Delany’s ninth Sherlock Holmes Bookshop mystery.

When a psychic fair arrives in West London, Gemma Doyle, owner of the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium, wants nothing to do with it. But somehow, at the urging of Donald Morris, an enthusiastic Sherlockian, she finds herself talked into attending a séance, along with baker and best friend Jayne Wilson, store assistant, Ashleigh, and former pop star Bunny Leigh.

But to her surprise, Gemma finds herself banned from the séance and shown the door. Curious, she listens in from outside the room. The medium informs a disappointed Donald that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle will not be able to make it tonight. Then, Gemma hears a voice cut off, a cry for help, a scream. Gemma bursts into the library to see that someone has collapsed on the table--dead. The windows are all locked, and Gemma was guarding the only door. Someone in this room is a murderer. But who?

The game is once again afoot for Gemma Doyle, as she hunts a killer. But, this time, is the killer of flesh and blood or had the medium summoned doom from beyond the veil?  (Summary via Goodreads)

I am a huge fan of Gemma Doyle and would love to be her best friend !!  She knows how to lead a fun life ... unfortunately she is not real.  Gemma Doyle is the main character in Vicki Delany's Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery series.  This series is such an entertaining series to read and you cannot help but fall in love with Gemma and everything else within the books.

The Sign of Four Spirits is the ninth book in this series and Gemma and her best friend Jayne are roped into attending a seance by Gemma's employee, Ashleigh.  Ashleigh is going with her mother, Bunny, but wants reinforcements there to help.  Unfortunately Madame Lavalier has Gemma leave the room before starting because of Gemma's bad energy.  So Gemma being Gemma sits right outside the room so that she can hear as much as she can. 

Even though Gemma was not present when Madame Lavalier was murdered, she is able to help piece together some things for her boyfriend, Detective Ryan Ashburton and his partner Detective Louise Estrada.  Considering someone inside that room killed Madame Lavalier and then sat back down and acted like they didn't know or see anything takes a lot of guts !!  Unfortunately Gemma doesn't know most of the members that were at the seance so this case may be difficult for her, I mean the police, to solve.  

If there is one thing you know about Gemma is that she loves to solve cases and loves a challenge ... and this case will be a challenge .... especially when someone else from the group ends up dead also.

Readers will love this series and everything there is within the books.  You will love the characters, the shops, the town, and the murders and the way that Gemma can work through the cases.  She can walk into her shop, Sherlock Holmes Bookshop after having tea with Jayne at Mrs. Hudson's Tea Room and look around the store and know what was missing off the shelves and sold.  I highly encourage you to dive into this series if you haven't already started .....

 

Isabella in the Kitchen (Mistletoe Inn Mysteries Novella # 3) by Margaret Evans, Julie Hatton (illustrator)

When Laura Keene and her husband Connor are invited to spend Christmas with the sixty-five-year-old Kovacs triplets at Mistletoe Inn, mystery abounds. Laura's mostly invisible cat, Empress Isabella, tags along, so you can't guess what will happen! Join the mysteries and the wacky fun as Charlie, Harry, and Will Kovacs each search for something in their family history, but what they find may not be what they expect. In this final Volume 3, Will searches fruitlessly for his favorite quiche and other family recipes in the Mistletoe Inn kitchen. Laura helps out and locates a secret cache of information that changes the direction of all their plans, including Will’s…in Isabella in the Kitchen.  (Summary via Goodreads)

Margaret Evans has a new mystery series called Mistletoe Inn Mysteries and Isabella in the Kichen is the third novella in this series following Isabella in the Attic and Isabella in the Cellar.

I feel that in order for you to understand this series you need a brief summary of the Second Treasures Mystery series Evans has written. In that series you are introduced to Laura Rage Keene who owns a second hand thrift shop and lives above it. Her family, the Rage's, were one of the founding families of Raging Ford, Minnesota. The Second Treasures Mystery follows Laura as she falls in love with the Lieutenant of the Police force as she helps solve murders that she gets involved in. In this series you are also introduced to her friends and other business owners. There is also a gray cat that lives there, however, only Laura and Connor can see her .... until.....

In this new series, Mistletoe Inn Mysteries Laura and her new husband Connor are invited to spend Christmas and New's Year with the Kovacs triplets at the Inn. The Kovacs triples are very important to the town of Raging Ford and they know all about the town, the people and what goes on.  The Inn has been in the Kovacs family for a long time and it holds lots of history.  In the first novella in this series, Isabella in the Attic, Charlie, one of the triples is continuing his family's history.  With the help of Laura he finds the answers he is seeking and they are to his favor.  In the second novella, Isabella in the Cellar, Harry is looking for his grandfather's cravat in the boxes in the cellar.  In addition to finding the cravat, Harry and Laura find some documents that will change the dynamics of the triplets lives.

Now in Isabella in the Kitchen, Will is searching high and low for his quiche recipe.  He really wants to make it for New Year's.  Everyone rallies in the kitchen to find the Kovacs' grandmother's recipe.  Instead Laura and Connor discover some secret  holes  with paperwork, books, and money that their parents must have hidden years ago !!!  

There are also a lot of other life changing things happening within these three novellas but I feel that if I share them, they will ruin the way readers experience them when they are reading.  I can tell you that you will be shocked and surprised and happy and excited.  I cannot even begin to imagine where Evans will take us next ... and I cannot wait !!!

Evans knows how to weave a captivating story and hook readers immediately ... and who wouldn't love a "magical" cat that is getting bold with letting more people see and love her ? And  Evans really makes readers love this series with this third installment of the Mistletoe Inn Mysteries. 

You can read about Isabella, Laura and Raging Ford with all it's amazing characters in the Second Treasures Mystery series as well as A Trilogy of Holiday Mysteries Starring Empress Isabella. I high encourage you to read the first novella, Isabella in the Attic and  be on the look out for Isabella in the Kitchen.

Deep Fried Death (Country Store Mystery Book # 12) by Maddie Day

In the latest Country Store Mystery by Agatha and Macavity Award-winning author Maddie Day, a killer strikes - with a cast iron skillet - during South Lick, Indiana's annual Outhouse Race festivities, landing Pans 'N Pancakes-owner Robbie Jordan on the suspect list...

Many residents of South Lick, Indiana, claim the Outhouse Race, in which competitors push old-timey outhouse replicas on wheels at the annual Abe Martin Festival on Memorial Day, is the best thing since indoor plumbing. Just because country store and restaurant owner Robbie Jordan has too much to do managing her new deep fryer as well as an old lover reappearing, she’s not going to miss out on the fun. Plus, it’s good for business.

But when a dead body and a cast-iron skillet tumble out of the Pans ’N Pancakes outhouse entry on the race route, it seems someone is trying to frame Robbie—in a most unconventional way. Now she’ll need to be privy to the townsfolks’ secrets as she races to flush out a killer . . .  (Summary via Goodreads)

I am so in love with the Country Store Mystery series by Maddie Day .... and I'm sure you are also but if you aren't yet, you have lots to catch up ... especially seeing as the twelfth book in the series, Deep Fried Death, has been released.  No worries though because once you start reading you will not want to put the books down and you will breeze through them in no time.

In Deep Fried Death Robbie and her two employees are competing in the outhouse race at the Abe Martin Festival during the Memorial Day weekend.  Robbie is the owner of Pans 'N Pancakes and the outhouse is decked out with advertising for the restaurant.  Unfortunately while they are walking the outhouse to the start line, they hit a bump and a body and a skillet fall out.  Needless to say they do not compete in the race and instead are all taken to the police station and questioned.  And seeing as the race was taking place in Nashville and not South Lick, Robbie doesn't have an "in" with any of the officers.

Robbie and the deceased, Evermina Martin, didn't have much of a relationship even though they both owned restaurants and could have been in competition with each other.  Whereas Robbie felt they could both survive running their businesses, Evermina wanted to put Robbie out of business.  So being on the suspect list didn't work for Robbie so she started asking questions and when she learns that her brother-in-law, Don, was also on the list, she went full steam ahead .... or as much as she could while running the restaurant and taking care of herself during the early stages of her pregnancy and dealing with morning sickness.

Lucky, or unlucky, for Robbie a lot of the people on the suspect list come into Pans 'N Pancakes to eat so she is able to try to talk to them when she can.  Some of her police friends frequent the restaurant as well but they aren't helpful at all.  And when she fiqures out who the killer is, she has to think smart and put herself and her unborn baby first ... which we all know is going to be hard for her to do !!

Readers will love this series just as much as I do.  You will immediately feel like you are right there along side Robbie as she goes about things and you will love it !!!  I cannot tell you how awesome this series is ... well I can but you need to read it all yourself ... and then you can agree with me !!