Dead Man's Leap (Batavia-on-Hudson Mystery Book # 2) by Tina deBellegarde

Rushing waters...dead bodies...secrets...

As Bianca St. Denis and her neighbors scour their attics for donations to the charity rummage sale, they unearth secrets as well as prized possessions. Leonard Marshall's historic inn hosts the sale each year, but it is his basement that houses the key to his past. When an enigmatic antiques dealer arrives in town, he upends Leonard's carefully reconstructed life with an impossible choice that harkens back to the past.

Meanwhile, when a storm forces the villagers of Batavia-on-Hudson to seek shelter, the river rises and so do tempers. Close quarters fuel simmering disputes, and Sheriff Mike Riley has his work cut out for him. When the floods wash up a corpse, Bianca once again finds herself teaming up with Sheriff Riley to solve a mystery. Are they investigating an accidental drowning or something more nefarious?

Dead Man's Leap explores the burden of secrets, the relief of renunciation, and the danger of believing we can outpace our past.  (Summary via Goodreads)

GOOSEBUMPS !!!!  

While reading Dead Man's Leap, the second book in the Batavia-on-Hudson Mystery series by Tina deBellegarde you will experience a number of emotions and may at times get goosebumps !!!

There is a lot going on in Dead Man's Leap that will keep you engrossed in the story and on the edge of your seat .... and deBellegarde knows how to keep you turning the pages.

In Dead Man's Leap the quaint little village of Batavia-on-Hudson is getting ready for their annual charity rummage sale which brings a lot of people into town including antique dealers looking for some good antiques at low prices.  Unfortunately a storm rolls in and one of the antique dealers goes missing when everyone else is heading to the community center to wait out the rain and wind.  When there is a low in the storm a few search parties are sent out and they find the missing antique dealer dead at the bottom of the cliff of Dead Man's Leap.

Joel, the deceased antique dealer, isn't a stranger to the village and some of the people have dark hidden secrets with him that may now come to the surface with his death .... and some lives with be changed forever.

But that's not all that is going on in this story .... when Joel's body is recovered at the bottom of Dead Man's Leap, a necklace and some long buried bones are uncovered as well.  And when Sheriff Mike Riley begins investigating, he listens to many confessions of a long ago story but all the versions are slightly different.  Luckily Mike has Bianca to help him work through some of the stories and help him however she can.

Dead Man's Leap is a very emotion grabbing story.  There is a lot going on with Joel's death, finding old bones, the village dealing with destruction from the storm, people's emotions, the relationships and the strength of some and the decline of others, the secrets, always the secrets .... but you wouldn't want it any other way !!!

Dark Harbor (Sam Lawson Book # 3) by David K. Wilson

In this third installment in the popular mystery series, Detective Sam Lawson heads to Martha’s Vineyard for another entertaining and suspenseful page-turner.

Sam had hoped his impromptu trip the island would be a chance to take some time off and rekindle his relationship with Carla Davenport. But when a woman is brutally murdered, he finds himself pulled into the investigation to help prove the innocence of the prime suspect—Carla’s brother-in-law.

It doesn’t take long before Sam is butting heads with a local detective, who has suspicions about the visiting Texas detective. Forced to work around the law, Sam enlists the help of Carla, a rock star bartender, and the suspect’s stoic father. As he explores the dark shadows of the island, hidden secrets emerge and new suspects come to light…including Carla’s sister.

Dark Harbor is another thrilling stand-alone novel in the Sam Lawson Mystery series. If you’re a fan of page-turning suspense, you’re sure to love this fast-paced whodunnit from David K. Wilson.  (Summary via Goodreads)

Dark Harbor is the third book in the Sam Lawson Mystery series written by David K. Wilson and this is a series that you will get completely lost in and not want to be found !!!

In Dark Harbor main character Detective Sam Lawson has decided to take a vacation.  His girlfriend Carla, who is a medical examiner, is away visiting her sister in Martha's Vineyard and he decides to surprise her.  Carla's sister Vanessa is having a hard time because she got in a huge fight with her husband Norm and he has been missing ever since.  It is not like Norm to stay away for this long and Vanessa and Norm's father Jude are having a hard time.

Even though Sam is technically on vacation it doesn't take long for him and Carla to start noseying around into Norm's disappearance.  Unfortunately the local detective doesn't take too kindly to outsiders butting into their territory .... even though they could use the help.

Things get dicey when a local woman is found stabbed to death and Sam and Jude just happened to have visited her the previous day.  And if you think that is all then you don't know Wilson and his writing .... Carla happens to notice something on the autopsy report that sends red flags up everywhere and piles on more questions .....

Readers will love this story, as well as the previous books and future books, in this series.  Sam Lawson is a loveable character with a dark sense of humor and is always sticking his nose where it doesn't belong but luckily everything works out.  And Wilson knows how to craft a story with twists and turns that will keep the reader engaged throughout the entire book. 

Come Shell or High Water (Haunted Shell Shop Mystery Book #1) by Molly MacRae

When widowed folklorist Maureen Nash visits a legendary North Carolina barrier island shell shop, she discovers its resident ghost pirate and the mystery of a local’s untimely death . . .

As a professional storyteller, Maureen Nash can’t help but see the narrative cues woven through her life. Like the series of letters addressed to her late husband from a stranger—the proprietor of The Moon Shell, a shop on Ocracoke Island, off the coast of North Carolina. The store is famous with shell collectors, but it’s the cryptic letters from Allen Withrow, the shop’s owner, that convince Maureen to travel to the small coastal town in the middle of hurricane season. At the very least, she expects she’ll get a good story out of the experience, never anticipating it could end up a murder mystery . . .
 
In Maureen’s first hours on the storm-lashed island, she averts several life-threatening accidents, stumbles over the body of a controversial Ocracoke local, and meets the ghost of an eighteenth-century Welsh pirate, Emrys Lloyd. To the untrained eye, all these unusual occurrences would seem to be random misfortunes, but Maureen senses there may be something connecting these stories. With Emrys’s supernatural assistance, and the support of a few new friends, Maureen sets out unravel the truth, find a killer, and hopefully give this tale a satisfying ending . . . while also rewriting her own.  (Summary via Goodreads)

Come Shell or High Water by Molly MacRae is the first book in her new Haunted Shell Shop Mystery series and it sets the series beautifully.

In Come Shell or High Water Maureen Nash returns to a place of happier times, the Ocracoke Island.  This was the place she and her deceased husband use to visit with their sons when they were all younger.  She has a number of reasons for returning and one is because her husband had received letters from the owner of the famous shell shop there and she was hoping to find answers.  Unfortunately she gets there at the tale end of a hurricane and instead of answers she ends up with a lot of questions.  

Sadly she wakes up in the shell shop with two people standing over her thinking she is dead but she is very much alive but finds out she was electrocuted.  Glady and Burt are neighbors to the shell shop and are there to help her.  But it becomes too much for all of them when Maureen remembers stumbling across a dead body in the wooded area near the beach.  Sadly when it is investigated they find out it is Allen, the owner of the shell shop. 

While Maureen and her new friends, Glady and Burt, try to find out who killed Allen, Maureen also meets the resident ghost and has to get use to being around him ..... and there is a lot more that happens but you have to read it to find out.

Come Shell or High Water is a story readers will fall in love with !!  There is so much to love ... the setting, the characters, the shop, the storyline, the ghost .... and the way that MacRae ends the story, this is guarenteed to have readers checking for the next book so they can read it as soon as it is released !!!

Detectives of Autumn House by Manjima Misra

Detectives of Autumn House is a novella by Manjima Misra. The novella features LGBTQIA+ detectives who solve a case related to intellectual property rights, fake job offer letters, and mysterious disappearances. The book is situated at the unique intersection of detective fiction and queer fiction.  (Summary via Goodreads)

Detectives of Autumn House may be a novella but it is packed with some much excitement that it will feel like a full length book.

Detectives of Autumn House written by Manjima Misra follows the members of the Detectives of Autumn House as they follow a mysterious case of missing authors.  The Detectives, five females, case is about struggling authors who are approached by an elderly gentlemen offering them a lot of money in exchange for the property rights of their books and allowing him to publish their books under his name.  Then they seem to vanish and their books end up in a bookstore named Sherlock House where they are now under the name of Deliski as the author.

This case will lead the five detectives to this bookstore as well as to a literary agency and more to the case  ..... 

Misra knows how to capture the reades attention and keep hold of it throughout the entire story.  Readers will have no trouble reading this book in one sitting, if that is what they choose to do.  You can, however, read it slowly ... if you have that willpower.  I believe it will be hard to stop once you have begun reading it.

Isabella and the Chocolate Fudgella by Margaret Evans

Out-of-this-world chocolate, two out-of-this-world cats, a very “earthy” Scottish pup and a cast of thousands…well, dozens, join forces in a heavenly romp in Scotland as Isabella and her friend Patton join forces to try saving a small-town chocolatier from the clutches of a big corporation in a hostile takeover. This tail--I mean tale--has it all. Rolling-on-the-floor laughter, nail-biting excitement, and even an occasional lump in the throat. Isabella does it again in this newest adventure.

If you enjoyed Empress Isabella in the Second Treasures Mysteries, Laura Keene Cozies, and the Mistletoe Inn Mysteries, you will love her in this fun adventure before she met Laura.  (Summary via Goodreads)

The only bad thing that I can say about any of the Empress Isabella novellas is that they are not long enough.  I know that they are intended to be short and sweet, which they indeed are, and the story, although short,is full of excitement and fun, but I'm sure I am not the only reader that wishes they went on and on and on.

Isabella and the Chocolate Fudgella is the latest novella written by Margaret Evans featuring the magical cat.  This novella is different than previous novellas as this one takes place is Oban, a little town in Scotland and Isabella is there with her friend Patton.  Patton is also a cat, a calico cat, and also magical like Isabella. 

Isabella and Patton are at Heavenly Chocolate, a chocolate store that has been in Oban for many generations of the MacTavish family.  Unfortunately Callum Thrum, an outsider, comes to the store and wants to buy it from Andrew MacTavish and when he is told that the store isn't for sale and never will be, Thrum sets out to take the business .... by any means necessary.

Luckily Isabella and Patton are there to stop that from happening.  They use their magic to make sure that not only does the chocolate store stay in the family but they insure that Thrum leaves town never to return to cause havoc ever again !!!

Readers cannot help but fall in love with Isabella and these adorable novellas.  Yes they are short but that allows readers to read it all in one sitting because they are very hard to put down once you have begun reading.

Homicide Honeymoon (Aloha Lagoon Mystery Book # 22) by B. A. Trimmer

From author B.A. Timmer comes a honey of a murder mystery!

As the wedding planner at the Aloha Lagoon resort in Hawaii, Kristy Piper has seen some strange parties...but bride Claire Jackson's wedding party may be the oddest yet! Between a man-hungry bridesmaid, an overbearing mother of the groom, and a feisty tween guest, Kristy has her hands full! But when Claire's former fiancé is found dead—murdered by a luau serving fork!—things go from strange to downright dangerous. To make matters worse, Claire is discovered next to the dead body, sobbing uncontrollably. Is it shock...or guilt?

The local homicide detective is sure Claire is to blame for the death. Luckily he works on "island time," which gives Kristy the opportunity to prove her latest bride-to-be is innocent. With the help of her longtime office manager, her best friend Leilani, and her dreamy new boyfriend, photographer Jake Hunter, Kristy takes it upon herself to wade through an entire wedding party full of suspects. Together, they’ll solve the murder and save the wedding...or die trying!


What critics are

" Hula Homicide Earns 5/5 Wedding Woes…Wonderful!"
~ Kings River Life Magazine

"You are going to want to visit Aloha Lagoon Resort as much as possible, and you will not want to leave!"
~ Cozy Mystery Book Reviews

About Aloha
There's trouble in paradise...
Welcome to Aloha Lagoon, one of Hawaii's hidden treasures. A little bit of tropical paradise nestled along the coast of Kauai, this resort town boasts luxurious accommodation, friendly island atmosphere...and only a slightly higher than normal murder rate. While mysterious circumstances may be the norm on our corner of the island, we're certain that our staff and Lagoon natives will make your stay in Aloha Lagoon one you will never forget!  (Summary via Goodreads)

Anytime readers can travel to the Aloha Lagoon Resort in Kauai, Hawaii, it is a good day !!  This is a series written by multiple authors but centers around the resort.  Each author has their own stories and characters with the common denominator being the resort.  And with twenty-two books in this series, there is so much to love !!!

Homicide Honeymoon is the twenty-second book in the series and it is written by B.A. Trimmer.  This is the second book written by Trimmer for this series, with the first being Hula Homicide and that is the nineteenth book in the series.  You do not have to read these books in order but I highly recommend reading all of them !!

Homicide Honeymoon follows main character Kristy Piper who is the wedding planner for the resort.  She is getting ready for a week long wedding and the characters in the wedding party are crazy !!  They are so crazy that Kristy has given them all nicknames which helps her to remember them .....

Claire and Patrick are the bride and groom and they have brought their mothers and a few family members and friends to celebrate and have fun for the week leading up to the wedding day.  Unfortunately during a scheduled dinner, Claire's ex-fiance Marty crashes the party !!  And it seems that Claire's mother, "Cougar" Jessica, her sister "Sleazy" Shelby, and friend and bridesmaid "Flower Child" Skye all have their eyes on him and want to take him to their rooms !!!

Claire and Patrick just want to enjoy the week and the island, hang on the beach, sight see and have good food and drinks and relax before their big day.  Unfortunately someone else has another plan for them when at another scheduled dinner with a show, Marty is found stabbed in the chest by one of the serving forks and Claire is the one to find him !!!  

Detective Ray Kahoalani is called in when Marty doesn't make it.  So instead of a relaxing week, all of the members of the wedding party and guests are now suspects.  Sadly because Claire was with him after he was stabbed, Detective Ray centers his attention on her.  Everyone is pretty confident that Claire did not murder her ex-fiance days before her wedding and Kristy and her friend, Leilani, boyfriend, Jake, and co-worker, Dorothy, put their heads together and decide to see if they can get the heat off of Claire.

However when a bartender that Kristy wants to talk to also dies, she realizes that she may have more than she can handle.  Even though Detective Ray doesn't think the two deaths are connected, Kristy doesn't agree.

There is so much within this book and all of the other books for readers to fall in love with.  Just reading about all of the different jobs and people on the island would be enough to love, but then you add in everything to do and the food and cocktails, you will be hooked !!!

I highly recommend diving into the Aloha Lagoon Mystery series and enjoy your time there !!!!

The Diva Goes Overboard (A Domestic Diva Mystery Book # 17) by Krista Davis

New York Times bestselling author Krista Davis returns with a delicious new Domestic Diva Mystery set in Alexandria, Virginia’s charming Old Town neighborhood and featuring entertaining guru Sophie Winston, who loves hosting and event planning but prefers to keep things simple–if only she could…

In Old Town Alexandria’s unlikeliest match, Natasha Smith’s free-spirited mother, Wanda, is engaged to notoriously pompous antiques dealer, Orson Chatsworth—leaving Natasha to plan the entire wedding, beginning with an elaborate engagement party. For the extravagant affair, Natasha splurges on trendy food boards created by rising social media star, Stella St. James. The sumptuous boards go way beyond basic cheese and crackers, as Stella dazzles guests with picture-worthy butter boards, dessert boards, and even doughnut boards. Just as Natasha planned, the food is to die for—until someone actually does.

When the groom collapses, it seems as if a heart attack is to blame. Then guests discover Orson was poisoned, and suddenly Stella’s bespoke boards look a lot less appealing. But with an event this big, the spread of suspects is sure to be impressive. Could Orson’s killer be a jilted ex-lover? A money hungry relative? A bitter former business partner? When even Sophie is not above suspicion, she knows it’s time to get on board and scrape together an investigation of her own . . . before murder becomes the town’s next trend.

Includes delicious recipes, fabulous decorating tips, and easy entertaining hacks!  (Summary via Goodreads)

With The Diva Goes Overboard being the seventeenth book in the Domestic Diva Mystery series by Krista Davis I know there are a lot of fans !!  I, sadly, have not read all of the books in this series but the ones that I have read, I have enjoyed them tremendously.  And no matter what book you pick up you will become a fan immediately !!

In The Diva Goes Overboard there is a lot going on in Old Town and main character Sophie is right in the middle of all it !!  It starts when Sophie and her best friend and neighbor Nina attend the engagement party of Wanda and Orson and Orson collapses and later dies at the hospital.  This is right after he asked Sophie to meet with him at his antique store because he has something to discuss with her.  Now Sophie has no idea what he would have wanted to talk to her about.  

Sophie cannot help but wonder if Orson was murdered ... and it looks like others believe the same thing, including the deceased groom !!  Sophie and Nina are contacted by Orson's lawyer requesting their presence when the will is read and they are shocked at why !!! They watch a video of Orson speaking to everyone in a video that he recorded before his death and no one can understand how Orson could will his antique store to Sophie !!  

Once Sophie gets the keys to the store and is there looking around, she discovers a secret room that Orson had an office in .... and in the top drawer she finds an envelope addressed to her.  In the letter he insists that he has been murdered and asks Sophie to find his murderer.  So Sophie gets her rat pack together, Nina, Mars (her ex-husband) and friend Bernie, and they decide to work together to solve Orson's murder.  Unfortunately before they can come up with anything concrete there is another death and they have a lot of things to work out.

There is so much more that I could talk about but I really think that that is enough to get you going to want to read The Diva Goes Overboard and the rest of the books in this series.  Davis knows what she is doing with this series and you cannot help but love it !!  No matter if this is the first book in the series that you have read or it's the seventeenth, you will be engrossed and love it !!!