Get cozy with some new mysteries!
Best-selling author Elaine Viets returns with her Mystery Shopper series in "Murder is a Piece of Cake."
Josie is set to marry her dream guy, a kind vet named Ted. And she even gets to do some mystery shopping related to the wedding, by visiting bridal shop Denise's Dreams to talk about flowers. The woman who waits on her is also excited to be getting married too. Molly is also marrying a Ted. But when Josie turns up to visit her fiancee and finds Molly there in a wedding dress about to whisk Ted off to their wedding, something is really wrong. Ted barely even knows Molly and his mother, Lenore, is so upset about her son's stalker that she pulls a gun on her. Josie hopes that's the end of the incident, but when Molly turns up dead, she finds herself right in the middle of a murder investigation. Has the "jilted" bride pulled this stunt before? Or is she mixed up in something more sinister?
Josie's a fun amateur sleuth that readers will enjoy following and her mystery is quite funny.
"Murder is a Piece of Cake" is published by Obsidian. It is $7.99 and 282 pages long. Look for "Board Stiff" coming in May.
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Best-selling author Jacklyn Brady's Piece of Cake series follows Rita Lucero into a case of possible mistaken identity in "Arsenic and Old Cake."
Rita is asked by friend and blind trumpet player, Old Dog Leg Magee, to find out if the man who claims to be his long lost brother actually is. Rita is going to need help in doing this, and bartender Gabriel Broussard is enlisted to help. The two will pose as newlyweds and stay at the bed-and-breakfast home of two eccentric sisters who are friends with "Monroe" and try to figure out if he is a con artist. But the bed-and-breakfast is full of colorful characters and before they know, there's a murder on their hands! Rita wants to help a friend, but she doesn't want to risk her life. And can she resist Gabriel's charms in close proximity?
Set in New Orleans, this is a mystery full of character and plenty of twists and turns.
"Arsenic and Old Cake" is published by Berkley. It is $7.99 and is 299 pages long.
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A single mom gets the chance to cook for a favorite country singer and gets caught up in a murder in "Death of a Country Fried Redneck" by Lee Hollis.
Hayley Powell is a writer for a small newspaper, writing a cooking column. Her friend sets up an interview with Wade Springer, a country music star passing through town, who through chance, got to taste Hayley's food and is hooked. He wants her to cook for her while he is local, and Hayley can't pass up the opportunity to be around the sexy star. But when his tour bus is set on fire and a roadie is found dead with one of Hayley's drumsticks stuck in his mouth, Hayley could be a prime suspect! But considering how rude the roadie was, there is also plenty of other suspects to go around. Can Hayley figure out who did it?
This is a fun slice of small town life with a liberal dash of murder mixed in that will charm readers.
"Death of Country Fried Redneck" is published by Kensington. It is $7.99 and 303 pages long. Look for "Death of a Coupon Clipper" coming soon.
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Contact Amy Phelps at aphelps@newsandsentinel.com
