January Cozy Mysteries

If the batch of cozy mysteries that are being released this month any
indication, 2011 promises to be a banner year for the genre. I’m looking
forward to finding new authors and new series to share with you, and also look
forward to enjoying more of my favorite mysteries in the months to come!

If you have a series you’d like to see featured, or an author you’d like to see
interviewed, feel free to drop me a note in the comments section below, and
I’ll do my best to arrange it!

Here’s a look at this month’s selections:

HOME FOR A SPELL
(A Bewitching Mystery #7)
by Madelyn Alt
Berkley Prime Crime; $24.95

As the newest witch in Indiana, Maggie O'Neill already has plenty to deal with.
So being hobbled by a broken leg doesn't help. Neither does the fact that her
best friend and upstairs neighbor is getting ready to tie the knot with her own
boyfriend and move away. This leads Maggie to wonder if it isn't time to find
herself a new pad. But when she finds a place, Maggie's dream of new digs turns
into a nightmare: the apartment manager is found dead before she can even sign
the lease. And Maggie finds herself not only searching for a new home- but for
a frightfully clever killer.

TO HAVE AND TO KILL
(A Wedding Cake Mystery)
Mary Jane Clark
Harper Collins; $24.99

Piper Donovan never imagined that decorating wedding cakes could be so
dangerous! A struggling actress with no immediate prospects and a recently
broken engagement, Piper moves back in with her parents to take stock of her
life. She steps tentatively into the family bakery business and finds herself
agreeing to create a wedding cake for the acclaimed star of a daytime
television drama. But soon someone close to the bride-to-be is horribly
murdered and it seems that that someone is ruthlessly determined to stop the
wedding. With the help of her former neighbor, Jack, a handsome FBI agent with
a soft spot for the gorgeous cake-maker, Piper moves closer to the truth. And
as she narrows in on a suspect, she realizes that it's hotter in the kitchen
than she may be able to handle.

INDIA BLACK
(A Madam of Espionage Mystery)
Carol K. Garr
Berkley Prime Crime; $14.00

When Sir Archibald Latham of the War Office dies from a heart attack while
visiting her brothel, Madam India Black is unexpectedly thrust into a deadly
game between Russian and British agents who are seeking the military secrets
Latham carried. Blackmailed into recovering the missing documents by the
British spy known as French, India finds herself dodging Russian agents-and the
attraction she starts to feel for the handsome conspirator. This is the debut
novel in this series.

ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY GLUE GUN
(An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery)
Lois Winston
Midnight Ink; $14.95

When Anastasia Pollack's husband permanently cashes in his chips at a roulette
table in Vegas, her comfortable middle-class life is suddenly kaput. She's left
with two teenage sons, a mountain of debt, and her hateful, cane-wielding
Communist motherin-law. Not to mention stunned disbelief over her late
husband's secret gambling addiction, and the loan shark who's demanding fifty
thousand dollars.

Anastasia's job as crafts editor for a magazine proves no respite when she
discovers a dead body glued to her office chair. The victim, fashion editor
Marlys Vandenburg, collected enemies and ex-lovers like Jimmy Choos on her
ruthless climb to editor-in-chief.But when evidence surfaces of an illicit
affair between Marlys and Anastasia's husband, Anastasia becomes the number one
suspect.

BUTTERCREAM BUMP OFF
(A Cupcake Bakery Mystery #2)
Jenn McKinlay
Berkley Prime Crime; $6.99

Melanie Cooper and Angie DeLaura's Fairy Tale Cupcakes bakery is gearing up for
Valentine's Day. Unfortunately someone has iced Baxter Malloy on his first date
with Mel's mother. Now Mom's a suspect, and Mel and Angie need to find time
around frosting to dig into the man's shady past and discover who served him
his just desserts.

BUFFALO WEST WING
(A White House Chef Mystery #4)
Julie Hyzy
Berkley Prime Crime; $7.99

With a new First Family, White House executive chef Olivia Paras can't afford
to make any mistakes. But when a box of take-out chicken mysteriously shows up
for the First Kids, she soon finds herself in a "no-wing" situation. After
Olivia refuses to serve the chicken, the First Lady gives her the cold
shoulder. But when it turns out to be poisoned poultry, Olivia realizes the
kids are true targets

A WITCH IN TIME (Reprint)
(A Bewitching Mystery #6)
Madelyn Alt
Berkley Prime Crime; $7.99

Maggie O’Neill—Stony Mill, Indiana’s newest witch—is dealing with both her
burgeoning love life and her sister’s giving birth to twins when she learns
that a local teenager has been found dead. Later, at the hospital, she hears a
whispered conversation that sends chills down her spine. Could the conversation
be related to the teen’s death? Or to a murder that hasn’t happened yet? It may
take all her witchy intuition to find out.

THIEVES!
(A Vicky Hill Exclusive #4)
Hannah Dennison
Berkley Prime Crime; $7.99

When the body of a woman is found in a shallow stream, aspiring investigative
journalist Vicky Hill suspects there's a connection between the murder and the
strong of recent silver thefts plaguing the small town of Gipping-on-Plym. And
since both her boss and the local police refuse to investigate, Vicky takes on
the case by herself-and she's determined to uncover the answers and clinch her
fourth national exclusive!

MURDER YOUR DARLINGS
(An Algonquin Round Table Mystery)
J.J. Murphy
Obsidian; $6.99

One morning legendary wit Dorothy Parker discovers someone under Manhattan's
famed Algonquin Round Table. A little early for a passed out drunk, isn't it?
But he's not dead drunk, just dead. When a charming writer from Mississippi
named Billy Faulkner becomes a suspect in the murder, Dorothy decides to dabble
in a little detective work, enlisting her literary cohorts. It's up to the
Algonquins to outwit the true culprit-preferably before cocktail hour-and
before the clever killer turns the tables on them. Debut novel in this series.

CATCH HER IF YOU CAN
(A Samantha Spade Mystery #3)
Merline Lovelace
Berkley Prime Crime; $7.99

USAF Lieutenant Samantha Spade is in the heat of the west Texas desert testing
a dog-like robot for military use, when the device leads her and her team to a
pick-up truck. The driver comes at them with a gun-and is shot in self-defense
by Sam's friend. And then a gruesome discovery is made: three human heads in a
cooler in the back of the truck.

Because the dead man was on the FBI's most wanted list, Sam stands to get a
hefty reward. Too bad the technology to keep her shady ex-husband from sniffing
out cash has yet to be invented. His appearance, along with frightening issues
from her boyfriend's past, make it hard to tell just who is responsible for the
pipe-wielding thug who attacks her. All Sam knows is that her luck has taken a
doggone turn for the worse.

GHOULS, GHOULS, GHOULS
(A Ghost Hunter Mystery #5)
Victoria Laurie
Obsidian; $7.99

When M.J. Holliday and the crew of her cable TV show, Ghoul Getters, venture to
the haunted ruins of Dunlow Castle in Ireland, drawn by the legend of hidden
treasure, they hope the road will rise up to meet them, that the wind will
always be at their backs-and that the resident phantom won't push them off a
cliff. If they treasure their lives, M.J. and her ghost busters need to get the
drop on the menacing phantom.