Spring Showers bringing plenty of cozy mysteries to enjoy!

Spring is truly in the air now, with roses blooming, hummingbirds buzzing by and butterflies everywhere you look!

I love this time of year, and I’m so pleased that so many of my favorite cozy mystery authors have books coming out this month! Amazingly quite a few of them are in hardback form this month, but there are also a good many in paper and trade size as well! I hope you find something here that you will enjoy too!

Hardcovers:

Mourning Gloria: A China Bayles Mystery #19
By Susan Wittig Albert
Berkley Prime Crime; $25.95

While Pecan Springs bustles back to life in the warmth of spring, one woman's life is tragically brought to an end. China Bayles happens upon a burning house trailer and hears a woman screaming for help. The evidence leaves no doubt that it's arson homicide.

Jessica Nelson, an intern-reporter at the local paper, is assigned to cover the story. But she's gotten herself too deeply involved. When Jessica disappears, China is determined to find her, before she becomes headlines herself.



Crunch Time: Culinary Mystery Series #16
By Diane Mott Davidson
Harper Collins; $26.99

Colorado caterer Goldy Schulz cooks up big trouble as she tries to help her longtime friend and fellow chef Yolanda Garcia. When the rental house shared by Yolanda and her irrepressible aunt Ferdinanda is destroyed by arson, the pair moves in with cop-turned-PI Ernest McLeod. But then Ernest is shot dead and his house is set on fire, nearly killing Goldy, Yolanda, Ferdinanda, and nine beagle puppies that Ernest recently rescued from a puppy mill.

Concerned for her friends, Goldy invites them to stay with her while the sheriff's department investigates. Yet even Goldy's house isn't safe and, after a failed break-in by an unknown intruder, a policeman is assigned to keep an eye on things. The action really starts to rev after a second body turns up. Swapping her chef's hat for a sleuthing cap, the intrepid Goldy turns detective. But she's got to move fast. It's crunch time to close in on a killer, before he can close in on her.



Dead By Midnight: A Death on Demand Series #21
By Carolyn Hart
Harper Collins; $24.99

Solving puzzles comes naturally to Annie Darling, cheerful owner of the Death on Demand mystery bookstore on the lovely sea island of Broward's Rock. Annie is aided and abetted by her admiring husband, Max, who runs an unusual business that offers help to people in trouble.

A recent death appears to be suicide, but Annie suspects murder. To solve the case, she unravels the mystery of a towel hidden at midnight in a gazebo, the lack of fingerprints on a crystal mug, blood on a teenager's blue shirt, and the secret of a lovers' tryst. Annie believes she has set the perfect trap for a merciless killer until her cell phone rings and Death whispers in her ear.



The Alpine Vengeance: An Emma Lord Mystery #22
By Mary Daheim
Ballantine Books: $25.00

Nestled in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, the charming little hamlet of Alpine is welcoming Thanksgiving with open arms, while Emma Lord, editor and publisher of The Alpine Advocate, feels her spirits sink. There will be no family and no friends—not even Sheriff Milo Dodge—to share the day. How, she wonders, has she managed to screw up her life so badly?

But on the Monday after the holiday, a call from Sheriff Dodge concerning a trio of alarming unsigned letters he has received leaves Emma no time to wallow. The writer asserts the wrongful murder conviction ten years ago of Larry Petersen, a onetime Alpine resident who has recently died in prison.

The real culprit, the letters declare, has made a deathbed confession of the crime. Neither Emma nor Milo recognizes the repentant killer’s name. Even Emma’s stalwart House & Home editor, Vida Runkel, from whom no Alpine secrets are hid, is baffled. They decide that the whole thing must be a twisted prank. Then a fourth letter arrives, threatening that if swift action isn’t taken to right this alleged perversion of justice there will be another death—most likely Emma’s or Milo’s. As rumors of a coming homicide spread along Front Street, a ripple of panic runs through the Valley of the Sky.

Is Milo the real target? Is Emma in danger? Should Vida run for cover under one of her biggest hats? Mary Daheim’s new Emma Lord novel is a rich and authentic blend of small-town life and chilling menace.



Mimosas, Mischief and Murder: A Elly Avery Mystery #6
By Sara Rosett
Kensington; $22.00

Super-organized Ellie Avery thinks she's prepared for everything when she and her family set off for an extended visit with her in-laws--clothes, books, and enough games and toys to entertain two stir-crazy kids on a six-hour drive. But the one thing she hasn't planned for is cold-blooded murder.

As soon as Ellie and her husband, Mitch, arrive at his parents' gracious home in Smarr, Alabama, they are shocked to learn that Mitch's Grandpa Fanklin has passed away. More shockingly, a too-quickly-closed police investigation raises more questions about Franklin's death than it answers. As the quirky, extended Avery family clan closes ranks around their own, she realizes that quite a few relatives stood to profit from Franklin's passing, and she can't help looking for motives among the mourners. When a little more sleuthing reveals Franklin's mysterious ties to a famous, reclusive local author whose writings are worth megabucks, something doesn't sit right with Ellie. . .and it's not just the homemade grits.

As genteel Southern tradition collides with greedy and possibly murderous passions, another disturbing death confirms Ellie's suspicions. With Alabama's biggest book festival fast approaching, she sees danger brewing faster than sweet tea. Who can she trust? Looking over her shoulder for a killer who's definitely onto her, Ellie needs to act fast if she wants to save her family. . .and herself!



Slugfest: A Dirty Business Mystery
By Rosemary Harris
St. Martin’s Press; $24.95

When Paula Holliday agrees to act as exhibit manager for a reclusive artist she’s expecting a laidback weekend picking up gardening tips. She doesn’t expect to be knee-deep in horticultural sabotage, beheaded gnomes, homicide, and something called The Javits Curse. Then an overeager attendee is found floating in the river and Paula realizes she accidentally holds a clue to his murder—that’s when the garden gloves come off and this flower show turns into a real Slugfest!

This time out Paula is joined by a colorful cast that includes Rolanda “Fort” Knox, a no-nonsense security guard; Guy Anzalone, Brooklyn's Tumbled Stone King; Jamal Harrington, a high school kid with a black belt and a green thumb; JC Kaufman, a feisty lady who hates leaving home without her weapon of choice; and a slick marketing guy hawking the hottest new product at the show, a foolproof pest repellant that people are dying to get their hands on.

With limited means and her ragtag crew, Paula must solve her toughest mystery yet and root out a killer before she finds herself pushing up daisies.

Trade and Paperbacks:



I Can’t Make You Love Me, But I Can Make You Leave: A Domestic Equalizers Mystery
By Dixie Cash
William Morrow; $13.99

When someone makes a killing in the country music business, it's time to call in Debbie Sue and Edwina—the Domestic Equalizers—whose motto is, "Don't get mad, get evidence."

The career of former Queen of Country Music, Darla Denman, ain't what it used to be. No more big arenas—she's lucky to fill a barroom—and now she's forced to tour (by bus!) with the detestable Roxie Jo, current wife of Darla's manager/ex- husband. So when her rattletrap tour bus gives up the ghost outside tiny Salt Lick, Texas, the faded Nashville star's thrilled to find loyal fans (and sympathetic ears) in Debbie Sue Overstreet and Edwina Perkins-Martin. But when her nemesis and upstart backup singer Roxie Jo turns up dead in her dressing room—which bears an uncanny resemblance to a cleaning-supply closet— Darla finds herself in more trouble than a Dixie Chick in merry old England. Luckily Debbie Sue and Edwina are not only the proud owners of Salt Lick's best beauty parlor but they also moonlight as private detectives! And if the Domestic Equalizers can't get to the bottom of a murderous musical mess, then no one can!



Deadly Notions: A Southern Sewing Circle Mystery #4
By Elizabeth Lynn Casey
Berkley Prime Crime; $7.99

Librarian Tori Sinclair would do anything for her new circle of friends- including throw a birthday bash for a fellow sewer's daughter. While the party is a hit, self-important pageant mom Ashley Lawson leaves the ladies wanting to permanently shut her high maintenance mouth. But when Ashley turns up dead, Tori and the girls need to figure out who really murdered the monster mom, before the finger-pointing causes their friendship to unravel.



Cookie Dough or Die: A Cookie Cutter Shop Mystery – Debut Novel
By Virginia Lowell
Berkley Prime Crime; $7.99

Olivia Greyson is the proud owner of The Gingerbread House-a quaint shop that specializes in all things cookie-and her best friend, Maddie, is her sidekick, baking up scrumptious treats for their cookie-themed parties. But now they must take a break from baking and find a killer, or else their reputation-and quite possibly their lives-will be battered for good.



The Busy Woman's Guide to Murder: A Charlotte Adams Mystery #4
By Mary Jane Maffini
Berkley Prime Crime; $7.99

Mona Pringle, the local 911 operator, is calling Charlotte Adams with her own emergency: Serena Redding, a high school "mean girl" who used to torment Mona, is coming back for a reunion. When Mona talks about how good it would feel to kill Serena, Charlotte doesn't believe she means it. But when a woman who looks like Serena is killed in a hit- and-run, and another former mean girl is also run down, Charlotte realizes she needs to look both ways for the now-missing Mona.



An Uninvited Ghost: A Haunted Guesthouse Mystery #2
By E.J. Copperman
Berkley Prime Crime; $7.99

Alison and her resident gumshoe ghost are on their next case when the deceased Scott MacFarlane floats in worried that he accidentally killed a prominent local woman. Turns out she's still alive...that is, of course, until she's murdered-in Alison's house. Now, between the demands of her guests and the arrival of a reality television crew, Alison must find the killer before she sees reality from the other side.



A Hard Day’s Fright: A Pepper Martin Mystery #7
By Casey Daniels
Berkley Prime Crime; $7.99

What happened to a teenager named Lucy one night in 1966 after a Beatles concert? She rushed the stage, kissed Paul, started home with her friends, and was never seen again - until cemetery guide and unintentional PI to the dead Pepper Martin sees her as a ghost. Lucy's spirit can't rest in peace until her body is found and buried. But how will Pepper track down a missing corpse after forty-five years?



Night of the Living Dandelion: A Flower Shop Mystery #11
By Kate Collins
Obsidian; $6.99

Flower shop owner Abby Knight does not believe rumors that Vlad Serban, friend and employee of Abby's fiancé Marco, is a vampire. But how to explain that Vlad is from Romania, has prominent canines, likes bizarre plants such as bloodwort and Dracula orchid, and dresses entirely in black? When a local woman is found dead, her body drained of blood, the stakes become life and death. With Vlad the #1 suspect, Abby and Marco race to find the real killer, before Vlad's life really starts to suck.



The Cat, The Lady and The Liar: A Cats In Trouble Mystery #3
By Leann Sweeney
Obsidian; $6.99

Cat quilter Jillian Hart finds a gorgeous stray cat belonging to the fabulously wealthy Ritaestelle Longworth, who believes she's being drugged. Before Jillian can get to those charges, a body turns up in the lake-and her cat Chablis finds Ritaestelle nearby. Can Jillian's cats aid her in solving a mystery with decades old roots?



Sweet Revenge: A Lady Arianna Regency Mystery
By Andrea Penrose
Obsidian; $6.99

England, 1812: Lady Arianna Hadley acts the part of a French chef in one of London's aristocratic households to find her father's murderer. But when the Prince Regent falls ill after consuming Arianna's special chocolate dessert, she finds herself at the center of a scandal. It soon becomes clear that someone is looking to plunge England into chaos-and Arianna to the bottom of the Thames.

Hope everyone has a gorgeous spring, and a very Happy Easter! And as always,
Cozy Reading, ya’ll!