June 14th, 2025
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Sunshine, secrets, and swoon-worthy stories—June's featured reads are your perfect summer escape.

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He doesn�t need a woman in his life; she knows he can�t live without her.


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A promise rekindled. A secret revealed. A second chance at the family they never had.


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A cowboy with a second chance. A waitress with a hidden gift. And a small town where love paints a brand-new beginning.


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She�s racing for a prize. He�s dodging romance. Together, they might just cross the finish line to love.


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She steals from the mob for justice. He�s the FBI agent who could take her down�or fall for her instead.


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He�s her only protection. She�s carrying his child. Together, they must outwit a killer before time runs out.


Grave Words

Grave Words, June 2025
Deadly Deadlines Mystery #2
by Gerri Lewis

Crooked Lane Books
320 pages
ISBN: B0DGP6GQ2C
EAN: 9798892422482
Kindle: B0DGPF9R8P
Hardcover / e-Book
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"Can Winter Uncover the Clues Before Someone Writes Her Obituary Next?"

Fresh Fiction Review

Grave Words
Gerri Lewis

Reviewed by Sandra Martin
Posted June 9, 2025

Mystery Woman Sleuth | Mystery Amateur Sleuth

Winter Snow is busy building her obituary writing business when a burning building and a dead body send their town of Ridgefield, CT, into investigation mode. Good friend and reporter Scoop knows some incriminating details, but he is reluctant to share and reveal his source. Can Winter solve the crime and keep Scoop out of jail in GRAVE WORDS, the second Deadly Deadline Mystery by Gerri Lewis?

 

When it is revealed the dead body is a local homeless man named Chester, Winter’s friend Carla asks her to write the man’s obituary. As Winter starts looking into Chester’s life, she finds out a lot about the man no one really knew. As she digs deeper and searches the obituaries for other clues, she finds herself being followed by a black truck, uncovering a shady cemetery plot business, receiving threatening letters, getting trapped in a coffin, learning about collectibles, and catching a killer’s attention. Can she put all the pieces together before someone writes Winter’s obituary next?

 

GRAVE WORDS is a fun, atmospheric East Coast cozy with small-town charm, familiar hangouts, and colorful locals that create a warm and engaging mystery. The plot is well-developed with several layers that include a multitude of players with different motivations. From Winter’s lakeside cottage to Pop’s Place and the funeral home, Winter navigates a complex puzzle of scam artists and insurance fraudsters to uncover the truth. Her friends, Carla and Scoop, are in on the action and provide some levity, while the professional boundaries between Winter and her detective boyfriend, Kip, add a nice layer of tension to the storytelling. GRAVE WORDS is a strong and entertaining second entry in this delightful series that will have readers looking forward to future installments.

Learn more about Grave Words

SUMMARY

In the second installment of the Deadly Deadlines mysteries, obituary writer Winter Snow faces her biggest challenge yet when the body of a homeless man is found in a burning building and her best friend is the main suspect, perfect for fans of Eva Gates and Kate Carlisle.

Winter Snow has had it! With her business in a death drought, her best friend Scoop implicated in a string of arsons, and an obituary listing Winter herself as deceased, her life is heating up. But just as she’s trying to cool things down, she receives her newest assignment: an obituary for Chester, a homeless man found in a burning building. 

Promising the local funeral home manager that she will have the obituary by the deadline, Winter is stonewalled at every turn, failing to discover Chester’s last name, or where he came from. When it is discovered that Chester was murdered and that the fire was set to cover it  up, all fingers immediately point to Scoop. Not only is Scoop a person of interest in the arsons, he was also the last person to see Chester alive. 

As more nails are pounded into Scoop’s coffin, Winter’s uncle Richard hopes to help by inviting the notorious town gossips, The Nosy Parkers, to a neighborhood food fest. Unfortunately, the breadcrumbs they toss set murder in motion.

More determined than ever, Winter must figure out the twists and turns of the case to clear Scoop’s name, putting her on a deadly deadline to solve the murder and avoid meeting the same grave consequences.


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