Have you noticed that February is almost over and books for March, April and even May are already starting to show up?
There are still several great releases from February that I’d like to highlight.
The last thing Katie Bonner wanted was to become the manager of Artisans Alley. But when her business partner, Ezra Hilton, is found lying at the bottom of a staircase, bludgeoned to death, she has no other choice. A collection of booths for artisans and craft sellers in a renovated applesauce factory building, Artisans Alley is the main attraction in the quaint Victoria Square shopping area. But business under Ezra had been faltering—enough to provoke someone to murder?
Katie has had more than her share of death - her late husband (and Ezra's former partner), Chad, died in a car accident six months ago. But as she digs deeper into Ezra's murder, her husband's death starts to look suspicious. While the cops are proceeding by the book, Katie is investigating by the booths—for the answer to the killer’s identity lies in the hidden secrets of Artisans Alley itself.
This is the first installment in the Victorian Square Mystery series. The book also features several of Katie's delicious recipes.
Author Lorraine Bartlett’s website is http://www.lorrainebartlett.com/. Lorraine Bartlett is the pseudonym for Lorna Barrett.
A Crafty Killing by Lorraine Bartlett, A Victoria Square Mystery, Berkley Prime Crime, @2011, ISBN: 978-0425239858, Paperback, 304 pages
FTC Full Disclosure - This book was sent to me by the publisher in hopes I would review it. However, receiving the complimentary copy did not influence my thoughts on this book.
It was a sight that Bureau of Land Management agent Jamaica Wild hopes to never see again: a man tied to a cross, his loincloth catching in the wind as he plummeted down into the Rio Grande Gorge to his death. That is, if he wasn't dead already.
Ever since she learned about Los Penitentes, a secret, ancient religious group that reenacts Jesus’ crucifixion and practices excessive penance, Jamaica’s been fascinated,putting together a book of sketches and research. She refuses to heed warnings that she should put down her pencil, even after someone makes an attempt on her life. Jamaica's fact-finding mission could also send her, like the crucified man, over the edge.
This is the fourth installment in the Wild Mystery series, but is a stand alone book. This is the first time in paperback for this edition.
Author Sandi Ault’s website is http://www.sandiault.com
Wild Penance by Sandi Ault, A Wild Mystery, Berkley Prime Crime, @2011, ISBN: 978-0425238844, Paperback, 352 pages
FTC Full Disclosure - This book was sent to me by the publisher in hopes I would review it. However, receiving the complimentary copy did not influence my thoughts on this book.
Things start to boil over at the annual Lobster Stew Cook-Off when an award-winning recipe is stolen and a seven-time contest champion mysteriously disappears—leaving Candy no choice but to find out who in Cape Willington, Maine, would get steamed enough to break the law.
Candy's convinced something fishy is going on, and her reporter instincts take over. But as she begins to put the missing pieces together she runs afoul of Wanda Boyle, the town busybody, who's determined to stop her investigation. But nothing can stop Candy from discovering that dark secrets and unbridled ambition can boil over into murder.
This is the second installment in the Candy Holliday Murder Mystery series, but is a stand alone book. Delicious lobster-based recipes are included in the book.
Author B.B. Haywood’s website is http://www.hollidaysblueberryacres.com. B. B. Haywood is a pseudonym of writing team Beth Feeman and Robert Feeman.
Town in a Lobster Stew by B.B. Haywood, A Candy Holliday Murder Mystery, Berkley Prime Crime, @2011, ISBN: 978-0425240014, Paperback, 384 pages
FTC Full Disclosure - This book was sent to me by the publisher in hopes I would review it. However, receiving the complimentary copy did not influence my thoughts on this book.
It's business as usual at Violetta's salon, until Audrey Faye sashays in looking for stylists for the Miss Magnolia Blossom pageant. Hairdresser Grace Terhune’ jumps at the opportunity, but it quickly turns into a nightmare with anti-pageant protestors, angry mothers, frantic contestants...and then, a very dead Audrey.
The murder weapon was a nail file, making Violetta’s manicurist, Stella, the prime suspect. It turns out Audrey was having an affair with Stella's husband. Now Grace and Violetta's beauticians must find the real murderer before Stella is polished off permanently.
This is the second installment in the Southern Beauty Shop Mystery series, but is a stand alone book. The book features an added bonus with organic skin-care recipes included such as the Mocha Body Scrub.
Author Lila Dare’s website is http://www.liladare.com.
Polished Off by Lila Dare, A Southern Beauty Shop Mystery, Berkley Prime Crime, @2011, ISBN: 978-0425239865, Paperback, 304 pages
FTC Full Disclosure - This book was sent to me by the publisher in hopes I would review it. However, receiving the complimentary copy did not influence my thoughts on this book.
PERSONAL NOTE: Just wanted to say a special THANK YOU for all the wonderful and positive thoughts, prayers, virtual hugs and love send to Gum Drop during her surgery and recovery. She’s doing well and so far, so good.
It’s Monday and time to try my hand (or mind) at a fun challenge hosted each week by Susan at Stony River.
Amanda - I was the oldest of four kids and second oldest of a host of grandchildren (the oldest of those being male), which made me everyone’s babysitter of choice. I made up hundreds of stories in those days to entertain the younger children. We spent a lot of time on my grandparents’ ranch in northern California and at their cabin in the High Sierras, too. Neither place had TV, so we spent most of our time outside, playing games, and I made up many of them on the fly, although the others always added their ideas and fought to play their favorite roles. The lawyers in my family are all courtroom lawyers. If you stop and think about that, you’ll realize that they are all creative types, too, creating images and likely scenarios for juries. However, I never expected to become A WRITER. So the real answer to your question as to what inspired me to become a published writer was that I was flinging books across the room because authors hadn’t done basic research, saying that I could do better. My husband bought me a desk and a typewriter (computer came later), and challenged me to do it. So I did, and to my astonishment, Signet bought the book! 
Dog Show when one of the commentators mentioned that at one time in Scotland, only earls and men of higher rank could own deerhounds. That law nearly resulted in the extinction of the breed. I’d also seen a very funny video on Funniest Pet Videos, where a deerhound (most of which are about six feet tall if they stand on their hind legs) would creep into bed every night with its owners by pulling out the covers at the foot of the bed and slithering up between them. I used that situation in Highland Spirits. I often see deerhounds at Scottish games I attend to sign books. They are sweet, wonderful dogs, very intelligent and very loyal. So, when I opened Highland Master with the heroine, Lady Catriona Mackintosh, walking through the woods, it seemed only natural to give her a companion. Since the book is set in 1401, Boreas is a wolf dog, rather than a deerhound. Authorities believe that wealthy or powerful Scotsmen imported Irish “wolf dogs” into Scotland to help reduce a Scottish wolf problem in the medieval period. Theory is that that ancestor evolved into both the Irish wolfhound and the Scottish deerhound. I was delighted to see that a female deerhound won Best in Show at the Westminster this year! 
uncertainty. Freedom hung in the balance, a wager determined by battles on distant shores. Yet on the home front, it was a woman's role to forge on with diligence and grace. 
about each other. Everyone it seems is out for number one and they just leave everyone else behind. I feel as if the world would be a better place if people cared about each other. How nice would it be for someone, when you or someone you love is threatened, to stand up for you and say to the enemy, "If you want to get through them, you have to go through me." Even the Bible says, "Happy is the man who lays down his life for his friends." How many of us would lay down our lives for the other? When did we get so single minded and afraid? In the old days, people fought for each other and they were honorable who did. They were considered hero's. 
