Carla Schantz

Molly MacRae: There’ll be Shell to Pay

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Haunted Shell Shop #2

Molly MacRae’s Haunted Shell Shop series returns with There’ll be Shell to Pay. Our shell shop sleuth and malacologist, Maureen Nash, is settling into her new home on the island of Ocracoke. The shell shop is named Moon Shell after a beautifully and intricately carved shell on display – a shell that is also the tether for accidental pirate ghost Emrys Lloyd. While Maureen’s introduction to Ocracoke in the first book in the series was possibly the most disastrous one any new resident could dream of, she has now made plenty of friends around the island, including the Weaver siblings that live across the way, Bert and Gladys, and is settling in nicely to make the Moon Shell her own. read more

Lynn Cahoon: An Amateur Sleuth’s Guide to Murder

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Series debut

An Amateur Sleuth’s Guide to Murder sounds like an instructional booklet, but is actually the most recent of Lynn Cahoon’s novels. Meg Gates is our protagonist, and readers join her at the lowest point of her life. Her fiancé has just left her, right before their wedding, to take their honeymoon trip with one of her bridesmaids. Understandably, Meg is determined to get out of what was their shared Seattle apartment, and onto rebuilding her life before the happy couple returns. Luckily, she has plenty of friends and family living nearby on the island of Bainbridge ready to help her do just that. Her aunt even has an apartment to rent her at the friends and family rate to help her get back on her feet. Meg is grateful to not having to face restarting her life alone, even if she does also feel like she ‘failed’ spectacularly at life up to this point. But when you reach the bottom, there is nowhere to go but up. Or so she hopes. read more

Ann Clair: A Cyclist’s Guide to Villains and Vines

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Cyclist Guide #2

A Cyclist’s Guide to Villains and Vines is Ann Clair’s second Cyclist’s Guide Mysteries novel. Sadie Green owns and operates Oui Cycling Bicycling Tour Company, and runs various tours throughout France. Sadie is passionate about cycling and France, happy to be fortunate enough to make a living doing what she loves. Having moved here from America, she is striving to fit into the new life she has built for herself, alongside her fellow tour guides and coworkers. It’s not an easy thing to do when murders keep happening on her tours, as it tends to make the wrong kind of reputation for the business. Even though she helped solve the last murder, it seemed to just increase her notoriety and give her the reputation of the detective tour guide rather than just the cyclist tour guide. read more

Paula Sutton: The Potting Shed Murder

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Hill House Vintage Murder #1

One of the most interesting things about The Potting Shed Murder is that readers get to experience the inner thoughts and perspectives of most of the characters involved in the story. Instead of just experiencing how the detective, in this case a Daphne Brewster, thinks, readers get to see how the other townsfolk view one another and react to the murder. Daphne and her family are brand new to the English county village of Pudding Corner and are thus under a lot of scrutiny from the community. She is also one of the very few black members of this community, and is fully aware that means she is getting perhaps a bit more scrutiny than another new neighbor might. Even so, Daphne is determined to make a life in Pudding Corner after leaving the rather intense and expensive life of London behind. read more

Elizabeth Penney: Bodies and Battlements

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New series

Bodies and Battlements is the first Ravensea Castle mystery by Elizabeth Penney. Readers are taken to the Yorkshire Coast in Robinhood’s Bay, where Ravensea castle stands near the shore. The Asquith family has lived in the castle for generations, and with bills piling up Ravensea Castle is undergoing a dramatic transformation to a B&B location. Nora, full title Eleanor Sibilla Asquith, is spear heading the effort with the blessing of her father and contention from her siblings. She runs her own little apothecary, but the funds just aren’t enough for the upkeep of the castle. Despite the lack of support from her siblings and the push back and protests from some new locals, Nora manages to get Ravensea all up to code, ready to run as an official B&B, and get her first guests registered. She just hopes that their resident ghost, Sir Percival, stays inactive long enough to not scare anyone off. read more

Diane Kelly: Dead Post Society

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House Flipper #7

In Diane Kelly’s seventh House flipper Mystery, Dead Post Society, main character Whitney Flynn, a carpenter in Nashville Tennessee, works with her father and cousin Buck. She and her cousin  also flip houses, and she solves mysteries in her spare time. Her husband and homicide detective Collin isn’t always pleased to have her poking around in murder cases. His love for her motivates him to want her to stay out of it and be safe, the detective in him welcomes her insight and whatever clues she happens to supply. Currently, Whitney and Buck haven’t been flipping houses for a few months because his wife is about to give birth to their first child. The family is beyond excited, and once the little bundle of joy arrives, it doesn’t take Whitney long to come across a fresh project for them. read more

Korina Moss: Bait and Swiss

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Cheese Shop #6

Gouda news readers, the sixth book in Korina Moss’ Cheese Shop Mystery series is here. In Bait and Swiss, Willa Bauer is celebrating the second year of her shop, Curds and Whey, being open and successful in Yarrow Glen. Her employees and friends, Mrs. Schultz and Archie, are now also joined by a fellow cheese enthusiast, June. Willa is rightfully proud of her shop’s success and is going all out for its birthday celebration, complete with cheese from around the world themes on rotation throughout the day and costumes to match. There is more cause to celebrate around town when Hope is ready to reveal and open her new cakery shop. Ever ready to support her community and friends, Willa and team are excited to attend the grand opening event, until she sees who Hope’s new partners are. read more

Allie Pleiter: One Sharp Stitch

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Nimble Needle #1

One Sharp Stitch is the first of the Nimble Needle Mysteries by Allie Pleiter. Readers are taken to Gwen Lake, outside of Asheville, North Carolina, with Shelby Phillips. Having just lost her job as well as a possible relationship, Shelby is headed home for a break from her life and to help her mother out at her needlepoint shop, the Nimble Needle. Her parents are finally taking a vacation in their RV. Shelby will only be minding the shop for a month, as she keeps reminding her parents and her perfectionist sister, Jessica. There’s also a trunk show coming up for local vendors, and Shelby will have to work with an old classmate, Kat Katsaros, who now makes needlework scissors — very artsy and expensive needlework scissors. Kat also sharpens blades of all kinds in a van that she happily uses to transport her scissors and crafts. read more

Lauren Elliott: A Spirited Blend

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Crystals & CuriosiTEAS #3

In Lauren Elliott’s third Crystals & CuriosiTEAS mystery, A Spirited Blend, Shayleigh Myers is making the most of her life in Bray Harbor, California as a tea shop owner and local seer. After having her life completely destroyed, and everything taken from her, Shayleigh is slow to trust and cautious of new ventures. Despite that, Bray Harbor has quickly begun to feel like home thanks to the lovely locals, a large white German Shepard named Spirit, and her sister Jen and her family. Not only is she learning how to run her tea shop, she’s also having to learn how work with and use her ancestors powerful magic, known as Early Magic. For the longest time, she fought against the validity of her visions and the magic local Gran Madigan talked about. However, there’s only so much proof denial can stand against, and now Shayleigh is embracing the magic and learning to respect the dangers that come with it. read more

V.M. Burns: The Next Deadly Chapter

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Mystery Bookshop #10

In V. M Burns’ mystery bookshop series, Samantha Washington, who prefers to go by Sam, owns a bookstore in Michigan and is a recent publisher of her own cozy mystery. Thanks to the support from her grandmother, Nana Jo, and her friends from the Shady Acres Retirement Village. Sam has not only written about murder, but has solved a few as well, including one where the ever ornery and confrontational Sheriff Brad Pitt, or Stinky Pitt as they prefer to call him, ended up in her debt, much to his horror and embarrassment. Sam has also recently become engaged to her friend and former investigator Frank Patterson. It really does seem that Sam’s life is looking up, even with the murders she keeps helping to solve. read more