Humor

Donna Andrews: Probable Caws

by

Meg Lanslow #39

After 27 years, 40 books, and unprecedented number of punny bird titles, the Meg Langslow series remains fresh and entertaining as ever. #40 (Jay to the World) will be released in time for Christmas and #39 (Probable Caws) is available now. In Probable Caws Meg and her family are helping retired heavy metal drummer Ragnar Ragnarsen cope with temporarily housing fifty horses from Hoof and Hearth rescue on his estate.

Why move the horses? Able Abernathy, who owns the farm where Hoof and Hearth is based, has just lost his father who apparently died intestate. That means Able does not technically own the farm and his co-inheritor brother George’s only interest in the farm is selling it for a profit. Did George to try harm the horses so his brother would move them off the farm, making it easier to sell? Is there a missing will that might prevent the sale of the farm? And when there’s a murder at Ragnar’s farm, is it related to the horses, the dispute over the farm, or something else? read more

J.D. Brinkworth: The Pie and Mash Detective Agency

by

Debut

This charming, funny book, set in present day London, follows the adventures of Jane Pye and Simon Mash, a dating couple who decide to take a detective class at their local learning center.  (To a US reader, this will translate as a community college course.) Jane is between jobs, aka unemployed, and while Simon is working, he’s still willing to go along with Jane on her lark, which started with a book on detection that proved only too inspiring.

As a final assignment, the teacher (and working private eye) Gavin, assigns each team in the class a case to be solved.  He gives the only unsolved case to Jane and Simon, and, as it later becomes clear, it’s one he himself has been frustrated by for decades. Jane and Simon plunge right in, going to interview the witness, Dev, whose girlfriend has vanished.  The only problem is that the police don’t believe she ever existed as Dev doesn’t have a photo of her, she doesn’t seem to be a voter, be on National Health, or have a passport or driver’s license. read more

Rhys Bowen: From Cradle to Grave

by

Royal Spyness #19

February 1937.  King Edward VIII has abdicated the British throne to be with his beloved Mrs. Simpson in Paris, his brother George VI awaits his coronation, and Lady Georgie is busy enjoying being a new mother and running the country house of her godfather, Sir Hubert. Alas, her peaceful home life is soon destroyed by the arrival of the horrible Nanny Hardbottle, sent by her dreadful sister-in-law Fig to bring Georgie’s life up to Fig’s cold worst-of-British childrearing standards. As if the anti-Mary Poppins isn’t bad enough, Fig herself soon arrives and settles into Georgie’s comfortable house to avoid the worst of the Scottish winter and shows no sign of leaving. read more

Colleen Gleason: Lady Darling Inquires After a Killer

by

Series debut

Colleen Gleason (who also writes as Colleen Cambridge) adds a new series to her considerable list of works with a new series featuring Lady Darling, set in 1898 London. The Dowager Marchioness of Darling, Irene Colchester, has decided to return to London after a long sabbatical in the countryside. She’s helping a dear friend of hers who happens to be too ill to introduce her daughter to society by assisting that daughter in looking for a husband. Lady Darling is well respected but seen as a bit eccentric, and is the perfect sponsor for young Priscilla Bedwith. With all of her own children married off, Lady Darling has plenty of time and connections to help Priscilla make a success of her debut Season. Her secret hope is to marry the girl off quickly so that she can return to the countryside and avoid the frivolity of high society politics and gossip. Lady Darling has very little patience for wasting time on what she sees as frivolous conversation and false niceties, although she does put her best foot forward whenever she happens to be stuck in said social situations. read more

Katarina Bivald: Just Another Dead Author

by

Just Another Dead Author is Katarina Bivald’s follow up to her charming Edgar winner, The Murders in Great Diddling. Set in Lyon in the French countryside, Chateau des Livres is the setting for a literary retreat featuring main character and author Berit Gardner. Berit is a very pragmatic, inquisitive, and creative individual. Her dear friend Emma Scott, literary enthusiast and former bookstore owner, has managed to convince her to agree to be a speaker at the literary retreat. While speaking to large crowds and mentoring other authors isn’t Berit’s idea of a party, she is determined to help her friend. read more

Elise Bryant: The Game is Afoot

by

Mavis Miller #2

Reading this book and the one before it, It’s Elementary, I was reminded that the perils of raising a kid come with a mega peril: other parents.  The heroine of the series, Mavis, is a newly single mom who lives with her retired dad and a very adorable 8-year-old named Pearl.  Mavis, one of the few black moms at the suburban elementary school which Pearl attends, is extra attuned to the passive aggressive judging that goes on in school parking lots everywhere. These days, facebook groups and social media in general seem to have ramped things up even more. read more

Lynn Cahoon: An Amateur Sleuth’s Guide to Murder

by

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

Krista Davis: The Diva Poaches a Bad Egg

by

Domestic Diva #18

When she’s not busy solving mysteries, Domestic Diva Sophie Winston writes a column on decorating and entertaining. If you like cozies, this is the series for you! Sophie lives in a historical house in Old Town Alexandria with her dog Daisy, ocicat Mochie, and possibly the ghost of her ex-husband’s Aunt Faye. Sophie’s split with Mars was amicable and they share custody of Daisy. He lives nearby with his old friend Bernie Frei, a Brit who owns the Laughing Hound restaurant, and both share Sophie’s adventures. Her best friend Nina rounds the close group of friends who spend lots of time enjoying food, drink, and solving mysteries. Each book is prefaced with a list of the characters and ends with Sophie’s recipes. The only thing missing is a map! (I love those old mysteries with maps.) read more

Freya Sampson: The Busybody Book Club

by

I loved this book and its Cornwall setting. It begins with the heroine, former Londoner Nova, fretting that no one will show up for the book club she runs at the local Community Center.  Luckily a few people do straggle in, led by the overwhelming Phyllis, who is so entirely bossy that she’s allowed to bring her smelly dog with her wherever she goes. She’s joined by the affable, older Art, who reads romances to his now blind wife who loves them, a painfully shy teen, Ash, and a man named Michael who seems to have come from afar to join the club but seems to have read little of the book they’re discussing. read more

Jesse Q. Sutanto: Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man)

by

Vera Wong #2

These books are like comfy, beautiful pillows for your brain, and, let me tell you, these days that’s not a bad thing.  Vera, the heroine of the series, is the 60 something widow who, in the first book, finds a dead body in the middle of her formerly obscure tea shop, ultimately finding friends and a purpose in the act of solving a murder.  Vera is opinionated, bossy, maternal, and an excellent cook, who as the book opens, gets a scam phone call which cons her into sharing her social security number and even a photo of her driver’s licence. read more