Kensington Cozies

Alex Erickson: Death by Red Velvet Latte

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Bookstore Café #16

Bookstore café owner Krissy Hancock has her hands full. In addition to running her shop (Death by Coffee in Pine Hills, Ohio), she’s preparing for her wedding, and she and her best friend/co-owner Vicki are getting ready to open a second store in California. She’s also dealing with out-of-town guests and trying to find a baker to make her wedding cake.

Krissy and her fiancé Police Officer Paul Dalton have decided on a red velvet wedding cake (and red velvet lattes, as the title suggests), but they have not decided on a baker. They interview two competing local bakers who provide samples and resumes. The next morning when Krissy goes to the bakery to inform the winner, she finds both men dead, apparently after an epic fight that ended in mutual destruction. To make matters worse, just as Krissy picks up a rolling pin spattered with red velvet cake, an assistant baker walks in and assumes Krissy is the murderer. read more

Leslie Meier: Countdown to Christmas Murder

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Lucy Stone  #32             

It’s been years since I’ve read a Lucy Stone mystery but I couldn’t resist this holiday tale and I loved it so much I could hardly put it down! Lucy and her husband are now empty-nesters and as Christmas approaches, Lucy just hopes all her children come home for the holiday.

Tinker’s Cove, Maine, is gearing up for the holidays with a Merrie Olde Christmas festival that keeps Lucy busy rehearsing her Mrs. Cratchit role when she’s not working as a reporter and features writer for the Courier, now in print and online, covering all the related holiday events. Among Lucy’s assignments is interviewing Merrie Old Christmas volunteers. She starts with bank manager Bert Cosgrove, an all-around nice guy who is very enthusiastic about playing Marley’s ghost in the Christmas Carol vignettes and being a judge for the plum pudding contest – but after his interview is published he’s attacked online when someone posts nasty photos and comments about him. (I learned that attacking someone’s reputation online like this is called doxing. I had no idea there was a term for it!) And he’s not the first; at least two other people Lucy knows have been doxed. read more

Cleo Coyle: The Ghost and the Dead Librarian

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Haunted Bookshop Detective #1

This series appears new but is actually is a continuation of Coyle’s nine-book Haunted Bookshop Mystery series, published by Berkeley under the pseudonym Alice Kimberly. I’m so glad Kensington has picked up this series!

Young widow Penelope Thornton-McClure and her Aunt Sadie own Buy the Books, a mystery bookshop in Quindicott, RI. (Isn’t that the best bookstore name ever?!) Unbeknownst to everyone except Pen and her cat Bookmark, the shop is haunted by the ghost of 1940s PI Jack Shepard. Jack died in the shop so he’s stuck there for eternity but he gladly helps Pen solve suspicious deaths in their town. Pen’s only rule: don’t haunt the customers. read more

Traci Hall: Murder at a Scottish Halloween

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Scottish Shire #8

It’s Halloween in Nairn, a small seaside village in northern Scotland, and when teenage Brody Shaw accepts a dare to video the Wraith of Rait Ruins at a local castle, things go seriously wrong. Brody flees the ghost in terror, drops his phone, and returns to face his friends in shame. Worse, when he and mum Paislee return to look for his phone later that night, they find the dead body of a local teen dressed as the wraith. Was her death an accident or was it related to a theft at Cawdor Castle the same night? And who is leaving fliers promoting Scottish independence at crime scenes in the area? read more

Molly MacRae: All Shell Breaks Loose

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Haunted Shell Shop #3

In Molly MacRae’s Haunted Shell Shop series, Maureen Nash runs the Moon Shell shop on Carolina’s Ocracoke Island. Other than selling shells in a lovely island location, Maureen also is part of a mystery solving team with her landlords and friends Glady and Burt Weaver. The two siblings are always ready to bring a flare of theatrics and drama to every investigation, and just everyday life on the island. The final member of their team is an eighteenth-century Welsh pirate, Emrys Lloyd. Only Maureen can hear and see Emrys. read more

Lee Hollis: The Chowder House Murder

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Series debut: Downeast Maine

The brother sister team that is Lee Hollis begins a new series with The Chowder House Murder. Halibut Cove, Maine, is the home to the Holbrook family: Audrey Holbrook, her mother Jill, and her grandmother Maggie are the heroines of this cozy. All three women have very different lives. Audrey works at The Chowder House and aspires to own her own business one day, creating delicious recipes for everyone in Halibut Cove to enjoy. Jill is the chief of police and is determined to dole out justice to anyone causing grief in her town. Maggie is retired from the family chowder dynasty, but well known and loved around Halibut, having her fingers in a bunch of different pies and a social circle that spans the entire town. read more

Krista Davis: The Diva Hosts a Murderer

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Domestic Diva Mysteries  #19 

It’s the 4th of July in Old Town, VA and Sophie Winston has a houseful of family and friends to entertain for the holiday. Between historical tours of Old Town and Washington, DC, holiday events, and lots of delicious meals, trouble arises when neighbor Dollie Peabody reports finding a body in her yard – but when the police arrive the body is gone. Did she imagine it and does she also imagine the voices and other noises she claims to hear in her house at night? And what’s up with Aunt Mellie’s new hubby Gus, whom she impetuously married during a trip to Las Vegas? Why does his friend Stan tag along for a family vacation at Sophie’s? And just who is Sophie’s sister Hannah sneaking out to see each night? read more

Sarah Graves: Death by Chocolate Ladyfingers

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Death by Chocolate #9

In Sarah Graves’ Death by Chocolate series, Jacobia “Jake” Tiptree runs the Chocolate Moose bakery in Eastport, Maine. Her partner and friend Ellie White have a reputation for serving up baked goods to die for, and finding out what people died for. Death by Chocolate Ladyfingers takes place in the summer amidst several town celebrations, including a class reunion, which provides Jake and Ellie with plenty of catering opportunities.

Class reunions tend to bring up more than memories of good times with friends — they also bring up old flames, grudges, and resentments. However, most high school angst does not result in a body. Cindy Munson is found murdered at the reunion’s masquerade dance. The primary suspect ends up being her ex-husband and grown high school bully, Terry Lawson. Given that Cindy’s body was found in Terry’s car, the local authorities do not see this as a difficult solve. However, a six-year-old daughter of Terry and Cindy, Ivy, is now caught up in a strange town with no one to look after her and no foster families readily available to take her in. As a former foster care kid herself, Jake feels compelled to help Ivy avoid the trauma of being drawn into the system and takes her in. Determined to figure out the truth so Ivy can either be reunited with her father, or protected from him, Jake and Ellie begin to investigate, which can be a little tricky when you also have a small child you are responsible for. There aren’t a lot of options for amateur sleuth childcare. Luckily, Jake’s parents come home early and are able to help take over some of the watch. read more

Lynn Cahoon: Confessions of an Amateur Sleuth

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Bainbridge Island #2

In Lynn Cahoon’s second Bainbridge Island mystery, Meg Gates has taken to island life, being embraced as one of the locals rather than a tourist. She’s working at her mother’s bookstore, Island Books, and is dating a childhood friend, Dalton, who works on the ferry. Things are looking up from the absolute dumpster fire that her life had become when her ex-fiancé broke off their engagement and went on their honeymoon with one of her bridesmaids. Quite a way for her life to fall apart, but she got to go home again and found a place to live renting from her aunt and working at the bookstore for her mother. She’s also begun to write, thanks to encouragement from her job working for the famous, yet reclusive, author Lilly Aster. read more

Darci Hannah: A Spirited Supper at Dundoon Castle

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Food & Spirits #2

In Darci Hannah’s second Food & Spirits mystery, famous chef Bridget ‘Bunny’ McBride had thought she was finally getting her big break in her televised culinary career when she joined up with the Food & Spirits team. She learned the hard way that one should always read a contract in its entirety, especially the fine print. But because she didn’t, she is now stuck on a ghost hunting team that serves meals specifically tailored to the period and tastes of the ghost they are hunting. Her gift for communicating with said spirits is definitely helpful, and now Bunny is embracing her role as part of the ghost hunting team and exploring her abilities to better help spirits find peace. read more