St. Martin’s

Korina Moss: Curds of Prey

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Korina Moss provides a savory take on food-themed cozies with the third addition to her Cheese Shop series. Curds of Prey follows cheese monger and owner of Yarrow Glen’s cheese shop Cruds & Whey, Willa Bauer. Willa is trying to navigate a potential new relationship with Roman, as well as catering to the wedding of two of the more powerful families in the town. The wedding involves the nephew of the Mayor, Nelson Trumbull, and Summer Harrington, daughter to one of the richest families around. While this may seem straight forward enough, there is violent chaos from the get go. Roman stops by to surprise Willa during a cheese testing for the wedding party, and gets into a fight with Nelson. While this does not ruin Willa’s chance at getting her cheese to the wedding shower, it does put Willa on guard – and not just about her cheese. Things only get more chaotic when the wedding shower is about to begin with yet another fight disrupting the set up. It isn’t until the wedding shower is called off that Willa dares to hope things might calm down, only to discover the body of the would-be-groom Nelson in the stables. Given the condition of his body, there is no question he is a victim of murder. Thus, she finds herself plunged into another murder mystery. read more

Chevy Stevens: Dark Roads

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If you know Chevy Stevens you know Dark Roads will be a great read because, well, all her books are great reads. No one does the kind of contemporary suspense, rooted in the fabric of the way we live now (pre-covid anyway) like Chevy. She’s kind of a female Harlan Coben, but to me she writes with more compassion and greater depth.

The titular dark road is Cold Creek Highway, a lonely, desolate stretch where many women have disappeared over the years and not quite as many bodies have been found. Hailey McBride moves into the town of Cold Creek to live with her aunt after her father dies, only to find that this refuge has a decided drawback in the form of her aunt’s new husband, the menacing cop Vaughn. read more

Elizabeth Penney: Thread and Dead

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There are all kinds of cozies involving small businesses, but this is the first series I’ve read where the small business in question sells vintage aprons and other types of vintage linens – sheets, dishtowels, etc.  As described by Penney, the shop sounds not only mouthwatering but fairly realistic.  Iris and her Grammie, who brought her up, run the apron store in Blueberry Cove, Maine (maybe it’s near the more famous Cabot Cove?) and she’s surrounded with a great mix of friends and a great setting. read more