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Amateur Sleuth

Book Review: Puzzling Ink by Becky Clark

By Janet Webb

November 20, 2020

Quinn Carr is one of the most authentic and unusual crime solvers it’s been my pleasure to meet. Puzzling Ink is set in the fictional town of Chestnut Station near Denver. A small community where everyone knows your name is so appealing and Clark brings it to life beautifully.  The town of Chestnut Station was…

Book Review: Fortune Favors the Dead by Stephen Spotswood

By Angie Barry

October 22, 2020

Fortune Favors the Dead opens with a real corker: “The first time I met Lillian Pentecost, I nearly caved her skull in with a piece of lead pipe.” And, BAM!—we already know we’re in for a thrilling ride. It’s 1940’s New York, and our heroes are an unconventional pair. For starters, they’re not heroes—they’re heroines.…

Book Review: The Bodies in the Library by Marty Wingate

By Terrie Farley Moran

October 7, 2019

Earlier this year at the always exciting mystery conference, Malice Domestic, I was fortunate enough to meet author Marty Wingate. Although our conversation was brief, I found her quite engaging. And since Marty writes cozies, which are my all-time favorite reads, I could not understand why it is that I have never read any of her…

Foul Play on Words by Becky Clark

Book Review: Foul Play on Words by Becky Clark

By Amber Keller

April 23, 2019

In Foul Play on Words by Becky Clark, mystery writer Charlee Russo has to juggle a kidnapping, a writer’s conference and a hotel that has gone to the dogs, and she worries that she may have bitten off more than she can chew. When mystery author Charlee Russo helps her friend Viv Lundquist by agreeing to be…

Book Review: The Pomeranian Always Barks Twice by Alex Erickson

By John Valeri

March 24, 2019

Alex Erickson’s The Pomeranian Always Barks Twice is the first of the new Furever Pets Mystery series where helping animals is a family business for the Dentons—but after a shocking murder, it’s Liz Denton’s son who might end up in a cage… Alex Erickson—real name: Eric S. Moore—is the author of the popular six-book (and growing) Bookshop Café Mystery…

From HR to PI

By SupaduDev

August 18, 2017

Read this exclusive guest post from Adam Walker Phillips, then make sure to sign in and comment below for a chance to win a copy of The Silent Second! Human Resources and private detection were never meant to be a good match. The basic premise for a new kind of amateur sleuth was to throw…

Death Wears a Mask by Ashley Weaver

Death Wears a Mask: New Excerpt

By Ashley Weaver

October 14, 2015

Death Wears a Mask by Ashley Weaver is the 2nd historical cozy in the Amory Ames mystery series set in 1932 London (available October 13, 2015). Amory Ames is looking forward to a tranquil period of reconnecting with reformed playboy husband Milo after an unexpected reconciliation following the murderous events at the Brightwell Hotel. Amory…

Sky High: Exclusive Excerpt

By Susan O'Brien

September 27, 2015

Sky High by Susan O'Brien is the 2nd cozy in the Nicki Valentine mystery series about the single mom and new P.I. (available September 29, 2015). Single mom and rookie P.I. Nicki Valentine rarely gets time off, so attending a wedding with her superhot colleague Dean sounds dreamy. But things turn nightmarish when the groom—a…

Come Hell or Highball: New Excerpt

By Maia Chance

September 12, 2015

Come Hell or Highball by Maia Chance is the debut historical cozy in the Discreet Retrieval Agency Mystery Series set in the 1920s and featuring Lola, a recent high-society widow (available September 15, 2015). 31-year-old society matron Lola Woodby has survived her loveless marriage with an unholy mixture of highballs, detective novels, and chocolate layer…

Better Homes and Corpses: New Excerpt

By Kathleen Bridge

August 2, 2015

Better Homes and Corpses by Kathleen Bridge is the debut cozy in the Hamptons Home & Garden Mystery Series set in the swanky east-end of Long Island, NY (available August 4, 2015). In between scouring estate sales for her new interior design business, Cottages by the Sea, Meg visits the swanky East Hampton home of…

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