December 2022 New Cozies

 Thank you to the authors, publishers, and NetGalley for providing these ARCs in exchange for honest reviews. The recipe reviews and food pairing found on my Instagram feed  are of my own doing. 

DECEMBER 27TH RELEASES

Muffin But the Truth
A Bakeshop Mystery
Ellie Alexander
St. Martin’s Paperbacks

 

An Executive Team that needs more than just building, hires Jules and Torte to cater their roughing it and rafting retreat complete with all the glamping essentials. I am not sure that toxic truly illustrates just how bad the work relations are with the Bamboo group, the boss would make a great victim because no one seems to like her and she doesn’t seem to like her employees. While the employee that everyone says good things about ends up as the victim. The whole time I am reading this story I am wondering to myself why these people have not found new jobs and moved on! Needless to say there are plenty of suspects; there are also plenty of likable characters thanks to Jules and company. Torte would be an amazing place to work or frequent, between the menus and those who create such tantalizing food and drink.  Then there is Jules and Carlos who make a dynamic and loving couple and have worked hard to achieve their happy ever after. No need to read the earlier installments of the series as the backstory is worked in where and when needed, but you are going to want to go back and start at the beginning.  Not to mention the great collection of recipes that you will acquire with each book.  

Rum and Choke
A Chloe Jackson Sea Glass Saloon Mystery
Sherry Harris
Kensington Cozies

No one mentioned the Florida Panhandle Barback Games to Chloe, nor did they mention that she was going to be representing the Sea Glass Saloon, or that it would be against “ringers” who doubled as professional athletes of sorts. Former librarian now bartender in training and half owner of the Sea Glass saloon, Chloe Jackson, is well settled in her new lifestyle serving drinks and running on the sandy beach, she has discovered her groove and a little romance. It will be easy they said, they would prep her they said, plenty of time (10 days) to get ready. She wasn’t planning on having to do a little reconnaissance either, that is a job for Ann Williams the local fixer and descendant of the notorious John Lafitte. Speaking of Ann, she needs Chloe’s help too, to locate a treasure and to find out who killed the one contestant whom Ann knew the world renowned triathlete better than most of the locales, seems that they had some history.  There are so many things to keep Chloe busy, so many places to go, people to see, questions to ask, near misses to miss. Surely your interest is peaked? One of the best parts about this series is that Chloe is so fun to follow, completely relatable, and she shares plenty of backstory so you don’t have to know how she ended up in Emerald Cove or who all the players are since there is a list of Heritage Business characters at the start of every story.   So do you know how to make a lime rickey? Well you will after reading this cozy, maybe look up the recipe and enjoy it while you’re reading. 

  

DECEMBER 6TH RELEASES

Frozen Detective: A Piper and Porter Mystery
Amanda Flowers
Hallmark Publishing

It is the end of the year, when the world seems to slow down and the PI jobs seems to have gone cold. For Darby Piper and Tate Porter, background checks pay the bills but they aren’t any sort of exciting. A weekend at the exclusive Garden Peak Lodge and the threat of murder on New Year’s, now that sounds a bit more exciting. The only drawback is the rather rude and uppity female client Tate was friends with back in high school. Of course that was a while ago, and nobody stays the same. Dressed to the nines with champagne flowing and amazing food to snack on (check out the recipe for Goat Cheese Phyllo Puffs located at the end of the book) Darby and Tate get busy posing as a couple while looking for possible threats. Little did they realize that their very own client would look to be guilty, of course the spouse is always first on the suspect list. A weekend for people to pitch their beauty/skin care ideas to Dr. Garret Madd owner of MaddlyCare. So why is he being threatened and who would profit the most from his death? Cecily (do not call her CeCe) was going to be replaced by a younger spokesmodel, but was that all she was being replaced for or was there more. Not everyone was able to pitch their ideas and no all ideas were accepted, could it be an unhappy guest. Then there is the fact that Cecily is looking to sell the lodge, which was bequeathed to her by her late father with the understanding that her half-brother would continue on as ski instructor with a place to live. The job goes from looking for a threatening note writer to looking for a killer and having to share the scene with the cops, or rather with Darby’s ex-boyfriend Austin Caster who seems to have no respect for Darby’s abilities even after she figured out who had caused the death of her past partner, Samantha Porter, Tate’s aunt. There is lots of action, mystery, suspects, misdirects, and plenty of subtle warm fuzzies between Darby and Tate, or rather Tate is trying to be warm and Darby gets a little fuzzy with trust issues (due to being dumped, thrice by Officer Austin) and past relationship regrets (not that she would ever tell Austin that she missed him…sometimes). I am rooting for Tate since Austin just can't seem to appreciate or value Darby's abilities. 

Sleuthing in Stilettos
A Resale Boutique Mystery
Debra Sennefelder
Lyrical Press

Kelly Quinn has had a tough year, the death of close cousin, being forced to keep a secret for the sake of family, and the possible loss of a lifelong friendship. Keeping busy seems to help, there are always new consignors and the Shop Small Saturday event planning helps, but is it too much? Things seem to go missing and Kelly isn’t remembering to lock doors or send messages, is she getting overwhelmed?  Kelly doesn’t think so, and when she and her part time Boutique clerk Breena find shoe store owner Miranda, dead and Kelly’s uncle Ralph standing over her body…Again, Kelly is asked to help family and make sure that uncle Ralph is off of the suspect list. It shouldn’t be too hard, not one single person has said one good thing about Miranda Farrell’s return since she left Lucky Cover twenty years ago under a dark cloud and two dead husbands. Kelly is the sort of sleuth who can ask the tough questions, although it doesn’t make her popular. She is also smart enough to share what she learns with her sort of boyfriend, Detective Nate Barber. So many suspects and are they ever touchy about being questioned, are they hiding something or is it a bit of red herring? Plenty of backstory, so yes this is a stand-alone cozy mystery but you will want to read the others to see just how much Kelly has become a party of the community which has become part of her family.