New Cozy Releases for July

It's summer time! Beaches and pools, decks and barbecues. And new books to read!

Linda Wiken

Toasting Up Trouble

Dinner Club Mysteries, #1

Berkley Prime Crime

ISBN: 978-0-425-278215

This first in a new culinary series is by Linda Wiken, the alter ego of National Bestselling author Erika Chase.

Event planner J.J. Tanner has a full plate but that’s the way she likes it. First, it’s her turn to choose the recipe for the next meeting of the Culinary Capers dinner Club, a gathering of foodie friends who experiment with entrees for their creative and gastronomical pleasure. Second, she’s organizing an Italian princess party for the twenty-one-year-old daughter of a high-tech millionaire.

But one thing she didn’t plan on was that the hot shot caterer for the event would end up murdered the night of the party. Or that she’d end up being a prime suspect after having a heated argument with him. Now it’s up to J.J. – with help from her fellow dinner club members and a handsome if mysterious private eye – to turn the tables on the real killer.

Cheryl Hollon

Cracked to Death

Webb's Glass Shop Mysteries Book #3

Kensington

ISBN:  978-1-61773-764-0

When a treasure hunt leads to deadly plunder, it's up to glass shop owner Savannah Webb and her trusty investigative posse to map out the true motives of a killer . . .

It's the dog days of summer in St. Petersburg, Florida, and Webb's Glass Shop proprietor Savannah Webb has an eco-friendly plan to help locals escape the heat--a recyclable bottle-crafting workshop taught by reticent store manager Amanda Blake. Turns out, the class is a bigger smash than expected, thanks in part to a pair of staggeringly old bottles brought in by snorkeler Martin Lane . . .

Linked to a storied pirate shipwreck, the relics definitely pique Savannah's interest. But intrigue turns to shock when Martin's lifeless body washes ashore the next morning, another glass artifact tucked in his dive bag. With cell phone records connecting Amanda to the drowning, Savannah must voyage through unchartered territory to exonerate her colleague and capture the twisted criminal behind Martin's death . . . 

Terrie Farley Moran

Read to Death

Read ’Em and Eat  # 3

Berkley Prime Crime

978-0425270301

The national bestselling author of Well Read, Then Dead and Caught Read-Handed revisits Fort Myers Beach, Florida, where the proprietors of a local bookstore café occasionally take a stab at solving murder...

At their seaside Read ‘Em and Eat bookstore café, Sassy Cabot and Bridgy Mayfield offer fresh scones, great books, and excellent detective work…

With their book club season wrapping up with The Florida Life of Thomas Edison, Sassy and Bridgy decide to take their group on a day trip to the beautiful Edison and Ford Winter Estates. Hiring driver Oscar Frieland, who’s known for his colorful stories  and love of the café’s Robert Frost fruit tartlets, the bibliophiles set off for a day of sunshine and history.

After a lovely excursion, the club returns to the café for lunch and a book discussion, but the group falls silent after Oscar is found dead in his van. The sheriff’s deputies have some questions of their own for the group, and if the ladies don’t find some answers soon, the next book they read might be from a prison library.

Delicious recipes included.