Series-ously Good New Mysteries: June Edition

I can hardly believe that half the year is almost gone. Here are the mystery series titles that caught my eye this month.

This month brings the sixth installment of the Geezer-lit series by Mike Befeler. It's called Nursing Homes are Murder and follows Care Homes are Murder. Paul Jacobson, who suffers from short-term memory loss, becomes an undercover resident at a nursing home to help the Honolulu police track down a sexual assault perpetrator. The police give Paul the names of three persons-of-interest and Paul begins investigating. None of the three appear suspicious. As Paul continues to investigate, the sexual assaults continue. Eventually, though, Paul discovers the culprit.

Amanda Cooper is beginning a new series with Tempest in a Teapot. It is the first title in the Teapot Collector mystery series and sounds interesting. When Sophie Taylor's fashionable Manhattan restaurant goes under, she comes home to her grandmother's cozy shop, Auntie Rose's Victorian Teahouse. Sophie is surprised to find a busy calendar of events at the teahouse, including her old friend Cissy Peterson's upcoming bridal shower. When Cissy's fiance's mother dies while sampling scones at a rival establishment, Sophie jumps into action to help her friend.


Thread End by Amanda Lee is the seventh title in the Embroidery mystery series, following Cross Stitch Before Dying. Marcy Singer owns the shop the Seven-Year Stitch in Tallulah Falls. She can't wait to see the new antique tapestries and textiles exhibit at the local museum. However, her excitement turns to terror when the day after the exhibit opens, she find a dead body behind her store. The victim appears to be a visiting art professor. Along with her boyfriend, Detective Ted Nash, Marcy investigates to find a desperate killer.

Death Takes a Ride by Lorena McCourtney is the third outing in the Cate Kinkaid mystery series, following  Dolled up to Die. This time, Cate arrives at H&B Classic Auto Restorations to give a friend a ride, but finds a dead man, one wounded man, and what appears to be a pretty obvious case of self-defense. Owner Matt Halliday wants to hire Cate, but not for this case. Instead, she needs to find a man who owns a particular motorcycle Matt would like to buy. As her search progresses, Cate begins to suspect that the shooting in Matt's office may not have been as cut-and-dried as it appeared.

Maggie Sefton writes another one of my favorite cozy mystery series. Yarn Over Murder is the eleventh title in the Knitting mystery series, following Close Knit Killer. These mysteries take place in Fort Connor, Colorado and feature Kelly Flynn and her knitter friends from the House of Lambspun, the local yarn shop. It's early summer in Fort Connor when Kelly and her pals hear of a raging wildfire threatening the alpacas of her good friend, Jayleen. Working quickly, Kelly and her friends move the herd to a nearby pasture of one of Jayleen's friends - rancher Andrea Holt. But their rescue mission is interrupted by a screaming match during which Connie, a longtime employee of House of Lambspun, snaps and accuses Andrea of stealing her husband. Days later, Andrea is found dead at her ranch - and suspicion immediately falls on Connie. Now Kelly and her friends have to figure out this latest murder and save their friend, Connie.

Janet Bolin is releasing the fourth title in the Threadville Mystery series this month Night of the Living Thread which follows Thread and Buried. It’s early October, and hordes of visitors have descended on the tiny, celebrated village of Threadville, Pennsylvania, to attend a Halloween crafts fair, a zombie retreat, and the wedding of Edna Battersby - a dear friend to Willow Vanderling, owner of the chic machine embroidery boutique, In Stitches. As a friendly prank for Edna’s wedding, Willow and the rest of the Threadville gang have fashioned an overly extravagant hoopskirt, complete with lights and music. But in a bizarre turn of events, the garish gown is implicated in a mysterious lakeside murder. Now Willow has to follow the clues and solve the murder before time runs out.