Do Reading Mysteries Make You Hungry? - August

As I was working on the August post of new series mystery titles, I kept finding food related series titles. Chili, fudge and delicious breakfast treats, yum!

Well Read, Then Dead if the first title in the new Read 'Em and Eat series by Terrie Farley Moran. Nestled in the barrier islands of Florida’s Gulf Coast, Fort Myers Beach is home to Mary “Sassy” Cabot and Bridget Mayfield—owners of the bookstore café, Read ’Em and Eat. Read ’Em and Eat is known for its delicious breakfast and lunch treats, along with quite a colorful clientele. If it’s not Rowena Gustavson loudly debating the merits of the current book club selection, it’s Miss Augusta Maddox lecturing tourists on rumors of sunken treasure among the islands. Sassy’s favorite is Delia Batson, a regular at the Emily Dickinson table. Augusta’s cousin and best friend Delia is painfully shy—which makes the news of her murder all the more shocking. Augusta is distraught and Sassy wants to help so she begins to look into the murder.

If Catfish had Nine Lives by Paige Shelton is the fourth titles in the Country Cooking School mystery series, following If Bread Could Rise to the Occasion. Betts Winston has inherited more than her cooking skills from her grandmother—she can also see and talk to ghosts of people that once roamed the streets of Broken Rope, Missouri, in the days of the Old West. With Gram’s Country Cooking School on spring break, Betts and Gram are offering lessons on frying catfish over an open campfire at this year's cowboy poetry convention. When a staged gunfight ends in real death and her brother Teddy becomes a prime suspect, Betts as more on her mind than catfish.

Kylie Logan is back with the second title in her Chili Cook-off Mystery series, Death by Devil's Breath. It follows Chili Con Carnage. Maxie Pierce is in Las Vagas for the Chili Showdown, a contest devoted to judging the legendary Devil’s Breath chili. The guest judges are casino performers with a taste for chili and an eye for publicity. When a local hack comedian dies in the middle of the Showdown, it isn't the chili but poison. Maxie is going to have to figure this murder out with a full deck of suspects.

To Fudge or Not to Fudge by Nancy Coco is the second title in the Candy-coated mystery series, following All Fudged Up. Allie McMurphy is the proud owner of Historic McMurphy Hotel and Fudge Shop on Mackinac Island. Allie is out walking her pup, Mal, when Mal digs up a bone from under a flowering lilac bush. The bone leads to a toe that's missing a body. When Allie's appearance on a cooking reality show serves up a trail of foul play, Allie will have to outwit a cunning killer.

A new mystery series is starting this month, the Food Festival mystery series. The first title is Death of a Crabby Cook by Penny Pike. This series stars Darcy Burnett from San Francisco. When restaurant reviewer Darcy Burnett gets a pink slip from the San Francisco Chronicle, she joins her feisty aunt Abby on Abby's food truck. When a local chef who is an outspoken enemy of food trucks is murdered, Darcy's aunt is framed for the murder. With her aunt’s business—and freedom—on the line, it’s up to Darcy to find the killer.