Series-ously Good New Mysteries - November Edition

Here are this month's cozy offerings from your favorite series authors!

The Chocolate Clown Corpse is the fourteenth title in the Chocoholic mysteries series by JoAnna Carl. It follows The Chocolate Book Bandit. Everybody loves a clown, right? Not so in Warner Pier, Michigan. Everyone who knew Moe Davison wanted him dead. Oddly, it was a complete stranger who was accused of killing him. But it’s been a month since the miserable shop owner of Clowning Around was killed, and everybody’s moving on, including Lee Woodyard. Her chocolate shop, TenHuis Chocolade, is next door to Moe’s shuttered shop, and it’s giving her an idea to expand. Moe’s widow, Emma, and her two stepchildren list the property for sale, but when Lee tours the building, she finds Emma unconscious. Now Lee wonders whether Moe’s real killer is still at large and is taking care of unfinished business. Unfortunately, since the town is celebrating Clown Week, there are many potential suspects in grease paint and floppy shoes. But, it's up to Lee to figure out who killed the unlikeable clown.

Betty Hechtman is publishing the ninth book in the Crochet mysteries series this month, Knot Guilty, following For Better or Worsted. Molly Pink and the Tarzana Hookers are back to investigate another murder! This time, Molly and her friends are participating in the annual SoCal Knit Style Show. Shedd and Royal, the bookstore where Molly works has a vendor's booth at this previously all-knit show. The Tarzana Hookers plan to give crochet classes and a crochet competition to get people hooked on their favorite pastime, crochet. The show’s organizer is K. D. Kirby, publisher of several knitting magazines and owner of a yarn store that caters to an elite Beverly Hills crowd. Everyone is shocked when K.D. doesn’t show up for the opening reception, but that’s nothing compared to how they feel when she’s finally found—dead in her hotel suite. When one of the Hookers, Adele, is suspected of the murder, Molly is sure she is being framed. She begins her own investigation.

Lethal Letters by Ellery Adams is the sixth book in the Books by the Bay mystery series. It follows Poisoned Prose. Restaurant owner and aspiring novelist Olivia Limoges is busy planning a delicious menu for Oyster Bay’s biggest soiree of the spring. Everyone’s got their hands full in Oyster Bay, North Carolina. Aside from two upcoming weddings, there’s also the historical society’s annual fund-raiser: the Secret Garden Party and Candlelit Ball. Adding to the excitement, Olivia witnesses the discovery of a time capsule in the foundation of a local church. The historical society president hopes to display its contents at their party, but when the items are finally revealed to the public, Olivia notices one of them has vanished. Then, the body of Ruthie Holcomb is found underneath the pier. Olivia is certain there’s a connection between the young woman’s death and the missing piece from the time capsule. Olivia, with the help of her fellow Bayside Book Writers have to ensure a killer gets caught.

Victoria Hamilton follows up Freezer I'll Shoot with the fourth title in her Vintage Kitchen mystery series, No Mallets Intended. The Queensville Heritage Society is restoring the once-grand Dumpe Manor. While Dumpe relatives and society members use the occasion to dust off old grudges, Jaymie Leighton prefers to adorn the kitchen with authentic Depression Era furnishings. A collection of vintage wooden mallets found in the house is a perfect addition to her display, but one also offers a late-night intruder the perfect weapon to knock Jaymie unconscious before escaping. Though the attack has everyone on edge, nothing is missing from the house. Perhaps it was merely a vagrant who thought the place was still abandoned. But when Dumpe Manor’s resident historian is murdered with a mallet from the same collection, it’s time for Jaymie to turn up the heat on the investigation before someone else becomes history.

On Borrowed Time is the fourth title in Jenn McKinlay's Library Lover's mystery series, following Read it and Weep. Lindsey Norris, Briar Creek library director, has her hands full this time out. She is preparing the library for the holidays, juggling the affections of her ex-boyfriend, Captain Mike Sullivan, and her new crush, actor Robbie Vine when her world-traveling playboy brother, Jack, a consultant for a coffee company, goes missing. Afraid that involving the police could brew trouble for Jack, Lindsey takes matters into her own hands. But as her quest for her brother embroils her in a strange case involving South American business dealings and an enigmatic and exotic woman, it’ll take the help of both her library book club—the crafternooners—and her eager-to-please suitors to keep Jack from ending up in hot water…

This month Molly MacRae is publishing the fourth title in her Haunted Yarn Shop mystery series, Plagued by Quilt. This follows Spinning in her Grave. Yarn Shop owner, Kath Rutledge and her needlework group TGIF (Thank Goodness It’s Fiber) are preparing to teach a workshop at the Holston Homeplace Living History Farm, in Blue Plum, Tennessee. But, their lesson in crazy quilts is no match for the crazy antics of the assistant director, Phillip Bell. Hamming it up with equal parts history and histrionics, Phillip leads an archaeological dig of the farm’s original dump site—until one student stops the show by uncovering some human bones.When a full skeleton is later excavated, Kath can’t help but wonder if it’s somehow connected to Geneva, the ghost who haunts her shop, and whom she met at this very site. After Phillip is found dead, it’s up to Kath to thread the clues together before someone else becomes history.