Is it finally spring here in Nova Scotia? It's been such a difficult winter, it has been hard to tell. Even though you are itching to get out into the garden, I'm sure you can all find a little time to read the newest title in your favorite series.
Ripped From the Pages by Kate Carlisle is the ninth title in her Bibliophile mystery series following The Book Stops Here. When book-restoration expert Brooklyn Wainwright temporarily relocates to her parents’ place in Northern California, she is excited
to explore the secrets of wine country. She attends an excavation
of the caves hidden deep under her parents’ commune—and the findings are
explosive. A room is unearthed, and it contains a treasure trove of
artwork, rare books, a chest of jewelry…and a perfectly mummified body. A closer examination of the murdered man’s possessions reveals a valuable first edition of Jules Verne’s A Journey to the Center of the Earth.
Hidden in the book is a secret map that unveils an even greater hoard
of treasures brought to California by French winemakers fleeing the Nazi
invasion with the commune leader’s grandfather, Anton, among them. As
reporters and art appraisers flock to Sonoma to see the precious
bounty, questions begin to rise—did Anton hide these items to protect
them, or did he steal them for himself? Who is the mysterious man left
for dead inside the cave? But not all crime is buried in the past. When a
new presence threatens the town’s peace, Brooklyn decides to do a
little excavating of her own and solve the mystery of the treasure.
Carola Dunn follows Heirs of the Body with Superfluous Women. The twenty-second title in the Daisy Dalrymple mystery series. In England in the late 1920s, The Honourable
Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher, on a convalescent trip to the countryside,
goes to visit three old school friends in the area. The three, all
unmarried, have recently bought a house together. They are a part of the
generation of "superfluous women"--brought up expecting marriage and a
family, but left without any prospects after more than 700,000 British
men were killed in the Great War. Daisy and her husband
Alec--Detective Chief Inspector Alec Fletcher, of Scotland Yard --go for
a Sunday lunch with Daisy's friends, where one of the women mentions a
wine cellar below their house, which remains curiously locked, no key to
be found. Alec offers to pick the lock, but when he opens the door,
what greets them is not a cache of wine, but the stench of a long-dead
body. And with that, what was a pleasant Sunday lunch has taken
an unexpected turn. Now Daisy's three friends are the most obvious
suspects in a murder and her husband Alec is a witness, so he can't
officially take over the investigation. So before the local detective,
Superintendent Underwood, can officially bring charges against her
friends, Daisy is determined to use all her resources (Alec) and skills
to solve the mystery behind this perplexing locked-room crime.
The second title in the Fat Cat mystery series is Fat Cat Spreads Out. It follows Fat Cat at Large. A
booth at the Bunyan County Harvest Fair seems like the perfect
opportunity for Charity “Chase” Oliver and Anna Larson to promote their
Bar None bakery business. Unfortunately, plus-sized pussycat Quincy has
plans for their delicious dessert bars other than selling them to
customers. After tearing through their inventory, Quincy goes roaming
the fairgrounds in search of more delights. But what he finds is
murder. One of the top contenders in a butter-sculpting contest has been
killed, and Chase is churning on the inside when she sees Quincy’s
handsome veterinarian, Dr. Mike Ramos, being led away by the police.
With a little help from a kitty with butter on his whiskers, Chase needs
to find the real killer and clear the doctor’s good name…
I particularly enjoy Maggie Sefton's Kelly Flynn mystery series. This month she is adding Purl Up and Die, the thirteenth title in this series, following Yarn Over Murder. Kelly
Flynn’s summer in Fort Connor, Colorado, is off to a great start with
romantic celebrations with her boyfriend, Steve, and enjoyable—albeit
challenging—knitting classes taught by her friend Barb at the House of
Lambspun. But while Barb’s advanced stitches are giving Kelly the slip, a
more deadly problem soon has her friend coming apart at the seams. A
young woman has accused Barb’s son, Tommy—a young doctor doing his
residency—of assaulting her. The yarns spun by the local rumor mill are
bad enough, but when the young woman is found dead in her ransacked
apartment, Tommy becomes the number one suspect. The police are
ready to close the case, but Kelly is convinced that there are a few
more likely suspects. 
A Fatal Chapter by Lorna Barrett is the ninth title in the Booktown mystery series. It follows Book Clubbed. While out walking Sarge, her sister’s
bichon frise, Tricia is led by the agitated dog to a man lying in a
gazebo. She’s startled when she recognizes Pete Renquist, the president
of the Stoneham Historical Society, who appears to be suffering from
cardiac arrest. When Pete later dies in the hospital, the discovery of a
suspicious bruise and a puncture mark on his arm suggests he may have
been murdered. Haunted by Pete’s enigmatic last words to her,
Tricia begins to consider who had a motive to kill her friend. Did Pete
take his flirting too far, only to have a jealous husband teach him a
lesson? Or did he discover something in the town’s historical records
that his killer wanted kept secret? Tricia is determined to get to the
bottom of things before someone else becomes history.
Following Day of Vengeance by Jeanne M. Dams is the sixteenth title in the Dorothy Martin series, The Gentle Art of Murder. One late-summer’s evening, before the beginning of the new term, Dorothy
Martin and her husband, retired police detective Alan Nesbitt, are
guests at Sherebury University art department’s drinks party to
introduce the new teaching assistant, sculptress Gillian Roberts. However,
tragedy strikes on a tour of the sculpture department, when the lift
breaks down and a corpse is discovered at the bottom of the lift shaft.
Dorothy and Alan become involved in the ensuing investigation, putting
their local knowledge and sleuthing skills to good use once again.
Death by Tiara by Laura Levine is the thirteenth title in the Jaine Austen mystery series. It follows Killing Cupid. Freelance writer Jaine Austen thought she knew what she was getting
herself into when she landed a gig working behind the scenes at a teen
beauty pageant. But between the vicious stage moms, exacting judges,
and trash-talking teens, she’s not sure she’s the woman for the
job. Jaine has been
hired by über-pushy stage mom Heather Van Sant to write lyrics for her
daughter Taylor’s song in the talent competition for the Miss Teen
Queen America pageant. It’s different from anything Jaine has done
before, but if nothing else, she’s looking forward to a free weekend in
a swanky hotel and a chance to see what really goes on backstage at a
beauty pageant. But the hotel is a dump, the cattiness is out of
control, and Candace—the perfectly-coiffed, whip-cracking pageant
director—is making even Jaine’s life miserable. When Candace’s
assistant Amy is found bludgeoned to death with a silver tiara, there
are more suspects than sequins on a pageant gown—and Heather is first
on the list. Taylor begs Jaine to help clear her mom’s name, but the
search for the killer hits a dead end as Jaine quickly realizes that
finding the culprit is going to be trickier than walking the stage in
stilettos
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