March - cold, blowing, wintery March. This month I plan to be tucked up in a warm blanket reading all the newest titles in my favorite mystery series. How about you?
Laura Childs is releasing the seventeenth title in her
Tea Shop mystery series this month,
Devonshire Scream. It follows
Ming Tea Murder. Catering a high-class trunk show at Heart's Desire Jewelry is a shining
achievement for Theodosia and the Indigo Tea Shop. After all, a slew of
jewelers, museums, and private collectors will be there to showcase
their wares and sip some of Theo's best blends. But just as Theo settles
in to enjoy the fruits of her labor, the party is crashed by a gang of
masked muggers who steal the precious gems and jewels on display. The
thieves disappear almost as quickly as they arrived, leaving shattered
glass, scattered gemstones, and a dead body in their wake.
Although the last thing Theo wants is to get involved, she can't help
but intercede when her dear friend Brooke, aunt of the victim and owner
of Heart's Desire, begs for help in figuring out who committed the
brutal burglary. Though the FBI believes this daring "smash and grab" is
the work of an international gang of jewel thieves, Theo is convinced
that the felon is someone much closer to home.

Another favorite is
Jacqueline Winspear's Maisy Dobbs series.
Journey to Munich is the twelfth title in the series and it follows
A Dangerous Place. Working with the British Secret Service on an
undercover mission, Maisie Dobbs is sent to Hitler’s Germany in this
thrilling tale of danger and intrigue. It’s
early 1938, and Maisie Dobbs is back in England. On a fine yet chilly
morning, as she walks towards Fitzroy Square—a place of many
memories—she is intercepted by Brian Huntley and Robert MacFarlane of
the Secret Service. The German government has agreed to release a
British subject from prison, but only if he is handed over to a family
member. Because the man’s wife is bedridden and his daughter has been
killed in an accident, the Secret Service wants Maisie—who bears a
striking resemblance to the daughter—to retrieve the man from Dachau, on
the outskirts of Munich. The British government is not alone in
its interest in Maisie’s travel plans. Her nemesis—the man she holds
responsible for her husband’s death—has learned of her journey, and is
also desperate for her help.Traveling into the heart of Nazi
Germany, Maisie encounters unexpected dangers—and finds herself
questioning whether it’s time to return to the work she loved.

Another historical favorite is the
Molly Murphy mystery series by
Rhys Bowen. This month's addition,
Time of Fog and Fire, is the sixteenth title following
Away in a Manger. Molly Murphy Sullivan's husband Daniel, a police captain in
turn-of-the-century New York City, is in a precarious position. The new
police commissioner wants him off the force altogether. So when Daniel is
offered an assignment from John Wilkie, head of the secret service,
he’s eager to accept. Molly can’t draw any details of the assignment out
of him, even where he’ll be working. But when she spots him in San
Francisco during a movie news segment, she starts to wonder if he’s in
even more danger than she had first believed. And then she receives a
strange and cryptic letter from him, leading her to conclude that he
wants her to join him in San Francisco. Molly knows that if Daniel’s
turning to her rather than John Wilkie or his contacts in the police
force, something must have gone terribly wrong. What can she do for him
that the police can’t? Especially when she doesn’t even know what his
assignment is? Embarking on a cross-country journey with her young son,
Molly can’t fathom what’s in store for her, but she knows it might be
dangerous―in fact, it might put all of their lives at risk.
Paige Shelton is starting a new series this month. It is the
Scottish Bookshop mystery series and
The Cracked Spine is the first title. In need of a good adventure, Delaney Nichols
takes the leap and moves to Edinburgh, Scotland to start a job at The
Cracked Spine. She doesn't know much about what she's gotten herself
into, other than that the work sounds exciting, and that her new boss,
Edwin MacAlister, has given her the opportunity of a lifetime. Edwin
has promised that she'll be working with "a desk that has seen the
likes of kings and queens, paupers and princes," and Delaney can't wait
to get started. When she arrives, she meets her new Scottish
family; also working at the Cracked Spine are Rosie, perpetually
wrapped in scarves, and who always has tiny dog Hector in tow; Hamlet, a
nineteen-year-old thespian with a colored past and bright future; and
Edwin, who is just as enigmatic and mysterious as Delaney expected. An
unexpected bonus is Tom the bartender from across the street, with his
piercing eyes, and a rolling brogue -- and it doesn't hurt that he
looks awfully good in a kilt. But before she can settle into her
new life, a precious artifact -- a previously undiscovered First Folio
of Shakespeare's plays -- goes missing, and Edwin's sister is
murdered, seemingly in connection to the missing folio. Delaney decides
to do some sleuthing of her own, to find out just what the real story
is behind the priceless folio, and how it's connected to the tragic
death.
Death of a Bacon Heiress is the seventh title in the
Hayley Powell Food and Cocktails Mystery series by
Lee Hollis. It follows
Death of a Cupcake Queen. When Hayley Powell is invited to do a
cooking demo on one of daytime's most popular talk shows, it's a welcome
distraction from her empty nest blues. And the newfound fame certainly
has its perks--especially when Olivia Redmond, the posh bacon heiress of
Redmond Meats, offers Hayley a writing gig with a juicy paycheck. But
Hayley's good fortune fizzles fast. The heiress is found dead with her
pet pot-bellied pig, Pork Chop, squealing bloody murder beside her body,
and clogged arteries aren't to blame. It turns out Olivia's inherited a
wealth of enemies over the years, and as Hayley trims the fat off a
mounting list of suspects, it's clear that being rich and hot-tempered
can be a recipe for disaster.
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