MRS. KAPLAN and the MATZOH BALL of DEATH by award-winning author Mark Reutlinger is on sale for 99 cents on Amazon March 27 – April 9th.
A cozy mystery is a rollicking adventure through a mystery at the Home for Jewish Seniors. “Deliciously funny” series published by Random House.
“Mrs. Kaplan and the Matzoh Ball of Death” is a Finalist in the 2014 M&M Awards. Congratulations to Mark Reutlinger!
Waiting for the other shoe to drop and looking over her shoulder is what cultural anthropologist Dinah Pelerin feels like she has spent the majority of her adult life doing. With a plum new job at the university in Berlin and Thor Ramberg, the James Bond-like Norwegian cop sleeping next to her, there should be plenty to keep her happy. And she is ready for a new lease on life.
However, Dinah’s new found happiness flies out the door when she literally opens it to Swan Calms, her Seminole Indian mother, who has a tomahawk to grind with her ex-husband’s German business partner. The fact that her ex got an early ticket to the happy hunting ground in the sky or that she has no valid claim to the pile of money the partner has stashed doesn’t deter Swan.
Armed with a gun and a half-baked plan Swan is intent on getting “her share” and she didn’t show up on Dinah’s and Thor’s doorstep alone. She’s managed to drag her former arch enemy and current sidekick, Margaret, along for the ride. Tension between the two older women immediately ratchets-up, leaving Dinah to wonder what planets must have collided to bring Margaret, also an ex-wife of the same drug-dealing man, and Swan together. With a pathological liar for a mother and murder in Margaret’s background, the outlook isn’t looking so good.
Swan’s plan turns to blackmail, putting everyone’s life the line. Then the plan turns deadly and Swan becomes the focus of a murder investigation. Genetic ties and misplaced loyalties press Dinah to channel her inner warrior to track down the evidence needed to exonerate her mother. But what if the evidence proves her guilt?
Secrets, lies, and betrayal weigh heavily in this fifth installment of the Dinah Pelerin series. And, Dinah knows well that the cruelest lies are those of omission. Like Dinah, each character in this rich, quirky cast has a story to tell but their truths rest dangerously below the surface. Dinah’s hunt for the killer tests her resolve and forces her to question her own truths. By releasing the secrets of her past, Dinah gains a new level of strength and confidence. Her final hurdle is one of trust, and readers will root for her as she grapples with a long-overdue leap of faith.
With a strong sense of setting, author Jeanne Matthews invites the reader to travel vicariously with Dinah while she navigates her way through the sights, sounds and history of Berlin. As Dinah delves deeper into the city, the reader becomes privy to the eccentricities of a European sub-culture in love with the Native American past, and to the darker side of the antiquities trade.
Where the Bones are Buried contains a large cast of characters, some fun and peculiar, some dark and tortured, all of whom have a hidden agenda. While the associated subplots are intricate, “red herring” aficionados will savor the challenge of bringing together the myriad clues of this clever and complex mystery. Matthews has, once again, crafted an entertaining, and, at times, humorous mystery that will have mystery readers enthralled.
Lonna Enox’s The Last Dance is a twisty mystery set in small town Saddle Gap, New Mexico. When Sorrel Janes inherits an aunt’s house and art gallery in Saddle Gap, she decides to flee her big city secrets and start fresh. But this doesn’t turn out to be as simple as it sounds—when a young woman is murdered just outside the town bar, Sorrel becomes an important witness after her first night in town.
Even as Sorrel works to renovate the gallery in time for a Memorial Day opening, complications begin to pile up. Originally intending to work as a local interest photographer, she starts her new career by getting called to yet another crime scene. It seems that murders are thick on the ground in this supposedly placid community.
As the reader gradually discovers the secrets of Sorrel’s past, her skittish nature begins to seem more reasonable. An up-and-coming television crime reporter in Houston, Sorrel dealt with the less savory elements of society without fear. One day, however, she came home to discover her husband had been murdered. Out of fear that his death may be related to her career, she goes into hiding, assuming a new identity and a new life.
With help from a friendly local woman who seems to be related to half the town, Sorrel begins to rebuild a life. Her attempts at normalcy are hampered by local sheriff Chris Reed, who is both dangerously attractive and persistent in pursuing Sorrel as a suspect in the first murder. Even as their relationship progresses, Sorrel cannot trust that his intentions are genuine.
A series of petty crimes on Sorrel’s property as well as her job at the newspaper draw Sorrel deeper into the developing mystery. Has her past followed her to Saddle Gap? Determined not to run from a life she is beginning to discover she wanted all along, Sorrel resolves to stand her ground even in the face of turmoil. She is aided by guidance from her former photography professor, John, her only remaining connection to her former life.
Charming secondary characters and the antics of Sorrel’s cat Flash add color and depth to the narrative, enhancing the small town feel. While the quick ending may disappoint some readers looking for a more complex mystery, Enox has a deft hand with atmosphere and characterization. This is the first in a new series of mysteries featuring Saddle Gap, and readers will find it a comfortable place to revisit.
The Last Dance by Lonna Enox was awarded Best Debut Novel in the CLUE Awards for Mystery/Suspense/Thriller Fiction 2013, a division of Chanticleer Blue Ribbon Writing Competitions.
The Deadwood Mysteries by Ann Charles is a wickedly funny paranormal mystery romance series that takes place in its namesake city in South Dakota.
Meet Violet “Spooky” Parker, a sassy single-mom real estate agent who is earning a reputation for selling haunted houses and finding dead bodies. And, now her agency’s boss is advertising that “she’ll show you a magic place that you’ll love…” on an interstate billboard. He also has her lined up to appear in a reality TV show featuring ghosts.
But, Vi has more than her reputation to worry about when she gets a unsettling call from a mysterious women insisting that they meet immediately. When she and her sidekick Harvey arrive at the appointed place, all they find are ticking clocks, a shrunken head, and yet another dead body.
Vi swears not to get involved especially after she is warned to keep out of the way by the police detectives on the case. She especially swears off the case when her ex decides to make a reappearance in her life. However, when she finds evidence that links her young son to the victim, all bets are off now that her child maybe in mortal danger.
The Deadwood Mysteries offer a welcomed new twist for cozy mystery lovers! Fresh writing, lovable quirky characters, a good dose of randiness, peculiar situations (I have no idea how Ann Charles comes up with this stuff, but it makes for an entertaining read), and clever surprises at every twist and turn. An Ex to Grind keeps the laughs coming or the suspense building. Get ready for another hilarious and spooky suspenseful read from Ann Charles.
[Reviewer’s Note: I LOVE the ending.]
Murder, mystery, intrigue, and romance make “Double or Nothing” by Meg Mims a historical Western page turner. The plot twists, engaging characters, and keen writing will keep you in suspense to the very end.
The mystery is set during the rough and tumble California mining days of 1869. The author, Meg Mims, vividly brings these times to life with her accurate historical research and her clear and striking imagery of bustling towns, dangerous quicksilver mines, and rugged landscapes.
Lily, our protagonist, is a spirited and headstrong young woman who is recovering from her two-thousand mile cross-country journey by train (that was not anywhere as safe and luxurious as she had previously read about in newspapers).
She is still in mourning for her beloved father who died a few days before her twentieth birthday. Lily believes he was murdered in cold blood by one of his trusted business associates whom he was a partner with in a California quicksilver mine. Lily is determined to find the murderer and bring him to justice. She heads out immediately after the burial to Sacramento to her guardian uncle, her father’s brother, who also was a partner in the same mine with her father.
Upon her arrival, Lily’s Uncle Harrison immediately throws her (Lily will inherit her father’s fortune on her 21st birthday) into socializing, attending soirees and hosting his dinner parties. She quickly finds out he has a hidden agenda; he is intent on marrying her to a business associate in order to further his political ambitions before she comes of age and becomes independent of his guardianship. Harrison has forbidden her from seeing the one she truly desires, “Ace” Jesse Diamond. He is the ruggedly handsome gunslinger who saved her life more than once on her dangerous journey to Sacramento from her Evanston, Illinois home.
Lily is introduced to the man her uncle has planned for her to marry—Santiago—at a formal dinner soiree. Sparks and witty repartee fly when Ace enters the room and is seated next to them. He looks just as dashing in his cutaway coat and fancy white shirt as he did on horseback wearing his trail clothes. His good looks, southern drawl, and disarming smile reaffirm Lily’s feelings for him.
Ace, as it turns out, is Santiago’s business partner. Uncle Harrison then announces to the room of two hundred guests that Santiago and Lily are engaged to be married. Ace leaves the dinner party in a huff after spitting out a toast to “the couple.” And the story has just begun.
Headstrong Lily plans to use a visit to her friends in San Francisco as a way to escape the clutches of her uncle before he forces her into marrying Santiago. The rebellious Lily decides never to return to her uncle. She is also determined to find Ace so she can explain that she had no idea about the engagement and that she would never marry Santiago.
Lily’s disappearance sets off a chain of events. In way over her head, Lily’s strength is tested when she realizes just how deep the devious mine owners’ scams go and how connected they are to the politicians. She discovers just how low they will go to obtain and to keep their wealth and power when they frame Ace for a deadly explosion. And Lily is the only one who can prove his innocence.
“Double or Nothing” by Meg Mims was awarded the Laramie Awards for Western Fiction First Place for Mystery. An entertaining Western mystery read with just the right amount of romance. It is the second novel in the Lily Granville Western Mysteries series and we look forward to reading more about more of Lily’s adventures. Thank goodness that Meg Mims leaves her readers with the knowledge there is more to come!
The CLUE Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Thriller, Suspense, and Mystery Fiction.
Finalists will compete for 1st Place Category positions. First Place Category winners will compete for The CLUE Awards Overall Best Book 2013.
These Finalists have made it through the first 3 rounds of competition. The first sixty to ninety pages of these works have been read; they are presently making the next series of rounds. From here on out, each round is increasingly more competitive as the judges determine if the works will move forward to best of category.
We are honored to announce the Finalists of the CLUE Awards 2013.
CBR Official List of Titles & Authors Finalists for the CLUE Awards 2013 are:
Now this is something to CROW about!
We are now accepting entries into the Clue Awards for 2014. Click here for more info.
Being very fond of British murder mysteries, in print and movies, and on PBS Mystery Theatre (most relevantly, the Inspector Lewis series), I was immediately drawn to M. K. Graff’s The Blue Virgin. Thanks to her personal experience while studying literature at Oxford University, Graff is able to set her first published novel in the historical university town with great accuracy.
Graff’s considerable literary talent enables her to develop an intriguing cast of British characters—with one national exception: the feisty, attractive, and pregnant protagonist, Nora Tierney, an American writer. Having recently lost her fiancé in an accident, Nora’s spirits are raised by winning, as an essay contest prize, the opportunity to collaborate with British artist Simon Ramsey as an illustrator for her children’s book about fairies.
As the story begins, the murder victim is still very much alive: Bryn Wallace, a gorgeous former fashion model turned talented photographer, is enjoying a glass of Merlot in The Blue Virgin, Oxford’s favorite alternative-lifestyle spot. Her lover Valentine Rogan, a textile artist, joins her, and the two soon head to Bryn’s trendy flat. Despite the excellent gourmet dinner Bryn concocts, the two later argue about their plans to move in together, and a morose Val leaves. A bit later, Bryn interrupts her kitchen cleanup to answer a knock at the door. “What…?” she exclaims. “You’d better come in….”
Dawn is breaking when Detective Inspector Declan Barnes is called to Bryn’s flat and finds her lifeless body seemingly artfully arranged in the blood-spattered kitchen. After a bit of investigation, it isn’t long before he calls on Val Rogan as a suspect,
Later that morning, Val calls her American friend Nora, who is staying at Ramsey Lodge in Bowness-on-Windermere, Cumbria. Her host, illustrator, and admirer, Simon, insists on driving her to Oxford to stand by Val. Much to his dismay, Nora immediately turns sleuth, determined to clear her friend Val of murder charges.
The pace quickens as the plot thickens, when not just one but two more bodies are discovered! Nora is determined to continue sleuthing; Declan is equally adamant that she not intervene in his work, and Simon is plainly worried about Nora’s safety. The tension builds as the plot twists and turns on its way to a surprising ending.
You’re in for a pulse-raising solid read that will leave you eager to delve into Graff’s next Nora Tierney mystery—with hopefully more to come! Graff’s sophisticated writing interweaves eccentric characters, visually rich locales, epigraphs, and well-crafted dialog that together create a delightfully clever and intriguing mystery.
“The Blue Virgin” by M. K. Graff is a First Place Category winner for British Cozy Mysteries in the Mystery & Mayhem Awards for Cozy Mysteries 2013, a division of Chanticleer Writing Competitions.
Dinah Pelerin, cultural anthropologist and world traveler, is ready for romance and relaxation. Her Norwegian police force boyfriend, Thor, has invited her to join him at a Greek villa that he rented for his sabbatical holiday.
The villa is located on the island of Samos—famous for its sweet wine, birthplace of Pythagoras and Hera, queen of the Olympian gods. Dinah plans on joining an archaeological dig in Turkey at the end of summer after basking in the land of the Greek mythology. The perfect summer vacation awaits her. Or, so it seems.
Idyllic as the setting is, Dinah’s dream vacation is startlingly interrupted on day one of it. She and Thor spotted a body as they were walking home from the village taverna—the same man who they just saw arguing with an old man—is now sprawled on the ground with a gaping hole in his chest. The murder was so recent that the body is still warm. Dinah starts to believe that trouble follows her wherever she goes. Thor goes back into “policeman mode full-throttle.”
Dinah has also learned that their vacation villa was the home of the local movie star of the 60s, Marilita Stephan, who was accused of committing three murders on a remote beach on Samos: her boyfriend, his mother, and a powerful colonel in the military junta. Marilita was arrested and tried for the crime, and executed later by a firing squad in nineteen-seventy-three—several days before her fortieth birthday. Dinah is more than a little perturbed when she also discovers that Thor is fascinated by the circumstances of the event and that is why he chose this particular Greek island and this particular villa for their romantic holiday.
To add to the complications, Dinah’s troubled and out-of-hand sixteen-year-old niece, K.D., turns up on their vacation villa’s doorsteps. K.D. adds her own lively dimension into the storyline as only a sixteen- year-old teenager could. The rosiness of Dinah’s romantic getaway is turning as blue as the Aegean.
Enter the CIA and Interpol, false identification papers, the Norwegian Intelligence, terrorist guns, suspicious locals, and old grudges, secret letters, and “evil eyes” everywhere—all seemingly connecting back to Marilita Stephan.
Thor disappears, but his car is found plunged off a cliff. Contrary to what everyone tells her, Dinah believes that Thor is still alive and that she must find him before it is too late. Dinah doesn’t know who to believe or trust—especially the local police. The suspense rapidly intensifies as she starts piecing the clues together, which place Dinah and her niece in peril as they frantically search for Thor.
Ms. Matthews is adept at placing the reader into the hardships of the current Greek economic debt crisis as well as interjecting bits of history and mythology into her compelling story-line. By doing so, she captures the essence of the day-to-day life of modern Greeks who must eke out a living in exacerbating politico/economic circumstances as they live and work in the shadows of the temple ruins of the golden age of Greece.
Feel the Mediterranean heat, the treacherous traverses of the island’s landscape, the scent of the wild thyme, and the ever changing colors of the Aegean Sea as Ms. Matthews’ evocative descriptions take you to Samos. She places you at the local village taverna where you hear the buzz of gossip and feel the rumble of the “Tourkos” F16s as they roar overhead.The colorful characters and intriguing plot twists make Her Boyfriend’s Bones a gratifying and diverting page-turner.
Her Boyfriend’s Bones, is the fourth novel in the entertaining and marvelously researched Dinah Pelerin mystery series. Readers need not look any further to be transported to adventures faraway.