The Gardener’s Plot by Deborah J. Benoit

Deborah J. Benoit’s debut, The Gardener’s Plot, is a Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Award winner. Not only does it introduce an interesting amateur sleuth in the cozy, but it has a gorgeous cover. The story is set in the...

A Grim Reaper’s Guide to Catching a Killer by Maxie Dara

Maxie Dara’s debut SCYTHE mystery wasn’t at all what I expected. A Grim Reaper’s Guide to Catching a Killer was better than I expected with more humor and a lot more love. Kathy Valence is forty-two, mid-divorce, and six months pregnant with her...

The Last Line by Scott Lyerly

Scott Lyerly’s debut mystery, The Last Line, is set in the world of community theater. It’s not unusual for a body in such a mystery to be a disliked cast member. What is unusual, and what you’ll remember, is the owner of the theater, Ellie Marlowe,...

The Last Word by Gerri Lewis

I love the debut of a new mystery series, with new characters and new possibilities. An obituary writer as the amateur sleuth is new, at least for me. I sighed while reading about Winter Snow in Gerri Lewis’ The Last Word. However, her Too Stupid To Live...

Murder by Degrees by Ritu Mukerji

While the blurb for Ritu Mukerji’s historical mystery, Murder by Degrees, suggested it was for readers of Jacqueline Winspear or Charles Todd, I thought of Maddie Day’s Quaker Midwife series. Both authors write about women in medical fields in the U.S....