|
Prime Crime Editor's Notes - June 2012
Dear Mystery Lover,
Summer has arrived, and these June Berkley Prime Crime
releases will be the perfect addition to your beach bag!
Our first new release in hardcover is CAST ON, KILL
OFF, A Knitting Mystery by National Bestselling
Author Maggie Sefton.
Wedding bells are ringing in Fort Connor, Colorado, and the
House of Lambspun knitters are abuzz with excitement. But
when a murder interrupts the wedding planning, Kelly Flynn
will have to solve this crime fast to ensure the killer
doesn’t wind up on the guest list...
Kelly Flynn’s knitting pal, Megan, is about to get
hitched, and all the planning is falling into place. Megan
has found the perfect seamstress, Zoe Yeager, to create the
dresses for Kelly and the other bridesmaids. And each
bridesmaid is knitting her own loose-knit shawl to drape
over the lovely dresses. But Zoe has more than bolts of
fabric and seam-cutters stashed away in her
shop—she’s harboring a secret. Bruises on her
face show a troubling side of her marriage, and just after
she finds the courage to leave her husband, Zoe’s
found dead from a single bullet shot.
Though her husband is a key suspect, it turns out there are
others who might have had designs on Zoe’s death. One
is fellow seamstress Leann O’Hara, who recently
discovered Zoe won a bridal gown design contest with one of
Leann’s own designs. Now it’s up to Kelly and
her knitting pals to use their sleuthing savvy to solve the
case, while helping Megan stay cool and collected as the big
day approaches. They’ll have to stitch up all the
loose ends before they can don their dresses and shawls and
escort Megan into the land of happily ever after...
Look for the delicious recipe and knitting pattern included
in this release!
Catch up with Kelly Flynn in the mass market edition of
Maggie Sefton’s UNRAVELED.
Spring is in the air of Fort Connor, Colorado—and
it’s a time of new beginnings for the House of
Lambspun knitters. But for Kelly Flynn, a March chill
lingers as she tries to mend her broken heart...and solve a
cold-blooded crime.
Kelly’s longtime romance has come apart at the seams.
To distract herself, she burrows into her demanding
consulting business, hangs out with her knitting pals, and
takes on the challenge of knitting a scarf from gorgeous
unraveled silken sari yarn.
When Kelly accompanies her friend Jennifer to meet with
Jen’s new real estate client, the two women discover
him shot in his own home. The client, Fred Turner, had a
reputation for being difficult at best, unscrupulous at
worst, and had a long list of enemies—from his
estranged wife to bitter business associates. Unraveling the
tangle of clues may prove to be Kelly’s greatest
challenge yet. But it’s the only way to catch a killer
who’s anything but sorry...
Check out the recipe and knitting pattern included in this
edition!
Next up is the hardcover edition of A FOOL AND HIS
HONEY, An Aurora Teagarden Mystery by #1 New
York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris.
Aurora Teagarden’s life finally seems to have settled
into a comfortable pattern. Her marriage to Martin is going
well, she’s back at work at the Lawrenceton
library—and she hasn’t found a dead body in
quite a while. But then one afternoon her handyman goes
crazy in her front yard. Roe suspects this is a sign of more
bad things to come. And she is right.
Soon Martin’s niece, Regina, shows up with a baby that
no one knew she had. Then she disappears, leaving behind the
child—and a murdered husband. To find her, Roe and
Martin retrace her steps from sunny Georgia back to snowy
Ohio, where they will uncover dark family secrets—at
their own peril...
A first in a new series this month is the trade release of
FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH, A Sugar Land Mystery by
Stephanie Jaye Evans.
Everything looks perfect in Sugar Land, Texas. But
it’s not.
No one knows that better than Forrest “Bear”
Wells, a former college football player now serving as a
minister in this upscale Texas town, where famous athletes
mix with cattle ranchers and the local parish priest wants
to arm wrestle. It’s a beautiful master-planned
community, but people can’t be held to neighborhood
restrictions, and Bear deals daily with emotional and
spiritual problems, in both his flock and his own family.
But never murder. Not until a man is found facedown on the
nearby golf course, his skull crushed.
Bear has no interest in playing detective. His job is
praying for the dead, not searching for their killers. But
every time he turns around, another facet of the
investigation tangles with his own life...like the fact that
the murdered man’s son—and chief
suspect—is currently dating his own rebellious teenage
daughter.
He made a promise to do the right thing. But keeping
promises may be what led to murder ...
Check out THE AZALEA ASSAULT, first in the new
Garden Society Mystery by Alyse Carlson.
Roanoke, Virginia, is home to some of the country’s
most exquisite gardens, and it’s Camellia
Harris’ job to promote them. But when an out of towner
turns up dead, she discovers there’s no good way to
spin murder...
Camellia Harris has achieved a coup in the PR world. The
premier national magazine for garden lovers has agreed to
feature one of Roanoke’s most spectacular gardens in
its pages—and world-famous photographer Jean-Jacques
Georges is going to shoot the spread. But at the welcoming
party, Jean-Jacques insults several guests, complains that
flowers are boring, and gooses almost every woman in the
room. When a body is found the next morning, sprawled across
the azaleas, it’s almost no surprise that the victim
is Jean-Jacques.
With Cam’s brother-in-law blamed for the
crime—and her reporter boyfriend, Rob, wanting the
scoop—Cam decides to use her skills to solve the
murder. Luckily a PR pro like Cam knows how to be nosy...
Learn more about Alyse Carlson in this month’s
Author Q&A!
Another first in a new series this month is HEARSE AND
BUGGY, An Amish Mystery by Laura Bradford.
Claire Weatherly has fled a high-stress lifestyle for a
slower pace—in Amish country: Heavenly, Pennsylvania.
She only planned a short visit but instead found herself
opening an Amish specialty shop, Heavenly Treasures, and
settling in.Claire loves her new home, and she’s
slowly making friends among the locals, including Esther, a
young Amish woman who works in the shop. So when the
store’s former owner,the unlikable Walter Snow, is
murdered, and the man Esther is sweet on becomes a suspect,
Claire can’t help but get involved.
Newly returned Detective Jakob Fisher, who left
Heavenly—and his Amish upbringing—as a teenager,
is on the case. But his investigation is stalled by the fact
that none of his former community will speak with him.
Claire’s connections make her the perfect go-between.
As Claire investigates, she uncovers more than she wanted to
know about her neighbors. And suddenly, everything she had
hoped to find in this peaceful refuge is at risk . . .
Be on the lookout for GRACE AMONG THIEVES, A Manor
House Mystery by National Bestselling Author Julie
Hyzy.
As curator and manager of the Marshfield Manor Grace Wheaton
is delighted to be part of the estate’s magnificent
history, but no one told her solving murder was in her job
description...
When Grace’s former professor calls to warn her that
there have been a rash of thefts at various historical
sites, Grace isn’t surprised—because Marshfield
Manor has been targeted, too. She wonders if it has
something to do with the film crew roaming the grounds,
digitally immortalizing the manor, but then she gets
distracted by an incident much more dire: the shooting of
one guest and the murder of another.
Grace does her best not to go looking for trouble, but with
a murderer on the loose, she can’t seem to leave the
dirty work to the cops—especially since the killer
still seems to be lurking around town, waiting to finish the
job of making Grace history...
You won’t want to miss THREADED FOR TROUBLE,
A Threadville Mystery by Janet Bolin.
Welcome back to Threadville, Pennsylvania, where crafts are
king, and a “killer” sewing machine lives up to
its name...
Darlene Coddlefield, the winner of a national sewing
competition, has come to Willow Vanderling’s
embroidery shop, In Stitches, to be presented with a
top-of-the-line Chandler Champion sewing and embroidery
machine as her prize. But Darlene’s triumph is
short-lived after she’s found dead under her sewing
table, apparently crushed by the heavy machine.
It soon becomes clear that this was no freak accident. Who
had it in for Darlene Coddlefield? The long string of
suspects includes Darlene’s fire chief husband. So
Willow and her best friend, Haylee, become volunteer
firefighters to uncover the truth. But when a second sewing
machine sparks trouble, the friends realize they may have
jumped from the frying pan into the fire...
We predict you’ll enjoy CORPSE IN THE CRYSTAL
BALL, A Fortune Teller Mystery by National
Bestselling Author Kari Lee Townsend.
Psychic Sunshine Meadows makes a dark discovery in the woods...
After clearing her name as the prime suspect in a murder,
Sunny Meadows hopes she can finally enjoy some serenity in
the idyllic town of Divinity in upstate New York.
She’d also like a second chance with Detective Mitch
Stone. But when Mitch’s gorgeous ex-girlfriend Isabel
Gonzales shows up, Sunny’s not sure she can compete.
Then Isabel mysteriously disappears.
When the police turn to Sunny for help, her visions lead to
the discovery of Isabel’s corpse in the woods. Before
she died, Isabel scrawled in the dirt a message implicating
Mitch in her murder. Now Sunny must help the man she’s
falling in love with as she sets out to find the real
killer. But this time Sunny’s clairvoyant abilities
might not save her—as what she doesn’t see can
hurt her...
The latest in the Agatha Award-nominated Domestic Diva
Mystery series is THE DIVA DIGS UP THE DIRT by
National Bestselling Author Krista Davis.
Trouble in spades...
Determined not to be a garden-variety diva, Sophie
Winston’s neighbor, Natasha, cultivates a plan to
shine on television—using Sophie’s backyard. As
the cast and crew of the makeover show Tear It Up With Troy
bulldoze through her backyard—and
vacation—Sophie retreats to her perennial boyfriend
Wolf’s to replace a dead rose bush. But her tender
deed goes awry when she digs up a purse belonging to
Wolf’s missing wife.
As speculations sprout, Wolf bolts, and then a body crops up
in a garden. Is Wolf’s thorny past raising a dead
head? This is one case the domestic diva can’t let
wither on the vine...
Delicious recipes and entertaining tips are included in this
release!
You’ll love HOT BUTTON, A Button Box
Mystery by Kylie Logan.
Button collector Josie Giancola has a sharp eye for detail,
and a love for keeping things together. But when a murder
interrupts her button business, she’s always ready to
snap into action...
As chairwoman of an international conference for button
collectors, Josie has plenty to worry about. Between
greeting collectors, overseeing the dinner cruise, and
attending to the many needs of the guest of honor, Thad
Wyant, she barely has time to deal with her gorgeous
ex-husband...let alone a dead body.
But when Thad is found dead in a hotel linen closet,
Detective Nevin Riley needs Josie to help him solve the
case. Mr. Wyant’s historic Geronimo button has gone
missing, and considering how many enemies he’s made in
the small and peculiar world of button collectors, Josie
will have to act fast—before she becomes history
herself...
It’s summertime so don your sunglasses, soak up some
sun, and pick up some fabulous June releases from Obsidian!
First up, in hardcover, we have Lee Goldberg’s
MR. MONK IS A MESS, the fourteenth book in the tie-in
series to the incredibly popular USA Network comedy MONK.
It was a tough decision, but Monk and Natalie have accepted
Chief Randy Disher’s offer to join the Summit, NJ
police force as full time officers. Eager to get started,
they head back to San Francisco to settle their affairs and
plan for the move. But when Natalie arrives home after weeks
away in Summit, she makes a startling discovery—the
body of a woman in her bed. Natalie has no idea who the
woman is, or why she was in the house, or why she was strangled.
In the course of the investigation, Stottlemeyer and Devlin
find $2,000 in cash under Natalie’s mattress, marked
bills from a cache that was stolen from the evidence room at
FBI HQ days before Natalie and Monk went to New Jersey. The
money was used to purchase drugs from a major mobster, and
without the money, the case against him fell apart. With all
the clues pointing to Natalie, Monk must help crack the case
before another dead body turns up.
Next up, in mass market paperback, we have the exciting
debut of Elizabeth Craig’s Southern Quilting
Mystery series, QUILT OR INNOCENCE.
Beatrice Coleman is about to start living the dream.
She’s retired from her job as a museum curator, moved
to sunny Dappled Hills, North Carolina, and imagines whiling
away the hours swaying in a hammock with a good book in her
hands and her pet Corgi by her side. But when her chatty
neighbor, Meadow, hijacks her to attend a quilting guild
meeting, the dream dissolves. Surrounded by lush fabric,
colored thread, beautiful designs and friendly faces,
Beatrice realizes that although this isn’t quite how
she pictured her retirement, it might be a nice part of her
new life. Until it all goes to pieces.
Judith Greene has always put business before friendship.
Now she’s threatening to raise the rent on the village
quilting shop, Patchwork Cottage, forcing the shop to close.
Judith has several enemies in the town, and some of the
quilters have just been added to the list. But no one
wished her dead! So, when walking her dog, Beatrice is
shocked to stumble over Judith’s lifeless
body—and later learn she was the victim of foul play.
When some of Beatrice’s fellow quilters become the
prime suspects in the murder investigation, she’s
determined to patch up the loose ends before a fellow
quilter gets stashed in the slammer.
Read more about Elizabeth Craig’s new series in
this month’s Dear Reader letter!
Also, in mass market paperback, we have Ella
Barrick’s DEAD MAN WALTZING, the second
book in the Ballroom Dance Mystery series.
After quickstepping through her first murder investigation,
professional ballroom dancer Stacy Graysin is looking
forward to slowing down the tempo a bit and focusing on her
dance classes at Graysin Motion. But alas, another murder
investigation is about to cut into Stacy’s dancing
time! Corinne Blakely, a grande dame of American ballroom
dancing who was penning a tell-all memoir, is poisoned at a
luncheon, leaving the ballroom dance community in an uproar.
What’s worse is that Corinne’s lunch partner was
Maurice Goldman, a dance instructor at Graysin Motion. Now
he's the police’s primary suspect.
Stacy will have to step up if she wants to clear her dear
friend’s name. She begins to probe into ancient
ballroom dance history, researching dance luminaries of the
1970s and 1980s, and uncovers a number of suspects with
grudges against Corinne or with secrets to hide. Was it the
dance franchise multi-millionaire who would lose everything
if Corrine’s book reveals a secret love affair? Or
was it Corrine’s friend who embezzled money from a
dance scholarship charity? Or could it be Corrine’s
grandson who will inherit most of her estate? The time is
ticking to save Maurice, but there’s one thing Stacy
knows for certain—she’s not letting this devious
killer waltz away with murder!
Lastly, we have the mass market paperback edition of
Victoria Laurie’s VISION IMPOSSIBLE, the
ninth installment in the Psychic Eye Mystery series.
Professional psychic Abby Cooper is used to challenges, but
now she’s about to sign up for a mission that might be
impossible! Abby has been working as a civilian profiler
for the FBI, helping them solve cold cases, when she’s
approached by the CIA and asked to consider taking on a
special mission—one involving national security.
What’s a psychic to do but buy a plane ticket and head
to Washington D.C. with her fiancé Dutch Rivers, to hear
details of the deal? In D.C. she learns the startling
truth: a professor has created digital photography software
that captures an individual’s aura—the unique
halo of colors surrounding each person. That software had
been placed on a drone, which has now been stolen and if it
remains in the wrong hands there could be catastrophic
consequences for the country’s safety.
Abby understands the seriousness of the case, but
she’s eager to do her patriotic duty. With Dutch by
her side, she jumps into the role of spy. But will she be
able to stop the criminals from using the device and setting
their diabolical plan in motion, or is this really a mission
impossible?
Happy Summer and Happy Reading!!!
|
