Blurb: Mermaid Swimwear President Holly Schlivnik attends an industry Hanukkah party to honor Rapido Swimwear CEO Leni Waxman as the Mount Cedars Hospital Woman of the Year. The guest of honor collapses and dies in the middle of the event. An autopsy confirms that Leni expired as a result of poisoning by coming in contact with a purposely contaminated dreidel. There is no shortage of suspects—Leni had no problem destroying anyone who threatened her top-dog swimwear industry position. When Holly’s business partner is wrongly arrested for Leni’s murder, the irreverent sales exec can’t mind her own beeswax. The wise-cracking snoop sticks her nose everywhere it doesn’t belong to flesh out the real killer. But the trail has more twists and turns than a rollercoaster and nothing turns out how Holly thinks it will as she takes on a ruthless killer hellbent on revenge.

Goodreads:

Amazon: Amazon.com : Death by Dreidel

Barnes & Noble:

IBooks: https://books.apple.com/us/book/death-by-dreidel/id6743085030

Book Bub

Named Best US Author of the Year by N. N. Lights Book Heaven, award-winning cozy mystery author Susie Black was born in the Big Apple but now calls sunny Southern California home. Like the protagonist in her Holly Swimsuit Mystery Series, Susie is a successful apparel sales executive. Susie began telling stories as soon as she learned to talk. Now she’s telling all the stories from her garment industry experiences in humorous mysteries. She reads, writes, and speaks Spanish, albeit with an accent that sounds like Mildred
from Michigan went on a Mexican vacation and is trying to fit in with the locals. Since life without pizza and ice cream as her core food groups wouldn’t be worth living, she’s a dedicated walker to keep her girlish figure. A voracious reader, she’s also an avid stamp collector and
sailor. Susie lives with a highly intelligent man and has one incredibly brainy but smart-aleck
adult son who inexplicably blames his sarcasm on an inherited genetic defect.
Looking for more? Contact Susie at:
Website: www.authorsusieblack.com
E-mail: mysteries_@authorsusieblack.com

Blurb: Family tradition dictates the women go home to Wales to find a husband, but it’s 1966 and Tegan Lewis, daughter of a wealthy Colombian cattle rancher, rejects this old-fashioned idea. And she’s going to marry Luís, son of a local politician with ambitions. But when it comes to it, she can’t bend to his desire to turn her into a society lady. Deeply hurt that he doesn’t understand her need to prioritise the ranch while her father is recovering from cancer, she makes a complete break with him and ends up on a journey half way across the world – to a remote Welsh village and a chance to discover her roots. She’s certainly not looking for love, but high in the Brecon Beacons, she meets sheep farmer Hywel Davies – handsome, intense and with a tragic past – and soon realises how shallow her previous relationship was. Divided by two very different cultures and 5,000 miles of ocean, can they find a way to make a life together?

Let Love find a Way published by The Silent Room https://amzn.eu/d/gHMpQkC 

Author Biography – Mary Georgina de Grey

After a children’s adventure story which I produced in my early 20s, which sank immediately, I wrote no fiction until about ten years ago. At that point, I was creating languages courses for schools and one editor asked me to produce a pack of French short stories and poems – and I was off on my writer’s journey: I enjoyed this dip into fiction so much, I had to write a novel. But life was busy, and it wasn’t until lockdown that I began to write seriously. As a linguist, I find it logical to use the setting of countries I’ve lived and worked in, and this forces me to try to understand the culture and how it affects anyone with a different background. Stuck at home, I wanted to travel, and Italy glowed in my mind as a desirable place to visit, and so my first published novel began. Then The Earth Moved was published in March 2023. The main character in my novels is always a strong young woman determined to make her way in the world and each novel has a love story at its centre. I live on the beautiful English Riviera in the UK with my artist husband where I indulge in my passions of writing, reading and desperately trying to control my garden.

Website: https:// https://marygeorginadegreyauthor.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100086424198194

Email: marygeorginadg@gmail.com for newsletter and other enquiries.

I have since written three further novels in the romance and romantic suspense genres:

Then the Earth Moved https://amzn.eu/d/fNtaXHK  (Italy)

Let Love Find a Way  https://amzn.eu/d/gHMpQkC  (Wales and Colombia)

Then Time Stands Still  https://amzn.eu/d/1pGgH5Q  (Spain)

The Disappeared is romantic suspense and not yet published. (Colombia)

Book Blurb: Jim Turner writes crime but doesn’t live it. He respects his grandfather’s tales of heroes but doesn’t believe them. When his failing grandfather sends him to a remote peninsula to write the end of his own heroic love story, Jim includes a war criminal interview to maintain his edge. Chastity is an anomaly, a misfit in pre-WWII culture as well as in Jim’s life. Her spritely charm and endearing features turn Jim’s world upside down, especially when she reveals his grandfather’s peninsula as the site of her upcoming wedding. Do good journalists flee when their interviewee is murdered? Do heroes write fiancés out of another’s story and themselves in? “The End” become the hardest words for Jim to write.

Buy Links: Amazon

Author Bio: Colleen L Donnelly put her science education to use for years and then put it behind her to pursue other passions. Her first love is writing and her second is hunting—hunting for that next good story, hunting for shed antlers or mushrooms in the woods, hunting for the next good author to read. An avid believer in work hard/play hard, Colleen splits her time between indoors and out, always busy at something.

Social Media Links:

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/colleen-l-donnelly

Website: http://www.colleenldonnelly.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ColleenLDonnelly

Goodreads: http://www.Goodreads.com/colleenldonnelly

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/colleenldonnelly/

Amazon: http://amzn.to/37vcnO4

Twitter:   https://x.com/ColleenLDonnell/

Blurb: In the tumultuous year of 1864, when both the Civil War and Indian uprisings were waging, Melissa Sullivan is desperate to escape a lecherous uncle who is accusing her of killing her aunt. Stowing away in a wagon bound for the Colorado Territory, she soon discovers its owner is a high-handed lieutenant in the Union army who is escaping his own demons. While he believes he has the right to make decisions for her, she is determined to become self-sufficient like her new friend Mavis, an Irish lass with a soft heart, a hard exterior, and a weak acquaintance with the truth. Swept along by the relentless push westward, Melissa finds herself entangled in circumstances far beyond her control. She is faced with limited choices after her arrival in Denver as pivotal historic events, including the Sand Creek Massacre, unfold around her. Will she win the fight to determine her own destiny and will she make the right decision when it comes to love?

https://a.co/d/3wtHBSI

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/what-might-have-been-marianne-plunkert/1146512932?ean=9781509259939

Wild Rose Press: https://wildrosepress.com/product/what-might-have-been/

Author Bio: After spending 25 years in academia, teaching finance and authoring finance textbooks as an independent contractor for major publishing companies, Marianne retired early to devote more time to her lifelong dream: writing a novel and having it published. What Might Have Been,her debut novel, was inspired by the rich history of the Denver, Colorado, area she discovered while living there. She currently resides in western North Carolina and enjoys hearing from her readers. Connect with her through her website: https://marianneplunkert.wixsite.com/marianneplunkert-4.

Website: https://marianneplunkert.wixsite.com/marianneplunkert-4

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marianne.plunkert

X: x.com/marianneP2024

Instagram: Instagram.com/mplunkertauthor

Review: A PAIN IN THE TUCHIS by Mark Reutlinger

Fiction, Cozy Mystery

5*****

Blurb: Yom Kippur is a day of reflection and soul searching. But at the Julius and Rebecca Cohen Home for Jewish Seniors, Vera Gold misses this opportunity to atone for her many sins when she up and dies. Indeed, Vera was such a pain in the tuchis to all those around her that when her sister claims Vera was deliberately poisoned, the tough question isn’t who would want to kill her—but who wouldn’t? Having already solved one murder with her dear friend Ida, Rose Kaplan has a sleuthing reputation that precedes her. It’s only natural that Vera’s sister turns to Mrs. K for help. So do the police, but when her conclusions conflict with theirs, they tell her to butt out! This case has more twists than a loaf of challah. And with a homicidal scoundrel on the loose, Mrs. K has to act fast—or she might be the guest of honor at the Home’s next memorial service.

THOUGHTS: Oy vey! What a fun story! This is the second in a series and takes place at a Jewish home for seniors. Rose is at it once again with her friends to figure out who killed the nasty Vera Gold and why. It may be the day for atonement, but that’s not happening. I absolutely love Rose and can “hear” her voice in my head as I read (she sounds a little like Barbra Streisand in “Funny Girl”). There a lot of Yiddish terms that the author does a good job of explaining without being over the top with it. And a few misses on Rose’s part – like when she talks about the Hippo laws (HIPAA). The imagery puts you right there, for instance when talking about the big store surrounded with a black moat lined with white stripes (parking lot).

When Rose and her pal Ida decide that Vera was murdered, it’s up to them to convince Vera’s son to exhume her body and perform an autopsy even though it’s against his strict Jewish law. They try to enlist the aid of the Rabbi, but that goes nowhere so Rose twists his words to meet her needs. It’s a tad nefarious, but it works and the race is on to find out who the killer is before it happens again.

Although this is the second book in the series, and I haven’t read the first, I had no problem getting to know the characters and the setting. I had a lot of fun with this story and know I’ll be reading more of these books.

Recommended.

HUNKS OF THE MONTH by Andrew Grey

Fiction, Contemporary Romance, M/M, LGBTQ+

4****

Blurb: Former fashion photographer Sterling Vaughn reached the pinnacle of his profession only to have his life and heart come crashing down around him. Now he’s attempting to rebuild his life as a portrait photographer in the town where he grew up. Connor Hillyard is proud of his Scottish ancestry and dresses accordingly. The civic-minded college history professor has spent more of his life collecting degrees than experience. His only family is his sometimes matchmaking great-aunt Lucille, who thinks nothing of pulling him into her community gardening projects. When Lucille needs a photographer for a calendar project to save her failing garden club, she recruits Sterling, who ropes Connor in as a model. Their eye-opening hunky gay calendar pulls the two men closer together. But just as things get interesting between them, the calendar polarizes the town, threatening to pull Sterling back into the high-profile world of fashion and away from the man who brought his heart back to life.

THOUGHTS: Who doesn’t love a gorgeous man in a kilt? When Sterling meets Connor at Connor’s aunt’s home, his interest goes zing. But Sterling is starting his life over after a bad breakup that also doused his career as a fashion photographer. Now, he takes senior pictures of high school kids. Then Lucille, Connor’s aunt, talks him into doing a calendar to promote her community garden club. But they don’t want just any calendar. They want to do one with hunky men (mostly gay) holding flowers. With Connor’s help, they get the couples needed and Sterling manages to talk Connor into doing a month – then Connor turns the tables and makes sure Sterling does it with him. Meanwhile, the connection between the two grows hot and heavy.

The story is fun to read and the conflicts keep the action moving. And there’s a HEA ending that satisfies.

Recommended.

Fiction, Cozy Mystery

3***

Blurb: Tina Bender is the gossip columnist at the infamous L.A. Informer tabloid. She knows everything about everyone who’s anyone. And she’s not afraid to print it. That is, until she receives a threatening note, promising, “If you don’t stop writing about me, you’re dead.” Teaming with a built bodyguard, a bubbly blonde, and an alcoholic obituary writer, Tina sets out to uncover just which juicy piece of Hollywood gossip is worth killing over.

THOUGHTS: This started out fun with great characters that sometimes made me laugh–or wince. Tina is a gossip column writer for a Hollywood paper. She has a lot of “friends” (i.e. informants) and a lot of enemies. When she gets a death threat, the paper hires a bodyguard for her. One she doesn’t want–but the guy is a hunk, so maybe she can deal. And she lives with her elderly aunt who is a bit…challenging. And an elderly neighbor who complains a lot. When her neighbor is killed in Tina’s home, things get real for Tina.

The storyline was decent, the characters really fun, and the ending really good. But…the spelling, grammatical, timeline issues in the book really stopped me cold more than a few times. And that’s what cut the number of stars. I was tempted to give it a 2, but I really did like the ending, though I will say it was a total surprise because we weren’t given any idea of this possibility early in the story.

Recommended with reservations.