Merry Wrath Mysteries book #34
It’s not news that the Iowa towns of Bladdersly (Home of the Raging
Bladders) and Who’s There (the Fighting Who-rish) are rivals and have
been for more than a century. And as everybody knows—the best way to
deal with a rivalry is to exploit it! So Who’s There’s youngest mayor
creates The WhoBla Olympics to settle things once and for all!

Everyone is going to compete, including ex-CIA agent turned Girl Scout
leader Merry Wrath Ferguson and her troop. The events are a bit
strange, with Extreme Hide & Seek and Dodge Archery, but all’s fair in
the spirit of competition, right? Sure, there’s a little cheating and
sabotage going on, but it’s nothing…until a body turns up with Merry’s
arrow in its chest. And what could go wrong when you have two police departments taking the spirit of competition too far in seeing who will solve the crime first? Will Merry and her teammate, Hilly, medal in Dodge Archery? Will the event heal the rift between these two towns? Can Merry solve the crime
before Chief Magnum of the Bladdersly PD locks her up? Get your nachos and take your seat in the stands to see who comes out on top…and who is going down!

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/221243998-medal-for-murder

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Description

Even in outer space there are dictators. Eiko, a crystal hunter for the Massaki people escapes marriage to a man she reviles. Forced to flee, she mourns the loss of her fiance’ Hopper who disappeared thirteen years ago. Hopper’s life is torn apart when he is kidnapped. His mind and body abused–leaving him with no memory of the past. Now, as captain of the ship Amaya, he finds information about the woman who haunts his dreams. Trapped and injured, Eiko is startled to find Hopper is not dead. His attempt to save her is derailed when some of the same forces who put his kidnapping into place abduct Eiko. Can Hopper, with Amaya, his living ship, their friends and the Blessed Three bring down a dictatorship or die taking a stand for honor and right?

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Blurb: Paradise is shaken when the body of a young woman is dragged onto a university research vessel during a class outing in Hilo Bay. Cleo Cooper is shaken when she finds her favorite student is on the hook for the murder. Danger lurks on land and sea as Cleo and her friends are enticed to search for the true killer. In between paddling, swimming, and arguing with her boyfriend, Cleo discovers all is not what it seems on the Big Island of Hawaii. Will she find the truth before she becomes the next victim? If you love exotic danger entwined with romance check
out Evil Alice and the Borzoi!

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About the Author: DK Coutant graduated from Davidson College with a Psychology degree, and initially applied her behavioral training to animals at Sea World, working with dolphins and whales. After a couple of years, she realized that scrubbing fish buckets might get old, and went back to Graduate school to earn a Ph.D. in Psychology, specializing in Cross-Cultural Issues. She began her academic career in Maine. A few years later, she made the jump to Hawaii and worked at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, rising to Department Chair of the Psychology Department. After many happy years in Hawaii,  her love for travel led her to make the move out of academics. She accepted positions as a professional geopolitical forecaster with GJ, Inc and Rand Forecasting Initiative. She splits her time between Olympia, WA and Santa Fe, NM, with her husband and an Old English Sheepdog, Beasley. Evil Alice and Borzoi was released by the Wild Rose Press in 2023, and the second in the Cleo Cooper Mysteries, Elegance and Evil is planned for release in 2025.

DK Coutant; https://www.dkcoutant.com/

Fiction, Cozy Mystery

4****

Blurb: Winter has wrapped the Wisconsin Northwoods in a bitter chill, and Emmy Cooper’s family lake cottage resort, Cooper’s Cove, is no exception. But it’s someone from Emmy’s past who’s about to bring the real frostbite! A stormy mix-up at a local hotel reroutes an unwanted group of guests to Cooper’s Cove Resort, including Emmy’s former boss and the reason Emmy slunk home with her tail between her legs, Gwenda Caperwell. As if being face-to-face with an old grudge wasn’t bad enough, a fierce blizzard picks that moment to strike, leaving Emmy snowed in with her least favorite person on earth. But things go from bad to downright chilling when Gwenda suddenly turns up dead—colder than the January air—and Emmy’s snowed in with a corpse. With the roads impassable and the safety of the other guests at stake, the local law enforcement had no choice but to rely on Emmy and her parents to help solve the mystery and catch the real killer, much to the dismay of Emmy’s love interest, Officer Dean Erickson. But it quickly becomes clear that plenty of the other guests snowed in at Cooper’s Cove had a reason to want the Gwenda dead. Battling through drifts of secrets and lies, Emmy must navigate the frosty web of suspicion to uncover the murderer—before the next victim is iced!

Thoughts: This is the third in a series, but you don’t need to have read the first two to know what is going on. The author lets you in on who’s who and their background with a deft hand. The story has great imagery. Set in Wisconsin during a blizzard, her descriptions actually made me shiver and want a mug of hot chocolate!

Emmy runs a lodge with her parents, has great friends, and a cop boyfriend. The lodge is booked for the week with people coming in for a skiing competition and an ice fishing event. Unfortunately, her ex-boss and workers as well as others she knows from her past. Unfortunately, a blizzard traps them all at the lodge. When Gwenda (her ex-boss and the queen of mean) literally falls dead at Emmy’s feet, the entire family comes together to help solve who killed the woman. In addition, they have to provide unexpected meals, entertainment, and comfort to the guests – even Emmy’s old high school nemesis.

While they survive the blizzard, nasty guests, and solve the murder, there are a couple strings left dangling (lightly) so you know there is more to come (yay!). I loved that Emmy is a bit of a klutz. And the introduction of Mr. Cat was fun.

Definitely recommended! I can’t wait for the rest.

Most mothers-to-be spend their pregnancy leafing through baby names and shopping for nursery furniture. Minka Avery spends hers trying to hunt down a murderer on the open seas. Minka’s promotion to Orlando PD’s homicide department has some bumps at first, including her growing baby bump. Just as she and her partner begin to hit their stride, Logan Baris’s suspicious death baffles them. The investigation leads the detectives to believe he had a hand in a shady operation, but the cruise ship worker’s troubles seem to voyage into the ocean blues with him. After they meet up with some dead ends on land, Minka convinces her partner and his wife to join her and her husband to embark on a covert investigation on the ship. Will they be able to uncover whatever scheme is underway on the vessel? Or will the choppy waves of personal drama make it run ashore?

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About the Author: Karina Bartow hails from Northern Ohio. Though born with Cerebral Palsy, she’s never allowed her disability to define her. Rather, she’s used her experiences to breathe life into characters who have physical limitations, but like her, are determined not to let them stand in the way of the life they want. Her works include Husband in Hiding, Forgetting My Way Back to You, Brother of Interest, Wrong Line, Right Connection, Accidental Allies and Undercover Babymoon. She may only be able to type with one hand, but she writes with her whole heart!

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Fiction, Cozy Mystery

4****

Blurb: An impending divorce. A hot homicide detective. And spontaneous time travel.
Midlife in Glimmerspell is proving to be magical. If I thought the first half of my life was a bumpy ride, I’d better buckle up because I’m about to go over the hill and off the rails. After catching my husband in bed with another woman, I gave him the heave-ho, put our house on the market, and moved away to an enchanting little town for a brand new start. What I didn’t count on was the fact that enchanting little town might just be—enchanted. Glimmerspell is rumored to be home to vampires, werewolves, and fae, but those are just simply gimmicks to lure tourists to their snowy little town—aren’t they? Nevertheless, I’ve got a job at the Haunted Book Barn where my niece films her infamous video blog—Murder, Mayhem, and Baking. She’s somehow wrangled me into helping out with whipping up the sweet treats, and in the middle of filming an episode a hot flash strikes and I’m transported to another time, place, and another day entirely. Midlife in Glimmerspell can be a real killer. 

Thoughts: Wow, does Billie ever have issues! She moves herself and her daughter Harper to Glimmerspell to get away from her cheating ex-to-be. And immediately gets decked by a huge hourglass filled with sparkly sand, then is accosted by a dead body. And sees her ghostly dead niece. And then gets hit with hot flashes that move her around in time. Billie is not having a good day. 

But the incredibly handsome detective who is looking into the murdered body is also looking at her in a rather interesting way. And so is the equally handsome sheriff. What a time for her to swear off men. 

There are all sorts of shenanigans going on in Glimmerspell. And this is just the beginning for Billie.

Recommended.