The Baroness’ Choices of New Books Publishing This Week
2023, Week 42’s New Books
My choices for this week include Cozy Paranormal Mysteries, Murder Thriller, Cozy Culinary Mysteries, Traditional Holiday Mystery, Cozy Mysteries, Cozy Animal Mystery, Cozy Holiday Mystery, Action and Adventure Fantasy, YA Fairy Tale and Folklore Adaptation, Paranormal Romantic Comedy, Sweet Romance, and Cozy Crafts and Hobbies Mystery.
We are halfway through October already! Is anyone switching their fall decorations with their spooky stuff? Or do we already have the spooky stuff out?
Both Jen and I have reviews coming out for some of these books!
Here are my choices for New Books Publishing Week 42 of 2023!
Bobbin for Answers by Melissa Bourbon
Magical Dressmaking Mystery #7
Publication Date: October 15, 2023
Genre: Cozy Paranormal Mystery
It’s autumn in Bliss, Texas, and Harlow Cassidy is creating the perfect costume for her friend Josie’s Halloween party. She hopes she can she sew her own wishes and dreams into the Wednesday Addams dress.
But fashion turns fatal when the Halloween party takes a dark turn. One of the party-goers is found dead next to the toppled barrel of apples and so many people have a potential motive, including Harlow’s good friend Orphie. Not only does Harlow need to get to the truth about the murder, she needs to keep her ghostly great-grandmother under wraps before the secret Cassidy charm isn’t so secret anymore.
The Museum Murders by Dawn Brookes
Carols Jacobi #3
Publication Date: October 15, 2023
Genre: Murder Thriller
Nothing is what it seems in this gripping crime novel…
When the body of a homeless woman is found in a dugout foundation of the ancient ruins of a Roman bath-house, there is little… or no investigation. Why?
The Museum Murders takes readers on a heart-pounding journey through the dark underbelly of Leicester, where nothing is as it seems. As Carlos delves into the disappearance of a young woman, he uncovers a sinister plot involving influential figures and the systematic targeting of society’s most vulnerable.
Will Carlos and acting DI, Fiona Cook navigate the treacherous maze of corruption to uncover the truth before more lives are lost? With its riveting plot, complex characters, and unexpected twists, this gripping crime novel will leave readers racing to the final page.
Carlos and Fiona, assisted by his faithful friend, ex-cadaver dog, Lady, race against time to expose the truth, face his personal demons, and deliver justice for those who have been silenced.
In the background, Carlos and Fiona continue their pursuit of the criminal mastermind Nicolae and his connection to a powerful Edinburgh lawyer, who holds Fiona’s brother under his spell. Threats and challenges mount as they get nearer to solving the case.
With his meticulous nature and military instincts, Carlos employs every skill at his disposal to bring a killer to justice and expose the dark underpinnings of the conspiracy.
The deeper he digs, the more dangerous the investigation becomes. How high does the conspiracy go?
A Nutcracker Nightmare by Christina Romeril
Killer Chocolate Mystery #2
Publication Date: October 17, 2023
Genre: Cozy Culinary Mystery
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Perfect for fans of Joanne Fluke and Laura Childs, when twin sisters Hanna and Alex help out at the local high school reunion, volunteering takes a turn when they find a former classmate’s dead body.
Hanna and Alex, owners of the Murder and Mayhem book and chocolate shop, are busy preparing for the Harriston High School’s reunion weekend. Neighbors will connect with old friends and perhaps try to avoid old foes. One person no one can avoid is Kyle, the former star quarterback, who is busy using his entire playbook to try and score with Hanna, even threatening her if she doesn’t play nice. At the reunion, Alex glimpses more drama than nostalgia as insults are flung around like a football at a Friday night game. The party is put on hold when Alex finds the dead body of none other than Kyle himself, bludgeoned to death by a nutcracker that the sisters admired earlier in the night.
Hanna quickly becomes the prime suspect—someone saw her slap Kyle in the face at the reunion dance. She’ll need her sister, their sleuthing canine, Watson, and their old friends and colleagues to help break this case wide open. While looking through old yearbooks and taking a stroll down memory lane, Alex uncovers a few secrets about Kyle, now, it seems like everyone had a motive to kill him.
But when the suspects start becoming the victims, Alex and Hanna know that they can’t melt under the pressure—they must find the killer before they become just another yearbook memory.
In the Wick of Time by Valona Jones
Magic Candle Shop Mystery #2
Publication Date: October 17, 2023
Genre: Cozy Paranormal Mystery
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Tabby Winslow will help her twin sister Sage with anything and everything—and that includes putting out the flames of suspicion when Sage’s boss is found murdered in this magical mystery, perfect for fans of Amanda Flower and Sofie Kelly.
December in Savannah, Georgia, is a sight to behold. With all the festivities—including the traditional riverfront luminary display during the boat parade—twin sisters Tabby and Sage Winslow are busier than ever setting up for the big celebration. But that isn’t the only thing on the sisters’ minds. Both Sage and her fellow employee Mary Nicole are vying for the sought-after assistant manager job at the plant nursery. But when Loren Lee, their boss, is found dead, and Sage becomes the police’s favorite suspect, both Winslow girls know that they’ll need more than a flicker of magic and their sisterhood to solve the murder and clear Sage’s name.
Soon, Tabby realizes that this is just one of the many problems they have. If being a suspect for murder wasn’t enough, there are more magical problems that they have to fix: Sage’s boyfriend is having a paranormal experience of his own he can’t control, there’s an energy vampire searching for his supposedly lost cousin, her cat suddenly dislikes her, and oh—every time Tabby hiccups, she turns completely invisible. The suspect list grows with each day and it seems everyone has a reason or a connection to Loren Lee.
Tabby and Sage are burning the candle at both ends—but will it be enough to keep their friends safe and find this killer? Or will they be burned by their efforts?
Mistletoe and Murder by Connie Berry
Kate Hamilton Mysteries #4.5
Publication Date: October 17, 2023
Genre: Traditional Holiday Mystery
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In Connie Berry’s festive holiday novella Mistletoe and Murder, American antiques dealer Kate Hamilton has a long way to go before she gets down the aisle, but will someone stand in the way of her happily ever after?
Five days before her wedding to Detective Inspector Tom Mallory, Kate Hamilton finds her friend Sheila in need of her help. Sheila, a soon-to-be bride herself, needs Kate’s help to get Carl Curtis, her fiancé, out of Venezuela. His passport was taken from him by the authorities, and they say he owes them money. Carl says it’s a bribe, but he’s unable to leave unless it’s paid.
Sheila decides to sell her grandfather’s coin collection, including a valuable gold coin presented by Queen Victoria to her great-grandmother. Among her grandfather’s stored possessions is a letter from the Queen. When someone breaks into Sheila’s house, all signs point to even more foul play. As Kate deals with a disturbing number of wedding-plan hitches, a fire in town reveals a body. Unfortunately, the burned-out flat is next to the bridal salon where Kate’s dress is being altered. Can the cleaners really eliminate the odor of smoke?
As the clock ticks down to Kate and Tom’s “I do”s, Kate goes to Sheila’s house to help her search for the royal letter, but she’s nowhere to be found. The house has been torn apart, and Sheila is missing. Could Sheila’s disappearance be connected to the death in town? Kate will have to piece together the clues.
Murder by the Seashore by Samara Yew
California Bookshop Mystery #1
Publication Date: October 17, 2023
Genre: Cozy Mystery
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Perfect for fans of Jenn McKinlay and Ellery Adams, Scarlett Gardner’s dream was to open a bookshop in Southern California, but it soon becomes a nightmare when she finds the dead body of a customer—and becomes the prime suspect.
Southern California is where dreams come true—or so Scarlett Gardner thought. When she moved there and opened the Palm Trees and Page Turners bookshop, she thought her boyfriend and business partner would be part of the story. When he leaves her for a better job, Scarlett finds herself struggling to keep her new business afloat. That’s not the only thing she has to worry about—she discovers something underneath the pier by her bookshop that she didn’t outline for her life’s story: the dead body of a book-buying customer.
After Scarlett gives a statement to the police, she thinks her life can go back to business as usual. But when a lawyer, representing someone named Lorelai Knight, tells Scarlett that she now stands to inherit a small fortune, she’s left with more questions than answers. Before she can make sense of any of it, the police bring her in for questioning; the body she found was Lorelai Knight. And the evidence they have against Scarlett doesn’t look good. Business is booming as Scarlett returns to Palm Trees and Page Turners, but for all the wrong reasons – curious tourists don’t want books, they want a glimpse of the Bookshop Killer.
Who could really be behind all of this? And why frame Scarlett? To clear her name, she’s going to have get creative—and hope she can remain one page ahead of the killer.
Paws to Remember by Sofie Kelly
Magical Cats #15
Publication Date: October 17, 2023
Genre: Cozy Animal Mystery
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Librarian Kathleen Paulson and her enchanted felines get involved in a cold case that is putting people in very hot water in the newest installment of this New York Times bestselling series.
When a water leak repair results in a body being found behind the walls of the store run by the artists’ co-op that Kathleen’s friend, Maggie, is part of everyone is completely mystified as to whose body it is and who hid it there. But as the dust settles, her boyfriend, Detective Marcus Gordon, begins to suspect the body could belong to a young woman who disappeared more than thirty years ago.
When a friend with a connection to the young woman asks Kathleen to look into the circumstances around the disappearance, she and her cats—who have special feline talent for catching felons—find themselves digging up secrets that at least one person in Mayville Heights would much prefer stay buried.
Pumpkins and Peril by Agatha Frost
Peridale Cafe Cozy Mystery #29
Publication Date: October 17, 2023
Genre: Cozy Culinary Mystery
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When the leader of the Peridale Preservation Society is found dead at a Halloween party thrown by notorious property developer James Jacobson, the sleepy Cotswold village is rocked by scandalous revelations that could alter its future. Julia and her family, no strangers to solving mysteries, find themselves tangled in a brand new case that hits far too close to home. Will they uncover the truth before their beloved Peridale is changed forever?
Sieve and Let Die by Victoria Hamilton
Vintage Kitchen Mystery #11
Publication Date: October 17, 2023
Genre: Cozy Mystery
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In the new Vintage Kitchen Mystery from the author of A Calculated Whisk, Jaymie’s not sure who to believe when every suspect’s alibi has as many holes as a sieve . . .
Vintage cookware collector Jaymie Müller is stunned when an irate woman accuses her pharmacist friend Val of tampering with her prescription. When more unfounded accusations follow, it seems clear the woman has a personal grudge against Val. But before they can figure out why, Jaymie and Val stumble upon the woman’s dead body on the steps of Val’s pharmacy. Given her altercations with the woman and the location of the body, the police naturally suspect Val.
Jaymie has heard rumors that the victim had become forgetful and erratic, but could that explain her death? And why was Val being framed as her murderer? Determined to find the clues that connect the woman’s strange behavior to her death, Jaymie begins questioning the people in her life—and soon suspects that the culprit is among them. But she’ll have to be careful about who she confronts, because while solving murders is hard work, there’s a killer on the loose who finds committing them all too easy . . .
Includes a vintage recipe!
Stalking Around the Christmas Tree by Jacqueline Frost
Christmas Tree Farm Mystery #4
Publication Date: October 17, 2023
Genre: Cozy Holiday Mystery
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Tis the season to solve a murder—and innkeeper Holly White knows she’ll have to make her list and check it twice if she wants to catch the killer in the 4th Christmas Tree Farm mystery from bestselling author Jacqueline Frost.
For inn keeper Holly White, Christmas time in Mistletoe, Maine, is the ultimate holiday gift. Business at the Reindeer Games Inn is booming, her wedding to Sheriff Evan Gray is nearly here, and the annual parade is about to begin. The town is lucky to have another gift this year with the state’s ballet company staying for several performances of The Nutcracker. But disaster strikes when Tiffany, the lead ballerina, shows up dead on a float during the parade, the Rat King’s mask nearby. Holly will have to spruce up her sleuthing skills if she wants to catch the killer before Christmas—and her wedding day.
Immediately, Holly discovers that Tiffany had more than a few secrets. She finds out that the star of the show had a super fan that no one knows anything about. And the show’s understudy slips some other intriguing information Holly’s way: not only was Tiffany secretly seeing someone romantically, but there seems to be more than one rat in this company. When Holly discovers a secret passage leading to Tiffany’s dressing room, with footprints leading out; she wonders if this is evidence of a secret lover—or a stalking killer.
With an impending snowstorm and the ballet company on the way out of town, Holly must act quickly if she wants to find the person responsible for this terrible murder. Will she be able to save Christmas—or will her investigation turn cold like the weather?
The Widow’s Fate by Jeff Wheeler
Poisoner of Kingfountain #2
Publication Date: October 17, 2023
Genre: Action and Adventure Fantasy
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From Wall Street Journal bestselling author Jeff Wheeler…
A wise king keeps his friends close and his enemies closer, even if one is his younger brother. When a valuable heiress disappears from Kingfountain in the middle of the night, King Eredur summons the poisoner Ankarette to bring her back alive at all costs. Both of his younger brothers want her-one to control her fortune and the other for love.
With the help of a world-weary soldier from the Night Watch, Ankarette must delve into the darkest corners of the city before the wrong people find the lost widow first. Blood will be spilled. Brothers will come to blows. And once again Ankarette must try to stop her beloved kingdom from tearing itself apart.
To Defy a Dream by Mary Mecham
Shattered Tales #4
Publication Date: October 17, 2023
Genre: YA Fairy Tales and Folklore Adaptation
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What if Sleeping Beauty pricked her finger on purpose?
Princess Aurelia’s kingdom is plagued by the Eternal Slumber, a disease progressively ensnaring the minds of her subjects. After Aurelia wishes for the means to revive her brother, her sinister fairy godmother presents an ominous solution: Aurelia must stab herself with a poisoned spindle.
Accepting this fate plunges Aurelia into a nightmare where victims of the Eternal Slumber are being held hostage by a dark djinni. However, Aurelia’s brother isn’t the only familiar face she finds herself reunited with; Everett, the love of her life who mysteriously disappeared years ago, is there as well. As the djinni’s power grows, Aurelia must decide who to save before the djinni escapes and enters the waking world.
Failing on her quest could trap her in the dream world forever. Will she forgo her chance at a happily ever after and protect her brother, or will she choose to rescue herself and the man she loves?
No matter who she chooses, someone will be doomed to remain in the nightmare that never ends.
To Defy a Dream is a retelling of Sleeping Beauty. It is one of twelve novellas in The Shattered Tales, a collection of twelve fractured retellings of your favorite fairy tales. They can be enjoyed in any order, so fall in love with the swoony sweet romances, magical adventures, and tale-shattering twists one happily-ever-after at a time!
Alienhated by Sophie-Leigh Robbins
Publication Date: October 19, 2023
Genre: Paranormal Romantic Comedy
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I hate the alien hottie who got us stuck in between worlds. Too bad I need to work with him if I want to get my life back.
Aliens don’t exist. Right?
I thought so too until I meet Ray. He’s charming, he’s hot, and a complete klutz. Thanks to one of his failed experiments with a new device, the two of us get stuck in between worlds. That’s right, he’s alienated us from the rest of the world. So what if he didn’t do it on purpose? I desperately need to get back to my daily routines, but I can’t. It’s enough to make me hate him.
Too bad I can’t leave his hot alien ass by the side of the road. The only way we’re getting out of this mess is by working together, and that apparently means traveling to a hidden base in the desert.
The possibility of getting my life back instead of being stuck in an empty world with no one but a sexy alien to keep me company is the only reason I don’t give up. But the farther we travel down deserted roads, the more it dawns on me that I won’t ever be the same after this—if we ever make it out.
This enemies-to-lovers paranormal romcom is a funny and lighthearted read that will make you wish aliens did exist after all. Alienhated is a dual POV, paranormal romantic comedy with all the sizzle, but no explicit scenes.
Challenging the Chef by Shanna Hatfield
Summer Creek #6
Publication Date: October 19, 2023
Genre: Sweet Romance
When an interloper arrives in his kitchen, will romance start to simmer?
Chef Owen Thorpe left behind his celebrity status when he moved to Summer Creek. The quaint town and country atmosphere allow him to seek solace in his recipes. His peace and quiet is threatened when he’s coerced into being part of a big auction package that includes the winner spending a week cooking with him in his restaurant. The last thing he wants is some chef wannabe in his way. However, the real danger he faces is losing his heart when the winner turns out to be a beautiful woman who knows her way around a kitchen.
Burdened by the weight of her demanding career as a school psychologist, Tawni Young turns to cooking and gardening to escape from the never-ending stress of her work. When her aunt gifts her an auction package that includes cooking lessons in the small town of Summer Creek, Tawni realizes the chef she’ll be working with is none other than a celebrity she had a huge crush on during her college years. From the moment the two of them meet, an undeniable attraction sizzles while wits collide.
As they embark on a tantalizing journey of culinary delights, will Tawni and Owen discover the most important ingredient is love?
In this heartwarming and deliciously wholesome tale, Challenging the Chef takes readers on a savory adventure filled with sweet romance.
Holly, Baubles and Murder by Victoria Tait
Dotty Sayers Antique Mysteries #8
Publication Date: October 20, 2023
Genre: Cozy Crafts and Hobbies Mystery
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A joyful Christmas festival turns deadly when a corpse ends up as the chilling centrepiece. Can an amateur sleuth unwrap the tinsel-tangled mystery before the merry cheer melts away?
Talented antiques enthusiast, Dotty Sayers, is thrilled to be organising a Christmas display at a Yorkshire country house. She enjoys decking the halls, but the season is far from jolly when the chief guide is found dead, her body as cold as ice.
When cops dismiss the death, Dotty turns to her prickly American colleague, only to learn he has his own secrets to solve. But when he disappears, this amateur detective fears the festive charades have become far deadlier.
Can Dotty string together the clues and bring to light the killer?
This new instalment of the Dotty Sayers Antique Mystery series is a Christmas country house murder mystery. If you enjoy entertaining characters, perplexing puzzles, and charming English settings, you’ll love Victoria Tait’s page-turning tale.
Enjoy Christmas cheer with Dotty, and buy Holly, Sculptures and Murder today!
Well, that’s it for the New Books Releasing Week 42 of 2023
Drop a comment if you like one of the books above or if you have one to recommend.
Thank you for stopping by,
Happy Reading!
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