Deceased and Desist

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Tallie Graver has the perfect name for someone from a family that owns a funeral home. In Deceased and Desist by Misty Simon, Tallie isn't involved with the day-to-day at the Graver Funeral Home, as much as her father would like her to be. She operates her own cleaning business and is very happy doing it, thank you very much.

While cleaning the windows of a newly renovated bed and breakfast, Tallie spots a man on a bed through the second floor windows. At first she thinks he's asleep, but then she realizes something is wrong because she can see his back and his face - not anatomically possible unless he is starring in a remake of The Exorcist. 

Climbing down the ladder, she slips halfway down and lands on her hip and shoulder with a bump to her head. When she tries to explain what she saw to the police, they claim the man had a heart attack and died in the bed.

The dead man turns out to be bribeable building inspector Eli St. James. Seems like there were plenty of people in central Pennsylvania who might want Eli dead, but the substitute police chief insists Eli

died of a heart attack and he even threatens Tallie. Though they have had their moments in the past, police chief Burton (who is on convalescent leave) calls Tallie and asks her to stay involved - no matter what Detective Hammond has to say.

Tallie and her pal Gina did deep and find Eli and his brother extorting money from many people for approval of minor home repairs. With so many suspects, and meeting resistance from the acting police chief, Tallie has to tread carefully or her window washing days might be over.

Funny, sassy and snarky at times, Tallie Graver is right up my alley.

Disclosure: I received this book through the publisher.

Game of Bones

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Sarah Booth Delaney and Tinkie Bellcase Richmond are hot on the trail of a murderer when a body is found at Mound Salla in Sunflower County, Mississippi. In Game of Bones by Carolyn Haines in what appears to be a ritualistic killing, archaeologist Dr. Sandy Wells is found with her throat slit hanging above an intrusive burial grave. (Game of Bones will be published by Minotaur Books on May 14.)

When the partners arrive, they find her co-worker Dr. Frank Hafner as the leading suspect. It seems Drs. Hafner and Wells had different points of view on how the excavation should be handled and their arguments were heard far and wide. Dr. Hafner claims he is innocent and asks Sarah Booth and Tinkie to investigate to try to clear him.

As they investigate, they discover some strange and almost mystical events swirling around the site. When Peter Deerstalker, a member of the Tunica tribe, mentions a curse, it doesn't seem so far-fetched. Someone is digging in the site for something other than ancient pottery shards. Strange occurrences at night have the entire crew freaked out and when another person is found dead in a similar fashion, the graduate student crew wants to hightail it away.


Although he is their client, Sarah Booth and Tinkie aren't so sure he is innocent. Dr. Hafner is a notorious womanizer and had been having an affair with Dr. Wells as well as with some other graduate students. One in particular gives him an alibi for the time Dr. Wells was murdered.

Struggling to determine what the intruder is looking for inside the mound, Sarah Booth manages to place Sheriff Coleman in jeopardy, now after they have finally found their way together. Another heart-stopping adventure for the detectives from Zinnia, Mississippi.

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley.

The Scent of Murder

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Still reeling from the deaths of her fireman father and the dog she has been training, Jazz Ramsey grudgingly agrees to temporarily train another dog. In The Scent of Murder by Kylie Logan, we are introduced to a new series published by Minotaur Books.

While her friend Greg is away, Jazz agrees to continue to train his dog Luther as a cadaver dog. She stages a practice run in an old abandoned building and her mind wanders while Luther searches. They haven't even made it to the third floor spot where she has hidden a human tooth, when Luther barks three times - the signal that he has found something.

To her shock and horror, Luther has found the body of a young woman - a young woman Jazz knows. First on the scene is Detective Nick Kolesov, someone else Jazz is familiar with. The woman is dressed in all black with a very goth appearance including white face makeup, piercings and tattoos. She has apparently been strangled.


Florentine Allen had been a scholarship student at the prestigious St. Catherine's Preparatory Academy where Jazz works as an assistant to the school's director. A recent graduate, Florie had been a good student and was a creative photographer. Why she was dressed in goth clothes and what she was doing in the abandoned building was a puzzle.

Despite Nick's warnings to stay out of the investigation, Jazz is obsessed with finding out more about Florie since her high school graduation. Her search leads her to North Coast School of Photography where she learns Florie was struggling with her grades and her finances. And maybe wasn't the most ethical person around.

First there is an affair with a married professor and then suspicions of blackmail waft around Florie. What happened to the nice girl Jazz knew from St. Catherine's? As she pokes and prods people for answers, the picture of Florie becomes clearer.

An excellent start to a new series and I look forward to the next in the series.

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley.

The Disappearance of Alistair Ainsworth

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Oh what fun it would be to be a cryptographer. You could drive your family and friends crazy with coded messages instead of normal shopping lists. Unfortunately during World War I, cryptography was a serious business. In The Disappearance of Alistair Ainsworth by Leonard Goldberg, Watson, Watson, Jr. and Joanna are asked by Dr. Verner to investigate an unusual occurrence. Oh and Joanna is the daughter of Sherlock Holmes. (The Disappearance of Alistair Ainsworth will be released on June 11 by St. Martin's Press.)

It seems Dr. Verner was called to consult with a patient who could not speak, but was suffering from abdominal pain. While Dr. Verner was examining the patient, he felt the letters H-E-L-P being traced into his hand as well as the letters T-U. The doctor believed the patient was being held against his well. When he suggested that the patient be moved to a hospital, his caregivers said it was necessary to keep the whereabouts of the ill patient a secret.

Joanna believes the prisoner is neither a high government official

nor a royal personage, but someone quite clever and is being held against his will by German spies. When Dr. Watson discovers a notice in the newspaper asking for information on the whereabouts of Alistair Ainsworth, who goes by the name Tubby, they fear for Dr. Verner's life.

The group approaches Scotland Yard and explains what Dr. Verner has told them. Joanna suggests using a dog named Toby Two to follow the scent of chloroform on Dr. Verner's shoes. It appears Scotland Yard knows who is missing, but they do not know where he is being held.

But who is Alistair Ainsworth? He is involved in the highest level of national security as a cryptographer for the British Government. His disappearance is of vital importance as he is privy to top secret codes used by the British Navy.

The game is afoot, says the senior Dr. Watson. As I have always been a Sherlock Holmes fans, A Daughter of Sherlock Holmes mysteries add more dimension to the mystic of Holmes.

FTC Full Disclosure – I received a digital ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.

Interview with Cheryl Head

Cheryl Head

What is the title of your newest book? How many books have you published? 

Catch Me When I'm Falling is number four. 

(For a review of Cheryl's new book, click here.)

How did you develop your character and choose your location?
I'm originally from Detroit, so I set my book there in the mid 2000's. My characters are composites of people I've know, worked with, met over the years.

What do you enjoy about the author’s lifestyle? What do you not enjoy? 

I enjoy meeting other writers. Most writers are so generous with encouragement and support. Building community is a wonderful upside of the writer's life.

Sometimes, I get worn out by too much travel. Conserving, and recharging energy is a chronic condition of the introvert

Do you model your character after yourself or any one you know?
My main protagonist certainly shares some qualities with me, but she is also different than me in many ways. My stories are not autobiographical, which is good since, as mystery/crime novels, they deal in criminality and sometimes violence.

How do you get yourself out of a writing rut? 

Exercise, or any kind of work around the house that will help me work up a sweat. I also use poetry-reading it, but sometimes writing it-to help me find the words I'm looking for. Writing poetry is like having a clean, white palette on which to invoke emotion.

If your books were made into a movie, who would you want to play the lead character? 

 Anika Noni Rose. She was the voice actress of Disney's first black princess film; also a Tony Award winner. She's a versatile, smart actress. I see her as my Charlie Mack.

Who is your favorite author? 

That's a hard one. I'll go back to poetry for this one and say: Robert Frost.

If you could invite five people – living or dead – to a dinner party, who would they be?
Eleanor Roosevelt, Stephen King, former Texas Congresswoman, Barbara Jordan, Barack Obama, and Leonard Bernstein.

If you could not be an author, what would like to do as a career? 

Be a Broadway star or film director.

The Many Faces of Malice

Malice Domestic is filled with fantastic moments, but the most fun event is the Malice-Go-Round, a kind of speed dating for authors. Two authors at a time have five minutes to plug their books at a table of fans in the ballroom. After five minutes, two new authors come to the table and the other two authors move on around the room. It is an uproarious time and fans come home with lots of bookmarks, bags of candy, business cards and many, many new authors to read.

The authors are from left to right on the top row: Anne Hillerman, Terry Shames, Colleen Gleason Cheryl Hollon, Frances McNamara, Clea Simon, Lisa Q. Mathews and Leslie Karst. Middle row: Tina Kashian, Catherina Maiorisi, Julia Henry, Kathy Lee Emerson, Colleen Gleason and Laura Durham. Third row: Nancy Cole Silverman, Margaret Dumas, Liz Mugavero, Edith Maxwell, Marilyn Levinson, Mary Feliz, Debra Goldstein and Julia Henry

Back with Books from Malice Domestic

Malice Domestic Opens

We are here and planning to start our day with Malice Go Round: Author Speed Dating, a most entertaining way to meet new authors.
Watch MapYourMystery.com for photos.

A Plain Vanilla Murder

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Being called plain vanilla, might be a negative term, but real vanilla harvested in the lush tropical forests of the Americas is a crop highly prized. In Susan Wittig Albert's A PlainVanilla Murder, there is nothing ordinary about vanilla. (A Plain Vanilla Murder will be published by Persevero Press on June 4.)

China Bayles and her business partner Ruby Wilcox are presenting their very popular workshop entitled "Not Just Plain Vanilla." They describe how the plant is grown, how it is harvested and cured and why it is so valuable today. The vanilla orchid, yes vanilla starts its life as a orchid, twines itself around a tree and when the yellow orchid-like flower is pollinated, a ripe vanilla pod is created.

When a botany professor is found dead in his greenhouse on the campus, the campus police call in Pecan Springs Chief Sheila Dawson to investigate. At first glance, it seems like a suicide, but after careful investigation, it turns into a murder made to look like a suicide.

Dr. Carl Fairlee was not much loved by his colleagues at the university. He used grant money to build himself a rooftop greenhouse without the university's permission, her divorced his wife and forced her to sell their house and their collection of orchids to divide in the settlement and he was a known womanizer, so there were plenty of suspects. As the very pregnant Chief Dawson investigates, she learns Dr. Fairlee registered a lucrative vanilla patent and left out his graduate assistant who was closely involved. Logan Gardner becomes a suspect.

Fairlee's ex-wife Maggie, a mercurial greenhouse owner, makes herself the prime suspect, but China knows Maggie's moods and doesn't think she would kill him. But when it is discovered that Maggie broke into the greenhouse and stole a rare orchid, Chief Dawson refocuses her efforts on those closest to Fairlee.

An excellent mystery tightly woven with the lethal history of vanilla grown in the jungles of Mexico. You will not look at plain vanilla in the same way again.

Interview with Debra Sennefelder

What is the title of your newest book? How many books have you published? 

The Hidden Corpse, book 2 in the Food Blogger Mystery series, is my newest book. It released at the

Debra Sennefelder

end of March. I currently have three published books. Last year my debut novel, The Uninvited Corpse, book 1 in the Food Blogger Mystery series was published. In January of this year Murder Wears a Little Black Dress, book 1 in the Resale Boutique Mystery series, was published.

How did you develop your character and choose your location? 

While writing another manuscript, in a different genre, I had the idea of trying to write another cozy (I’d written one years ago) and I decided I wanted the series to revolve around food, so I decided on a food blogger. Having had my own food blog for several years, I knew about blogging and it also gave Hope flexibility with her schedule to get involved with a murder investigation. It was over a process of weeks of brainstorming the idea for the first book and creating the world where Hope lives that her character came to be. I chose to create a fictional town in Connecticut for Hope to live in. Jefferson is a quaint town in the northwest hills of Connecticut where autumn is spectacular, winter is harsh, spring is abundant with beauty and summer is perfect for lazy days.

What do you enjoy about the author’s lifestyle? What do you not enjoy? 

I love the flexibility of writing full-time. I’m able to set my own hours and not have to commute any longer. However, writing full-time means that there are times when it’s hard to stop work for the day.

Do you model your character after yourself or any one you know? 

Hope does have some of my traits and habits, but she’s not me. I prefer not to model characters after people I know. With that said, sure there are some traits I’ve given characters from people I do know.

How do you get yourself out of a writing rut? 

I don’t think I’ve been in a writing rut. Maybe working on two series helps keep me from feeling like I’m in a rut. I do make sure to take time away from my work with regular workouts and walks with my two dogs, Susie and Billy.

If your books were made into a movie, who would you want to play the lead character? 

I honestly have no idea. The chances of this happening are incredibly low, so I don’t even think about it.

Who is your favorite author? 

There are way too many to list. However, Katherine Hall Page is the author who opened the world of culinary cozy mysteries to me with her Faith Fairchild Mystery series years ago.

If you could invite five people – living or dead – to a dinner party, who would they be? 

First on the list would be my critique partner, Ellie Ashe. She lives in California, so we only get to visit when we Facetime. The other guests would be Martha Stewart, Bethenny Frankel, Neil Armstrong and Katherine Hall Page.

If you could not be an author, what would like to do as a career? 

That’s easy, I’d be a food blogger.