Book List

2024 Valentine’s Day Mysteries

Are you a fan of holiday themed reading? Published between 2016 and 2024, here is an updated list of thirty-five novels, novellas, and short stories centered around Valentine’s Day. Be prepared to sigh, or giggle, or be entranced by the selection. Click on the titles to discover more about the books and enjoy!

 

Jennifer S. Alderson  Death by Baguette
Carolyn Arnold  Valentine’s Day is Murder

Belle Bailey  A Sugar Maple Valentine
Patti Benning  Tall, Dark, and Deadly
Bellamy Bloom & Addison Moore  Murder Bites
Franky A. Brown  What Happened to Romance?

Thea Cambert A Fine Point of Murder
Susan Carroll The Valentine’s Day Ball
Cherry Christensen  Secret Valentine
Colleen Cross  Witching for Love on Valentine’s Day

Kathi Daley The Valentine Mystery
Sylvia Damsell  A Valentine Wish
Steve Demaree A Valentine Murder
Leighann Dobbs My Fatal Valentine
Liz Dodwell Valentine’s Day: a Polly Parrett Pet-Sitter Cozy

Jessica L. Elliott Operation: Romance

Tammy Falkner A Valentine’s Day Miracle
Amanda Flower Honeymoons Can Be Hazardous

Deborah Garner  A Flair for Truffles
Patricia Gligor Marnie Malone
Donna Grant  My Fiery Valentine

Holly Hepburn Valentine’s Day at the Star and Sixpence
Liwen Y. Ho Romantically Ever After

June McCrary Jacobs Handmade Hearts

Libby Klein  Theater Nights Are Murder

Jackie Lau  A Big Surprise for Valentine’s Day
Lia London Love from A to Z

Ava Mallory & nine more authors Stirring Up Love & Mystery
Jenn McKinlay  Royal Valentine
Leslie Meier  Valentine Candy Murder
Mobile Writers Guild Valentine’s Day Pieces (Anthology)
Addison Moore & Bellamy Bloom  Sealed with a Hiss

Summer Prescott A Blossom of Murder

Amy M. Reade  Be My Valencrime

Jessica Thompson A Caterer’s Guide to Valentines and Violence

 

Happy Reading!

 

 

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2023 Goodreads Choice Awards

Thanks to “Publishers Lunch,” a daily publication for the book business, we have a list of the winners of the 2023 Goodreads Choice Awards. This is one of the few book awards chosen and voted upon by the readers themselves, with hundreds of thousands participating each year. Here is the winning list, in order of number of votes received.

Romantasy: Fourth Wing, by Rebecca Yarros (397,565 votes)
Fiction: Yellowface, by R. F. Kuang (200,722 votes)
Romance: Happy Place, by Emily Henry (157,687 votes)
Memoir & Autobiography: The Woman in Me, by Britney Spears (132,867 votes)
YA Fantasy: Divine Rivals, by Rebecca Ross (117,671 votes)
Mystery & Thriller: The Housemaid’s Secret, by Freida McFadden (86,468 votes)
Horror: Holly, by Stephen King (77,993 votes)
Fantasy: Hell Bent, by Leigh Bardugo (75,800 votes)
Young Adult Fiction: Check & Mate, by Ali Hazelwood (68,736 votes)
Historical Fiction: Weyward, by Emilia Hart (62,211 votes)
Science Fiction: In the Lives of Puppets, by T.J. Klune (57,535 votes)
Debut Novel: Weyward, by Emilia Hart (45,420 votes)
History & Biography: The Wager, by David Grann (40,132 votes)
Humor: Being Henry: The Fonz…and Beyond, by Henry Winkler (36,770 votes)
Nonfiction: Poverty, by America, by Matthew Desmond (25,910 votes)

Congratulations to all!

 

 

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2023 – Christmas Themed Mysteries and Romance

Christmas is the most popular holiday theme for mysteries and fiction of all varieties. There are hundreds from which to choose, with some writers focusing entirely on Christmas in every book they publish.

If you are a fan of Christmas themed fiction, then this updated 2023 list of sixty-seven novels, novellas, and short stories is for you. The books were recommended by avid cozy booksellers and reviewers, as well as NBR and Kerrian’s Notebook subscribers. Click on the titles to find out more about the books, then snuggle up with a great Christmas read.

 

Susan Wittig Albert “The Darling Dahlias & the Poinsettia Puzzle

Gretchen Archer  “Double Deck the Halls

Donna Andrews “Dashing Through the Snowbirds

Mary Angela “Very Merry Murder”

Joy Avon “In Peppermint Peril”

 

Laurien Berenson “Here Comes Santa Paws

Susan Bernhardt “Murder Under the Tree

Brittany E. Brinegar “Holly Jolly Murder

Leslie Budewitz “As the Christmas Cookie Crumbles”

Anna Celeste Burke “Cowabunga Christmas

Ellen Byron “A Cajun Christmas Killing”

 

Lynn Cahoon “Have a Holly Haunted Christmas

Robyn Carr “A Virgin River Christmas

Nancy Coco “Have Yourself a Fudgy Little Christmas

Cate Conte “A Whisker of a Doubt

Maya Corrigan “Gingerdead Man

 

Kim Davis “Frosted Yuletide Murder

Maddie Day “Christmas Cocoa and a Corpse”

Sharon Daynard  “Murder Points North

Vicki Delany “Dying in a Winter Wonderland

Hannah Dennison “A Killer Christmas at Honeychurch Hall

Maria DiRico “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Murder

Leighann Dobbs “Grievance in Gingerbread Alley

 

Barbara Early “Murder on the Toy Town Express”

Peggy Ehrhart “Silent Knit, Deadly Knit

Morris Fenris “Christmas Angel Charity

Beatrice Fishback “Winter Writerland

Amanda Flower “Candy Cane Crime

Joanne Fluke “Christmas Cupcake Murder

Jacqueline Frost “Slashing Through the Snow

 

Daryl Wood Gerber “Wreath between the Lines

John Gray “Manchester Christmas

Patrice Greenwood “As Red as Any Blood

 

Carolyn Haines “A Garland of Bones

Victoria Hamilton “Breaking the Mould”

Jo A Heistand “A Recipe for Murder

Julie Hennrikus “A Christmas Peril”

 

Liz Ireland “Mrs. Claus and the Santaland Slayings

CeeCee James “The Frosty Taste of Scandal

Miranda James “Six Cats a Slayin”

 

Tina Kashian “Mistletoe, Moussaka, and Murder

Laura Levine “Death of a Neighborhood Scrooge”

Sherry Lynn “Murder Under the Mistletoe

 

Debbie Macomber “Dear Santa

VL McBeath “A Christmas Murder

Clara McKenna “Murder on Mistletoe Lane

Leslie Meier, Lee Hollis, Peggy Ehrhart  “Christmas Card Murder

Ada Moncrieff “Murder Most Festive

 

Nancy Naigle “Hope at Christmas

Carlene O’Connor “Murder at an Irish Christmas

Gail Oust: “The Twelve Dice of Christmas”

 

James Patterson, Maxine Paetro: “The 19th Christmas

Kathy Manos Penn “Candy Canes, Canines & Crime

Anne Perry “A Christmas Legacy

 

Amy M. Reade “The Worst Noel

Heather Redmond “A Christmas Carol Murder

Barbara Ross “Nogged Off

Rosemarie Ross “Christmas Candy Corpse

 

Karen Schaler “A Royal Christmas Fairy Tale

Julie Seedorf  “The Discombobulated Decipherers”

Ann Simas “Merry Witchy Christmas

Jennifer Snow “A Lot Like Christmas

 

Michele Pariza Wacek “Three French Hens and a Murder

Heather Weidner “Christmas Lights and Cat Fights

Jane Willan  “Abide with Me

Traci Wilton “Mrs. Morris and the Ghost of Christmas Past

Sherryl Woods: “Christmas at White Pines

 

 

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Book List: Author Ellen Byron

Ellen Byron’s writing is like her: clever, funny, deeply sincere, and thoughtful. Her books are full of diverse, quirky characters – just like the people you know in your own neighborhood or at work. When I read the dialogue, I feel as if I’m joining a real conversation. When her characters are cooking, I’m there in the kitchen as well and the aromas waft right off the pages. It’s no wonder that her work has won so many awards.

Take a look at her current book list and click on the titles to learn more about the books. Click on the ‘review here’ links to read what I thought about specific titles.

 

Cajun Country Mystery Series – Agatha and Lefty Award winning series, set primarily in New Orleans

Plantation Shudders

Body on the Bayou

A Cajun Christmas Killing

 “Mardi Gras Murder” – review here

“Fatal Cajun Festival”

Murder in the Bayou Boneyard

Cajun Kiss of Death

Series review here

 

 

 

Catering Hall Mysteries (as Maria DiRico) Set in Queens, a borough of NYC, with all the food and Long Island feel that a Queens cozy should have!

Here Comes the Body

Long Island Iced Tina

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Murder”

Four Parties and a Funeral”

The Witless Protection Program” (coming in March, 2024)

 

Vintage Cookbook Mystery Series   A new amateur sleuth is in town (New Orleans)

Bayou Book Thief

Wined and Died in New Orleans

 

Enjoy each of the series from this engaging, talented author, found at https://www.ellenbyron.com/   and on Facebook as well as other social media.

You’re welcome!   🙂

(Photo and art work courtesy of Ellen Byron)

 

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Book List: Author C. Hope Clark

Award winning mystery writer, C. Hope Clark, is the author of three series based in the American South.

The Carolina Slade Mysteries introduced me to this always engaging author. You’ll enjoy reading about Carolina Slade, a special projects officer with the US Department of Agriculture, and the well-developed, conniving characters in the books. Set in steamy South Carolina, Clark captures the atmosphere and the landscape so perfectly that you’ll be spooked right along with Slade as she conducts some of her investigations in the deep groves and low country coastline. The relationship between Slade and her love interest, loosely based upon Ms. Clark’s own experiences, adds to the fun of the solid mystery series. Click on the links for the ‘buy’ information and/or to learn more about the books.

 

 

 

Book One: Read review here

Tidewater Murder”  (Book Two)

 

 


Book Three: Read review here

Newberry Sin”  (Book Four)

Salkehatchie Secret”  (Book Five)

 

The Edisto Island Mysteries take place for the most part on Edisto Island, a real geographical location in South Carolina. Law enforcement officer Callie Jean Morgan is the complex, lead protagonist who becomes the Police Chief of Edisto Beach, while battling inner demons related to her Boston ties.

Murder on Edisto”  (Book One)

Edisto Jinx”  (Book Two)

 

 

 

 

Book Three: Read review here

Edisto Stranger”  (Book Four)

 

 

 

Book Five: Read review here

 

Edisto Tidings”  (Book Six)

Reunion on Edisto” (Book Seven)

Edisto Heat”  (Book Eight)

Badge of Edisto”  (Book Nine)

Edisto Bullet” (Book Ten, just released)


Never one to rest on her successes, Clark launched a series featuring a new protagonist, Quinn Sterling, a private detective in the Carolina low country. The first three titles, “Murder in Craven,” “Burned in Craven,” and “Craven County Line,” are out now. Click on the titles for more information.

On occasion, Nightstand Book Reviews has a crossover post with Kerrian’s Notebook. Clark (in the personae of Quinn Sterling) was a Visiting Detective on KN. Please read “Murder in Craven County,” for more about this great new character/series.

In the meantime, please visit https://chopeclark.com/ for more information about Clark’s books and public events.

*Banner and head shot courtesy of C. Hope Clark.

 

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2023 Barnes & Noble Book of the Year

From the Barnes & Noble site:
“We are pleased to announce the 12 finalists for our 2023 Book of the Year. The program, now in its fifth year, asks B&N booksellers across the country to nominate a title they find truly outstanding and in which they have felt the most pride in recommending to readers over the previous year. This year, the list features six novels, four nonfiction books, one middle-grade title and one picture book. The Barnes & Noble Book of the Year is voted on by booksellers and announced the week of November 13th.”
The winner is indicated in red.

The Puppets of Spelhorst by Kate DiMillo

The Wager by David Grann

The Story of Art Without Men by Katy Hessel

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

Zilot & Other Important Rhymes by Bob Odenkirk

Chili Crisp by James Park

The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters

Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross

The Creative Act by Rick Rubin

Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Congratulations to all the finalists and the winner!

 

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2023 CrimeFest Awards

CrimeFest celebrates the best of crime fiction first published in the UK. In general, the titles are sent in by the publishers for consideration, then read and reduced to the list of finalists you see below. A group of British crime fiction reviewers selects both the finalists and the winners. The awards were presented on May 13. The category winners are indicated in red.

Specsavers Debut Crime Novel Award

  • A Good Day to Die, by Amen Alonge
  • Bad for Good, by Graham Bartlett
  • The Maid, by Nita Prose
  • Ashes in the Snow, by Oriana Rammuno, translated by Katherine Gregor
  • Kalmann, by Joachim B. Schmidt, translated by Jamie Lee Searle
  • Dirt Town, by Hayley Scrivenor
  • The Siege, by John Sutherland
  • A Flicker in the Dark, by Stacy Willingham

eDunnit Award

  • The Cliff House, by Chris Brookmyre
  • Desert Star, by Michael Connelly
  • The Botanist, by M.W. Craven
  • The Book of the Most Precious Substance, by Sara Gran
  • A Heart Full of Headstones, by Ian Rankin
  • Nine Lives, by Peter Swanson

Last Laugh Award (for the best humorous crime novel)

  • Bryant & May’s Peculiar London, by Christopher Fowler
  • The Locked Room, by Elly Griffiths
  • Bad Actors, by Mick Herron
  • Hope to Die, by Cara Hunter
  • Mr. Campion’s Mosaic, by Mike Ripley
  • The Moose Paradox, by Antti Tuomainen

Congratulations to all the nominees and winners! 

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