Saturdays at the Cafe

Saturdays at the Café…on a Sunday! @katemwhite @harpercollins @scalkins3 @minotaurbooks @macmillanusa

Today I am a day late joining my friend Jonetta at Blue Mood Café in the café… Jonetta spends Saturdays there and I like to join her, but this week Christmas shopping and parties took away all of my café time! But never fear, I made it for Sunday and I’m excited to share some books I’ve discovered and am looking forward to with you this week! Saturdays at the Café is a meme hosted by Jonetta, where we can discuss new books and new-to-us books that we are hoping to read! Make sure to jump over to her page to see the latest books she’s featuring at the café.

Such a Perfect Wife

I actually haven’t had a chance to discuss it since I started my blog, because I started it AFTER the most recent publications by her, but I am a big fan of Kate White. The former editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine writes super fun books, that I’d describe as Sex and the City meets Nancy Drew. A form of cozy mystery by definition, these books are actually a bit hard to place. That don’t have the kitschy-ness that are characteristic of many cozies, but they do have a lot of fun and an amateur detective that finds herself in the middle of a mystery. But as I’ve come to realize, cozies really vary in that aspect! 

This week I discovered that the cover of the newest installment in the Bailey Weggins series has been revealed, and I am over the moon! I cannot wait to read this book, and it is actually inspiring me to start featuring other Kate White books weekly to lead up to it. I want others to discover this amazing author!

About the Book

Must be blonde, beautiful, and a good Catholic girl…

On a sunny morning in late September, Shannon Blaine, a blonde, green-eyed 34-year old wife and mother of two, sets off on a jog along the rural roads near her home in Lake George, New York.  It’s her usual a.m. routine, her “me time” after dropping the kids off at school…except on this day she never returns. The residents in the idyllic lakeside town—which is popular with summer tourists—are stunned. Would Shannon have just taken off, overwhelmed with the pressures of being the perfect wife and mother? Did a stranger snatch her? Or could her husband be responsible for her disappearance?

The hot new online magazine Crime Beat wants to cover the case and they hand the assignment to noted true crime writer Bailey Weggins. It doesn’t take long for Bailey to see that the story has far more facets than she initially realized:  a bitter sister, an unfaithful brother-in-law, an evasive deacon, and a creepy motel owner who watched Shannon run every morning. When an anonymous caller reaches out to Bailey and gives her the cryptic clue that Shannon was a “good Catholic girl,” the tip eventually leads Bailey to the grisly discovery of Shannon’s body. And suddenly, based on what else Bailey finds, everything about the case shifts, suggesting that Shannon’s murder isn’t an isolated incident but rather the work of a serial killer with a very specific calling card. Bailey sets out to expose the killer before another woman has to die, including herself.

Pre-order your copy here!

Murder Knocks Twice

I discovered Murder Knocks Twice on Minotaur Books’ instagram page earlier this week, and I got an opportunity to receive an advanced copy! I am blown away by the books at Minotaur–they sure pick some compelling mysteries, and their cozies (such as Murder at the Mill, which I reviewed this past week) are really unique. Similar to what I discussed about Kate White above, the cozies I’ve read published by Minotaur aren’t really what we’ve come to think of as a cozy. No kitschy-ness, and intellectually stimulating–Minotaur really goes to a different place with their cozies that I love even more than the ones that introduced me to the genre!

The setting of Murder Knocks Twice is delighting my soul! A Chicago speak-easy that promises to be the central location of a new series… Cozy mystery? Speak easy? New series? Minotaur books? Count me ALL IN on this cozy train!!!

About the Book

The first mystery in Susanna Calkins’ captivating new series takes readers into the dark, dangerous, and glittering underworld of a 1920’s Chicago speakeasy.

Gina Ricci takes on a job as a cigarette girl to earn money for her ailing father–and to prove to herself that she can hold her own at Chicago’s most notorious speakeasy, the Third Door. She’s enchanted by the harsh, glamorous world she discovers: the sleek socialites sipping bootlegged cocktails, the rowdy ex-servicemen playing poker in a curtained back room, the flirtatious jazz pianist and the brooding photographer–all overseen by the club’s imposing owner, Signora Castallazzo. But the staff buzzes with whispers about Gina’s predecessor, who died under mysterious circumstances, and the photographer, Marty, warns her to be careful.

When Marty is brutally murdered, with Gina as the only witness, she’s determined to track down his killer. What secrets did Marty capture on his camera–and who would do anything to destroy it? As Gina searches for answers, she’s pulled deeper into the shadowy truths hiding behind the Third Door.

Pre-order your copy here!

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