New Release — Murder on Black Mountain (A Black Mountain Mystery Series) by Ruben D. Gonzales

Forced to return to her Appalachian mountain home to bury her big brother, Police Chief Early Shaw, Emma Shaw finds the circumstances of his death a mystery that no one wants to talk about. For centuries, the Shaw family has run the small town with an iron fist—and Emma learns fast it doesn’t pay to ask too many questions—even though she is one of their own.  The facts don’t add up, and Emma will get her answers, one way or the other—even though her questions have stirred up a hornet’s nest.

There’s one thing the Shaw family doesn’t know: Emma possesses a mystical ability to read the energy auras that surround most people, and she can tell a lot about a person by the qualities of those auras. If they’re lying, she knows.  Will that gift be enough to help her solve the case of Early’s murder?

As the list of suspects grows—along with her frustration—Emma grapples with untangling her mysterious past from the dangerous present. Under the shadow of Black Mountain, Emma confronts the town’s ruling family and the secrets they keep. Can she manage to stay alive long enough to learn who killed her brother? One thing she knows for sure—Early’s death was no accident. She’s determined to prove it was MURDER ON BLACK MOUNTAIN.

EXCERPT

Growing up in Black Mountain, you could count the things for kids to do on one hand. The boys played football on the mill team and the girls got to play softball. Some boys played on the high school team, while girls could play volleyball—although being on the short side, Coach told me to stick with softball. A few of the boys from the high school team got to play in college.

Mama worried she birthed a boy. The opportunities for a boy in Black Mountain didn’t amount to much unless you counted working third shift at the mill as a career move. Year before Early went to Black Mountain High, a boy named Todd McCoy went on to college because of football. A big old boy that played center on the team, and slow as a snail, but he earned a football scholarship.

Football took on a whole new meaning for Mama after hearing that. She figured it could be Early’s ticket out of there. She thought I’d marry young, since I’m smart, pretty, and all. She thought I’d marry someone well-off, so didn’t worry about me.

      

New Release -- The Coconut Bunny Butt Caper by Livia J. Washburn

A Fresh Baked Mystery Short Story

Zachary “Buck” Williams asks Phyllis to help him throw a big Easter shindig with games and food and an egg hunt, inviting everybody from the whole county to join in the fun.

It’s a beautiful spring day in Weatherford, Texas, as kids are running and playing and parents are chatting and sampling wonderful home cooked foods. It was all fun and games until someone played hide and seek with the prize egg leaving Phyllis having to find the culprit.

The Coconut Bunny Butt Caper is a short story that follows DEATH BAKES A PECAN PIE the fourteenth novel in the critically acclaimed and best-selling Fresh Baked Mystery series. Phyllis and her friends tackle another complex case with all the humor, camaraderie, good-hearted warmth, and delicious recipes that have made readers around the world fall in love with this series.

Recipes included!

EXCERPT

     On a beautiful spring day under an almost cloudless blue sky, Phyllis Newsom smiled as she watched the crowd of children running and screaming across the vast green lawn. They descended on the shrubbery and flowerbeds like a swarm of locusts.

     “Dang,” Sam Fletcher said as he stood beside Phyllis. “Don’t get between a kid and an Easter egg, that’s all I’ve got to say.”

     “They’re certainly enthusiastic,” Phyllis agreed. “This reminds me of the big Easter egg hunts that went on when we were young, and even when Mike was a child. I remember taking him to several of them, sometimes put on by family, sometimes by the community or one of the local service clubs. People don’t do things like that anymore. Not much, anyway.” She shook her head. “Just another way that things have changed, I suppose.”

     “They’ve got a way of doin’ that,” Sam said. “But bringin’ back the old days was sort of the whole idea of this fandango, wasn’t it? 

New Release — Blue Ridge Murder (A Calendar Clan Mystery Book 1) by Agnes Alexander

Wounded in a drug buy gone wrong, June March, a fledgling private detective, is forced to go home to her parents’ farm to recover. Her close-knit family is rocked when her ne’er-do-well brother-in-law, Roger, is murdered, after his part in a bank robbery. In the small community of Edison, North Carolina, nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, secrets are hard to keep—even one as dangerous as murder. When June’s sister, April, is accused of killing her husband, June will do whatever she must to prove her sister’s innocence.

County Sheriff Jason Striker, an old school mate of June’s, is dead serious about bringing the murderer to justice. But how can he find the killer and keep June safe when she insists on being part of the investigation? Nothing has changed since high school—June is still as determined as ever, and she still has a firm hold on Jason’s heart.

June tries to hold old feelings at bay, but somehow, the boy from yesterday has become the man of her dreams—and she’s not about to let him go. With the killer still on the loose, Jason knows that June’s expertise will be invaluable in helping him solve the case—and she’s not about to back away from doing just that. Identifying the killer can mean the death of them both, as a small-town’s secrets protect one of its own…one who committed this BLUE RIDGE MURDER…

EXCERPT

     The well-built man in a sheriff’s uniform looked more like he was dressed for dancing at a bridal shower than he did as an official of the state and my former classmate. Though I did think he filled out the uniform well, I’d always thought he was just pretending in his job. Maybe it was because while we were in school, he’d always looked more like a big, tall, baby-faced ten- year-old than he did a rough, tough football player—and now, sheriff.

     “I hear you folks have a little problem.” He stepped to the middle of the room and glanced at my broken leg. He didn’t mention it, but he did arch his left eyebrow.

     “Yes,” May said. “You should go pick up Roger. He was one of the bank robbers today.”

     “What makes you think he robbed the bank, May?” His voice was more surprised than questioning.

     “Because he told me he did,” April chimed in.

     “She had to escape with the children. He threatened them,” May explained.

     “Let’s go talk on the porch so the children won’t hear,” April suggested.

     Jason glanced at the kids and nodded. April, May and I followed him to the porch. Mom stayed with the children. I took my place in the rocking chair again and everyone found seats, including Jason.

     “Now,” he said. “Let’s start at the beginning, April. Tell me what happened.”