Mystery books hold a special place in my heart. I can’t get enough of them. From traditional mystery/suspense to cozy mystery, I love them all. What else can take your breath away one minute and stoke the fires of deduction the next but the mystery book genre. Since I’m up to my eyeballs in writing the Kaitlynn Dahl Mysteries, I needed some inspiration. What did I turn to? You guessed it! Mystery books. And jeepers, do I have a couple that I can’t wait to flip open.
A Skeleton in the Family by Leigh Perry
A woman discovers the literal skeleton in her family’s closet in the first Family Skeleton Mystery!
Moving back into her parents’ house with her teenage daughter had not been Georgia Thackery’s “Plan A.” But when she got a job at the local college, it seemed the sensible thing to do. So she settled in and began reconnecting with old friends.
Including Sid. Sid is the Thackery family’s skeleton. He’s lived in the house as long as Georgia can remember, although no one, including Sid, knows exactly where he came from and how he came to be a skeleton.
Sid walks, he talks, he makes bad jokes, he tries to keep Georgia’s dog from considering him a snack. And he manages to persuade Georgia to let him leave the house. But when she takes him to an anime convention—disguised as a skeleton, of course—he sees a woman who triggers memories of his past.
Now he is determined to find out how he died—with Georgia’s help. But their investigation may uncover a killer who’s still alive and well and bad to the bone…
St. Patrick’s Day Murder by Leslie Meier
Not many people in Tinker’s Cove, Maine, knew Old Dan Malone. The grizzled barkeep’s social circle was limited to the rough-hewn lobstermen and other assorted toughs that frequented his bar. But when his body is found bobbing in the town’s icy harbor, Lucy Stone makes getting to know more about Old Dan a priority.
Local musician Dave Reilly insists Old Dan conned a winning lottery ticket worth five grand from him. Handyman Brian Donohue claims that Old Dan stiffed him for repair work he’d done at the bar. The confusion surrounding the death is only compounded by the arrival of actor Dylan Malone, Old Dan’s brother and a prominent, if fading, attraction of the Dublin stage. Dylan has come to direct the production of “Finian’s Rainbow,” the featured event at Our Lady of Hope’s annual St. Patrick’s Day extravaganza.
Was Old Dan killed by someone he’d cheated or someone he’d loved? While Lucy can’t be sure, one thing is abundantly clear–the stage is set for a murder mystery with a killer ending!
“Warm and homespun characters, plenty of seaside ambience and a fast-moving plot make this perfect winter cozy.” —Publishers Weekly
Singapore Sapphire by A.M. Stuart
Early twentieth-century Singapore is a place where a person can disappear, and Harriet Gordon hopes to make a new life for herself there, leaving her tragic memories behind her–but murder gets in the way.
Singapore, 1910–Desperate for a fresh start, Harriet Gordon finds herself living with her brother, a reverend and headmaster of a school for boys, in Singapore at the height of colonial rule. Hoping to gain some financial independence, she advertises her services as a personal secretary. It is unfortunate that she should discover her first client, Sir Oswald Newbold–explorer, mine magnate and president of the exclusive Explorers and Geographers Club–dead with a knife in his throat.
When Inspector Robert Curran is put on the case, he realizes that he has an unusual witness in Harriet. Harriet’s keen eye for detail and strong sense of duty interests him, as does her distrust of the police and her traumatic past, which she is at pains to keep secret from the gossips of Singapore society.
When another body is dragged from the canal, Harriet feels compelled to help with the case. She and Curran are soon drawn into a murderous web of treachery and deceit and find themselves face-to-face with a ruthless cabal that has no qualms about killing again to protect its secrets.
I’d love to hear from you!
There you have it! Three fine mystery books to wet my appetite after I hunker down over the keyboard for The Kaitlynn Dahl Mysteries (Book 1 coming soon!). Singapore Sapphire by A.M. Stuart, St. Patrick’s Day Murder by Leslie Meier, and A Skeleton in the Family by Leigh Perry all have spectacular blurbs, and I can’t wait to dive in.
I love to hear from you! Have you read any of these mystery books? If so, then please no spoilers, BUT feel free to comment below on your take of them. And if you prefer, then e-mail me at kduptonauthor@gmail.com. You can follow me on Twitter @kduptonauthor, too.
Until next time…
Happy reading,
K.D.
