SPOTLIGHT - COZY MYSTERY - DIANE BATOR SERIES STARTERS by Diane Bator

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Diane Bator Series Starters

Cozy Mysteries

 

All That Sparkles

Glitter Bay Mysteries, #1

What do a trunk full of vintage clothes, a handsome land developer, and a fifty-year-old diamond heist have in common?

Laken Miller receives a trunk full of expensive vintage clothing and a stack of newspaper clippings about a fifty-year old diamond heist. Now all she has to do is figure out who murdered Tilly San Vicente before the killer silences her as well.

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Written in Stone

An A.J. Cadell Mystery, #1

 “What happens at Grandma’s house, stays at Grandma’s house.”

The problem is A. J. (Alison Jane) Cadell can’t remember Grandma or her house.

Dreaming of becoming a best-selling romance novelist, Alison is invited to Beech Grove, British Columbia to be a Writer-in-Residence and reside at Thistlewood Manor for a month. When a resident of the manor is found dead, Alison is drawn into a mystery involving a grandmother she doesn’t remember, a father she thought was long dead, and a handsome firefighter who could be the link to solving the mystery.

Will someone be after her next?

Reviews:
"Written in Stone is author Diane Bator’s first novel in her latest mystery series. The book is fast paced and engaging, revealing layer after layer of mystery." - Angela Van Breeman

"With pulse-pounding peril, sharply-plotted mystery, and a delicious touch of romance, Written in Stone is a deeply satisfying read." -- Kathleen Marple Kalb (Nikki Knight) Author of the Old Stuff, Ella Shane, Grace the Hit Mom and Vermont Radio Mysteries

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Death of a Jaded Samurai

Gilda Wright Mysteries, #1

The scroll of the Four Possessions of the Samurai holds the key to a deadly mystery…

Gilda Wright thinks she’s landed a dream job as the receptionist at a karate school. Her boss, Sensei Mick Williams, is almost as demanding as he is sexy, but Gilda is inspired by the strength and courage of the people around her. When Gilda finds the body of one of the instructors in the dojo with a sword through his chest, she must find her own inner strength and fast! The police regard everyone in the school as suspects, including her boss, and it’s up to Gilda to find out what really happened. She follows the clues of the missing scroll of the Four Possessions of the Samurai down a deadly path filled with lies, deceit, and poisoned ninja stars.

If she doesn’t watch her back, she just may become the killer’s next target.

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Diane Bator is a Canadian mystery writer, book coach, editor, and mom of three young adults. She is the host of the Escape With a Writer blog, a member of Sisters in Crime, Crime Writers of Canada, the Writers’ Union of Canada, and the International Thriller Writers. She is represented by Creative Edge Publicity and is available for interviews.

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$50 Amazon giftcard,

ebook of All That Sparkles,

ebook of Written in Stone,

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BOOK BLITZ w/EXCERPT - COZY MYSTERY - CHAOS AND CRANBERRIES by Joann Keder

Chaos and Cranberries

by Joann Keder

Publication date: November 1st 2022

Genres: Adult, Cozy Mystery

BLURB

Paranormal investigator, Feather Jones and her boyfriend, Tug have arrived in picturesque Piney Falls for their Christmas getaway. To their dismay, they learn that their suite isn’t available because the last guest, author Dash Vixen, never checked out.

Dash was murdered when a copy of his own horror Christmas anthology was used to beat him to death.

Coming to their rescue is local sleuth, Lanie Anders, who invites them to spend the holiday with her and her husband. Unbeknownst to all of them, the murderer has bigger plans. Soon Lanie, Feather and their respective other halves are embroiled in a mystery that will stretch them both to their crime-solving limits!

This is a crossover book: Feather is a sleuth from the Charming Mysteries series and Lanie is a sleuth in the Piney Falls Mysteries.

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SNEAK PEEK:

Vem stood uncomfortably close and read aloud:

Ivy Merrilee Globe was a prolific author, completing seventy-nine books in her twenty-six years of life. Her most recent, Snowily Severed, was a short story featured in the massively popular Christmas horror anthology, Strung by the Fire.

She recently signed a contract with Brain Gravy Pictures to turn her short story into a movie.

Driving home from physical therapy, she stopped for children crossing three blocks from her home, when her neighbor’s sleigh ornament slid off the roof of their home and through her car windshield, impaling her. Ivy herself couldn’t have written such a dramatic end.

Ivy leaves behind three brothers and a cat named Ice.

“She didn’t die on the twenty-second like the other two. Find the date of the Frosty attack, Lanie,” Vem urged.

I typed in the information and when the page came up, our mood was somber. “Ivy was attacked on the twenty-second by the Frosty wannabe. They intended to kill her that day, and when it didn’t work, they came back to finish the job.”

“Poor Ivy,” Vem lamented.

My phone rang and I jumped up to answer. Even though we’d been together for several years, I was always expecting his call.

“Babe?”

“Mrs. Hill? This is the Tucson police department.”

Author Info

USA TODAY bestselling author, Joann Keder spent most of her years in the Midwest, growing up and raising a family on the Great Plains of Nebraska. She worked for sixteen years as a piano teacher before returning to school to receive a master's degree in creative writing. A mid-life move to the Pacific Northwest led her to re-examine her priorities. She now creates stories about life and relationships in small towns while her ever-patient husband encourages her on.

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TOUR Audio - COZY MYSTERY - DONN'S LEGACY (Soul Searcher Mysteries, #3) by Caryn Larrinaga Narrator Jessica McEvoy

DONN'S LEGACY
The Soul Searchers Mysteries, #3
by Caryn Larrinaga
Narrator: Jessica McEvoy
Length: 9 hours 58 minutes
Released: September 27th 2021
Publisher: Twisted Tree Press
Genre: Supernatural Cozy Mystery

  The Book Junkie Reads . . . Review of . . . DONN'S LEGACY (Soul Searchers Mysteries, #3) . . . Returning to Donn's Hill. I finished the third book and I already want some more. 

I love Jessica McEvoy as Mac and all the characters of Donn's Hill and the Soul Searcher Mysteries.

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Caryn Larrinaga. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it. 

How do you catch a killer who moves like a ghost? 

Mackenzie Clair is sure she’ll find answers in New Mexico. The mysteries around her mother’s past have haunted her for 20 years, and every sign points toward the truth lurking in her childhood home. But the Donn’s Hill Body Magnet should have known better than to expect a quiet trip. Everywhere Mac goes, ghosts follow. 

All her life, Mac thought her mother’s death was just a tragic accident. But when a tourist dies under suspiciously similar circumstances, connections between Evelyn Clair and more recent victims start stacking up. There’s a serial killer on the prowl, and they’ve set their sights on Donn’s Hill. 

Hard as she tries, Mac can’t convince the police the deaths are related. The murderer is like a ghost, moving through the living world in ways only a psychic can follow. It’s up to Mac to solve the case, but if she can’t sift through the clues from her past, she won’t live to see her future.

 

Caryn Larrinaga is a Basque-American mystery and horror writer. She has been a Dragon Award finalist and won multiple awards for her work, including the League of Utah Writers Silver Quill (Donn’s Hill, 2017) and the Cat Writers Association Certificate of Excellence (Donn’s Legacy, 2020). In 2021, she was named Writer of the Year by the League of Utah Writers. Watching scary movies through split fingers terrified Caryn as a child, and those nightmares inspire her to write now. Her 90-year-old house has a colorful history, and the creaking walls and narrow hallways send her running (never walking) up the stairs. Exploring her fears through writing makes Caryn feel a little less foolish for wanting a buddy to accompany her into the tool shed. Caryn lives near Salt Lake City, Utah, with her husband and their clowder of cats. Caryn is an active member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, the Cat Writers Association, the League of Utah Writers, and the Utah Chapter of the Horror Writers Association.

Website⎮Twitter⎮Facebook⎮Instagram⎮Goodreads

Between peddling video games and teaching yoga in her home state of Arizona, Jessica McEvoy attempts to conduct a career as a professional voice actress. This, however, is moderately undermined by the fact that she records in a dimly lit closet with her microphone balanced on a stack of old board games (Junior Scrabble and Powerpuff Girls Monopoly form a strong foundation), but she hopes that no one holds that against her. Though her main work consists of narrating audiobooks, her first dive into the voice world was through the NoSleep podcast after answering a post from the LibriVox forums. Having been raised on horror movies and scary stories, she was beyond excited to be able to work on the show. Many stories, tortured screams, deranged villains, and creepy little girl giggles later, Jessica hopes to work on the podcast for seasons and seasons to come.

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TOUR Audio - COZY MYSTERY - DONN'S SHADOW (Soul Searcher Mysteries, #2) by Caryn Larrinaga Narrator Jessica McEvoy

DONN'S SHADOW
The Soul Searchers Mysteries, #2
by Caryn Larrinaga
Narrator: Jessica McEvoy
Length: 9 hours 53 minutes
Released: May 14th 2020
Publisher: Twisted Tree Press
Genre: Supernatural Cozy Mystery

  The Book Junkie Reads . . . Review of . . . DONN'S SHADOW (Soul Searchers Mysteries, #2) . . . Returning to Donn's Hill and syncing backup with Mac and Striker was just what the day called for. I loved meeting the challenge of this new mystery. I loved seeing a different yet the same side of Max. Striker was just what you would expect and then more all at the same time. This supernatural mystery lured me in and kept me going all the way through to the end. 

I found this to be a cozy mystery with more. 

Jessica McEvoy voice that felt like home in the cozy mystery genre.

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Caryn Larrinaga. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it. 

Mackenzie Clair finally has this whole ghost-hunting psychic thing figured out. The Soul Searchers are a hit, she’s got pet-parenting down, and she even has a plan to banish the poltergeist running amok at a lakeside cabin. Best of all, Donn’s Hill feels like home. But not everyone loves the town as much as Mac. 

A world-famous paranormal debunker thinks the psychics in Donn’s Hill are lying about their abilities. His determination to destroy the Soul Searchers threatens Mac’s livelihood, and when a killer strikes, the sheriff’s suspicions threaten her freedom. 

Mac needs all the help she can get to find the real murderer and clear her name… even if that help comes from beyond the grave.

 

Caryn Larrinaga is a Basque-American mystery and horror writer. She has been a Dragon Award finalist and won multiple awards for her work, including the League of Utah Writers Silver Quill (Donn’s Hill, 2017) and the Cat Writers Association Certificate of Excellence (Donn’s Legacy, 2020). In 2021, she was named Writer of the Year by the League of Utah Writers. Watching scary movies through split fingers terrified Caryn as a child, and those nightmares inspire her to write now. Her 90-year-old house has a colorful history, and the creaking walls and narrow hallways send her running (never walking) up the stairs. Exploring her fears through writing makes Caryn feel a little less foolish for wanting a buddy to accompany her into the tool shed. Caryn lives near Salt Lake City, Utah, with her husband and their clowder of cats. Caryn is an active member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, the Cat Writers Association, the League of Utah Writers, and the Utah Chapter of the Horror Writers Association.

Website⎮Twitter⎮Facebook⎮Instagram⎮Goodreads

Between peddling video games and teaching yoga in her home state of Arizona, Jessica McEvoy attempts to conduct a career as a professional voice actress. This, however, is moderately undermined by the fact that she records in a dimly lit closet with her microphone balanced on a stack of old board games (Junior Scrabble and Powerpuff Girls Monopoly form a strong foundation), but she hopes that no one holds that against her. Though her main work consists of narrating audiobooks, her first dive into the voice world was through the NoSleep podcast after answering a post from the LibriVox forums. Having been raised on horror movies and scary stories, she was beyond excited to be able to work on the show. Many stories, tortured screams, deranged villains, and creepy little girl giggles later, Jessica hopes to work on the podcast for seasons and seasons to come.

Twitter

Q&A with Striker the cat

• What is your full name? Do you have a nickname (if so, who calls you this)? Striker Clair. Mac sometimes calls me “my cat” in front of other humans, which is hilarious.
• Where do you live now, and with whom? Describe the place (home and location) and the person/people you live with. Mac found me a really nice, warm, cozy apartment in a big yellow house not too far from Main Street in Donn’s Hill. There’s a great big tree right by the window, so I can climb up and down whenever I want. My favorite part about it is this cushy bench that runs along the inside of a round turret; it’s sunny there for most of the day and it’s a great place to nap. Usually I sleep in the soft bed Mac bought me though; she’s pretty warm so I let her share it with me.
• What is your job? I’m in charge of security for a TV show called the Soul Searchers. I travel with the team when they’re filming and make sure no mice or birds interfere with anything. If a ghost shows up, I keep Mac safe. She’s really important. You know… to the show. Sometimes I help my friend Graham sell his sculptures at the Afterlife Festival. He always sells way more when I’m around!
• What do you consider your greatest achievement so far, why? I’m really proud of how far Mac has come since I’ve been taking care of her. When we first met, she was so lost. She didn’t even have a home. Now I make sure she’s happy and healthy, and she’s really thriving. It’s great to see!
• Do you have a motto? If so, what is it? “A treat in the hand is worth two in the bag.” Also, “Give me the bag.”

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TOUR Audio - COZY MYSTERY - DONN'S HILL (Soul Searcher Mysteries, #1) by Caryn Larrinaga Narrator Jessica McEvoy

 DONN'S HILL
The Soul Searchers Mysteries, #1
by Caryn Larrinaga
Narrator: Jessica McEvoy
Length: 9 hours 54 minutes
Released: August 1st 2017
Publisher: Twisted Tree Press
Genre: Supernatural Cozy Mystery

  The Book Junkie Reads . . . Review of . . . DONN'S HILL (Soul Searchers Mysteries, #1) . . . Returning to a place that held some familiarities, comfort, strain, and maybe a few other things that you may or may not want to forget can be a start to something new and different in your life. I do not want to give anything away but I will say this that I found this to be just the read/listen I needed on the cool fall morning that I began and finished it. Meeting Mac and Striker were delights of this day and continued all the way to the end of this supernatural mystery. 

I found this to be a cozy mystery with more. 

I was introduced to Caryn Larrinaga's style of relating a story and Jessica McEvoy voice that held my ears glued to the audio. 

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Caryn Larrinaga. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it. 

"Grief can change us... rewire our brains and shift the way we look at the world..." 

After returning home from her father's funeral to find her boyfriend in bed with another woman, Mackenzie Clair is looking for a fresh start. She thinks she'll find it in her favorite childhood vacation spot, but returning to Donn's Hill awakens more than nostalgia. Mac regains a lost psychic ability to talk to the dead, and the poltergeist haunting her apartment is desperate to make her use that gift to find his killer. 

Aided by her new roommate - a spirited Tortoiseshell cat named Striker, and the ghost-hunting crew of the nationally televised show Soul Searchers, Mac struggles to learn how to use her powers. But she'd better get a handle on them fast, because someone in town is hiding a deadly secret. If Mac can't somehow divine the truth, Donn's Hill will never be the same.

 

Caryn Larrinaga is a Basque-American mystery and horror writer. She has been a Dragon Award finalist and won multiple awards for her work, including the League of Utah Writers Silver Quill (Donn’s Hill, 2017) and the Cat Writers Association Certificate of Excellence (Donn’s Legacy, 2020). In 2021, she was named Writer of the Year by the League of Utah Writers. Watching scary movies through split fingers terrified Caryn as a child, and those nightmares inspire her to write now. Her 90-year-old house has a colorful history, and the creaking walls and narrow hallways send her running (never walking) up the stairs. Exploring her fears through writing makes Caryn feel a little less foolish for wanting a buddy to accompany her into the tool shed. Caryn lives near Salt Lake City, Utah, with her husband and their clowder of cats. Caryn is an active member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, the Cat Writers Association, the League of Utah Writers, and the Utah Chapter of the Horror Writers Association.

Website⎮Twitter⎮Facebook⎮Instagram⎮Goodreads

Between peddling video games and teaching yoga in her home state of Arizona, Jessica McEvoy attempts to conduct a career as a professional voice actress. This, however, is moderately undermined by the fact that she records in a dimly lit closet with her microphone balanced on a stack of old board games (Junior Scrabble and Powerpuff Girls Monopoly form a strong foundation), but she hopes that no one holds that against her. Though her main work consists of narrating audiobooks, her first dive into the voice world was through the NoSleep podcast after answering a post from the LibriVox forums. Having been raised on horror movies and scary stories, she was beyond excited to be able to work on the show. Many stories, tortured screams, deranged villains, and creepy little girl giggles later, Jessica hopes to work on the podcast for seasons and seasons to come.

Twitter

• Mackenzie Clair (aka Mac) is a wanderer at heart. For Mac, home is where the people she loves are, and at the beginning of the Soul Searchers Mysteries, everyone she loves has either left this life or betrayed her completely. She’s used to starting over, and her willingness to dive head first into uncharted territory serves her well as she discovers the return of a lost psychic ability to see the dead. Mac has dark, curly hair and tends to have shadows under her blue eyes from staying up late reading. Her sweet tooth can get out of control, and her favorite snacks include lemon bars and homemade chocolate chip cookies. She loves a good cup of tea but will take coffee if somebody else made it.
• Striker is a small tortoiseshell cat who found her way into Mac’s life just when she was needed most, as cats have a way of doing. Fond of games and cuddling, she takes care of Mac as well (or better) as Mac takes care of her, and her inquisitive nature has a way of leading her human both into and out of trouble. Favorite snack: crunchy treats from Mac’s landlord’s breast pocket.

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