“Miz Scarlet and the Holiday Houseguests” by Sara Barton

Christmas is coming, and Scarlet Wilson, known as Miz Scarlet to family and friends, is getting her Connecticut lodge ready. Her good friend Larry (short for Laurentia) has a double problem on her hands – her father and mother are coming for the holiday from different part sof the country, and she has her hands full with a recent murder.  

Scarlet offers to have Larry’s father stay at the lodge. As the murder case deepens, and as a stalker seems to be following Larry around, Scarlet had her friend’s 14-year-old daughter stay at the lodge as well. And then Larry herself. Except Larry goes missing.

 

Sara Barton

Miz Scarlet and the Holiday Houseguests is the third in the Scarlet Wilson Mystery Series by Sara Barton. It’s filled with family squabbles, romance, a touch of humor, a thirst for revenge, slightly more than a touch of romance, and, of course, a cozy mystery.

 

Barton has written numerous novels in several cozy and thriller series. In addition to the Scarlet Wilson Mysteries, she’s also written the Off the Books Mysteries, the Gabby Grimm Fairy Tale Mysteries, the International Killer Chefs Competition Mysteries, the cozy thriller series Cornwall & Company Mysteries, the Cat Ballentine spy thrillers, The Project Stargazer Thrillers, and The Arden Woods Thrillers. (That’s a whole bunch of books.)

Miz Scarlet and the Holiday Houseguests is a fast-paced, easy-reading story and a bit of holiday escapism, with an edge-of-your-seat ending. 

"Prove It: Murder in the Mix" by Hannah Kurz

Stephanie Yu and her husband Henry have just welcomed a newborn daughter into their family. They live in an apartment above a bakery called The Likable Daisy in a city like Syracuse or Buffalo in New York, whose goods Stephanie has a very difficult time resisting. The Yus know the bakery owner and employees as well as the other apartment residents in the building.  

She’s has taken maternity leave, and she’s debating with herself whether or not she wants to return to her job as a graphic designer. Her days are filled with nursing the baby, resuming something of a normal life after the pregnancy, and figuring out how to deal with her hypercritical mother-in-law.

 

Sameed Haddad is the bakery’s owner, and he’s considered something of a wayward member of his devout Muslim family. He’s even in the midst of a divorce from his wife, who’s non-traditional Muslim herself. Early one morning, arriving to open the bakery, the chief baker discovers Sameed’s body in the kitchen.

 

Hannah Kurz

Everyone including the police think it’s an accident; it appears Sameed’s tie was caught in a mixer and strangled him. Everyone, that is, except Stephanie, who can’t accept the accident theory. She has an uphill struggle to convince anyone, but she keeps at it. And eventually even the police take another look. And this time they decide it’s murder.

 

Prove It: Murder in the Mix by Hannah Kurz is the first in the Likable Daisy series of mysteries, one that falls into the “cozy” mystery category. The second is a work in progress that Kurz is writing with her husband. She lives with her family in western New York. 

 

The story builds slowly, with as much initial focus on Stephanie being a new mother as there is on the mystery of the man’s death. But it builds toward an eminently satisfying conclusion. This graphic designer / new mother deserves kudos for seeing what everyone else around misses and stubbornly pursuing what she knows is the truth.

 

Related:

 

Hannah Kurz talks The Cozy Sleuth about her book and writing. 

“Bells, Tails, & Murder” by Kathy Manos Penn

Leta Parker has a rather unusual gift. Since childhood, she can talk with dogs and cats. Now, a lot of us are known for talking with dogs and/or cats, but Leta really talks with them. She understands everything a dog or cat will bark or meow, respectively. She doesn’t advertise this gift; her family thought she was really strange, and she doesn’t need other people thinking she’s more than strange.

She’s an American who’s just moved to Astonbury in the Cotswolds in England. Leta is a widow; her husband Henry died from injuries when he was struck by a car while cycling, and Leta is not really over his death. His pension and life insurance gave her the financial freedom necessary to do something she always wanted to do – live in the Cotswolds. And she’s made good friends throughout the town – the car garage owner, the bookstore proprietor, the innkeeper and his wife, and many others. One town resident everyone knows is Alice Johnson, who cleans houses (and the inn) and is an excellent cook.

Kathy Manos Penn

Early one morning, Leta takes her dog Dickens (the pets invariably have literary names; Leta’s cat is named Christie) for a walk neat the town’s memorial cricket pavilion. The walk barely starts when Leta and Dickens discover Alice’s body. While her death appears accidental, as if she tripped and hit her head, her purse is missing. When Leta goes to find and feed Alice’s cat, she discovers the home has been ransacked.  Even worse, Leta sees a figurine that her late husband had given her; did Alice steal it? As it turns out, Alice had a penchant for pilfering, especially valuable books, like first editions of the worlds of J.M. Barrie, the author of Peter Pan and who had strong connections to the Astonbury area.

Bells, Tails, & Murder by Kathy Manos Penn is the first mystery novel in the Dickens & Christie series, and it’s a fun fusion of literary history, life in the Cotswolds, talking pets, theft and greed, and murder. It’s officially classed as a “cozy” mystery, which means it’s a clean story, with no bad language or R- or NC-17-rated scenes. It also includes a recipe for Greek salad, which plays a small role in the story. Penn also artfully keeps the reader guessing as to the villain’s identity, and it’s great fun to keep guessing as new clues emerge.

Penn is also the author of the second novel in the Dickens & Christie series, Pumpkins, Paws, & Murder; Lord Banjo the Royal Pooch; and The Ink Penn: Celebrating the Magic in the Everyday.