CozyCon 2018, Part One

As our niece Daisy's time with us was drawing to a close, one of the last things we did together was to attend The Poisoned Pen's annual CozyCon which showcases authors who write cozy mysteries.

We arrived early-- as we always do-- and Daisy took the time to go shopping on Scottsdale's famous Main Street. When she got back, she said she wished she'd had more time, so I'm envisioning her next visit to include a longer shopping expedition there.


This year nine authors were attending CozyCon, and they were split into three panels. I'm going to do one panel per post due to time limitations. The authors in the first panel were Jane K. Cleland, Vicki Delany, and Teresa Dovalpage.

L to R: Jane K. Cleland & Barbara Peters

While telling us how things were scheduled, host Barbara Peters told us that her husband Rob had made curd and marmalade from the lemons on their tree. We would be able to have the lemon curd with cake during the breaks, and the lemon marmalade would be one of the prizes handed out during the event. I'll tell you now before I forget: that lemon curd was to die for-- absolutely the best I've ever eaten. (Now that I've reminded myself of it, I'd dearly love to drive over to their house, knock on the door, and say, "Please sir, may I have some more?" But my momma raised me with some manners. One does not go begging at 1 AM!)

In the photo to the right behind Jane Cleland, you can get a glimpse of a Japanese print which figures in Cleland's latest mystery, Antique Blues. We got to see an original print, which was lovely and showed us what Jane was talking about in the different shades of blue.

Jane K. Cleland

"One of the reasons why I like Jane's books so much is that I get to learn stuff," Barbara Peters said. "I have always trusted Jane's research because she's very diligent in that regard.

"One of the things I found interesting in this book is that you're forever striving to expand the lives of your characters and of Prescott Antiques, which started out when she was involved in an auction house scandal in New York and moved to New Hampshire to reboot her life.

"Josie's creating her own little empire. I don't want to spoil anything in the book for you, so I'll just say that Josie makes an interesting decision or two that is going to open up the theater for Prescott Antiques in future books."

Teresa Dovalpage

Barbara turned to the next author. "So, Teresa, here you are from Santa Fe, and your book (Death Comes in Through the Kitchen) is set in Cuba but not recently, just a little further back, right?"

"Yes, because I left in '96, so I did a bit of research to make sure that some of the things I mentioned in the book are still standing and had not been demolished because the book is set in 2003."

"So some of the things involving the transfer of power with the Castros had not occurred."

"That's for the next book," Teresa said.

"Oh, you don't want to move that far ahead!" Barbara replied. "Tell us a bit about the CIA. I loved that!"

"A character is entering Cuba, and one of the ID cards he has says 'CIA'--Culinary Institute of America-- but he is detained for hours because the customs agents at the airport believe he's from the Central Intelligence Agency," Teresa explained. "I've had people tell me that that couldn't have happened, but it really did!"

"This well-intentioned, naive American comes to Cuba to meet a young woman who writes a food blog," Barbara said. "I wouldn't describe this book as a cozy in the traditional sense, but it does have really great food. Did you yourself vet all the recipes?"

L to R: Vicki Delany & Teresa Dovalpage

"Yes. Actually, the book started because of the recipes," Teresa replied. "I didn't want to lose all the recipes my grandmother used to make, but I didn't want to write a cookbook. I don't cook that well anyway. But I could incorporate the recipes into a story. It was a challenge, but a challenge I enjoyed. I tell people that I know I have an accent when I speak, but I assure them that I do not have an accent when I write!"

Then it was Vicki Delany's turn. "Vicki is here from Canada," Barbara told us. "In the past, we've talked about your Constable Molly Smith mysteries and your three standalone books, which are terrific, but you've now embarked on a new path in writing cozies. Tell us about your Lighthouse Library mystery coming in June."

"The Lighthouse Library series was published by Penguin Books under the pen name Eva Gates, and they're set in an actual place-- the Bodie Island Lighthouse outside Nags Head, North Carolina," Vicki said. "As I say in my introduction to the books, there's no way the real building could house a library, offices, a children's library, an apartment, and even a room for a cat, so it's my interpretation of the Tardis or Hermione Granger's handbag-- far far bigger on the inside than it appears on the outside.

"I liked writing that series, and it was my first attempt at writing cozies, but it fell victim to the Great Penguin Massacre..."

"In which they dropped six hundred series," Barbara said. "Six hundred of nine hundred series."

"Well, that was the end of that I thought," Vicki continued, "but the new publisher, Crooked Lane Books picked it up, and I'm absolutely delighted that the newest book in the series, The Spook in the Stacks, will be out in June. My year-round Christmas series survived at Penguin. The third one, Hark the Herald Angels Slay, came out in November, and they have contracted for the fourth."

Vicki Delany

"So you're just basically sitting around making stuff up," said Barbara with a twinkle in her eye.

"Well, that's what we do here, Barbara!" Vicki said.

"Tell us about your Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series," Barbara prompted.

"Actually, it's my favorite of all the things I've written simply because I'm having so much fun with it," Vicki said. [I can attest to this because Vicki showed me the pair of Sherlock Holmes socks she'd just purchased, and she told me they would be making an appearance in the next book she writes.]  "It's set in the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium. I knew I wanted to write a series set in a bookstore, but I knew I needed a hook. It didn't take long for me to realize that it would be totally feasible to have a store dedicated solely to Sherlock Holmes and all the pastiche as well as all the merchandise.

"I've loved creating this series, and the main character is Sherlockian. She has that Sherlock Holmes mindset. I feel that it's a typical cozy with a bit of an edge. It's set in a nice town on Cape Cod, in a nice bookshop, and Mrs. Hudson's Tea Room is next door. Gemma Doyle has a bit of an edge because she's not that sweet as cozy characters generally are. She can be rude and she can be abrupt."

"And she's probably not a cocaine user which would be really Sherlockian," Barbara added. "Although with medical marijuana...."

"There's a thought!" Vicki exclaimed. "The Sherlock Holmes Bookshop, Emporium, and Marijuana Dispensary. Jenn McKinlay, I have the next big thing in cozy mystery series-- the Marijuana Dispensary Mysteries!"

"It's a cash and carry business," Barbara quipped.

"Don't forget about the marijuana brownies for Mrs. Hudson's Tea Room," someone in the audience said, who shall remain nameless (but she must have been channeling a certain episode of Barney Miller).

"I'm making a mental note of that as we speak," Vicki said. "I could even have the recipe in the back of the book."

"And Teresa can write it out for you in Spanish," Barbara added. "You can see how addictive series like these can be when you start making stuff up."

And you can see how addictive attending CozyCon can be, can't you? Stop by next Monday when you'll be able to attend part two of The Poisoned Pen's CozyCon 2018!

Death Comes in through the Kitchen by Teresa Dovalpage

First Line: The Cuban customs officer lifted an eyebrow at the bridal gown-- a white satin bodice with tulle appliqués, sheer sleeves, and a two-foot train-- and took a long suspicious look at the couple.

After meeting her through her food blog, Yarmi Cooks Cuban, San Diego journalist Matt Sullivan flies to Havana to marry his twenty-four-year-old blogger girlfriend. But something is wrong: she doesn't meet him at the airport as planned. When Matt arrives at Yarmila's apartment, he finds her lying dead in the bathtub.

Naturally, the Cuban police and secret service have him down as their main suspect, so Matt has to conduct his own investigation into what really happened. However, the more he learns about his fiancée the more he realizes that he didn't know her at all... and he's beginning to think that no one else did either.

Cuban-born Teresa Dovalpage takes readers right into the heart of Havana; indeed, the setting was one of my favorite parts of the book. The other part I liked was the mystery itself surrounding Yarmila the food blogger. Having Matt realize that he really didn't know her was to be expected; what does come as a surprise is just what Yarmila was up to.

Unfortunately, except for Lieutenant Marlene Martínez of the magnificent posterior, none of the rest of the characters fired me up at all. Even the lieutenant fell a bit short, but I did like watching her run her investigation into Yarmila's death. Matt Sullivan, the main character, was particularly disappointing. He was gullible and ineffectual and more than once behaved like the sort of entitled American that makes me cringe.

Death Comes in through the Kitchen's setting and mystery are the stars of the show, but the characterization and pacing definitely need some work.

Death Comes in through the Kitchen by Teresa Dovalpage

ISBN: 9781616958848

Soho Crime © 2018

Hardcover, 368 pages

Police Procedural, Standalone

Rating: C

Source: the publisher


 

March 2018 New Mystery Releases!

It's a good thing I took another look at my post title. It originally said "March 2918 New Mystery Releases." Some of you might have seen that and thought someone spiked my punch bowl-- or wondered about my wonderful contacts who could tell me about books being written nine hundred years from now!

I'm always on the hunt for new mysteries to read, and these are my picks of new crime fiction being released throughout the month of March. I've grouped them by release dates and hopefully given you enough information so that you will succumb to temptation and add them to your wishlists. Book synopses are courtesy of Amazon.

It's time to stop talking so you can take a look at the list.  Here we go!

=== March 1 ===

Title: The Suffering of Strangers

Author: Caro Ramsay

Series: #9 in the Anderson & Costello police procedural series set in Glasgow, Scotland.

256 pages

Synopsis: "When a six-week-old baby is stolen from outside a village shop, Detective Inspector Costello quickly surmises there?s more to this case than meets the eye. As she questions those involved, she uncovers evidence that this was no impulsive act as the police initially assumed, but something cold, logical, meticulously planned. Who has taken Baby Sholto ? and why?

Colin Anderson meanwhile is on the Cold Case Unit, reviewing the unsolved rape of a young mother back in 1996. Convinced this wasn't the first- or last - time the attacker struck, Anderson looks for a pattern. But when he does find a connection, it reaches back into his own past . . ." 

=== March 6 ===

Title: A Brush with Shadows

Author: Anna Lee Huber

Series: #6 in the Lady Darby historical series set in the UK.

383 pages

Synopsis: "July 1831. It's been fifteen years since Sebastian Gage has set foot in Langstone Manor. Though he has shared little with his wife, Lady Kiera Darby, about his past, she knows that he planned never to return to the place of so many unhappy childhood memories. But when an urgent letter from his grandfather reaches them in Dublin, Ireland, and begs Gage to visit, Kiera convinces him to go.

All is not well at Langstone Manor. Gage's grandfather, the Viscount Tavistock, is gravely ill, and Gage's cousin Alfred has suddenly vanished. He wandered out into the moors and never returned. The Viscount is convinced someone or something other than the natural hazards of the moors is to blame for Alfred's disappearance. And when Alfred's brother Rory goes missing, Kiera and Gage must concede he may be right. Now, they must face the ghosts of Gage's past, discover the truth behind the local superstitions, and see beyond the tricks being played by their very own eyes to expose what has happened to Gage's family before the moors claim yet another victim..."

Title: A Funeral in Mantova

Author: David P. Wagner

Series: #5 in the Rick Montoya amateur sleuth series set in Italy.

220 pages

Synopsis: "Lombardy was once hotly disputed by the cities of Venice and Milan. Today it is famed for its food rather than war. But the murder of the elderly fisherman, for so it proves to be, reveals battles still rage within the region's controlled agribiz, the manufacture of cheese and cured meats by generations of local families, as well as over the best use for a parcel of land owned by the victim, Roberto Rondini, and now passing to his heirs.

Rick Montoya, an American from New Mexico self-employed as a translator in Italy, soon receives a call from the States. The US Embassy in Rome has recommended his services to wealthy Angelo Rondini, cousin to Roberto. Angelo, age seventy-eight and born in nearby Voglia, has been invited to the funeral by Roberto's daughter, Livia Guarino. Out of respect, Angelo has agreed to connect with the Italian family he hasn't seen since he was a very young boy.

Rick hires on as interpreter. And soon receives another assignment - a local cop, Inspector Crespi, linked to Rick's uncle, Commissario Piero Fontana of the Roman Questura, leads the murder investigation and asks Rick to observe and report. Rick agrees, if Angelo accepts his working undercover. And so Rick once again puts his linguistic skills to use for the local law in solving a crime.

Despite the joys and distractions of the city and its watery setting, its glorious art and architecture, and the temptations of the local cuisine and cheese culture, the investigation must probe the life of Roberto and the history of the Rondinis as well as the rivalries of the locals. Yet with all this on display, the story is stolen by two women: Angelo's American executive assistant, and Livia, the Rondini clan's new matriarch.

David Wagner's Rick Montoya Mysteries will appeal to readers of Michael Dibdin, Donna Leon, and Martin Walker." 

Title: Barbed Wire Heart

Author: Tess Sharpe

Standalone noir thriller.

416 pages

Synopsis: "Harley McKenna is the only child of North County's biggest criminal. Duke McKenna's run more guns, cooked more meth, and killed more men than anyone around. Harley's been working for him since she was sixteen--collecting debts, sweet-talking her way out of trouble, and dreading the day he'd deem her ready to rule the rural drug empire he's built.

Her time's run out. The Springfields, her family's biggest rivals, are moving in. Years ago, they were responsible for her mother's death, and now they're coming for Duke's only weak spot: his daughter.

With a bloody turf war threatening to consume North County, Harley is forced to confront the truth: that her father's violent world will destroy her. Duke's raised her to be deadly--he never counted on her being disloyal. But if Harley wants to survive and protect the people she loves, she's got to take out Duke's operation and the Springfields.

Blowing up meth labs is dangerous business, and getting caught will be the end of her, but Harley has one advantage: She is her father's daughter. And McKennas always win.

A remarkable novel with a deep emotional core, BARBED WIRE HEART seamlessly blends page-turning suspense with a multilayered and unflinching portrayal of a poor, rural community where family is everything."

Title: The Silent Companions

Author: Laura Purcell

Standalone Gothic suspense set in England.

315 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "When Elsie married handsome young heir Rupert Bainbridge, she believed she was destined for a life of luxury. But with her husband dead just weeks after their marriage, her new servants resentful, and the local villagers actively hostile, Elsie has only her husband’s awkward cousin for company. Or so she thinks. Inside her new home lies a locked door, beyond which is a painted wooden figure—a silent companion—that bears a striking resemblance to Elsie herself. The residents of the estate are terrified of the figure, but Elsie tries to shrug this off as simple superstition—that is, until she notices the figure’s eyes following her.

A Victorian ghost story that evokes a most unsettling kind of fear, The Silent Companions is a tale that creeps its way through the consciousness in ways you least expect—much like the companions themselves."

=== March 8 ===

Title: Phoenix Burning

Author: Isabella Maldonado

Series: #2 in the Veranda Cruz police procedural series set in Phoenix, Arizona.

338 pages

Synopsis: "Homicide Detective Veranda Cruz will stop at nothing to take down the Villalobos cartel. But when a wave of violence in the city escalates, she fears that the secrets of her past will take her down instead.

Adolfo Villalobos is a crime boss who's determined to stake his claim. To prove that he's ready to run his family's sprawling criminal empire, he devises a plan to silence his siblings and destroy Veranda, leaving a trail of destruction through downtown Phoenix that makes national headlines. Veranda believes the task force she's been assigned to lead will end the cartel's reign of terror, until Adolfo's revenge takes a cruel—and highly personal—twist."

=== March 13 ===

Title: Lethal in Old Lace

Author: Duffy Brown

Series: #5 in the Consignment Shop cozy series set in Savannah, Georgia.

298 pages

Synopsis: "There are two social functions in Savannah guaranteed to get people talking: weddings and funerals. And just as consignment shop owner Reagan Summerside agrees to marry the hunky Walker Boone, her neighbors, sisters Annie Fritz and Elsie Abbot, step up their business as professional mourners. They are so successful that the Sleepy Pines Retirement Center has hired them as a part of their retirement package. But the celebration over good business is cut short when the residents at Pines suddenly begin dying at an alarming rate. And the sisters are the first suspects.

Reagan has her doubts, however, and begins to look into the strange phenomenon. But then something even stranger happens: a body winds up in the sisters’ pink Caddy. The evidence begins to pile up and the suspicious case of Willie Fishbine, who swindled the sisters out of a fortune and coincidentally died prior to the Pines case, is reopened.

Not wanting Willie to be buried until they can find the killer responsible for the murders, Reagan must catch the culprit in time to walk down the aisle. Witty, fabulous, and full of charm, Lethal in Old Lace is perfect for fans of Ellery Adams and Jenn McKinlay."

Title: Searcher of the Dead

Author: Nancy Herriman

Series: #1 in the Bess Ellyott historical series set in Elizabethan England.

334 pages

Synopsis: "Living amid the cultural flowering, religious strife, and political storms of Tudor England, Bess Ellyott is an herbalist, a widow, and a hunted woman. She fled London after her husband was brutally murdered, but the bucolic town in the countryside where she lands will offer her no solace. She still doesn’t know who killed her husband, but she knows one thing: The murderer is still out there. This becomes all too clear when Bess’s brother-in-law, a prosperous merchant, is himself found dead—dangling from a tree, an apparent suicide.

But Bess doesn’t believe that for a moment, and nor do her neighbors. Competition is cutthroat in the 17th century, and word around the town holds that the dead man is a victim of rival merchants scheming to corner the wool market. Bess, though, is convinced the killer is out to destroy her family.

Town constable Christopher Harwoode will cross members of his own family to help Bess find the killer—whose next target may very well be Queen Elizabeth I—in this unshakably gripping, devilishly unpredictable series debut that will delight fans of Alison Weir and Philippa Gregory." 

Title: This Is How It Ends

Author: Eva Dolan

Standalone thriller set in the UK.

336 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "The building was once home to families, friends, children, couples, love, life. Now, almost every apartment is empty, the inhabitants forced out by the developers tearing down the old social housing to build luxury homes.

Only a few of the inhabitants have fought back against the attempts to evict them from their homes and their histories. And they have been joined by passionate student protester and would-be journalist, Ella, who is leading a high-profile media campaign to protect those who refuse to leave.

One night, Ella returns home to find a horrible scene awaiting her-the dead body of a mysterious man. Panicked, she calls her neighbor Molly, who convinces her that the police won't believe she's innocent. Together the two women concoct a gruesome plan to hide the body.

But the secret won't stay buried for long. As truth hangs in the balance, a neighbor tells Molly he had heard Ella arguing with a man in the hallway and mistrust grows between Ella and Molly, as repercussions of that night threaten to change both women's lives forever."

=== March 20 ===

Title: Death Comes in Through the Kitchen

Author: Teresa Dovalpage

Standalone amateur sleuth set in Cuba.

368 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "Matt, a San Diego journalist, arrives in Havana to marry his girlfriend, Yarmila, a 24-year-old Cuban woman whom he first met through her food blog. But Yarmi isn’t there to meet him at the airport, and when he hitches a ride to her apartment, he finds her lying dead in the bathtub.

With Yarmi’s murder, lovelorn Matt is immediately embroiled in a Cuban adventure he didn’t bargain for. The police and secret service have him down as their main suspect, and in an effort to clear his name, he must embark on his own investigation into what really happened. The more Matt learns about his erstwhile fiancée, though, the more he realizes he had no idea who she was at all—but did anyone?"

Title: The Temptation of Forgiveness

Author: Donna Leon

Series: #27 in the Guido Brunetti police procedural series set in Venice, Italy.

272 pages

Synopsis: "The memorable characters and Venetian drama that have long captivated Donna Leon’s many readers are on full display in The Temptation of Forgiveness. Surprised, if not dismayed, to discover from his superior, Vice-Questore Patta, that leaks are emanating from the Questura, Commissario Guido Brunetti is surprised more consequentially by the appearance of a friend of his wife’s, fearful that her son is using drugs and hopeful Brunetti can somehow intervene. When Tullio Gasparini, the woman’s husband, is found unconscious and with a serious brain injury at the foot of a bridge in Venice after midnight, Brunetti is drawn to pursue a possible connection to the boy’s behavior. But the truth, as Brunetti has experienced so often, is not straightforward.

As the twenty-seventh novel unfolds in Donna Leon’s exquisite chronicle of Venetian life in all its blissful and sordid aspects, Brunetti pursues several false and contradictory leads while growing ever more impressed by the intuition of his fellow Commissario, Claudia Griffoni, and by the endless resourcefulness and craftiness of Signorina Elettra, Patta’s secretary and gate-keeper. Exasperated by the petty bureaucracy that constantly bedevils him and threatens to expose Signorina Elettra, Brunetti is steadied by the embrace of his own family and by his passion for the classics. This predilection leads him to read Sophocles’ Antigone, and, in its light, consider the terrible consequences to which the actions of a tender heart can lead."

=== March 27 ===

Title: To Die but Once

Author: Jacqueline Winspear

Series: #14 in the Maisie Dobbs historical series set during the beginning months of World War II in England and France.

336 pages

Synopsis: "During the months following Britain’s declaration of war on Germany, Maisie Dobbs investigates the disappearance of a young apprentice working on a hush-hush government contract. As news of the plight of thousands of soldiers stranded on the beaches of France is gradually revealed to the general public, and the threat of invasion rises, another young man beloved by Maisie makes a terrible decision that will change his life forever. 

Maisie’s investigation leads her from the countryside of rural Hampshire to the web of wartime opportunism exploited by one of the London underworld’s most powerful men, in a case that serves as a reminder of the inextricable link between money and war. Yet when a final confrontation approaches, she must acknowledge the potential cost to her future—and the risk of destroying a dream she wants very much to become reality." 

Title: Murder, She Knit

Author: Peggy Ehrhart

Series: #1 in the Knit & Nibble cozy series set in New Jersey.

288 pages

Synopsis: "Since her only daughter left for college, widow Pamela Paterson has kept busy as associate editor of a craft magazine and founder of the Knit and Nibble knitting club in quaint Arborville, New Jersey. Now, she’s trying out a new hobby—solving murders!

Pamela is hosting the next Knit and Nibble meeting and can’t wait to liven up her otherwise empty home with colorful yarn, baking, and a little harmless gossip. She even recruits Amy Morgan, an old friend who recently moved to town, as the group’s newest member. But on the night of the gathering, Amy doesn’t show. Not until Pamela finds the woman dead outside—a knitting needle stabbed through the front of her handmade sweater . . .

Someone committed murder before taking off with Amy’s knitting bag, and Pamela realizes that only she can spot the deadly details hidden in mysterious skeins. But when another murder occurs, naming the culprit—and living to spin the tale—will be more difficult than Pamela ever imagined . . . "

Well, this list has a little something for everyone, doesn't it? My vote for the creepiest book cover this month is Caro Ramsay's The Suffering of Strangers. My favorite? It's a tie between Winspear's To Die but Once and Ehrhart's Murder, She Knit--although that cat looks like a twin of the cat in Betty Hechtman's knitting series! (Or... at least I think it's a cat. It's got a mighty long nose.)

Did I tempt you with any of these titles this month? Which ones? Inquiring minds would love to know!