Button & Cheddar
February— Valentine’s Day and President’s Day. It’s also the one year anniversary of adopting our kitties Button and Cheddar. They have such different personalities but the same loveable character at heart. Cheddar is mellow, tolerant, and kind of bossy in his own way. He’s an incessant “talker” while Button is very quiet. Her meow is more like a rolled “p-r-r-r”. They both want to be in the center of things, especially it seems when I’m at the computer. Button is content to lie on the desk but Cheddar has to be on top of the keyboard. I purchased an acrylic cover that protects the keys yet allows me to type even when he’s right there. Seeing around his body is a different challenge!
Killer Ghost, the fourth installment of my Christie’s Flower Shoppe series, is in the revising stage. I’m eager to polish it and get it out to the world. And I got word a few weeks ago that Killer Flowers is a Gold Medal winner in the Global Book Award contest for independent publishers! It’s flattering to have the validation.
Meanwhile, winter in my neck of the woods is almost half over. It’s too cold to do yard work, although I pruned the blueberries on a sunny day last weekend. It’s too early to buy new plants but I can plan the changes I’d like to make. It seems like my front and back yards are always in transition—right now I’m favoring lower maintenance overall. What was I thinking when I created garden beds on every side of the house and yard?
It’s a good time to pick up and read a book by a new author while I’m waiting for the ground to warm up. Perhaps you’ll find something new to try in the list below.
Until next time, happy reading!
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Killer Anniversary, the third cozy mystery novel
in the Christie’s Flower Shoppe series.
Killer Ghost, book four in the series, coming soon!
A little girl learns about bunnies and love in this heartwarming story
suitable for children aged 3-8 years old.
Rembrandt Rides a Bike, the second murder mystery novel
in the Julia Fairchild series, got a brand new look!
Secrets, lies, and magic. Discovering the enchanted truth about her family,
will her fresh start in a quirky town put her face to face with a killer?
Vancouver, British Columbia. Cossi Fortuna could just scream. Heartbroken after her father’s death, she can’t believe it when her inheritance consists of a letter claiming she’s a witch and an eviction notice from the landlord. And despite the note’s warning to stay clear, she throws caution to the wind and moves to the hidden island community where her folks inadvertently unleashed a nasty spell.
In search of an ideal spot to open a retreat, Cossi’s thrill that things are finally coming together takes a dive when she stumbles upon the body of a local. And now fearing her parents’ bad reputation already casts her in the worst light, she races to unlock her newly learned powers and track down the culprit.
Can Cossi quash the cynics and bring justice to the dead?
Savannah, 1975. One dead girl. Three best friends.
And a secret hidden beneath the vines.
Emma Lynn Whitmore isn’t expecting much from a spring morning on Whitaker Street—until police lights flicker outside her bedroom window and a body is discovered in the vacant lot between her house and Graham’s.
The girl is young. A stranger. Someone Emma Lynn saw days earlier talking to Graham while he worked on a school project. Someone Emma Lynn hadn’t been especially kind to. Now that girl is dead, and the police don’t seem in any hurry to figure out why.
Everyone else might be ready to forget her—but Emma Lynn can’t. Not when guilt is gnawing at her. Not when Margaret keeps reminding her what she saw. And not when Graham’s uncle—a local detective—says the girl might’ve been a runaway.
Together, the three friends follow a trail of half-truths and hidden clues through library archives, whispered rumors, and a lot with a dark past. What they find buried beneath the ivy is more than just a secret—it’s a story someone’s still trying to silence.
Oceanside High students Esther and Sophie prefer life between the covers of their favorite books, but they open an entirely new adventure and begin an exciting new chapter when the Stuart twins, Parker and Paisley, move from Great Britain to an old mansion in Esther and Sophie’s small beach town. The girls score invitations to a celebrity author’s book-launch party at the twins’ mansion, but after the selfies are snapped, someone goes missing, and everyone is a suspect.
Used to hiding behind her glasses and cardigans, Esther has secrets that only her cat and Sophie know. But when someone’s life is at stake, what will Esther risk to solve the mystery and save her friends?
MURDER TAKES A SELFIE, the first cozy mystery novel in the By the Sea Cozy Mysteries series by Shannon Symonds.
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