A Dark and Stormy Tea (A Tea Shop Mystery) by Laura Childs Book Tour and GIveaway!

 

A Dark and Stormy Tea (A Tea Shop Mystery) by Laura Childs

About A Dark and Stormy Tea

A Dark and Stormy Tea (A Tea Shop Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
24th in Series
Berkley (August 9, 2022)
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0593200896
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0593200896
Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09LH6VG4P

A possible serial killer on the loose sends tea maven Theodosia Browning into a whirlwind of investigation in this latest installment of the New York Times bestselling series.

 

It was a dark and stormy night, but that was the least of Theodosia Browning’s troubles. As she approaches St. Philips Graveyard, Theodosia sees two figures locked in a strange embrace. Wiping rain from her eyes, Theodosia realizes she has just witnessed a brutal murder and sees a dark-hooded figure slip away into the fog.

 

In the throes of alerting police, Theodosia recognizes the victim—it is the daughter of her friend, Lois, who owns the Antiquarian Bookshop next door to her own Indigo Tea Shop.

 

Even though this appears to be the work of a serial killer who is stalking the back alleys of Charleston, Lois begs Theodosia for help. Against the advice of her boyfriend, Detective Pete Riley, and the sage words of Drayton, her tea sommelier, amateur-sleuth Theodosia launches her own shadow investigation. And quickly discovers that suspects abound with the dead girl’s boyfriend, nefarious real estate developer, private-security man, bumbling reporter, and her own neighbor who is writing a true-crime book and searching for a big ending.

 

INCLUDES DELICIOUS RECIPES AND TEA TIME TIPS!

About Laura Childs

Laura Childs is the New York Times bestselling author of the Tea Shop Mysteries, Scrapbook Mysteries, and Cackleberry Club Mysteries. In her previous life she was CEO/Creative Director of her own marketing firm and authored several screenplays. She is married to a professor of Chinese art history, loves to travel, rides horses, enjoys fundraising for various non-profits, and has two Chinese Shar-Pei dogs.

Laura specializes in cozy mysteries that have the pace of a thriller (a thrillzy!) Her three series are:

The Tea Shop Mysteries – set in the historic district of Charleston and featuring Theodosia Browning, owner of the Indigo Tea Shop. Theodosia is a savvy entrepreneur, and pet mom to service dog Earl Grey. She’s also an intelligent, focused amateur sleuth who doesn’t rely on coincidences or inept police work to solve crimes. This charming series is highly atmospheric and rife with the history and mystery that is Charleston.

The Scrapbooking Mysteries – a slightly edgier series that take place in New Orleans. The main character, Carmela, owns Memory Mine scrapbooking shop in the French Quarter and is forever getting into trouble with her friend, Ava, who owns the Juju Voodoo shop. New Orleans’ spooky above-ground cemeteries, jazz clubs, bayous, and Mardi Gras madness make their presence known here!

The Cackleberry Club Mysteries – set in Kindred, a fictional town in the Midwest. In a rehabbed Spur station, Suzanne, Toni, and Petra, three semi-desperate, forty-plus women have launched the Cackleberry Club. Eggs are the morning specialty here and this cozy cafe even offers a book nook and yarn shop. Business is good but murder could lead to the cafe’s undoing! This series offers recipes, knitting, cake decorating, and a dash of spirituality.

Laura’s Links:   Website –  Facebook 

Purchase Links
Amazon – B&N – Kobo – IndieBound

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No Stranger Here by Carlene O'Connor Book Review!

 

Set in the striking, rugged countryside of County Kerry, bestselling author Carlene O’Connor’s intriguing new series introduces Dimpna Wilde, an Irish vet grappling with life, death, family dynamics, and the secrets at the heart of this small community . . .
 
On a rocky beach in the southwest of Ireland, the body of Jimmy O’Reilly, sixty-nine years old and dressed in a suit and his dancing shoes, is propped on a boulder, staring sightlessly out to sea. A cryptic message is spelled out next to the body with sixty-nine polished black stones and a discarded vial of deadly veterinarian medication lies nearby. Jimmy was a wealthy racehorse owner, known far and wide as The Dancing Man. In a town like Dingle, everyone knows a little something about everyone else. But dig a bit deeper, and there’s always much more to find. And when Detective Inspector Cormac O'Brien is dispatched out of Killarney to lead the murder inquiry, he's determined to unearth every last buried secret.
 
Dimpna Wilde hasn’t been home in years. As picturesque as Dingle may be for tourists in search of their roots and the perfect jumper, to her it means family drama and personal complications. In fairness, Dublin hasn’t worked out quite as she hoped either. Faced with a triple bombshell—her mother rumored to be in a relationship with Jimmy, her father’s dementia is escalating, and her brother is avoiding her calls—Dimpna moves back to clear her family of suspicion.
 
Despite plenty of other suspects, the guards are crawling over the Wildes. But the horse business can be a brutal one, and as Dimpna becomes more involved with her old acquaintances and haunts, the depth of lingering grudges becomes clear. Theft, extortion, jealousy and greed. As Dimpna takes over the family practice, she's in a race with the detective inspector to uncover the dark, twisting truth, no matter how close to home it strikes . . .

Carlene O’Connor comes from a long line of Irish storytellers. Her great-grandmother emigrated from Ireland to America filled with tales and the stories have been flowing ever since. Of all of the places across the pond she’s wandered, she fell most in love with a walled town in County Limerick and was inspired to create the town of Kilbane, County Cork. Carlene currently divides her time between New York and Emerald Isle.

https://carleneoconnor.net/

My thoughts

I am a fan of anything Irish, including Irish authors and books set in Ireland. I have read a few of Carlene O'Connor's books in the An Irish Village Mystery and loved them. I was offered a copy of No Strangers Here, the first in a new series by Carlene O'Connor. Jumped right on that offer. Glad I did too!

The story starts off right out of the chute with a murdered man, Johnny O'Reilly, found on the beach with his suit and dancing shoes on. The O'Reilly's are a prominent horse racing family in Dingle, Ireland. Of course, there is a lot of speculation as to who did it and why he was killed. This is a family with lots of secrets and enemies. It is up to the garda to determine what happened. Enter  Detective Inspector Cormac O'Brien from Killarney is sent in to investigate.

Dr.Dimpna Wilde, a vet who has come home to Dingle, where she worked in Dublin has not worked out and she has found out that her father, the local vet, is suffering from dementia and as it gets worse, she feels that her place is at home helping her father. Her brother is nowhere to be found so it is up to her to clear her family of any suspicion in the murder of Johnny. 

Out of the list of suspects, there are rumors of jealousy, theft, and greed and it is up to the detective inspector and Dimpna to uncover the clues that lead them into something deeper than they had thought. 

Knowing this author's work, the suspense was expected. Just when you think you know who the killer was, more clues send you in another direction and have the reader trying to figure out the who and why. This is a well-written story that will be sure to please fans of Carlene O'Connor. I know that I am a fan and eagerly await the next in the series. In the meantime, I will catch up on the books in other series that I missed.

I give it 5 stars

I received a copy of the book for review purposes only.

Hook, Line, and Sinker: An Ozarks Lake Mystery by Marc Jedel Book Tour and Giveaway!

Hook, Line, and Sinker: An Ozarks Lake Mystery
by Marc Jedel

About Hook, Line, and Sinker

Hook, Line, and Sinker: An Ozarks Lake Mystery
Cozy Mystery
3rd in Series
Setting – Arkansas
BGM Press (July 14, 2022)
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 255 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1732716471
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1732716476
Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0B63XZS6T

Dubious diamond devotees and a dead loan shark. With the dad she thought dead suspected of murder, can she keep him from doing hard time?

 

Elizabeth Trout thinks she must have rocks in her head. After receiving a crazy call that the father she never knew is cooling his heels in the local jail, the newlywed graphic designer posts bail and invites him home. But the family reunion loses its luster when she learns her old man is under suspicion for murder after he was found near a corpse.

 

With the sheriff zeroing in on her dad and no other suspects on ice, Elizabeth starts her own investigation to mine for evidence. But as greedy gem hunters, fossil fanatics, and shady scammers run amok, she must race to solve the homicide before she’s the one shafted.

 

Can she prove her father’s innocence before a rough-cut killer makes a glittering getaway?

 

Hook, Line, and Sinker is the hilarious third book in the Ozarks Lake Mystery cozy series. If you like big-hearted but excitable heroines, charismatic rogues, and uproarious plot twists, then you’ll love Marc Jedel’s jaunty jewel.

 

Buy Hook, Line, and Sinker to get caught up in a carat of crime today!

 Excerpt from Hook, Line, and Sinker: An Ozarks Lake Mystery #3

Now Kelsey screwed up her face in disgust. “Didn’t she meet Jonas?”

“Yes. And stop making all these faces. You look ridiculous.”

She ignored me. “You think she’s going to believe your husband, that calm, easy-going guy, forbid you from doing something and you listened?”

“Okay. You’re right. Then you tell her you’re married and your husband won’t let you get one so you brought me along for moral support.”

Kelsey rocked back on her heels. “Who am I married to?”

“What?”

Kelsey put her hands on her hips. “If I’m going to do this right, I have to know who I’m married to.”

“Why? You don’t have to invent a husband. Just say you want one.” Since she was acting silly, I snapped a photo of the open box so I could show it to the sheriff later.

Kelsey raised a suggestive eyebrow. “Do you think Trent knows anyone like him?”

I whipped my head around to her. “Trent? Now you’re marrying Trent? What about Carlita and your whole theory of couples needing to work together or something?”

Kelsey wore a stupid, smug smile on her face, as if she had attained the reaction she’d been anticipating from me. 

I shoved her toward the door. “Come on.”

“Not Trent,” said Kelsey as she pulled the door open. “Just someone like him. You have to admit he does fill out his uniform nicely.”

“Aargh. Come on!”

Marc Jedel writes humorous murder mysteries. He credits his years of marketing leadership positions in Silicon Valley for honing his writing skills and sense of humor. While his high-tech marketing roles involved crafting plenty of fiction, these were just called emails, ads, and marketing collateral.

For most of Marc’s life, he’s been inventing stories. As he’s gotten older, he’s encountered more funny and odd people and situations. This has made it even easier for him to write what he knows and make up the rest. It’s a skill that’s served him well, both as an author and marketer.

The publication of Marc’s first novel, UNCLE AND ANTS, gave him permission to claim “author” as his job. This leads to much more interesting conversations than answering, “marketing.”

Like his characters Jonas and Elizabeth from the Ozarks Lake Mystery series, Marc grew up in the South and spent plenty of time in and around Arkansas. Like his character, Marty from the Silicon Valley Mystery series, Marc now lives in Silicon Valley, works in high-tech, and enjoys bad puns. Along with all his protagonists, Marc too has a dog, although his is neurotic, sweet, and small, with little appreciation for Marc’s humor.

Visit his website, marcjedel.com, for free chapters of novels, special offers, and more.

Author Links

Website: www.marcjedel.com

BookBub: http://www.bookbub.com/profile/marc-jedel

Facebook: http://facebook.com/MarcJedel.Author

Goodreads:  http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18403497.Marc_Jedel

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/mjedel/

Blog: www.marcjedel.com/blog

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Marc-Jedel/e/B07H7MVKJL

Purchase Link:  Amazon – 

TOUR PARTICIPANTS

August 3 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

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Book 4 in the Paladin League series by Patti O’Shea Book Blitz and Giveaway! #PaladinLeague #PattiOShea #XpressoTours @XpressoTours⁣

 

Wicked Deception
Patti O’Shea

(The Paladin League, #4)
Publication date: August 15th 2022
Genres: Adult, Romance, Suspense

Special Forces Sgt. Kyle Winter’s vow to stay far away from the nun he can’t get out of his head is blown to pieces when he’s assigned to work undercover at the convent. The arms dealer his team is after has been showing too much interest in the place and his captain wants to know why. How hard can it be to avoid Sister Sexy anyway?

Marianna Castillo is desperate. So desperate, she’s disguised herself as a nun, and hidden in a convent. She’s been running for more than two years, staying one step ahead of the arms dealer trying to kill her. He can’t allow her to live, not when she knows a secret that can destroy him. And now he’s watching the convent.

Mari needs help, but the person with the skills to keep her safe can’t be trusted. A mercenary’s loyalty is always for sale to the highest bidder, and the man who wants her dead can pay him a fortune.

But as the arms dealer closes in, she has to make a choice. Keep running or trust Kyle to fight beside her to reclaim her life.

Goodreads / Amazon

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EXCERPT:

Trujillo, Puerto Jardin
South America

After finishing his sandwich, Kyle quietly sipped his coffee and waited. There was no guarantee she’d be here today. Just because he’d seen her on a Thursday didn’t mean anything. The nuns probably came to the open-air market multiple times a week. Maybe they had a rotation and there was no telling which day would be assigned to her. Maybe she rarely drew market duty.

Maybe, but Kyle was here anyway.

He shouldn’t be doing this. Not only because his captain would be irate, but because he was attracted to her. Very attracted.

Nothing would come of it. He’d been raised in Catholic boarding schools across South America and respected the sisters. He might have stopped going to mass after his father died, but Kyle hadn’t strayed so far that he’d make a play for a nun.

No, he was here because he was sure she was in trouble. When she’d looked around the market three weeks ago, there’d been terror in her eyes. Something scared her to death and he wanted to know what.

And he wanted to help.

Kyle wasn’t like his buddy, Griff. He didn’t rush to every woman’s rescue. But he did have a soft spot for nuns.

Sweat ran down his cheek, and he absently wiped it away. He was dressed in camo fatigue pants, combat boots, an olive-drab T-shirt with a long-sleeved camouflage shirt to hide his weapons, and the dark green Toros baseball cap he’d appropriated from Griff’s woman when she’d left for the States. It wouldn’t matter what he wore, though. It was hot.

Trujillo was close enough to the equator and the tropical rainforest that drinking coffee wasn’t a pleasure. He sipped anyway because it gave him a reason to be sitting in the market, and because he was addicted to caffeine.

The place became busier as it got closer to lunch, but still no sign of the nuns. Kyle was reasonably certain she was part of La Convento de Madres Fieles. It was the nearest abbey to the market, and it sure looked as if the sisters walked here to shop.

He bought a second coffee. Another half hour passed. He was about to give up when he saw the flash of black in his peripheral vision. Kyle turned. The nuns were at the market, but they were too far away to know if his sister was part of the trio.

They wore short tunics again, ending above their knees—not too surprising given the heat—but they had full coifs and veils, and were carrying string bags. He felt for them. They must be more uncomfortable than he was.

Keeping them in the edge of his vision, Kyle turned his attention toward the produce stall across from his position. If today was like the previous weeks, they’d head there to buy their fruit, and he didn’t want to show interest in them.

They grew closer. His nun was one of the sisters today.

Again, her legs were the first thing he noticed, and he had to force his gaze to her face. He guessed she was in her mid-twenties. In the US, it might be surprising, but not in Puerto Jardin where many young women went into the church. One of her group said something and she smiled briefly.

He forgot to breathe. Even without makeup, she was beautiful. High cheekbones, big, dark eyes, and full, kissable lips. Easily one of the most stunning women he’d ever laid eyes on.

None of the nuns he’d had in school looked like her.

Patti O'Shea's passions are writing, airplanes and traveling. Fortunately, she's been able to enjoy all three. After receiving a degree in advertising copywriting, she took a job with a major U.S. airline and now works in 757 Engineering. Besides teaching her about the planes she loves, it's given her an opportunity to travel to places like Australia, Papua New Guinea and Canada's Yukon Territory.

Writing, though, remains her primary love. Patti created her first romance when she was in junior high school and has been hooked ever since. She should have figured out she was a writer years earlier, however, since her dolls had such involved lives, complete with goals, motivation and conflict.

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