Tortie Shorties: Fall Mystery Roundup

Turkeys, Tuxes and Tabbies by Kathi Daley

Blurb: When the cat lady of Ashton Falls is found dead in her home just days before Thanksgiving, Zoe must track down a killer while dealing with a house full of socialites who have come to Ashton Falls to bid on Zak in a high class bachelor auction.

Tortie Shorties

Book reviews that are short and sweet...just like Truffles!

This 10th book in the Zoe Donovan Mystery series is set at Thanksgiving with preparations underway for a charity bachelor auction which features Zoe's fiance Zak as the top prize. Zoe's Zoo animal rescue and rehabilitation center is pretty quiet until word comes that local cat lady Lois Washburn is letting her cats get into mischief. Zoe goes to check out the situation and ends up finding Lois dead in her living room. Who could possibly want this well-meaning but misguided lady dead? Zoe doesn't intend to get involved in the investigation until she realizes the pink lipstick found on a mug in Lois's house matches the lipstick worn by her friend Levi's new girlfriend, who turns out to be Lois's estranged niece. Zoe soon discovers that Lois had feared for her cats' safety, even taking shooting lessons and returning tainted cat food. She was also involved in a lawsuit with a neighbor and had plans to turn the local senior center into a cat sanctuary. The ending was somewhat abrupt but satisfying, and the entire book was filled with festive feline fun!

Giveaway: Leave a comment by noon eastern on Monday, October 27th for the chance to win your choice of a signed paperback (US only) or ebook (open Internationally) of Turkeys, Tuxes and Tabbies.

A Haunting is Brewing by Juliet Blackwell

Blurb: In this all-new novella, New York Times bestselling author Juliet Blackwell’s popular characters from her Witchcraft Mysteries and Haunted Home Renovation Mysteries find themselves joining forces to solve a supernatural dilemma…

When Mel Turner is hired to rehab an old Victorian mansion to act as the eerie setting for a Halloween bash, she’s expecting the normal challenges—old wiring, bad plumbing, maybe a ghostly specter or two. But when a young man is killed after spending the night in the house, and the mannequins in the attic start to come to life, it’s clear that this is serious paranormal activity. Maybe this time, a real witch is needed.

Recommended by a mutual friend, vintage clothes expert Lily Ivory arrives to offer her help with the mannequins. Armed with Lily’s spells and Mel’s know-how, the two women must figure out the cause of all of the ghostly commotion—before Mel’s renovation project turns into even more of a deadly haunt…

Tortie Shorties

Book reviews that are short and sweet...just like Truffles!\

I don't think I've ever read a novella where an author merges characters from two best-selling series into a new original story. What a fun concept...and it works too! 

Preparations for a Halloween fundraiser has Mel (of the Haunted Home Renovation Mysteries) rehabbing an old Victorian and she is totally creeped out by the life-sized dolls of the house's former inhabitants that she finds in the attic. The entire family apparently died of the flu in 1918 (or was it murder?) with the exception of the son, who ended up committing suicide in the house on Halloween night. When a student from the local performing arts college spends the night in the house and is found dead the next morning, Lily Ivory of the popular Witchcraft Mysteries is called in to assist in the investigation. This short Halloween story is atmospheric, creepy, and very exciting.