JB Lynn
Hitwoman Series [humor, mystery, adventure]
I started reading these after meeting the author at the 2014 Writer's Police Academy. Quirky characters is the key to these wonderful books. I have all of them and wait impatiently for each new one!
Maggie Lee is not your average hitwoman. For one thing, she's never killed anyone. For another, after hitting her head in the car accident that killed her sister, her new best friend is a talking lizard—a picky eater, obsessed with Wheel of Fortune, that only Maggie can hear.
Maggie, who can barely take care of herself, is desperate to help her injured and orphaned niece get the best medical care possible, so she reluctantly accepts a mobster's lucrative job offer: major cash to kill his monstrous son-in-law.
Paired with Patrick Mulligan, a charming murder mentor (who happens to moonlight as a police detective), Maggie stumbles down her new career path, contending with self-doubt, three meddling aunts, a semi-psychic friend predicting her doom, and a day job she hates. Oh, and let's not forget about Paul Kowalski, the sexy beat cop who could throw her ass in jail if he finds out what she's up to.
Training has never been so complicated! And, this time, Maggie has to get the job done. Because if she doesn't . . . she's the mob's next target.
Erin Johnson
Spells & Caramels Series [fantasy]
A magical French island. A dead contestant. An aspiring baker must clear her name before she gets burned.
Imogen Banks has dreamed her entire life of opening her own bakery in Seattle. But when she accidentally sets fire to her apartment and loses all her possessions, her dreams get toasted. Still coping with her loss, she receives a cryptic invitation she can't possibly refuse: entry into a mysterious baking competition on a beautiful French island.
When Imogen realizes the island village is magical and the bake-off’s participants are witches and wizards, she’s not sure her fledgling powers will be enough to win the coveted contest. In the midst of trying to cast her very first spell, a competitor drops dead and Imogen finds the psychic judges' mystical fingers all pointing at her. Can Imogen unlock her own magic and stop the killer from coming back for seconds or will she jump straight from the frying pan and into the fire?
Seashells, Spells & Caramels is the first book in a charming paranormal cozy mystery series. If you like funny heroines, mysterious magical communities, and quirky conspiracies, then you’ll love Erin Johnson’s perfectly witchy recipe.
Julie Smith
The Talba Wallis PI Series [humor, mystery, adventure]
WANTED: HOTSHOT P.I. WITH NEAR SUPER-HUMAN SKILLS.
Confirmed grump Eddie Valentino placed the ad. Hotshot twenty-something Talba Wallis knew exactly how to answer it.
And thus was born the dynamic duo of New Orleans private detectives, one cynical, sixty-five-year-old Luddite white dude with street smarts, and one young, bright-eyed, Twenty-First century African-American female poet, performance artist, mistress of disguise, and computer jock extraordinaire. Think Queen Latifah and Danny DeVito.
In Louisiana Hotshot, their job is to hunt down a sociopath and pedophile who’s molested the fourteen-year-old daughter of their client, hangs out on the ragged edges of the rap and recording industries, and has more powerful allies than a Cabinet member.
But both detectives have unfinished business from the past—in Eddie’s case, something he deeply regrets; in Talba’s, a personal mystery, one so frightening no one will help her investigate. But she knows she won’t sleep till she solves it—and the truth will change her forever.
Amy Vansant [humor, mystery, adventure]
Pineapple Port Mystery Series
It's bad enough finding a body in your back yard—especially when foul play is pretty much a certainty. But when you discover the bones are somebody's long-missing mom, it's tragic. And if that person is the hottest guy in town, you've just made the world's worst first impression!
Charlotte Morgan's got every reason to take an intensely personal interest, even if solving a murder’s a bit of a stretch for a 26-year-old amateur sleuth raised in a 55-plus Florida community--golf-cart racing's usually about as exciting as it gets for her. But things are heating up in her world, and not just in the romance department. The hot guy's uncle is Charlotte's number one suspect. He's debonair, he's mysterious, he's just a little too slick—and he's dating a friend of Charlotte's. If she doesn't step up, who knows what could happen?
Meghan Doidge
Dowser Series [urban fantasy]
If you’d asked me a week ago, I would have told you that the best cupcakes were dark chocolate with chocolate cream cheese icing, that dancing in a crowd of magic wielders — the Adept — was better than sex, and that my life was peaceful and uneventful. Just the way I liked it. That’s what twenty-three years in the magical backwater of Vancouver will get you — a completely skewed sense of reality. Because when the dead werewolves started showing up, it all unraveled … except for the cupcake part. That’s a universal truth.
Jamie Lee Scott
Gotcha Detective Agency Series
I also had the pleasure of meeting this author at the 2014 Writer's Police Academy. Since then, I've enjoyed following her other passion, horses. The Gotcha Detective Agency Series GOT ME from the first book.
If you like your mysteries with a bit of humor and snark, this murder mystery series is perfect reading. Private detective Mimi Capurro takes on a bodyguard client only to end up investigating a murder.
When Mimi is hired to protect a New York Times bestselling author on her book tour, she never expects she’ll be embroiled in a murder investigation. But that’s exactly where she finds herself when the author’s assistant is murdered.
Making matters worse, Mimi comes face to face with an old college fling, who happens to be the homicide detective on the case.
Mimi, along with her snarky co-worker, Charles, worked to find the killer alongside the homicide detective, whether he likes it or not.
Follow the quirky and fun characters of Gotcha Detective Agency on this wild ride.
Thank you so much for including my series here. Merry Christmas!
ReplyDeleteWas happy to share the love! Merry Christmas!
DeleteWhat a nice Christmas present you just gave to the authors you love. Merry Christmas to you!
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas and Happy New Year, Red!
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