Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Happy Book Day To ...

Holy Hole in a Doughnut, Batman--it's the first Tuesday in the month, and you know what that means?

NEW BOOKS OUT TODAY!

And even better, three of the new books out today are by friends of mine.

Closet CLOSET CONFIDENTIAL by Mary Jane Maffini
Fourth in the series featuring organizer and amateur sleuth Charlotte Adams, following Death Loves a Messy Desk. A friend hires Charlotte to organize her closets and prove that her daughter's accident was murder. And now Charlotte has to get a house-and her suspects-in order.

My personal connection:  Mary Jane and I met because we have the same editor, and though we've only known each other a year, it feels like a dozen.  She's a great pal and her love of her dachshunds, Daisy and Lily, is legendary.  (They are the cutest things.  Check out MJ's Facebook page to see the little darlings.)

Quiche THE LONG QUICHE GOODBYE by Avery Aames
Welcome to the grand opening of Fromagerie Bessette. Or as it's more commonly known by the residents of small-town Providence, Ohio-the Cheese Shop. Proprietor Charlotte Bessette has prepared a delightful sampling of bold Cabot Clothbound Cheddar, delicious tortes of Stilton and Mascarpone, and a taste of Sauvignon Blanc-but someone else has decided to make a little crime of passion the piece de resistance. Right outside the shop Charlotte finds a body, the victim stabbed to death with one of her prized olive-wood handled knives.
My personal connection:  Avery and I were critique partners for a time, and we've been members of the same Sisters In Crime Chapter for at least a decade, so we're old pals.  I was thrilled to give a blurb for Avery's debut novel (it's right on the front cover, too!).

Delicious suspicious DELICIOUS AND SUSPICIOUS by Riley Adams
Here's what Publisher's Weekly said:  In this sassy first in a new series from Adams (the pseudonym of Elizabeth Spann Craig), Lulu Taylor, owner of Aunt Pat's, a Memphis,Tenn., rib eatery, is all aflutter because the Cooking Channel has sent food scout Rebecca Adrian to check out Lulu's down-home specialties for a future show. Too bad Rebecca's searching for dirt as well as the best BBQ in Memphis. She quickly insults a number of people, including Lulu's daughter-in-law, Sara, and Lulu's son, Seb, who happens to be Rebecca's former boyfriend. When Rebecca's poisoned, chaos reigns. Lulu later uncovers the corpse of Mildred Cameron, an elderly bookseller and aspiring romance author/sleuth, who was also offended by the tart-tongued Rebecca. Aiding and abetting Lulu's investigation are the Graces, docents at Graceland, whose devotion to Elvis adds some goofy firepower to this sometimes poky paint-by-the-numbers cozy.

My personal connection:  Riley and I are members of the same cozy authors yahoo group, where we met online.  I've since met her in person at Malice Domestic.  She's a great gal and a wonderful writer.

I hope you'll head out to your favorite bookstore and give these authors a try. I promise--you won't regret it!