Stake & Eggs - Laura Childs

Stake & Eggs

by Laura Childs

New York Times bestselling author Laura Childs offers up Stake and Eggs, the 4th installment in her Cackleberry Club Mystery series.  This “Queen of the Cozy” knows how to pour on the suspense!

Ice runs in this killer’s veins!

A snowstorm rolls through the Midwest, flash-freezing everything like a package of Mrs. Paul’s fish sticks.  Tucked inside the cozy Cackleberry Club café, Suzanne and her two partners hear the crash of a snowmobile and nervously decide to investigate.  But a foray into the raging storm turns up a headless rider and a wire stretched between two stakes.

Who would murder their new bank president in such a grisly manner?  Someone gunning for his job or an unhappy customer whose property has been foreclosed on?  Suzanne and Sheriff Doogie put their heads together to investigate this murder and turn up more than a few wild card suspects – even as the temperature drops and Suzanne’s romance with the local doctor heats up.

Based on a fictional Minnesota town, Laura Childs has filled Stake and Eggs with a raft of small-town characters that make you chuckle and yearn for simpler times.  The main character (Suzanne) isn’t your basic cozy heroine either.  She’s recently widowed, just launched her café, is “mom” to her aging dog Baxter, and (good heavens!) is a little past forty.  She’s also an intelligent, focused amateur sleuth who doesn’t rely on “coincidences” or inept police work to solve crimes.  In fact, she’s buckthorn in the side of Sheriff Doogie, who does his small-town best to solve the grisly murder.

Halfway between a cozy and a thriller (a thrillsy!) Stake and Eggs offers an exciting read with tea, knitting, romance, a dash of spirituality, and good sleuthing with three women who are over forty and proud of it.  You’ll also flip over Cackleberry Club recipes such as lemon cornbread, dirty fried chicken, and red velvet chocolate chip pancakes.

BIOGRAPHY

Laura Childs is the author of the Scrapbook Mysteries, Tea Shop Mysteries and Cackleberry Club Mysteries.  Her books have been named to the USA Today and New York Times Bestseller Lists, and have been featured selections in the Literary Guild’s Mystery Book Club.  She is a former Cleo Award-winning ad writer and CEO of Mission Critical Marketing.

WEBSITE
http://www.laurachilds.com

PURCHASE
Amazon
Barnes and Noble


BOOK SIGNINGS

Once Upon a Crime
604 West 26th St., Mpls. 
Phone 612-870-3785

Saturday, November 10 from Noon to 2

OTHER BOOKS PUBLISHED
Tea Shop Mysteries
Death by Darjeeling
Gunpowder Green
Shades of Earl Grey
English Breakfast Club Murder
Jasmine Moon Murder
Chamomile Mourning
Blood Orange Brewing
Dragonwell Dead
The Silver Needle Murder
Oolong Dead
The Teaberry Strangler
Scones & Bones
Agony of the Leaves

Scrapbook Mysteries
Keepsake Crimes
Photo Finished
Bound for Murder
Motif for Murder
Frill Kill
Death Swatch
Tragic Magic
Fiber & BrimstoneSkeleton Letters
Postcards from the Dead

Cackleberry Club Mysteries
Eggs in Purgatory
Eggs Benedict Arnold
Bedeviled Eggs
Stake & Eggs

PUBLISHER
Berkley Prime Crime
ISBN 978-0-425-25557-5

Fiber & Brimstone - Laura Childs

Fiber & Brimstone

by Laura Childs
Berkley Prime Crime

Building a Halloween tale around the #1 craft in America today, author Laura Childs sets the stage with scrapbooking maven Carmela Bertrand and her friend Ava creating giant puppets for the French Quarter’s Monsters and Mayhem parade. But as blood-curdling screams pierce the night, they soon discover that the captain of the float den has been stabbed by the razor-sharp horns of a giant Minotaur head!

Police quickly cast blame on Carmela’s float-building friend, Jekyl, even though she’s convinced of his innocence and vows to find the real killer. But this is Halloween in New Orleans, an ethereal bewitched city where ghostly intruders are at work. Carmela soon finds herself pursued by a swamp monster, encounters a second gruesome murder at the Ballet Dracula, rubs shoulders with the mysterious Mr. Bones, and ends up an unwitting prisoner in a parade of hearses!

Fiber & Brimstone blends crafting, the vibrancy of New Orleans, spooky cemeteries, vampire crawls, scrapbook tips, and delicious Southern recipes into this 8th book in the bestselling Scrapbooking Mystery series.

With the book set in New Orleans, Childs is keenly aware of the BP oil spill and its destructive effect on wildlife. So she is donating a portion of the proceeds from each book sold at Twin Cities area bookstores during October to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to help in the rescue and rehabilitation of loggerhead, hawksbill and leatherback turtles.

BIOGRAPHY
Laura Childs is the author of the Scrapbook Mysteries, Tea Shop Mysteries and Cackleberry Club Mysteries. Her books have been named to the USA Today and New York Times Bestseller Lists, and have been featured selections in the Literary Guild’s Mystery Book Club. She is a former Cleo Award-winning ad writer and CEO of Mission Critical Marketing.

OTHER BOOKS PUBLISHED
Tea Shop Mysteries
Death by Darjeeling
Gunpowder Green
Shades of Earl Grey
English Breakfast Club Murder
Jasmine Moon Murder
Chamomile Mourning
Blood Orange Brewing
Dragonwell Dead
The Silver Needle Murder
Oolong Dead
The Teaberry Strangler
Scones & Bones
Agony of the Leaves

Scrapbook Mysteries
Keepsake Crimes
Photo Finished
Bound for Murder
Motif for Murder
Frill Kill
Death Swatch
Tragic Magic
Fiber & BrimstoneSkeleton Letters
Postcards from the Dead

Cackleberry Club Mysteries
Eggs in Purgatory
Eggs Benedict Arnold
Bedeviled Eggs
Stake & Eggs (December 2012)

WEBSITEwww.laurachilds.com

BOOK LAUNCH

Saturday, October 9, 2010
A Fiber & Brimstone publication party and tea party
Noon to 2:00 pm
Once Upon a Crime Mystery Bookstore604 West 26th Street
Minneapolis, MN 55405
612-870-3785

Jess Lourey - September Fair

September Fair

by Jess Lourey

Midnight Ink

ISBN: 0738718726
ISBN-13: 9780738718729



Lourey's lively fifth murder-by-month mystery (after 2008's August Moon) finds Mira James, assistant librarian and part-time reporter for the Battle Lake Recall, covering the beauty pageant to elect Milkfed Mary, Queen of the Dairy, at the Minnesota State Fair. Unfortunately, “drop dead gorgeous” Ashley Pederson, a native of Battle Lake, Minn., turns up poisoned to death in the refrigerated room where, as winner of the contest, she was having her head sculpted in butter. Mira, in her effort to solve Ashley's murder, uncovers small-town jealousies, secret love affairs, embezzlement and a big dairy concern engaged in dubious practices.

OTHER BOOKS IN THE MURDER-BY-MONTH SERIES
May Day
June Bug
Knee High by the Fourth of July
August Moon

BOOK LAUNCH PARTY
August 29, 2009
Once Upon a Crime Bookstore
12 Noon to 2:00 PM

BIOGRAPHY
Jess Lourey is the author of the Lefty-nominated Murder-by-Month mysteries set in Battle Lake, Minnesota. August Moon, the fourth book in the series, was released June 2008 and earned a starred review from Booklist, which called it "hilarious, fast-paced, and madcap!" September Fair hits bookshelves the last week of August 2009.

Jess has been teaching writing and sociology at the college level since 1998. When not raising her wonderful kids, teaching, or writing, you can find her gardening, traveling, and navigating the niceties and meanities of small-town life. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, The Loft, and Lake Superior Writers, and serves on the national board of the Mystery Writers of America.

WEBSITE AND BLOG
http://www.jesslourey.com/.
http://midnightwriters.blogspot.com/.

PURCHASE BOOKS
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Midnight Ink


REVIEWS

"...hilarious, fast paced, and madcap!"
Booklist (starred review)

"Jess Lourey, the literary love child of Agatha Christie and Garrison Keillor, gives us September Fair, an entirely engaging novel with pathos, plot twists and quirky characters galore. Beautifully written and wickedly funny."
Harley Jane Kozak
Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity-award winning author of A Date You Can't Refuse

"An edge of your seat mystery that is fun, funny, and so cleverly written, you'll be guessing until the very end."
Gemma Halliday
best-selling author of the High Heels series

Once Upon A Crime Bookstore

Once Upon A Crime Bookstore
604 W. 26th Street
Minneapolis, MN 55405

Owners: Gary Shulze and Pat Frovarp

Established 1987, Once Upon A Crime hosts an annual "Write of Spring" - an open house celebrating MN authors and their fans, every March. Last year we had over 60 authors in attendance.

Coming out the end of this month from Nodin Press: "Once Upon a Crime" - an anthology of 24 crime stories, includes 16 MN authors, plus an introduction by Vince Flynn.

Following is a list of Minnesota authors we are featuring on August 27 at our "Once Upon a Crime" anthology launch party:

Chris Everheart, Gary R. Bush (editors and story contributors)
Norton Stillman, publisher
David Housewright
Michael Stanley (actually, one half of the duo: Stanley Trollip
Maureen Fischer
Anne Frasier
Pat Dennis
William Kent Krueger
Terri Persons
Sujata Massey
Marilyn Victor

Additionally, we would like to congratulate MN authors, Julie Kramer and William Kent Kruger for their Anthony Award nominations.

Once Upon a Crime was just voted as "Best Mystery Store" for the Crimespree Awards. Both the Crimespree and the Anthony award will be presented at Bouchercon in October in Indianapolis.

MN author signing dates:

• Wed Aug 19 7:00 Judith Yates Borger “Where’s Billie?” Launch party MN author debut
• Fri Aug 21 7:00 Susan Runholt “Rescuing Seneca Crane” Publication/Birthday Party/refreshments
• Thu Aug 27 7:00 Once Upon A Crime the anthology edited by Gary R. Bush & Chris Everheart with introduction by Vince Flynn Launch party refreshments. Stories contributed by: William Kent Krueger, Lori L. Lake, Gary R. Bush, Reed Farrel Coleman, Anthony Neil Smith, Mary Logue, Lois Greiman. Libby Fischer Hellmann, Max Allan Collins & Barbara Collins, Sujata Massey, Marilyn Victor, C. J. Box, Ken Bruen, Michael Stanley, Gary Phillips, Anne Frasier, Troy Cook, Pat Dennis, David Housewright, Terri Persons, Maureen Fischer, Pete Hautman, Chris Everheart and S. J. Rozan
• Sat Aug 29 12:00-2:00 Jess Lourey “September Fair” refreshments
• Tue Sep 1 7:00 Sister in Crime meets the book to read is Linda Barnes’ Heart of the World
• Wed Sep 2 7:00 William Kent Krueger “Heaven’s Keep” publication Party refreshments
  Marilyn Victor, Michael Mallory. Camille Hyytinen and Lois Greiman (facilitaors for monthly book club (2nd Wednesdays)
• Thu Sep 10 7:00 Jan Dunlap “Murder on Warbler Weekend” Launch party refreshments
• Sat Sep 12 12:00-2:00 Christopher Valen “The Black Minute” Signing/refreshments
• Sat Sep 26 12:00-2:00 Pete Hautman “How to Steal a Car” young adult signing/refreshments
• Wed Sep 30 7:00 John Sandford “Rough Country” a Virgil Flowers novel
• Thu Oct 8 7:00 Sister In Crime meets book choice is Pegasus Descending by James Lee Burke
• Sat Oct 10 12:00-2:00 Laura Childs “Tragic Magic” Signing/refreshments
• Sat Dec 6 12:00-2:00 Laura Childs “Eggs Benedict Arnold” signing/refreshments
• Thu Oct 15 7:00 Vince Flynn "Pursuit of Honor" signing/refreshments