Buy the book here ~ Death Takes the Cake (Della Cooks Mystery)
Down-to-earth debutante Nora Blackbird is having a meltdown. A noted Philly philanthropist has taken a swan dive from an office balcony—and Nora’s friend Lexie stands accused of the murder. Then her scheming parents reappear, sending all three Blackbird sisters into a panic. Now Nora must uncover her parents’ scandalous high jinks—before she winds up taking the heat… (From Amazon)
Here's mine ~
I obeyed. She put the powerful car into gear and we pulled away. I had only a fleeting glimpse of Michael turning Crewe by the shoulder and walking into the opposite direction.
This teaser comes from Murder Melts in Your Mouth: A Blackbird Sisters Mystery (Blackbird Sisters Mysteries) by Nancy Martin. What's YOUR teaser?
Now on to the RULES ~~
Contest open through March 3rd. Winner will be announced on March 4th.
ave to take a back seat to sleuthing when her sometime-squeeze becomes a murder suspect...With the launch party of her mother's novel around the corner, Hannah has a dress to fit into and a date with her sister, Andrea, at Lake Eden's new health club, Heavenly Bodies. Dragging herself out of bed on a frigid Minnesota morning for exercise, of all things, is bad enough. Discovering a dead body floating in the gym's Jacuzzi? Okay, that's worse. Nor does it help that there's a plate of The Cookie Jar's very own cream puffs garnishing the murder scene. The fact that they were purchased by none other than Hannah's part-time flame, Detective Mike Kingston, is simply the icing on what's shaping up to be one very messy cake...Mike may be the prime suspect in the murder of man-eating bombshell Ronni Ward, but he's by no means the only one. Ronni, a fitness instructor at both the Sheriff's department and Heavenly Bodies, made a nasty habit of throwing her own heavenly body at every man, eligible or not, who crossed her path. Plenty of Lake Eden's ladies won't miss Ronni, including her ex-fiance's former girlfriend, the angry mother of one of her would-be conquests, and even the mayor's wife. Could any of them have wanted her gone badly enough to make it happen? Mike's recruited Hannah to find out, and, as any suspended, suspected detective would, he's micromanaging her every step of the way...Between trying to narrow the list of Ronni's enemies down to fewer than half the town's female population and resisting the urge to remove Mike from the running by throttling him herself, Hannah has her plate full. Trouble is, when it comes to cookies - and to murder - there's always room for one more. 
r Frankie Paresky has her first bona fide case—a client has hired her to find the missing heir to a priceless property. But there’s one complication: Simon Hunt, her best friend’s brother and a notorious heartbreaker, insists on being Frankie’s assistant. For Frankie, even Simon’s street-smart know-how isn’t worth the cost of dealing with his distracting good looks and overactive libido. But Simon’s on a mission to prove he’s not the man Frankie thinks he is. The truth is, he’s been dreaming about Frankie since they were teenagers, and not one woman on his endless list of conquests has managed to stop him. But he needs to work fast. Because the real Frankie—every gorgeous inch of her—isn’t under wraps anymore, and a stranger is already moving in. 
Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page. We share what books that we found in our mailboxes last week.
by Cricket McRae
by Rosemary Harris
by Meredith Cole
by Barbara Delinsky
by Amanda Stevens
by J.B. Stanley
by Joy Fielding (ARC)
by Katherine Center (ARC)
It’s that time of week again, everyone, and time for the Tuesday Teaser. Again the reminder of what this is all about. We are asked to:
Here's mine ~
He yanked the wheel and turned in the direction of Gemma's farmhouse. The decision was made without conscious thought.
This teaser comes from an ARC I'm reading for review, Unseen by Nancy Bush, due out at the end of March. What is YOUR teaser?
~ The Snow family faces a devastating crisis when oldest daughter Robin, a runner training for the Olympics, suffers a catastrophic heart attack. Molly, Robin’s younger sister, gets the call from the hospital and is immediately guilt-stricken: she was supposed to accompany Robin on her run. When Molly, her older brother, Chris, and her parents, Kathryn and Charlie, gather at the hospital, they learn that Robin is in a coma and might be brain dead. While Kathryn refuses to believe the worst, Molly reaches out to David, the handsome teacher who found Robin after the heart attack, and tries to determine whether Nick, a charming reporter who once dated Robin briefly, is truly concerned about the family or just pursuing a big story. The Snows try to come to grips with the reality that Robin might never wake up, and Molly, attempting to discern what Robin would want, stumbles across Robin’s diaries and learns some startling family secrets...
~ Lydia McKenzie is an artist whose medium is the camera. She’s having her first one-woman show. It is a series that ties to actual murders committed in the city’s past. Her method is to find a model—someone who can match in a general way the actual female victim—and pose her in the clothes and position in which the actual victim was found. The night of her showing, however, is disappointing; the owner of the gallery makes her pay for the invitations down to the stamps, hang the whole show herself, and rush for the usual wine and snacks. But what happens next is much worse: two plainclothes policemen shut down the event and take Lydia in for questioning. A young woman whom she knew well, and who was the model in one of her photographs, has been murdered. Worried that the police aren’t doing what they should, Lydia and another friend set out to find the killer. ~ A hit with mystery lovers a
nd gardening fans nationwide, Pushing Up Daisies introduced Paula Holliday, ex-NYC media exec turned Connecticut gardener, in Rosemary Harris’s celebrated series debut. Now in The Big Dirt Nap, Paula is back in a second scent-sational thriller.Something stinks to Paula Holliday, and it isn’t just the corpse flower, titan arum, named for its off-putting fragrance. When Paula’s friend Lucy asks her to tag along on an all-expense-paid junket to the Titans Hotel, it seems like a good idea. Paula even manages to squeeze a few bucks and a byline out of the local paper for writing an article on the titan arum, a rare flower that’s just about to bloom and on display at the hotel.But when her friend is unavoidably detained, a would-be suitor is found with a gaping hole in his head, and the corpse flower refuses to bloom, the entire venture starts to seem like less of a good idea. ~ Things are getting serious between Sophie Mae and Detective Ambrose. But there's another love in her
life — spinning. Pursuing her newfound passion is great fun . . . until fellow co-op member Ariel is found strangled to death with Sophie Mae's first skein of yarn. Every male in Cadyville noticed Ariel. Young, pretty, and a pro at wielding her sexual powers, she preyed on married men. Was the murder victim truly a gold digger in hot pants? Or a troubled girl who lost her parents at the age of sixteen? Can Sophie Mae unravel the truth and solve this tightly-knitted murder mystery?
After a trendy club owner is bludgeoned with a food processor, Gourmet Girl Chloe Carter finds the list of suspects longer than the line to get in to Simmer, her chef boyfriend's hot new restaurant.
Now on to the RULES ~~
Contest open through February 23rd and the winner will be announced on February 24th.
Melsy
Melsy is the winner of my ARC of Shadows Still Remain. I've sent her an email requesting her address. If I don't hear from her by Wednesday I'll choose another winner. Thanks to all who have entered.
Gemma has no idea how she ended up in the hospital ~ bloodies, bruised and missing three days of her life. Even scarier is that a pedophile lay dying in the same hospital and the police think she is responsible. Well, all but one detective ~ Will Tanninger. Unfortunately she can't do anything to prove her innocence, because she can't remember. When Gemma, who has a gift of "seeing things", leaves the hospital she returns home to try and piece her life back together, hopefully with memories she can find at home. But she is still plagued with periods of "lost" time. In the meantime "Lucky" is plotting her next kill ~ another pedophile. A cunning woman who doesn't hesitate when it comes to killing someone. And while someone is eliminating pedophiles in this small town, a man who calls himself the Wolf is out killing women he perceives to be "witches". Are these three people connected? What reason does Wolf have for killing these seemingly unconnected women? Does Gemma suffer from multiple personality disorder with Lucky as her alter ego? Or is the real story so unbelievably twisted one could never figure it out? While fighting their growing attraction to one another Gemma & Will work together to discover the astonishing truth behind the murders and how they're all connected. A truth that leaves you speechless. An intense, taut thriller that will have you turning the pages faster than you can read them to reach the stunning conclusion. A fantastic read!
This book will be released March 31st. Preorder it here ~ Unseen
As Elizabeth Marshall lies in a coma, her daughters take on the daunting task of packing up her home. As they're cleaning out the attic they come across a diary their mother had written before she had been married and start reading. What they discover rocks them to their core. Their father was not their mothers "One true love." As they continue to read the story of Elizabeth, Bob (their father) and AJ (her true love) they realize the depths of their mothers love for AJ while trying to balance that with her devotion to Bob. And when AJ gets blamed for something he didn't do, Elizabeth makes a choice that could ruin her reputation forever. Not to mention destroy whatever relationship she has with her mother. Will it all be worth it? Will she lose out on true love forever? Before long Elizabeth has to make a choice ~ the reliable Bob or the troublemaker, love of her life AJ? Will she do what's "right" or follow her heart? An emotion filled story of two sisters struggling with the knowledge that they didn't know everything about their parents they thought they did. A love story that will have the reader turning the pages as fast as they can to find out if true love conquers all. With an ending so surprising, yet tender you'll be reaching for the box of kleenex.
