{Guest Post} A Spa Day Without Leaving Home by Larissa Reinhart

If you need some extra smiles right now, you should absolutely check out Larissa Reinhart's books! The newest in the Maize Albright All Star Detective series comes out today.

My heroine, Maizie Albright, grew up in Beverly Hills accustomed to weekly mani-pedi’s, blowouts, and facials. For her, a spa day wasn’t a luxury, it was part of a routine. But now that a kindly California judge decided Maizie would be better off living with her father in Black Pine, Georgia, and working in anything besides the entertainment industry, her weekly spa dates have gone by the wayside. After her legal fees and other bills (and learning that her ex-manager and still-mother had siphoned off most of her money), the ex-child star can no longer afford weekly Olyplex treatments let alone gemstone peels and bee venom facials.

Her Black Pine besties, Tiffany and Rhonda, are estheticians at LA HAIR, a salon that peaked in the early 90s and still serves the older clientele of Black Pine. Maizie goes to LA HAIR for advice and hugs and the occasional manicure and blow out (when she has the cash). For all other times, Maizie will have to learn to keep that sheen and polish with home treatments.

“Taking my hour, I ran toward all that was goodness and holy. In my world that was hugs from friends. And a quick blow out. I received both from LA HAIR, my go-to for hair, nails, and emotional guidance.
Pushing through the black and gold crackle-painted glass door, I strode into the oldish shop in an oldish Black Pine strip mall. The layered scents of Aquage, ammonia, and acetone wafted through the space, filling me with soothing ASMR-y vibes. A new water fountain featuring faux bamboo trickled in a corner and a top hits station played through speakers painted to look like rocks. Bottles of marked-up hair care products and marked-down homemade jewelry lined metal shelves that anchored the row of black vinyl chairs in the waiting area. On the end tables, I would find months-old People, Glamour, and Country Living magazines with pages torn out by customers who felt justified in stealing coupons and recipes.
Although one could not compare LA HAIR with the atmosphere or services given at a Beverly Hills salon, I also never worried about getting stabbed in the back with a pair of gold-plated scissors. LA HAIR — referring to the city or French article, no one knew or cared — had been with me through good times and bad.
Mostly bad since that'd been the luck forcing my move to Georgia in the first place.” (18 CALIBER, Maizie Albright Star Detective book 6)
.
Because we can all use a spa day — especially during this anxiety-ridden time while we’re at home —I thought it’d be fun to explore some creative DIY spa kits. My youngest daughter loves Five-Minute Crafts and similar shows. She also loves to do DIY beauty care, so I pulled together this list mainly from crafts she’s done. (She does an excellent home DIP manicure, too, by the way.)

These are all ingredients you should find around your home. Have fun with your daughters and granddaughters with some of these treatments, or just treat yourself. Get out your fluffiest towels, light some candles, put on a robe, relax and rejuvenate. Something I’m sure you deserve during this time!


Coffee Sugar Scrub

1 c ground coffee
1 c granulated sugar
1/2 c olive oil (or another oil)
Mix together. Rub on skin before a shower, then rinse off.

Tumeric Honey Mask

1/4 c raw honey
1/4-1/2 t turmeric powder
Combine. Spread on face and leave for 15 minutes. (Clears redness and dries up acne.)

Rejuvenating Manicure

1 lemon
1/2 a cucumber
Slice and place in a bowl of cool water. Soak hands for 10 minutes. Push back cuticles with an orange stick and paint as usual. (Lemon bleaches stained nails and cucumber soothes dry hands.)

Milk Body Soak Bath

4 c Milk
Honey
Essential Oil (lavender will be calming and soothing)

Fill tub with warm water, adding a small amount of honey and essential oil while it’s filling to spread the scent. Mix in 4 cups of milk. Rinse off in shower after the soak. (Lactic acid in milk helps to slough off dead skin cells, the oil and honey soothes skin and smells great.)

Conditioning Hair Mask

2-4 T Olive Oil or Coconut Oil (amount depending on length and thickness of hair)

Shampoo hair, towel-dry, and apply oil to damp hair (if your hair tends toward oily, don’t apply to roots). Wrap hair in a towel and leave on for 10-15 minutes. Rinse hair in shower.

Brightening Facial

1 lemon
3 strawberries
1 banana

Remove stems and dice strawberries. Mash strawberries and banana in a bowl. Add the juice of 1 lemon. Avoiding the eyes, apply mask to face. Leave on for 15 minutes or until mask dries. Rinse off with cool water. (The vitamin C in strawberries lightens dark spots, lemon exfoliates, and banana conditions.)

Lip Scrub

Basic recipe
1 T oil (coconut, olive oil, or jojoba oil works)
1 T granulated sugar

Mix together until goopy (but not runny) and massage onto lips and wipe off. Apply lip balm after. Will store in refrigerator for a few weeks.

For flavor &  pizzazz:
Add equal parts wet and dry ingredients to keep the right, goopy texture.

Coconut oil, brown sugar, and a little cocoa powder.
Coconut oil, ground coffee, and granulated sugar.
Coconut oil, brown sugar, and a little cinnamon (a natural plumper).
Honey, granulated sugar, and a squeeze of lemon juice.
The possibilities are endless!


Foot Scrub

1 part coconut oil
2 parts sugar
2-3 drops of essential oil (Peppermint is great for this)
Dash of lemon juice

Mix ingredients. Soak feet in warm water. Follow with foot scrub, massage mixture onto feet. Rinse, then rub your feet with lotion and slip into thick socks.

Sauna in the Shower

Essential oil
Washcloth

Run your shower at high heat until steamy. Spray a warm washcloth with essential oil. Get in shower and place washcloth over your face and breathe in the steamy scent. Great for unwinding and clearing up sinuses!


Hand Softener

2 spoonfuls of cold cream
2 drops tea tree oil
5 drops lavender oil
1 T olive oil
1 banana
Plastic dish gloves

Blend ingredients in a blender until smooth. Slather on hands and cuticles. Slip hands into gloves. If you have one, place gloved hands under a heating pad while you Netflix and Chill.


I hope these make you feel de-stressed and rejuvenated during this stressful time. During the pandemic, you can grab my first Maizie Albright Star Detective book, 15 MINUTES, for free. Try a treatment or two and relax with a book. I hope it will bring you some laughs and help you to unwind more!

15 MINUTES
Maizie Albright Star Detective book 1
Learn More: https://books2read.com/b/m2Xqor

18 CALIBER
Maizie Albright Star Detective book 6

MAIZIE’S GOT ONE MOTHER OF A CASE.
HER OWN.

Maizie’s mixing with international stars, spies, and her mother’s dark past in her sixth case in The Wall Street Journal bestselling series.

#WannabeSpy Maizie’s luck is running out. Maizie and Nash find themselves struggling to balance a new partnership and new relationship between missing persons’ cases, wild goose chases, and tracking a bullet into dangerous places. Sometimes it’s enough to make a girl NOT want to put a ring on it. When it comes to facing an 18-caliber killer, what will Maizie put up as the target? Her heart or her life?

Available everywhere: https://books2read.com/18Caliber

BIO:
A Wall Street Journal bestselling author, Larissa writes the Cherry Tucker Mystery, Maizie Albright Star Detective, and Finley Goodhart Crime Caper series as well as romantic comedies and women’s fiction. She loves to tell funny stories about Southern women looking for love (and sometimes dead bodies) in all the wrong places. You might have seen Larissa and family with their little dog, Biscuit, on HGTV's House Hunters International "Living for the Weekend in Nagoya" episode, but they’re back in Georgia now. Visit LarissaReinhart.com to learn more.

I've Been Reading...But Not Finishing Much

I've been trying to finish A Perilous Undertaking, the second of Deanna Raybourn's Veronica Speedwell mystery series, before the third book comes out. The biggest part of my problem is that I can't read paper books in the dark before falling asleep, and there's been too much going on in the house for much daytime reading lately. But I love everything I've read so far.

In the dark, I've been reading The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks. The back cover copy is intriguing --

When you read this book, you will make many assumptions.
You will assume you are reading about a jealous ex-wife.
You will assume she is obsessed with her replacement – a beautiful, younger woman who is about to marry the man they both love.
You will assume you know the anatomy of this tangled love triangle.
Assume nothing.

Twisted and deliciously chilling, Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen's The Wife Between Us exposes the secret complexities of an enviable marriage - and the dangerous truths we ignore in the name of love.

Read between the lies.

I'm a third of  the way through and I don't know where this is going to wind up. My one wild guess can't possibly be right and I'm trying to avoid spoilers and reviews until I'm done reading it myself.

What I did  read in only a couple of sittings was A View to a Chill by Larissa Reinhart. I've already told you how much I love the characters Cherry Tucker and Maizie Albright and this mystery brings the two of them together in the same book. Everything I love about both series is here. The chapters alternate between Cherry and Maizie but it's always immediately obvious which of them is telling that part of the story because their personalities are so distinct. If you've read either of the two series, I highly recommend this one.

Disclosure -- I was provided with an advance review copy of The Wife Between Us by the publisher. A Perilous Undertaking is from the library. I was given a copy of A View to a Chill by the author. All opinions are my own.

{Yarn Along} Blue and White Mystery Socks

I didn't know what this skein of sock yarn was supposed to do, but I'm happy with the way it turned out. They're pretty, and different than the dozens of other pairs of socks I've knit over the past few years. 

There are a bunch of great new cozy mysteries out this week --



Larissa Reinhart has a new series out and I'm loving the heroine, Maizie Albright. (She's even more fun than Cherry Tucker!) A former child star who wants to become a private investigator just like the one she played as a teenager, Maizie is determined to get her life in order. It doesn't help when her former manager shows up with the cast and crew of her reality show, insisting on another season even though participating would violate Maizie's probation. And it really doesn't help when  the woman Maizie is supposed to be following vanishes without a trace. I can't wait for the next book in the series. Maizie and her new friends are entertaining, the chemistry between her and her reluctant boss is fantastic, and her father made his money by inventing deer pee-scented hunting gear. What's not to love?



Storage auction? Carousel horse? Those two elements were more than enough to inspire me to pick up Murder Go Round by Carol J. Perry. Thinking it will be fun, Lee Barrett and her aunt go to a storage auction and buy an abandoned locker that turns out to be filled with some terrific antiques. Beyond their historical interest, something about the items makes them desirable to kill for. I didn't realize that it was the fourth book in the series, but it was easy enough to figure out who the characters were and what was going on in their lives.  The mystery is complex and entertaining. I'll definitely be going back to read the rest of the series!




Unlike the first two books in the series, A Palette for Murder by Sybil Johnson doesn't motivate me to take up tole painting. It did keep me guessing about Rory's homeless friend Kit and what had happened to him. The mystery wasn't what I expected from this series, but it kept me turning pages and guessing until the end.

Disclosure -- I was provided with an advance review copies by the publishers. All opinions are my own. This post is linked to Patchwork Times, Yarn Along, Crazy Mom Quilts , Wrap up Friday  

{Guest Post} Shibori: the Art of Japanese Indigo Tie-Dying by Larissa Reinhart

Shibori: the Art of Japanese Indigo Tie-Dying by Larissa Reinhart

I wanted to do a post about Japanese crafts, but you know what? There are so many, I had  to narrow it down to one. Crafts are so popular over here. Kids begin learning origami in preschool. There’s a plethora to choose from, from felting to amigurumi (crocheted animals) to kimono cloth dolls. I’m living in Nagoya where there are three huge traditional craft industries: glass making, pottery, and shibori: indigo tie-dying.

I thought I’d talk about Shibori because my artist heroine in the Cherry Tucker mystery series loves to DIY her clothing and accessories, from using puff paint to bedazzling to tie-dying. I think she’d get a kick out of Japanese tie-dying because it’s an amazing art form and still handcrafted today.

The little town of Arimatsu has been enveloped within the city of Nagoya but still retained a lot of traditional buildings. It was settled in the 1600s and part of the famous Tokaido road, linking Kyoto to Edo, the old and new capitols during the Shogun era. Arimatsu became famous for selling their dye-art towels to travelers and they’re still making fabrics for everything from kimonos to scarves today.

Shibori are traditionally dyed with indigo and still handcrafted. The various patterns come from different tying including: embroidery, pleating, looped binding, pole wrapping, rolled, and tying with thread (or a combination of these).

When my family visited Arimatsu, we let our daughters take a Shibori class. As you can see in the picture, there’s an ink that washes out showing the pattern they’ll use.

For the flower’s leaves, they were taught a simple running stitch: one thread per leaf that’s pulled tight, looped, and tied. This is called Nui Shibori.

The dots on the outside were pulled up, looped and tied with cotton thread, Kaneko Shibori. The Shibori craftsman can do this so well, it creates a tiny stippling effect.

To try this at home, you could use dressmaker’s chalk or a cloth pen to create your own pattern on white cotton cloth. Try the running stitch or the Kaneko-style tying.

Use one white cotton thread per shape.

Knot the end as you would normally for a running stitch and after stitching around the pattern(s), pull the thread until the material bunches. Wrap your thread tightly at the base three times, then wrap up to the top of the bunch (you’ll see in the picture it creates a kind of long, skinny spindle). Wrap the thread twice tightly at the top, then wrap back around to the base and twice more around the base. To knot, extend your middle and wring finger from the hand holding the cloth. Wrap the thread under and over the two fingers and then through. Pull tightly and do this once more.

For the dot effect, pinch and pull up a piece of material and follow the same pattern above: wrap three times at the bottom, around to the top, twice at the top, back to the base, twice around the base, and make the knots.

Remember to pull tightly as possible when doing this! Follow normal dying techniques using whatever dye you like.

Thanks for having me on, Michelle! It’s fun to share this traditional craft with your readers.

Bio:
A 2015 Georgia Author of the Year Best Mystery finalist, Larissa writes the Cherry Tucker Mystery and Maizie Albright Star Detective series. The sixth mystery, A Composition in Murder, releases November 15th and the Maizie Albright mystery debut, 15 Minutes, on January 24, 2017. Her family and Cairn Terrier, Biscuit, now live in Nagoya, Japan, but they still call Georgia home. See them on HGTV’s House Hunters International “Living for the Weekend in Nagoya” episode.
Visit her website and join her newsletter for more book news at http://smarturl.it/larissanewsletter and feel free to friend her on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Goodreads.

Social Media Links:

http://larissareinhart.com/
Newsletter signup: http://smarturl.it/larissanewsletter
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RisWrites (fan) or https://www.facebook.com/larissareinhartwriter
Instagram: http://instagram.com/larissareinhart
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LarissaReinhart
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/LarissaReinhart/
Goodreads: http://smarturl.it/LarissaGoodreads

#10days #findthewoman #getthejob #doNOTfallinlove

"Child star and hilarious hot mess Maizie Albright trades Hollywood for the backwoods of Georgia and pure delight ensues. Maizie’s my new favorite escape from reality.” 

— Gretchen Archer, USA Today bestselling author of the Davis Way Crime Caper series

#WannaBeDetective 

When ex-teen star Maizie Albright returns to her Southern hometown of Black Pine, Georgia, she hoped to rid herself of Hollywood tabloid and reality show hell for a new career as a private investigator. Instead, Hollyweird follows her home. Maizie’s costar crushing, but now for her gumshoe boss. Her stage-monster mother still demands screen time. Her latest rival wants her kicked off the set, preferably back to a California prison.

By entangling herself in a missing person's case, she must reprise her most famous role. The job will demand a performance of a lifetime. But this time, the stakes are real and may prove deadly.

Kindle: http://smarturl.it/15MinutesKindle1

Nook: http://smarturl.it/15MinNook1

Kobo: http://smarturl.it/15MinutesKobo1

iBooks: http://smarturl.it/15MinutesiBooks1

Goodreads: http://smarturl.it/15MinGoodreads

What Will it Do?

This yarn is pretty. I want to knit with it next. 

I thought I was going to knit another pair of plain socks, then I remembered that I'd decided a couple of years back that I wanted to use a textured stitch. Then I started to worry about whether or not it would pool, because some of the Knitpicks Memories did. Looking the yarn and colorway up on Ravelry didn't help much -- some socks have pooling and some don't.

Maybe I'll me a decision while I'm winding it into balls.

Making decisions about which book to read next is just as tough. I've got a bunch of titles I'm excited about starting. And a bunch I just finished...



A Composition in Murder by Larissa Reinhart 

Cherry Tucker is back, this time teaching art to senior citizens who are demanding she spice things up with nude models or they'll leave her class to sign up for hot yoga. When one of the assisted living home's residents asks Cherry to witness the signing of her will, Cherry suspects that someone might be trying to take advantage of the wealthy CEO. That's exactly what the 90 year old was planning on and she urges Cherry to investigate the hit and run accident that left her daughter dead. Cherry's personal life is always complicated and if you've been keeping up with the series you absolutely won't want to miss this one.



Unnatural Deeds by Cyn Balog

This one felt like a run of the mill teen thriller until the ending blind-sided me. I thought  I had an idea what was coming, but I was totally wrong. Now I'm trying to decide whether an unexpected ending is enough to make me recommend a book that was otherwise just okay. It's an entertaining read, but not the best thriller I've read lately.



A Killer Location by Sarah T. Hobart

At first I couldn't remember what I'd liked so much about new real estate agent Sam Turner in the first book of the series, but then she hosted what has to be the most catastrophic open house ever and I was hooked again. Poor Sam is already struggling to provide for herself and her teenage son -- and the bodies that keep turning up in the house she's trying to sell aren't making her situation any easier. She goes to some crazy lengths to solve the mystery, but she's desperate to save her job. The mystery kept me guessing Sam and the cast of colorful secondary characters kept me giggling.  And I love Sam's relationship with her son -- none of the usual maternal griping about teenagers here!

Disclosure -- I was provided with an advance review copies by the publishers. All opinions are my own. This post is linked to Patchwork Times, Yarn Along, 

I've Been Reading

It took me a long time to get through The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, Stephen King's new(ish) collection of short stories and novellas. I ordered the book for my Kindle as soon as it came out, read the first half and then got busy with other things. I was annoyed to realize that I'd splurged on a book that contained stories I'd already paid to read. (As much as I enjoyed Mile 81, I'm not happy that I bought it twice.) Some of the later stories made up for my disappointment, but then there was the last one, which left me with an awful feeling. I really wish I hadn't read that.

 Salvage by Duncan Ralston reminded me of an early Stephen King novel. The homes and church of a flooded town sit lost below the surface of Chapel Lake. The local preacher and most of his congregation haven't been seen since the waters rose to allow construction of a hydroelectric dam. Owen Saddler has always hated the water, but after his sister's death he finds himself retracing her steps, determined to find out what happened to her. It's got plenty of creepy imagery and mild scares which make it a great read if you're looking for an entertaining ghost story without lots of gore.

Skinny Dipping With Murder is the first in a new series by Auralee Wallace. Erica Bloom has come home to Otter Lake to help her mother deal with some problems at her women's retreat. It's the first time she's been back to her childhood home in years and she's not happy to be there, especially after she finds herself face to face with the guys who humiliated her at the Raspberry Social years earlier. I've got to admit that I was more curious about how Erica got the nickname "Boobsie" than I was about who was killing off the ones who gave it to her. With its quirky cast of characters, this is a fun cozy that I think fans of the Cherry Tucker books will enjoy.

Ghostwriter Anonymous is the first book in the Jake O'Hara mystery series by Noreen Wald. Someone is killing ghostwriters and Jake is trying to find out who it is before she becomes the next victim. It doesn't help that her fellow ghostwriters are required to keep their work confidential and no one knows who has done work for who. The New York City setting and Jake's interesting career made this one different than any of the other cozies I've read.

Disclosure - The publisher of Salvage, Skinny Dipping With Murder, and Ghostwriter Anonymous provided me with review copies.  

Same Yarn, Different Color

When I bought the yarn for the Cursed Bayou Socks I also bought a second colorway. I didn't expect Heart & Sole to be much different from Heart & Sole With Aloe and I'm still not sure whether to blame my fingers or the yarn.  I'm not dropping stitches and the stripes are pretty instead of annoying, but the yarn has an awful tendency to split and unravel while I'm kitting with it.

Along with the knitting there's been reading...

Cherry Tucker and Hogzilla -- what more could a fan of Larissa Reinhart's books ask for? The fifth book in the series, The Body in the Landscape, has Cherry tagging along on a competitive hunt for a giant feral hog. She's been hired by Max Avtaikin to paint the portrait of the winner and the dead pig. It seems like a good opportunity to earn some money and she's even got free time for some plein air painting... until she finds the first body.  That death may or may not have been an accident, but someone is determined to sabotage the hunt and possibly to kill one of the hunters. The books in this series are always fun and this one kept me guessing.

I enjoyed Dark Inspiration, a haunted house novel by Russell James. Doug and Laura Locke move from the city to Galaxy Farm, unaware of the house's bloody past. Doug is preoccupied with the taxidermy he discovers in a locked attic and his wife is enchanted by ghostly twins who play with her in the room that was once their nursery. The two of them are experiencing completely different hauntings and each is keeping what they know secret from the other. The book starts out slowly, but by the end I was hooked.

The publishers provided me with ARCs. This post is linked to Patchwork Times and Yarn Along.

Death in Perspective

I love the Cherry Tucker mysteries and the fourth book in the series, Death in Perspective, is no exception. Always working hard to make ends meet, Cherry has taken a job at an elite private school, hired by the drama teacher to paint the backdrops for his underwater production of Romeo and Juliette and figure out who's been harassing the staff with malicious emails. Seeing Cherry deal with school administrators and sullen students, not to mention her extended family with all of their problems, is a lot of fun and the mystery kept me guessing until almost the last page.

As part of the book's promotional tour, I got a chance to interview the author, Larissa Reinhart.

Thanks so much for having me on your Romantic Tangle, Michelle! I’m excited to be here!

Do you and Cherry have anything in common -- like her training in the arts or interesting wardrobe choices?

The arts, yes. Wardrobe choices, not at all! I have to get ideas for those on Pinterest, although I do have an eight-year-old daughter who puts together some pretty crazy outfits. And she loves to wear cowboy boots. As for the arts, in grad school I studied art history, but so did my new husband and I worried we’d never get jobs in the same state. While an art history major, I began taking art classes, thinking I might go into graphic design. I loved those classes, but felt pretty intimidated by all the more talented artists in my fine arts classes. I had a bachelor’s degree in history and decided to go into teaching instead. I still love art, always have. Now I still do some sketching, encourage my daughters in the arts, and go to a lot of museums.

Even after reading all four book in the series, I can't make up my mind whether The Bear is a good guy or a bad guy.  Care to offer any hints?

I’m not really sure either! I (fictionally) enjoy people like the Bear who ride that line. I find them very entertaining. Back in his home country, he was involved with casino gangsters. I think there, Max lived a more cut throat lifestyle. He was motivated to get out of poverty and become rich in way he could. However, he did have other interests, like history and art, and perhaps those kept him from completely hardening. His interest is still profit, but I think Cherry reminds him of where he came from. And she’s always riding him to keep on the right side of the law!

Will you be writing more about Cherry and her family and friends?

Definitely! Right now I’m writing her fifth book, THE BODY IN THE LANDSCAPE. It takes place at Big Rack Hunting Lodge where Cherry’s hired to paint a “kill portrait.” When Cherry Tucker discovers a body while painting a landscape on the grounds of Big Rack, the participants in a weekend wild hog hunting contest become suspects with secrets. Cherry and her friends try to discover the killer before he or she strikes again.

{Whatcha Reading?} Hijack in Abstract

Cherry Tucker is at it again, this time hired to do a composite sketch of a hijacker and to paint a portrait for one of rich but mysterious Max Avtaikin's business associates. Even though Max's high-stakes poker games have been shut down, Cherry continues to suspect that he is up to no good. She's never listened to any of his warnings, so why would she let them keep her away from her new client?

Those nude Greek paintings Cherry was working on in Still Life in Brunswick Stew have been sold and her rival Shawna is embarrassing her family by spreading posters all over town with just the most incriminating bits. Shawna says she'll  stop...if Cherry gives back the picture she wants. The only problem is that Cherry has no clue what Shawna is after -- she wouldn't be caught dead with one of Shawna's tacky paintings.

This series keeps getting more fun. I'll be watching for the next book, which is due out next year. (If you haven't started this series yet, the Kindle edition of Portrait of a Dead Guy is on sale for ninety-nine cents until Sunday.)

Joanna Campbell Slan has a new short story available, Kiki Lowenstein and the Cupcake Caper. (This one takes place before Group, Photo, Grave) When her friend Clancy suddenly becomes impossible to work with, Kiki is determined to find out what's wrong. It's always fun to spend some time in Kiki's world and Clancy is one of my favorite characters in the series, so I was glad to see that this one was about her.

According to the author's website, The Cupcake Caper will be a  free download November 7, 8, &9, along with Tear Down and Die, the first book in her new mystery series.

Disclosure -- the publisher provided me with a review copy of Hijack in Abstract. I bought my copy of Kiki Lowenstein and the Cupcake Caper because I was too impatient to wait for the price change.

{whatcha reading?} Still Life in Brunswick Stew

 

A couple of months back, I blogged about Portrait of a Dead Guy, the first book in the Cherry Tucker mystery series by Larissa Reinhart.  I was been waiting eagerly for the second book, which came out last month. Have I mentioned that there aren't enough hours in the day to quilt and read and knit everything I'd like to?

From the book's Amazon page --

Cherry Tucker’s in a stew. Art commissions dried up after her nemesis became president of the County Arts Council. Desperate and broke, Cherry and her friend, Eloise, spend a sultry summer weekend hawking their art at the Sidewinder Annual Brunswick Stew Cook-Off. When a bad case of food poisoning breaks out and Eloise dies, the police brush off her death as accidental. However, Cherry suspects someone spiked the stew and killed her friend. As Cherry calls on cook-off competitors, bitter rivals, and crooked judges, the police get steamed while the killer prepares to cook Cherry’s goose.

Cherry is back at it, selling her art at the annual Brunswick Stew cook-off, trying to find a nude model for a series of Greek paintings, and investigating the bingo games Max Avtaikin is suddenly hosting at his palatial McMansion.  But all of that takes a backseat when a outbreak of food poisoning at the cook-off leaves lots of people ill and Cherry's good friend Eloise dead.

There are lots of quirky heroines in the cozy mystery genre, but Cherry has a style all her own. I'd almost read the book just to see what she wears to the funerals. This is the gal who mourned her Grandma Jo wearing "a t-shirt with the deceased's face outlined in Swarovski crystals." The outfit she designs for Eloise's funeral is considerably less successful.

Through midnight June 30, Portrait of a Dead Guy and Still Life in Brunswick Stew (along with other ebooks from Henery Press) are both on sale for ninety-nine cents. So if you're thinking about reading one or both, now is a good time to snatch them up! There's a third book coming in the series and I'll definitely be watching for it.

{Whatcha Reading?} Portrait of a Dead Guy

I've been reading Portrait of a Dead Guy by Larissa Reinhart.

Cherry Tucker is a classically trained artist struggling to make ends meet in the small town of Halo, Georgia. So when she hears that the Bransons want a memorial portrait of their son, Dustin, she's determined to win the commission away from her rival -- even if that means sneaking into the funeral home after hours to get a head start. She's been paying the bills by painting kids and pets and expects painting a coffin portrait to be easier than her usual subjects. Turns out painting a murder victim is a whole lot more dangerous, especially when she starts investigating on her own! 



Portrait of a Dead Guy was a really fun read, and I can't wait to get my hands on the next book in the series, Still Life in Brunswick Stew, which is due out next month. My copy of the book was provided to me by the publisher.