In recognition of the fact that I have way too many ebooks just sitting around, doing whatever the digital equivalent to gathering dust on the shelf is, I’ve decided to introduce Sunday Shelf Exploration, which is what I plan to call it when I take a look at my ebook collection and hopefully get inspired to actually read something from my digital library!
1. In The Beginning, There Was a Murder by P.C. James
From Goodreads: A secret liaison. A baffling murder. Can one woman solve the crime without joining the body count?
Northern England, 1953. Pauline Riddell has grand ambitions for her future at the armament factory. So, when her closest workmate reveals a salacious affair with a married man, Pauline refuses to risk her career by listening to the scandal. But she’s shaken to her core when the police arrive with news of her best friend’s homicide.
Desperate for justice, Pauline’s insistent poking into the investigation only makes her the prime suspect. And now to clear her name, she must unravel a web of deadly clues entangling her in a sinister plot. Can Pauline catch the killer before they strike again?
2. A Curse for Samhain by Dahlia Donovan
From Goodreads: Gender fluid, autistic vampire Hyde Snodgrass runs Between the Leaves—a cosy village book store. Their life revolves around books, all things autumnal, and the two cats who rule their world. The shop also plays host to a weekly knitting group called the Skeleton Crew.
When one of the leaders of the village coven fails to show up for the weekly knitting meeting, Hyde finds themselves investigating a horrific murder side by side with their long-term crush, Teresa Vega.
Suspicion immediately falls on other members of their group. Hyde and Teresa struggle to find answers to the growing list of questions. It’s made all the more difficult when the killer has them in their sights.
Can working together spark the romantic flame within them?
Will they solve the mystery before death comes too close?
3. Death by Didgeridoo by Barbara Venkataraman
From Goodreads: Attorney Jamie Quinn is on a six-month hiatus from practicing law to deal with her beloved mother’s death. Rarely leaving the house, she shares most of her days with her late mother’s cranky cat.
But soon, Jamie is forced into action by a frantic call from her Aunt Peg, whose autistic son Adam is in police custody and suspected of murdering his music teacher, a once-famous rock star named Spike.
It’s up to Jamie to find the real killer. The problem is, Spike seems to have had more enemies than he had friends, and Adam had confessed to the murder already. Can Jamie piece together the evidence and bring the murderer to justice before it’s too late?
A delightful, light mystery set in the small town of Hollywood, South Florida, Death By Didgeridoo is the first book in Barbara Venkataraman’s Jamie Quinn Cozy Mysteries series.
4. How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin
From Goodreads: It’s 1965 and teenage Frances Adams is at an English country fair with her two best friends. But Frances’s night takes a hairpin turn when a fortune-teller makes a bone-chilling prediction: One day, Frances will be murdered. Frances spends a lifetime trying to solve a crime that hasn’t happened yet, compiling dirt on every person who crosses her path in an effort to prevent her own demise. For decades, no one takes Frances seriously, until nearly sixty years later, when Frances is found murdered, like she always said she would be.
In the present day, Annie Adams has been summoned to a meeting at the sprawling country estate of her wealthy and reclusive great-aunt Frances. But by the time Annie arrives in the quaint English village of Castle Knoll, Frances is already dead. Annie is determined to catch the killer, but thanks to Frances’s lifelong habit of digging up secrets and lies, it seems every endearing and eccentric villager might just have a motive for her murder. Can Annie safely unravel the dark mystery at the heart of Castle Knoll, or will dredging up the past throw her into the path of a killer?
As Annie gets closer to the truth, and closer to the danger, she starts to fear she might inherit her aunt’s fate instead of her fortune.
5. Dracula vs. Night of the Living Dead by Gerald Simon Jameson
From Goodreads: Ever wonder what happens when a vampire bites a zombie? Ever wonder what happens when a zombie bites a vampire? Let author Gerald Simon Jameson answer these questions and more as he takes you on a journey into the twisted world of a rural Pennsylvania!
Dracula vs Night of the Living Dead is the perfectly legal mash-up of a couple of perfectly legal public domain properties, where the only thing that ought be illegal is how thoroughly entertained your ass is gonna be!
6. Austen and Arsenic by Emily Wren
From Goodreads: When Hazel Bytheway’s car breaks down during an October road trip to Canada, she finds herself stranded in the quaint town of Bumblewood, Vermont. She only plans to stay long enough for repairs, but she soon falls in love with the town’s charming bookshop. Its owner, Mary Anne Higgins, is friendly and welcoming and makes Hazel feel at home immediately.
But when a murder happens inside the bookstore and the killer can’t be found, Hazel’s detour suddenly becomes a full-blown investigation. The handsome but no-nonsense Detective Graham Whitaker is determined to find a suspect—and Hazel and Mary Anne are at the top of his list.
With her future on the line and the killer still at large, Hazel decides she’ll have to solve the case herself, because in Bumblewood nothing is as peaceful as it seems. And if she’s not careful, she might become the next victim.
Since my last Sunday Shelf Exploration post, I’ve read three of the books I featured, The Long Orbit by Rowan Bourn, Haunted High Tea & Homicide by Suzy Bussell and Visions and Villainy by Clare Lockhart.
Sunday Shelf Exploration
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