Keeled Over at the Cliffside (Saltcliff Mysteries Book 1) (affiliate link)
Saltcliff by the Sea: The charming seaside village where nothing is quite what it seems.
When Dahlia Vale swaps algorithms for aprons to take over her late sister’s inn, Dahlia expects life to follow a logical sequence: serve breakfast, make beds, repeat. But between misreading social cues, taking local legends at face value, and suddenly finding herself guardian to a tweenage niece (do parenting manuals come with flowcharts?), she’s in over her head.
And that’s before the peculiar deaths start piling up like dirty laundry on inn changeover day.
With her sister’s knack for people now nothing but a bittersweet memory, Dahlia must rely on her own gift for seeing what others overlook—and her niece Diantha’s eye-rolling expertise in all things “normal.”
Can she connect the dots before the killer strikes again, or will her by-the-book approach to sleuthing and step-parenting leave her story with an unhappy ending?
Private Sins (Three Rivers Book 1) (affiliate link)
Alpha Attacked (Big City Lycans Book 1) (affiliate link)
This wolf is biting the bullet of love.
Working in the ER, Maeve has seen some weird stuff, like the guy with numerous gunshot wounds who literally hops off the operating table and walks out. Which isn’t as strange as the people who claim they saw a wolf running out the main doors of the hospital. All par for the course on a full-moon shift.
What Maeve doesn’t know is she saved the life of the local Alpha.
Griffin is tough, and those who tried to kill him will regret their failure, because he is now out for revenge. The problem is identifying the enemy. Is it the rival wolf gang over the river, or a stranger trying to steal his Pack?
The answer appears to be tangled up with the doctor who operated on him. A woman with a delectable scent—and secrets.
Mildred Budge in Cloverdale (The Adventures of Mildred Budge Book 1) (affiliate link)
A retired school teacher, Mildred Budge just wants to live a quiet life in her hometown of Cloverdale. But retirement does not mean she can say no to a friend–not a friend in trouble. Mildred Budge knows how. A disciplined woman, Mildred can breathe the word “no” to a second cup of ice cream. Can resist drinking too much champagne. But when it comes right down to a friend needing a favor, she may say no first, but if someone really needs her—really needs her! —she always said yes.
That’s how Mildred ended up with strangers camped out in her spare bedroom while helping her friend Fran to start a new business at the antique emporium.
The only real ‘no’ Mildred had said in recent history was to a man who loved her. Hugh wasn’t the first man to pursue her. But he was the most recent. And she had been flattered but not interested—not in the way he wanted her to be interested. Hugh didn’t give up right away.
Wait for What Will Come (affiliate link)
Closer to Home (affiliate link)
Joleigh Moore lives an almost-reclusive life on her small farm in Missouri. But when she witnesses the murder of her boyfriend, Mack, she worries the assailants will come after her next.
Planning to hide out until Mack’s killers are caught, Joleigh stows away in a neighbor’s station wagon and lands in a small Minnesota town. Later, she discovers a large amount of cash in her journal and realizes Mack must have hidden his drug money there. Joleigh now has what the men were willing to kill for.
Joleigh takes a summer job and moves into an old run-down cabin in the woods. As she gets to know the townspeople and becomes more and more involved with them, the place she once considered temporary could be her chance for a new beginning. But before Joleigh can have a future, she’ll be forced to deal with her past.
… See the rest of today ‘s Book Picks here on page 3Page 3