Memories of Summer by Campbell Sharpe
Despite the cozy seclusion of winter, I do most of my reading in the summer. When I was younger, my family would go on road trips to visit our cousins in Memphis and Atlanta. The drive was long and I got shoved in the back seat with the extra luggage. To help pass the time, my mother would play audiobooks of classic novels like “Anne of Green Gables” and “The Secret Garden.” When not strapped into car seats, my sister and I would race to see who could finish the most books before school started. My favorite spot was a shaded perch on the wall enclosing our patio. My sister preferred the cool refuge of our basement toy room. Inside or out, we tore through our bookshelves and became fast friends with the public librarian. Though my summers are no longer vacant, I find it easier to read when the thermometer ticks above 80°. Whether you are avoiding driving duty on a road trip, nestled in your favorite reading spot, or simply continuing to work at your TBR pile, these new Cozy Cat mysteries will be a great kickoff to the season and fuel for any sibling reading rivalries that may have lasted a little too far into adulthood:
“Gone With the Winfield”
By Joyce Oroz
Josephine Stuart’s mural company has contracted to paint a large agricultural mural in Hollister, California. While painting the wall, Jo discovers that human bones have been found buried in a nearby cave. Authorities have reason to believe the bones belong to Jerry Wheeler, a young man who went missing ten years ago when his motorcycle––a Winfield––slid off a mountain road during a snowstorm. Jerry’s relatives have blamed Josephine’s neighbor, Lucas Ricardo, for Jerry’s disappearance and probable death for all these years because Lucas was traveling with Jerry at the time, and didn’t realize Jerry had gone missing. For ten years now, Jerry’s family and friends have quarreled and played “the blame game.” Josephine wants to help the Wheeler family and their friends find peace and closure. Can she do so or will her efforts just cause more trouble and chaos?
“Beginnings and Endings”
By D. G. Gillespie
The final tale in the six-book Matthew Diggerson Mysteries series about a college composition teacher forced to turn sleuth, but endings tend to lead back to beginnings. Life is a circle.
“The Shady Course”
By Diane Weiner
Save Them! A crumpled note handed off by a sobbing woman in a restroom, a mysterious figure lurking on the golf course, and a dead body draped over their car set amateur sleuths Emily and Henry Fox on a shady course to finding a killer. A series of recent ‘accidents’ don’t make sense. Why did the owner of the spider web museum fall off a mountain? How was a woman with a bum hip electrocuted while crawling under her house? And don’t even start with the poisoned candy and illegally dumped fertilizer. When more bodies drop, the stakes are raised, and the suspect list dwindles. Can the killer be stopped, or will the Fox family be next?
“When Justice Fails”
By Emma Pivato
When a woman in a wheelchair is killed by a speeding car and the driver leaves the scene, of the accident, Claire Burke sets out to find that person and to see that justice is done. However, her efforts lead to the arrest of someone she believes innocent and Claire then becomes doubly focused on finding the real driver. This task is made much more difficult when the pandemic lockdown comes into effect, and is further complicated because her good friend and fellow sleuth, Tia, is unable to help her this time around. But Claire perseveres, eliminating one suspect after another. Can Claire find the real killer without getting into serious trouble in the process?
“Corpse and Robbers”
By Stephen Kaminski
Paul Bearer & Sons has two memorial services on the schedule—but three dead bodies. When Rusted Bonnet, Michigan’s funeral home becomes the site of a murder, Cam Reddick, proprietor of Peachy Kleen Cleaning Services, finds himself as a prime suspect. To distance himself from the allegations, Cam must untangle a host of clever cons and mini mysteries, from corpse robbing to a fine art scam to a modern-day treasure hunt. Cam soon discovers that Paul Bearer’s more closely resembles a con artists’ colony than a funeral home. With help from his ex-wife and mother, Cam ultimately unearths the most devious and deadly ploy of all.
While I always won our reading competitions, despite what my sister may say, we both now associate the start of summer with the blast of the library’s AC and bikes that are off-balance because of all the books in the basket. What tells you that summer has arrived? Is it washing popsicle juice off the sides of your fingers, the scent of bug spray or something else entirely? We would love to know! Maybe it would make a great story.