Hayley Powell is in for the shock of her life when she accompanies one of her best friends, Mona Barnes, on what should be a routine-if-time-consuming errand. Mona’s dad, Bubba, has gone to his cabin in Bar Harbor, Maine, for an ice-fishing weekend. Unfortunately, he’s neglected to bring his heart medication with him. Mona’s mom,…
Kensington Books brings us another delightful seasonal trio of novellas perfect for the upcoming Easter holiday–this time featuring three of my favorite cozy mystery authors! Leslie Meier opens the collection with the title story. Intrepid reporter Lucy Stone is covering the latest initiative by the Tinker’s Cove Chamber of Commerce to drum up foot traffic…
This trio of holiday-themed novellas feels almost like three, full culinary cozy novels in one volume! The first of the three, Lee Hollis’s Death of a Christmas Mitten Knitter, sees Christmas coming to Bar Harbor, Maine. Hayley Powell is already overworked with her restaurant when Reverend Ted, pastor of the local Congregational church, comes to…
First, Lisa Unger bestows upon us Christmas Presents—an original novella from The Mysterious Press. A decade ago, in upstate New York, high schooler Madeline Martin—now an indie bookstore owner and caretaker to her father (the former Sheriff)—was the only survivor of serial killer (and teenage crush) Evan Hardy. She’s worked hard to put the past…
The Leighton and Barnes families have had a long-standing rivalry over their respective seafood dynasties in Bar Harbor, Maine. So, our heroine, Hayley Powell, isn’t entirely surprised one morning to find one of her best friends, the brash Mona Barnes, engaged in a physical altercation with Vera, their peer and eldest daughter of the Leighton…
I love all of Kensington’s holiday-themed novella collections, but this one may be my favorite yet! The opening story by Leslie Meier gives this collection its name and sets the stage for seasonal shenanigans. Intrepid reporter Lucy Stone is working on what she thinks will be a nice, fluffy St. Patrick’s Day piece about teenage…
Hayley’s Kitchen—the namesake Italian restaurant that our heroine, Hayley Powell, recently opened in her small town of Bar Harbor, Maine—is doing excellent business. Even before turning such profits, though, she’d made it part of her mission to spread the financial love to other local enterprises, promoting their businesses as best she could on her menu.…
I usually find mystery novellas to be fairly hit or miss, but I have very much enjoyed the holiday-themed collections Kensington puts out showcasing some of their finest cozy authors. This latest collection is frankly one of their best yet! Revolving around a murder at a Halloween party, each story here has the meat of…
One of my favorite things with really good long-running cozy series, culinary or otherwise, is seeing how the characters continue to develop and grow with each book. Over the course of 14 novels and the handful of novellas that make up the Hayley Powell Food and Cocktails Mystery series, I’ve been so pleased to see…
Kensington Books has been publishing seasonally themed collections of mystery novellas from their culinary cozy (and adjacent) authors since 2007, and this is probably my favorite of the ones I’ve read so far! A lot of my friends have complained of shorter attention spans since the pandemic started, and while I’ve been lucky not to…
