Cozy Mystery Short Stories by Dorte Hummelshoj Jakobsen

Visit Book Beginnings by Rose City Reader for this weekly Friday meme.

Here are two short stories/cozy mysteries that you will enjoy, by mystery writer Dorte Hummelshoj Jakobsen

Ding Dong Bell: The Kitten in the Well

Book beginning:

This story takes place in the fictional village of Knavesborough, Yorkshire, in the early 1990s.

"He won't get away with throwing me out of here! Not after forty years, he won't!" The old woman was so agitated that the words cascaded out of her mouth, and Reverent Gershwin took a quick step backwards, out of firing range. Ursula Abbot gave the large pot on the cooker an indignant shove on the cooker so the goulash slopped over, and flies rose in a dark formation above the food before settling down again. 

She grabbed a greyish dishcloth and dabbed it around haphazardly in the mess. Three cats came bouncing to help her remove the tempting pool of sauce on the kitchen floor.  

"Well, but I can't imagine Mr. Alnwick won't consider your age..., the vicar began.

A clean and cosy short story, featuring the popular Gershwin family in Knavesborough. It all begins quite innocently with a visit to an old cat woman, but no matter what the Gershwins stick their noses in, something sinister will happen. Revisit the 1990s and meet Rhapsody, Harmonia and Psalmonalla Gershwin, the spunky sisters and their curious kitten.
(goodreads)

Green Acres

Mrs Vanilla McVities, the former cook of Netherfield Manor, has bought an old mansion and converted it into an old people's home. Rhapsody Gershwin, librarian and amateur sleuth, pops in to visit a neighbour and finds herself on the business end of murder. A sheep dog also plays an important role in the story - you'd be barking to miss this one.  A short story in the Rhapsody Gershwin series, set in Knavesborough, a fictional Yorkshire village. First published in the anthology "The Red Shoes". Now you can find out what happened to a couple of the quirky inhabitants since we left them at the end of  the cozy mystery, "The Cosy Knave". 
(goodreads)

Dorte Hummelshoj Jakobsen is a teacher from Denmark. In her spare time she reads and writes crime fiction in English and Danish, and in 2010 she sold her first flash stories to American magazines and publishers.

Since then she has published two collections of flash fiction, "Candied Crime" (humour) and "Liquorice Twists" (a bit darker). Her most popular story is "The Cosy Knave" - a humorous and cosy novel featuring village constable Archibald Penrose and the librarian Rhapsody Gershwin.

LATEST NEWS: "The Red Shoes" - four irreverent short stories characterized by dark humour, quirky characters and severed limbs.

Author of "Heather Farm", bestselling ghost story on Amazon.com in 2011.

COMING SOON: "Anna Märklin's Family Chronicles" - a historical mystery, set in Denmark and Sweden. Published in Denmark in 2011.

WOW: Waiting on Cozies

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

These paperback cozy mysteries will be released June 3, 2014.  The details in the colorful covers are stunning!

Night of the Living Thread

Deadly Forecast

The Diva Wraps It Up

Engaged in Murder

Night of the Living Thread:
Zombies, killer dresses, and ancient curses prove that Halloween in Threadville can be sew spooky… 
It’s early October, and hordes of visitors have descended on the tiny, celebrated village of Threadville, Pennsylvania, to attend a Halloween crafts fair, a zombie retreat, and the wedding of Edna Battersby. A lakeside murder is involved! (goodreads)

Deadly Forecast:
As her wedding day approaches, Abby Cooper has a disturbing premonition of her fiancé’s murder. Her husband-to-be, FBI agent Dutch Rivers, has been assigned to a suicide bombing case, and Abby’s spirit guides warn her of imminent danger. (goodreads)

The Diva Wraps It Up:
The holidays are domestic diva Sophie Winston’s favorite time of year. But this season, there seem to be more mishaps than mistletoe. First, Horace Scroggins tumbles from a balcony during his office Christmas party. Then, Sophie’s neighbor takes a fall from his ladder while decorating his roof with lights. But it’s the cookie swap that really starts her wondering who’s naughty or nice. (amazon)

Engaged in Murder: Event planner Pepper Pomeroy is making the most of her current unemployment by arranging a surprise for her sister, Felicity. Warren, Felicity’s boyfriend, plans to lure his lovely lady into a private jet, propose, and whisk her away on a romantic vacation. There are some disturbing questions. Like who’s the dead guy Pepper finds in the ladies’ room of the jet hangar? (goodreads)

What do you think? Would you wait for these cozies?

Teaser/First Chapter: Cold Storage, Alaska by John Straley; and A Single Breath by Lucy Clarke

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Miz B; choose two teaser sentences from a random page of your current read.

Cold Storage Alaska

Teaser:

Miles wasn't eager to show that police officer around. No matter where they were from, visitors always wanted to ask questions. They started with history: Why is this place here? To this Miles would usually answer, "Fish...mostly." He longed to tell the whole story but the truth is people really didn't want to know. (ch. 2) 

from Cold Storage, Alaska by John Straley; Soho Crime
An offbeat, often hilarious crime novel set in the sleepy Alaskan town of Cold Storage from the Shamus Award winning author. Clive “The Milkman” McCahon returns to his tiny hometown of Cold Storage, Alaska after a seven-year jail stint for dealing coke. He has a lot to make up to his younger brother, Miles, who has dutifully been taking care of their ailing mother. But Clive doesn’t realize the trouble he’s bringing home. (goodreads)

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First Chapter, First Paragraph is a weekly meme hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea.

A Single Breath

 First chapter:

As she leaves the shelter of the headland, the full force of the wind hits Eva. Her hair whips back from her face and she hugs the flask of coffee tight to her chest. Clouds of sand gust along the shoreline, sending a tangled knot of fishing line pinwheeling along the beach.  

A woman passes in the other direction, her purple coat flattened to her back by the wind. The fur-trimmed coat is pulled tight to her face, making Eva wish she had thought to wear a hat. She had forgotten how raw the weather is on the coast; in London it is muted by buildings and watched from behind windows.

from A Single Breath by Lucy Clarke; Touchstone
A young widow discovers her husband was not who he claimed to be and finds herself falling in love with the wrong man. Threading together beautiful, wild settings in Tasmania and suspenseful twists, A Single Breath is a tale of secrets, betrayals, and new beginnings. (goodreads)

Do the teasers and the first chapter entice you to want to read these books? 

It's Monday: What Are You Reading?

Welcome to It's Monday: What Are You Reading? at Book Journey. Also visit Mailbox Monday, hosted by Vicki, Leslie, and Serena.

Very excited about two new books:

The Visitors

Season of the Dragonflies

Here's what's new on my shelves. Just love the covers and the titles. What did you get in your mailbox this week?  

CYCLING SOJOURNER: A Guide to the Best Multi-Day Tours in Washington by Ellee Thalheimer

Summer is coming up, and long distance cyclists on the road have another tour guidebook, this time in the state of Washington!

Title: Cycling Sojourner: A Guide to the Best Multi-Day Tours in Washington by Ellee Thalheimer
Expected publication on May 15, 2014; Microcosm Publishing
Genre: travel guidebook, cycling

Publisher description:
As the second book in a one-of-a-kind cycle-touring series, this guidebook reveals hard-to-find information about exploring Washington by bike. Learn about the state’s remotest ribbons of road in the Okanagan, the best bikeable berry stands in the San Juans Islands, luscious Walla Walla wine country vineyards best reached by bicycle, and routes across the Cascade Mountain Range that will transform you into an interminable lover of the Pacific Northwest.

Like a cycle-touring concierge, Cycling Sojourner takes care of the logistics and removes obstacles between you and your two-wheeled adventure, so you can grab your bike and go. The nine tours in the book are meticulously laid out and include cue sheets; maps; and information about weather, difficulty level, camping and lodging options, and how to get to the ride’s start. The voices of Thalheimer and the four contributing Washingtonian authors use storytelling, local history, and humor to draw out your inner adventurer.

I received a complimentary copy of this book for feature/review.

Book Review: A Tiger's Tale by Laura Morrigan

Welcome to the Sunday Salon! Also visit The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer.

Here is a book review for today's Sunday Salon. I like the cover and the premise of A Tiger's Tale.

Title: A Tiger's Tale: Call of the Wilde #2 by Laura Morrigan
Published May 6, 2014; Berkley
Genre: cozy mystery

Animal behaviorist Grace Wilde has special abilities - she can communicate mentally with animals. She keeps her psychic abilities secret, except from her love interest, the cop Kai Duncan. Grace is known to have a special rapport with animals and is called in to calm down the normally sedate Siberian tiger Boris who seems to have suddenly gotten aggressive. Grace has to find out why and see how it's linked to the disappearance of a teenage girl, a volunteer at an animal rescue facility.

I enjoyed the new angle to this cozy - an amateur sleuth and animal behaviorist who uses mental telepathy to communicate with animals. Grace gets clues to the mystery of the missing teen from what the various animals observe and can tell her. Entertaining and well written, this cozy is a 4 star read, with a very likable main character and an equally interesting set of animal characters.

I received a complimentary review copy of this book for the publisher's book tour.

Book Review: The Gondola Maker by Laura Morelli

Title: The Gondola Maker by Laura Morelli
Paperback published March 3, 2014
Genre: historical fiction

First paragraph: I chew my lower lip while I wait to see my father's gondola catch fire. 

Page 56: I have done my best to stay hidden during daylight hours, observing, waiting - for what, I cannot say. 

A young boy, Luca, has accidentally caused the burning of his family's boat making factory after a fight with his father. He runs off to stay with an old friend, an oar maker, but soon disappears to become a gondolier for a well known artist, ferrying the artist to his various appointments and running errands by boat.

The novel is more than a coming-of-age story set among boat makers and gondoliers in 16th century Venice. It tells how Luca grows up to learn to handle responsibility, gets to know a world outside that of his small town, and falls in love. He discovers an old boat produced by his family in years past and sets out to restore and repair it, improving his boat making skills and working on making his own oars. How he handles misfortune, disappointment, even imprisonment, and how he redeems himself is the crux of the novel.

The setting is detailed and the atmosphere and feel of Venice is well done. We are immersed in the surroundings and lives of Venice's gondoliers and how they handle their boats, the techniques of boat makers and their exacting craft, and the skill needed to make boats of the highest quality boats.

I was captivated by the story and easily slipped into the Venice of the 16th century. The author has artfully woven Luca's story into the historical fabric of the times. I learned a lot about gondolas of the time, the laws of the city regarding boat making, and much more. My objective rating for this fascinating historical novel: 5/5.


Author's Bio:
Laura Morelli holds a Ph.D. in art history from Yale University, and has taught college-level art history in the US and Europe. Laura is the author of Made in Italy, Made in France, and Made in the Southwest (Rizzoli). The Gondola Maker is her first work of fiction. Visit her at Laura Morelli Facebook Twitter

For a list of other reviews of the book, visit iRead Book Tours
I received a complimentary review copy of the book for this tour.

Here is a Q and A that will tell us more about Laura and her writing.

1. Where are you from?

I grew up on a farm in Georgia. It was a wonderful childhood, climbing trees, riding horses, playing in the barn with cows and chickens, fishing in the lake. There were not many kids around so I learned to be independent. I read everything I could get my hands on; the used bookstore in town was one of my favorite spots. I still remember the smell of it! I always had the idea that I would write books, and I dreamt of writing a novel for as long as I can remember.

How did you start writing?

I was educated as an art historian. Those of us in academia are trained to write in a specialized style that comes across as dry and dull, full of terminology that is inaccessible to all but those of us who spend many years studying the field. In the end, this kind of writing strips out the passion that is so inherent in the arts, even though of course I hold great respect for the rigor of scholarship and those who publish exclusively in academia. Art history is the most fascinating subject in the world!

 I realized that I enjoyed writing for a more general audience and that I had an opportunity to bring art history to a wider audience through my writing. I try to bring both the knowledge as well as the excitement of art history to my readers. I  also try to capture the excitement and passion I felt when I first discovered the history of art. 

3. How did you do research for The Gondola Maker?

The foundational research that went into The Gondola Maker was actually conducted for another book. I didn’t plan it that way! While I was writing Made in Italy, I traveled all over Italy, from the Alps to the islands, talking with contemporary artisans who still practice centuries-old traditions like Murano glass, Florentine leather, Sicilian ceramics, Roman gold smithing, and of course, Venetian gondolas. Over and over, the people I interviewed emphasized how important it was to pass the torch of tradition to the next generation. I began to wonder what would happen—especially centuries ago—if the successor were not able… or willing. The character of the gondola maker and his son began to take shape in my head.

As I began to work on The Gondola Maker, it was an opportunity to take a deeper dive into the primary historical sources about the history of the gondola, the world of the guilds or arti, and Venetian boatmen in Renaissance Venice. Historically, Venetians were well aware of their position in the world and so there are a lot of historical sources from which to draw, although private boatmen and other domestic servants only appear incidentally in the historical record, sometimes in reference to a crime or other infraction.

4. What other books have you written?

I’ve written a series of specialty guidebooks with the goal of leading travelers beyond the tourist traps to discover authentic local traditions and artists, and come home with great treasures in their suitcases. My focus in on cultural immersion through a greater appreciation of art objects and the people who make them.  

5. What are you currently writing?

I am working on revised editions of my books, Made in Italy and Made in France, and am also writing a series of small guides that lead travelers to discover authentic arts in specific cities and regions of Europe. Venice will be the first!

Other relevant information and links:

2014 IPPY AWARD FOR BEST ADULT FICTION E-BOOK
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2014 DA VINCI EYE PRIZE