From the Booking Desk:

The BOLO Report this week has a decidedly lighter tone than is typical here on the blog. But with two cozy series I’ve been reading from the beginning and a new genre-mashup, these are the books to look for this week.

Leigh Perry – The Skeleton Stuffs a Stocking (Diversion Books, Paperback, $16.00, 09/24/2019)

BOLO Books Comments:

It is no secret that I am a huge Sid the Skeleton fan and this holiday-themed offering from Leigh Perry may just be the best in the series. Few writers can pull off hilarious one-liners, yet Leigh Perry always manages to give Sid more than a few, but even the other regular characters have moments that will make readers smile and laugh. The mystery this time out is compelling and surprising and like all good holiday resolutions, this one aims straight for the the heart by the end. Don’t miss it!

Jacket Copy (Publisher’s Description):

Sid is back with a murder that’s sure to send a chill down your spine in Leigh Perry’s festive new mystery.

Dr. Georgia Thackery is back at home with her parents after finding a new adjunct position at Bostock College. Everyone is excited for their first family Christmas with nothing to hide. Why? Because Georgia’s daughter Madison is now in the know about Sid, their walking, talking family skeleton.

But their Christmas cheer is interrupted when the Thackerys’ dog Byron goes missing on a cold December night. When he’s finally found, he has a femur clutched between his jaws, and Georgia and Madison race to apologize to Sid for letting the dog gnaw on him yet again.

Except that all of Sid’s bones are present and accounted for.

This bone is from somebody else, and when they trace Byron’s trail to an overgrown lot nearby, they find the rest of the skeleton. It’s the normal kind, not moving or telling jokes, and when the police come to take charge, they’re sure it was murder.

And one of Georgia’s adjunct friends could be implicated.

With tensions stirring at the college and everyone hiding a secret or two, Sid and Georgia must uncover the truth before the ghost of a Christmas past strikes again.

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Laura Levine – Death of a Gigolo (Kensington, Hardcover, $26.00, 09/24/2019)

BOLO Books Comments:

I think this is the 17th Jaine Austen mystery and it may surprise BOLO Books followers that I have been reading this series from the start – I actually have copies of the first few books with their original cover designs. There is just something about the lightness and humor in these books that connects with me. I mean come on, Jaine is ghostwriting Fifty Shades of Turquoise…LOL. Sometimes you just need a little frivolous distraction.

Jacket Copy (Publisher’s Description):

After a dry spell, freelance writer Jaine Austen’s life is suddenly full of romance. For one thing, she’s reconnected with her ex—though her cat, Prozac, isn’t happy about it. And Jaine’s also got a new ghostwriting gig, working on a steamy novel called Fifty Shades of Turquoise . . .

Daisy Kincaid is in her sixties and heiress to a fortune. Now she wants to make a name for herself as a romance author . . . with a little help from Jaine, that is. As Jaine labors away on love scenes, she gets to know the wealthy woman’s gentleman friend, her household staff, and her social circle—every one of whom is horrified when Daisy falls under the spell of a much younger stud named Tommy, a rude, crude lothario who’s made himself a fixture in Daisy’s Bel Air mansion.
 
After Tommy and Daisy shock everyone by announcing their engagement, it doesn’t take long for someone to stab him in the neck—with the solid gold Swiss Army knife that Daisy gave him as a gift. The challenging part is trying to narrow down the list of suspects. Jaine’s going to have to put a bookmark in that love story and focus all her creative talent into untangling a tale of money and murder . . .

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Carol Pouliot – Threshold of Deceit (Level Best Books, Paperback, $18.95, 09/20/2019)

BOLO Books Comments:

Despite being predicated on a time travel conceit, Carol Pouliot’s series (this is the second book) has a distinctly vintage feel. Both Steven and Olivia are engaging characters and witnessing them navigating the challenges of their predicament while also trying to solve crimes is thoroughly entertaining.

Jacket Copy (Publisher’s Description):

On a sunny spring day in 1934, local lothario Frankie Russo is murdered in broad daylight. It seems no one saw anything, but things are not always what they seem in this small New York town.

Tackling the investigation, Detective Steven Blackwell discovers Frankie’s little black book, a coded list of dozens of flings, affairs, and one-night stands−and a solid motive for the widow. Soon, what appeared to be a straight-forward case gets complicated. A witness goes missing, a second body turns up, the victim’s cousin disappears, and an old flame surfaces. Faced with conflicting pieces of evidence, lies, and false alibis, Steven creates a psychological portrait of the killer. He realizes he’s looking for someone wearing a mask. But the killer is not the only one in disguise.

Two months ago, Steven came face-to-face with 21st-century journalist Olivia Watson when time folded over in the house they share−80 years apart. They’ve experimented within the safety of its walls and proven Einstein was right: there is no past, present, or future. All time exists simultaneously. Now, Steven and Olivia test the boundaries of time travel, risking the exposure of their secret. Olivia travels to Steven’s time, where she is embraced by the community, unaware of who she really is. She unwittingly falls in with Steven’s main suspect, an action that threatens her life.

Can Olivia outsmart a killer before becoming the next victim? Can Steven and Olivia solve the case of the poisoned philanderer in time to protect her true identity and their time-travel secret?

Every moment’s a masquerade in Threshold of Deceit, the exciting second installment in The Blackwell and Watson Time-Travel Mystery series.