Murder Pays a Call by Nancy J. Cohen

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Murder Pays a Call: A Keri Armstrong Cozy Mystery by Nancy J Cohen

Murder Pays a Call: A Keri Armstrong Cozy Mystery
by Nancy J Cohen

About Murder Pays A Call

Murder Pays a Call: A Keri Armstrong Cozy Mystery
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Setting – Florida
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Orange Grove Press
Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 9, 2025
Print length ‏ : ‎ 290 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1952886376
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1952886379
Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0F8NNP8NN

Personal concierge Keri Armstrong will accept almost any job, but solving murders wasn’t on her to-do list—until now.

When personal concierge Keri Armstrong swings by her favorite client’s mansion to drop off groceries, she expects a heartfelt chat along with a cup of tea—not Fiona Sullivan dead in bed and her room ransacked. Though police chalk it up to a botched robbery, Keri isn’t so sure. Whispers around town suggest Fiona wasn’t as adored as Keri had believed, and many of the philanthropist’s so-called friends in affluent Sunny Grove, Florida seem glad she’s gone.

Keri refuses to let Fiona’s memory be reduced to malicious gossip. Armed with a keen eye, insider access, and a fully charged tablet, she sets out to uncover the truth. Soon her file of suspects grows faster than her to-do list. Between sneaky neighbors, resentful relatives, and tight-lipped charity board members, Fiona left behind a trail of frenemies who’d happily skip her memorial brunch.

As Keri digs deeper, she discovers her late mentor had a gift for extracting people’s secrets and using them like fine china—carefully storing them until they could serve a purpose. But Fiona also kept a few skeletons in her own walk-in closet. Now, with danger creeping closer, Keri must race to crack the case before her number comes up next… and Murder Pays a Call.

About Nancy J. Cohen

Nancy J. Cohen writes the Bad Hair Day Mysteries featuring South Florida hairstylist Marla Vail and the Keri Armstrong cozy mysteries. Her books have won numerous awards including her nonfiction titles, Writing the Cozy Mystery and A Bad Hair Day Cookbook. Active in the writing community, Nancy is a past president of Mystery Writers of America Florida Chapter. When not busy writing, she enjoys reading, fine dining, cruising, and visiting Disney World.

Author Links

Website:  https://nancyjcohen.com

Blog: https://nancyjcohen.com/blog

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NancyJCohenAuthor

X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/nancyjcohen

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@nancyjcohen

LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancyjcohen

Instagram: https://instagram.com/nancyjcohen

Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/njcohen/

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/nancy-j-cohen

YouTube: https://youtube.com/@NancyJCohen

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/nancyjcohen

My Thoughts

Murder Pays a Call by Nancy Cohen is a lighthearted cozy mystery set in sunny (scorching hot) Florida.  Keri Armstrong is a wonderful concierge, but she needs to grow a backbone.  Keri is a bit of a pushover, so she who needs to set boundaries (or people will walk all over her).  She can, though, be determined as we see when she investigates Fiona’s murder.  You can tell how much Keri cared for Fiona Sullivan, the victim.  Keri sets out to find out who killed Fiona, because she is not one to sit on the sidelines and wait.  

The suspect list ends up being quite lengthy, much to Keri’s astonishment.  I joined Keri as she questioned people and collected clues.  I wrote down who I thought was the killer and then waited for the reveal to see if I was right (I love solving whodunits).  There are a variety of characters in the series that include Keri’s friends, Lora and Pam.  Those who enjoyed Nancy Cohen’s Bad Hair Day Mysteries will be delighted with Murder Pays a Call.  Romance is knocking on Keri’s door. It will be interesting to see who she picks.  Murder Pays a Call is a cute cozy with a sudden death, surprising secrets, a surplus of suspects, catering to clients, curious clues, a chance at romance, and a killer reveal.

Excerpt

Since Lora was out, she had the place to herself. Grateful for the privacy, she put her meal in the oven and entered her bedroom to get changed. A legal-sized manila envelope lay on top of her bedspread, along with a note from Lora.

I picked this up at the front desk the other day and left it in your home office, but you may not have seen it. I’d forgotten about it until I went in there for some paper clips. Sorry; I hope it’s not too important.

Her heart lurched when she noticed the return address came from a lawyer. Hopefully, none of her clients were suing her. She tore open the seal with shaky fingers, and a leather-bound book slid out along with a scribbled note from the attorney.

Fiona Sullivan requested this item be mailed to you in the event of her death.

Her eyes widened as she recognized Fiona’s ledger. Fiona must have given it to the lawyer for safekeeping. But why had she made him wait until after her death to send it out?

Sinking onto the bed, Keri smoothed her hands over the worn cover. With bated breath, she opened the book and thumbed through its pages.

She scanned the entries, noting the sources that said Dad. Perhaps Fiona hadn’t wanted Keri to learn about her past. This would make it a lot easier to separate out the goods Crogher had given his daughter. Those needed further research into their provenance.

Another question begged an answer. How come Fiona had sent this to her instead of Diane? Fiona couldn’t have known Diane would hire Keri to help dispose of things.

Unless … Fiona had sent it to Keri because she didn’t trust Diane.

Murder Pays a Call is available from Amazon Kindle, Amazon Print, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble Nook, Barnes & Noble Print, Google Play, Kobo, Bookshop.org or Indiebound, and Books A Million.  You can find Nancy J. Cohen's other novels here.  Would you like to win a signed copy of Murder Pays a Call along with a daily planner and a set of ballpoint pens?  You can click here to enter or use the form below.  Leave a comment for an extra entry.  Good Luck! Thank you for popping by today.  I will return on Monday, September 15 with The Girl Who Trusted Ghosts by K.C. Tansley.  It is the long awaited fourth book in The Unbelievables series.  I hope that you have a relaxing weekend.  I have the washer repairman coming over on Saturday, and I am hoping that it will be a simple fix (fingers crossed). Don't forget to enter the giveaway before you depart! Take care and Happy Reading!

Kris

The Avid Reader

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Tour Participants

September 11 – Jody’s Bookish Haven – SPOTLIGHT

September 11 – The Avid Reader – REVIEW

September 12 – Books, Ramblings, and Tea – SPOTLIGHT

September 12 – Ascroft, eh? – CHARACTER INTERVIEW

September 13 – fundinmental – SPOTLIGHT

September 13 – Sarandipity’s – AUTHOR GUEST POST

September 14 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – AUTHOR GUEST POST, INDIVIDUAL GIVEAWAY

September 14 – Books1987 – SPOTLIGHT

September 14 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT

September 15 – Read Your Writes Book Reviews – CHARACTER INTERVIEW

September 15 – Angel’s Book Nook – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

September 16 – Ruff Drafts – SPOTLIGHT

September 16 – @bibliophile_foodie – REVIEW

September 17 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW

September 17 – Reading, Writing & Stitch-Metic – AUTHOR GUEST POST, INDIVIDUAL GIVEAWAY

September 18 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – REVIEW

September 18 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT

September 19 – Sarah Can’t Stop Reading Books – SPOTLIGHT 

September 19 – Elizabeth McKenna – Author – SPOTLIGHT

September 20 – Boys’ Mom Reads! – REVIEW

September 20 – StoreyBook Reviews – CHARACTER GUEST POST

September 21 – Cozy Up With Kathy – REVIEW, AUTHOR INTERVIEW

*I voluntarily read an advanced copy of this book.  I am not required to leave a review.  The comments and opinions expressed are strictly my own.

*This post contains affiliate links. 

A Dish Best Served Dead by T.C. LoTempio

 A Dish Best Served Dead

 

A Dish Best Served Dead: A Tiffany Austin Food Blogger Mystery by T. C. LoTempio

About A Dish Best Served Dead

 

A Dish Best Served Dead: A Tiffany Austin Food Blogger Mystery 

Cozy Mystery 

3rd in Series 

Setting - Georgia 

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Beyond the Page 

Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 5, 2025 

Print length ‏ : ‎ 258 pages 

 

When a food convention turns fatal, Tiffany Austin will have to cook up a scheme to catch a killer . . .

The national Foodie Fest is in town and food blogger Tiffany Austin is thrilled to report on the event, even if it means crossing paths with an arrogant and annoying chef from her past. The man can’t help boasting of his success, but he also lets slip to Tiffany that he’s publishing a tell-all memoir that will be filled with scandalous secrets about many people in the food industry. It’s a risky career move, and maybe just plain risky, as Tiffany discovers later that day when she finds the chef’s dead body mere steps from the convention center.

With any number of reputations and careers at stake if the chef’s memoir were ever published, Tiffany realizes virtually everyone at the event is a suspect. Wending her way through the convention crowd in her guise as a reporter, she cautiously questions as many of the participants as she can, hoping to unearth a telling clue or a false alibi. Because while everyone has a skeleton or two in the closet, Tiffany knows someone at the food fest has a secret they’d kill to protect—and would kill for again if she gets too close to the truth . . .

Includes scrumptious Foodie Fest recipes!

About T. C. LoTempio

 

T.C. LoTempio is the award-winning, nationally bestselling author of the Nick and Nora Mysteries, the Urban Tails Pet Shop Mysteries, and the Cat Rescue Mysteries. Born in New York City, she now resides in Phoenix, Arizona, with her two cats, Maxx and Rocco. Rocco prides himself on being the inspiration for her Nick and Nora series! For more information, check out her and her cat Rocco’s blog at www.catsbooksmorecats.blogspot.com and visit her website at www.tclotempio.ne

Author Links

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/toni.lotempio.5

TWITTER/X: ROCCOBLOGGER

WEBSITE: https://www.tclotempio.net/

My Thoughts

A Dish Best Served Dead by T.C. LoTempio is a cute cozy mystery.  I liked Tiffany, the main character, who is a chef turned food blogger.  I liked her cameraman and sleuthing sidekick, Jimmy.  The pair make a great team.  The food descriptions will have your mouth watering.  Tiffany’s bestie was grateful (I’m surprised she did not sit up and beg) for the doggy bags that Tiffany brought home from Foodie Fest (there are recipes for a couple of the dishes at the end of the book).  The whodunit involved a man who I was surprised had lived as long as he had (he made a lot of enemies).  There is no shortage of suspects.  The detective in charge of the case is Tiffany’s love interest who tells her often to stay out of the case, though, he does appreciate the helpful information that she shares with him. A Dish Best Served Dead is the third A Tiffany Austin Food Blogger Mystery and it can easily be read as a standalone.  I hope that Jimmy will make a return appearance in future books in the series.  A Dish Best Served Dead is fun foodie mystery with a conceited chef, an aloof assistant, a pleasant photographer partner, scrumptious cuisine, an admonishing detective, a surplus of suspects, and a killer with a pistol.  

A Dish Best Served Dead is available from Amazon.  The first two books in A Tiffany Austin Food Blogger Mysteries are Eat, Drink, and Drop Dead and A Crust to Die For.  You can find T.C. LoTempio other novels here.   Would you like to win a $25 Amazon Gift Card?  You can click here to enter or enter the giveaway via the Rafflecopter form below.  Leave a comment for an extra entry.  Good Luck!  Thank you for joining me today.  I am sorry that I have been absent this week.  Between my mother (heat and fibromyalgia did not mix well), a dozen baby ducks with a very protective mother, my health (again, heat and fibromyalgia), and issues with the car, I have been a tad busy.  I am not kidding about the ducks (the mother duck with her ducklings discovered my porch with the bowl of cat food and water courtesy of the cat door).  The baby ducks are adorable (see the pictures and video below).  I will return on Tuesday, August 19 with Something to Look Forward To by Fannie Flagg.  I hope that you have a wonderful weekend.  Don't forget to enter the giveaway.  Take care, stay cool, and Happy Reading!

Kris

The Avid Reader

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Tour Participants

August 11 – Jody's Bookish Haven – SPOTLIGHT 

August 11 – Read Your Writes Book Reviews – RECIPE

August 12 – Deal Sharing Aunt – CHARACTER INTERVIEW

August 12 – Christy's Cozy Corners – SPOTLIGHT

August 13 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT

August 13 – Sarandipity's – CHARACTER INTERVIEW

August 14 – The Avid Reader – REVIEW

August 14 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW

August 15 – Cozy Up With Kathy – REVIEW

August 15 – StoreyBook Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

August 16 – Socrates Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

August 17 – Cassidy's Bookshelves – SPOTLIGHT

August 18 – Salty Inspirations – RECIPE

August 18 – Sapphyria's Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

August 19 – Ascroft, eh? – CHARACTER INTERVIEW

August 20 – Boys' Mom Reads! – SPOTLIGHT

August 21 – Baroness Book Trove – REVIEW

August 22 – MJB Reviewers – SPOTLIGHT

August 23 – Eskimo Princess Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

August 24 – Angel's Book Nook – SPOTLIGHT

Mama Duck is trying to get the babies across the street and they keep taking breaks!

*I voluntarily read an advanced copy of this book.  I am not required to leave a review.  The comments and opinions expressed are strictly my own.

Mama Duck and the ducklings enjoying a rain puddle--you will have to expand this shot!

*This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase using my links, I will receive a small commission from the sale at no cost to you.  Thank you for supporting The Avid Reader.

Video of Mama Duck and her ducklings

Exposing Lethal Secrets by Deena Alexander

Exposing Lethal Secrets by Deena Alexander

 

About Exposing Lethal Secrets

 

Exposing Lethal Secrets 

Inspirational Romantic Suspense 

3rd in Series 

Setting - California desert and Florida forest 

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Love Inspired Suspense 

Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 1, 2025 

Print length ‏ : ‎ 208 pages 

 

This bodyguard and his K-9 will do anything to uncover the truth.

Stumbling upon a burning car and rescuing an injured woman wasn’t on bodyguard Caleb Miller’s vacation itinerary—nor were the gunmen who open fire on them. But Olivia Delaney has no memory of who she is or how she got there, only that she is under threat. Vowing to protect the woman in danger, Caleb and his K-9 go on the run with Olivia. As they work to stay a step ahead of her pursuers, they must untangle her past together…before her family’s deadly schemes bury them both.

From Love Inspired Suspense: Courage. Danger. Faith.

About Deena Alexander

Deena grew up in a small town on the south shore of eastern Long Island, where she met and married her high school sweetheart. She recently relocated to Florida with her husband, three kids, son-in-law, and four dogs. Now she enjoys long walks in nature all year long, despite the occasional alligator or snake she sometimes encounters. Deena's love for writing developed when her youngest son was born and didn't sleep through the night, and she now works full time as a writer and a freelance editor.

Author Links

Webpage: http://deenaalexander.com/index.html 

Blog: http://deenaalexander.com/blog.html

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DeenaAlexanderAuthor

Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/DeenaAlexanderA

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20382104.Deena_Alexander

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/deena-alexander

Newsletter: https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/492177/92188784823633445/share

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Deena-Alexander/author/B08C1VKZFZ

My Thoughts

Exposing Lethal Secrets by Deena Alexander is an action-packed tale.  My attention was captured immediately, and it was held as I kept reading to find out what would happen next.  I liked the main characters, Olivia and Caleb, as well as Caleb’s K-9 partner, Ranger.  I cannot imagine what it must be like to suffer amnesia (I don’t believe forgetting why you walked into a room counts).  Feelings develop between Olivia and Caleb (only natural) as they fight to survive the men after Olivia.  There is an inspiring thread of faith woven throughout the story.  The ending left me smiling.  Exposing Lethal Secrets is a thrilling tale with an incriminating thumb drive, ruined R&R, missing memories, evading bad guys, a protective canine, trust troubles, and proceeding with a plan.

Exposing Lethal Secrets is available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Apple, and Google Play. Deena Alexander has Missing at Christmas coming out October 28 (I cannot wait to read it).  You can find Deena Alexander's other novels here.  Would you like to win a $25 Amazon gift card?  Click here to enter or use the Rafflecopter form below to enter the giveaway.  Leave a comment for an extra entry.  Good Luck!  Thank you for dropping by today.  I will return tomorrow with Rage by Linda Castillo (talk about a page turner).  It is the seventeenth A Kate Burkholder Novel.  I am off to work on one of the projects on my lengthy to do list (my mother made a list for me :-).  Don't forget about Amazon Prime Days!  A great time to get good deals (knock some items off your Christmas list--I like to get it done early or get a little something for yourself).  I hope that you have an uplifting day. Don't forget to enter the contest. Take care, stay cool (it is so hot), and Happy Reading!

 

Kris

The Avid Reader

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Tour Participants

 

July 1 – Frugal Freelancer – CHARACTER INTERVIEW

July 2 – Jody's Bookish Haven – SPOTLIGHT

July 3 – Reading Is My SuperPower – REVIEW

July 4 – OFF July 5 – Christa Reads and Writes – REVIEW

July 5 – Guatemala Paula Loves to Read – SPOTLIGHT

July 6 – Boys' Mom Reads! – SPOTLIGHT 

July 7 – Christy's Cozy Corners - REVIEW, AUTHOR GUEST POST, INDIVIDUAL GIVEAWAY

July 8 – Salty Inspirations – CHARACTER GUEST POST 

July 9 – The Avid Reader – REVIEW

July 9 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT

July 10 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW

July 11 – Ruff Drafts – AUTHOR GUEST POST

July 12 – Sapphyria's Book Reviews – REVIEW

July 13 – Carla Loves To Read - REVIEW, CHARACTER GUEST POST, INDIVIDUAL GIVEAWAY

July 14 – Reading, Writing & Stitch-Metic – REVIEW, INDIVIDUAL GIVEAWAY

July 15 – Baroness' Book Trove – REVIEW

July 15 – Maureen's Musings – SPOTLIGHT

*I voluntarily read an advanced copy of this book.  I am not required to leave a review.  The comments and opinions expressed are strictly my own.

*This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase using my links, I will receive a small commission from the sale at no cost to you.  Thank you for supporting The Avid Reader.