The books Southern indie booksellers are recommending to readers everywhere!

Cozy

Murder and Mamon by Mia P. Manansala

, , , , , ,
Murder and Mamon by Mia P. Manansala
buy this book

Buy from your local indie.
Get the audiobook

More fun and intrigue await in Manansala’s newest mystery with our favorite Filipino baker. Lila and her godmothers are back on the scene. The Calendar Crew (April, Mar, and June) are opening up a new laundromat, but their main competition is furious about the development. And their gossiping ways have another townsman blaming them for the breakup of their marriage. So when the laundromat is vandalized, those are the two main suspects. But when April’s niece is found dead in the laundromat, things just got a little more serious. This time, Lila will have to call on all her friends to break the case.

Murder and Mamon by Mia P. Manansala, (List Price: $17, Berkley, 9780593549162, September 2023)

Reviewed by Jennifer Jones, Bookmiser in Marietta, Georgia

Pride, Prejudice, and Peril by Katie Oliver

, ,
Pride, Prejudice, and Peril
buy this book

Buy from your local indie.

Phaedra works as an English professor at the local college, lecturing her students about Jane Austen, while wearing garb from the time period. When a reality show starts filming in town called Who Wants to Marry Mr. Darcy?, she’s hired to consult. But when her best friend’s new husband is murdered (they own the estate where the reality show is being filmed), Phaedra has to solve the mystery before her friend is charged with murder. The first in the new Jane Austen Tea Society Mystery series, Austenites will see plenty of similarities to their favorite author’s stories.

Pride, Prejudice, and Peril by Katie Oliver, (List Price: $8.99, Berkley, 9780593337615, December 2021)

Reviewed by Jennifer Jones, Bookmiser in Marietta, Georgia

Absence of Mallets by Kate Carlisle

, ,
Absence of Mallets
buy this book

Buy from your local indie.

The ninth in the Fixer Upper series has Shannon and her crew plugging away on the tiny home village for veterans. Shannon is starting up a new class for women to learn construction and Mac has a new group of writers coming in for a retreat. But this new group is…something else. They’re nothing but trouble from the start. Fans of this series will love to read more about this crazy cast of characters.

Absence of Mallets by Kate Carlisle, (List Price: $8.99, Berkley, 9780593201336, December 2021)

Reviewed by Jennifer Jones, Bookmiser in Marietta, Georgia

The Maid by Nita Prose

, ,
The Maid
buy this book

Buy from your local indie.

The Maid is a cozy mystery the way cozies should be written. It is beautifully written, extremely entertaining, has a great mystery, twists you don’t see coming and most of all one of the most endearing and interesting characters you will ever meet. Molly Gray is on the autism spectrum. She does not react to people and circumstances like normal people do because she doesn’t understand their facial expressions and their emotions. But her Gran has taught her over the years to be honest, to be a hard worker and to be very, very polite. Molly is a maid in a luxury hotel. A job she loves and is very, very good at because she loves order, and neatness, and routine. When she finds a dead body in one of her rooms it is not surprising that the police keep thinking that she is hiding something because, while always answering truthfully, she takes things very literally. It is also not surprising when she is eventually arrested for the murder. What is surprising is everything else that happens. I normally like more thriller type books but this was one of the most delightful books I have read in ages and the mystery was top notch.

The Maid by Nita Prose, (List Price: $27.00, Ballantine Books, 9780593356159, January 2022)

Reviewed by Nancy McFarlane, Fiction Addiction in Greenville, South Carolina

Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala

, , , , , ,
Arsenic and Adobo
buy this book

Buy from your local indie.

Lila has moved back home and is living with her Filipino family after a bad breakup. She’s also come back to help with the family’s restaurant. But when the local fool critic has never met a dish about which he had something nice to say passes out in his food at the restaurant and later dies, Lila’s the number one suspect. I love cozies and this was a nice, new addition to the genre with some Filipino flair! I loved the characters and look forward to reading more!

Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala (List Price: $16, Berkley, 9780593201671, 5/4/2021)

Reviewed by Jennifer Jones, Bookmiser, Inc. in Marietta, Georgia

Scroll to Top