Today’s officially the first day of autumn! And if you’re looking for some new books to read this spooky season, then don’t worry. I’ve got you covered.
Cozy Mystery
First off, Text or Treat will be hitting shelves on October 5th. It’s a Halloween-themed cozy mystery that’s sure to add some fun to your holiday.
Book Description
Sydney Farina is done texting dead people.
She’s got a new, non-haunted phone, and the only ghosts she wants to deal with are Halloween decorations. But when a dead body is discovered around the corner from the bakery where she works, her Halloween gets a little too ghastly.
Pirating Pups: Salty Sea-Dogs and Barking Buccaneers is the official title of the book. There were two main rules to submitting a short story to it: the story must have a speculative element and must fit the (adorable) theme of “pirating pups.”
I submitted a short story entitled “Ghost Pirate Dognapper.” It features Bea Romo Reyes, the freelance exorcist you may remember from my Halloween serial The Memory of Ghosts, as she’s hired to recover a dog the owner claims was kidnapped by a ghost pirate.
Needless to say, I’m happy it got accepted into the anthology. It was fun to write and hopefully just as fun to read. If you’re interested, there’s more info below:
X Marks More Than One Spot
Enter a world of Barking Buccaneers, where piratical dogs sail the seas, seeking one tail-chasing adventure after another. Whether dealing with sea monsters, the doldrums, or bitter betrayal, these dogs have a true nose for adventure and always dig up their buried treasure.
Featuring thirteen daring “tails” of dogs, puns, and fun by: Chadwick Ginther; Jennifer Lee Rossman; Meghan Beaudry; Kristen Brand; Richard Lau; V.F. LeSann; Alice Dryden; Melanie Marttila; Mathew Austin; JB Riley; Frances Pauli; George Jacobs; and E. C. Bell.
Have you been looking for another cozy mystery to read? Then today’s your lucky day, because Poison Contact just hit the shelves.
It starts with an order of inappropriately shaped cookies for a bachelorette party.
When Sydney Farina, professional baker and amateur sleuth, delivers the cookies, the bride-to-be drops dead in front of her. Sydney tries to convince herself the mysterious tragedy is none of her business, but the rude bride who texted her for constant updates about her order doesn’t stop texting now that she’s dead. And her ghost begs Sydney to solve her murder and clear her fiancé’s name.
Sydney isn’t so sure the fiancé is innocent, but it’s hard to ignore the desperate ghost. As she investigates the bride’s frenemies and former lovers, she finds few leads and starts to worry she’ll never solve the case.
But she must be getting close to the truth, because the killer is trying to silence her… permanently.
Poison Contact is the second book in the Texts From Beyond cozy mystery series but can be read as a standalone. Twice the length of the first book, it has more mystery, more murder attempts, and more texts from beyond the grave. Order now and start the investigation!
If you want a preview of the first chapter, click here. Otherwise, click the button below to buy.
Poison Contact comes out next week, and I can’t wait for you to read it! 😀 But the first book in the Texts From Beyond cozy mystery series came out way back in January, so it’s not surprising if your memory of the plot is a little fuzzy.
Time to fix that! Take this short quiz to test your knowledge of Dead Messages and refresh your memory on any details you forgot. Just click your answer. Green means you got it right, and red means wrong. Then hit the arrow button to go to the next question
Good luck!
Dead Messages is set in a…
Bakery
Bed and breakfast
Close! It’s a bakery called Summertime Sweets.
Coffee shop
Close! It’s a bakery called Summertime Sweets.
Library
Close! It’s a bakery called Summertime Sweets.
Glenda was murdered with a…
Knife
It was a rolling pin, believe it or not.
Rolling pin
Cast-iron skillet
Close! But the correct kitchen utensil is a rolling pin.
Gun
It was a rolling pin, believe it or not.
Who does Sydney tell about her phone getting texts from a dead woman?
No one
Everyone at the bakery
Nope! She doesn’t tell anyone.
Her sister, Alex
Nope! She doesn’t tell anyone.
Her best friend, Marissa
Nope! She doesn’t tell anyone.
Caleb Bray is…
Sydney’s no-good ex-boyfriend
Glenda’s disappointment of a son
Close! He’s Glenda’s former employee and Sydney’s ex-boyfriend.
A famous and talented pastry chef
He’s not famous and is a mediocre chef at best. And he’s Sydney’s ex-boyfriend.
The police officer in charge of the murder investigation
Nope! He’s Glenda’s former employee and Sydney’s ex-boyfriend.
Who do the police first arrest for Glenda’s murder?
Logan, the restaurant owner who argued with Glenda
Faith, Glenda’s bullied daughter
Nope! It was Logan.
Marissa, Glenda’s cash-strapped employee
Close! First, they arrested Logan.
Caleb, an ex-employee who quit in a rage
Nope! It was Logan.
Who actually killed Glenda?
Marissa, Glenda’s cash-strapped employee
Logan, the restaurant owner who argued with Glenda
He’s innocent! It was Marissa.
Faith, Glenda’s bullied daughter
She’s innocent! It was Marissa.
Caleb, an ex-employee who quit in a rage
He’s innocent! It was Marissa.
After Sydney catches the murderer, she and Logan make plans to…
Go on a lunch date
Go on vacation
Nope! Just a lunch date.
Get married
Slow down! They’ve only been on one date. 😉
Write a book about their adventure
Nope! They go on a lunch date.
Thanks for playing! I hope this quiz refreshed your memory of Dead Messages, but if it didn’t, no worries. Poison Contact is designed to be friendly to readers who’ve never read Dead Messages at all, so you can still enjoy it.
I used to release all my books in ebook format only, so I’m happy that Draft2Digital has an easy (and free) paperback option. I’ve been slowly going through my backlist and creating paperbacks for my books, and I just unboxed the Dark and Otherworldly series yesterday.
Aren’t they pretty?! 😍 Here’s a closer look:
They’re slowly going up for sale at different online storefronts, so if you’ve always wanted hard copies of the series, now’s your time.
Poison Contact, the sequel to Dead Messages, is coming out later next month! To whet your appetite, here’s a sneak peek at the first chapter.
Chapter 1: These cookies are x-rated
Sydney Farina placed a fondant mermaid tail on top of the last blueberry cupcake and stepped back to survey her work. Six perfect cupcakes stood on the tray before her. Edible glitter covered the two-tone blue and cyan frosting and gave it the appearance of a glimmering ocean, and the sea-green liners had a pattern of fish scales. They were absolutely freakin’ adorable, at least in Sydney’s biased opinion. She picked up the tray, headed out of the kitchen—
—and nearly crashed into Javier.
“Whoa!” He jumped back, almost dropping the empty napkin holder he was bringing back to refill. “Close call.”
Sydney smirked at him. “Yeah, close call for you. If you’d made me drop these cupcakes, I’d—”
I’d murder you.
The joke almost left her lips before she stopped herself. Her stomach felt cold and slimy like half-melted ice cream. Their former boss had been murdered a month earlier inside the bakery, and a little later, the killer had tried to stab Sydney just yards away from where she currently stood. Maybe someday she’d be able to make dark jokes about the experience, but it was still too soon.
“I’d kick you in the shins,” she finished after a brief pause. “Repeatedly.”
If Javier noticed her stumble, he didn’t comment. “You sure you can reach my shins?”
If you like free fantasy fiction, then today’s your lucky day. Monsters & Masquerades, the 6th issue of Indie Bites, just released, and it’s got five exclusive short stories–including one by me.
Guess who designed the cover image? Spoiler: it was me. 🙂
Behind You, my short story, features mysterious deaths on a lonely mountain hiking trail and a park ranger who swears he saw a monster. What’s there to do but call Bea Romo Reyes, freelance exorcist and paranormal consultant, whom you met in my Halloween urban fantasy story The Memory of Ghosts. The monster is loosely based on the cryptid the Hidebehind, and the story is quick and action-packed.
It’s also in extremely good company. The other stories in this issue are awesome, and I’m humbled to have a piece among them. The issues includes:
– Glorious Monsters by D.N. Bryn
– Lead Me Not Into Temptation by Josie Jaffrey
– My Granny, The Dragon by Gemma Church
– Behind You by Kristen Brand
– The True Tale of the Sockburn Worm by Nova Warner
And the following reviews:
– Succulents and Spells by Andi C. Buchanan, reviewed by Asha from A Cat, A Book and A Cup of Tea
– A Fate of Wrath and Flame by K.A. Tucker, reviewed by Rosina from Lace and Dagger Books
The stories have a wide range of tones, from funny to dark to heart-warming, and include fantasy subgenres from urban to historical. There’s something for everyone, so start reading now!
Looking for a new cozy mystery to read while you wait for the sequel to Dead Messages? Check out Cozy Reads for Rainy Days, an online book fair full of cozy mystery novels that may be new to you.
Here are just a few of the over one hundred books in the fair:
Click the button below to check out the entire book fair. I hope you find a new book that you enjoy!
Time to talk about reading habits! I came across this book tag at Quirky Pages and thought it looked like a lot of fun. I encourage you to think of your own answers as you read, and if it sounds fun to you too, consider yourself tagged!
1: Do you have a certain place at home for reading?
The sofa. I spend so much time lounging and reading on one particular spot of it that the fabric on the cushion is starting to come apart.
2: Bookmark or random piece of paper?
I have several pretty bookmarks that I’ve bought or have been gifted to me, so I wouldn’t use a boring old piece of paper unless I somehow lost them all.
3: Can you just stop reading or do you have to stop after a chapter/ a certain amount of pages?
I prefer to stop at a chapter or scene break, but sometimes life interrupts, and there’s no choice but to stop in the middle of a sentence.
Kristen Brand 