The Hidden Staircase Mystery Books recently updated its list of November 2013 hardcover mysteries as well as shelved new November paperbacks on The Mystery Bookshelf.
In this series of monthly posts, which we call Firsts on the 1st, we're introducing readers to new series characters who will make their mysterious American debut in print during November.
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Title: A Potion to Die For
Author: Heather Blake
Series Character: Carly Bell Hartwell, Magic Potion
Formats: Mass Market Paperback and ebook
What we know about the character: Carly Bell Hartwell owns Little Shop of Potions, a magic potion shop specializing in love potions.
Her first case: As the owner of Little Shop of Potions, Carly finds her product more in demand than ever. A local soothsayer has predicted that a couple in town will soon divorce — and now it seems every married person in Hitching Post, Alabama, wants a little extra matrimonial magic to make sure they stay hitched.
But when Carly finds a dead man in her shop, clutching one of her potion bottles, she goes from most popular potion person to public enemy number one. In no time the murder investigation becomes a witch hunt — literally! Now Carly is going to need to brew up some serious sleuthing skills to clear her name and find the real killer — before the whole town becomes convinced her potions really are to die for!
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Title: Cutie Pie Must Die
Author: R. W. Clinger
Series Characters: Troy Murdock and Zane Ward
Formats: Trade Paperback and ebook
What we know about the characters: Troy Murdoch owns a hair salon in Quill Village, New York. His ex-boyfriend, Zane Ward, is a police detective.
Their first case: Welcome to Quill Village, New York, where queer men think with their big knobs, share steamy sex scenes in bathhouses, and hang out at The Diva Club. Things aren't so cute lately in the village, though. When the body of Ben Pieney, the hunky all-star quarterback for the Violators, shows up murdered outside the door of Troy Murdock's hair salon, all hell breaks loose. Of course, Troy is blamed for slicing the jock's throat open and tying his wrists in barbed wire.
Enter Troy's clumsy and alluring ex-boyfriend, Detective Zane Ward, who blackmails Troy to work with him on the Cutie Pie Killer case or go to jail for first-degree murder.
As a slew of queer suspects with rock-hard abs begin to pile up, two more victims are discovered in the city. What follows is a queer murder mystery with much sass, helpful clues, shirtless jocks, and a heated romance between Troy and Zane, who realize they just might make a perfectly cute couple together.
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Title: All Fudged Up
Author: Nancy Coco
Series Character: Allie McMurphy, Candy-Coated
Formats: Mass Market Paperback and ebook
What we know about the character: Allie McMurphy's family has owned the Historic McMurphy Hotel and Fudge Shop on Mackinaw Island for generations.
Her first case: Allie McMurphy is up to her neck in renovations at the grand old hotel. With its quaint Victorian charm — and world-famous fudge shop — the place is one of Mackinac Island's most beloved landmarks. Sure, every family has a skeleton or two in the closet.
But Allie didn't expect to find an actual corpse inside hers, especially one Joe Jessup, who had a long-running feud with her dear departed grandfather. Which makes Allie the number-one suspect. Can she sniff out the culprit before another victim checks in?
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Title: The Green Line
Author: E. C. Diskin
Series Character: Abby Donovan
Formats: Trade Paperback and ebook
What we know about the character: Abby Donovan is a Chicago-based attorney.
Her first case: Abby Donovan's decade-long dream of partnership at her prestigious Chicago law firm is just months from fruition. But after a late-night train mishap drops her into a world of drugs, gangs, murder, and corruption, everything changes. Abby is haunted by what and who she's seen, and the mysterious death of a kind stranger. Though her work suffers, deadlines are missed, and her promotion hangs in the balance, she's compelled to investigate with the help of an unlikely new friend.
But Abby's investigation jeopardizes more than her career. Someone is watching and he's not going to let a nosy lawyer expose his scam.
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Title: Game, Set and Murder
Author: Elizabeth Flynn
Series Character: Angela Costello
Formats: Trade Paperback and ebook
What we know about the character: Angela Costello is a Detective Inspector in London.
Her first case: It's early summer, and the first day of the tennis tournament at Wimbledon. And a dead body is lying on court nineteen.
Newly promoted DI Angela Costello recognizes the dead man as the Croatian champion-turned-coach, Petar Belic. Double grand-slam winner, Petar was one of the bestknown and best-loved players of the modern era.
Petar had a complicated life: an ex-wife who wanted him back; a girlfriend who didn't want to let him go; a business partner with secrets. Then there was the leading Brit, Stewart Bickerstaff, not universally popular with his fellow players, whom Petar had been coaching.
Despite awkward colleagues who are obviously rankled over her promotion, D.I. Costello leads the way through the trail of clues. Unfortunately, she has no way of proving her suspicions.
But a prime suspect has overlooked a vital detail.
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Title: Really Dead
Author: J. E. Forman
Series Character: Ria Butler
Formats: Trade Paperback and ebook
What we know about the character: Ria Butler is a travel writer.
Her first case: Ria is supposed to be looking at blue-footed boobies in the Galapagos. Instead, she circumnavigates her unsettled relationship with investigative reporter Glenn Cooper and flies to the set of the TV show that her brother is producing in the British Virgin Islands. On location, she learns a production assistant has gone missing — only her tattooed foot has been found.
While Ria tries to outwit a killer, Glenn tries to outlast Ria's commitment detour, and a producer tries to outplay the police. When the reality series goes to air, it really does have the most dramatic finale ever — and someone is Really Dead.
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Title: Deadly Catch
Author: E. Michael Helms
Series Character: Mac McClellan
Formats: Trade Paperback and ebook
What we know about the character: Mac McClellan is a recently retired U.S. Marine.
His first case: After twenty-four years in the U.S. Marines, Mac McClellan is happy to be a civilian again. He is enjoying a leisurely fishing vacation in the Florida panhandle when he hooks a badly decomposed body.
Then, when a bag of rare marijuana is discovered stashed aboard his rental boat, he realizes someone is setting him up to take the fall for murder and drug smuggling. Mac's plans for a more laid-back life must be put on hold while he works to clear his name as the number one suspect.
Mac launches an investigation with the help of Kate Bell, a feisty saleslady at the local marina with whom he has struck up a promising relationship. Along the way he must butt heads and match wits with local law enforcement officials, shady politicians, and strong-armed thugs from the Eastern Seaboard to sniff out and bring the real smuggler and killer to justice.
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Title: Death Comes to the Village
Author: Catherine Lloyd
Series Character: Lucy Harrington, Kurland St. Mary
Formats: Trade Paperback and ebook
What we know about the character: Lucy Harrington is the daugher of the Rector of Kurland St. Mary.
Her first case: Major Robert Kurland has returned to the quiet vistas of his village home to recuperate from the horrors of Waterloo. However injured his body may be, his mind is as active as ever. Too active, perhaps. When he glimpses a shadowy figure from his bedroom window struggling with a heavy load, the tranquil facade of the village begins to loom sinister.
Unable to forget the incident, Robert confides in his childhood friend, Miss Lucy Harrington. As the dutiful daughter of the widowed rector, following up on the major's suspicions offers a welcome diversion — but soon presents real danger. Someone is intent on stopping their investigation. And in a place where no one locks their doors, a series of thefts and the disappearance of two young serving girls demands explanation.
As Robert grapples with his difficult recovery, he and Lucy try to unearth the dark truth lurking within the village shadows, and stop a killer waiting to strike again …
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Title: Crime Wave
Author: Rose Pressey
Series Character: Maggie Thomas
Formats: Trade Paperback and ebook
What we know about the character: Maggie Thomas doesn't know the first thing about being a private eye when she quickly discovers that running her uncle's faltering Miami Beach P.I. agency is nothing like watching detective show reruns. Even the private eye app on her iPhone can't help.
Her first case: Maggie's first case is surprisingly easy … or so she thinks until she stumbles upon a dead body. With whizzing bullets, car chases, and spandex-clad bodybuilders, Maggie wonders if she's in over her head. Jake Jackson, the dangerously charming cop, thinks Maggie needs to stick to snapping pictures of cheating husbands and leave the detective work to the professionals.
The danger escalates when another homicide victim washes up on the shore and now someone wants to stop Maggie from solving the murders. With the help of her knitting needle-wielding, orthopedic shoe-wearing assistant Dorothy Raye, Maggie must solve the case before she's the next victim of this crime wave.
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Title: Missing
Author: C. T. Jorgensen
Series Character: Casey Jansen
Formats: Hardcover and ebook
What we know about the character: Casey Jansen is a police detective.
His first case: For five years, Karin Preston kept her daughter a secret. Not even the father knew she existed. Then, for one night, Karin leaves her child with a sitter. The next morning, no one answers the door. Desperate, Karin breaks in. The house is empty and dusty. Detective Casey Jansen says the house has been vacant for years. He sees no evidence of a child, only a hysterical young woman possibly imagining one.
But Karin knows once the police discover who she really is, she will be held for endless questioning and her child will be lost forever. Just as the kidnappers planned.
To save her child, Karin must elude the persistent Detective Jansen and untangle the truth behind a terrible crime.
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Title: Dazzled
Author: Maxine Nunes
Series Character: Nikki Easton
Formats: Hardcover and ebook
What we know about the character: A teenage runaway, Nikki Easton struggles to build a life in Los Angeles and a career in acting.
Her first case: During a brutal L.A. heatwave, four people are murdered in the Hollywood Hills and Nikki Easton's best friend Darla Ward has disappeared. The police think she might be one of the victims.
No stranger to life's rough side, Nikki survived the streets as a teenage runaway and now brings that edge to her acting roles. But she has never seen anything like the battered girl on the gurney. Could this really be Darla, her beautiful face so damaged it looks barely human, her path to stardom ended in the county coroner's morgue.
In her relentless search for the truth, Nikki discovers the hidden side of her friend's life, laying bare secrets buried before Darla was born, and uncovering widening layers of corruption that reach far beyond Hollywood to the highest levels of government.
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For a list of more hardcover mysteries scheduled for publication during November, please visit our New Mysteries home page. If you're interested in new paperbacks, visit The Mystery Bookshelf, where you can discover a library of new mysteries, also updated with November 2013 releases. See also our regularly updated eBook site for new mysteries, suspense novels and thrillers, MysterEbooks.com.
Please also visit the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books where we are committed to providing readers and collectors of mystery books with the best and most current information about their favorite authors, titles, and series.
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