Peach Clobbered

May 1, 2019
A divorce and a life change turn out much weirder than a new B&B owner could ever have imagined in this series kickoff from the prolific Gerard (Fool's Moon, 2018, etc.). Using her settlement from her golf pro ex-husband, Nina Fleet buys a lovely Queen Anne house in Cymbeline, Georgia, where she lives with her Australian shepherd, Mattie, who protects her from the likes of Harry Westcott, who claims his great-aunt was planning on leaving the place to him. Arriving at Nina's house wearing a penguin suit on a 90-degree day, he passes out on her porch. It turns out that he's the mascot of the Taste-Tee-Freeze Creamery, a hunky if annoying guy who claims to be an actor. Although he appreciates Nina's hospitality, Harry still plans to see her in court. Meanwhile, Mayor Melissa Jane Green, who'd refused to grant Nina a zoning change to start a B&B, asks if she can open the business the very next day to accommodate some nuns kicked out of their convent by developer Gregory Bainbridge. After hustling to prepare the rooms, Nina joins the nuns' protest against Bainbridge the following day. During their lunch break, a tourist begs Nina to help another man dressed as a penguin who's been stabbed in a nearby alley. Once the paramedics cut the suit off, they realize the victim is Gregory Bainbridge. So was the killer after Harry, who claims he's being stalked by a crazy fan, or Gregory, who's crossed many of the town's citizens? Even though she's a newcomer, Nina manages to pick up plenty of gossip and assistance when she decides to do a little sleuthing. Harry needs a place to stay in town and strikes a deal with Nina to move into a tower room she didn't know existed, and the delightful nuns have a lot of insight to offer even though they're all suspects. Filled with Southern charm and enough ditzy characters to keep readers guessing and laughing.

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May 6, 2019
This bright and breezy series launch from Gerard (the Black Cat Bookshop mysteries, as Ali Brandon) introduces Nina (pronounced Nine-ah) Fleet, a divorcée who moves from Atlanta to Cymbeline, Ga., where she impulsively buys a historic Queen Anne house. Soon afterward, Harry Westcott, an aspiring actor and current mascot for an ice cream company, arrives at her door dressed as a penguin, claiming that the executor of his great-aunt’s will wasn’t authorized to sell Nina the house. After he leaves, Cymbeline’s mayor arrives with the Sisters of Perpetual Poverty. Developer Gregory Bainbridge, the most hated man in town, has evicted the nuns from their convent. The mayor offers to fast-track permission for Nina to turn her house into a B&B if she agrees to immediately take in the nuns. When Bainbridge turns up dead wearing a penguin costume, things get complicated. Gerard provides it all: well-drawn characters, pithy dialogue, and enough twists and turns and shifts of motive to keep cozy fans happily playing the whodunit game. Agent: Josh Getzler, HSG Agency.

June 1, 2019
After divorcing her philandering husband, Nina Fleet moves from Atlanta to small-town Cymbeline, Georgia, where she purchases a historic home she hopes to turn into a bed-and-breakfast. Unfortunately, Harry Westcott, great-nephew of the deceased former owner, arrives at the house in a penguin suit insisting his great-aunt wrote him saying she was leaving the house to him, and he wants Nina to leave. Complicating matters further, the mayor asks Nina to house six nuns who have been evicted from their convent by unscrupulous real-estate developer Gregory Bainbridge. Nina refuses Harry's demand for her to leave the house, but the two join forces when Bainbridge is murdered while wearing the penguin suit, and Harry becomes a person of interest. Murder suspects abound, ranging from one of the nuns to the numerous people Bainbridge cheated. Humor, an engaging cast, interesting details about running a B&B, and the nicely evoked small-town Georgia setting distinguish this cozy.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)