In Ann Cleeves’ 10th Vera Stanhope mystery, The Rising Tide, the same group of friends have been meeting regularly for the last fifty years. They reunite at Holy Island off the coast in Northumberland —a place connected to the mainland by a causeway that is covered twice a day by the tide. They are there to celebrate the school trip where they all first met as teens and to remember the friend that they lost to those same deadly tidewaters at their first reunion.

In present day, on their first morning together, one from their group is found hanged. Rick Kelsall, a local celebrity and former journalist who was recently fired due to sexual assault complaints, is suspected to have committed suicide. When Northumberland Inspector Vera Stanhope is called in, she immediately suspects foul play and is more than a little delighted when she learns that the man has been murdered after all.

Vera’s team, family man Sergeant Joe Ashworth and Constable Holly Clarke join her as Vera leans there is more to the story than she thought. Soon, another member of the schoolmates has been killed and things get even more complex when Vera learns that the group has ties to her own Police Chief Commissioner Katherine Willmore. Vera, tenacious, intuitive and often underestimated, will get the killer, even if it’s one of her own.

Purists will want to start with book 1, The Crow Trap, but otherwise, don’t be afraid to jump right in with this latest entry in an award-winning police procedural series. With its atmospheric setting with its dangers of the rising tide, a complex plot filled with twists and turns and an absolute shocker of an ending that left me speechless, The Rising Tide is not to be missed.

-Carol

Raised by her Navy Admiral father, spoiled-rotten social influencer Maddy Montgomery’s life is pretty cushy until she is left at the altar by her successful doctor fiancé, and her dreams of being the perfect housewife are dashed. Coincidentally, Maddy has just inherited her Great-Aunt Octavia’s home and bakery. Because Octavia lived in New Bison, Michigan and not L. A., Maddy decides she will sell the lot to get back on her feet.

Upon arriving in New Bison to handle the sale, however, Maddy learns that her inheritance has strings attached. Per Octavia’s will, Maddy must live in the house and run the bakery for a full year before selling. Octavia has also left Maddy a not-so-little something else – in the form of a loving and fiercely protective, 200-pound slobbering English Mastiff named Baby!

Maddy doesn’t know the first thing about dogs, and she can’t even boil an egg. Lucky for her, she is welcomed with open arms by the delightful group of workers at Baby Cakes Bakery. They’ll even let Maddy continue hosting their monthly Sherlock Holmes mystery club and try to teach her to bake. But not everyone is happy that Maddy has come to town, and within 36 hours of her arrival, she is accused of murder and will need all the help she can get solving the crime.

Two Parts Sugar, One Part Murder by Valerie Burns is a delightful cozy mystery with a well-developed cast of characters, plenty of humor, delicious recipes to try at home and the most adorable giant dog I’ve read about in a long time. Don’t miss this fantastic start to a new series that will leave you eagerly awaiting the sequel.

-Carol