Dear Readers,

It’s Thanksgiving and that means that the commercial holiday known as Black Friday is upon us. If you’d prefer to stay in your jammies and read or just order books from the comfort of your own home, then we have the reading list for you! Peruse our holiday book list and pick up all your favorites!
Thank you to all our readers – we hope that you’re all warm and safe and that your To Be Read pile is within easy reach!

The Stiletto Gang

Black Friday Gift List

	Sparkle Abby Buy on: Amazon • Barnes & Noble • iTunes Downton Tabby When Laguna Beach pet therapist Caro Lamont’s newest client, Internet billionaire Graham Cash, leaves his Scottish Fold cat, Kenzy in Caro’s care, she believes he’s coming right back. Not only does Cash not return, his partner, Jake Wylie, is found murdered and suddenly it’s not clear whether Kenzy’s owner is on the run from a killer or is a killer. Homicide detective Judd Malone is on the case, but suddenly everyone is sharing secrets with Caro and she finds herself in the middle of a game of cat and mouse. It seems someone let the cat out of the bag and now not even the cat-sitter is safe. Raiders of the Lost Bark When Bow Wow Boutique owner Melinda Langston’s assistant, Betty Fox, surprises her with a week-long canine “glamping” adventure, Mel is a little reluctant to pitch a tent in the middle of nowhere-land. Especially when Orange County’s hottest gourmet pet chef, Addison Rae, will be their private chef for the week. Addison is writing a cookbook and has been pressuring Mel to sell it at the boutique. And Addison isn’t above a little blackmail to get her way. So when Addison is found dead, Mel’s just one of many suspects who had motive to snuff out the demanding chef. Mel’s warned not to get involved but as usual she’s is not one to tuck tail and run. Even when it looks like she may be next.
	Sally Berneathy Buy on: Amazon • Barnes & Noble • iTunes • Kobo • Google • Audible Audio (Audio also available from Amazon) Death by Chocolate Lindsay’s only secret is the recipe for her chocolate chip cookies, but she is surrounded by neighbors with deadly secrets. Suddenly Lindsay finds herself battling poisoned chocolate, a dead man who doesn’t seem very dead and a psycho stalker. Lindsay needs more than a chocolate fix to survive all this chaos.
	Juliana Aragón Fatula Buy on: Amazon • Conundrum Press “Juliana Aragón Fatula writes histories so terrifying they feel as if they were written with a knife. She writes with craft and courage about what most folks are too ashamed to even think about, let alone talk about. Her fearlessness is inspirational. This is the kind of poetry I want to read; this is the kind I want to write. She makes me feel like writing poetry!” — Sandra Cisneros
	Paffi S. Flood Buy on: Amazon Twenty-five-year-old fraternal twins, Naomi and Penelope Dotson, discover the dead bodies of their parents in the lake house on the edge of Centerville. While still in shock, the twins strive to discover the murderer and are drawn into two other related investigations—the kidnapping of nine-year-old Jamie Reed and the disappearance of Keith Evans, a deadbeat dad. When a car tries to run the twins down, they know they are getting close to the truth. In the process of chasing these criminals, they learn it’s hard to run in high heel shoes.
	Debra H. Goldstein Buy on: Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Walmart Attorney Carrie Martin’s balancing of her job and visiting her father at the Sunshine Village retirement home is upset when her mother reappears, twenty-six years after abandoning her family. Carrie’s mother leaves her with a sealed envelope and the confession she once considered killing Carrie’s father. Before Carrie can find answers about her past, her mother is murdered. Instructed to leave the sleuthing to the police, Carrie’s continued efforts quickly put her at odds with her former lover—the detective assigned to her mother’s case. As Carrie and her co-sleuths, the Sunshine Village Mah jongg players, attempt to unravel Wahoo, Alabama’s past secrets in this fast paced cozy mystery, their efforts put Carrie in danger and show her that truth and integrity aren’t always what she was taught to believe.
	Kimberly Jayne Buy on: Amazon Take My Husband, Please! If you could teach your ex-husband a lesson, would you? After Sophie files for divorce from Will, his unexpected financial apocalypse brings him back under her roof. Awkward! And if that’s not bad enough, Sophie’s new guy—a sexy and successful entrepreneur—is not keen on dating her without proof that Will is truly out of the picture. Sophie and her best friend concoct a brilliant bet to keep Will “occupied,” but things take a surprise turn for the crazy when Sophie gets roped into sending her ex on five blind dates! You’ll laugh, you’ll cry. You might even want to take her husband!
	Kay Kendall Buy on: Amazon • Barnes & Noble • iTunes Kay Kendall’s Rainy Day Women is the second book in the Austin Starr Mystery series. In 1969, during the week of the Manson murders and Woodstock, the intrepid amateur sleuth, infant in tow, flies across the continent to support a friend suspected of murdering women’s liberation activists in Seattle and Vancouver. Then her former CIA trainer warns that an old enemy has contracted a hit on her. Her anxious husband demands that she give up her quest and fly back to him. How much should Austin risk when tracking the killer puts her and her baby’s life in danger?
	Bethany Maines Buy on: Amazon • Barnes & Noble • iTunes Wild Waters His duty. Her secrets. The mission that brings them together will tear them apart. In the steamy jungle of 1960’s era Vietnam, when a team of Navy SEALs are brought together with a pair of reporters, no one is prepared for the explosive secrets their encounter will reveal. Lt. Ben Kolley, former WWII frogman, leads one of the first teams of Navy SEALs, including the elusive point-man with an uncanny sense of the water – Catch. The reporters, a drunken writer, and Kahele, a female photographer with dark eyes and an even darker secret are the first allowed to interview a SEAL team. But neither Kahele or Catch are prepared to discover an attraction for each other that’s like nothing they’ve ever experienced. Soon, Catch is breaking all the rules to be with her, and Kahele finds herself entangled by a passion she’s never felt before. But for Ben, Kahele dredges up horrifying memories of an old mission – one where not all of his team returned. Can Kahele be trusted or is she the monster Ben fears? The clock is ticking, and soon all their lives may depend on Ben.
	Julie Mulhern Buy on: Amazon • Barnes & Noble • iTunes • Kobo Send in the Clowns Haunted houses are scary enough without knife-wielding clowns. Especially murderous knife-wielding clowns. So thinks Ellison Russell, single mother, artist, and reluctant sleuth. Now death wears a red nose and Ellison is up to the blood-stained collar of her new trench coat in costumes, caffeine, and possible killers. Who stabbed Brooks Harney? And why? Money? Jealousy? Drugs? With Mother meddling, her father furious, and her date dragged downtown for questioning, turns out Ellison’s only confidante is Mr. Coffee.
	J.M. Phillippe Buy on: Amazon • Barnes & Noble Perfection can haunt you. Quick-witted 24-year-old Allyson Smart is the perfect woman — in her dreams. In real life, Ally has to deal with the clumsiness of her size-16 body, the good intentions of her over-achiever best-friend, and the condescending attitude of her too-cool little sister. But when the fantasized version of herself shows up in her bathroom mirror, calling herself Allison (with an i because she says it’s prettier), Ally discovers how cruel perfection can be. In this contemporary fantasy novel, Ally learns that perfection really can haunt you.
	A.B. Plum Buy on: Amazon The Misfit – The Early Years An eleven-year-old prodigy bullied by his older brother, rejected by his icy mother, and ignored by his absent father retaliates with the creativity of a budding psychopath.
	Linda Rodriguez Buy on: Amazon Plotting the Character-Driven Novel In Plotting the Character-Driven Novel, Linda Rodriguez turns her sought-after writing course on using depth of character as a springboard to a strong plot into a book designed to help the aspiring writer who wants to tell a story made compelling by the truth and complexity of its characters. She provides examples of actual documents she has used in creating her own award-winning books to demonstrate the methods she teaches. Great plot springs from character and the motivations each character has for taking or not taking action. With this book, you will learn to create an exciting and complex plot, building from the integrity of the characters you create.