The Cotswolds. Leta Parker is happy the holidays are here again. Looking forward to a little relaxation after a harrowing murder case, the fifty-something widow can't wait to unwrap gifts with her beau. But the Yuletide cheer turns sour when her delightful doggo Dickens dashes out the door with a canine companion and doesn't return.

Leta Parker's retirement in the Cotswolds' rolling hills has been a balm for her soul. And heading off with her friends and talking four-legged companions to a cat yoga retreat on the cliffs of Cornwall's Arthurian coastline seems like the perfect mix of relaxation and exploration. But when a fellow yogi's corpse pose nearly becomes permanent, Leta believes it's no stretch to suspect foul play.

Bells, Tails & Murder is the delightful first book in the Dickens & Christie Mystery series. If you like spunky literary women, amusing animal sidekicks, and inviting cultural backdrops, then you'll love Kathy Manos Penn's engaging cozy mysteries.

Torquay, Southwest England. Leta Parker can't wait to reconnect with her boyfriend. After a year of long-distance, she couldn't be happier to join him at a literary crime festival. But on the event's second night, she gets embroiled in a real-life murder mystery when a dead body is found . . .

Leta Parker's fit-and-fifty reinvention in the Cotswolds continues rolling along fabulously. Happy among her new friends and talking dog and cat, the sharp-minded expat is delighted to learn the prestigious Tour of Britain will pedal through the quaint village next year. But everyone's excitement quickly crashes when the news is accompanied by a dead body.

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The Chilson Library bookmobile has a new stop on its route: Honey Hollow Adult Foster Care. When Minnie learns that Honey Hollow is just down the road from an enclave of gorgeous Victorian homes, she decides she just has to take a look, especially after she learns that a Honey Hollow resident used to clean identical houses that stood side by side, and were owned by twin siblings. But when Minnie and Eddie and the bookmobile take their scenic detour, Eddie uncharacteristically escapes from the bookmobile—and finds a woman in the woods, horribly wounded with an arrow.

Fleeing a disastrous love affair, university librarian Amy Webber moves in with her aunt in a quiet mountain town in Virginia. She quickly busies herself with managing a charming public library that requires all her attention with its severe lack of funds and overabundance of eccentric patrons. The last thing she needs is a new, available neighbor whose charm lures her into trouble. Dancer-turned-teacher and choreographer Richard Muir inherited the farmhouse next door from his great-uncle, Paul Dassin. But town folklore claims the house's original owner was poisoned by his wife.

As a storyteller, Maureen Nash can't help but see the narrative cues woven through her life. Like the series of letters addressed to her late husband from a stranger—the proprietor of The Moon Shell, a shop on Ocracoke Island, off the coast of North Carolina. The store is famous with shell collectors, but it's the cryptic letters from Allen Withrow, the shop's owner, that convince Maureen to travel to the small coastal town in the middle of hurricane season. At the very least, she expects she'll get a good story out of the experience, never anticipating it could end up a murder mystery.

Clare Cosi used to manage the historic Village Blend coffeehouse…until she opted for quieter pastures and a more suburban life. But after ten years and a little friendly cajoling from the owner (a fresh pot of Jamaican Blue Mountain was all it took), she's back to the grind. With a sprawling rent-free apartment directly above the Village Blend, her cat Java by her side, and plenty of coffeehouse redecorating ideas, Clare is thrilled to return to work. Until she discovers the assistant manager unconscious in the back of the store, coffee grounds strewn everywhere.