What could be more fun than a masked ball? And it started out that way, but you know that wouldn't last. In fact, it happens soon after Kitty arrives with a report from one of the house staff that there's been an accident, some one has taken a tumble down the stairs. It was an earl, and he is dead. When her good friend, Lord Newcastle, becomes the prime suspect, Kitty gathers her team (and what a great team it is!) to prove his innocence. Murder at the Masked Ball is book 3 in the Kitty Worthington Mystery series by Magda Alexander.

Lot's of family secrets play into this mystery, The Vile Narrows, by Jackie Elliott. Bad and sad things from the past, dinosaurs, and religion. The first body is curious enough, it belongs to a visiting professor, what is the connection to the community? And then an elderly man, across the Narrows, is also killed. Turns out, he was the father of the first victim. Andi's father is the prime suspect, but he is missing. She knows he didn't do it, but needs to prove it. This is part of the Coffin Cove Mystery series. The blurb on the covers says it best "a gripping murder mystery full of twists."

Reading Hermit With Dog