Safely Buried by John Pesta

Safely Buried by John Pesta is not a cozy mystery.

Phil Larrison, a reporter/editor for The Gleaner, starts off innocently enough by picking up a lady, Paula Henry, clumping along the road with a cast on her broken leg. After she directs him to an out-of-the-way house where her friends live, he helps her get into the house after no one answers the door. The two of them find the residents upstairs in the bathroom in a badly decomposed state. Phil calls the police and Paula disappears.

While trying to get a story for the newspaper, Phil uncovers an intricately woven web of criminal cover-ups and corruption. Blackmail, illegal drugs and chemicals (not what you may be thinking), child abuse, and more deaths come to light - all of them supposed to be "Safely Buried".

John Pesta writes from a local perspective. Meridian County is our Jackson County. I will leave you to figure out which town he calls Campbellsville and which is Brickton. Maybe you will even recognize the area called Blind Horse Hollow where most of the action takes place.

Once I got into the story, I had trouble turning out the light before I finished the book.

Kathi Linz

Apple Turnover Murder by Joanne Fluke

In Apple Turnover Murder by Joanne Fluke, Hannah Swensen does more baking at home than she does in her bakery, The Cookie Jar. When Hannah is stressed, she bakes, and in this book, she has plenty of cause for stress.

Hannah's sister, Andrea, is terrified that her husband is going to accept a job offer in Florida. Hannah's younger sister, Michelle, moves in with her. Norman goes away for a few days, leaving his cat with Hannah. She is recruited to be a magician's assistant for a friend during a huge city-wide event for which she is also baking hundreds of cookies and apple turnovers. On top of that, the man who caused Hannah damage in college and is now dating her sister, ends up murdered right after Hannah threatens him in front of witnesses.

I will not tell you the end. But...both Norman and Mike surprise Hannah... and not necessarily in a way that makes her happy. And there are some excellent new recipes.