Hi, all, just updating you that ICED OVER, the second book in the Barks & Beans Cafe cozy mystery series has just released today! You can find it in softcover and ebook format here: https://www.amazon.com/Iced-Over-Barks-Beans-Mystery-ebook/dp/B08651VYB3. Also, it’s in Kindle Unlimited. The softcover will soon be available at other online retailers like Books a Million and Barnes & Noble online, so watch for it there if you don’t want to order from Amazon.

This mystery is perfect if you’re suffering from the heat, because it’s set on Black Friday and in December! Enjoy a little snow and ice with this read set in the Appalachian mountains!

Here’s a little snippet from the beginning of the book:

ICED OVER

1

If ever there were a perfect anchor for our Thanksgiving table, it was Great Aunt Athaleen’s blue Carnival glass bowl. Cradling its weighty base, I carefully set it on the runner I’d smoothed out earlier. Thanksgiving this year would be so different with Auntie A gone, but I took a moment to be grateful my brother Boaz and I would be celebrating it here in the family home.

The truth was, I owed Bo for talking me into moving back to our hometown in Lewisburg, West Virginia. He was the one who’d renovated the front of Auntie A’s house into a cafe and invited me to live in the back half.

He’d lured me in with dogs, of course. I ran the “Barks” half of the Barks & Beans Cafe, and Bo ran the cafe section. With my dog instincts and his coffee bean connections, it had turned out to be the perfect match. The cafe had only been open since September, but we’d already had to hire another employee just to keep up with business.

My black Great Dane, Coal, shot me a polite and somewhat apologetic look from his pillow in the living room. The moment I’d started bustling around the table, he’d sat back on his haunches and made a rather Herculean effort to ignore me. His casual act didn’t fool me. We both knew that if I took the time to set the table, food would show up soon—most likely arriving with Bo, who was the cook in the family.

I’d surprised myself, though, by giving into a wild urge to replicate Auntie A’s mashed potatoes for the Thanksgiving meal. After several failed attempts, I’d finally gotten my potatoes mashed to perfection, blended with just enough milk, salt and pepper, and butter. I had a bowl of potatoes sitting in the microwave, waiting for the guests to arrive, at which point I’d heat them and drown them in even more butter.

To expand upon my mashed potato offering this Thanksgiving, I’d made yeast rolls and warmed a couple of cans of Auntie A’s canned applesauce. The rolls were turning a lovely golden brown, and the house smelled of apples, cinnamon, and bread—a heady combination that seemed just right.

Thankfully, Bo was handling the turkey, as well as the stuffing and gravy. Our pet shelter owner friend, Summer Adkins, was bringing a tossed salad and a couple of pies for dessert. Bo and I had agreed that we needed to invite a third party, simply because we’d celebrated the holiday for so many years with the two of us and Auntie A. We were used to cooking for three.

Something thudded against my back door.

“Let me in!” Bo’s hands were likely too full to ring the doorbell, which was just as well since it tended to send Coal into a frenzy.

“Coming!” I shot a look at Coal, who continued to feign indifference by focusing on a ladybug crawling on the wall. I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Stay,” I commanded, although he was well-trained enough that he didn’t even need me to say it. He already knew it was Bo, and that no matter how big and intimidating my brother looked, he was not to bark at him.

Feeling like some Thanksgiving dinner? I know I am! I hope you can pick up and enjoy this mystery, filled with dogs and a wild little kitty, too!

Also, Book 3 in the series, FAIR TRADE, is now up for preorder! This one is set at the West Virginia state fair! You can pick that up here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08C69SN7L

I hope you are continuing to enjoy getting to know siblings Macy and Bo Hatfield–I know I am!

-Heather