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Cookies & Chance Mystery #5.5 - A Drizzle Before Dying
Pushing Up Daisies
Spring into fun with these spring themed short stories by New York Times USA Today bestselling and award winning authors! Enjoy a little mystery, a hint of romance, and a lot of laughter with these shorts from some of Gemma Halliday Publishing's bestselling series.
Stories
The Missing Laughing Leprechaun (a Mini Martin Mystery) by Gemma Halliday Jackson Stein
Fishing Badge Murder (a Merry Wrath Mystery) by Leslie Langtry
A Drizzle Before Dying (a Cookies Chance Mystery) by Catherine Bruns
Not-So-Bright Hopes (a Danger Cove Quilting Mystery) by Gin Jones Elizabeth Ashby
Mystic Wedding Bell Blues (a Mystic Isle Mystery) by Sally J. Smith Jean Steffens
Prugnolino Purple (a Franki Amato Mystery) by Traci Andrighetti
Spring Ahead (an Romance romantic comedy) by Barbara Valentin
Rhinestone Ransom (a ¬¬¬¬¬Gemstone Mystery) by Jennifer Fischetto
Strawberry Swirl Suspicion (a Cambria Clyne Mystery) by Erin Huss
That Dog Won't Hunt (A Birdwell, Texas Mystery) by Aimee Gilchrist
Second Chances (a romantic comedy) by Jayne Denker
Making a Date with Magic (a Petra Paranormal Mystery) by Margaret C. Morse
Sailing into Love (a Love in the City romantic comedy) by Melissa Baldwin
Stories
The Missing Laughing Leprechaun (a Mini Martin Mystery) by Gemma Halliday Jackson Stein
Fishing Badge Murder (a Merry Wrath Mystery) by Leslie Langtry
A Drizzle Before Dying (a Cookies Chance Mystery) by Catherine Bruns
Not-So-Bright Hopes (a Danger Cove Quilting Mystery) by Gin Jones Elizabeth Ashby
Mystic Wedding Bell Blues (a Mystic Isle Mystery) by Sally J. Smith Jean Steffens
Prugnolino Purple (a Franki Amato Mystery) by Traci Andrighetti
Spring Ahead (an Romance romantic comedy) by Barbara Valentin
Rhinestone Ransom (a ¬¬¬¬¬Gemstone Mystery) by Jennifer Fischetto
Strawberry Swirl Suspicion (a Cambria Clyne Mystery) by Erin Huss
That Dog Won't Hunt (A Birdwell, Texas Mystery) by Aimee Gilchrist
Second Chances (a romantic comedy) by Jayne Denker
Making a Date with Magic (a Petra Paranormal Mystery) by Margaret C. Morse
Sailing into Love (a Love in the City romantic comedy) by Melissa Baldwin
- GenresShort Stories
466 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 31, 2017
About the author
Gemma Halliday
83 books1,895 followersGemma had a hard time figuring out what she wanted to be when she grew up. She worked as a film and television actress, a teddy bear importer, a department store administrator, a preschool teacher, a temporary tattoo artist, and a 900 number psychic, before finally selling her first book, Spying in High Heels, in 2005 and deciding to be a writer.
Since then, Gemma has written several mystery novels and been the recipient of numerous awards, including a National Reader's Choice award and three RITA nominations. Her books have hit both the USA Today and the New York Times Bestseller lists.
Gemma now makes her home in the San Francisco Bay area where she is hard at work on her next book.
Since then, Gemma has written several mystery novels and been the recipient of numerous awards, including a National Reader's Choice award and three RITA nominations. Her books have hit both the USA Today and the New York Times Bestseller lists.
Gemma now makes her home in the San Francisco Bay area where she is hard at work on her next book.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 25, 2018
From the first page any cozy mystery lover is going to like the book. So many great stories to keep the reader turning the pages. There are 14 authors who share a little bit about their series. Don’t let the snippets fool you this will give you a sense of what the authors are like and you might just get a glimpse of a new author or two for you.
I don’t want to give anything away but trust me when I say you are going to love this book.
I don’t want to give anything away but trust me when I say you are going to love this book.
April 19, 2018
Spring Heralds Mayhem and Murder with 5+/5 Bunches of Delightful Daisies!
Many coziholics, especially me, love multi-author collections because you get to enjoy all at once short snippets of several author’s full-length series and often see the characters in a different predicament. Gemma Halliday Publishing has joined together fourteen of their popular “cozy” authors sharing a short look into their series…cozies, mysteries, and romantic comedies! But don't let “short” cause you to shy away from this collection, each story is well-written with a depth in its storyline that is very engaging along with continued entertainment of a plethora of rich characters from each author. It's a delightful “cozy” smorgasbord!
I was very excited to revisit some of my favorite authors—Sally J. Smith and Jean Steffens, Catherine Bruns, Leslie Langtry, Gin Jones, Jennifer Fischetto, Gemma Halliday and Jackson Stein, and Traci Andrighetti—enjoying favorite themes, settings, and characters. It's been a great introduction to authors I have yet tried leading me to click “Like” on their Facebook pages. But, it is important to note that as a newbie, I was never out of the loop. It was easy to join in and change my newbie status to fans of Barbara Valentin, Erin Huss, Aimee Gilchrist, Jayne Denver, Margaret C. Morse, Carol E. Ayer, and Melissa Baldwin. So many authors, so many delightful reads, such a wonderful time!
Many coziholics, especially me, love multi-author collections because you get to enjoy all at once short snippets of several author’s full-length series and often see the characters in a different predicament. Gemma Halliday Publishing has joined together fourteen of their popular “cozy” authors sharing a short look into their series…cozies, mysteries, and romantic comedies! But don't let “short” cause you to shy away from this collection, each story is well-written with a depth in its storyline that is very engaging along with continued entertainment of a plethora of rich characters from each author. It's a delightful “cozy” smorgasbord!
I was very excited to revisit some of my favorite authors—Sally J. Smith and Jean Steffens, Catherine Bruns, Leslie Langtry, Gin Jones, Jennifer Fischetto, Gemma Halliday and Jackson Stein, and Traci Andrighetti—enjoying favorite themes, settings, and characters. It's been a great introduction to authors I have yet tried leading me to click “Like” on their Facebook pages. But, it is important to note that as a newbie, I was never out of the loop. It was easy to join in and change my newbie status to fans of Barbara Valentin, Erin Huss, Aimee Gilchrist, Jayne Denver, Margaret C. Morse, Carol E. Ayer, and Melissa Baldwin. So many authors, so many delightful reads, such a wonderful time!
August 17, 2018
In Progress -
The Missing Laughing Leprechaun by Halliday and Stein:
The leprechaun sign has disappeared from the town's Irish bar. Is it students or someone else? Do I care? No. Whiny MC, boring story. Barely stars
Fishing Badge Murder by Langtry: Merry Wrath is a CIA agent turned Girl Scout leader who finds dead bodies. I really enjoyed this amusing story, it had interesting characters and a nicely moving plot, and I would happily read more. 4 stars
A Drizzle Before Dying by Bruns: Ok, but nothing out of the ordinary. The solution to the mystery felt like an old Encyclopedia Brown story - really quick and not really having anything to do with the rest of the story. I might read something else by this author but I wouldn't search it out. 2 stars
Not-So-Bright Hopes by Ashby: I'm a quilter who has attended and volunteered at a few quilt shows, so this mystery set at a quilt show should be right up my alley. Unfortunately I thought it was rather dull. It might appeal to other readers; I wanted to like it but just couldn't. 1.5 stars
Mystic Wedding Bell Blues by Steffens: Not bad story but the writing was stilted and the book suffered from my just having read two in an amusing mystery series set in the bayous of Louisiana. That one is much better.
Prugnolino Purple by Andrighetti
Spring Ahead by Valentin
Rhinestone Ransom by Fischetto
Strawberry Swirl Suspicion by Huss
That Dog Won't Hunt by Gilchrist
Second Chances by Denker
Making a Date with Magic by Morse
Daisies, Dandelions, and Death...Oh My! by Ayer
Sailing into Love by Baldwin
The Missing Laughing Leprechaun by Halliday and Stein:
The leprechaun sign has disappeared from the town's Irish bar. Is it students or someone else? Do I care? No. Whiny MC, boring story. Barely stars
Fishing Badge Murder by Langtry: Merry Wrath is a CIA agent turned Girl Scout leader who finds dead bodies. I really enjoyed this amusing story, it had interesting characters and a nicely moving plot, and I would happily read more. 4 stars
A Drizzle Before Dying by Bruns: Ok, but nothing out of the ordinary. The solution to the mystery felt like an old Encyclopedia Brown story - really quick and not really having anything to do with the rest of the story. I might read something else by this author but I wouldn't search it out. 2 stars
Not-So-Bright Hopes by Ashby: I'm a quilter who has attended and volunteered at a few quilt shows, so this mystery set at a quilt show should be right up my alley. Unfortunately I thought it was rather dull. It might appeal to other readers; I wanted to like it but just couldn't. 1.5 stars
Mystic Wedding Bell Blues by Steffens: Not bad story but the writing was stilted and the book suffered from my just having read two in an amusing mystery series set in the bayous of Louisiana. That one is much better.
Prugnolino Purple by Andrighetti
Spring Ahead by Valentin
Rhinestone Ransom by Fischetto
Strawberry Swirl Suspicion by Huss
That Dog Won't Hunt by Gilchrist
Second Chances by Denker
Making a Date with Magic by Morse
Daisies, Dandelions, and Death...Oh My! by Ayer
Sailing into Love by Baldwin
August 16, 2018
A few new to me authors, a few I've read before. I found this box set to just not be all that interesting, save for a couple of stories.
September 20, 2018
Nice Anthology
Good easy read. Great beach book. Read when you want happy endings even when the stories can get somewhat dark.
Good easy read. Great beach book. Read when you want happy endings even when the stories can get somewhat dark.
August 29, 2019
Fun quick reads.
Lots of quirky characters and twists and turns in story lines. A good summer beach read while listening to the ocean. Recommend.
Lots of quirky characters and twists and turns in story lines. A good summer beach read while listening to the ocean. Recommend.
April 20, 2023
It took a long time to finish this collection. Some stories were really good, others were just ok. Worth it to pick it up for the good ones.
August 30, 2018
The stories range between delightful and all right but enough are really good that the book is worth full prices.
May 5, 2018
Short stories to win your heart. You’ll find a little bit of everything you’ll want in Cozies: romance, mystery, & a bit of paranormal. Get this. You’ll love having so many stories to fill your hours.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews