Reading right now:

            “Ghost of a Potion” by Heather Blake. This is the third in Blake’s Magic Potion mystery series with Carly Bell Hartwell. Carly owns a potion shop where her customers are always satisfied unless murder interferes. All the characters in the series are interesting including the Southern setting which adds to the overall charm of the books. You really can’t go wrong reading these paranormal mystery cozies. Carly’s latest investigation starts off at a Halloween party where a local architect is going to make a big announcement. Unfortunately, he’s found dead with Carly’s boyfriend’s Mother standing over him with the murder weapon in hand. While Carly attempts to clear her boyfriend’s Mother, she is distracted by persistent ghosts that flock around her (which happens in greater numbers during the Halloween season).

On hold right now:

            “Bread of the Dead” by Ann Myers. This is the first of a new series set in Santa Fe where Tres Amigas Café chef Rita Lafitte is preparing for the Day of the Dead. When her landlord is found dead, she is convinced that the police are wrong when they say it is a suicide and starts snooping around with the help of her boss. Unfortunately, it seems that a great many people might have wanted her landlord dead and when one of her suspects winds up dead she starts wondering if she might be next.

Other mysterious things:

            Almost every paranormal series has at least one book that takes place around Halloween for obvious reasons, but many mystery writers have written Halloween themed mysteries. The latest Murder, She Wrote mystery is one such book (“The Ghost and Mrs. Fletcher” by Donald Bain). This month Kathi Daley’s “Ghostly Graveyard” will be the 17^th in the Zoe Donovan series. Also coming out this month the third book in Leigh Perry’s excellent Family Skeleton series is Halloween themed and is called “The Skeleton Haunts a House.” Other Halloween themed books that have come out in the past include, “Candy Corn Murder” by Leslie Meier, “The Legend of Sleepy Hallow” by Kylie Logan, “A Flame in the Wind of Death” by Jen J. Danna, “Death of a Neighborhood Witch” by Laura Levine, “Bone to be Wild” by Carolyn Haines, Donna Andrews’ “Lord of the Wings,” Judith Ivie’s “Dirty Tricks,” Susan Wittig Albert’s “Witches Bane,” Rita Mae Brown’s “The Hunt Ball,” W.J. Burley’s “Wycliffe and the Scapegoat,” “Hallowed Bones” by Carolyn Haines, “Trick or Treat Murder” and “Wicked Witch Murder” by Leslie Meier, “Hallowe’en Party” by Agatha Christie, “Death of a Neighborhood Witch” by Laura Levine, Isis Crawford’s “A Catered Halloween,”