Death by Spiced Chai. Alex Erickson. 2022. Kensington Cozies. 320 pages. [Source: ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.] Sometimes the smallest things intrigue me, and Death by Spiced Chai  pulled me in from its title because it’s one of my favorite drinks.  What I hadn’t expected was that I’d be starting a series in book ten, and I happen to be one of those (un)fortunate souls who needs all of the backstory. So I started back at one, with Death by Coffee, which introduces Krissy Hancock, her new bookstore of the same name, and the cast of characters that makes up the small town of Pine Hills, Ohio. Throughout the series, she finds her way into the middle of murder investigations and is an unlikely, yet effective, detective who simultaneously fumbles her way through romance, friendship, and establishing a life half a country away from home. In Death by Spiced Chai, Krissy instead finds herself on the wrong side of the law. A series of mysterious incidents have the townsfolk turning against and her already shaky reputation on the downswing. When she ends up suspected in the murder of a bookstore cafe customer with whom she was seen arguing only…

Killer Cupcakes. Leighann Dobbs. 2012. 97 pages. [Source: Personal copy.] I’ve been seeing the genre “cozy mystery” bouncing around a bit, particularly at a crochet group I’m in at my local library (it’s lit, I promise). I finally decided to give the genre a try because it comes highly regarded as a balance of murder, humor, and romance wrapped up in a less emotionally charged package than I’m used to. This book is part of a series and I bought the last book for free. I never start with the last book, and I was lucky that the first was available for free as well. Nice advertising ploy by the author — the other 13 books are paid only, but are inexpensive at about $1 apiece. Killer Cupcakes follows a small-town bakery owner whose ex-boyfriend is murdered using a batch of poisoned cupcakes from her shop. Of course, she’s a prime suspect. Lexy’s aim is to find the killer to clear her name, but more importantly, reopen her bakery. Her neighbor, Jack, happens to be the local officer investigating the murder, and of course, they have an undeniable attraction to each other that complicates things. Since Jack’s not the crime-solving…