It’s time to say good-bye to another year and reflect on what made 2025 good, bad, and ugly. Let’s talk about the good first—cozy mysteries! The bad and the ugly (defined by their actions and deeds) can bugger off, or in this case, the authors will take care of them for us! And cozy mystery authors seem to do it best. Granted the action isn’t necessarily on the page, but we can fill in the blanks with our own special flair. That’s why cozy mysteries are my favorite escape genre, the authors know how to deal with those dreadful individuals and put a smile on our faces while they do it. For that reason, I will never stop reading feel good mysteries. Sometimes the fictional world is the best therapy of all.             Here are some of my favorite escapes of 2025. Mind you, there were soooo many incredible mysteries that have graced my reading list this past year, I cannot possibly note them all in one short blog. The authors who have generously given me their time and attention for an interview at the Cozy Corner, have an asterisk next to the title of their book with the month…

How would you describe your family or your childhood?SAM: Pretty normal, if by normal you mean dragged around by a mom who was married six times after your dad killed himself. WILLIAM: Misty. I was reared on an isolated mountaintop with my older sister Pen by our neurosurgeon father after our mother passed, and it was often snowing or fogged in, the view opaque and obscured. THE RABBIT: Kind of like The Hunger Games without the Games part. Mostly locked in the closet. What was your greatest talent?SAM: Procrastination! WILLIAM: I believe you mean what IS my greatest talent, my dear. There. Fixed it for you. I would humbly say a superlative facility with words. THE RABBIT: Persistence, by which I mean stalking William and his hos. Significant other?SAM: I was married for ten years to a wonderful man named Hank who’s an addict in recovery–neither the addiction or the recovery left much room for me, so we called it quits. Now…William? Hard to tell with him, but I hope so! WILLIAM: Ah, I strive, I strive. I am a hopeless romantic, but somehow matrimony, the goal that every common man has achieved, has eluded me. I do have the…

Excerpt from WHEN WE WERE EVIL by S. B. Saves: CHAPTER 1 My appearance now is completely different to my Year 10 school photo and my infamous mugshot, taken just over a year apart. Those are the two images most people connect with the name Ruby Wilcox. If you lived in the UK at the time when the story broke, you couldn’t get away from them; the photos were blown up on the front pages of every newspaper and used as stills on the TV. Both photos show a scrawny, unremarkable-looking girl with bright red hair, thin lips, and a pointy nose. Today, my hair is bottle blond and cropped short, which gives me a more pixyish look that would probably be cute if not for the lines carving across my forehead and scraping from the corners of my eyes. I’m about fifteen years too old for the style I’m trying to pull off, but my ever-changing looks have never been about vanity. I have two piercings in my left eyebrow, a small hoop in my nostril, and a ring in the centre of my bottom lip, as well as a stud in my tongue. A smudged-looking tattoo of a…

Each Monday the Smashwords store lists the top ten most highly anticipated indie fiction ebooks based on the previous week’s preorder accumulations. Each title on the list is scheduled to release within the next week. To help the talented authors on this list accumulate even more preorders, click the title of the book. The hyperlink will bring you to a Books2Read page where you can order from your preferred ebook retailer. If the preorder is part of a series, click the hyperlinked series title to learn about the other books in the series. Be sure to check back Friday for a list of the Top 25 Bestselling Indie Ebooks.

Welcome to the debut of my revamped Jen’s Jewels interview format! I’m thrilled to kick off 2026 with New York Times bestselling author Jayne Ann Krentz, who’s here to talk about her latest release, THE SHOP ON HIDDEN LANE. For this year’s interviews, I’m letting authors choose the questions that speak to them most – making each conversation as unique as the books themselves. Jayne selected some fantastic prompts that give us insight into her psychic romantic mystery and her creative process. Let’s dive in! LIGHTNING ROUND In three words, describe the vibe of your book.Psychic romantic mystery. What’s your ideal writing fuel: coffee, tea, wine, or chaos?Coffee. Straight up. Plotter, pantser, or organized mess?Organized mess. THE DEEP DIVE Every book has an origin story. What was the “lightning strike” moment that made you say, “I have to write this”?Discovering just how much money the U.S. Government and major research institutions spent on paranormal research in an attempt to create psychic spies and weapons. Heck, for all we know, they’re still in the business. (And thereby hangs yet another tale…) Tell me about a scene you rewrote multiple times. What made it so tricky, and how did you finally crack…

Each Monday the Smashwords store lists the top ten most highly anticipated indie fiction ebooks based on the previous week’s preorder accumulations. Each title on the list is scheduled to release within the next week. To help the talented authors on this list accumulate even more preorders, click the title of the book. The hyperlink will bring you to a Books2Read page where you can order from your preferred ebook retailer. If the preorder is part of a series, click the hyperlinked series title to learn about the other books in the series. Be sure to check back Friday for a list of the Top 25 Bestselling Indie Ebooks.

What is the title of your latest release?THE WATER LIES What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?When a body surfaces in the canals of Venice Beach, California, two mothers, the mother of the drowned woman and another of a very young boy who might know what happened to her, are certain it’s no accident. They team up to uncover truth, relying only on each other, their intuition, and the creeping sense of danger that grows with every shocking revelation. How did you decide where your book was going to take place?Because the novel centers on a drowning, I knew it needed to be set along the water. That can mean a lot of things – the ocean, a pond, a fountain, etc. – and I explored many options before settling on the canals. The other locales didn’t seem specific enough for Tessa, the mother of the boy who recognized the drowned woman, to think the death had something to do with her son. It needed to be literally outside their doorstep. I also knew that I wanted the location to feel unique and cinematic. Once I thought of the canals, there was no turning back. While there have been…

Book Title: TRACK OF COURAGECharacter Name: Dawson Mulligan How would you describe your family or your childhood?We were solid until my fifteen-year-old sister Aven was murdered by a serial killer while I was away at Boy Scout camp. That pretty much destroyed everything – my parents divorced, Mom moved to Montana, and we all just scattered to the winds. Before that though, we were close. My grandfather was a huge influence, taught me to work with my hands and have faith. What was your greatest talent?Reading people and situations. I had good instincts as a cop – could sense when something was off, get people to trust me, connect dots others missed. My fellow officers came to me with their tough cases. At least, that’s how it used to be before I stopped trusting my gut. Significant other?Caroline died five years ago in a plane crash. We were flying to Copper Mountain so she could meet my dad, hit ice, had to hike out. She got hypothermia during the trek and didn’t make it. I promised I’d keep her safe and get her home. That didn’t work out so well. Biggest challenge in relationships?I compartmentalize everything. Build walls so high…

Excerpt from FIRST DO NO HARM by S. J. Rozan: Chapter One I’ve had the dream for as long as I can remember. I’m perched on a dizzying edge, staring at the ground far below. It’s twilight: not quite dark, but nothing is distinct. I have to jump because it’s the only way to get where I’m going and I absolutely have to get there. But when I step off, into the empty air, will I be able to control the fall? My heart pounds. A flash of ice races up my spine. I step. And that weightless second after I do, that moment when the question’s still unanswered—that’s why I do it, every time. Yes, I need to get there, wherever there is. But I know as I’m doing it that need is not the reason. That dream’s not, and never has been, a nightmare. It was the same now. That moment on the edge. But not quite the same: I was awake and could’ve backed out of this one. There was another way to get down. Like in the dreams, I couldn’t make out what was below, but not because it was dark. The July morning was bright,…

In summing up 1992, Queen Elizabeth II said it was a year she would not look back on with undiluted pleasure.  Her own Annus Horriblis. I have to say 2025 hit me the same way. Too much loss and grief spread over my family. Some expected deaths, others slammed like a sledgehammer. It was difficult to be festive; family parties turned into crying fests. It was a year of goodbyes, so many memories piled up. I wanted to put them in a jar to open later so I’ll never forget. I also celebrated my birthday, putting my age in a new perspective. A stark reminder that there is a ticking clock attached to my future. We all pushed through the tears. Life doesn’t stop and wait for all to adjust to the new normal. Work, school, sleeping, eating, even shoveling must be done. Loss is a shared experience.  When I have told others, they respond with sympathy. Also, they share a story about someone they know who has passed: funny, poignant, full of regret and a few who have anger mixed in. No one truly leaves us; there’s always a mark.  Next year promises to bring new beginnings for some…