John Charles Welcomes Kensington Cozy Authors

John Charles from The Poisoned Pen recently welcomed four cozy mystery authors published by Kensington for a virtual event. Gabby Allan, Darci Hannah, Cheryl Hollon, and Angela M. Sanders all appeared to talk about their careers and their books. You can order copies of their books through the Web Store. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

Check out the latest books by the mystery authors.

In Gabby Allan’s second Santa Catalina Island-set mystery series with a rom-com twist, boat tour guide Whitney Dagner, her chonky cat Whiskers, and Whitney’s not-so-ex police diver boyfriend must lead a dangerous investigation into years of scandal and bad blood…

Take in the wild beauty of Santa Catalina Island with tour guide and eclectic gift shop owner Whitney Dagner. On the itinerary: dramatic Pacific coastlines, diverse marine life, and murder!

Since returning home from mainland California and finding her groove with the family tourism business, Whitney Dagner’s daily routine has become a wonderfully chaotic adventure. She and her nimble kitty, Whiskers, often find themselves at the center of the action on Catalina, from staged treasure hunts to gossipy birdwatchers. But before Whit can get too comfortable in the place where she grew up, a gift shop order leads to a stunning discovery—someone’s dead body . . .

One of Whit’s best boat tour client’s, Leo Franklin was young and newly engaged when he unceremoniously took his own life. Only it doesn’t seem like that’s what really happened—not after the suspicious activity displayed by his family’s old rivals at the scene of his death. As a bitter, generations-long feud between Leo’s kin and the local Ahern clan comes to a head, Whit and her police diver not-so-ex-boyfriend must lead a dangerous investigation into years of scandal and bad blood to figure out who’s innocent . . .and who’s covering a killer’s tracks.


Gabby Allan is a California girl who now lives with her husband, daughter, and two insane dogs in Central Pennsylvania. A member of Sisters in Crime, she’s previously published romances and cozy mysteries under another pen name. Visit her at GabbyAllan.wordpress.com.


Living in a lighthouse with her dog, Lindsey Bakewell is lulled to sleep at night by the sound of Lake Michigan’s waves—and gets up at the crack of dawn to start the day at her bakery café.  But someone in Beacon Harbor is about to rock the boat with murder…

After a career on Wall Street, Lindsey is making a different kind of dough in a pretty lakeside village, and the upcoming blueberry festival—including the pie-eating contest her bakery is hosting—is the highlight of the summer. But soon Beacon Harbor runs into a patch of trouble.

A local real estate agent gets pranked. A parade float gets pelted with water balloons. It’s all laughed off until the stunts start escalating—and looking more like sabotage. As the event turns into a debacle complete with rampaging goats, Lindsey’s sweetheart, a former SEAL, starts investigating. But the juicy mystery takes a bitter turn when a man—dressed up as a Viking—is found dead in a boat, and it’s no longer mischief but murder…


Darci Hannah grew up in the northwest suburbs of a Chicago, is a graduate of Indiana University, and currently lives in a small town in Michigan with her husband, three sons and two dogs. She has lived around the Great Lakes all her life and considers them a source of inspiration. When she’s not engaged in a rollicking family adventure, walking her dogs, or working at the historic Howell Carnegie District Library, she’s either baking up a storm or hard at work on her next Beacon Bakeshop Mystery. Visit her at DarciHannah.com.


In rural Kentucky, business is booming for Miranda Trent’s unique Appalachian adventure tour company, Paint & Shine. But sometimes murder lurks amid the peaceful mountains, scenic views, and moonshine …

Miranda’s business—combining Appalachian adventure tours with art and a bit of moonshine—is the perfect place for an outdoor sporting goods company to hold an employee retreat.  It’ll be a challenge, but the money they’re paying will definitely help with building her new distillery.

Miranda has lots of teamwork-fostering activities planned, from sketching classes to Southern cooking, but the executive running things prefers a more competitive spirit.  In fact, after the workers are split into teams, they’re told that only the winners will keep their jobs, and tensions begin to spike. Even after a participant is found dead, the contest continues—while Miranda starts drawing her own conclusions about the ambitious attendees. Now she just has to find the proof . . .


Cheryl Hollon writes full-time after she left an engineering career of designing and building military flight simulators in countries such as England, Wales, Australia, Singapore, Taiwan and India. Fulfilling the dream of a lifetime, she combines her love of writing with a passion for creating glass art. In the small glass studio behind her house, Cheryl and her husband design, create, and produce fused glass, stained glass and painted glass artworks. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, the Florida Chapter of Mystery Writers of America and the Tampa Chapter of the Romance Writers of America. A mystery conference addict, she regularly attends SleuthFest in Florida, Malice Domestic in Washington, D.C., and New England Crime Bake in Dedham, Massachusetts. Cheryl and her husband live in St. Petersburg, Florida. Visit her online at CherylHollon.com or on Twitter @CherylHollon.


Set in small-town Oregon, the latest in the witty, charming Witch Way Librarian series from bestselling and acclaimed author Angela M. Sanders features a spellbinding heroine, a clever cat familiar, a glamorous movie star—and of course, murder. The perfect read for fans of Bailey Cates, Adele Abbott, Juliet Blackwell, and all mystery lovers with a taste for the witchy.

For a tiny town, picturesque Wilfred, Oregon, has everything, including an impressive library housed in a Victorian mansion, a touch of magic in new librarian and fledgling witch, Josie Way, a visiting movie star—and a curious tendency toward murder…

Josie and all of Wilfred are buzzing with excitement. A-list movie star Daphne Morris has chosen to interview Roz, assistant librarian and novelist, for her book club. But when the glamorous actress quickly charms both Roz’s long-time love and Sheriff Sam, the object of Josie’s unrequited affection, Josie turns to the whispers from her beloved books for ideas on revising the plot. Yet soon there’s another twist . . .

At a party to celebrate the interview, Daphne’s personal chef is found dead in a scene that all too closely echoes one in Roz’s novel. It’s clear to Josie that someone’s idea of a happy ending means framing her friend. She’ll have to read between the lines with the help of the library’s enchanted stacks, guidance from her magical grandmother’s letters, and her cat familiar, Rodney, to solve this murder before someone decides to stage a deadly sequel . . .


Angela M. Sanders is the author of the bestselling Joanna Hayworth Vintage Clothing Mysteries, the Witch Way Librarian Mystery series, The Booster Club Capers, and the Kite Shop Mysteries, written under the name Clover Tate. In addition to cozy mysteries, she regularly writes articles on food, vintage clothing, personalities and perfume for Portland Monthly, Now Smell This, the French perfume magazine Nez, and various food magazines. A former congressional investigator, she now writes full-time and is a member of Novelists, Inc., International Thriller Writers and Sisters in Crime. Angela has two cats—one of whom is black of course—a witch’s freckle in her left eye, and learned to read tarot cards from a pagan priestess. She lives in Portland, Oregon and can be found online at AngelaMSanders.com.


Enjoy John Charles’ conversation with the Kensington authors as they talk about cozy mysteries.