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Volume 7 • Issue 2
Wednesday, September 16, 2026
🗞️ FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK
Happy Wednesday, everyone!
We’ve officially made it halfway through the week, which feels like a perfectly reasonable excuse to ignore a few responsibilities and investigate a murder instead.
And today’s mystery takes us to Hadley, where a body has been discovered inside an old grain mill. Local police are calling it an accident. Beth Monroe takes one look at the scene and thinks otherwise—which, as mystery readers, is exactly the sort of disagreement we like.
We also have three more mysteries making headlines, a collection of free books waiting in the Community Book Exchange, and I have a little news from Sunset Cove that I’ve been waiting to share.
Those of you who like getting your hands on a mystery before everyone else will definitely want to keep an eye on your inbox.
More about that in a minute.
First, we have a grain silo, a dead county clerk, and eleven years of secrets to investigate.
Let’s open today’s edition.
🐾 PERRY'S PAW PRINTS
"You were not instructed."
Excuse me?
"You simply enjoy being dramatic."
I am building suspense.
"You are withholding evidence."
It's called a teaser, Perry.
"Suspicious behavior."
You're investigating me now?
"Everyone is a suspect until properly cleared."
Apparently ARC applicants included.
🔦 TODAY'S MYSTERY SPOTLIGHT
BODY FOUND IN OLD GRAIN MILL—LOCAL POLICE CALL IT AN ACCIDENT
Mill and Malice
A Beth Monroe Cozy Mystery
by D.S. Cross
A body in the grain silo. An eleven-year-old secret. And one woman who isn’t buying the official story.
Widowed and retired ornithologist Beth Monroe came to Hadley to help close out a federal case—not find herself in the middle of another investigation.
Then county clerk Russell Gentry turns up dead inside an old grain mill.
Local police rule his death an accident.
Beth sees something very different.
Now she’s digging into a decade-old land fraud, alongside Detective Don Schiavone, an FBI agent who trusts no one, and a journalist who has spent eight months circling the story without ever reaching its center.
And the deeper they dig, the stranger the case becomes.
An elderly landowner is hiding a family secret. A fixer disappears every time investigators get too close. A woman running an empire from behind a locked study door may know more than she's saying.
Then a witness dies in front of everyone.
What began with one body in one grain silo starts spreading across six towns—and Beth has to find whoever is sitting at the top before that person decides she’s gotten close enough to become a problem.
📰 MORE MYSTERIES MAKING HEADLINES
Three More Cases for Your TBR
One investigation is rarely enough around here.
Today I have three more cozy mysteries from fellow authors for you to investigate. Whether you like suspicious small towns, clever amateur sleuths, buried secrets, or the sort of neighbor who definitely knows more than they're admitting, take a look through today's headlines and see which case belongs on your TBR.
📚 COMMUNITY BOOK EXCHANGE
🗞️ Free Mysteries Are Waiting
If your TBR isn't already in enough trouble, the Community Book Exchange is open.
I've gathered another collection of free books for mystery readers looking for something new to try. It's a great way to discover a new author, meet a new sleuth, or find yourself accidentally starting another series when you promised you absolutely were not going to do that.
I make that promise regularly.
It has never worked.
🗞️ NEWS FROM ELLY’S DESK
A NEW CASE IS ALMOST READY TO OPEN…
I've been dropping a few hints about my next Sunset Cove mystery, but we’re getting close enough that I can finally tell you this:
Slim Chance with a Killer is coming.
And before Rosalind and Perry’s newest investigation officially releases, I need a few readers willing to get inside the case early.
That’s right.
ARC signups are opening soon.
If you’d like the opportunity to receive an Advance Reader Copy of Slim Chance with a Killer and read Rosalind and Perry’s newest mystery before release day, watch your inbox.
I’ll be sending a special notice soon with all the details and the link to apply.
And here’s the case that’s waiting for you:
Everybody wanted the miracle. Somebody wanted her dead.
That’s all you’re getting today.
I have been specifically instructed not to reveal evidence before the investigation begins.
📰 UNTIL TOMORROW...
Today’s case file included a suspicious death inside an old grain mill, eleven years of buried secrets, three more mysteries for your TBR, free books in the Community Book Exchange, and a little warning that something exciting is about to happen in Sunset Cove.
If Slim Chance with a Killer is on your radar, keep an eye on your inbox.
The ARC case file will be opening soon.
Until then, find something good to read, ignore your TBR count, and remember:
If the police say the death was an accident within the first three pages of a cozy mystery...
We all know better.
Happy Reading!
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