Cover Reveal: Scared Off

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by Barb in Key West, saying good-bye today to a boatload of family. It’s bittersweet.

In recent years, Kensington has been offering the novellas from its holiday collections as standalone ebooks approximately a year after the mass market paperback of the anthology comes out. This means a new cover for Scared Off, coming August 22, 2023, and now available for pre-order.

What do you think? I kind of love it. Kensington has really been on a roll with my covers lately.

In Scared Off, three teenage girls having a sleepover on Halloween night get spooked when high schoolers crash the house for a party. But no one expected to find a crasher like Mrs. Zelisko, the elderly third floor tenant, dead in the backyard—dressed in a sheet like a ghost. With her niece traumatized, Julia Snowden must uncover who among the uninvited guests was responsible for devising such a murderous trick . . .

“…my favorite novella in the collection.  I enjoyed getting to spend some time with the characters, and I loved how the mystery unfolded.”

Carstairs Considers

“Barbara Ross always gives us solid characters that cleverly enhance her atmospheric cozies. Scared Off is a tasty Halloween morsel not to be overlooked this holiday season!”

Wonder Woman Sixty

“The final story is from my favorite cozy author, Barbara Ross, who provides us with another excellent installment of her Maine Clambake Mystery series.”

Criminal Element, Cooking the Books

In the Maine Clambake saga (as it is shaping up to be), Scared Off is book 9.5. coming in between Shucked Apart and Muddled Through. I enjoyed writing it very much, especially because, unusually, I got to write it in the season in which it is set.

These standalone ebooks make the novellas available for a very reasonable price. For those who don’t like ebooks, the novella is still available in mass market paperback in Halloween Party Murder.

Readers: What do you think? Do you like the cover? Do you like the opportunity to acquire these standalone ebooks?

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Published by Barbara Ross

Barbara Ross is the author of twelve Maine Clambake Mystery novels and six novellas. Her books have been nominated for multiple Agatha Awards for Best Contemporary Novel and have won the Maine Literary Award for Crime Fiction. She lives in Portland, Maine. Readers can visit her website at www.maineclambakemysteries.com

37 Thoughts

  1. I love that I’m able to have the novellas on my kindle. Congrats and looking forward to more adventures with Julia.

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  3. Love the cover! I do like to read standalone books, especially when it goes along with a series.

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  9. Love the cover, Barb! I buy and read and listen to anything you write!!!! Sad to see family go, so my heart goes out to you! SCARED OFF had such an intriguing and puzzling plot, and the twist at the end was genius 🙂 Looking forward to engaging with Julia and the gang again in June…is it June yet? Luis at ole dot travel

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  10. Really enjoy the entire series. Julia is my smart friend- and anything “extra” with her in it is a real treat! More please….and Hallmark Mysteries needs this series!

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  11. Love the cover! I enjoy reading standalone books especially if its in a series or by a favorite author!

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  12. I love, love, love the cover! The tree on the left looks very spooky, and the jack-o-lanterns look very holiday appropriate. The home looks, cozy, too! Alas, I don’t read e-books at all. I love the printed page and have not yet succombed to the electronics.

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  14. I love the cover! While I don’t buy these stories again as stand alones for myself, I do get them for my aunt, who I’ve gotten hooked on your series.

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  15. Like Mark’s aunt, I’m hooked on this series. I love having the stand alones as ebooks. It gives me a chance to read an “extra” book while traveling without carrying so many physical books. I still prefer the smell and feel of paperbacks, but ebooks have their own positive qualities.

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  16. I love the cover! I also like the novellas as standalone books. They are a lot more budget-friendly for me.

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  18. I wish that you would publish all of these in a book as I have a friend that loves them and refuses to do eBooks.

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