“Nothing is quite as relaxing as getting lost in a good book while sitting on the beach. With no shortage of books to choose from and endless reviews of ‘must read’ books on Goodreads, it might feel overwhelming trying to figure where to start. We’ve rounded up the best beach reads for summer 2025, made up …
Read moreSouthern Living: Murder by Cheesecake in “Best New Beach Reads For Summer 2025”
“This week on Beyond the Mouse, Craig, Vanessa, and Zoey sit down with author and literary agent Rachel Ekstrom Courage to dish about her delightful new book, Murder by Cheesecake: A Golden Girls Cozy Mystery…”
“This book combines two of my favorite things: The Golden Girls and cheesecake. It is the first in a new mystery series, and is just about as cozy as you can get…”
“While there were more than 1,600 independent bookstores in all 50 states and beyond participating in Independent Bookstore Day 2025—large stores, small stores, mobile stores, pop-up stores, and everything in between—a handful of titles saw standout sales across the board…”
“Murder by Cheesecake: A Golden Girls Cozy Mystery debuted at #7 on the Publishers Weekly ‘Top Trade Paper Frontlist’ bestsellers list!”
“[A]nyone who has ever watched The Golden Girls […] knows that one of the show’s signatures is ‘cozy.’ Another is ‘witheringly funny,’ a quality abounding in Rachel Ekstrom Courage’s welcome first title in a projected series. Courage succeeds valiantly at creating interior lives for Rose and Dorothy that ring true to their TV personas. Critically, she has a fan’s ear for the show’s rapid-fire dialogue and a superfan’s eye for its decor (the rattan!) and fashions (those blazers!) […. I]t’s a delight and a gift to Golden Girls fans who had given up all hope of a new adventure for the fearsome foursome.”—Shelf Awareness (“The Best Books This Week”)
Debuting at number 9 on the Trade Fiction list.
“USA TODAY’s Best-selling Booklist reflects combined sales of titles in print and electronic format, if available. The rankings reflect sales from the previous Monday through Sunday…”
“Published Wednesday, April 23, 2025 (for the sales week ended Sunday, April 20, 2025). Based on reporting from hundreds of independent bookstores across the United States. For information on more titles, please visit IndieBound.org.”
“A mouth-watering mystery featuring a few of our favorite characters. Join the Golden Girls in this rollicking whodunit set in the swampy wilds of Miami. Read on for an exclusive essay from author Rachel Ekstrom Courage on writing Murder by Cheesecake…”