“Cold Feet”

By Karen Pullen. Five Star, 292 pages. $25.95

Here’s a new regional author who’s worth a look. In Karen Pullen’s first mystery novel, SBI agent Stella Lavender tags along to a wedding with her aunt, only to be pressed into professional service when the bride is found dead.

Pullen, who lives in Pittsboro, N.C., keeps it light and throws in lots of romance and Southern cooking. I especially enjoyed the aunt, Fern, who raised Stella in a decaying farmhouse and taught her to shop Goodwill.