Best of
Amateur-Sleuth

2013

Front Page Fatality


LynDee Walker - 2013
    She assumes it will be routine, a scene like many other accidents she's covered.She's wrong.This was no ordinary accident.And as Nichelle digs deeper into the case, people and evidence begin to disappear. Someone is one step ahead of her, desperate to cover their tracks. A master criminal with a deadly secret, who will stop at nothing to keep the truth hidden...But as she draws closer to unraveling the mystery of two dead cops, Nichelle realizes she's become the next target. Can she survive this murderous game of cat and mouse long enough to solve the mystery? Or will Nichelle fall prey to a killer?

A Dead Husband


Anna Celeste Burke - 2013
    Jessica Huntington is hiding out from her own well-planned life, now in shambles. Her law career tanked by the Great Recession, she failed miserably as a desperate housewife in the Silicon Valley playing beat-the-clock with her 30-something hormones. In the end she put on a little baby fat, but no baby. The final blow: walking in on her husband in bed with a well-known Hollywood blond. The Rancho Mirage home where she grew up, surrounded by the beauty of the desert resort town near Palm Springs, seems the perfect place to take refuge. That is until her best friend's husband is murdered. Jessica and her friends are soon thrust into the fray stalked by scoundrels in pantyhose, stilettos, Bruno Magli shoes, and Armani suits. Roger Stone had something that got him killed. What was it and to what lengths will they go to get it back? This is the first in the Jessica Huntington Desert Cities Mystery Series

The Ambitious Card


John Gaspard - 2013
    Sometimes it’s murder. Especially when magician Eli Marks very publicly debunks a famed psychic, and said psychic ends up dead. The evidence, including a bloody King of Diamonds playing card (one from Eli’s own Ambitious Card routine), directs the police right to Eli. As more psychics are slain, and more King cards rise to the top, Eli can’t escape suspicion. Things get really complicated when romance blooms with a beautiful psychic, and Eli discovers she’s the next target for murder, and he’s scheduled to die with her. Now Eli must use every trick he knows to keep them both alive and reveal the true killer.

Pumpkins in Paradise


Kathi Daley - 2013
    When the handsome new deputy closes the case without so much as a “why” or “how,” Tj turns her attention from chili cook-offs and pumpkin carving to complex puzzles, prophetic riddles, and a decades-old secret she seems destined to unravel.

Involuntary Turnover


Cheri Baker - 2013
    Whether it’s brawling employees, difficult bosses, or dress code drama, she knows how to handle a crisis. But when an employee is murdered at the Seattle hospital where Kat works, and the police try to blame the victim, playing by the rules won’t be enough to save the day. Fueled by an endless supply of coffee, and assisted by a colorful cast of coworkers, Kat is determined to bring the murderer to justice. But can she do it before the killer strikes again?This mystery is the first in the Kat Voyzey Series.

The Bride Wore Dead


E.M. Kaplan - 2013
    The mother of the bride thinks Josie, with her...unique people skills, can find out what really happened. Josie discovers the dead bride may not have been the first dead girl. And to Josie's horror, the killer has set his sights on her next.

Agnes Barton Senior Sleuth Mysteries Box Set


Madison Johns - 2013
    She drives a red hot Mustang, shops at Victoria's Secret, rankles local police officials, and has a knack for sticking her nose where it doesn't belong.What does a murder that happened forty-three years ago have to do with missing tourist Jennifer Martin? Agnes makes it her personal mission to find out, and she's not letting the fact she's seventy-two get in the way. Butting heads with Sheriff Clem Peterson is something she's accustomed to, but lately Clem seems to be acting even more strange, making Agnes wonder what he may be hiding ala the Martin disappearance.Agnes’ partner in crime, Eleanor Mason tags along, Watson to her Holmes. Together, they unearth clues. If only Eleanor would behave, as although lovable, she has a knack for getting into trouble by tangling with her rival, Dorothy Alton, or flirting with anyone—male or female—and gossiping! She's incorrigible, but she does carry a Pink Lady revolver in her purse, one that has proved useful at times.Life for Agnes and Eleanor is shaken up when Agnes' former boss and secret crush comes to Tadium. Before long, the lady sleuths have more on their hands to contend with as goons roll into town and bullets begin to fly.Adult content.Grannies, Guns and GhostsSenior snoop, Agnes Barton, has taken up residence in a Winnebago at a campground in East Tawas, Michigan. It’s not the ideal place for a woman of seventy-two to live, but she’s making do. She had planned to start a detective agency with partner in crime, Eleanor Mason, but a snag with the license has them free wheeling it, not that it matters because they are the ones folks call when dead bodies turn up.A frantic phone call has Agnes and Eleanor racing to the scene of yet another crime scene. Herman Butler has fallen to his death from a third story window, and the widow, Betty Lou, is beside herself with either grief or competing for the Oscars, and it’s up to Agnes and Eleanor to unravel the mystery, which gets more interesting when a ghost is listed as a possible suspect.This time around, Agnes and Sheriff Peterson can agree, the widow is nuts, but wait, a few days later the ghost ship, Erie Board of Trades, was spotted off the shores of Lake Huron. Ghost hunters, G.A.S.P., hightail it into town, and East Tawas is overrun with ghost sightings.Agnes and Eleanor must sort fact from fantasy before another body is found or a curse is realized.Senior SnoopsTrue to his words, Sheriff Clem Peterson sends Agnes Barton and Eleanor Mason packing to Florida via a Cessna, but things go haywire when during a fuel stop, two men shoot the pilot. Agnes springs into action slamming the door just as shots are fired while Frank Alton jumps into the cockpit flying them out of there.When they land in Florida, they’re asked tough questions by Putner and Palmer from Homeland Security. They keep asking if they found a packet on board the plane, a packet that Agnes has tucked in her purse, but they never mention what’s in the packet. She decides to hold onto it; after all it contains twenty-five thousand in cash.Sheriff Calvin Peterson, Sheriff Clem Peterson’s brother, picks them up from the airport in Florida, but tells them the bad news. His brother Clem made arrangements for them to stay at Sunny Brooke Retirement Village and work as the hired help to pay for their room and board. They go unwillingly, but discover in town that two maids have disappeared at Sunny Brooke.

Stopped Cold


Gail Pallotta - 2013
    Margaret McWhorter enjoys a laid-back Freshman year in high school flirting with Jimmy Willmore, swimming and hanging out with friends—until that day. Her brother, Sean, suffers a stroke from taking a steroid. Now he's lying unconscious in a hospital. Margaret's angry at her dad for pushing Sean to be a great quarterback, but a fire of hatred burns inside her to make the criminals pay. Looking for justice, she takes Jimmy and her best friend, Emily, through a twisted, drug-filled sub-culture. A clue sends them deep into the woods behind the school where they overhear drug dealers discuss Sean. Time and time again they walk a treacherous path and come face to face with danger. Even the cop on the case can't stop them from investigating. All the while Margaret really wants to cure Sean, heal the hate inside, and open her heart to love.

Desolation Row


Kay Kendall - 2013
    Packs a considerable punch. Readers will look forward to more of Kendall, with her formidable intellect, tart sense of humor, & resolute sense of justice. Unexpectedly magnificent."Award winning author Hank Phillippi Ryan: "Deception, intrigue and authentic sixties nostalgia. The passionately anti-war generation hoped to give peace a chance, but in this entertaining mystery would up with murder instead."" A great heroine, authentic period details, and a satisfying conclusion!" says author James Ziskin Best-selling thriller writer Norb Vonnegut: "A brutal murder, a woman fighting to prove her husband's innocence--DESOLATION ROW hooked me on page one. Author Kay Kendall knows how to burrow into your heart."

Tip of a Bone


Christine Finlayson - 2013
    Yet when Harley is accused of an unthinkable crime, Maya insists on adding "amateur sleuth" to her career options. She soon discovers an eerie clue--but the closer she gets to the truth, the closer a murderer follows.Early reviewers have called Tip of a Bone, "An intriguing, fast-moving mystery . . . layered with taut writing and smart dialogue . . . (with) a bold and determined new heroine to root for" (Robert Dugoni) and "A lively mystery, with strong characters, an unusual setting, and a plot that keeps you guessing." (Ann Littlewood).Tip of a Bone is a true Pacific Northwest mystery, set on the wild and windswept Oregon coast.

Russian Dolls


Cristelle Comby - 2013
     The first book in The Neve & Egan Cases introduces you to an unlikely duo in the annals of detective fiction – a blind professor and his student. Neve and Egan are as different as they come. She’s restless, careless at times, and fearless when the need arises, while he’s almost the complete opposite: a deep thinker with an analytical mind, a highly rational and collected individual. As they enter the violent world of the Russian mafia, they must overcome their differences and learn to work together. It’s their only chance if they want to survive. The Neve & Egan Cases Series eBook Categories: - Mystery Series - Crime Thrillers - Private Investigator / Private Detective Series - British Mystery & Crime - Amateur Sleuths - Disabled Private Investigator / Private Detective

Killer Image


Wendy Tyson - 2013
    Now she moves in a world of powerful executives, wealthy, eccentric ex-wives and twisted ethics.When Allison’s latest Main Line client, the fifteen-year-old Goth daughter of a White House hopeful, is accused of the ritualistic murder of a local divorce attorney, Allison fights to prove her client’s innocence when no one else will. But unraveling the truth brings specters from her own past.And in a place where image is everything, the ability to distinguish what’s real from the facade may be the only thing that keeps Allison alive.