Book picks similar to
Return to Fender by Virginia Brown
humor
_short-stacks
mystery
mysteries-thrillers
Henry Wood Detective Agency: Boxed Set Books 1 - 4
Brian D. Meeks - 2015
His world is one of black and white, right and wrong, but his life is about to change and there will forever be shades of grey. An average detective, with a passion for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Henry is about to be hired by a beautiful woman, to find her father and his journal. It seems simple enough, but when a second woman appears, wanting his services, to find the same journal, he suspects he might be in over his head. He's right. They are the least of his problems. The local mafia boss, Tommy 'The Knife', wants the journal too. As long as it is missing, he is vulnerable, and the other bosses smell blood in the water. Who can Henry trust? Henry has a mysterious benefactor that he has never met, but seems to have his best interest at heart. Will Henry take the help that is offered? Does he have a choice? If you enjoy mystery crime novels, then Henry Wood Detective Agency is for you. Henry Wood: Time and Again The second book in the Henry Wood Detective Series. Fans of Dashiell Hammett, who long for days of Bogart and Becall, will appreciate Henry Wood's sleuthing. 1955, Manhattan, and Henry has just gotten the call. Mickey is dead. His long time mentor and friend, run down outside their favorite bar, The Dublin Rogue. It looks like a simple hit and run, but keen eyes notice there is only one empty parking spot on the street, and the pile of cigarette butts in the gutter tells a different tale. Somebody was waiting, but who? A novel in black and white, it harkens back to the days before Google, cell phones, and computer data bases. Henry must use cunning to uncover the truth, because everyone connected to the case has an agenda. There is much sleuthing and just the slightest hint of science fiction hiding in the closet of Henry's basement. All of it, though, is there to give him a chance to uncover the answers. Take a journey back in time and see Manhattan as it was when the Yankees always seemed to win, and Brooklyn had Ebbets Field and the Dodgers. There is history, intrigue and hints at romance that will keep you turning page after page until it is time to flip off the light. If you like a mystery, then Time & Again is for you. Henry Wood: Perception The third book in the Henry Wood Detective Series continues its genre busting mysteries with Perception. Fans of Sam Spade will enjoy Henry Wood, who is cut from the same cloth. As spring winds down there is only one thing on Henry's mind...baseball. Opening day, 1955, is just around the corner and foremost in Henry's thoughts. He just wants to watch his beloved Brooklyn Dodgers and relax. Is that too much to ask? The CIA, KGB, and a cabal of businessmen have their own agenda, and soon Henry stumbles into their world when he agrees to look into the open and shut case of suicide by Daniel Kupton. If you like a mystery, then Perception is for you. Henry Wood: Edge of Understanding Book four in the Henry Wood Detective series Edge of Understanding continues the Henry Wood series' genre-busting mysteries. Those who enjoy a shadowy criminal antagonist along the lines of Sherlock Holmes' nemesis Moriarty will like the Enclave. 1955 has been a good year for Henry, now, someone wants to ruin it for him. A recent series of murders all appear to have connections to Henry, and it’s more than just a coincidence.
Alice
Faith Lyon - 2012
Who would kill Alice? Such a sweet person - everyone said so. Was she hiding a secret? Hmm...A new cozy series set in a small town in Pennsylvania is full of fascinating characters and plenty of suspense.
The Trouble with San Francisco
Adrianne Ambrose - 2020
She gets roped into following a friend’s cheating husband. But tailing a middle-aged lawyer through the streets of San Francisco is more challenging than it sounds.Sam’s “easy gig” drags her into one perilous predicament after another, where she encounters a wide array of the citizens San Francisco has on offer, including: a hot cop, an out-of-control frat boy, a feisty grandmother who plays loose with the law, friendly leather daddies, an aging biker, a shady dude she used to know in high school, and worst of all, Slain. He’s a professional PI., who is so hardboiled he needs a Google Translate button. And he doesn’t appreciate some dame filching a gig from a hard-working shamus. Slain goes out of his way to make Sam understand that being a private detective is a dangerous business. And ends up making her life miserable in the process.If you love a good laugh, and can’t quite figure out how anyone could leave their heart in San Francisco, then grab a copy of The Trouble with San Francisco and fall in love with its madcap cast of characters. What else would you expect from the City by the Bay?
Summer in the Bayou
Caroline Mickelson - 2016
James (AKA manners columnist Miss Prim & Proper) heads to Sinful, Louisiana to stay with her frail, elderly great-aunt Ida Belle, a woman she's never met. What better place to hide than a sleepy little southern bayou town where nothing ever happens? But when the bullets start to fly, she soon discovers that her aunt Ida Belle and friends are anything but feeble, and that Sinful is anything but quiet. When the corpse of a scorned suitor goes missing, Stephanie decides her best hope to escape a murder rap is to join forces with Swamp Team Three.
Facade (Iris Reid Mystery #2)
Susan Cory - 2016
One of the girl's last visits was to Xander DeWitt, Harvard's handsome guest starchitect, who denies that they ever met. Only Iris can provide an alibi that will allow DeWitt to keep his perfect life, but can she actually vouch for his innocence? KIRKUS says: "Cory gleefully breezes through subplots and twists with a resourceful protagonist at the helm...Supporting characters are outstanding...the ending is bound to surprise."
Milicent Le Sueur
Margaret Moseley - 2001
Millicent Le Sueur is an eccentric, obsessive-compulsive bag lady in a rural Southern town who witnesses the killing of a teenage girl. Or so she claims. Some townsfolk believe she killed the girl and made up the story to cover her crime. Counting, checking, deducing and tracking, she looks for a killer she hopes won’t count her as the next victim.
Bloodlust Blonde
Steve Higgs - 2019
Oh, and she’s a boy. When a name from her past suddenly surfaces, Jane knows that she is the only one that could solve the case. With the detectives unavailable and a tearfully desperate client, there is no choice but to pretend she knows what she is doing and answer the cry for help, but is she really dressed for fighting vampires? Her client has a time-sensitive problem – she was bitten by a vampire last night and swears she can feel her canines growing. With no time to lose and a boyfriend at home making dinner, Jane begins a race against time to save the client and stop the transformation, but does the client even know what she wants? Cross-dressing isn’t always glamorous. This book is part is a long-running series that follows the cases undertaken by the Blue Moon Investigation agency. The stories do not contain cussing or graphic descriptions of sex or violence but do allude to both. There is nothing R rated but I would not let my nine-year-old niece read them.
The Milburn Big Box Set: Two Complete Series: "A Murder In Milburn" & "Return To Milburn"
Nancy McGovern - 2020
Mom Con
Karl Fields - 2014
To top it all off, her ex-employer is suing her for stealing company secrets. Corporate espionage? Please. Her single greatest offense was a high school fashion felony. But when a shady court ruling forces Anita to cease and desist, she's determined to get revenge. There are two ways to get money: you can take it or someone can give it to you. Thanks to an elaborate nightclub scam, Anita’s old boss is about to hand over a small fortune. That is, if Anita’s lazy brother, her deadbeat ex-husband and a sketchy music manager don’t bring the whole thing down first.
Bayou Bubba
Sam Cheever - 2015
Together, they follow a trail of gold coins to Sinful, Louisiana, where a homeless guy named Bayou Bubba turns up dead with an alligator tooth in his hand and a gold coin between his teeth. Is Bubba Miss Chance’s long lost father? Or will the mystery of his disappearance suck her down into the bogs of the Bayou, and ruin her favorite purse?
The Quiet Village
T.J. Walter - 2017
He discovers a quiet village deep in the countryside and settles there. He makes new friends and finds a new love, but there are undercurrents; events that threaten his newfound peace. Then a murder occurs and he finds himself drawn into the investigation, unsure of who among his new friends he can trust. How will he overcome this without losing all he has gained?
Murder And Grits: A Piper Sandstone Savory Mystery Series (A contemporary Gulf Coast mystery with recipes), Book 1
Karen McSpade - 2021
Overdue
Shari Hearn - 2018
It is now part of the Miss Fortune World published by J&R Fan Fiction. I wish to thank Ms. DeLeon for graciously allowing other writers to explore their own writing in a most Sinful way.Sinful Stories is a series of stories written by Shari Hearn within the Miss Fortune World featuring Fortune, Gertie and Ida Belle. They may be read in any order; however, they do follow the timeline of Jana DeLeon's Miss Fortune series with regard to Fortune's relationship with Carter. With the earlier books in the series, Carter doesn't know Fortune's true identity. As Jana DeLeon's series changes with regard to Fortune's continued threat from Ahmad, future stories within Sinful Stories will reflect those changes.Currently, the stories within Sinful Stories include:Nearly DepartedMutiny on the BayouOverdueNearly BelovedRematchLeaving SinfulMurder on the Sinful Express
Death at the Abbey
Jan Durham - 2022
A clever canine. A seaside sleuth.After the death of her husband, Liz McLuckie has taken early retirement and moved to Whitby, a picturesque fishing town on the North Yorkshire coast. She thinks the renovation of two ramshackle fishing cottages will take her mind off things, but soon discovers Whitby isn’t quite the peaceful retreat she imagined.When she discovers the body of a local Professor near the medieval Abbey, Liz reluctantly finds herself at the centre of a murder investigation. The post mortem reveals death by drowning. So how did he get onto the clifftop? And why did he have a fish in his pocket?Liz follows the trail of the murderer, and many red herrings - both literal and metaphorical - in the company of her friends, including an almost-reformed burglar, a disgraced archaeology student and Nelson the bull terrier - the ugliest (and bravest!) dog in Yorkshire.Death At The Abbey — Book 1 in the Kipper Cottage Mystery series. Perfect for fans of Stella Cameron and Frances Evesham.
Cooks, Crooks and a Corpse
Maria Grazia Swan - 2017
Meet the hot pink Fiat 500 and its owner, real estate agent Monica Baker. Now stir in a dead body, a caterer about to lose her license, a real estate office coming off the rails, a goofy Great Dane, and a lively heroine who can’t help falling for the brooding bad boy. This is the world of Monica Baker: a high-speed mystery with a serving of mischief and a side of laughs.