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The Unexpected Guest: A Wade Parker Short Story by Linsey Lanier


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Bodily Harm


Charlie Gallagher - 2017
    She happens to be the mayor’s niece. It’s the final straw for the community. The police are desperate to get results and decide on a risky course of action involving undercover infiltration of the notorious Effingell Estate. Detective George Elms knows this hellish place extremely well, and his sharp investigative mind is put to work to solve the crime. The police are under immense media pressure and conveniently a local lowlife confesses to the attack. But George is not convinced. There are many layers of criminal and police motivation, and few people are what they seem. Who can you trust? And when his family is put at risk will DS George Elms go beyond the law? BODILY HARM is book one of a new series of detective thrillers.

Serenity


Craig A. Hart - 2016
     A woman dies in his arms...a drug dealer offers him $10,000...a gunman is determined to kill him. And then everything goes to hell. Shelby Alexander is an aging ex-boxer and retired fixer, whose activities often flirted with the wrong side of the law. Looking for a little peace and a slower pace of life, he moved to Serenity, the small Michigan town where he grew up. But trouble follows men like Shelby, and he finds himself embroiled in an underworld of drugs and violence that may prove to be his undoing. The first book in the new Shelby Alexander Thriller Series, Serenity is an action-packed read with a lovingly rendered cast, witty dialogue, and a main character who doesn't know when to quit.

Footprints


Rosen Trevithick - 2010
    However, cracks start to form, causing Jenna to ask some startling questions and she sets off to Cornwall to find answers.At first the people of Bosdower are welcoming and friendly, but Jenna slowly finds herself drawn into a web of unrequited passions, abduction and perhaps, even murder.

Night Slashers


Rashad Freeman - 2012
    A secret so dark, so disturbing that even he doesn't remember it. The winding waters of the Mississippi River give him solace. They hold his deepest mysteries like a vault, but now the murky abyss is breaking at the seams.When an old friend shows up and a rash of murders brings an echo from the past, Daniel's life is thrown into a cyclone. Now he must fight to keep his wife and unborn son alive, while trying to solve a mystery that keeps getting closer to home.They say to live in the present you have to forget the past. But what if the past can’t forget you?

Displacement


Braylee Parkinson - 2019
    While investigating mysteries surrounding her husband's death, Sylvia finds herself simultaneously involved in a multiple murder case that threatens to reveal a college town's dark secrets.*This is a prequel.

Adamant (Hank Rawlings - On The Hunt Series Book 1)


E.H. Reinhard - 2020
    Inmates. Innocents. A pair of sheriff’s deputies. A soccer mom. All murdered by an escaped con named Charles “Chuck” Burr, a man who has cut a bloody path from Louisiana to Texas.For Hank, the assignment is easy: find Burr and bring him to justice. With everything pointing to the Waco area, the bureau is quickly nipping at their target’s hells.But Burr will choose death over being put in another cage. He finally has his freedom, and he’ll kill anyone that tries to take that from him - FBI agents included.

Creepy Crawly (DI Jake Sawyer, #1)


Andrew Lowe - 2018
    Sharp, tough and pathologically fearless.Now he’s quit the capital and returned to his home town in England’s Peak District, to investigate the savage murder of his mother, thirty years earlier.When the body of a teenage boy is found in a shallow grave, close to woodland where Sawyer used to play as a child, he’s called in to help decode the killer’s nightmarish methods.But as the victims stack up and the case takes an unexpected turn, Sawyer must risk his own life to hunt the hunter and save an innocent. Creepy Crawly is Book One in the DI Jake Sawyer series. Dive in now and discover a new breed of detective, with stories that reveal the dark side of one of England's brightest beauty spots. Praise for Andrew Lowe:"Prose that gets under your flesh and into your bones.""Taut and compelling. Not a wasted word.""Plot and character perfectly intertwined.""Keeps you reading through the night.""Poetic and utterly gripping."(Amazon reviews).

Meows, Magic & Murder


Madison Johns - 2015
    It’s bad enough that her cat, Pansy, had gotten into his house—especially when Pansy wasn’t a cat at all, but Jeremy Walters, a man she gave a love potion to, which transformed him into a cat.

Beneath the Book Tower


Steve Hamilton - 2011
     Before the tragic event that made him seek refuge in a remote corner of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Alex McKnight was a Detroit police officer.  It’s a warm summer night, and Alex is out riding the night shift with his partner Franklin.  There’s no shortage of trouble to be found on the dark streets of Motown.  But on this particular night, Franklin has his own agenda.

Barking up the Wrong Bakery


Stella St. Claire - 2017
    She’s got a gorgeous boyfriend who loves her, a supportive sister to lean on, and a dog walking business that’s briskly barking away. But just as she’s getting comfortable her sister suddenly wants to buy an entire brownstone with her and her boyfriend looks like he’s going to pop the question at every opportunity. Changing the status quo has always been disastrous for Olivia and now everything is changing at once… What Olivia needs is a distraction and she’s found one in stumbling upon Yvette Dunn dead in her coffee foodtruck—drowned in a vat of fresh coffee. Olivia starts out as an unlucky bystander to the crime, but she’s forced to dig in deeper when it looks like her sister could be involved in Yvette’s death. Olivia is running out of time in regards to the mystery, the mortgage, and the marriage. She’s going to have to solve all three problems—and quick—or face a future most foul.

Slice of Paradise Cozy Mysteries Box Set: A Culinary Cozy Mystery Anthology, Books 1-5


Nancy McGovern - 2018
    She dreams of cakes & pies. She dreams of crepes & brownies. And, more than anything, she dreams of making a career of serving her delicious treats to an adoring public. So, when her grandmother calls and asks her to move to Florida to help run her café, she cannot get out of Minnesota fast enough! And before she knows it she is standing in Paradise Point, the beautiful, oceanside plaza in which Bessie's Café is located, hardly able to believe her good fortune. Life is now exactly how Faith had imagined it could be. She's made wonderful friends. The café, now renamed the Slice of Paradise, has been renovated to showcase her amazing desserts. And both locals & tourists are loving it! Well, all except for one... The owner of a nearby cupcake shop is not at all happy with Faith's arrival in Paradise Point. She has accused Faith of trying to ruin her by stealing her recipes & designs. And she is not shy about letting everyone know it. So, when the woman is found dead the day after their confrontation, people immediately begin to consider whether Faith is the killer... Is Faith guilty of murder? If not, who is? And can Faith find a way to clear her name before her dreams turn into nightmares? Learn the answers to these questions and so many more inside this big, bundled box set! We'll see you in there!

Gone with the Wings


Leena Clover - 2017
    Mystery readers will enjoy this culinary cozy murder mystery featuring plenty of yummy recipes like Masala Fried Chicken and Shish Kabob Blue Plate Special. Meera Patel is back home with the family after she dropped out of graduate school. Now she shelves books for a living and rustles up fusion recipes at Sylvie's Cafe & Diner. Everything is fine until her old nemesis Prudence Walker floats up in the local pond. Meera is accused of murder! Well, she did publicly declare Prudence would drop dead. Meera cries foul and screams police harassment. But she has no defense when she is accused of a second crime. Flanked by pals Tony and Becky, Meera puts in the leg work, trying to solve clues and discard red herrings. Fall in Oklahoma has never been more exciting. Cozy mystery fans will love this new mystery series featuring an Asian American amateur sleuth. There is a full cast of characters with a professor father, young sibling, old grandparents, loyal friends and a candid glimpse into South Asian culture.

The Barkeep


William Lashner - 2014
    Six years ago Justin's life was ripped apart when he discovered his mother's bludgeoned corpse. Now Justin's father is serving a life sentence and Justin drowns his emotions in a pool of inner peace. But when Birdie claims he murdered Justin's mother for cash, Justin is hurled back to the emotions, back to the past, and, most frightening of all, back to the father he tried to leave behind. WHO HIRED BIRDIE GRACKLE TO KILL JUSTIN?S MOTHER? As Justin pieces together the truth, a killing machine stalks Justin, leaving a trail of dead in his wake. Someone wants to bury the truth, and maybe Justin, too. Justin had better find some answers quick, because murder is just not Zen.

Ice Hunter


Joseph Heywood - 2001
    In Ice Hunter, the first of a series ofmysteries set in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Service defends his turf with the tenacity of abear and the wisdom of an ancient. He shuns all creature comforts and consumerism and ismost at home stalking the Mosquito Tract, his self-designated wilderness and the land protected by his CO father before him. Times are not easy for Service. As this summer seasonopens, he gets news that his nemesis, the despicable leader of an incestuous clan of poachers,is about to be released from prison. But something even more sinister is afoot in the MosquitoWilderness--something that inspires greed far beyond the hunter going over his limit, something that involves giants of industry and politics (including the governor of the State ofMichigan)--something that too easily renders human life dispensable. Service must callupon his every reserve to track, stalk, and hunt the “ice hunter.” Full of grit and wildernesslore, Ice Hunter show off Heywood’s extraordinary talents. The first in a thrilling seriesthat has gained him cult status for his intricate plots and outrageously unforgettable characters, Ice Hunter pulls you in and won’t let you go.

Duke Investigations: Complete Series


Harper Maguire - 2019
    To this day, Emma carries around a lot of guilt for not having been home on that fateful night. When her own home is broken into, a world of old emotions erupts and Emma can’t rid herself of the anxiety that has surfaced and so she hires Duke Investigations to finally figure out who killed her mother all those years ago. Private Investigator Sean Murphy is just about as hardened as they come. He drinks. He smokes. He curses. And he’s never let himself be distracted by a relationship, which isn’t to say he hasn’t seduced at least half of the female population in Waterville Valley. But when new client Emma Sorkin walks into his office, he soon discovers that she has a way of softening his heart. Part 2 Kind and intelligent, Hayley Mills struggles to keep her bookstore afloat while managing her autistic brother’s highly regimented schedule. If anything is amiss with him, his emotions turn turbulent and he can easily spiral out of control. Even so, he is her best friend. But when Hayley’s neighbor is found dead, the residents quickly suspect her autistic brother, and the dark cloud that this casts over her family is enough to motivate Hayley to hire Duke Investigations. Part 3 Athletic and daring, Megan Freeman works as a ski instructor at the nearby resort by day and spends time with her twin sister at night, who lives in the cabin neighboring her own. The two are identical except for one major difference, Megan’s twin is blind and not because of natural causes. Four years ago, when the twins were camping together over a long weekend and Megan’s twin left for the campsite restrooms, Megan was attacked by a predatory man. Her sister made it back just in time to fight the attacker off of Megan, but that wasn’t all. When the man ran off through the thick forest, Megan’s twin sprinted off after him. But instead of catching him, she was struck badly in the eyes by a spikey tree branch, which damaged her vision beyond repair. One day while giving a ski lesson, Megan can’t tell if her eyes are playing tricks on her. Is her attacker back in Waterville Valley? She doesn’t feel safe and so she immediately hires Duke Investigations to look into the man who has the hairs on the back of her neck pricking up. Part 4 Brilliant and highly introverted, Dawn Stevens has dedicated her life to working at the Wildlife Conservation Center as a biologist. Of course, the peace of spending her days outside with nature is nothing like the war unfolding at home. Months ago, out of the goodness of her heart, Dawn decided to take in her drug addicted cousin, who at the time promised to get himself help. When her cousin is arrested for killing someone in a robbery gone wrong, he insists he didn’t do it. The man who he and his addict friends robbed was alive when they left him. Is Dawn’s cousin lying to her or telling the truth? She’s at a complete loss for figuring it out, which is why she hires Duke Investigations. Part 5 Bubbly and upbeat, Kendra Cavanaugh loves her managerial position—she started at the golf course as a high schooler and truly worked her way up—but life on the whole hasn’t been easy as of late. A murder investigation extremely close to Kendra’s heart just went from active to cold. It happened one year ago, Kendra’s lifelong friends, married couple Mindy and Carl were killed, leaving their twelve-year-old daughter to Kendra since she is the girl’s godmother.