They are not cozy or fuzzy, but they do try to be humorous and witty. Sometimes they succeed. Each novel/novella has a stand-alone mystery, but the stories are also about the continuing life saga of a middle-aged Southern woman as she faces many serious obstacles. Josiah faces the world with sarcastic humor and a number of quirky, oddball friends that can only be found in the Southern town of Lexington, the heart of the Kentucky horse country. Some mysteries end with a bang, some are not solved at all and the first one ends with a cliff hanger, but they always entertain in the sassy, humorous and suspenseful world as Josiah goes about sleuthing. The Josiah Reynolds Mystery Series is just like fried chicken . . . finger-licking good! Add some sweet tea and a piece of chocolate pecan pie with a scoop of ice-cream and you got yourself some tasty reading. Description Josiah Reynolds is a beekeeper trying to stay financially afloat by selling honey at the Farmers' Market. She finds her world turned upside down when a man is found dead in her beeyard, only to discover that the victim is her nemesis. The police are calling the brutal death murder and Josiah is the number one suspect! Josiah makes the rounds of quirky characters that can only be found in the lush Bluegrass horse country. Fighting an unknown enemy in the glamorous world of Thoroughbreds, oak-cured bourbon and antebellum mansions, Josiah struggles to uncover the truth in a land that keeps its secrets well. Death By A HoneyBee is the first of an episodic series and as such ends in a cliff-hanger which is crucial to the rest of the series. Attached to HoneyBee is a bonus chapter from Death By Drowning which continues our heroine's story in linear time. I hope you enjoy reading Death By A HoneyBee as much as I have enjoyed writing it. It was a labor of love.

    AND PROVENCE! American Professor Havilah Gaie has always seen herself as “an academic version of Pam Grier’s characters: smart, quick on their feet, loyal with a keen sense of purpose.” Now she’s got a chance to suit up for action because suddenly she’s a witness in a murder, having spoken with the victim on her phone moments before he was attacked. Against the panoramic backdrop of the Cassis cliffs of Provence, France, the beautiful people of poetry--poets, academics, and patrons of the arts--are assembling at a centennial honoring the founder of the Félibrige Foundation. Finding itself with a surplus of talent, the Foundation has awarded one more than its customary dozen fellowships, but even before the gathering can get underway, the unlucky 13th fellow has fetched up dead. But what's the motive? Professional jealousy? Romantic rivalry? Or something to do with a dark secret about the Félibrige’s founder? Havilah’s at the center of the mystery, and so is Thierry Gasquet, a dashing French agent who doesn't care much for amateur detectives. A specialist in several academic disciplines, fluent in several languages, honored for her academic achievements by the Ordre des Palmes Académiques, and equally appreciated for her accomplishments in filling out a bikini, Havilah is shocked by her colleague’s murder and determined to ferret out the truth. But she’ll have to stay a few steps ahead of Gasquet, who’s been assigned to protect her and avert an international scandal. He’s bossy, but he’s certainly enjoying keeping her in his sights, which isn't easy—she moves pretty fast! The 13th Fellow introduces a uniquely contemporary heroine--a worldly academic female sleuth (fashionable as well!) who isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty, but who solves her mysteries with a blend of action and zee justly famous leetle gray cells. (As well as a lot of well-placed nosiness.) She’ll appeal to fans of Attica Locke and of African-American sleuths like Charlotte Justice, Talba Wallis, Tamara Hayle, and especially Frankie Bailey’s Professor Lizzie Stuart—not to mention Pam Grier! Those who enjoy international settings will love the Provence setting, and everyone who loves a mystery will appreciate this perfect blend of cozy mystery and action-adventure thriller.

    From the moment she and newborn Laurie lock eyes, Kate can't imagine returning to work after her six-week maternity leave, but in expensive San Francisco, she and her ad exec husband, Jim, need every bit of both incomes. Then a dead body is fished out of the bay and linked to Jim's estranged brother, George. Both the police and PI Albert Galigani, hired by the dead man's mother, believe that Jim and Kate know more than they're revealing. Kate is determined to find the elusive George and get some answers, but she soon gets in over her head. Galigani serves as a charming mentor as Kate navigates the twists of motherhood and an uncomplicated but engaging plot. (Aug.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Review "[AN] ENTERTAINING NEW SLEUTH." -GILLIAN ROBERTS, AUTHOR OF THE AMANDA PEPPER SERIES "A charming, gutsy, wry character who will make you laugh so hard you'll forget the labor pains." -LOUISE URE, SHAMUS AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR Book Description: A body has been dredged from the San Francisco Bay. Kate Connelly, pregnant and ready to pop, has reason to fear it may be her long lost brother-in-law. Battling sleep deprivation, diaper blowouts and breastfeeding mishaps she muddles through her own investigation, Mommy style: To do: 1. Find Killer 2. Figure out hideous breast pump. 3. Avoid cranky cop. 4. Send out Make birth announcements – need pink paper. 5. FIND KILLER

    Nowadays twenty-two-year-old Siobhán O’Sullivan runs the family bistro named for her mother, along with her five siblings, after the death of their parents in a car crash almost a year ago.   It’s been a rough year for the O’Sullivans, but it’s about to get rougher. One morning, as they’re opening the bistro, they discover a man seated at a table, dressed in a suit as if for his own funeral, a pair of hot pink barber scissors protruding from his chest.   With the local garda suspecting the O’Sullivans, and their business in danger of being shunned—murder tends to spoil the appetite—it’s up to feisty redheaded Siobhán to solve the crime and save her beloved brood.

    Alexandra Prescott is a licensed private investigator specializing in finding missing animals. Reuniting pet and owner is more than just a job.While looking for a lost cat, Alex finds a weak and injured Great Dane. The dog has no collar, no tags, and no microchip. And the only person looking for him is a man who might have murdered his own wife.Within 24 hours, Alex has a hunted dog, a cryptic message, and a hitman on her tail. She realizes the only way out of this mess is to solve the mystery of the lost Great Dane.This is an alternate-cover additon for ISBN-13: 978-1-944639-00-6 and ISBN-13: 978-1-944639-01-3.

    Mischievous nieces. Can a clueless uncle catch a tech-savvy killer … and be home before bedtime?When a freak accident hospitalizes Marty Golden’s sister and condemns him to babysitter duty, he thinks it’s just another case of hardwired bad luck in Silicon Valley. Until a suspicious murder suggests the mishap was no mere coincidence. Something must be done. Too bad this quirky, fashion-backward uncle isn’t exactly hero material.Convinced his sister is in mortal danger, this amateur sleuth follows clues to an oddball array of suspects. Armed with nothing but an eye for detail and powers of self-delusion, Marty tangles with gangsters, a cantankerous school secretary, and a perplexing woman he can’t help but fall for. Glitches in his investigation seem like a piece of cake compared to dinner-prep and bedtime stories with his two precocious, pre-teen nieces.Can Marty catch the culprit, save his sister, and get his life back in order before he gets unplugged?

    Too bad his body didn't!Advertising copywriter Leigh Koslow doesn't pack heat--just a few extra pounds. And she doesn't go looking for trouble. When she moved into her cousin Cara's refurbished Victorian house, she wasn't planning on discovering a corpse--certainly not one that had been embalmed ten years before. But as anyone in the small Pittsburgh borough of Avalon could tell her, her cousin's house has a history attached. A history dating back to two mysterious deaths in the summer of 1949.Someone wants Leigh and Cara out of the house--someone who has something to hide. But that someone doesn't know Leigh's impetuous cousin, and when Cara digs her heels in, Leigh looks to her old college chum, local policewoman Maura Polanski, for help. But the answers the trio find only point to more questions. Were the scandalous deaths of fifty years ago really an accident and a suicide? Or were they murder?The nearer the women get to the truth, the more desperate someone becomes. Because some secrets are better off kept. Especially when they hit close to home!

    A detective barking up the wrong tree. It’s a race against time to follow the scent and find the murderer before someone else ends up dead. Nikki Green thought muddy paws and furry scuffles were the worst troubles she’d encounter at the local dog park. So, she’s shocked when her client’s German Shepherd sniffs out her friend’s dead body. And her confusion only grows when the hunky detective who helped her through a life-changing experience years ago treats her like a total stranger. But with her friend’s killer on the loose, she has little time to ponder the mystery of his baffling behavior. Side-by-side with her canine companions, she searches for the killer and discovers her detective pal wasn’t the only one acting strangely. To find her friend’s murderer, Nikki must dig through a web of secrets and suspects before the killer strikes again. Murder at Pooch Park is the first novel in the Wagging Tail Cozy Mystery series. The prequel to the series, Murder at Pawprint Creek is available as part of the Summer Snoops and Cozy Crimes: 12 Mysteries for the Dog Days of Summer anthology. The stories can be read in any order. If you like quirky characters, crafty canines, and twists and turns that will keep you glued to the page, then you’ll love Cindy Bell’s heartwarming, tail wagging whodunits. Buy Murder at Pooch Park to unleash a twisty mystery today!

    A secret world.Can this grieving investigator stay on the right track?PI Kelly Pruett is determined to make it on her own. And juggling clients at her late father’s detective agency, a controlling ex, and caring for a deaf daughter was never going to be easy. So she takes it as a good sign when a letter left by her dad ties into an unsolved case of a young woman struck by a train. Hunting down the one person who can prove the mysterious death was not just a drunken accident, Kelly discovers this witness is in no condition to talk. And the closer she gets to the truth the longer her list of sleazy suspects with murderous motives grows. Each clue exposes another layer of the victim's steamy double life. On a crash course with a killer, she must piece together the puzzle of what really happened to the victim that rainy night, before her own fate is sealed and she loses everything near and dear, including her life.

    . . in Nebraska??Ambitious Cassandra Sato traded her life in Hawai'i for a dream position at Morton College in rural Nebraska. She expected the Midwestern church casseroles, land-locked cornfields, and face-freezing winters would be her biggest challenges, but it's her job that's rapidly becoming a nightmare.A deaf student is dead and the investigation reveals a complicated trail of connections between campus food service, a local farmer's beef, and the science lab's cancer research. Dealing with homesickness, vandalism, and a stalker, Cassandra is trapped in a public relations disaster that could cost her job, or more. No one said college was easy. 2020 RONE Awards Mystery Finalist, DEATH BY DISSERTATION, appeals to Hawai'i lovers, Deaf Community members, and anyone who has lived in a place where livestock outnumber people.

    With the old inn teetering on both a bluff and bankruptcy, she must have lost her ever-loving mind.Luckily, handyman Rocky Crowder has a knack for rehabbing virtual ruins and for doing it on a dime, and to Misty’s delight, the lodge is fully booked on opening night, every room filled with flexible folks who’d slipped into spandex and ascended the peak for a yoga retreat with plans to namastay for a full week. Misty and her guests are feeling zen—at least until the yoga instructor is found dead.With a killer on the loose and the lodge’s reputation hanging in the balance, Misty must put her detective-skills to the test. Only one thing is as clear as a sunny mountain morning—she must solve the crime before the lodge ends up, once again, on the brink.

    Betty Bruce, and her pot-bellied pig, Gertrude, stumble upon the body of elderly widow, Eliza Bone, floating bottoms-up in her Oscar fish tank. The one clue they have is a set of muddy gumboot tracks left at the scene. Their problem: everyone on Seal Island wears gumboots.As two more bizarre deaths occur on the island, Betty is left to wonder if there is a serial killer at work on her beloved Island. In the end, only Gertrude may be left standing! "Gumboots, Gumshoes and Murder" is the first novel in the trilogy of a continuing story - The Gumboot & Gumshoe Series. "The Dastardly Mr. Deeds" and "Murder Most Fowl" are the sequels. They need to be read in this order. Due to numerous requests by readers, two standalone stories will be released in 2020 - Gertrude & The Sorcerer's Gold and Chasing SantaFor more information on author, Laura Hesse, visit www.RunningLProductions.com

    When she's offered a chance to fill in for a local food critic off on sick leave, she jumps at the chance rationalizing that it's one step closer to her dream. However, when a dead body is found underneath her apartment stairwell with her name and number along with it, she becomes the prime suspect, as well as the main course on the murder menu.

    Alen and Joan Arny happily left law enforcement behind in exchange for traveling and new adventures. They never expected their new job as house and pet sitters to lead them back to crime and intrigue.Ian Bennett has a secret. He’s in big trouble if it’s exposed and someone is threatening to do just that. The American couple house sitting next door might be the answer to his prayers.Alen and Joan question if it’s possible to solve a mystery and capture a criminal with no police department, authority, jurisdiction, crime scene analysis, forensics, or modern crime-solving technology.Will Alen be able to trust his intuition through his self-doubt, will Joan consider crime-solving a bucket list-worthy adventure, and can a canine named Sherlock Holmes help at all?Read it today, because we love a cozy mystery where the good guys prevail and dogs help save the day. Exposed in Edinburgh is the first book in the series. A clean cozy mystery. No graphic violence, sex, or strong language. Available in Large Print. The House Sitters Cozy Mysteries will take you on adventures and land you in the middle of crimes in different international cities in each book. Enjoy travel photos and recipes from each destination along with charming dogs in each country. Look for corresponding journals. Each book can be read as a standalone and you can read them in any order.

    Was Daniel George an unfortunate victim of some dark magic, or some invisible revenge? In the sleepy tourist town of Wickrock Bay, Maine, Mimi’s artifact and antique shop is a hit with customers far and wide, especially crotchety next-door cafe owner Daniel George, who likes to duck into the shop often to spot what Mimi has in her collections.  But, after three Wickrock Bay citizens rub Daniel the wrong way, in one form or another, the man moves to take action against them.Only for him to turn up mysteriously dead.Wickrock Bay Police Chief Robert Thompson, and soon along with his crush Mimi, are immediately on the case.  But Mimi also has to be cautious, because the object used to murder poor Daniel had come from her shop.  Wickrock Bay may be a small, cozy seaside town, but tongues could wag if enough people find this out.This cozy mystery is a clean read: no graphic violence, sex, or strong language.