Book picks similar to
Lifeguards and Liars by Maci Grant
mystery-thriller
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Suede to Rest
Diane Vallere - 2014
THE FIRST BOOK IN THE ALL-NEW “MATERIAL WITNESS” MYSTERY SERIES With her career as a dress designer in shreds, Polyester Monroe is looking forward to a fresh start. But as it all unfolds, the pattern to a new beginning looks a lot like murder. When Poly Monroe was little, she loved playing in her family’s textile store. But after a fatal family tragedy, Land of A Thousand Fabrics was boarded up and Poly never expected to see the inside again. Now, as inheritor of the long-shuttered shop, she’s ready to restore the family business. However her two new kittens, Pins and Needles, aren’t the ones causing a snag in her plans… Not everyone wants Poly back in San Ladrón, especially a powerful local developer pressuring her to sell—and leave town fast. But even when the threats turn deadly, she’s not ready to bolt. Because Poly is beginning to suspect that the murder behind the shop is tied to a mystery in her family’s unsettled past that she’s determined to solve…before her own life is left hanging by a thread.INCLUDES A CRAFT PROJECT
Murder on the Rocks
Karen MacInerney - 2006
Natalie Barnes buys the Gray Whale Inn, a bed and breakfast in Maine, and publicly opposes Bernard Katz's proposed resort development, which threatens a colony of black-chinned terns, and when Katz is found dead, Natalie must find the true killer in order to clear her own name.
In Deep Voodoo
Stephanie Bond - 2005
. . There's something strange afoot in the small town of Mojo, Louisiana. Yet even as the annual voodoo festival gets underway, Penny Francisco, who runs a health food business, refuses to believe in black magic. Her mind is on celebrating her divorce from her lying, cheating husband Deke.Add a Pinprick of Revenge . . .Fueled by run-ins with her ex-mother-in-law and Deke's busty mistress, Penny is eager for the "emancipation party" her friends plan. When she receives a Deke voodoo doll as a gag gift, she sticks it with a pin as a joke. But when Deke winds up fatally stabbed, the police aren't laughing.And Watch Things Boil Over . . .A junk-food junkie P.I. offers his services, and although Penny is wary of the sexy Cajun's motives (and his diet), she's desperate. Dodging a media sideshow and a looming murder rap, Penny realizes that somehow she's landed herself "In Deep Voodoo,"
Leave No Stone Unturned
Jeanne Glidewell - 2008
tongue-in-cheek humor provides plentyof laugh-out-loud moments." ~Booklist"Begins with a bang and ends on just the right note." ~Library Journal ReviewTHE LEXIE STARR MYSTERIES, in series order Leave No Stone Unturned The Extinguished Guest Haunted (Coming Soon!)With This Ring (Coming Soon!)OTHER TITLES by Jeanne GlidewellSoul Survivor (A Novel of Suspense) ABOUT JEANNE GLIDEWELL:A pancreas/kidney transplant recipient, Jeanne lives in Kansas, with her husband and chubby cat. When Jeanne isn't writing, she's promoting organ donation and stalking wildlife with her camera.
The Sweet Dreams Bake Shop
J.A. Whiting - 2015
The building's new owners are not renewing the bake shop's lease and Angie is running out of time to find a new location. When one of the town's long-time residents is murdered, Angie finds herself on the suspect list. With the help of her three sisters and a huge orange cat, Angie works to uncover the killer's identity. A cozy mystery with recipes ! This story has some mild paranormal elements. The main mystery is solved in each book but you will enjoy the series more if the books are read in order as some story threads run from book to book. In The Sweet Cove Mystery series: 1. The Sweet Dreams Bake Shop 2. Murder So Sweet 3. Sweet Secrets 4. Sweet Deceit (Coming late July 2015) And more to come ! Thank you for reading
Blackbird Fly
Lise McClendon - 2009
That’s the delicious underpinning of this sprawling, exuberant, generous-spirited cozy mystery with a yummy side of international adventure.It might be sadder except that once Harry dies, his widow, Merle Bennett realizes almost immediately it was no wonder she didn't know anything about him. They’d pretty much been leading separate lives. Still, the will’s a shock. And so is an intriguing surprise—Harry left her a family home in a tiny French village. But who was Harry’s family? Finding out is half the fun.Merle sets out to claim her inheritance, adolescent son in tow, and thus begins a sojourn reminiscent of A Year in Provence, or perhaps Under The Tuscan Sun all mixed up with something by Carolyn Hart, maybe, or M.C. Beaton. Because Malcouziac, Merle’s tiny Dordogne town, is the quintessential village—just perfect for a murder. And a rollicking good time.Once Merle gets there, she finds…well, France! An unexpected romance! Mystery galore! Murder! And not just murder, but the unnerving experience of being a suspect. Once her passport is confiscated, what can she do but stay and restore her ancient battered house? While enjoying the tender attention of the unusually well-educated, handsome and…yes, quite mysterious roofer she’s hired.
Death and Doubloons
Nola Robertson - 2019
Add in a muffin stealing mouse who her grandmother insists is her reincarnated great-great uncle, the mystery of some stolen doubloons, and a hot detective who thinks Rylee should be at the top of his suspect list, and things get a whole lot worse.Luckily, with the help of her two best friends, a newly acquired pet, and a local club of paranormal believers, Rylee sets off to do some supernatural sleuthing whether she wants to or not.
Rose Hill
Pamela Grandstaff - 2008
When rich and rotten Theo Eldridge is found bludgeoned to death in the local veterinary clinic, Rose Hill police chief Scott Gordon is forced to work with ambitious county investigator Sarah Albright. Unfortunately Sarah seems more interested in seducing Scott than in solving the crime. Scott’s crazy about Maggie Fitzpatrick, but she's still grieving over the mysterious disappearance of the love of her life. Although determined to resist the powerful chemistry between them, Maggie finds herself deeply involved with Scott's investigation, and battling emotions she can no longer deny. It’s a bitterly cold January in Rose Hill. As Scott and Maggie untangle the sticky web of Theo's shady business dealings, they uncover dark secrets that may connect Theo's murder to another committed twenty years before.
Getting Old Is Murder
Rita Lakin - 2005
Her friends are no Charlie’s Angels. Nevertheless, 75-year-old Gladdy Gold and her gang of eccentric Fort Lauderdale retirees are out, about, and hunting down a killer–one who is silently stalking them.Selma Beller was the first to go–but Gladdy and her neighbors never suspected murder until another of their friends died in an eerily similar way. Now a handsome young detective won’t listen to them, Hy Binder won’t stop telling them dirty jokes, and crazy old Greta Kronk is doing everything humanly possible to make herself into a suspect. But amid the endless rounds of poolside kibitzing, early-bird specials, bittersweet memories, and interminable grocery-shopping trips, Gladdy and her gals are about to discover how the murders are being committed. And when it comes to catching this culprit–time really is running out….
Tear Down and Die
Joanna Campbell Slan - 2013
She never expected to uncover an old boyfriend and a dead body… Stuart, Florida--With her parents deceased and her son away at college, Cara Mia Delgatto longs to reinvent herself. And a sentimental purchase of a fixer-upper in a small, coastal town seems ideal for a new business selling repurposed relics. But when she trips over a corpse at her rundown building, she flips from renovator to prime suspect. Desperate to clear her name, it shocks Cara to discover that her property once housed a multi-million dollar art collection—stolen after the original owner’s death. And when her first love shows up and tugs at her heartstrings, her whirlwind life upgrades to a hurricane. With accusations of murder and theft looming, she’s running out of redos. Can Cara crack the case and rebuild her reputation, or will her desire to upcycle treasures send her to jail? Tear Down and Die is the charming first novel in the Cara Mia Delgatto traditional mystery series. If you like cozy reads, witty heroines, former flames reconnecting, and Florida’s beautiful Treasure Coast, you’ll adore Joanna Campbell Slan’s captivating tale.
Tressed to Kill
Lila Dare - 2010
Elizabeth, Georgia, offers charm, Southern hospitality-and, most recently, murder. When hairdresser Grace Terhune and her mother, Violetta, gussy up all the high-society ladies attending the town meeting, they find their snobbiest client dead. The police believe the mother-daughter duo did her in. But before things get snarled beyond repair, Grace sets out to clear their names.
Town in a Blueberry Jam
B.B. Haywood - 2010
In the seaside village of Cape Willington, Maine, Candy Holliday has an idyllic life tending to the Blueberry Acres farm she runs with her father. But, when an aging playboy and the newly crowned Blueberry Queen are killed, Candy investigates to clear the name of a local handyman. And as she sorts through the town's juicy secrets, things start to get sticky indeed...
Medicine Wheel
Kelly Running - 2013
Her efforts to clear her brother's name lead her on an odyssey of Navajo visions, sweat lodges, medicine wheels, and mysticism. The journey promises to waken her latent psychic abilities if she survives numerous attempts on her life and figures out who wants her dead.
A Crafty Killing
Lorraine Bartlett - 2011
But when her business partner, Ezra Hilton, is found bludgeoned to death, she has no other choice. Business under Ezra has been faltering-but was it enough to provoke someone to murder? Only Katie can find the answer.
Death Turns a Trick
Julie Smith - 1982
That dirty job done, a lovely evening turns even more delightful when she’s picked up by the cops and spends the next two hours at the Hall of Justice. Could this day get any worse? Of Course! Guess who arrives home to find a dead hooker on her living room floor?Handsome Parker Phillips, Rebecca’s new beau and the most attractive man she’s met in ages, is arrested for the murder. (Worse, she suspects he might actually have done it.)On the plus side, another very attractive man is following the case--reporter Rob Burns of the San Francisco Chronicle, a possible ally. And there are other possibilities.Fans of Janet Evanovich, Joan Hess, and Elizabeth Peters will get a kick out of this one.