As a service and convenience for their customers, Bertie set up a 'read-n-return' section in the book area. Customers can check out books for free, and return the books when they've finished reading them. Books are disappearing, but no one is checking them out at the front register as customer are supposed to do. What's happening to the books? As Wanda noted, 'they aren't leaving the store under their own steam that's for sure!' The sisters live in a small town; their customers are good people who help each other, they care for their neighbors and they'd never do harm on purpose. Can the two elderly sisters solve the mystery…?

    But before Lady Julia and her handsome sleuthing husband, Nicolas Brisbane, can take to the stage, a ruckus in the stable yard demands their attention. An abandoned infant is found nestled in the steel helm of St. George. What's more, their only lead is the local legend of a haunted cottage and its ghastly inhabitant—who seems to have returned.Once again, Lady Julia and Nicholas take up the challenge to investigate, and when the source of the mystery is revealed, they'll be faced with an impossible choice—one that will alter the course of their lives…forever.

     Book 1: The Sweet Smell of Murder Ally Sweet is happy to be returning for a short break to the small town where she grew up. She is planning on using the time off to get over her messy divorce and she is looking forward to spending time with her much-loved grandmother and relaxing making chocolates and anything chocolaty. But then… the delivery driver for her grandmother’s chocolate shop is found murdered. The detectives investigating the crime have a prime suspect, Ally’s high school sweetheart, Brent. Ally believes that Brent would never murder anyone, so with the help of her trusted feline friend, Peaches, she tries to uncover the truth. The search for the killer leads Ally straight into the line of danger. Will she be able find the murderer before she becomes a victim herself? Triple Chocolate Muffin Recipe Included! Book 2: A Deadly Delicious Delivery Ally Sweet is settling into life in Blue River. She loves spending time with her grandmother and making delicious chocolate creations. But then someone is poisoned by the chocolates from ‘Charlotte’s Chocolate Heaven’ and all the evidence points to Ally and Charlotte. Detective Luke Elm is on the case, but with her grandmother’s business on the line and their freedom at stake Ally feels she has no choice but to try and find out the truth. Ally and Charlotte, with some help from Peaches and Arnold, do some digging to try and uncover the murderer. With the suspects piling up it is a race against the clock to discover who the murderer is so the chocolate shop doesn’t remain shut and Ally and Charlotte don’t land up behind bars. Will Ally and Charlotte be able to find the killer before they go to jail? Or worse get murdered themselves? Will hunky Detective Luke arrest Ally? Or will they develop a new romance? Decadent Chocolate Cake Recipe Included! Book 3: A Bitter Sweet Murder Ally Sweet is excited to be staying the night at a new luxury hotel for free because ‘Charlotte’s Chocolate Heaven’ is negotiating a lucrative deal for the hotel’s bed turndown service, where a chocolate will be placed on each guest’s pillow every night. But then Ally stumbles across a dead body. It looks like she is being framed and when hunky Detective Luke Elm is inadvertently implicated in the murder, Ally does everything she can to find the killer. With a little help from her grandmother, feline friend, pot-bellied pig and some chocolate creations, Ally sifts through the suspects to uncover the truth. Will Ally’s snooping make the shop lose the deal? Will Ally find the murderer and clear her and Luke’s names before there is another victim? Chocolate Cupcakes with Whipped Ganache Frosting Recipe Included! Book 4: A Treacherous Tasty Trail Ally and Charlotte Sweet are running a booth for ‘Charlotte’s Chocolate Heaven’ at a local farmer’s market. Their primary concerns are selling cookies and keeping their cat, Peaches, and pot-bellied pig, Arnold, under control at the market. But then the son of a prominent and influential farmer is found dead and an old acquaintance of Ally’s is suspected of the murder. Ally’s investigative nature takes over and she goes on a search to find the killer.

    Independent. Skeptical.Thirteen years ago her abusive husband stole her baby and gave it up for adoption.She comes to Atlanta to find her daughter.THE PIWade Parker.Ace detective.Wealthy owner of the Parker Investigative Agency.The most eligible forty-four-year-old bachelor in Atlanta.Still mourning the death of his socialite wife, he must solve a disturbing murder case.Before the killer strikes again.THE MURDERERA serial killer strangling young girls in a bizarre ritual.Why?She doesn't need a man.He needs to find a killer.Together, can they save a thirteen year old girl?

    An innocent young girl is murdered in a heinous, unforgivable way. The only evidence against the killer is the full confession of his accomplice--another young girl he also victimized. But the accomplice is charged with the murder as well, which means she has the right to remain silent. And she's so scared of the killer, she refuses to take a deal to testify against him. Brunelle can't just let the murderer walk, but how can he get a conviction when he has no admissible evidence and the killer is protected by the PRESUMPTION OF INNOCENCE?

    The Dark Coming of Age series books do not need to be read in any specific order -- they are stand-alones built around a theme of "dark coming of age."Owen Crites has grown up in the shadow of the Montgomery summer estate and has always been in love with beautiful Jenna Montgomery, who arrives each summer to her family's summer home on Outerbridge Island, just off the New England coast. Now, both of them teenagers, Owen -- the gardener's son -- begins to understand that Jenna is meant for a different life in adulthood than he's destined for -- and he knows that he must somehow keep her with him on the island until she no longer wants to leave.Enter handsome and wealthy Jimmy McTeague, the young tennis star from Manhattan, heir to a sporting goods fortune. Jimmy's also come to spend the summer with the Montgomery family. To Owen, this intruder is a rival for Jenna's love, but he soon discovers that Jimmy holds in a deep secret that could destroy him. Soon, a triangle of love, hate, and the darkest of human impulses emerges.

    A few days before Christmas, his peace is shattered and he is thrust back into the murky world of murder when a young woman is found dead amongst the ancient ruins of the nearby Priory.When former local girl Dr Anna Taylor arrives back on the island as a police consultant, old memories swim to the surface making her confront her difficult past. She and Ryan struggle to work together to hunt a killer who hides in plain sight, while pagan ritual and small-town politics muddy the waters of their investigation.

    But not with employees of the same company in Oil Camps in the high Arctic and Northern Canada. Two detectives, one from Alaska and one from Canada, are given the case. They find the murders are connected. Now, they have to work together to find out why the victims were silenced. What secrets did their deaths conceal?Frank Mueller, the Alaskan Detective, is close to retirement. He’s been through three marriages and two stints in rehab. He is on probation with the force. He knows the Anchorage Police department has given him this case because they don’t want it investigated fully and there’s no booze in the Arctic oil camps.Bernadette Callahan, the Canadian Detective, is in her mid thirties with a lot to prove on the force. She is Cree Indian and Irish, raised on a native reservation in Northern Canada. She’s been ingrained with the ways of the ‘people,’ by her grandmother that have given her instincts. Her instincts tell her there is something more than four dead people—someone is settling a score. The real crime will happen soon.The oil companies think the deaths are bad for publicity and they want them solved quickly. The detectives are under pressure to come up with a verdict they know is wrong.Callahan begins to unravel a series of unlikely suspects. A Chemistry Professor with a grudge against big oil, a Mexican low life gangster and Wall Street Executives. How are they connected?Something is about to happen to oil supplies in the Arctic. The two Detectives can sense it. They know it’s real—can they convince others to act?

    While out celebrating with a group of friends a few nights before the wedding, Michael suddenly and unexpectedly finds himself enclosed in a coffin equipped only with a flashlight, a dirty magazine, a walkie-talkie, and a tiny breathing tube. It's all in good fun — payback for the grief his mates suffered due to his own penchant for tomfoolery — that is until the four are killed in a drunk driving accident just moments after leaving Michael completely alone and buried alive.Detective Superintendent Grace—himself dealing with the pain of losing his wife—is brought on to the case when Ashley reports Michael missing. Suspicions are raised when Michael's only friend not at the bachelor party refuses to cooperate, and Ashley's faithfulness—not to mention her increasingly mysterious past—are suddenly thrown in to question. As Superintendent Grace soon discovers, one man's disaster is another man's fortune.

    WESTLAKE A SCIENCE FICTION WRITER? Everyone knows him as the mystery writer who published books like The Hook (2000), Bad News 2001, and Put a Lid on It (2002) under his own name, Donald E. Westlake, and of course that he was also Richard Stark and a number of other favorite authors. But a science fiction writer? -- Really? -- You bet he was, early on in his career. (He even wrote one SF novel -- Anarchaos, in 1966, as "Curt Clark.") He also wrote quite a bit of short SF, like this weird little SF mystery that first graced the pages of Amazing in 1963.

    From shopkeepers to kings, everyone wants the help of Sherlock Holmes, but can he solve these mysteries?