An easy, enjoyable read for mystery buffs seeking a bit of an escape from the usual crime fiction fare.” – Library Journal (on The Miser’s Dream) There’s No Question It Was Murder. But Who Killed Who? What begins as a typical corporate event for magician Eli Marks turns into a twisted mystery when he is called to the site of a recent murder/suicide. Confronted by the details of the grisly crime scene, Eli must sort through the post-mortem clues—and the bickering of the officials as well as a poorly-timed allergy attack—to determine just who murdered who. Drawing on his knowledge of magic and misdirection, Eli realizes that only one entity could have pulled off a crime of this cunning magnitude: An Invisible Assistant. Related subjects include: cozy mysteries, murder mystery series, amateur sleuths, humorous murder mysteries, whodunnit mysteries (whodunit), short stories. Books in the Eli Marks Mystery Series: • THE AMBITIOUS CARD (#1) • THE BULLET CATCH (#2) • THE MISER’S DREAM (#3) Part of the Henery Press Mystery Series Collection, if you like one, you'll probably like them all… Author Bio: In real life, John’s not a magician, but he has directed six low-budget features that cost very little and made even less – that’s no small trick. He’s also written multiple books on the subject of low-budget filmmaking. Ironically, they’ve made more than the films. His blog, “Fast, Cheap Movie Thoughts” has been named “One of the 50 Best Blogs for Moviemakers” and “One of The 100 Best Blogs For Film and Theater Students.” He’s also written for TV and the stage. John lives in Minnesota and shares his home with his lovely wife, several dogs, a few cats and a handful of pet allergies.

    But the preparations are interrupted when a guest is found dead in one of the Castle bedrooms. The scene suggests the young Russian pianist strangled himself, but a badly tied knot leads MI5 to suspect foul play was involved. The Queen leaves the investigation to the professionals—until their suspicions point them in the wrong direction.Unhappy at the mishandling of the case and concerned for her staff’s morale, the monarch decides to discreetly take matters into her own hands. With help from her Assistant Private Secretary, Rozie Oshodi, a British Nigerian and recent officer in the Royal Horse Artillery, the Queen secretly begins making inquiries. As she carries out her royal duties with her usual aplomb, no one in the Royal Household, the government, or the public knows that the resolute Elizabeth will use her keen eye, quick mind, and steady nerve to bring a murderer to justice.SJ Bennett captures Queen Elizabeth’s voice with skill, nuance, wit, and genuine charm in this imaginative and engaging mystery that portrays Her Majesty as she’s rarely seen: kind yet worldly, decisive, shrewd, and most importantly a great judge of character.

    Aunt Sabrina invites her to Essex England, for help with the Order of the New Dawn. Aunt Jagger beats the servants to suicide, and someone feeds her Death mushrooms. Next door, Sir Charles photographs a fresh body in an archaeological dig, and seeks his killer.

    In the privacy of her studio, she supplements her meager income by taking illicit “boudoir photographs” of the town's local ladies of the night. But when two of her models are found gruesomely murdered within weeks of one another, Sarah begins to suspect it's more than mere coincidence.Teamed with a motley crew of friends--including a street urchin, a gay aristocrat, a Jewish butcher and his wife, and a beautiful young actress--Sarah delves into the crime of the century. But just as she starts unlocking the Ripper's secrets, she catches the attention of the local police, who believe she knows more than she's revealing, as well as from the Ripper himself, now bent on silencing her and her friends for good.Caught in the crosshairs of a ruthless killer, Sarah races through Whitechapel's darkest alleys to find the truth...until she makes a shocking discovery that challenges everything she thought she knew about the case. Intelligent and utterly engrossing, Laura Joh Rowland's Victorian mystery The Ripper's Shadow will keep readers up late into the night.

    When injury ends his naval career, the silver-tongued libertine can hardly stomach the boredom. Not after everything—and everyone—he’s experienced. Good thing a new adventure has just fallen into his lap…   When courtesan Charlotte Perry learns the Royal Mint is offering a reward for finding a cache of stolen gold coins, she seizes the chance to build a new life for herself. As the treasure hunt begins, she realizes her tenacity is matched only by Benedict’s—and that sometimes adversaries can make the best allies. But when the search for treasure becomes a discovery of pleasure, they’ll be forced to decide if they can sacrifice the lives they’ve always dreamed of for a love they’ve never known…

    Or so it seems to intelligence officer Hugo Hawksworth, wounded on a secret mission and now reluctantly assuming an altogether less perilous role at Selchester. The Castle’s faded grandeur hides a web of secrets and scandals—the Earl has been missing for seven years, lost without a trace since the night he left his guests and walked out into a blizzard. When a skeleton is uncovered beneath the flagstones of the Old Chapel, the police produce a suspect and declare the case closed.Hugo is not convinced. With the help of the spirited Freya Wryton, the Earl’s niece, he is drawn back into active service, and the ancient town of Selchester is dragged into the intrigues and conspiracies of the Cold War era. With a touch of Downton Abbey, a whisper of Agatha Christie and a nod to Le Carré, A Man of Some Repute is the first book in this delightfully classic and witty murder mystery series.

    But it was an ill wind that blew through the Gulf-coast Florida town in the summer of '52.Diana Landis, well-known in every barroom, and more than a few bedrooms in town, was found beneath the dock, afloat in a fishing net. Her lover, Bo Calhoun, had already seen his family's moonshine still set ablaze by arsonists. Congressman Robert "Snapper" Landis seemed more interested in his tough reelection campaign with Gospel Roy McInnes than in his daughter's murder. And Wesley Stafford, a young seminarian more familiar with salvation than seduction, was in jail when, it seemed, he confessed to the killing.All that was before storekeeper Lily Trulock left her neglecting husband to his beekeeping and ran her skiff to the island of St. Elmo, where an even bigger wind threatened to blow the lid off the whole county!

    But in the dead of night Sir Neville is murdered. Who did it? As suspicion falls on each of the house guests in turn, Knox finds himself faced with deception and betrayal on all sides, and only the enigmatic Angela Marchmont seems to offer a solution to the mystery. This 1920s whodunit will delight all fans of traditional country house murder stories.

    One click and read now to join witch Esme on her charming and funny murder mystery adventures.★★★★★ "R.K Dreaming weaves a wonderful tale of friendship, family, romance and mystery. Well written, fun read - looking forward to future releases." - Amazon ReviewerBOOK ONE:Solving crime one ghost at a time.Disaster strikes and witch Esme Westbrim flees in the dead of night to her magical hometown of Brimstone Bay with a terrible secret. The ramshackle old castle left to her by a great-aunt is the perfect hide-out for a desperate witch seeking a charm to get her out of harm's way, right up until a dead body turns up on her doorstep.Things get worse when the ridiculously handsome investigating Special Agent Chris Constantine puts Esme on his suspect’s list. Esme must put her amateur sleuthing skills to the test and prove her innocence before Agent Constantine takes too close a look at her — because Esme has a secret worse than murder.Juggling life and death turns into magical mayhem when a moody psychic cat, a busybody ghost aunt, and Esme’s three wild witch cousins burst in on her life. Will they help her catch the killer, or will they run for cover when they find out what Esme is hiding?BOOK TWO:Solving crime one fairy tale at a time.Witch Esme Westbrim is settling into a new life in Bewitching Brimstone Bay when the murder of a tourist hits too close to home. The second body in a few months has turned up on her doorstep!To make things worse Esme has seen someone she knows all too well lurking around the scene of the crime. Afraid her family will come under suspicion, Esme must attend a magical fairy-tale reunion ball and uncover deadly secrets from the past. Even help from a psychic cat, magically marvellous cupcakes, and a wild witch cousin might not be enough when a certain ridiculously handsome Special Agent keeps getting in Esme's way!Can Esme find happily ever after for everyone or will her belief that fairy tales always end badly come true?BOOK THREE:Solving crime one beast at a time.Life in Bewitching Brimstone Bay has not turned out the way that witch Esme Westbrim hoped, but when girls start going missing across town, including a customer at her café, Esme puts aside her own troubles in order to help. To her dismay, she stumbles across a wicked murder.It turns out the victim is tied to the ridiculously handsome Chris Constantine’s troubled past, and the race is on to solve not just one beastly crime, but three. Worse, Esme’s faith in Chris is shaken when she discovers an alarming secret. With the help of her psychic cat, ghost aunt and wild witch cousin, can Esme untangle the complicated mysteries of Chris’s past and her own heart before time runs out and the vengefully wicked past catches up with all of them?

    Europe is modernizing, and the sultan of the Ottoman Empire feels he has no choice but to follow suit. But just as he's poised to announce sweeping political change, a wave of murders threatens the fragile balance of power in his court. Who is behind the killings? Deep in the Abode of Felicity, the most forbidden district of Topkapi Palace, the sultan - ruler of the Black Sea and the White, ruler of Rumelia and Mingrelia, lord of Anatolia and Ionia, Romania and Macedonia, Protector of the Holy Cities, steely rider through the realms of bliss - announces, "Send for Yashim." Leading us through the palace's luxurious seraglios and Istanbul's teeming streets, Yashim places together the clues. He is not alone. He depends on the wisdom of a dyspeptic Polish ambassador, a transsexual dancer, and the Creole-born queen mother. He manages to find sweet salvation in the arms of another man's wife (this is not your everyday eunuch!). And he introduces us to the Janissaries. For four hundred years, they were the empire's elite soldiers. But they grew too powerful, and ten years earlier the sultan had them crushed. Are the Janissaries staging a brutal comeback? And if they are, how can they be stopped without throwing Istanbul into political chaos?

    There are many unresolved questions. Why, for instance, have both victims left their fortunes to an orphanage run by the English Lady Astair? And who is the beautiful "A.B.," whose signed photograph is found in the apparent suicide's apartment? Relying on his keen intuition, the eager sleuth plunges into an investigation that leads him across Europe, landing him at the deadly center of a terrorist conspiracy of worldwide proportions.

    But when she and her friend, Peter, find a valuable coin and try to take it out of the shop, they find themselves in the fifteenth century. But that is only the beginning. The Edward V Coin The discovery of the coin from the short lived reign of Edward V, prompts Peter to want to find out what really happened to the princes in the Tower. The Anne Boleyn Necklace When Peter finds the famous B necklace worn by Anne Boleyn in many portraits, he is eager to use it to go back and see her in the flesh. But Rachel has sworn she'll never time travel again, until she finds a journal which reveals a cousin, stranded in the fifteenth century. She feels she must rescue her, but she doesn't stop to wonder if the cousin wants to be rescued. The Ripper Rings Jack the Ripper took souvenirs in the form of organs from his victims. But from one victim he took three rings and when they turn up in the antique shop, both Peter and Rachel are keen to find out how they got there.

     We see what we want to see, nothing more. When detectives Coughlin and Holzer investigate the disappearance of a successful young businessman, they’re both impressed by his beautiful wife. Slender, curvy, delicate—Michelle Fanning is not the kind of woman a man would choose to leave. Soon, a gruesome discovery leads the detectives to believe they’re investigating a murder. Reeling from the collapse of his own marriage, Detective Coughlin sees Michelle Fanning as a suspect. Detective Holzer, fascinated by her gentle femininity, sees her as a victim. Which cop turns a blind eye to the truth? Inspired by a true crime that occurred in New Jersey, this **short story** originally appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. The story introduces the character of Detective Sean Coughlin, who goes on to play a role in the full-length novels, ANOTHER MAN’S TREASURE and TREASURE OF DARKNESS, in the Palmyrton Estate Sale Mystery series. Please be aware that BLIND EYE is a short story, not a full-length novel. Chapter 1 of ANOTHER MAN’S TREASURE is also included.

    Detective William Murdoch quickly finds out that more than one person connected with the girl’s simple life has something to hide.

    But the rules of her father’s exclusive academic society forbid her entrance unless she weds one of its members. To clear her ailing father’s name of a scandalous rumor, Cecily needs to gain admission into the Egyptian Club—and is willing to marry any old dullard to do it.Lucas Dalton, Duke of Winterson, is anything but dull. He’s a dashing and decorated war hero determined to help Cecily—even if that means looking the other way when she claims the dance card of Amelia Snow, this season’s most sought-after beauty. But Lucas has a reason for wanting Cecily to join the Egyptian Club: His brother went missing during one of Lord Hurston’s expeditions to Egypt. An alliance with the explorer’s bluestocking daughter could bring Lucas closer to the truth about what happened…or it could lead him to a more dangerous love than either he or Cecily could have imagined…