However, when she arrives she finds that it’s awfully hot and humid there and that these Southern folks really like to hug.Her husband’s past on the island includes a creaky old house in the historic district and lots of nosy relatives he’d forgotten to mention. When one of the Mantelle cousins turns up dead, Jewel needs something she’s never really had before — friends. As her lunch bunch puts on their detective caps to get to the bottom of this murder, Jewel discovers that she may get more than she bargained for out of Sophia Island.THE MANATEE DID IT is a clean and cozy beach mystery set in a historic small town. It’ll keep you turning pages well after bedtime and slathering on more sunscreen to get a few more poolside pages in.

    When one of his neighbours is brutally murdered, he gets the chance to investigate a real crime. Unfortunately, the hunt for the killer is far from simple, as winter sets in and he struggles to deal with his wife's disinterest, his friend's bungling enthusiasm, a village that will happily implicate anyone and everyone, and a rising body count.

    It’s a perennial problem. Verity Hawkes is a shut-in. After two years bunkered in her apartment, the only thing that gets her out is the disappearance of her beloved but eccentric aunt. As she takes over her aunt’s landscaping shop, she’ll need to go from hoarder to horticulturist in a hurry…Her new home of Leafy Hollow is quaint, except for her most obnoxious client. When a series of freak accidents kills the customer, all signs point to Verity as the killer. The hunt for answers is on, and Verity must question a tipsy carpenter, a bacon-peddling vegan baker, and her dreamy landscaping competitor to keep her new life afloat. Failure to find the truth could put her back in a confined space for much more than two years…If you like lovably quirky characters, deceptively idyllic Canadian villages, and twists you won’t see coming, then you’ll love Rickie Blair’s Leafy Hollow Mysteries series.

    She wasn't prepared for it to turn deadly.​Ready to redesign her life, style expert Samantha Kidd accepts a job in her Pennsylvania hometown as a trend specialist. But her first day goes completely A-line when she stumbles across her legendary boss dead in the elevator. And after the body disappears, she can't help but pull on the mystery's thread and unravel an entire wardrobe of suspects.​Supervising her deceased employer's vogue competition, Samantha tries to hem in a sexy shoe designer and countless ego-driven creatives to stitch together the clues. But when her own name appears on the police's suspect list, the sleuthing fashionista's days on the catwalk could be numbered.​Can Samantha put a killer in the spotlight before she's sewn up for a crime she didn't commit?​Designer Dirty Laundry is the first book in the feel-good Samantha Kidd mystery series. If you like witty protagonists, clever dialogue, and fashion-forward drama, then you'll love Diane Vallere's chic story.

    The sleuth is not a detective, private eye, or lawyer. He's an ordinary guy with an extraordinary dog.Jacob Martin is trying to make the best of a divorce and mid-life crisis when he gets a call at two o’clock Sunday morning from his mother. His sister has been arrested for the murder of her fourth husband, and his father is near death. Thus begins an adventure that takes Jake and his golden retriever from their Colorado retreat to a backwater town in the Missouri Ozarks where they search for cold-blooded killers, a cache of gold coins buried by Jesse James, and the love of a beautiful nurse.

    It looks cut and dry: a suspect fleeing the scene, a scorned wife, a mythical murder weapon. But then a retired detective by the name of Virginia Holmes arrives. There's more to this mystery than meets the eye ... and the murderer might still be inside the hotel.

    and the murder rate is climbing.When Piper Lane’s career and her office romance both die fiery deaths on the same day, she packs up her worldly goods and her French Bulldog, Jasper, and leaves Houston behind, setting sail for safer harbors – the welcoming golden shores of Sunrise Island, to be exact.But Piper, her pessimistic sister, Page, and her overly dramatic niece, Blaire, have no sooner rolled up their sleeves and taken over an old bed and breakfast on the island, than a dead body is discovered on the premises. With her B&B now adjacent to a crime scene, it looks as if Piper’s dream of reviving the business might be done for. Between the haunted house vibe of the ancient Victorian property and the creepy antics of Mrs. Harris, the crazy old lady living in the attic, can things get any worse?Propelled into the middle of the dangerous murder investigation, Piper soon makes it her mission to clear away the clouds of suspicion surrounding her B&B and shine the light of day on long-held secrets that some of the island’s inhabitants would rather keep buried. But the killer is only one step behind her, and if Piper doesn’t think fast, the only thing she’ll be getting to the bottom of is a shallow grave.

    This left him unconscious on the floor of my home. Amazingly, this bullet did not kill him. Ten years ago I adopted Blue as a present to myself after I broke up with my boyfriend one hot, early summer night with the windows open and the neighborhood listening. The next morning I went straight to the pound in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Articles on buying your first dog tell you never to buy a dog on impulse. They want you to be prepared for this new member of your family, to understand the responsibilities and challenges of owning a dog. Going to the pound because you need something in your life that's worth holding onto is rarely, if ever, mentioned. I asked the man at the pound to show me the biggest dogs they had. He showed me some seven-week-old Rottweiler-German shepherd puppies that he said would grow to be quite large. Then he showed me a six-month-old shepherd that would get pretty big. Then he showed me Blue, the largest dog they had. The man called him a Collie mix and he was stuffed into the biggest cage they had, but he didn't fit. He was as tall as a Great Dane but much skinnier, with the snout of a collie, the markings of a Siberian husky, the ears and tail of a shepherd and the body of a wolf, with one blue eye and one brown. Crouched in a sitting position, unable to lie down, unable to sit all the way up, he looked at me from between the bars, and I fell in love. "He's still underweight," the man in the blue scrubs told me as we looked at Blue. "I'll tell you, lady, he's pretty but he's skittish. He sheds, and I mean sheds. I don't think you want this dog." But I knew I wanted him. I knew I had to have him. He was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Blue cost me $108. I brought him home, and we lived together for years. He was, for most of our relationship, my only companion. But when I first met Blue, a lifetime ago now, I had family and friends. I worked at a crappy coffeehouse. I was young and lost; I was normal. Back then, at the beginning of this story, before I'd ever seen a corpse, before Blue saved my life, before I felt what it was like to kill someone in cold blood, I was still Joy Humbolt.I'd never even heard the name Sydney Rye.P.S. The dog does not die.**Beware: If you can’t handle a few f-bombs, you can’t handle this series.**

     Samantha Hodges is ready to get as far away from crime reporting as possible — especially after what happened in Chicago. Writing for the paper in her pets-obsessed hometown will be easy. Except that she’s not really into animals. And her first interviewee turns up dead. Sam must solve the murder to clear her name — all while attending Dog Zumba class with a new four-legged sidekick like it’s no big deal. If Sam’s going to uncover the dark side of her hometown, she’ll have to embrace the lighter side of life to do it. “Greyhound at the Gravesite” is a new cozy mystery. This novel is lighthearted, fast-paced, and full of quirky characters you can’t wait to meet again. ☆ Free novella — “Catnip & Culprits” — included in purchase! ☆ Scroll up and click Buy Now!

     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.

    She never thought she’d discover something shocking about her own past. She never dreamed she’d have an opportunity to fall in love. She never expected she’d soon be fighting for her life after getting too close to the truth.After the unexpected death of her father, Shay moves back home and discovers her father left her a legacy to live out her dreams. Her new business is set to open in just a few weeks, and she needs to figure out why there’s a dead guy in one of the newest escape rooms. Join Shay as she reconnects with her best friends from childhood, tries to solve a murder, and locks horns with the attractive detective assigned to the case. Sparks fly and danger lurks where Shay least expects it.

    When she links the two deaths to a shocking scandal, the story she uncovers could be her last byline. Dangerous Habits is the first standalone book in the Leah Nash series of complex, fast-paced murder mysteries featuring quick-witted dialogue, daring female characters, and plots with lots of twists and turns. ___________________________ What readers are saying about Susan Hunter and DANGEROUS HABITS: ★★★★★ "Highly recommended! I can't wait for the next Leah Nash novel!”★★★★★ “This was a great read! The intricate plot is woven together with intrigue, well-crafted settings and complex characters, all of which draw the reader into the story and keep one engaged until the very end. I look forward to the next Leah Nash mystery thriller.”★★★★★ “I started to read this to help me go to sleep, but the sun just came up. I couldn’t put it down even for a short break. Surprise after surprise. I guarantee you will not see the end coming. Enjoy!”★★★★★ “Ms. Hunter’s whole Leah Nash series is as good as, maybe better than, most of the bestselling books I’ve read. Do you ever find a book that’s so good you just have to have all the books by that author? This is it .... Get these books, you’ll love them.”

     Recipes included in each book. In Castle Creek West Virginia, rivalries run deep, but has this tiny town’s biggest rivalry finally led to murder? When widely disliked socialite Macie Dixon is found dead on the set of her cooking show, suspicion falls on her rival, elderly family matriarch, and owner of the Red Herring Inn, Liddy Lou Cormier. As the investigation heats up, friendships will be tested, and long buried secrets will come to light. With the evidence stacking up against Liddy Lou, her granddaughter Q’Bita will risk her relationship with Sheriff Andy Hansen, and her own life, to clear her Nana’s name. It will take every ounce of Q’Bita’s culinary cunning, and a little help from her best friend Jamie and brother-in-law Rene, to figure out who’s behind the sinister cinnamon buns that killed Macie Dixon. Sign up for the Red Herring Inn newsletter using the link on the About J Lee Mitchell page to get access to contests, freebies, and an inside look at upcoming books. New subscribers will receive BONUS CONTENT as a thank you for signing up.

    Her luck has run sour for going on a decade, ever since she got fired from her favorite job as an investigative reporter. When her fresh start in Seattle doesn’t work out as planned, Lana ends up unemployed and penniless on Christmas Eve. Dotty Thompson, her landlord and the owner of Wanderlust Tours, is also in a tight spot after one of her tour guides ends up in the hospital, leaving her a guide short on Christmas Day. When Dotty offers her a job leading the tour group through Budapest, Hungary, Lana jumps at the chance. It’s the perfect way to ring in the new year and pay her rent! What starts off as the adventure of a lifetime quickly turns into a nightmare when Carl, her fellow tour guide, is found floating in the Danube River. Was it murder or accidental death? Suspects abound when Lana discovers almost everyone on the tour had a bone to pick with Carl. But Dotty insists the tour must go on, so Lana finds herself trapped with nine murder suspects. When another guest turns up dead, Lana has to figure out who the killer is before she too ends up floating in the Danube… Introducing Lana Hansen, tour guide, reluctant amateur sleuth, and star of the Travel Can Be Murder Cozy Mystery Series. Join Lana as she leads tourists and readers to fascinating cities around the globe on intriguing adventures that, unfortunately for Lana, often turn deadly.