Book picks similar to
The Pig'n A Poke by Larissa Reinhart
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Midnight Mysteries
Ritter AmesMaria Grazia Swan - 2016
But with Halloween approaching and too many items on the to-do list, she and Meg Berman find themselves in another puzzling dilemma—where every answer leads to another question. Morgana Best – “No Time to Witch” (The Kitchen Witch mystery series) In a historical mystery prequel to the novel MISS SPELLED, Thelma Spelled must discover the mystery around a murder that entangles her and her husband. The paranormal tale reveals more about the magic of the house and early 20th century Australia. Karen Cantwell – “It Takes a Ghost” (tie-in to the Sophie Rhodes mystery series) New detective Brenna Sage can’t solve a series of robberies—until she gains a partner in the guise of Marmaduke Dodsworth. While Marmaduke is better versed in decorum and refinement than forensics and interrogation, he has one decidedly clear advantage: He can walk through walls. Carolyn Haines – “Clacking Bones” (Sarah Booth Delaney series) When Jitty’s husband, Coker, goes missing from the Great Beyond, Sarah Booth Delaney, Tinkie, and all the animals sign on to find out why the spirit is AWOL. Sarah Booth has to dig deep into the past to find the answer to this puzzling mystery. Eleanor Cawood Jones – “Salad Days, Halloween Nights” (author of A Baker’s Dozen) A vegetable-loving chef has cooked his way into trouble when a Halloween treat leads to murder. If he wants a happy future, he must first make sure the police don’t have him down as the main ingredient in a recipe for a prison sentence. Larissa Reinhart – “The Vigilante Vignette” (Cherry Tucker Mystery series) When Cherry pays a mercy call on a neighbor, she’s roped into a quid pro quo deal—if she recovers a stolen family heirloom both somewhat embarrassing and due to be discovered missing very shortly, the neighbor will use family clout to help her with zoning issues. But if she fails, the expression “someone’s got her goat” takes on a whole new meaning. And when she discovers a thievery ring, illegal auctions, and green-eyed emotions after spotting Luke where he’s not expected—it’s another hilarious day in Halo, Georgia. Connie Shelton – “Spellbound Sweets” (Samantha Sweets Magical Cozy Mysteries) It’s Halloween, one of the busiest times of the year for Samantha Sweet and the crew at her pastry shop, Sweet’s Sweets. The gang looks forward to a gala costume party at the neighborhood bookstore, but the evening takes a different turn when a guest is murdered, a rare book vanishes, and Sam finds herself in the midst of another mystery. Maria Grazia Swan – “Weeping Moon” (Lella York Mysteries series) Lella York has a way of getting herself into trouble, even when she’s doing volunteer work. Who's the mysterious storyteller, and what's going on at the senior living center? Will Lella find out before it’s too late? LynDee Walker – “Frightening Features” (Nichelle Clarke Mystery series) Not a patient recovery patient, while Nichelle Clarke waits for an injury to heal all she really wants is a story to write and research—hard news to get her mind occupied. Instead, her boss gives her a fluff piece. Not her idea of fun. But with Nichelle snooping around, it’s not surprising her soft story takes a decidedly hard turn.
Sleigh Bells and Sleuthing: A Collection of 16 Cozy Mystery Novellas Featuring Female Sleuths
Carolyn Ridder AspensonMona Maple - 2018
You’ll love these sixteen cozy mystery stories, many from Wall Street Journal, USA Today and Amazon best-selling authors! Murder, mystery, magic, and mayhem don’t stop just because it’s the holiday season! All profits from this collection go to Good Fortune Farm Refuge. Each author is a member of the Sleuthing Women author collective, a select group of women mystery authors who have joined together to connect with our readers through a Facebook group called Sleuthing Women—Read. Sleuth. Solve. Repeat. Check us out on Facebook. Stories come from both traditionally and independently published authors Stephanie Damore, Ava Mallory, Clare Kauter, Larissa Reinhart, Loraine J. Hudson, Mona Marple, Morgana Best, Ritter Ames, Sam Cheever, S.E. Babin, Tara Meyers, Tricia L. Sanders, Carolyn Ridder Aspenson, Jenna St. James, K.E. O’Connor, and Laina Turner. GRAB YOUR COPY NOW!
Lowcountry Boil
Susan M. Boyer - 2012
She carries her Sig 9 in her Kate Spade handbag, and her golden retriever, Rhett, rides shotgun in her hybrid Escape. When her grandmother is murdered, Liz high-tails it back to her South Carolina island home to find the killer. But when her police-chief brother shuts her out of the investigation, she opens her own. Then her long-dead best friend pops in and things really get complicated. As more folks turn up dead, Liz must use more than just her wits and charm to keep her family safe, chase down clues from the hereafter, and catch a psychopath before he catches her.
Double Whammy
Gretchen Archer - 2013
But once there, she runs straight into her ex-ex husband, a rigged slot machine, her evil twin, and a trail of dead bodies. Davis learns the truth and it does not set her free—in fact, it lands her in the pokey. Buried under a mistaken identity, her hot streak runs cold until her landlord Bradley Cole steps in. Make that her landlord, lawyer, and love interest. With his help, Davis must win this high stakes game before her luck runs out.
Heartache Motel
Terri L. Austin - 2013
Filled with drag queens, Rock-a-Hula cocktails, and a vibrating velveteen bed, these three novellas tell the tales of three amateur sleuths who spend their holidays at the King’s beloved home. DINERS KEEPERS, LOSERS WEEPERS by Terri L. AustinA Rose Strickland Mystery Novella (follows DINER IMPOSSIBLE)When Rose and the gang head to Graceland right before Christmas, they get all shook up: the motel is a seedy dump and an Elvis impersonator turns up dead. Rose discovers missing jewels tie into the death and her suspicious mind flips into overdrive, questioning her fellow guests, the staff, and even a cute impersonator who keeps popping up. Will Rose be able to find the murderer and get home by Christmas day? It’s now or never.QUICK SKETCH by Larissa ReinhartA Cherry Tucker Mystery Novella (prequel to PORTRAIT OF A DEAD GUY)Sassy Southern artist Cherry Tucker and her poker-loving boyfriend, Todd, pop into Memphis to help Todd’s cousin who’s been hustled out of his savings, right before Christmas. Staying at the shady Heartache Motel, Cherry can’t tell a shill from a mark and fears everyone is playing them for chumps. Cherry and Todd quickly find themselves in a dangerous sting that could send them to the slammer or mark them as pigeons from cons looking for an even bigger score.DATELINE MEMPHIS by LynDee WalkerA Headlines in High Heels Mystery Novella (follows BURIED LEADS)Crime reporter Nichelle Clarke thinks she’s going home for Christmas. But a quick stop at Graceland proves news breaks in the strangest places. When the King's home gets locked down with Nichelle inside, she chases this headline into the national spotlight—and the thief's crosshairs. Christmas dreams of blue suede Manolos fade, and all Nichelle wants from Santa is to land the story before the thief cuts off her news feed for good.Books in the Henery Press Mystery Novella Series:OTHER PEOPLE’S BAGGAGE HEARTACHE MOTELPart of the Henery Press Mystery Series Collection, if you like one, you'll probably like them all….
Other People's Baggage
Kendel Lynn - 2012
This is what happened after three women with a knack for solving mysteries each grabbed the wrong bag. MIDNIGHT ICE: When interior decorator Madison Night crosses the country to distance herself from a recent breakup, she learns it's harder to escape her past than she thought, and diamonds are rarely a girl's best friend. SWITCH BACK: Ballantyne Foundation director Elliott Lisbon travels to Texas after inheriting an entire town, but when she learns the donor was murdered, she has to unlock the small town's big secrets or she'll never get out alive. FOOL'S GOLD: When a world-famous chess set is stolen from a locked room during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, historian Jaya Jones and her magician best friend must outwit actresses and alchemists to solve the baffling crime.
Designer Dirty Laundry: A Samantha Kidd Mystery
Diane Vallere - 2012
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.
Front Page Fatality
LynDee Walker - 2013
She assumes it will be routine, a scene like many other accidents she's covered.She's wrong.This was no ordinary accident.And as Nichelle digs deeper into the case, people and evidence begin to disappear. Someone is one step ahead of her, desperate to cover their tracks. A master criminal with a deadly secret, who will stop at nothing to keep the truth hidden...But as she draws closer to unraveling the mystery of two dead cops, Nichelle realizes she's become the next target. Can she survive this murderous game of cat and mouse long enough to solve the mystery? Or will Nichelle fall prey to a killer?
Murder on a Girls' Night Out
Anne George - 1996
Mary Alice—“Sister”—is big, brassy, flamboyant, and bold. Together they have a knack for finding themselves in the center of some of Birmingham’s most unfortunate unpleasantness.Country Western is red hot these days, so overimpulsive Mary Alice thinks it makes perfect sense to buy the Skoot ‘n’ Boot bar—since that’s where the many-times-divorced “Sister” and her boyfriend du jour like to hang out anyway. Sensible retired schoolteacher Patricia Anne is inclined to disagree—especially when they find a strangled and stabbed dead body dangling in the pub’s wishing well. The sheriff has some questions for Mouse and her sister Sister, who were the last people, besides the murderer, of course, to see the ill-fated victim alive. And they had better come up with some answers soon—because a killer with unfinished business has begun sending them some mighty threatening messages…
Cropped to Death
Christina Freeburn - 2012
But her quiet life unravels when her friend is charged with murder – and Faith inadvertently supplied the evidence. So Faith decides to cut through the scrap and piece together what really happened. With a sexy prosecutor, a determined homicide detective, a handful of sticky suspects and a crop contest gone bad, Faith quickly realizes if she’s not careful, she’ll be the next one cropped.
May Day
Jess Lourey - 2006
Due to a dead-end job and a cheating boyfriend, the Twin Cities have lost their charm, and Mira decides to begin a new life in rural Battle Lake. Right away she is offered jobs as an assistant librarian and part-time reporter, and falls into an unexpected romance with a guy who seems to be the perfect man until he turns up dead between the reference stacks her tenth day on the job. Anxious to learn more about the man who had briefly stolen her heart, Mira delves into the hidden mysteries of Battle Lake, including a old land deed with ancient Ojibwe secrets, an obscure octogenarian crowd with freaky social lives, and a handful of thirtysomething high school buddies who hold bitter, decades-old grudges. Mira soon discovers that unknown dangers are concealed under the polite exterior of this quirky small town, and revenge is a tator-tot hotdish best served cold.A hip, humorous, and gripping account of small-town murder, this novel is the first in a series of cozies featuring Mira James, an urban woman with rural Minnesota roots.
Iced Chiffon
Duffy Brown - 2012
She's busy enough running her consignment shop, the Prissy Fox, with her vivacious auntie, KiKi, but now the gossip--and the sales--are about to pick up, after a gruesome discovery...Reagan's messy divorce has left her with nothing but a run-down Victorian and a bunch of designer clothes. Strapped for cash, Reagan makes use of the two things she has left, turning the first floor of her home into a consignment shop and filling it with the remnants of her rich-wife wardrobe.Thanks to his cunning lawyer, Walker Boone, her ex got everything else, including the Lexus--not to mention a young blonde cupcake. When Reagan finds the blonde dead in the Lexus, she's determined to beat Boone to finding the murderer. As it turns out, the gossip fiends flooding Reagan's shop can give her a lot more than just their unwanted clothes--they have information more precious than a vintage Louis Vuitton...
Whiskey Rebellion
Liliana Hart - 2011
You might be under the assumption that my life went to the dogs when my fiance left me at the altar for the home economics teacher, or when I got notice that my apartment building was going to be condemned, or even when I was desperate enough to strip to my unmentionables to earn some extra cash. The truth is that I'm pretty much used to disasters following me around on a daily basis, but I could have gone without finding my principal dead in the parking lot of a seedy gentlemen's club. After the initial shock of finding my first dead body, which included throwing back shots of Jack Daniels like it was water, I decided to take stock of my life. I was in a desperate situation and if the school board ever found out I'd been a stripper, even a bad stripper, I'd be jobless as well as fiance-less and homeless. Fortunately, I had a friend who felt sorry enough for me to give me a job doing some surveillance work at her detective agency. Not to mention the fact that I was now able to stick my nose into other people's business for a good cause, find a murderer, and pick up helpful tips from an incredibly attractive detective. Come check out my story and be thankful your life is relatively normal.
Dixie Divas
Virginia Brown - 2009
"Where? Mexico? Paris? In Tupelo with a cocktail waitress?" "In your closet," I answered. "Dead." Break out the hoop skirts and the zinfandel. The Divas are on the case. Wine. Chocolate. Transvestite strippers. Just another good-time get-together for the Dixie Divas of historic Holly Springs, Mississippi, where moonlight and magnolias mingle with delicious small-town scandal. But Eureka "Trinket" Truevine, the newest Diva, gets more than she bargained for when she finds her best Diva girlfriend Bitty Hollandale's ex-husband in Bitty's hall closet. He's dead. Very dead. Now Trinket and the Divas have to help Bitty finger the murderer and clear her name. Virginia Brown is the nationally acclaimed, award-winning author of fifty novels.
Folly
Bill Noel - 2007
There's only one glitch-murder is part of the package on the small South Carolina barrier island of Folly, where eccentric residents live bohemian lifestyles in the shadow of historic Charleston. Soon after settling on Folly Beach, Chris is befriended by an unlikely cadre of locals: a realtor who looks like an out-of-season Santa with an attitude; a waitress who shares rumors and effuses charm; a professor; a lovely, intelligent, and unattached reporter; and a quirky, president-quoting, tag-along companion. He is fascinated by the company of his newfound friends, the novelty of the strange island that they call home, and the contrast of it all to stately Charleston. But when Chris finds the body of a prominent developer and lands in the middle of the Folly Beach spotlight, he immediately becomes a threat to the killer-and his vacation paradise might be the scene of his own untimely death.Vacations aren't nearly as much fun when one of your new acquaintances is trying to kill you, and catching a murderer is not the normal way to spend an extended holiday. But on Folly Beach, what's normal? Chris will take on a challenge that is anything "but."