First she learns that her dad isn’t her biological father, a secret her mother took to her grave three years earlier. Then her beloved Irish grandmother passes away at Christmas while Mags is visiting her from the States. Now Mags must host her grandmother’s wake and sell her cottage. A cottage filled with cherished memories. A cottage Mags inherited but her odd jobs won’t enable her to keep.Shortly after the funeral, a young man, Finn O’Brien, arrives at the cottage with an old photograph. Finn believes the boys in the photo are a clue to his father’s identity. Mags can sympathize with him, and because she often helped her genealogist grandmother uncover skeletons in people’s closets, including herself, she agrees to assist Finn.But searching for Finn’s father stirs up trouble. Finn is in a near-fatal car crash that wasn’t an accident. So Mags and her childhood friend Biddy McCarthy investigate why someone wants to prevent Finn from finding his father. Questioning the quirky locals proves a wee bit difficult as several of the suspects were victims of Mags and Biddy’s childhood shenanigans.It might take a fake Irish wake to reveal Finn’s father and the would-be murderer.But what if the two turn out to be the same person?

    As the saying goes, ‘be careful what you wish for’...For the first time in years, traveling nurse Grace Littleton is out of work.Her on-again off-again boyfriend is with a younger woman, and her only son has just jetted off to Europe.Alone, unemployed, and unsatisfied, Grace is on a search for something more.A magical village in the Vermont countryside seems to hold some answers… and a few major problems to boot.Hypnotized squirrels attacked an elderly gentleman in town.Who brainwashed the critters?Then there’s the devilishly handsome bookstore owner who won’t give Grace the time of day.With her pit bull Lucky at her side, Grace tackles the problems one by one -- not because she wants to, but because she really has no other options.For Grace, the end of the line is in Covenstead, Vermont.For fans of paranormal women’s fiction and witch cozy mysteries -- a combination of midlife self-discovery, magic, and murder! "Fun, addictive & easy to follow" -- early reader.

    Although Spicetown is sprinkled with culinary street names, stores full of spices, and quaint life-long citizens, out-of-towners can bring in a dicey element.

    A fencer stabbed by her own blade. Can Twizzie untangle the twisted mystery?Twizzle Twist isn’t your normal real estate pixie. Nor is St. Maurice your normal Southern California town. The magic in the valley belches at the worst time. The faerock vein in St. Mo marks the local fae in uncomfortable ways. Twizzie’s mismatched wings and bum leg are the least of her worries when a showing becomes deadly.The house-hunting lunges off-target when the first showing comes with more than she bargained for. The owner is dead, stabbed in the back with her own sword.The seaside town of St. Maurice’s has one of the few remaining amusement piers on the west coast. And someone is twisting the town council to tear it down. If that happens, it will be the end of Twizzle's home above the carousel.With a murderer on the loose, a cute vampire she needs to sell a home to, and the imminent demise of her home on the pier, Twizzie has too many strikes to dodge all at once.Will Twizzie and her friends pull the right cord to untangle the twisted knot of intrigue in their sleepy SoCal town? Can they do so before the killer lunges again?If you love mysteries with a dash of quirky characters, a dose of warped magic, and snarky humor, you'll love Alyn Troy's new Paranormal Cozy Mystery series.

    Cromer is a sleepy village on the English coast. But things are about to liven up there, when Maggie Darling returns home from a seventeen year stint in London to work for her uncle's new maid service business. No sooner has she arrived, when she gets mixed up in an agriculture strike, mistaken as a suffragette and loses a three legged kitten. But when a dead body shows up it all becomes very complicated… Enjoy the Mystery of Bagington Hall, the first book in an entertaining and fast-paced cozy historical mystery series set in 1920s England.

    . . For Cascade Lorne, getting out of a messy marriage was supposed to be the ticket to starting over.On the brink of her big five-oh birthday, a special delivery transforms everything she knows and plunges Cascade into a bewitching world of unexpected delights, phenomenal power, and legendary creatures turned real.But before she has time to adjust, Cascade becomes the number one suspect in the murder of a powerful figure in this strange new world.With only a sarcastic talking cat and a mysterious but totally hot neighbor to help, Cascade must unravel a decades old mystery even as the killer plots to use her as the last piece in a lethal puzzle.

    A syringe is in his arm and a note by his side reads, ‘No More.’Open and shut case of suicide? Not for DI Mariner. Hours before, he saw Barham picking up a woman in a bar. And then Mariner discovers Barham's younger brother, Jamie, hiding in a cupboard under the stairs.Jamie is the only witness to his brother's death, but his severe autism makes communication almost impossible. Mariner is determined to connect with Jamie and get to the truth. Is the journalist’s death related to his investigation of a local crime kingpin? What other dark secrets does Jamie hold the key to and can Mariner keep his relationship professional with Barham’s attractive sister, Anna?In a nail-biting conclusion, Mariner races against time to prevent more lives being lost.Perfect for fans of Peter James, Ian Rankin and Peter Robinson.

     Kat is the one who finds her murdered editor and she and several others are worried that she'll be the next one to be murdered. She has to find the murderer to save her reputation and her life, but who did it? Was it her editor's husband? Was it the woman who had become obsessed with any book she considered to be morally objectionable? Or was it the "trophy wife" of the local banker?

    The first is a teenage girl whose asthma suffocates her while sleeping. The second is a man shot on the tram that connects Roosevelt Island to Manhattan. Lying next to the man is the real puzzle: a woman who might appear to have died of natural causes if not for the handwritten note stuffed in her mouth that simply reads "Look back." Murder mystery thrillers are often driven by tough, fast-talking, streetwise detectives with a sad story about their past and a penchant for nabbing perps. The cop on the case in "Don't Close Your Eyes" is all these things and more. Meet Stephanie Chalice. She's a smart, beautiful, 28-year-old NYPD homicide detective whose acerbic repartee is like an arsenal of nuclear missiles--it convinces her male colleagues that she means business. Behind all the bluster, though, is a young woman with fierce passions who shows the same tremendous dedication to her ill mother as she does her job. Chalice is an excellent detective, but it comes at a cost. She suffers recurring nightmares, and obsesses that the diabetes that killed her father and weakens her mother will one day come for her. When a second woman is found dead with a rag in her mouth and another cryptic note nearby, Chalice realizes a serial killer stalks Manhattan's Upper East Side. Her detective work combines intelligence, persistence, a skilled partner, and well-connected friends. Secret allies also work on her behalf to thwart dangers that lie just beyond her periphery. As she follows a trail of clues and corpses to the murderer, she also pursues her own demons, uncovering startling truths about who she really is.

    But when her first client, the wealthy Amelia Nethercutt, is found dead, the job takes a decidedly sinister turn.Kate thought she and her family were making a fresh start in her husband's hometown, but she quickly learns that small towns can hold big secrets. When her first client is poisoned just after Kate leaves her mansion, she knows she's gotten off to a bad start. But things only get worse when the police find Kate's fingerprints on the murder weapon, suddenly putting her in the position of suspect number one. The stopwatch is ticking for Kate to prove she had nothing to do with the murder, and the odds are further stacked against her when items stolen from the Nethercutt mansion start showing up in the McKenzie home. Now, Kate must trust her methodical skills and expert eye to sort out who is trying to frame her and to find the real killer before she's organized right into a jail cell.

    She's got a nice home for her daughter, a steady source of income, and the cute maintenance guy is certainly a nice perk! But her luck takes a bad turn again when a dead body turns up, a crime spree takes over the community, and Cambria finds her complex squarely at the center of it all! With her dream job suddenly on the line, Cambria dons her detective hat to get to the truth—after all, she's watched enough crime shows on TV to know how to catch a perp! Or so she hopes as she wades through a streaker in apartment 40, an ex-con with a shady agenda, an overly frisky retired couple, and the suspiciously sneaky dealings of the dentist in apartment 36. But will Cambria be able to catch a killer... or will she get caught up in his game and lose it all?

    I swear he’s judging me as I settle in and try to make new friends in my new small-town Louisiana neighborhood.And just when I start to settle into my new job and get back to reading my classic novels, I’m pulled chapters deep into a mystery. The Beauty Queen in the town has been offed. Someone has killed the darling. Wouldn’t you know it? An innocent man has been framed. I shouldn’t get involved, but somehow, my cat seems to have a way with finding clues in some of my favorite stories. Not that any of that makes sense. Why would it?The cat is the sleuth, I’m the amateur, and we have alligators in the backyard. Throw in a dead body, a book club that’s filled with suspicious characters, and you have my new life. And I thought being a librarian in Louisiana was going to be dull.

    A disgraced ex-cop turned private investigator is hired by the dead woman’s father and immediately becomes the target of a violent ex-convict. An enigmatic music star performs damage control on her links to the dead woman. And a professional killer who idolizes Keith Richards is brought into town by a mysterious employer. DEAD WOOD is what great mysteries are all about: love, hate, faith and vengeance, all wrapped up in an explosive story that simply refuses to let up. HARD ROCK (John Rockne Mystery #2) Private Investigator John Rockne is determined to find out who is responsible for the brutal murder of a young man in Grosse Pointe. A contract killer known only as The Spook wants to keep the truth buried forever. Rockne quickly uncovers a series of dark secrets with ties to his own tortured past. HARD ROCK is a thrilling conclusion to the bestselling crime novel DEAD WOOD. COLD JADE (John Rockne Mystery #3) Once a cop in the well-to-do Detroit suburb of Grosse Pointe, John Rockne was dismissed from the force after making a tragic mistake that resulted in the brutal murder of a young man. Now working as a private investigator, John is hired by a man whose daughter is missing and he soon discovers the young woman was living a secret life under the name Jade. John quickly realizes the world Jade had entered was a dangerous one filled with thieves, drugs, pimps and murderers. He has no idea if he can find her…and bring her out alive. “Dan Ames' writing reminds me of the great thriller writers -- lean, mean, no nonsense prose that gets straight to the point and keeps you turning those pages.” --Robert Gregory Browne, author of Down Among the Dead Men "As gritty as the Detroit streets where it's set, DEAD WOOD grabs you early on and doesn't let go. As fine a debut as you'll come across this year, maybe any year." --Tom Schreck, author of Out Cold, A Duffy Dombrowski Mystery “From its opening lines, Daniel S. Ames and his private eye novel DEAD WOOD recall early James Ellroy: a fresh attitude and voice and the heady rush of boundless yearning and ambition. Ames delivers a vivid evocation of time and place in a way that few debut authors achieve, nailing the essence of his chosen corner of high-tone Michigan. He also deftly dodges the pitfalls that make so much contemporary private detective fiction a mixed bag and nostalgia-freighted misfire. Ames’ detective has family; he’s steady. He’s not another burned-out, booze-hound hanging on teeth and toenails to the world and smugly wallowing in his own ennui. This is the first new private eye novel in a long time that just swept me along for the ride. Ames is definitely one to watch.” — Craig McDonald, Edgar-nominated author “Dead Wood is a fast-paced, unpredictable mystery with an engaging narrator and a rich cast of original supporting characters.” –Thomas Perry, New York Times bestselling author of The Butcher’s Boy.

    They settle in for a lot of hard work getting their bakery business ready before the annual Pumpkin Festival begins, but they are taken by surprise when they find a dead man right next door—a dead man whose face is familiar.Suddenly the sleepy little town of Clovedale Falls is the scene of a growing mystery that threatens to destroy Rita and Rhonda’s new life. And to make matters worse, because they are so new in town, who can they trust? When they meet a brave sheriff, a farmer who turns out to be a courageous friend, and a sweet elderly woman, they begin to find their footing in town and Rita and Rhonda set out to solve the murder, racing against time.The case turns darker when a second murder takes place and more unknowns are tossed into the mix. Uncertain what path to take or what to do, Rita and Rhonda have no choice but to wait until the killer comes for them, causing the twin sisters to reckon with frightening questions.

    This is the COMPLETE DETECTIVE SOPHIE ALLEN SERIES.Book 1: DARK CRIMESA young woman’s body is discovered on a deserted footpath in a Dorset seaside town late on a cold November night. She has been stabbed through the heart. It seems like a simple case for DCI Sophie Allen and her team to solve. But not when the victim’s mother is found strangled the next morning.Book 2: DEADLY CRIMESA young man’s mutilated body is found on top of the Agglestone, a well-known local landmark on Studland Heath.Book 3: SECRET CRIMESTwo women go away for the weekend, but only one comes back alive. Was it just the music they were into? And who was the man the victim met at the festival?Book 4: BURIED CRIMESA devastating family secret unearthed. Sisters with a murderous rivalry.Book 5: TWISTED CRIMESRetired couple Sylvia and Ted Armitage attend the wrong funeral. It’s an honest mistake. But one month on, their bodies are found in their car, abandoned in the depths of a tranquil nature reserve.Book 6: EVIL CRIMESA young man’s body is spotted in the stormy Dorset sea. Did he lose his footing and fall in? Or is there a more sinister cause of death?Book 7: SHADOW CRIMESAn undercover detective disappears. A retired prison guard is found dead. Drugs and contraband phones are out of control in the local prisons. How are they getting in?Book 8: SILENT CRIMESDetective Sophie Allen’s daughter discovers the body of a reclusive tramp out in the woods. Sophie and her team try to piece together something about his life, but progress is slow. NO ONE IS QUITE WHAT THEY SEEM.