At least it was, before the murders started. Megan Montaigne has always secretly wanted to be a forensics investigator. The small-town library director has just begun rebuilding her life after tragedy tore it apart less than a year ago, and is happily settling into her new apartment on the top floor of the library by the river. But when a local celebrity turns up dead, the time has come to put her sleuthing fantasies into action. Has she unwittingly invited the murderer into her own home? And will she be able to prove her innocence before she becomes a victim herself?

    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?

    Now, she’s just burned out—and burned by love. She’s ready to retire from competitive judo and pursue a new dream in a new town, with her biggest supporter, her recently divorced little sister, Blythe. But on their first day in town, Blythe falls for local sleaze-bag reporter, Ellison Baxter, and their small-town welcome is stained by Baxter’s murder. The weapon—Blythe Battle’s hair brush. In this fast-paced, fun cozy mystery, Brenna, the proud new owner of the building that formerly housed Bonney Bay’s lone recreational opportunity for kids, Little Swans Ballet, is ready to turn tutu-clad powder-puffs into little warriors by opening a judo school for kids in its place. But now she must clear her sister’s name and save her new dream from ending even more disastrously than her Olympic hopes. Brenna must deal with one crazy member of the local police force, who’s determined to see the sisters pay—and another cop, whose deep brown eyes just might drive Brenna crazy—in a way her battered heart just can’t take.

    DudeMichaela, Dottie and Angel work the kidnapping of a young women who never returns home from a job interview.The Case of the Dead DowagerFear grips Richmond, Virginia as madmen invade restaurants and bars and terrorize patrons.The Case of the Man OverboardMic, Dottie, and Angel take a restful Mediterranean cruise until a research scientist goes overboard and Michaela finds her clothes cut to shreds in her stateroom.

     Cool cat sleuths find clues as intoxicating as catnip, and help 1920s detectives solve crimes without missing a nap. In Meow Baby, a pregnant woman disappears and Grace and Jack discover a skeleton that carries the secrets of the heart that once beat within it. In Cupake Kitty, when a singer at their engagement party dies, Grace and Jack follow the trail of a bootlegger's dame to TiaJuana. EXCERPT: Magical white cat Tatania became impatient with her humans. She could smell a succulent sea bass on the other side of the door. To encourage her humans to open it, she meowed. Zeus, her black and white feline companion, responded to her meow by putting his paws over his head and his rear end up in the air. "How would you feel about spending a lot of time with me?" Jack asked. "I feel like I already have," Grace said. "It only gets better." He held up her hand and admired the emerald and diamond ring he'd bought her at Jessop & Sons jewelers last month. "Marry me?" "Of course." He opened the door to the Hotel del Coronado's Crown Room. A band played the Charleston. In the corner of the dance floor, there was an ice sculpture of two magnificent cats. "What's going on?" "Our engagement party." "Why were you so sure I'd say yes?" "I'm arrogant." In Meow or Never, they rush to find a wealthy stockbroker's missing wife. EXCERPT: Cats truly live their nine lives at night. Zeus, a cute and mischievous tomcat, kept following the tide in and out, letting the water sprinkle his nose, and acting surprised when the tide chased him back to the shore. Wet, he shook like a puppy. Then, he sniffed each front paw carefully. Tatania looked away. She was terribly fond of Zeus. But sometimes, he was a tad unseemly. He scampered exitedly towards their favorite humans, a slender woman in a sparkling dress, and a muscular man with black hair and skin kissed brown by the sun. Zeus rolled around on the sand. Maybe he had dog blood in him. Tatania shuddered at the thought of that mating. In Catty Corner, when an art heist happens during Grace and Jack's rooftop cocktail party, the cool cats pounce on the trail of a collector who finds art as intoxicating as catnip. EXCERPT:"Where have you been all my life?" A grey haired man asked a young flapper. "I don't think I was alive for half of it," she replied, blowing smoke from a six inch rhinestone cigarette holder. The Cool Cat Mystery Series can be read in any order. If you'd like to know the chronological order of the series, here it is for you: **Splendid Summer **Emeralds, Diamonds, and Amethysts **Cher Ami **Available exclusively in Grace, Jack & Magical Cats Boxed Set Vol I Meow Baby Cupcake Kitty Meow or Never Catty Corner Cat Dance 9 Lives to Live MEWOW The Fur Will Fly Right Meow

    She survived, but barely. Now, she lives quietly in Durango, Colorado—until a frantic pregnant woman at a gas station shoves a card into Athena’s hand.The card reads: Over forty women and girls—mostly pregnant—held prisoner! Five dead already. About an hour east of Durango. Call the FBI. Sheriff’s office corrupt. PLEASE HELP US!A looming thug with a poorly hidden pistol hustles the pregnant woman and her female friend away. Athena fights a scream and follows. Unfortunately, she can’t do much. Even with the help of a cane, she can barely walk.With panic rising in her throat, Athena takes down the license number of the thug’s Suburban. But what if the plate is fake? Athena follows in her pickup and begs for help from the US Marshal’s Office and the FBI.Both agencies turn her down. Athena keeps following the Suburban, racking her brain for a plan that could save the women's lives without getting herself killed. Unfortunately, the greedy bastards who run the secret prison already have blood on their hands. They won’t hesitate to kill Athena, too.

    who's also a terrorist!- AS FOR DONNA'S LOVE LIFE: Turns out the spy who loves her has a bombshell secret of his own...

    An assortment of Berkeley kooks and interesting plot twists keep things hopping till the very end.FREE DRAWJake’s buddy and quasi-boss calls in a favor when his nephew is accused of murder. It's up to Jake and Rosie to find the real killer, and they've got a number of suspects: the victim's fellow executives at a questionable correspondence school, his divided and bitter family, and his quirky Marin County neighbors--a truly odd assortment of California woods dwellers.FULL HOUSEAn ark in the middle of suburban Oakland is interesting but not strange by California standards. Even one built by peaceful cultists preparing for the coming flood. Until sometime private eye Jake Samson is hired to find Noah, their leader, who has disappeared with a lovely devotee and a quarter million in cash. The cult suspects foul play, but the police aren’t convinced.SPIT IN THE OCEANThe North Coast Sperm Bank in tiny Wheeler, California has been knocked over, and the perp’s tossed its assets in the ocean, leaving a religious-nut note of explanation. Just a prank, says Wheeler law enforcement. But the bank hires Jake Samson and his ever-sharp Watson, Rosie Vicente to find out who made the unauthorized withdrawal. As a storm brutalizes Wheeler, a bank employee slips in the mud and falls to her death.SUICIDE KINGJake's never been a big fan of politics, but Rosie invites him to a posh California fundraiser for an energetic gubernatorial candidate of the liberal underdog Vivo party, and Jake can't resist. It's all fun and political games until the candidate’s aide finds her boss in her backyard, hanging naked from an acacia tree. The police rule the death a suicide, but Jake and the aide suspect foul play, and she hires Jake to find the culprit. He finds campaign shenanigans, affairs, a possible German mafia connection, and more danger than our hero could possibly have imagined.ROYAL FLUSHLaid-back, unlicensed PI Jake Samson is understandably nervous about infiltrating a local Marin County neo-Nazi group called the Aryan Command.

    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.

    From apparently accidental deaths on the craggy mountains of Scotland to a classic closet mystery in a remote Lake District village, amateur sleuth Melinda Pink is on the case. Lady with a Cool Eye (Miss Pink #1) The warden of the Plas Mawr Adventure Centre, Charles Martin, is a weak man whose unfaithful wife, Bett, has driven him to drink. Then Bett is found dead in her husband’s crashed Jaguar, at the foot of a cliff. At first, it is assumed to be an accident or suicide, but further developments show that it is a murder case. Tough, middle-aged Miss Pink, one of the Centre’s directors, proves herself to be a shrewd amateur detective. She puts two and two together and realises that the Centre is being used as a cover for something very serious. Miss Pink at the Edge of the World (Miss Pink #2) When two climbers die mysteriously on The Old Man of Scamadale — a stack off the Scottish coast — the police, who know nothing of climbing techniques, would accept the deaths as accidents. It’s Clive and his climbing friends who convince them, from their own knowledge of the stack, that both men were murdered — and in doing so they put themselves under strong suspicion, for they alone appear to have the expertise needed to perform the killings. An ironical situation, but amateur sleuth Miss Pink handles it with her usual subtle detection. Over the Sea to Death (Miss Pink #3) At the little hotel in Glen Shira, in the Cuillin of Skye mountains, professional guides and dedicated climbers gather—among them Melinda Pink, J.P., an amateur detective. Miss Pink has two murders to contend with, each ingeniously camouflaged, and to reach the solution takes all of her climbing expertise and her understanding of what makes people tick. A Short Time to Live (Miss Pink #4) Gwen Moffat gives her latest thriller a Lake District setting: the remote village of Sandale which, when torrential rain causes a landslide, is temporarily cut off from the rest of the world. This is the splendid background to a tale of blackmail, anonymous letters, conspiracy, a large-scale robbery, kidnapping and murder. Of course, not all these crimes are the work of the same person, and it’s Miss Moffat’s now well-known amateur detective, Miss Pink, who sorts out the puzzle—but aided this time by the enigmatic Daniel Cole, who claims to be Press but whose interest in Sandale may be more sinister.

    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?

    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.

    So when a childhood friend asks Ditie to babysit her kids for a few days, she jumps at the chance. She never imagined she’d be solving a murder too . . .   Despite growing up together, Ditie hasn’t seen Ellie Winston in two years, and she didn’t even know Ellie was living in Atlanta. But when Ellie asks her to take care of Lucie and Jason for the weekend, she thinks nothing of it. They’ll bake cookies together, play with her dog—it’ll be fun! Until the police call with terrible news . . .   Ellie may not have been the best friend, but who would want her dead? Could it have something to do with the vague get-rich-quick scheme she mentioned to Ditie? Or the men in a black truck following her and breaking into her home? Not sure who to trust other than her best friend, Lurleen, Ditie’s buried maternal instincts kick in to protect the kids and find their mother’s killer—before they’re orphaned again . . .   Includes Family-Friendly Recipes!

    Ten years later... The body of a young woman is discovered along the path of a park in the same town. The killer is cunning and ruthless, but even the best killers make mistakes. Fiona Wolfe, the second woman to be attacked, survives and reveals a potential link between the current killer and the attack on Avery Hart. Noah Cotter, an ambitious new inspector, becomes drawn to the case when his curiosity combines with his attraction to Avery. The dangerous search for truth appears to be muddied with each shocking secret brought to light, as Avery, Fiona, and Noah realize that when someone is deceived for too long, sometimes... Lies Come True*Free with sign up to Emerald O'Brien's newsletter http://eepurl.com/4YHaX

    But injured cop Claire Beckett is right in the path of a killer. The death of a look-alike friend brings murder right to the front door of Claire’s quaint log cabin. After being shot in the line of duty she’s spending the winter in cottage country to recover, but it’s more than a vacation. Much more. The picturesque village of Falcon Lake serves up murder, kidnapping, a mysterious new neighbor, and a blizzard of clues and suspects. When Detective Constable Claire Beckett decides to spend the winter up north with her partner’s dog, Kojak, mistaken identity leads to a web of death and corruption that may lead all the way back to the city where Claire is still on the payroll. For the moment. An evening visit to Marina’s Café brings more than latte and dessert. Claire visits with her artist friends and enjoys some music, but by the end of the night, one person is dead. The local police are working hard, but Claire thinks the ‘crime of opportunity’ theory is all wrong. Falcon Lake just doesn’t seem like the kind of place where thugs wait outside the local businesses to rob them. She’s determined to find out who killed her friend Kayla, and why. Her neighbor is newcomer Miles Gallagher, and he’s distant and as chilly as the winter weather. But helping Claire stay alive and stop a killer may thaw his heart. Meanwhile things aren’t adding up for Claire at work. The tragedy of her boss’s ambush, where she herself was injured, is being laid at her doorstep. How can she clear her name and get back to work? Book 1 of the Murder In Season cozy mystery series.