Amateur Detective

Summer and Sage Dixon are ready for a little peace and quiet. After cracking their last case, The sisters—along with their curious beagle, Brody—head to the idyllic shores of Seabreeze Cove for a much-needed vacation. Nestled in a charming Victorian B&B called the Seafarer's Rest, it seems like the perfect escape… Until Brody makes a chilling discovery... A severed hand, tangled in seaweed, wearing a signet ring and clutching a locket linked to a girl who vanished forty years ago. As Summer and Sage dive into the mystery, they uncover long-buried secrets, tangled relationships, and a ...

"A rocket ride of action, political intrigue, and suspense."—San Diego Magazine "A sharp thriller. Russell has us in the palm of his hand."—Chicago Tribune "Ingeniously imagined and skillfully told, Political Suicide must be included in any list of this year's best thrillers."—San Diego Union-Tribune Will Travis is an undercover corporate investigator whose job involves low-key assignments like checking out the service at Washington, DC, hotel bars and reporting back to management. But his evening takes an unexpected turn when he interrupts an attempted murder. Soon, Will is on the ...

Between an epic downpour and a King Tide, the historic streets of Charleston are flooded - and dangerous. A late night tragic accident along the Lower Battery leads Liz Talbot straight to her next case. Who's the client? Well, now, therein lies the first puzzle. When the police arrive at the scene of the accident, Poppy Oliver claims she's only trying to help. But the dent on the front of her Subaru and the victim's injuries provoke a certain Charleston police detective's suspicious nature.

Alice didn’t think her maternity leave would involve so much, well, murder. Before becoming proud new moms, she and her friends bonded more than members of a prenatal group usually would, as they became accidental amateur sleuths and solved a crime together. Now, with all this behind them and Alice’s son Jack somehow already a year old, Alice is keen to finally catch up on some sleep. So when an opportunity presents itself in the unlikely form of an eco-protest, Alice and her friends willingly chain themselves to trees and settle in as an excuse to get some overdue rest.

When a fire consumes a remote girls’ boarding school in Sussex, the death of a single unnamed student is quietly dismissed as tragic misfortune. But when Evelyn Everly is handed the official report, one detail refuses to let her go: a surviving shoe, stitched with a name that matches her own. Drawn into the school’s shadowed history, Evelyn discovers a pattern of disappearances, a hidden trust fund, and a web of silence that leads disturbingly close to her own ruined family. As she pursues the truth, old enemies resurface—and someone clearly wants her investigation buried. With help ...

Filomena Obrist is in fear for her life. Her new husband is a passionate collector of morbid works of art from Roman antiquity. His magnificent estate on the Moselle River is crammed with grotesque statues, magical paraphernalia, curse tablets, and other eerie artifacts. Philomena suffers strange accidents, is haunted by ghostly apparitions, and her new family hasn’t exactly welcomed her with open arms either. Penny Küfer is hired to protect the frightened woman. But when she reaches the family's mansion, Filomena has just fallen out of a window. Suicide, according to the police … … ...

A recently widowed city girl. A curious note found by mistake. It’s about time this small town’s cold case mystery is finally solved. When Avery Parker comes home following her husband's untimely death, all she wants is the familiarity and security of her peaceful hometown. All is good until she unexpectedly stumbles upon a cryptic note. Just twenty-six words hastily scrawled on a forgettable piece of paper and that’s all it took for everything in her life to be turned upside down. As Avery scours the town to solve the mystery with old friends and new, she soon learns that in working ...

A Cupcakes-and-Crime Caper “I didn’t kill her, I swear!” Fresh off a shift of slinging cards, blackjack dealer and private investigator Tiffany Black takes a frenzied call from Mary Bilford, the services manager at ritzy Spa Renauld. Mary needs someone to prove she didn’t kill spa client Gina Welling—which means it’s time for Tiffany and Ian to go undercover and infiltrate the spa. “Winters will have you giggling into your book!” Who stood to benefit from Gina’s death? Was it ex-husband Harry, who was coincidentally visiting the spa while his ex-wife was there; nurse ...

When movie producer Cody Ziegler goes missing from The Homestead’s Millionaires’ Row, his wife, retired actress Olivia, immediately claims there’s foul play afoot. A million-dollar ransom demand soon follows, with clear instructions not to involve the cops. In desperation she enlists the help of Moira, Rick, Philip and Lizzie, aka the Retired Detectives Club. Racing against the clock, the four retirees set to work.

1930: Miss Clara Vale, chemistry major turned detective, is taking a night off from sleuthing to attend the launch party of a new exhibition at the Hancock Museum in Newcastle. But when the piece de resistance, a rare ornate sarcophagus, is finally opened and it turns out the mummy inside it is a fake it looks like there is no rest for Clara after all... Later that night, she is summoned back to the museum and asked to investigate a series of stolen Egyptian artefacts.

She can't remember who she is. But she knows a killer when she sees one. Los Angeles, 1985. Chanel Chase wakes up in the massive concrete halls of LA County Hospital with no memory of her past, a head injury, and a broken leg. The only clue to her identity is a tarnished silver locket containing a faded photograph of a child at a carnival and a weird obsession with finding the perfect chocolate milkshake. When the head pharmacist is found murdered in his office, hospital orderly Eddie Martinez becomes the obvious suspect. Security cameras caught him in the pharmacy the night before, and ...

The Puzzlemaster is back—and this time, the stakes are deadly. When a cryptic message arrives at Petals & Paws, Grace Thompson knows trouble has returned to Bloomsville. Garrett Lawson—the mastermind behind the town’s most chilling mystery—has resurfaced, and he’s out for revenge against those who beat him once before. Still reeling from their last encounter, Grace, forensic expert Chloe Sutton, coroner Oscar Bell, and baker Tom Harris—along with their loyal dogs, Rosie the Westie and Lucy the St. Bernard—find themselves ensnared in a new series of twisted puzzles. Each clue ...

Pelican Cove’s Favorite Resident Gunned Down! When someone close to Jenny King is found murdered on a boardwalk bench, the Magnolias are plunged into grief. Secrets from the victim's past complicate the situation. Faced with a baffling lack of suspects, Jenny has no time to mourn as she struggles to hunt for the killer. Meanwhile, Pelican Cove residents are battling a wave of mosquito infestation. Quashing the menace becomes difficult with the town ready to rebel and dwindling city funds. Muffins and Mobsters brings tragic new developments as the Magnolias must persist in the face of ...

Four bestselling mystery authors meet up for a writers' retreat in tropical climes, on the dreamy Caribbean island of St. Mary. Seeking to infuse their tales with authenticity, they enlist the expertise of Penny Küfer, a spirited and sharp-witted private investigator known for her prowess in unraveling complex crimes. Penny arrives on St. Mary anticipating a serene break from her usual caseload, envisioning tranquil days under the tropical sun. However, while enjoying a romantic sunset on her very first evening, she witnesses a murder. As the line between fiction and reality blurs, Penny ...

Earl wanted to stop the Halloween Hayride. Someone ran him over with it. Can the Hayride get back on track before Halloween is ruined? Tessa is back in her hometown, picking up the pieces of her life as a young widow. Besides passing the time by working at the B&B that her parents own, Tessa joined the Halloween Hayride Committee to help give back to her small town. Plans are going great but then Earl whisks into town, threatening to shut down the beloved Hayride and someone takes it upon themselves to run him down with the tractor. Now Tessa’s gotten herself tangled up in the mess, ...

London, 1815. Amateur sleuth Atlas Catesby is about to discover the dark side of the bright lights. His long-awaited night at the opera with Lady Lilliana ends abruptly when a notorious courtesan is shot to death in Covent Garden. The infamous victim was the mistress of the powerful Marquess of Vessey. Atlas believes that the marquess - his former brother in law - is responsible for the long-ago death of Atlas' sister, Phoebe. Atlas seizes the opportunity to potentially avenge his sister's death.

Curiosity draws me back to the wooded retreat when random items and a camper goes missing. But a dead body means I’m staying. My return to sister camp, River Rock, was to help locate Wesley. But when his body is found lifeless, my gut tells me there’s more linking these wooded retreats than pine trees. Detective Harper warns me away, but unresolved history pulls us into a fragile alliance to find the truth. As whispers of the murder burn through the camp like wildfire, Leah, with her violent past, suddenly reappears and Dana’s sinister facade becomes more suspect. Adding another layer...

After fleeing her high-powered job in the city and a failed marriage, Penny Bowden has arrived in Bellamy Cove, a small beach town on the outer edge of Cape Cod. She’s purchased a run-down horse farm - complete with horses and a farm hand - and plans to make her living by offering riding lessons to townsfolk and tourists alike. Upon her arrival, Penny eagerly enters the town’s annual bake-off, hoping to impress her new neighbors and make some friends. Right before the bake-off begins, Penny is goaded into an argument with one of the town’s most important citizens, Janine Hallett. Only...

Some secrets refuse to stay buried... When Liv returns to her grandmother Eleanor's Victorian mansion in Heartwood Haven, she expects to find solace among the herb gardens and faded memories. Instead, she discovers a body among the rosemary—Walter Pembroke, head of the Historical Society, clutching a mysterious document that could change everything. As Liv reluctantly steps into her inheritance, she finds herself at the center of a town divided between preservation and progress. The suspicious Detective Marcus Rivera considers her the prime suspect, while the Knitting Circle's whispers ...

Jessie Circle has a new case, and she's dragging Flo Hammond along for the ride. A priceless coronet is missing from Trelawny house, home to a collection of exotic animals and even stranger house guests, and the clock is ticking. As the bodies pile up, Flo and Jessie attempt to unravel the mystery and avoid being eaten by a tiger called Duchess.