Amateur Sleuth Cozy

James Henry, a kind-hearted professor of English literature, is forced to move back home to Quincy's Gap, a tiny town in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, to care for his aging father. Shortly after moving into a house that hasn't changed since his childhood, the overweight, divorced, book-loving cheese puff addict accepts a position as head librarian and joins a supper club for dieters who call themselves the "Flab Five". Avoiding carbs is almost impossible in this deep-fried, all-you-can-eat Southern town.

Manhattan fashionista Kelly Quinn thought she'd left her upstate New York town far behind...until the Seventh Avenue expat returns home to revamp her grandmother's consignment shop into an upscale boutique - and unwittingly sets a trend for murder....After her rising career as a Manhattan buyer is derailed, Kelly has mixed feelings about relocating back to Lucky Cove, in spite of her big plans for the soon-to-be-renamed Curated by Kelly Resale Boutique. What's left of her luck starts running out when a customer puts on a black lace dress that triggers visions of someone being murdered.

When Hank Sharpe asked the Laundry Club Ladies to join him in an undercover investigation to help find a missing person, we grabbed our sleuthing notebook without hesitation. When we found Kyra Tenney's body in what appeared to be an accidental forest fire, we thought we were finished with our undercover act. Only the coroner's report came back that she had been killed before the fire. Join the Laundry Club Ladies as they take their investigation skills to a whole 'nuther level!

As if a run-in with an old flame and a failed marriage proposal weren't enough to horrify Krissy for one night, a woman is found strangled to death in a room filled with ominous jack-o'-lanterns. All signs suggest a crime of passion - but when the hostess's jewelry disappears, malevolent intentions seem way more likely.

In the exciting new mystery from the New York Times best-selling author, China Bayles fears for her husband's life as an escaped convict targets him. A killer McQuaid put away years ago has busted out of Huntsville Prison and appears to be headed for Pecan Springs. China wants to stay by her husband's side and keep him from harm, but McQuaid insists that she get out of town and go to the Last Chance Olive Ranch, where she's agreed to teach a workshop on herbs.

A MURDER, AN OLD KEY, AND A SECRET KEPT BURIED FOR YEARS... When a dead body is found buried in Zaylie Layne’s backyard, it is presumed to be her great aunt who disappeared over fifty years ago under mysterious circumstances. Zaylie immediately sets out to find answers, only to uncover more than she bargained for. When an old key unlocks a secret that no one ever suspected, she finds that ghosts from the past are still very much alive and in the present. As Zaylie draws closer to the truth, she is thrown into a monstrous storm of secrets, lies, and danger. Can she survive the dark and ...

This special boxed set edition contains the first three books in the Whispering Pines Cozy Mysteries. Whispers of Murder Whispers of Death, and Whispers of Mystery Emma Harper moved to the picturesque town of Whispering Pines, in northern Minnesota, to settle into small town life and run her own cozy bakery, Northern Pines Bakery, on the first floor of her rambling Victorian home. She expected the eccentric neighbors, the beautiful lake, and the small town festivals. What she didn't count on was murder. Or that she and her bakery would be implicated. And she certainly hadn't expected the ...

Fleeing some unsavory doings in her hometown of Charlotte, Jenna accepts her uncle's gracious invitation to stay with him in small-town Hokes Folly, North Carolina. In exchange, she'll help him out in his antiquarian bookstore. But soon after she arrives, Jenna finds her uncle's body crumpled at the base of the staircase between his apartment and the bookstore. Before the tragedy even sinks in, Jenna learns that she's inherited almost everything her uncle owned...which adds up to more than a million dollars.

James Henry and the Flab Five are invited to serve as judges at Hog Fest, a celebrated barbecue festival in the Virginia mountains. But when one of the "pit masters" is found dead and a member of the supper club is accused of the murder, James and his friends have to lick the sauce off their fingers and get to work catching a killer. Amid a fairground filled with colorful people and tempting food, The Flab Five are sure to fall off the diet wagon. But James Henry has more to worry about than his expanding waistline.

Someone is trying to turn Portland High into a school for scandal with a gossipy website called Dirty Laundry. The latest target of ruinous rumors is newly elected PTA President Sandra Wallage. After a heated meeting with outraged parents, Sandra runs into fellow school mom and Private Investigator Maya Kendrick, who's discovered the person behind the website. But when the women storm into the venomous gossip columnist's office they find a lifeless body - along with a confession.

Series is finished! Vicki Bohanan is back and sporting a whole new mystery. Blackmail lands at her feet on the eve of preseason football. And for a woman with an attitude the size of Texas, it’s gonna take more than a pigskin to plug her pie hole. A Texas Ranger, an undercover boss, and a hunky radio personality walk into the bar and keep Vicki’s head spinning like a ride at the state fair. The only score she wants to settle is with her renovated residence. But when a certain Aussie model invites her to San Antonio for a romantic Alamo shootout – cameras this time, folks – Vicki ...

My name is Nora Black, and I'm 51 years young. At least that's what I tell myself, when I'm not having hot flashes; my knees don't hurt; and I can find my reading glasses. I'm also the proud owner of a salon called Scents & Scentsability in the small resort town of Garden Cove, where I make a cozy living selling handmade bath and beauty products. All in all, my life is pretty good. Except for one little glitch.

The only thing more surprising than learning her great aunt had left her entire very large estate to her was learning Aunt Dot hadn’t passed away when she a little girl like she’d been told. Kat traveled to the coastal town of Fogpoint Harbor for the first time since the lie had been spun with the intention of upholding her end of the will’s demand before returning home. There were stipulations to the inheritance. She had to live in her aunt’s house for a year. If she didn’t, she walked away with a small percentage of the estate. It would be easy. Wouldn’t it? The old Victorian ...

It's Mardi Gras in New Orleans, and scrapbook shop owner Carmela Bertrand is excited to be attending the Pluvius Parade along with her best friend, Ava. Carmela's ex-husband, Shamus, rides by the duo on his float at the head of the parade, when suddenly the revelry turns to disaster. Shamus' float crashes and explodes, and although Shamus escapes unhurt, a member of his krewe is killed. Carmela and Ava plunge into an investigation of the krewe member's death, but as they dig deeper, it starts to look less like an accident and more like a murder...and Shamus seems like a suspect.

Welcome to Sarah’s Eatery: serving hot breakfast daily, with complimentary curbside murder! When Cameron Caldwell, infamously bad waiter and known womanizer, is found dead on the doorstep of Sarah’s Eatery, new owner Kylie Berry yet again becomes the talk of the town. After very publically rejecting Cam’s amorous advances the day before his death, Zoey Jin, Kylie’s regular customer and fledgling best friend, becomes the prime suspect in his murder. To complicate matters, Zoey’s estranged ex, Max, breezes back into town to exonerate the woman he not long ago abandoned… "Winters ...

From a hellacious hurricane, to chasing cold case killers, to uncovering a dirty secret out at sea, Lilly’s awful good at finding trouble—and answers. Join Lilly and the quirky Drifter's Cove gang as the mysterious action continues in this second Magnolia Manor trilogy. Squalls. Scandals. Secrets. Murder. Welcome to Drifter’s Cove. This second compilation includes: A Mysterious Arrangement A Deadly Combination A Treacherous TideEnjoy books 4, 5, and 6 in the ongoing Magnolia Manor Mystery series, with more to come!

The snow is deep in Maine's Busman's Harbor and the mighty rivers are covered in ice. Snowden Family Clambake Company proprietor Julia Snowden and her mother, Jacqueline, are hunkered down for the winter when a mysterious package arrives - heating up February with an unexpected case of murder.

Major Heathcliff Lennox is called in, along with ex Detective Inspector Swift, to help the police investigate a macabre death. The dead man is Lord De Ruyter, a man inextricably linked to the notorious Birdcage Murders.

After reconnecting with some old college friends on social media, part-time dessert chef and muffin-maker Casey Feldstein has gotten herself roped into hosting a knitting retreat for the group. Tangled up in worries over how they'll judge her unconventional life and the rustic atmosphere at Vista Del Mar, she watches in dismay as the women arrive and their old personalities - and old grudges - come trickling to the surface. But Casey discovers these are the least of her problems when one of the women is found dead.

Auntie Poldi, sassy, brassy, and 60, moves to Sicily for a quiet alcohol-fuelled retirement. A murder spoils her plans. This is the first novel in a charming new mystery series set in Sicily and laced with Italian sensuality and humor. It features an amateur sleuth, the sassy and foul-mouthed Auntie Poldi. Recently widowed Poldi moves to Sicily in order to quietly drink herself to death with a sea view, but fate intervenes. When she finds the corpse of a young man on the beach, his face blown off with a sawn-off shotgun, she becomes a potential suspect in his murder case.