Humorous Detective

The rice is ripe in Provence… and so is a wicked murder plot. During a rice-themed culinary competition, head judge and top food critic Seraphin Rampal is found face down in the Rhône River. The gendarmes believe it was a drunken accident. But pastry chef Julie Cavallo disagrees. With the help of her misfit crew, she discovers that much more than rankings were at stake. Ruined careers, shortchanged colleagues, and scorned girlfriends all point to one thing: many in the region’s finest kitchens wanted Seraphin Rampal to pay. As their unsavory secrets come to light, danger closes in, ...

If you like cozy mysteries with strong heroines, yummy food, lifelong friendships and plots that keep you guessing till the end, you will love the Pelican Cove Cozy Mystery Series. 44 year old Jenny King's suburban utopia comes crashing down when her husband dumps her for a younger model. Jenny accepts her eccentric aunt's offer and moves to the remote island of Pelican Cove. After moping around and licking her wounds for months, she starts working at the local cafe at her aunt's urging. Jenny's delicious food makes the small town famous. The rest is history. Jenny befriends a motley group ...

One ship, two oceans, and a "ghost" that refuses to mind its own business... Addi thought working a cruise to Alaska with her best friends would be smooth seas and starry nights. But when they answer a distress call and find an abandoned freighter with a frozen body aboard, the real trouble begins. Soon, passengers are whispering about a ghost haunting the ship, and a cranky businessman vanishes. But Addi doesn’t believe in ghosts—she knows something, or someone, is behind the eerie sightings. With bff's Cece and Sam at her side, Addi’s racing to uncover the truth before rumors sink ...

What’s worse than a self-centered beauty queen? A cruise chock full of them! “Winters will have you giggling into your book!” But what if the self-centred beauty queen is also a murderer? When the Swan of the Seas hosts a beauty pageant, Adrienne is forced to spend her time dealing with narcissistic judges, oblivious contestants and a feminist protest. The event seems hectic enough, when Diana Penn, the esteemed beauty queen and headlining judge, is found murdered! Now, it’s up to Adrienne and her friends Cece, Sam, and First Officer Hot Stuff—er, First Officer Ethan Lee—to sort...

A quirky, dark-edged mystery full of twists, turns and playful surprises Max Black, retired stock broker and single parent, is facing a crisis. His daughter has left for university, and despite the companionship of his faithful Cairn terrier Monty, he feels panicked, untethered and not very well. His doctor tells him to get out more, change his lifestyle and find himself a job. Could Duntisbourne Hall, a rundown stately home recruiting tour guides, be the answer to his empty-nest syndrome? Joining the team of eccentric retired professionals who shuffle the general public around on tour, he ...

Welcome to Sarah’s Eatery, where the food is to-die-for! Armed with zero cooking skills but infinite tenacity, Kylie Berry fights tirelessly to learn the ins and outs of operating a restaurant—but when her cook Brenda takes a leave of absence, she’s left to manage the café kitchen alone. "Winters will have you giggling into your book!" Kylie pulls 12-hour shifts at Sarah’s Eatery and struggles to find time to eat, sleep, and most importantly, keep at her culinary studies. Café regulars and potential suitors Joel and Brad lend a hand, but when Joel finds himself embroiled in a ...

A summer cruise. Horseplay and hijinks. And DEATH on the high seas! Starry eyed intern Meg Butler has embarked on her dream job, only to be thwarted at the first step. No, she didn't mean to poison the guests at the Sail Away party. Her boss thinks otherwise and is ready to send her back home. When a healthy young man is found dead in his cabin, Meg thinks its murder! But who will believe her? Flanked by a motley group of interns and crew members, Meg stumbles her way across Alaska, separating the clues from the red herrings, determined to find the guilty passenger. Meanwhile, things are ...

A murder mystery party on the cruise ship—could life be any more ironic? Especially after the two real-life murders that Adrienne’s dealt with! But yes, the passengers really do want to party "like it’s a murderous 1999”, and to make matters even worse, Adrienne’s the one in charge of managing the event. "Winters will have you giggling into your book!" An inept new cruise director, a Captain who’s harbouring a secret, and a demanding G.O.H.—just when Adrienne thinks things could not get any more horrible, she’s dealt one final blow: a real murder. Can Adrienne and her ...

From USA Today bestselling author, Julie Mulhern, comes a short worthy of the Country Club Murders name. For Aggie DeLucci, former assistant private investigator and current housekeeper extraordinaire, 1975 is turning out to be a banner year. There’s a new man her life, Mac. He makes her laugh, takes her dancing, and makes a helluva salami sandwich. When Mac is accused of theft, it’s up to Aggie to clear his name. She’ll have to polish her slightly tarnished investigative kills and tame her fears (and her hair) to catch the real thief. If this is your first trip to 70s Kansas City, ...

Finlay Donovan is killing it...except, she’s really not. The new book she promised her literary agent isn’t written, her ex-husband fired the nanny without telling her, and this morning she had to send her four-year-old to school with hair duct-taped to her head.

“Steve Rockfish is back and kicking militia ass. In fact, the whole crew is back, busting balls as they solve crimes and track down the bad guys. The wisecracks fly fast and furious. So do the twists and turns. The bad guys are badder, the danger more dangerous, and every character as endearing as they are dysfunctional. I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough.” –Haris Orkin, award-winning author of The James Flynn Escapades Private investigators Steve Rockfish and Jawnie McGee's loyalty is tested when they are called upon to rescue a friend whose plan to grift a local militia goes ...

Suzie Housley, Midwest Book Review…"Parsons writes with an intense purpose that will leave the reader fully satisfied. Masterfully crafted…readers will find themselves unable to put this book down." Cambridge, Massachusetts…Detective Karl Shea is drinking Tanqueray London Dry Gin, straight up, at a bar in Harvard Square. He hasn't been to church in thirty years, but the prayer he learned to the rhythmic tap of the nuns' rulers ruminates through his brain…confess my sins, do penance, and amend my life, Amen. Amend. With less than a year to live, Karl knows he has to start amending ...

Collection of short stories featuring Delovoa and his life pre-Belvaille. Print Length: 66 pages Includes: -How Delovoa became so intelligent -How Delovoa first joined the military as a scientist -Early experiments with artificial intelligence -Where ZR3 came from -Meeting the Ontakians -Delovoa's advanced work with mutations -Delovoa's exile as a criminal -Early life on Belvaille and his unique, and pervasive, impact on the city NOTE: while the stories are stand-alone, it contains many references to characters and events in Hard Luck Hank novels.

One Sip Too Fatal As Murder Brews at The Book Nook! At a charming book club gathering in the storybook town of Willow Creek, murder isn't on the menu—until sharp-tongued Madeline Prescott keels over, poisoned mid-sip. Enter Harper Lane: sarcastic, sharp-eyed, and owner of the quaint bookshop, The Book Nook. With a trusty cup of tea and her gossip-loving parrot, Edgar, Harper prefers plots on the page—until real murder lands in her lap. When the police chalk it up to a tragic accident, Harper isn’t convinced. After all, Edgar won’t stop muttering, “Not mine! Not mine!” Between ...

Think Electraweave. Think of fabrics of tomorrow! Textile scientist Eliza Bennett attends a textile conference where she plans to present her work, accompanied by her talking cat, Merlin. Their plans are disrupted by a blackout during which Eliza's presentation banner is stolen, leading them to uncover a complex plot involving corporate espionage, a mysterious surveillance network, and a dangerous rival named Croft who seeks to weaponize Eliza's technology for his own gain. Eliza's revolutionary material called Electraweave nullifies static discharge and has potential applications in space....

Tempest Michaels has a vampire problem. He’s an old hat at this game and dealing with cases like this are his speciality. Except this time … … the vampires are his clients. When someone starts targeting members of the local vampire Live Action Role Play club, there’s only one person they can think of to turn to – their old nemesis, Tempest Michaels. Unfortunately for Tempest, when he takes the case, he doesn’t realise they automatically assume that means twenty-four-hour protection. All too soon he has vampire wannabes camping on his lawn, he has vampires wannabes sleeping in ...

Meg Butler sets sail on the Grand Voyager on a luxury world cruise, eager to visit 30 countries before she's 30. But she hasn't planned on running into murder! The ship is hosting a Bingo tournament for the length of the cruise. Several passengers are competing for the grand prize which is rumored to be in six figures. Meg runs into a friendly older man who boasts of being a skilled player. He has developed a fool proof strategy that is guaranteed to win him big money. Meg is warmed by his affectionate manner toward her and feels he is the father figure she has always yearned for. Disaster ...

A dance club full of bodies. Cause of death - a mystery. The lone survivor - a man, raving like a lunatic, wearing only a deerstalker hat. Now, the man who calls himself Sherman Holmes is being studied like a lab rat by a top-secret government agency. How is it he can be barely clinging to reality one minute - yet be a seeming genius the next? Within his brain might just be the greatest scientific breakthrough of the millennium, if anyone can figure out how to access it. Enter the agent code named Watson.

Getting in the middle of a longtime business feud is one of the stupidest things I ever agreed to do. And I once peed myself to catch a killer. The owner of a yarn store is all twisted up over her vacuum repair neighbor. She claims he’s a fake. He tells her to suck it. I'm trying to settle this while luring out the big bad targeting my family. But then the bodies begin to pile up. Time’s up for me to clean up the mess in Flamingo Cove. Or die trying. My name is Wysdom Ward. These are my case files. The Clean Sweep is the fourth story in the Wysdom Ward Case Files. These humorous ...

Catching a killer is a piece of cake... Or is it? When Mindy Macbay moves back to her hometown of Santa Verona, and finds herself fighting crime with her best friend, she soon finds herself on the receiving end of anonymous threats, and even worse, unpleasant encounters with her high school nemesis and former paramours. Dessert, Diamonds and Deadly Secrets When Mindy investigates the death of an unpopular cafe owner, she uncovers a trail of diamonds and a secret life... Carrot Cake and Cryptic Clues Socialite Celeste Rocheford is murdered, and Mindy’s best friend Beth Miller finds herself...