South American Mystery

Dubious diamond devotees and a dead loan shark. With the dad she thought dead suspected of murder, can she keep him from doing hard time? Elizabeth Trout thinks she must have rocks in her head. After receiving a crazy call that the father she never knew is cooling his heels in the local jail, the newlywed graphic designer posts bail and invites him home. But the family reunion loses its luster when she learns her old man is under suspicion for murder after he was found near a corpse. With the sheriff zeroing in on her dad and no other suspects on ice, Elizabeth starts her own investigation ...

The Lovett family was just like any other working class family trying to live the American dream, but when tragedy strikes it sends them on a new adventure to try and rebuild their lives. They move from the Windy City of Chicago Illinois, to a small town down south. Right on the Bible Belt. There, they purchase their dream home and open up a family practice. Everyone is so friendly and the Lovett's fit right in. There's just one thing... nobody stays out after the sunset. The Lovett's chalk this up to small town superstition. That is, until one of the kid's friends comes up missing! As if ...

It’s another murder in the little town of Roble. But not to worry, Romaine and Auntie Zanne are on it! It’s the 100th Boule of the Distinguished Ladies’ Society of Voodoo Herbalists. They’ve gotten together to eat, drink, be merry and vote for the next Lesser Mambo, a lifetime appointment second only to the Most High (bet you’ll never guess who holds that position). But the second in command spot keeps becoming vacant—that’s because the women who fill it keep dying off. This time though, it looks like murder. During an alcohol-infused dinner and a tall glass full of absinth, a...

A wedding and a murder...Star football player and NFL hopeful, Michael “Bumper” Hackett is getting married. Word’s going around that it’s a shotgun wedding, and there just might be some truth to it, seeing that the bride-to-be is showing a baby bump. But before the ceremony can even get started, the poor groom collapses from what appears to be an asthma attack. Unfortunately, things aren’t always what they seem. Romaine knew it was a bad idea to have a wedding at the funeral home, but newly elected justice of the peace and sole proprietor of the Ball Funeral Home & Crematorium, ...

Blanche White is a plump, feisty, middle-aged African-American housekeeper working for the genteel rich in North Carolina. But when an employer stiffs her, and her checks bounce, she goes on the lam, hiding out as a maid for a wealthy family at their summer home. That plan goes awry when there's a murder and Blanche becomes the prime suspect. So she's forced to use her savvy, her sharp wit, and her old-girl network of domestic workers to discover the truth and save her own skin.

Titus Crown is the first Black sheriff in the history of Charon County, Virginia. In recent decades, Charon has had only two murders. After years of working as an FBI agent, no one knows better than Titus that while his hometown might seem like a land of moonshine, cornbread, and honeysuckle, secrets always fester under the surface. But a year after Titus's election, a school teacher is killed by a former student. The student is then fatally shot by Titus's deputies. As Titus investigates the shootings, he unearths terrible crimes, and a serial killer who has been hiding in plain sight.

The dark-eyed woman in the long, black gown was first seen in the 1970s, standing near a fireplace. She was sad and translucent, present and absent at once. Strange things began to happen in the Santa Fe hotel where she was seen. Gas fireplaces turned off and on without anyone touching a switch. Glasses flew off shelves. And in one second-floor suite with a canopy bed and arched windows looking out to the mountains, guests reported alarming events.

A sequel to the award-winning CHRISTMAS AT GREY SAGE. Maude and Silas, owners of Grey Sage, are busy making their guests’ experiences memorable ones. But a series of unsettling events has disturbed the serenity at the inn. Nestled in the aspen and pine-covered Sangre de Cristo Mountains near Santa Fe, Grey Sage is the ideal place for artists and writers. It’s late September, and Lily’s group of art students from Chicago has come for a retreat. Drake Dodson, a screenwriter, is there to write, and Dr. Boots Boone, a professor on sabbatical doing research in Native American culture and ...

Deep beneath the Great Smoky Mountains National Park lies a hidden world, formed hundreds of years ago by a group of people forced underground by a deadly plague. Living as if it were still the 19th century, they have no access to modern conveniences such as electricity or running water. The Elite, a group of powerful individuals tasked with protecting the society of the Below from threats in the Above, rule over this secluded community. When Edith, a mental health counselor, begins to question the intentions of their governing body after witnessing the elimination of a defiant colleague, ...

Jake Scarne has retired. But he has mixed feelings about it. He suspects that there is more to life than golf outings and sojourns down the Jersey Shore. Little does he know that some of his old skills will come in handy when the Staten Island Ferry he is on is hijacked! The hijackers claim they are terrorists. But their real motives are more venal. Scarne avails himself of possibly the most unusual ally he's ever had. But there is death and tragedy in this twisty tale that reminds some critics of two classic movies: DIE HARD and THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE-TWO-THREE. “IF YOU LIKE HARD-...

In the shadow of the Andes, one man’s adventure ignites a powder keg of espionage, revolution, and survival. When a young British mountaineer’s letters hint at a dangerous secret hidden in the Peruvian Andes, a routine investigation quickly escalates into a desperate race against time. Jack Warne, seeking adventure in the remote Chasco valley, finds himself caught between a group of radical activists and the watchful eyes of Peruvian authorities. Unbeknownst to him, his every move is being tracked by forces on both sides of the law, each with their own agenda in the volatile climate of ...

Welcome to the Breezy Spoon Diner, where Santa's serving up murder for Christmas! Christmas is just around the corner and Santa Claus is coming to the quirky little town of East Spoon Creek City! Dani O'Shea is serving up great food, great conversation and down-home hospitality at the Breezy Spoon Diner to hungry townsfolk, but a department store Santa Claus getting murdered outside her door was not what she wanted for Christmas! When a vengeful killer murders the wrong man by mistake, Dani must race to unmask the murderer and protect the true target before anyone else dies! Her landlord, ...

In a suburban LA neighborhood, neighbors keep wary distance and at times collide, propelled by desire, fury, and mischief. Precocious Korean-American sisters Mira and Rosemary find their world rocked by a suicide; a charismatic and creepy drama teacher grooms his students; an aging gay horror novelist fights loneliness; and a white mother and her adopted Vietnamese daughter deal with lifelong anger issues.

From the author of the bestselling Pelican Cove series - Meet Meera Patel – college dropout and soon to be amateur sleuth Fall term is almost over and Thanksgiving is around the corner. Meera has been ordered to stop her tomfoolery and think about her future. All good intentions are foiled when Meera runs into a dead man in the park. The local diner owners are implicated in the young rancher’s death. Meera and her grandma face off against the Patel men and insist on sticking by their friends. Meera interviews the long list of suspects on and off campus, trying to find someone who might ...

In No Road Home, Sam Grodin emerges from ten years in a brutal South American prison, alone, lost, and forced to start over. Wrongfully convicted and abandoned in a foreign land his only comfort the fading memory of his Mary, and the hope that she still waits for him but, every day without her deepens his longing. Beyond the prison walls hides its dangers, where every step forward pulls Sam deeper into a labyrinth of betrayal, haunting memories, and powerful forces that will stop at nothing to protect their secrets. Sam must face terrifying truths to survive. Drawn to a beautiful, ...

Pegasus Quincy, a rookie deputy on temporary assignment in a sleepy mountain town, expects a quiet summer citing jaywalkers and writing traffic tickets. Fate intervenes when a dead body turns up in an old copper mining pit. The man is a three-time loser disowned by even his own mother. Peg’s sheriff boss declares the death an accident and tells her to “move on”. She wants to agree, but then her office is ransacked and her assistant kidnapped...Will they find the killer before he strikes again?

How far would you go to protect a loved one? Would you tamper with evidence? Commit arson? Allow a prime suspect to remain at large? Pegasus Quincy and her former partner, Shepherd Malone, have some difficult choices ahead when Shep’s daughter is caught with a murder weapon in her hand. It doesn’t help when the detective on the case has problems of his own. When he applies to the sheriff’s department, he conveniently forgets to mention that he was terminated from his previous position under a cloud of fraud.

Thirteen bitter sweets. Thirteen bitter suspects. One unhappy ending. World-famous Chandler's Chocolates has unveiled a new storybook-inspired chocolate collection, Once Upon a Truffle. It's up to Anna Clementine, the company's event coordinator, to promote the product by hosting a fairytale-themed beauty pageant. To set the scene, contestants are invited to an abandoned castle deep in the Smoky Mountains. After all, every little girl dreams of being a princess in a palace- unless that castle turns out to be haunted. Anna soon finds herself in a cursed castle, surrounded by spoiled ...

Gold medalist in the 2024 FAPA President’s Book Awards! Excerpt: It seemed the daughter, at only eight or nine years old, had more wisdom than her mother and all the others involved, including the deputy, all the witnesses at the scene of the accident, and the judge. That blessed little child bravely hopped up to the witness box and told her story. “I was asleep last night and heard a woman calling me. She said ‘Wake up, Dora, wake up!’ When I opened my eyes, a beautiful angel with long, blonde hair and blue eyes was standing by my bed. I knew she was an angel because she had wings ...

Haunted by sins of the past while grappling with the challenges of the present, the citizens of Tennyson County, Georgia, must come to grips with the reality that not all secrets stay buried forever. Allison Edwards, a part-time journalism student, arrives in South Georgia after receiving a mysterious grant to write a human interest story. Soon, like layers of an onion, she peels back story after surprising story, many of which were never meant to see the light of day. Like the crippling southern heat, lies and deception smolder. Allison will soon learn that when the old South and modern ...