Showing results by narrator "C. S. E. Cooney" in All Categories

Ella Mae LeFaye's delicious pies are still drawing long lines, as well as the attention of Beatrice Burbank, president of the Camellia Club, a philanthropic organization comprised of high-society Southern ladies from the charming and affluent town of Sweet Briar, Georgia. To ensure the success of their centennial dessert cookbook, Bea hires Ella Mae to teach the tasty tricks of her trade to the club's members at their annual retreat.

Karen Rose Smith presents Book 10 in the Daisy's Tea Garden Mystery series.

When she joined the Criminal Investigations Division, Tara knew she'd be investigating some very real crooks. Forget about waitresses hiding tips from the IRS or babysitters not declaring income! Tara and her partner, Eddie, are going after one of country's richest, dirtiest felons. Being on a diet doesn't help Tara's mood much. Hopefully, by the time the investigation is over, she'll be sitting somewhere in a string bikini, far, far away....

Sawyer Davis, a chef who runs an inherited mystery bookshop, is marinating in trouble once again. While onstage and strapped to a giant bullseye, Sawyer's magician father hurls knives at her, but she's not the one who ends up dead. Her father's ex is found lifeless backstage, making her dad the number one suspect.

Maine-bred, independent Rilla Brae is no stranger to the deep. She knows the rhythms of hard work and harder seas. But when she experiences the sudden death of her father, the veil between the living and the dead blurs, and she begins to be haunted by a girl on a nearby uninhabited island. The girl floats a song over the waves, and it is as beautiful as it is terrifying. Familiar and distant. Then Rilla meets Sam, a University of Southern Maine archeology student tasked with excavating the very island where the ghostly girl has appeared.

Lia Shetler is resigned to being a spinster. She's too tall and sturdy to ever be marriageable - so says her overbearing dad. Instead, she's helping her pretty, spoiled sister, Rachel, secure the perfect husband - the Helmuths' grandson, Moses Zimmerman. But the more Lia sees of his gently teasing ways and quiet understanding, the more she wishes that Moses could be hers alone.

A difficult marriage has left the Helmuths' widowed great-granddaughter, Beth, finished with wedlock. She's content to live with her great-grandparents and make a life for herself and her toddler son. But once she turns down handsome Tyler Yoder's proposal, it seems only fair to encourage him to find a suitable wife. Trouble is his gentleness and generous ways are showing her how joyous a real meeting of hearts can be....

Ella Mae LeFaye's Charmed Pie Shoppe is wildly popular in Havenwood, Georgia, which is not surprising since Ella Mae can lace her baked goods with enchantments. The shop's extraordinary success seems destined to continue when Ella Mae meets an engaged couple who hire her to handle the dessert buffet at their wedding.

The faculty of Willow Creek High School are having a get-together after the spring concert with refreshments provided, courtesy of Daisy's Tea Garden. Oolong tea and chocolate biscuits are just what the staff needs to help them unwind from Althea Higgins's demanding curriculum. Her lessons on such controversial subjects as school uniforms and under qualified substitute teachers are earning her an F from her colleagues. But a failing grade was preferable to Althea falling victim to foul play.

When the body of "how-to" book writer Terry Holiday is found by Aster Paterson in her flower garden, the townspeople of Haven are shocked. But they're even more surprised when the beloved bookshop owner insists that the spirit of her late husband Peter Paterson led her to the grim discovery. Only Aster seems unsurprised—she's been baking his favorite shortbread cookies every day, hoping to lure his ghost back home . . . Even Maureen is a little skeptical—until Peter's ghost appears in the bookshop window for all to see.

Rarity is grateful for many things and people in her new life, including her friend Shirley, who is helping to provide backpacks and supplies for kids going back to school. But Shirley needs a big favor. With her husband in a memory-care home, she wants to attend an art opening with a male friend but fears local gossip. She asks Rarity, her friend Sam, and their boyfriends to come along as cover. It would be fun if not for the fact that the two couples are barely speaking . . .

Lee Barrett has landed her dream job at Salem's WICH-TV. As the new field reporter, she'll be covering events live as they're unfolding. Next on her holiday checklist is an interview with the beloved chairman of a popular walking tour through Salem's historic districts. But it may be his ghost walking this snowy Noel season after Lee finds him murdered in his stately offices, bloody Santa hat askew.

Casa del Chocolate is one of Salem's most charming boutique candy shops, making it a perfect profile story. Although preoccupied with her own personal sweet news—Lee and her detective husband Pete Mondello are expecting a bundle of joy—she cheerfully agrees to interview the chocolatier. Since becoming pregnant, the radiant and exhilarated mother-to-be has discovered that she is finally free of the unwanted haunting "visions" she has endured since childhood.

Elsie Stutzman's plain-spoken ways got her in trouble once before, so she needs to make a good impression at her new teaching job. But she's not about to let disabled student Wally Sensenig work below his potential. And she definitely won't put up with his hot-headed older brother sabotaging her efforts, no matter how handsome he is....

Owning the Charmed Pie Shoppe and serving enchanted treats in the magical town of Havenwood, Georgia, seemed like a little slice of heaven for Ella Mae LeFaye. But now her hopes for both a lasting romance with Hugh Dylan and business success are starting to seem like pie in the sky, and Ella's left wondering: Where has the magic gone?

To kick off a winter writing retreat, Cat and her handyman boyfriend, Seth, escort the aspiring authors to a nearby ski resort, hoping that some fresh cold air will wake up their creative muses. But instead of hitting the slopes, they hit the bar - and before long, a tipsy romance novelist named Christina is keeping herself warm with a local ski bum who might have neglected to tell her about his upcoming wedding. Next thing Cat knows, her uncle, the town sheriff, informs her that the young man's been found dead.

She can't cook, sew, sing, or clean. And no matter how hard young Anna Yoder tries, she'd much rather help people in trouble than be a well-behaved pretty face and properly perfect Amish maiden. So she instantly reaches out to her old schoolmate, Felty Helmuth, when their Amish town ostracizes him for his Korean War army service. He's still the only one who's ever understood Anna - and liked everything from her green Jello carrot salads to her love of books. And this holiday season, she can't help hoping that somehow she and Felty can find a way to be the perfect match....

When Christopher Hostettler comes from Ohio to work at his uncle's shop in Bird-in-Hand, Pennsylvania, he gets off on the wrong foot with Emily Fisher. But when he finally opens up to her about his tragic reasons for leaving home, her heart begins to change. When Christopher compliments an old quilt, Emily decides to make a similar quilt for Christopher as a gesture of friendship. Emily knows she must guard her heart, as Christopher is not a baptized member of the church, but she's suddenly found someone with whom she can imagine sharing a future.

"Spring Is in the Air": As the young people of Bird-in-Hand, Pennsylvania, plant a garden in memory of their friend, Katie Ann begins to worry that her older brother, Ephraim, is dating her best friend. What if she somehow loses them both? "Home by Summer": Clara Hertzler's surprised when Jerry Petersheim, her old friend, comes to the garden to drop off his younger sister-especially because Jerry has been gone for years and now seems to be living as an Englisher. As the friends get to know each other again, Clara pushes Jerry to examine why he abandoned his Amish beliefs.

Ever since the Helmuths' grandson, Ben, abruptly broke his engagement and moved to Florida, Emma Nelson has kept busy tending her vegetable garden and raising award-winning pumpkins. She can put her heartache aside to help Ben's mother with her own pumpkin patch. At least until Ben shows up to lend support to his ailing father.Gardening side by side with pretty, nurturing Emma is a sweet kind of torture for Ben.