YULE LOG MURDER by LESLIE MEIER Lucy Stone is thrilled to be cast as an extra in a festive period film...until the set becomes a murder scene decorated in blood and buttercream icing. Returning to her role as sleuth, Lucy dashes to restore peace to TinkerÄôs Cove, unwrap a cold-hearted criminalÄôs MO, and reveal how one ornate yule-log cake could possibly cause so much drama. DEATH BY YULE LOG by LEE HOLLIS Hayley PowellÄôs holidays arenÄôt off to a very merry startÄînot only has her daughter brought Connor, an infuriatingly perfect new beau, home to Bar Harbor but a local troublemaker has been found dead with traces of her signature yule-log cake on his body. LOGGED ON by BARBARA ROSS Realizing she canÄôt make a decent B?ªche de No?´l to save her life, Julia Snowden enlists the help of her eccentric neighbor, Mrs. St. Onge, in hopes of mastering the dessert for Christmas, but soon she must save her neighbor from becoming the next BusmanÄôs Harbor resident to meet a not-so-jolly fate.
When Poppy goes from complacent retiree to penniless widow in a matter of weeks, the idea of spending her golden years as the biggest charity case in Palm Springs renders her speechless. With no real skills and nothing left to lose, Poppy uses her obsession with true crime shows to start a career as a private eye . . .
But after opening the Desert Flowers Detective Agency with help from her two best friends, Violet and Iris, Poppy realizes that age brings wisdom, not business-until she convinces her daughter's handsome boyfriend, Matt, to pose as the face of the agency. It's not long before Matt's irresistible act snags a client desperate to retrieve priceless jewelry burglarized from an aging actress at the Palm Leaf Retirement Village. Or before Poppy stumbles upon the bloodied body of the victim's arch rival . . .
In a flash, Poppy's innocent detective gig is upstaged by a dangerous murder investigation riddled with slimy suspects and unspeakable scandal. As she and her team uncover the truth, Poppy must confront the secrets about her late husband's past and swiftly catch a killer lurking around the retirement community-even if it means turning her world upside down all over again.
Private investigator Poppy Harmon likes the anonymity of working behind the scenes for the hottest names in Palm Springs. But when solving a case demands dragging her old acting career out of retirement, it's lights . . . camera . . . murder!
Cast in her first role since the 1980s, Poppy has never been more rattled or unprepared on a film set. It's an embarrassing but necessary cover to keep an eye on client Danika Delgado, a rising starlet and social media influencer with a large following-including a dangerous stalker who won't disappear. The leading lady's fame is growing, and so are the threats against her life . . .
Unfortunately for Poppy, there's more to fear than flubbed lines. When she finds Danika smothered to death in her trailer at Joshua Tree National Park, the horrifying crime stirs up memories of a man known as the Pillow Talk Killer during her time as a young actress, bringing unsolved murders from the past back into focus . . .
A trail of clues urges Poppy, hunky sidekick Matt Flowers, and the rest of the Desert Flowers Detective Agency gang on a frantic chase after Danika's crazed number one fan. But as co-stars and production crew members start looking equally suspicious, Poppy must expose a slew of insidious industry secrets before a murderer rolls out the red carpet for someone else . . .
If Poppy didn't believe she was in too deep as the only female juror in a high-profile assault case involving an infamously hot-tempered crooner, she's sure of it upon meeting blast-from-her-past Rod Harper. A former TV costar from her short-lived acting days, Rod is as dashing as ever, and now he wants to partner again-this time to locate his missing daughter . . .
Returning a pampered songstress with a penchant for running away back home unscathed shouldn't be too challenging. But dodging Rod's charms while on the job is another story-and so is finding a dead body! When Poppy discovers a fellow juror face down in a swimming pool, she's unwittingly thrust into a murder investigation with sinister parallels to the troubled chanteuse's disappearance . . .
As Poppy struggles to survive a steamy love triangle while deciphering the connection between two seemingly unrelated cases, the Desert Flowers Agency must outsmart a ruthless killer who will do anything to keep hideous secrets hidden away . . . including ensuring Poppy becomes the next forgotten ex-actress to bite the dust . . .
Private Investigator Poppy Harmon can see through the charms of Southern California's trickiest criminals. But when she and the Desert Flowers Detective Agency go up against a dashing dating show killer, they may have finally met their match!
While sidekick Matt Flowers shoots a film abroad, Poppy dusts off her own acting chops to break up a Gen Z crime ring targeting seniors in Palm Springs. Tanya Cook and her gal pals have been swindling susceptible residents for all they're worth-until the gang meets Poppy undercover. Yet with the case cracked, the desert heat is on full blast as new terrors take the lead . . .
Poppy's already sweating over a menacing mystery stalker when a shocking death proves she's in serious danger. As suspicions fall once again on Tanya, finding answers may mean pulling off the most challenging performance of her career . . .
Now, with Poppy's unknown stalker rumored to be posing as one of several bachelors on a glitzy reality series, a disguised Poppy must reveal his true identity on set before he realizes hers. Does Poppy have what it takes to catch the cold-blooded killer in time for the season finale . . . or should she start planning for her funeral?
Desperate Housewives meets Murder, She Wrote, in Lee Hollis's new mystery series, where a housewife and a female private eye solve murders together in their small Maine town!
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.
Although the police rule the death a suicide, Maya suspects an injured party hung the Dirty Laundry creator out to dry. Maya already has a PI partner-but she's pregnant, and sonograms and stakeouts tend to conflict. So when Sandra volunteers for a crash course in sleuthing, Maya accepts the help. But as these unlikely partners study the clues, a killer plans to teach them a lesson . . .
Maya and Sandra are friends, fellow moms, and private-detective partners in the picturesque waterfront city of Portland-where sometimes their cases can get as rocky as the Maine coast . . .
While private investigator Maya Kendrick is still mentoring her new partner, PTA president Sandra Wallage, in the detective game, the two women don't need incredible powers of deduction to know their marriages are on the rocks. With Maya's ex-cop husband in prison and Sandra's senator spouse separated from her, both find themselves investigating the dating scene. Until Diego Sanchez turns up dead. The flirtatious high school Spanish teacher who had eyes for Maya was poisoned by cookies from a bake sale fundraiser for a Portland High school class trip to Spain.
Hired by the students to find out who killed their popular and beloved teacher-including their own children-Maya and Sandra get a real education in parenting, relationships, and murder as their search for whodunit leads them deep into the unpleasant realities found in the small town politics and gossip of their Maine community . . .
Tricks and treats keep the Halloween spirit alive in coastal Maine. But this year the haunted house theme is getting carried a little too far . . . HAUNTED HOUSE MURDER by LESLIE MEIER Newcomers to Tinker's Cove, Ty and Heather Moon have moved into a dilapidated house reputed to be a haven for ghosts. Now strange noises and flickering lights erupt from the house at all hours and neighborly relations are on edge. And when a local boy goes missing near the house, it's up to Lucy Stone to unravel the mystery of the eccentric couple and their increasingly frightful behavior. DEATH BY HAUNTED HOUSE by LEE HOLLIS For the past two years, the house next door to Hayley Powell has sat abandoned after the owner died under mysterious circumstances. The Salinger family has recently taken possession of the property, but the realtor behind the deal has vanished-after a very public and angry argument with Damien Salinger. If Bar Harbor's newest neighbors are murderers, Hayley will haunt them until they confess. HALLOWED OUT by BARBARA ROSS With its history of hauntings and ghost sightings, Busman's Harbor is the perfect setting for Halloween festivities. But when a reenactment of a Prohibition-era gangster's murder ends with a literal bang and a dead actor from New Jersey, Julia Snowden must identify a killer before she ends up sleeping with the fishes. There's nothing like home sweet home in this trio of Halloween tales . . .
Eggnog Murder: When a gift-wrapped bottle of eggnog proves to be a killer concoction for a Tinker's Cove local, all Lucy Stone wants for Christmas is to find the murdering mixologist who's stirring up trouble. Death By Eggnog: Food and cocktails columnist Hayley Powell has never cared much for Bar Harbor's grouchy town librarian, Agatha Farnsworth. But after the Scroogy senior has a fatal-and suspicious-allergic reaction to supposedly non-dairy eggnog, it's up to Hayley to ladle out some justice.
Nogged Off: Julia Snowden's tenant Imogen Geinkes seems to be jinxed. Her poorly named Killer Eggnog gives all her co-workers food poisoning at the holiday party. Now Julia has to get moving to catch the cold-hearted culprit.
The charming coastal town of Bar Harbor, Maine, has a fancy new Italian restaurant-and a nasty new murder . . .
As the food and cocktails columnist for the Island Times, it's Hayley Powell's job to stay on top of the latest eateries in town. Just in time for the summer tourist season, Chef Romeo, a successful restaurateur from New York City, has opened an establishment called-naturally-Romeo's. But between his over-the-top temperament and his no-holds-barred diet, Chef Romeo may not live through the grand opening.
When the chef actually does suffer a mild heart attack, he ends up sharing a hospital room with Hayley's brother Randy, who's there for gall bladder surgery. Chef Romeo has tasted Hayley's cooking and asks her to take over his restaurant while he's laid up. But this temporary gig may turn permanent, after the chef dies from complications. Only thing is, Randy tells a different story. He might have been sedated, but Hayley's bro swears he saw someone come into their room and put Romeo out of his misery. Now it's up to Hayley to find the person who had no reservations about killing the chef . . .
Apparently, the mouthwatering new ice cream flavors on the menu in coastal Bar Harbor, Maine, are really just to die for . . .
Food and cocktails columnist Hayley Powell doesn't know what to believe when Lydia Partridge, the put-together owner of gourmet Bar Harbor Ice Cream, suddenly reveals fears that her husband may be having an affair. There's no other way to explain why Jamie, a respected professor, was spotted in a remote part of town with a much younger woman. But instead of learning the truth about the secret meeting, Lydia opens her freezer truck to find another surprise-the dead body of a summer employee . . .
The shock continues as photographic evidence proves Jamie was spending time off campus with the victim, one of his students. Now, Lydia desperately needs Hayley to discover if Jamie really is a cheater-and, worse, a ruthless killer. With her own complicated family issues to address, can Hayley make sense of a popular college girl's love life and out the true culprit before the case, or another person, goes cold?
Bar Harbor, Maine, is quieter in the off-season, but the population has just increased a bit with the arrival of Tim and Trudy Lancaster. Tim's taking over for a retiring minister, and Trudy runs a food truck called Wicked 'Wiches. When she stops in at the Island Times office to place an ad, Hayley happily devours the sample sub Trudy offers-and the two become fast friends.
But when Trudy tragically dies in her truck while catering a Halloween party, suspicion falls on a cranky, competitive caterer who'd made veiled threats to Trudy. But the case becomes more complicated when Hayley's husband admits he'd seen someone dressed as a witch hurrying away from the food truck-not very helpful when countless women at the party wore the same costume. Now Haley finds herself sandwiched between witches and witnesses as she considers a smorgasbord of suspects. If she finds the killer, she'll be a local hero . . .
