Taking a break from the recent murders and intrigues that have plagued Maple Hills, Vermont, Nikki and Detective Hawke take advantage of a generous offer and set sail on the Open Sea Queen. The cruise ship appears ancient and ready to sink, far away from the modern and spacious liner they were promised. Yet with eager hearts the duo, along with their friends, Lidia and her husband, board the aged ship, headed towards Alaskan waters and vistas that will ease their current burdens.
Though the old cruise ship may appear decrepit on the outside, inside it proves itself with Titanic like splendor; Lustrous wooden walls, a picturesque lobby, old fashioned lamps and fireplaces in each room – it is everything they could hope for, and more. Unfortunately, trouble seems to follow Nikki like a dark cloud of misfortune. When the Captain is murdered, it is up to the ready sleuths to get to the bottom of the mystery… before the storm barreling down their tail reaches them, and before the murderer can strike again.
It's a murder case that cuts just a little too close to home for Nikki, an amateur sleuth, in the latest crime to hit her not-so-quiet cozy town!
Nikki Bates’s time in picturesque Maple Hills, Vermont has been far from the postcard scene she first imagined. While her chocolate shop is doing well, her personal life has hit a few snags… and bodies… along the way. Between exposing corrupt officials, unmasking the Mafia and solving more than a few murders, Nikki has made some friends and earned many enemies.
Now, an old vendetta from her days in Atlanta has reared its head and followed her north, finding her nestled amongst the trees and chocolate, surrounded by gossip, intrigue and people that want Nikki out of town. When a woman with close ties to her newest ward is found murdered, Nikki must race to connect the clues, solve the case and salvage her reputation.
Yet the wheels of vengeance are turning and this is one time Nikki may lose everything, including her life…
Join Margaret, an amateur sleuth and candy store owner, as she investigates another grisly mystery that is far from fun and games!Margaret is being taught new tricks of the trade – Zach is helping her build a website for Nichol’s Candy Store to help promote her tantalizing sweets. Especially when Mark Sheridan visits all shop owners with a briefcase and a proposition to demolish their premises to make way for a large strip mall. He is met with some harsh backlash.
Margaret grows concerned when Mark doesn’t show up to collect his order and takes time to drop it off at his house as a good-will gesture, only to find him face down in his living-room, dead.
This tragedy isn’t the only thing weighing on her mind. Her budding romance with Detective David Graham is slowly wilting before the bloom – and one sugar-coated lie threatens to end their relationship for good. The tension proves challenging when Margaret is invited to join the investigation as people come forward and report that Mark was not afraid to push his limits to get what he wanted.
With evidence leading her astray and David blocking her input at every turn, Margaret will have to fight tooth and claw to hunt down the killer before they turn their attention on another victim. These are shaky foundations to walk across - and a safety net is not guaranteed
Mysteries are swirling like the autumn wind. Is Margaret up to the challenge this time?
As Thanksgiving approaches, Margaret finds herself hip-deep in another case.
Mr. Stewart, the resident dog groomer, is found dead. He was a cranky old man, but who would use that as a reason for murder?
Margaret must find the answer to this question and more: What is her son, Zach, up to? Should she rekindle her romance with Detective David Graham? Is she truly happy with who she is?
Grab a script with the cast and crew and take the stage on the next adventure at The Sheffield Bed and Breakfast!
Brenda Rivers has her hands full with an entire acting troupe checking into her beloved establishment The Sheffield Bed and Breakfast, with many other esteemed guests – including a physic – filling her rooms weeks in advance!
When all of Brenda’s guests arrive, the atmosphere is lively and amicable – until one evening when the cast head down to the idyllic beach for an after-show performance of ‘Mystery of the Nile.’ The usual drama happens, Kathryn Parker latching onto the lead actor, Scott Wilson, to get his attention – but his love burns for his beautiful fellow lead, Kelly Reed.
Sometimes the stage is a bitter spotlight.
Tragedy strikes when Kelly’s body is found face down in the sand, causing the entire cast to turn against each other. Detective Mac Rivers heads the murder investigation – and both he and Brenda suspect everyone under her roof. As interviews are conducted, it becomes clear that everyone has an ulterior motive – but how long will it take for the murderer to drop the act? Or are they waiting in the wings to strike again?
Sheffield Bed and Breakfast is buzzing with anticipation of Fiddlers arriving in Sweetfern Harbor for the East Coast Fiddler Jamboree. The event is a new one William Pendleton has arranged to draw new crowds in. Brenda looks forward to guests and especially to Jake Smith who is better known as The Fiddler and grandson to the famous Abram Smith known as The Shredder. Allie Williams becomes excited to know she will check in someone so famous. As guests begin to arrive, she and Brenda sense the personalities are very different from one another.
The Jamboree promises a large crowd and good music. Brenda and Mac, her Detective husband, join friends at the park for the evening. Phyllis and William talk about the success of the night before they part company. As the Rivers approach the bed and breakfast, Brenda receives a frantic call from one of their guests. Alan Haas tells her he and his wife have discovered a dead body of Mason Eads inside the gate of the bed and breakfast.
Once interrogations begin it soon proves to Brenda her guests aren’t all they perceive to be. The Fiddler comes to the forefront of suspicion as do Mattie and Drake Cabot. The more she and Mac delve into the case of murdered Mason, the more complicated it becomes. Even the Minister becomes suspect. Brenda knows if she can find connections to the victim, she will find the killer. Shock sets in again when a bloody knife is found along with a long narrow necktie in bins behind Sheffield Bed and Breakfast. It is determined not one person killed Mason, but there were two killers. Will Brenda manage to push aside her personal feelings for each guest so to reach a conclusion of the real murderers?
An amateur sleuth B&B owner, a weekend wedding, and a dead body in a suitcase. Another murder mystery in the cozy beach town of Sweetfern Harbor...Brenda Rivers welcomes guests to Sheffield Bed and Breakfast with her Reservationist, Allie Williams. In the meantime, everyone is excited for the wedding of Brenda’s father and her Chef scheduled for that afternoon. Allie greets the booked guests and takes note of one who hits her the wrong way. Patrick Anderson is outspoken and rude. Few, if any in his life, like him.
Most of the weekenders decide to attend the wedding except for Patrick, Rick Dawson, Carrie Porter and Daniel Swift. Each voice courteous reasons and they leave to pursue interests along the shoreline below the bed and breakfast or in Sweetfern Harbor shops. As the wedding celebrations begin after the ceremony, Detective Mac Rivers is called to the Precinct. A dead body has been left at the back door of the Police Station. Inside the over-sized footlocker are the remains of Patrick Anderson.
It doesn’t take Brenda long to discover one of her guests, Alexandra Cornell, possesses fleeting personalities. Alexandra finally admits she witnessed Patrick’s murder from her perch on the seawall during the celebrations. Brenda decides that Alexandra’s changeable moods is the culprit of Brenda’s doubts about her story. When Daniel Swift is fingered in the crime, he must prove his vowed innocence against someone who vouches seeing him commit the murder. Just as Brenda and Mac begin to hone in on the true killer, they discover one guest is missing. Alexandra mentions he is running away but gives no reason.
Brenda must decide who killed Patrick and who assisted in the deed. Rick Dawson is missing, Daniel swears he is innocent, and Alexandra is too fragile to win against an athletic man like Patrick Anderson. Above all, the questions become who to believe and where will the evidence lead them in solving this crime.
An amateur sleuth in a small town, and a respected school teacher found dead… Will Margaret bring light to his murder and find the killer?The entire neighborhood is shaken when their friend and respected school teacher, Jose Santiago, is found dead by his teenage son, Michael. That’s not the only unnerving threat hitting the streets recently, Margaret has been getting wry letters taped to the door of her candy store. Her son, Zach, and Detective David Graham don’t think it’s a coincidence as an investigation to find the killer gets underway.
Dark details of Jose’s murder come to light as the cause of death was cyanide poisoning, with markings of a local coven found around the crime scene. Suspicions fall on the local ‘witch’ coven, making them the primary suspects.
Michael hires Margaret to try and track down his father’s murderer, with David begrudgingly accepting her help on the investigation to keep an eye on her.
As more cryptic notes are left, along with lousy misfortune hitting the residents – this cozy town soon dissolves into a ghostly version of a frenzied Salem in 1962. Paranoia stands on every corner and the bad luck and backlash quickly turn a friend to foe – to a killer.
Brenda Sheffield Rivers and her staff transform the entire Queen Anne structure into enough spooky figures and decorations to put everyone in tune with Fright Night. Every guest has arrived specifically to take advantage of the night.
Brenda, Phyllis and Allie prepare their tours. Their tall tales have been embellished until they almost believe them themselves. By the time she gives her fourth tour, she hears rustling behind the hallway wall. She tells her tourists it could possibly be an entity hiding in the walls. She suspects a small animal has gotten inside somehow. When she takes her next tour group up, she and a couple of the followers hear a soft distinct cough. Brenda becomes distracted and then turns her astonishment into part of the scene she is playing out. Brenda knows there are no entrances that would allow anyone to squeeze behind the walls. Mac doubts her. He tells her she heard sounds from the raging storm going on outside. The party goes along well and when the last outside guest leaves, everyone else turns in for what is left of the night. Brenda and Mac opt to stay in Brenda’s former apartment on second floor. They are awakened by a blood-curling scream. Lauren Meyers races from the room she shares with her husband. Blood stains her nightclothes. When Mac enters the room, the body of Ryan Meyers is dead on the bed.
As evidence is being collected, Brenda tells Mac she is going to search for whoever is hiding out behind the hallway wall. He tells her to go ahead but not to expect any great discovery. When she finds the secret panel that opens, she starts down the narrow passageway. The panel slips closed behind her and she finds herself face to face with a wild-looking man. She has no idea how he got into the unknown hallway nor his identity. She fears never being found since no one can tell that the panel is a door. Will the madman with the dangling knife from his pocket allow her to return to the lighted hallway?
An amateur sleuth, a handsome detective, and a dead body found in their cozy town… Can Margaret and David solve this mysterious murder?Margaret is living the dream running her sweet shop alongside her son, Zach and her good friend, Patti. Business is hurting though, due to new construction work going on around one of the vacant units, and other tenants are beginning to feel the tension. Usually, everyone treats each other with a degree of respect, but it seems everyone wants to be rid of the new coffee shop chain that has opened.
It has damaged business for the tea shop, the bakery, and the small mobile coffee stop. To make matters worse, Scott Freeman, the owner of the coffee stop, is an arrogant sod who has managed to insult various customers in the short time he has opened the business. When Margaret decides to get a coffee one morning, she finds his dead body on the floor.
David is assigned to investigate the suspicious death, warning Margaret to keep her distance after the injuries she'd sustained in the last case. Tensions rise in both her personal and business life and Margaret finds herself struggling to get this mystery out of her head.
With a pinch of homemade sweetness (with or without the apron) Margaret intends to become close to Scott’s widow to get to the bottom of this bitter cup of coffee.
The day finally arrives when the Owners of Sheffield Bed and Breakfast watch the beginnings of their new cottage on the grounds. Brenda and Mac Rivers can’t wait until it is finished and they will move from the apartment in the historic Inn to their own home. Rich Turner, Contractor, unwittingly turns their lives around when he tells them of hitting metal beneath the ground. That evening Brenda and Mac don’t wish to wait to find out what it is. They work long and hard with shovels to dig up a worn metal chest.
Brenda recalls a skeleton key she found in her uncle’s possessions when she became heir to the 1890’s Queen Anne structure and grounds. They manage to open the chest and find various items that spreads from the late 1800’s through 1970’s. The Detective is aware of a cold case that is dormant in the store room at his Precinct. The 1982 case of the robbery and murders of Bridgett and Thomas Mackey is reopened. Detective Mac Rivers and Brenda don’t have to look farther than guests in their own establishment. The connections between Annette Pickard, Author, and Logan Clark, Textile Broker, are suspicious. To add to it, Annette is very possessive of the novel she is writing. She avoids Logan at all costs and doesn’t bend to subtle hints of curiosity about the book that come from Brenda Rivers and Allie Williams, the young Reservationist.
Annette shuns all questions when asked if she is related to a notorious thief now serving time in prison. She distances herself from Hal Pickard until forced to admit she knows him but vows she has no idea of the life he has led over the years. Logan Clark is married to Jane who comes from a wealthy family in New York and until the day he disappears from the bed and breakfast, everything points to a happy union between them. Brenda and Mac now focus on missing Logan Clark and the book Annette is shielding as if gold. Brenda insists the book holds answers to questions that caused the case to go cold.
At Sweetfern, there are more than rare relics on display.
Before the arrival of the collectors at Brenda’s family establishment, The Sheffield Bed and Breakfast, she was ignorant to what a wampum is until a kindly collector shows one that will feature at the highly anticipated Native American Market.
However, the sight of a wampum triggers a memory in Brenda – she recalls her uncle Randolph Sheffield possessing one, a rare relic that could be in the dusty attic. Why would something so precious be left to gather dust?
Brenda and her housekeeper, Phyllis, decide to go hunting through the large attic for the ‘lost’ wampum. However, someone else is willing to tip the place upside down to get it first.
Some secrets can’t be kept in a safe box – but someone can be trapped in one.
