What started as a lighthearted flirtation with a beautiful, strangely dressed maiden under the New Orleans moonlight ended with young Ned Minton pledged to eternal love with a girl who had died a century before -- a promise enforced by the all-too-real fangs of the demon-serpent who guarded her. Ned's only hope is that French physician and occult investigator Jules de Grandin can get to the bottom of it and end the curse that keeps the lovely Julie d'Ayen shackled to the material world -- before the eldritch serpent's fangs end Ned.
A decomposing body ... a severed head in a closet ... a macabre meeting with "Mother"-mystery writer Lorinda Lucas tosses yet another paperback in the trash, appalled at the gruesome direction of today's crime fiction. She's even more disturbed at the half-starved state of Roscoe, the cat next door. Before Lorinda left for her latest book tour, Roscoe was as plump and pampered as her own two felines, Had-I and But-Known.
It only takes a modicum of sleuthing to find out that in Lorinda's absence Roscoe's owner, Macho Magee, has acquired a new girlfriend-a harridan who has put the gentle Macho and his pet on a strict diet. And that's only the first disturbing news in Brimful Coffers, the once-quiet village that now includes a writer's colony. Lorinda soon discovers that a hit-and-run has ended a child's life, professional jealousy has taken a deadly twist, and murder is just around the catty-corner ...
Everly might be running out of island time in her most dangerous case yet! Café owner and amateur sleuth Everly Swan, like every Swan woman before her, is cursed in love. The only problem? She's head over heels for Detective Grady Hays, who doesn't believe in magic of any kind. Grady wants to build a life with Everly, but before she can say "I do," she needs to take care of this curse once and for all. And luckily, the quirky inhabitants of Charm, North Carolina, are up to the task! But it feels like a sign when a historian researching the Swan family is murdered, and Everly fears the curse is spreading. She and Grady take the case-curserelated or not, there's a killer loose on the island. Big change is coming for Everly and her friends, but between running her café, choosing a wedding dress, investigating mysterious strangers, and dodging increasingly threatening messages from the killer, Everly's not sure she'll get her happy ever after! The seventh thrilling addition to Bree Baker's acclaimed Seaside Café Mystery series, Pleading the Fish is a sun-believably heartwarming mystery!
Welcome to Chipping Cheddar, where supernaturals are hidden in plain sight...
...Well, maybe not all supernaturals. I tend to avoid using my fury traits, but when I reluctantly use my power of invisibility and then can't undo it, I don't know whether the gods are punishing me--or someone else is. At first my condition isn't so bad. I can play well-deserved pranks on my family and aid Chief Fox as a silent observer in town. As time passes, however, it becomes clear that the longer I'm sight unseen, the more clear and present danger I'm in.
Can I find my way back to corporeal form or am I destined to become a ghost of my former self for eternity?
Playing With Fury (Federal Bureau of Magic Cozy Mystery, Book 9) is a full-length humorous, paranormal cozy mystery.
Federal Bureau of Magic series:
Great Balls of Fury, Book 1
Fury Godmother, Book 2
No Guts, No Fury, Book 3
Grace Under Fury, Book 4
Bedtime Fury, Book 5
Three Alarm Fury, Book 6
Hell Hath No Fury, Book 7
Every Picture Tells A Fury, Book 8
Playing With Fury, Book 9
Fury and Ice, Book 10
Now an investigative reporter for the Rosalie Citizen in the Mississippi River port of Rosalie, Wendy still likes to unwind over a game of cards. Following the demise of the Rosalie Bridge Club, she's started her own group at the Rosalie Country Club. During the first meeting of the Country Club Bridge Players, the dummy has barely been laid down when another dummy gets in a scuffle at the bar across the room. Bridge-player Carly Ogle's husband Brent is at it again.After the club's new female golf pro breaks up the fight, Brent storms off to soak in a hot tub. But Carly soon finds the bullying Brent dead in the water, clubbed over the head with the pestle the barkeep uses to crush leaves for mint juleps.Racist, sexist, homophobic, and an all-around lout, Brent made enough enemies to fill a bridge tournament. So Wendy has to play her cards right to get the story-and stay out of hot water long enough to put the squeeze on the killer.
The 2 Sisters Pet Valet Service is purring along, thanks to the entrepreneurial talents of retired schoolteacher Gwen Franklin and her bestie and business partner, Nora Goldstein. But when the fur starts to fly, they become partners in crime detecting as well . . .
At Nora's request, Gwen is happy to accompany her to a meeting with ex-hubby #3's lawyer. Much to Nora's surprise-and dismay-she's been named executor of said ex's will. The fact that the man has been missing for years and was just declared legally dead only makes an already complicated process more so. And besides, is he really dead? What's not a surprise is that Nora's twin ex-stepchildren are pressing for access to their father's dry cleaning fortune . . .
With Gwen's assist, it's time for Nora to do a little digging. It turns out that the twins' catering business is failing-and that their dad's business was laundering more than clothing. Soon, Gwen and Nora are infiltrating a long list of dirty deeds, including fraud and illegal gains. And the perpetrators are all too close to home. The police may want Gwen and Nora to stick to their own line of work, but the pair are determined to make sure the truth comes out in the wash-before someone ends up in the discard bin . . .
All is not what it seems in the sleepy Welsh town of Llanfair. The snows have come late and the local police force (cute Adam and not-too-bright Polly) can't keep up with demand (the demand being: "I've fallen over on the ice! Help me!"). A man is found dead in a field and there's nothing suspicious about it . . . except for the fact that he appears to have fallen from a great height. Wales does have birds of prey but nothing that could carry a full-grown man. So how did he die? Bron is soon drawn into a very sinister group of families with ancient ties that echo to the present day. She's helped by her druid friend Dean-he knows a lot of folklore. And her vicar friend Horatio-he knows a lot about people. And her blacksmith friend Gruffydd-he knows a lot . . . which he cannot tell her. Things would be simpler if her cousin Maddie wasn't trying to learn magic from the Faerie Folk, her Great Aunt Dilys wasn't hiding something under her shawl, and bodies didn't randomly fall from the sky. Just another day in the magical town of Llanfair, then?
My tiny town of Fig Harbor's just recovering from our last tango with murder, only to be faced with yet another-and this time, it sure looks an awful lot like a vampire's on the loose in the PNW. Vampires are just Twilight fiction, right? I'm not so sure after a murder victim is found in my koi pond right next to my favorite fish, Koi George, (not good!) with bite marks on her neck, and a gothic antique chalice next to her body with blood residue. By now, everyone knows I can't keep my nose out of a good mystery. But when I literally stumble upon an important clue linking a town official to the murder and what looks like a real live vampire cult, I decide it's time to gather up all the garlic I can buy and put my sleuthing shoes back on!
Check in for some Southern hospitality in Plantation Shudders, the Cajun Country series debut from Ellen Byron.
It’s the end of the summer and prodigal daughter Maggie Crozat has returned home to her family’s plantation-turned-bed-and-breakfast in Louisiana. The Crozats have an inn full of guests for the local food festival—elderly honeymooners, the Cajun Cuties, a mysterious stranger from Texas, a couple of hipster lovebirds, and a trio of Georgia frat boys. But when the elderly couple keels over dead within minutes of each other—one from very unnatural causes—Maggie and her family suddenly become suspects in a murder.
With the help of Bo Durand, the town’s handsome new detective, Maggie must investigate to clear her name while holding the family business together at the same time. And the deeper she digs, the more she wonders: are all of the guests really there for a vacation or do they have ulterior motives? Decades-old secrets and stunning revelations abound in Ellen Byron’s charming cozy debut, Plantation Shudders.
“An engaging mystery with a touch of romance and a twist of Southern charm.”—Nancy Atherton, bestselling author of the Aunt Dimity series
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Book 4 in the Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries series.
Kath and her needlework group TGIF (Thank Goodness It's Fiber) are preparing to teach a workshop at the Holston Homeplace Living History Farm, but their lesson in crazy quilts is no match for the crazy antics of the assistant director, Phillip Bell. Hamming it up with equal parts history and histrionics, Phillip leads an archaeological dig of the farm's original dump site—until one student stops the show by uncovering some human bones.
When a full skeleton is later excavated, Kath can't help but wonder if it's somehow connected to Geneva, the ghost who haunts her shop, and whom she met at this very site. After Phillip is found dead, it's up to Kath to thread the clues together before someone else becomes history.
A skeleton, fading powers, and an unexpected parental visit.
When my parents drop in for an unscheduled visit, a hastily prepared spare room reveals a dark secret. A skeleton is hidden inside the closet walls, and the dead body was a pixie!
With rapid-fire revelations coming from my mother and an invisible creature stalking the library, it's hard to grab a moment's peace. Add to that an enraged uncle-the same one who tried to cheat me out of my inheritance-and I'm halfway to wishing I'd never heard of Oakleaf Glade.
Worst of all, my pixie powers start disappearing, shunting me out of the supernatural world I so recently discovered. When the local librarian and my flatmate Brody both go missing, I must call on the help of all my friends and neighbors if we're to unravel the mystery of the long-dead skeleton and stand a chance against a powerful foe.
A strange inheritance, a screaming ghost, and a backward aging cat. Welcome to Pixie-hood!
When I arrive in Oakleaf Glade to claim an inheritance, I imagine it'll run to a few hundred in a savings account. Instead, I receive an entire house!
I'd thank my lucky stars except for the experiences that come part and parcel with the arrangement. Things like my hair turning bright pink and trending skywards, or a kitten who I swear can understand me when I talk.
But when a ghost shrieks me awake at night, warning that if I stay I'll die just like my great aunt Esmerelda, I'm ready to put my boots on. Except my inheritance runs deeper than a title deed, it's lodged in my DNA. As the youngest daughter of a youngest daughter, I'm a Pixie, pink hair and all.
Luckily, I've made some fast friends in town already because I'll need all the help I can get!
