Mystery

A Renaissance Fair is coming to the relatively quiet college town of Farberville Arkansas, which is not the sort of news that usually sets local bookseller Claire Malloy's heart racing. But with Claire's daughter, Caron, being the perpetually petulant teenager that she is, and her fiance, Police Lieutenant Peter Rosen, away, she finds herself drawn into the strange inner workings of the group putting on the fair.

Stranger still: A Ren Fair volunteer has just been found burned in the wreckage of a rented home. Who is this woman, and why haven't any of her associates ever met her in the flesh? When the fair is set to open, tensions expose the dark secrets and malevolent schemes that lurk beneath the surface. Now, with Claire's dreams of a blissful wedding hanging in the balance, she has no choice but to fling herself into the battle and match wits with the killer...

Still healing from a past tragedy, ex-Minneapolis cop Claire Watkins is plunged into a shattering murder case. When a widower is murdered at a local dance, Claire senses a desperate relief from his orphaned teenagers. And she becomes more immersed in the crime, she uncovers a startling connection to the victim's wife's accidental death and the secrets that premeditated both incidents.

When experienced homicide detective Casey Duncan first moved to the secret town of Rockton, she expected a safe haven for people like her, people running from their past misdeeds and past lives. She knew living in Rockton meant living off-the-grid completely: no cell phones, no Internet, no mail, very little electricity, and no way of getting in or out without the town council's approval. What she didn't expect is that Rockton comes with its own set of secrets and dangers.

Now, in A Darkness Absolute, Casey and her fellow Rockton sheriff's deputy Will chase a cabin-fevered resident into the woods, where they are stranded in a blizzard. Taking shelter in a cave, they discover a former resident who's been held captive for over a year. When the bodies of two other women turn up, Casey and her colleagues must find out if it's an outsider behind the killings or if the answer is more complicated than that...before another victim goes missing.

Casey Duncan returns in another heart-racing thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong.

dead cat bounce n. Stock market jargon for a small, temporary rise in a stock's trading price after a sharp drop.

Since she bought her rambling old fixer-upper of a house, Jacobia Tiptree has gotten used to finding things broken. But her latest problem isn't so easily repaired. Along with the rotting floor joists and sagging support beams, there's the little matter of the dead man in Jake's storeroom, an ice pick firmly planted in his cranium.

Not much happens in her tiny Maine town, but that's about to change. Jake's unknown guest turns out to be a world-famous corporate raider, local boy turned billionaire Threnody McIlwaine. When Jake's best friend, quiet and dependable Ellie White, readily confesses to the murder, cops and journalists swarm into snowbound Eastport.

Jake smells a cover-up, and begins poking into past history between McIlwaine and Ellie's family. But someone doesn't like nosy neighbors...and Jake's rustic refuge may become her final resting place.

The bestselling author of Entombed goes behind the scenes of New York City's theater world--from Broadway to Lincoln Center--in this riveting Alexandra Cooper thriller rich with authenticity, history, and suspense.

England, 1901: Beautiful Compton Cathedral in the west of England is preparing for a special anniversary to celebrate one thousand years of Christian worship. But a few weeks before the ceremonies are due to take place, the Chancellor, a high official of the cathedral, dies in mysterious circumstances. Only a doctor and the undertaker are allowed to view the corpse. It soon transpires that the Chancellor was one of the richest men in England, and his sister suspects foul play; so that discreet and well-bred investigator Lord Francis Powerscourt is asked to step in. As Powerscourt paces the ancient cloisters and listen to evensong, he begins to suspect that a terrible secret lies hidden in the cathedral, and it might have something to do with the anniversary. Then there is a dreadful incident--the dead body of one of the choristers is discovered turning on the great spit in the Vicars Hall kitchen. Both Powerscourt and his wife Lady Lucy will find their lives at risk before he uncovers the astonishing secret of Compton Minster and unmasks a brutal killer. With narrative skill and a real understanding of the period, David Dickinson takes us into a past that becomes vividly alive.

Introducing a murder mystery that really delivers!

After caring for her dying aunt and being dumped by her fiancé, Cassie Miller decides to return to her small hometown in the Berkshires to lick her wounds and live in the house where she was raised. Leaving behind her managerial position in the Boston main postal office, Cassie trades in her tailored suits and high heels for the comfortable blue shirt and red, white, and blue striped scarf of the Postmaster for North Ashcot, Massachusetts.

Everything is business as usual until Cassie arrives at work one day to find that someone has broken into the post office building. The only items stolen: stacks of telephone books. Who steals phone books? Two days later, the body of an unidentified man is found in the woods. And when the handsome antiques dealer she just had lunch with is taken into custody, Cassie is suddenly drawn into the case. With a crime enveloped in mystery, she needs to track the killer--before another victim's fate is sealed in the dead letter office...

"Sure to revolutionize the traditional British cozy and win the hearts of fans everywhere."--Publishers Weekly, starred review, for Posted to Death (the first Simon Kirby-Jones Mystery). What happens when you take a classic British cozy and mix in a sophisticated man who also happens to be a vampire? You get Dean James's critically acclaimed and delightful series featuring everybody's favorite sleuth, Simon Kirby-Jones. In this third book in the series, the quiet and quaint town of Bedfordshire Village of Snupperton Mumsley is playing host to television decorating sensation, Hezekia "Zeke" Harwood. The flamboyant, outspoken Harwood has become famous in England for his weekly decorating program, "Tres Zeke," and he's on the verge of signing a lucrative deal with one of the American television networks for an American version. Autocratic, obnoxious, and rude, Harwood brings with him an entourage of family and staff, all of whom fear and resent him. Harwood has come to town at the invitation of Lady Prunella Bliterington to redecorate the drawing room at Blitherington Hall. But after a melodramatic fight between Lady Prunella and Harwood over decorating ideas--which was filmed by Harwood's TV crew unbeknownst to Lady Prunella--Harwood is soon found dead, and it's up to Simon to prove that Lady Prunella didn't do it....

It's springtime in Savannah, Georgia, in the newest Consignment Shop Mystery from the national bestselling author of Pearls and Poison. The azaleas and magnolias are in bloom--and Walker Boone is on the run. . .

When Reagan Summerside turned the first floor of her old Victorian home into a consignment shop, she never imagined she'd be harboring a fugitive in her attic. But after a dead man is found in a bathtub and local lawyer Walker Boone is accused of doing the dirty deed, she suddenly has a new houseguest.

Having the lawyer who took her to the cleaners in her divorce settlement--and who has been getting under her skin ever since--in close proximity is enough to drive Reagan to distraction. For the sake of her sanity--and Walker's freedom--they need to put their heads together to find out who is trying to get the lawyer out of the picture . . .

Desperate Journeys by Betty Webb\Terence Faherty\Nancy Baker Jacobs\Jonathan Harrington released on Apr 23, 2004 is available now for purchase.

"A lighthearted, pleasantly entertaining read for fans of the British cozy." --Emily Melton, Booklist

It takes two to tango-but only one to murder.Lead-footed single mom, Laurel McKay, agrees to learn a foxtrot routine for her best friend's wedding. After she trips her instructor, crashes into a pair of dancers and breaks the heel of her new shoes, she thinks her evening can't possibly get any worse. Then she stumbles over another dancer. A dead one. With her broken stiletto heel stuffed in his mouth.The action moves from the California Gold Country to Lake Tahoe as Laurel searches for the killer amid the sequins and flying feathers of a ballroom competition. Can she samba her way into the heart of the handsome detective who has once again entered her life? Or will dancing and detecting prove to be a lethal combination?One, two, three, four. Too many suspects on this dance floor.Five, six, seven, eight. Find the murderer before it's too late.

Nobody knows better than Matthew Scudder how far down a person can sink in this city. A young prostitute named Kim knew it also--and she wanted out. Maybe Kim didn't deserve the life fate had dealt her. She surely didn't deserve her death. The alcoholic ex-cop turned p.i. was supposed to protect her, but someone slashed her to ribbons on a crumbling New York City waterfront pier. Now finding Kim's killer will be Scudder's penance. But there are lethal secrets hiding in the slain hooker's past that are far dirtier than her trade. And there are many ways of dying in this cruel and dangerous town--some quick and brutal ... and some agonizingly slow.

'Espresso Tales' is the second volume in Alexander McCall Smith's serial novel about the occupants of 44 Scotland Street.

Wallpaper, love, and other deadly ideas...
Once they were competitors. Then they became partners. Now interior designers Erin Gilbert and Steve Sullivan wish they'd never gotten involved in a feng shui--inspired makeover--of a home owned by a celebrity chef and his wife, a famous artist with an infamous artistic temperament. Gilbert and Sullivan are all for feng shui, the Chinese art of harmonious design. But this time Gilbert and Sullivan know they are facing more than bad vibes. An attic erupts in flames. The death of a carpenter strikes Erin too close to home, while a dangerous beauty wants to get much too close to Sullivan. Erin finds herself left on her own with her best-made plans, her worst fears, and someone whose design is to kill her.

Dean Abernathy, a young defense attorney, is assigned to defend a homeless man accused of the felony murder (a death occurring during the commission of a crime -- in this case, a mugging) of a popular New York City police commissioner. It seems the only defense is a plea bargain, for the evidence is overwhelming. But little by little strange anomalies in the prosecution's case show up, and following these, Dean is plunged into danger. He joins forces with a young woman, the prosecution witness in the case, to uncover a giant official conspiracy.

It's a thriller that doesn't quit. From his serene parish in Lincoln, Rhode Island, Father Richard Merrill had led a seemingly quiet life as a man of the cloth, shepherding his flock toward the solace of a higher power. Now, the core of his beliefs and his being is propelled into the darkest chaos. What's more, it's all for the sake of his very own flesh and blood, two sons who were long ago given up for adoption. Their mother, Francoise Dupont, a former gallery director at the Louvre, has since married an Arab prince. And herein lies the trouble. The bloodlines of the sons place them in line to succeed her gravely ill husband, now the king. More than a few of the king's enemies are consumed with stopping them from ascending to the throne. With help from the FBI, the CIA, and an aging mercenary, the race is on. From France to Haiti, the United States, and the Middle East, Merrill will take whatever measures necessary to save his sons and unmask the scent of the Flower of Heaven. With evocative detail, high-flying action, and ingenious plot twists, Flower of Heaven is a searing, brilliantly crafted literary debut that will keep readers hungry for every enthralling page. It's a heart-stopping work that spans continents, while mining the deep channels of the human heart.

"New York Times" bestselling author Kay Hooper returns with a breathtaking new thriller of a young woman s homecoming to a town of menacing whispers, bad dreams, and dangerous secrets
"Another nightmare, in the woods this time. Different: She was running. Trying to escape.
But the same ending. Always the same ending. Another dead girl "
Emma Rayburn was born and raised in Baron Hollow, North Carolina, and it was a quiet life. Then came the accident and the nightmares each filled with unshakable visions of darkness, blind panic, and desperate women chased toward inevitable death. With no reports of local women missing or found dead, Emma has written it off to troubled imaginings night after dreaded night. Until her sister arrives.
Jessie Rayburn, psychic investigator for a firm called Haven, has been estranged from Emma for years. Unresolved issues from Jessie s past have not only kept them apart but have been clouding Jessie s unique abilities. A return to her hometown to face a dark and violent incident from years gone by is her chance to regain them. But reconciliation with the past comes with a price. Few people in Baron Hollow are welcoming Jessie back. No one dares to breathe a word. And in this conspiracy of silence, Emma s nightmares are becoming more vivid than ever.
Even with the help of Noah Bishop, head of the FBI Special Crimes Unit and co-founder of Haven, Jessie and Emma soon find themselves outnumbered by the secrets buried in Baron Hollow and outrunning an evil that has been festering for years, one that s targeting Jessie and Emma one last time.

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China Bayles isn't happy when a Texas wind blows her husband's ex-wife, and the mother of China's stepson, into her herb shop. Sally is known to have a split personality and fall into constant trouble with the law, but she claims she has nowhere else to turn. Now its up to China to weed out whatever it is Sally's running from before the truth catches up to them all.