Amateur Sleuth Cozy

When Jamison Vaughn - billionaire real estate mogul, Virginia vineyard owner, and unsuccessful US presidential candidate - drives his gold SUV into a stone pillar at the entrance to Montgomery Estate Vineyard, Lucie Montgomery is certain the crash was deliberate. But everyone else in Atoka, Virginia, is equally sure that Jamie must have lost control of his car on a rain-slicked country road. In spite of being saddled with massive campaign debts from the recent election, Jamie is seemingly the man with the perfect life.

It’s Christmastime, and the precocious Flavia de Luce—an eleven-year-old sleuth with a passion for chemistry and a penchant for crime-solving—is tucked away in her laboratory, whipping up a concoction to ensnare Saint Nick. But she is soon distracted when a film crew arrives at Buckshaw, the de Luces’ decaying English estate, to shoot a movie starring the famed Phyllis Wyvern.

Although it is autumn in the small English town of Bishop’s Lacey, the chapel is decked with exotic flowers. Yes, Flavia de Luce’s sister, Ophelia, is at last getting hitched, like a mule to a wagon. “A church is a wonderful place for a wedding”, muses Flavia, “surrounded as it is by the legions of the dead, whose listening bones bear silent witness to every promise made at the altar.”

The Enchanted Village always has a touch of magic about it, but the buzz of excitement over the wedding between wish-granting witch Darcy and Police Chief Nick Sawyer is positively electric. With every spellbinding detail planned to perfection, all that's left is to sit back and let wishes come true. But Darcy's dream wedding is threatened when the Divinitea Cottage, the tea room hosting her bridal luncheon, goes up in flames, revealing the strangled body of the owner, Leyna Noble.

Whisker Jog, New Hampshire, is a long way from Hollywood, but it's the place legendary actress Deanna Daltry wants to call home. The retired, yet still glamorous, septuagenarian has adopted two kittens from Lara Caphart's High Cliff Shelter for Cats. With help from her Aunt Fran, Lara makes sure the kitties settle in safely with their new celebrity mom. But not everyone in town is a fan of the fading star. After being frightened by some nasty pranks, Deanna finds herself the prime murder suspect when the body of a local teacher is found on her property.

Suzanne Cavanaugh has just about had it with her office rival at Prestige Properties. It's bad enough that Liza Devereaux is constantly needling her at work, but when she shows up at one of Suzanne’s open houses to poach potential buyers, it’s the last straw. No one in the office fails to hear the two snarling at each other. When Liza is later found dead in her office cubicle - poisoned by a diet shake - Suzanne becomes the prime suspect.

Hannah’s up to her ears with Easter orders rushing in at The Cookie Jar, plus a festive meal to prepare for a dinner party at her mother’s penthouse. But everything comes crashing to a halt when Hannah receives a panicked call from her sister Andrea - Mayor Richard Bascomb has been murdered...and Andrea is the prime suspect. Even with his reputation for being a bully, Mayor Bascomb - or “Ricky Ticky”, as Hannah’s mother likes to call him - had been unusually testy in the days leading up to his death, leaving Hannah to wonder if he knew he was in danger.

As it turns out quilting is the deadly new fad people are just dying to try...And here I thought the annual quilt auction would be a boring way to spend an evening! One big murder in my tiny hometown was more than I ever wanted to see, but now the death toll has risen to two. Eek! Hey, at least I've got my favorite 10-pound bundle of mischief at my side for good. My Jack Russell buddy, Pip, and I are experienced amateur detectives now and we're more than ready to put another tough case to bed.

The gothic-fabulous and youngest female witch in her family line is now a full-time college student starting her junior year. Living on campus, Ivy Bishop and her BFF, Cypress, are residents in the 160-year-old Crowly Hall. The dormitory that the locals swear is haunted. When the school newspaper assigns Ivy to photograph the expansion of the new University Museum, Ivy is on hand when human remains are uncovered within an old stone foundation. Whatever they dug up has apparently opened a supernatural can of worms.

It's Halloween in Buttercup, Texas, and reporter-turned-farmer Lucy Resnick is up to her ears in more than goats and wayward cows. Not only has her well dried up, but it turns out the old house Lucy recently moved to has a reputation for spooks, and they are disturbingly active. Then a tarot card reading at a local mead winery foretells death, and minutes later, exotic game ranch owner Bug Wharton goes belly-up. When the dimwitted sheriff fingers local witch and mead winery owner Serafine Alexandre, Lucy gets involved and soon discovers that all kinds of things are brewing in Buttercup.

A casual glance out his apartment window turns magician Eli Marks' life upside down. After spotting a dead body in the projection booth of the movie theater next door, Eli is pulled into the hunt for the killer. As he attempts to puzzle out a solution to this classic locked room mystery, he must deal with a crisis of a more personal nature: the appearance of a rival magician who threatens not only Eli's faith in himself as a performer, but his relationship with his girlfriend.

Between an epic downpour and a King Tide, the historic streets of Charleston are flooded - and dangerous. A late night tragic accident along the Lower Battery leads Liz Talbot straight to her next case. Who's the client? Well, now, therein lies the first puzzle. When the police arrive at the scene of the accident, Poppy Oliver claims she's only trying to help. But the dent on the front of her Subaru and the victim's injuries provoke a certain Charleston police detective's suspicious nature.

Kay acquired a beautiful antique sideboard at an estate auction, but a ghost has unfortunately conveyed with the furniture. Her stately Victorian isn't big enough for this additional spirit, but Kay isn't sure who is haunting the sideboard or why. And finding out the identity and motivations of the ghost might not be enough to convince the spirit to move on.

Flavia de Luce - "part Harriet the Spy, part Violet Baudelaire from Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events" ( The New York Times Book Review) - takes her remarkable sleuthing prowess to the unexpectedly unsavory world of Canadian boarding schools in the captivating new mystery from New York Times best-selling author Alan Bradley.

In the wake of an unthinkable family tragedy, 12-year-old Flavia de Luce is struggling to fill her empty days. For a needed escape, Dogger, the loyal family servant, suggests a boating trip for Flavia and her two older sisters. Something grazes her fingers as she dangles them in the water. She clamps down on the object, imagining herself Ernest Hemingway battling a marlin, and pulls up what she expects will be a giant fish. But in Flavia's grip is something far better: a human head, attached to a human body.

At Coffee, Books, & More, Jill's the boss. But as Amy's maid-of-honor, she can barely keep up with marching orders - and now she's in charge of organizing an epic bachelorette! Adding to Jill's party-planning panic, the South Cove Heritage Society just unceremoniously dumped her historic landmark bid. While vying proposals rush in from a loaded land developer and a pushy travel guide company, Jill finds an unexpected ally in Heritage Society expert, Frank Gleason.

July 1912. Lady Hardcastle and her tenacious lady’s maid, Florence Armstrong, are enjoying a convivial gathering at the home of their dear friends, the Farley-Strouds. The only fly in the idyllic ointment seems to be the lack of musical entertainment for the forthcoming summer party—until, that is, Lady Hardcastle’s brother Harry calls with news of a murder.

When Flora Steele sets off for a peaceful vacation with crime writer Jack Carrington, the last thing she expects to find is a body at their pretty rental cottage! More baffling, they discover Roger Gifford was a man with plenty of friends, and the villagers seem devastated by his sudden death.... So why was he murdered? Who has blood on their hands? His estranged wife, Beatrice, his wayward younger brother, Lionel, or the suspicious newcomer, Mercy Dearlove? Inquisitive, Flora joins forces with handsome Jack to find out how the poor man came to such an untimely end.

Things are looking up for the owner of Coffee, Books, and More—Jill's finally getting her MBA, and though her wedding to police detective Greg is postponed a few months, she still has plenty to celebrate. A girls' weekend in Santa Barbara is just the ticket. But back in South Cove, someone else's big day has become a big problem. Antiques dealer Josh Thomas and Mandy Jensen were planning a small private ceremony under an olive tree on the historic Jensen farm—until Mandy went missing.

Young Tom French was found dead, lying in a marsh on the Norfolk coast, with his head bashed in and his binoculars still around his neck. One of the best birders in England, Tom had put the village of Rushy on the birdwatching map. Everyone liked him. Or did they? George Palmer-Jones, an elderly birdwatcher who decided quietly to look into the brutal crime, discovered mixed feelings aplenty. Still, he remained baffled by a deed that could have been motivated by thwarted love, pure envy, or something else altogether.