Cozy Comedy

Langeweile ist aller Laster Anfang, weiß Ino Tjarks, der seit Jahren nicht mehr so viel Spaß hatte wie zuletzt als Mordverdächtiger, als er seine Unschuld beweisen musste - was er natürlich niemals zugeben würde. Deshalb nehmen Ino und seine Haushälterin Gerda einen Spionage-Auftrag des arroganten Camping-Urlaubers Falko von Walde an: Der verdächtigt nämlich seine Frau, ein Verhältnis mit ihrem neuen Nachbarn zu haben, Kommissar a. D. Traugott Fürchtenicht.

In this witty and engaging novel, Dana Barry, the Shopping Channel’s star host, stops by the company’s rooftop party to pitch the new CEO her brilliant idea that just might save the flagging business, her job and possibly her love life. As she chats with the smarmy executive, he backs her into a dark corner. For Dana, it’s a quid pro oh-hell-no. She escapes his lecherous grasp and grabs her drink on her way to the dance floor. Woozy, she blacks out. When she comes to, the CEO is dead, fallen from the roof. Or was he pushed? And if so, by whom?

Avery Shaw has the world at her fingertips...and a pile of dead Santas near the railroad tracks. Interestingly, she’s more focused on the Santas than her personal life, but only because she’s been warned that a proposal is imminent from her live-in love Eliot Kane and she needs to look somewhere else - anywhere else will do - rather than accept what he’s trying to offer. Avery never pictured herself married but it appears it might be happening...no matter how she tries to dodge and weave. The Santas make an enticing distraction, so Avery throws herself in with gusto.

When a high-tech geek named Eddie ends up in the hospital, the victim of a hit-and-run accident, Turing the investigative artificial-intelligence computer comes to the aid of her private-detective friend Tim to find out who was responsible. The following investigation leads to some of Eddie's unsavory friends who are using his computers in a variety of scams, cons, and other less-than-legal endeavors.

Avery Shaw has taken on her fair share of jerks. Often, she’s considered the jerk when she takes them down...a role she gladly relishes. Now, though, she’s taking on a whole faction of jerks. It seems a battle of the sexes is brewing in Macomb County. A local shock jock, a man who believes women should be home tending children and keeping the house clean while men bring home the bacon, is on trial for sexually harassing his underlings.

Jolene’s back in Kickapoo for her mother’s annual birthday bash at the DQ, which is trouble enough, but when her checkered high school past comes back to haunt her, the problems turn decidedly deadly. Thanks to her old sweetheart, Sheriff Jerry Don Parker, high school wasn’t that bad for Jolene, but with bodies turning up faster than beer cans in the river, they’re a darned sight worse now.

What does a gentlemen's club, mysterious men in black, a dead body, a broken down car with a lady in dire need, a heavily pregnant beauteous sheriff's deputy, and Miz Demetrice trying to unionize exotic dancers have in common? Why, it's Bubba Snoddy and the day things went south, yet again. Quite naturally, or unnaturally, there is a humdinger of a mystery, and Bubba is right in the middle of it.

It may not be as grim up north as they say, but it wasn't where amateur private investigators Natasha DuVivien and Miriam Birdseye intended to spend their Christmas. When the principal boy in a production of Cinderella is murdered, and a ballerina hits the bottle a little too hard, they do the only logical thing they can do and join the cast, stranding themselves in a small industrial town for the sake of art and sleuthing. The show must go on, after all, and the detective duo must get to the bottom of things - before the final curtain falls.

When Oscar stumbles across an arrogant bard named the Dodosette and the beautiful cat Vaasi-Vee, he unearths a plot to plunge the world into darkness. After some begging, a lot of snow and an industrial-sized vat of soup, the three animals argue all the way to the infamous land of Vra to do something about it. They did not, however, anticipate having to fight invisible Rottweilers, smash kitchens to pieces, lick frozen cars or fund taxi drivers' sisters' eye operations.

Bad news comes in . . . fours? For romance author and former pool shark Jessie Hewitt it does. She hasn't written a decent sex scene in months, she hasn't shot a decent game of eight ball all year, and don't even ask about her supposed love life. And just when Jessie thinks things can't get any worse, a body lands on her car. Uber-hunky and altogether infuriating cop Wilson Rye suggests she concentrate on solving her other problems and leave the murder investigation to the experts. But does Jessie agree? Take a guess.

Ghosts. Do you Believe? Sophie Rhodes doesn't have a choice. She's surrounded by themDesperate to pay the bills, 29-year-old Sophie ignores the advice of her stuffy spirit-friend, Marmaduke Dodsworth, and takes a job with the handsome Dr. Callahan, an optometrist with a desperate situation of his own. The good doctor's problem? He has a spirit-friend as well: One with a fiery crush and a vicious jealous streak.

A beautiful television personality comes home to mourn her mother, as well as the life she lost when her husband became ill and the pandemic shut down her show. When her husband dies suddenly, was she simply expressing her grief with murder? Was he the intended victim, or did she narrowly escape the well-deserved wrath of her neighbors?

When Sarah House's husband doesn't come home for yet another Christmas, she finally sees her marriage for what it is...a sham, and a waste of 20 good years. No amount of wine is going to fix it. She knows. She's tried. Her marriage isn't the only lie in her life. When her husband goes missing, she has just 12 days to set things right...and sometimes right isn't the man you've got. Sometimes it's the kind of man that speaks quietly and carries a .45. A Sarah House Novel...noir, love, and guns. And brandy.

Interior decorator Madison Night might look like a throwback to the 60s, but as business owner and landlord, she proves that independent women can have it all. When a killer targets women dressed in her signature style - estate sale vintage to play up her resemblance to fave actress Doris Day - what makes her unique might make her dead. The local detective connects the new crime to a 20-year-old cold case, and Madison's long-trusted contractor emerges as the leading suspect.

Perennially down-and-out socialite Camilla Randall - aka The Manners Doctor - is a magnet for murder, mayhem, and Mr. Wrong, but she always solves the mystery in her quirky, but oh-so-polite way. Usually with more than a little help from her gay best friend, Plantagenet Smith. In this hilarious episode she makes the mistake of responding to an online review of one of her etiquette guides and sets off a chain of events that leads to arson, attempted rape, and murder.

When Laurel McKay attends a Hawaiian wedding, her vacation soon becomes more deadly than the calorie count in her daiquiri. Her post-wedding holiday upends after a beautiful hula dancer is found dead on the rocks below the oceanfront restaurant owned by Laurel's brother and sister-in-law. When a family member is arrested for the murder, Laurel is plunged into a mystery where exotic Big Island locations - a coffee plantation, black sand beaches and a volcano - reveal their deadly side.

Cameron Dakota is the L.A. Informer's staff photographer and paparazzi extraordinaire. Her latest subject is Trace Brody, top-shelf actor and half of America's favorite Hollywood couple. Trace is about to get married in a blow-out wedding, and Cam’s editor, Felix Dunn (from the High Heels Mysteries), has assigned her to get the first shots of the bride and groom.

Jessie Hewitt thought her pool-hustling days were long gone. But when uber-hunky cop Wilson Rye asks her to go undercover to catch a killer, she jumps at the chance to return to a sleazy poolroom. Jessie is confident she can handle a double homicide, but the doubly-annoying Wilson Rye is another matter altogether. What's he doing flirting with a woman half his age? Will Jessie have what it takes to deal with Tiffany La-Dee-Doo-Da Sass and solve the murders? Take a guess.

Life is changing for Avery Shaw. She's searching for a house with her boyfriend Eliot so they can officially move in together. She's been gifted special passes to Macomb County's comic book convention - and she couldn't be more excited. She's also been put in charge of her most hated enemy at work, and the power is going straight to her head. When Eliot lets Avery visit the convention center early, the duo stumble across a dead body and Avery's happy week is thrown into turmoil.

Agnes Barton is not your typical senior citizen living in Tadium, MI, on the shores of Lake Huron. She drives a red hot Mustang, shops at Victoria's Secret, rankles local police officials, and has a knack for sticking her nose where it doesn't belong. What does a murder that happened forty-three years ago have to do with missing tourist Jennifer Martin? Agnes makes it her personal mission to find out, and she's not letting the fact she's seventy-two get in the way.