English Women Sleuths

After a tragic loss, Jessica Chamberlain changes jobs, moves, and adopts a rowdy German shepherd. The two begin training with a Virginia search-and-rescue group. The group's training director, Nathan Tanner, is a former military working dog handler with scars of his own and he quickly picks up on Jess's ongoing anxiety. After the unexpected discovery of a body in the woods, Jess and her dog and Nate are drawn into the FBI's search for an abductor targeting women. Tormented by her past and terrified of the future, Jess still forges ahead.

Zinnia, Mississippi is rife with quirky characters, but the arrival of three sister witches - and their intention to open a Wiccan boarding school - sets the small town on its ear. And bodies begin to accumulate as a result. They're setting up their boarding school in an old dairy - a piece of property with tremendous development potential. And they're standing in the way of "progress", according to some in the town. When young Corey Fontana goes missing, Delaney Detective Agency is hired to find the youth - who's well known as a local hooligan. His mother believes the witches have abducted her son....

As the Great Blizzard of 1888 cripples the vast machinery that is New York City, heiress Prudence MacKenzie sits anxiously within her palatial Fifth Avenue home waiting for her fiance's safe return. But the fearsome storm rages through the night. With daylight, more than 200 people are found to have perished in the icy winds and treacherous snowdrifts. Among them is Prudence's fiancé - his body frozen, his head crushed by a heavy branch, his fingers clutching a single playing card, the ace of spades.

Doreen Mallory claims to have the gift of healing. So why did her own child die mysteriously? Out to prove Doreen's innocence, sleuthing southern belle Sarah Booth Delaney unearths an explosive, long-buried secret.

All Ellison Russell wanted was an update on her stock portfolio. Instead, she found her broker dead. With an unexpected out-of-town guest at her house, Ellison is too busy for a murder investigation. Only this time, Detective Anarchy Jones wants her help, and she can't deny the handsome detective. Can Mr. Coffee supply her with enough caffeine to keep her brain sharp and everyone else happy?

The Winter Carnival always brings holiday cheer to picturesque Shady Creek, Vermont. At the center of the glittering decorations and twinkling lights is booklover and pub owner Sadie Coleman, creating original cocktails, hosting a literary trivia night, and cheering on loyal employee Melanie "Mel" Costas as she competes in the ice carving competition. But holiday cheer can't compete with former resident and renowned chef Freddy Mancini showing off his sculpting skills. During the contest's artists' break, Mel's tools disappear...and Freddy's found dead with Mel's pick in his chest.

My name is Crispin Alistair Winterbottom, and I'm a British spy.... Or I was until my untimely, dare I say, suspicious demise. Now, I'm a ghost, living my afterlife on what I fondly call Plane Limbo. But I'm determined to return to the land of the living and while I try and figure out exactly how to do that, I spend my days with the ever delightful ex-witch, Stevie Cartwright, the only person in the world who can hear me, and her charming bat familiar, Belfry.

Summer is busy season for Mackenzie "Mac" Almeida's bicycle shop, nestled in the quaint, seaside hamlet of Westham, Massachusetts. She's expecting an influx of tourists at Mac's Bikes; instead she discovers the body of Jake Lacey. Mac can't imagine anyone stabbing the down-on-his-luck handyman. However, the authorities seem to think Mac is a strong suspect after she was spotted arguing with Jake just hours before his death. Mac knows she didn't do it, but she does recognize the weapon - her brother Derrick's fishing knife.

Rachel Goldman writes mysteries in which Duffy Madison, consultant to the county prosecutor's office, helps find missing persons. Rachel is busy working on her next book when a man calls out of the blue asking for help in a missing person case. The caller's name? Duffy Madison. Is this real, or has she lost her mind? She doesn't have much time to find out, because a serial killer is on the loose, kidnapping and murdering mystery authors. And Rachel may just be the next target.

All Mrs. Pollifax has to do is help a bumbling CIA agent confirm the identities of seven undercover informants in Morocco. A simple assignment. But right away, things go wrong. The first informant is murdered just after Mrs. P. identifies him in Fez. Worse, she has the frightening sensation that her associate is not who or what he says he is.

In the south of France, where hatred simmers in the heat, a man seemingly admired, and certainly feared, drops dead at a dinner party. All of the guests fall under suspicion, including Welsh-Canadian professor Cait Morgan. A criminologist who specializes in profiling victims, Cait sets out to solve the murder - and clear her name. Add to this the disappearance of an ancient Celtic gold collar said to be cursed and there you have the ingredients for a Nicoise salad of death, secrets, and lies.

When Amy Gibson's mother is brutally murdered by her boyfriend, Amy's world is completely undone. Overcome with grief and heartache, she withdraws from everything around her—college, her friends, her entire life. Until her estranged half-brother, Oliver, saves her, pulling her back into her life and giving her family. Giving her a home.

After Lindsey Bakeswell catches her celebrity chef fiance sizzling in the arms of another woman, Lindsey leaves big city Wall Street for small town Beacon Harbor, Michigan, to pursue her own passion as a pastry baker - and gets mixed up in someone's sweet taste of revenge.

Single mom Hayley Powell is barely keeping her leaking roof over her head in Bar Harbor, Maine, when her boss at the Island Times gives her a new assignment - taking over the paper's food column. Hayley's not sure she has the chops - she's an office manager, not a writer, even if her friends clamor for her mouth-watering potluck dishes. But the extra income is tempting, and Hayley's chatty first column is suddenly on everyone's menu - with one exception.

Miss Daphne Beekman is a mystery writer by day, inquiry agent by night. Known for her ability to puzzle out plots, she happily works behind the scenes for the Bleecker Street Inquiry Agency, staying well away from danger. However, when Mr. Herman Henderson arrives on the doorstep of the agency, desperate for someone to investigate numerous attempts on his life, Daphne soon finds herself in the thick of a case she's determined to solve.

As the holidays approach, Detective Lindsay Boxer and her friends in the Women's Murder Club have much to celebrate. Crime is down. The medical examiner's office is quiet. Even the courts are showing some Christmas spirit. And the news cycle is so slow that journalist Cindy Thomas is on assignment to tell a story about the true meaning of the season for San Francisco. Then, a fearsome criminal known only as "Loman" seizes control of the headlines. He is planning a deadly surprise for Christmas morning.

Allie McMurphy is up to her neck in renovations at the grand old hotel that's been in her family for generations. With its quaint Victorian charm - and world-famous fudge shop - the place is one of Mackinac Island's most beloved landmarks.

Determined to find the men responsible for her disgraced father's murder, Lady Arianna Hadley disguises herself as a man and contrives to be hired as a chef in one of London's aristocratic households. But when the prince regent is poisoned by Arianna's special chocolate dessert, she finds her own quest has become intertwined with a far more deadly intrigue. The earl of Saybrook is asked by the government to investigate. When someone tries to kill them both, they become reluctant allies in the hunt to discover what evil is afoot.

Blanche White is a plump, feisty, middle-aged African-American housekeeper working for the genteel rich in North Carolina. But when an employer stiffs her, and her checks bounce, she goes on the lam, hiding out as a maid for a wealthy family at their summer home. That plan goes awry when there's a murder and Blanche becomes the prime suspect. So she's forced to use her savvy, her sharp wit, and her old-girl network of domestic workers to discover the truth and save her own skin.

The Fourth of July: In a late-night showdown after a near-fatal chase, San Francisco police lieutenant Lindsay Boxer has to make an instantaneous decision - and sets off a chain of events that leaves a police force disgraced and an entire city divided. As summer comes into full swing, Lindsay and her friends in the Women's Murder Club battle for her life on two fronts: before a judge an jury as her trial comes to a climax, and facing unknown adversaries who will do anything to keep her from the truth. Also included: The Fifth Horseman and The Sixth Target.