Funny Suspense

What do you get when you mix some albino terrier fur and sand from Alum Bay? Timothy Pinkerton knows, and he’ll do anything to get his grubby hands on more of what he needs for his secret formula. Anything, including hypnotising the town’s residents and stealing their homes.

When Grayson and Bobbie head to the Florida Panhandle to witness a spectacle of nature, they take a wrong turn and quickly find themselves up to their armpits in arthropods. And that’s the good part of their vacation. Campers are disappearing without a trace from nearby Torreya State Park. Whatever’s stalking them soon sets its eyes on Bobbie and Grayson, too.

Arly Hanks has caught all sorts of killers since she returned home to Maggody, Arkansas, population 759, but she's never tangled with anyone as devious as the local youth group. While chaperoning a trip to Camp Pearly Gates, Arly watches the kids as closely as she would any hardened criminal, but when teenagers have a mind to get into trouble, there's nothing a police chief can do but limit the damage. She's just about got the situation under control when one of the kids finds a body, and all hell breaks loose in classic Maggody manner.

Chloe Alvarez has never been to the reading of a last will and testament before, but she hopes it is just like the movies. Lies! Intrigue! The reading of her Uncle Will’s will is standard, until he announces his gift for Chloe: his African grey parrot, Charlie. Uncle Will was Chloe’s best friend. Without him, she’s left with only her memories of them together—which come to her in snapshots—and her new friend, Charlie. The parrot has a vast vocabulary, and soon Chloe hears her say something odd: It was murder, followed by homicide and cyanide.

Ancient pyramids can be flat-out dangerous! Ever since Stanley was flattened by a bulletin board, there are places he can get to that no one else can. So when Stanley receives a letter from an archaeologist, he travels by airmail to Egypt to help find an ancient treasure deep in the heart of a great pyramid. But what if even the flattest boy on earth can't wriggle out of this dark tomb - and the terrible mess he finds himself in?

As a pizza detective, Colin Kingsley, a.k.a. Mark Anchovy, has survived murderous criminals, bloodthirsty henchmen and some questionable modes of transport. He now has a much more worrying problem: his younger sister is working as his apprentice. Coaching seven-year-old Alicia for her exams to join the Golden Spatula League would be challenging enough. But the siblings must head to Japan to track down the missing English eccentric Lord Bobo - former host of the hit '90s gameshow Battered by the Butler - before he winds up dead.

Meet Mason Ezekiel Barnes, former NFL tackle turned successful author. Mason is obsessed with winning a Pulitzer and is thwarted by his fellow author and nemesis, the twerpy little gnome Conrad Bancroft. Mason spends his days writing at a local cafe, Perk Noir, the one-of-a-kind jazz coffee shop. He's obsessed with the life of jazz great Earl "Lightning" Perkins, former owner of the Perk Noir. One day, unexpectedly in walks Shelly, a fan of Mason's books. Shelly has a mysterious pocket watch she recently inherited. She convinces Mason to assist her in unraveling its history.

Colin Kingsley is a pizza delivery boy with a twist. He's actually an aspiring detective. But in sleepy Rufflington-on-Sea, there are no cases to solve - until the Golden Spatula League come calling. The world's premier agency for 'caterer-detectives', run by children, the GSL have been dazzled by Colin's freakish memory skills. To join their ranks, Colin - codenamed 'Mark Anchovy' - must fly to Rome to track down a valuable stolen painting, titled Girl with a Squirrel. The chief suspect: Big Alan Fresco, notorious art thief and pizza addict.

Math-genius mercenary Cas Russell has decided to Fight Crime(tm). After all, with her extraordinary mathematical ability, she can neuter bombs or out-shoot an army. And the recent outbreak of violence in the world’s cities is Cas’s fault—she’s the one who crushed the organization of telepaths keeping the world’s worst offenders under control. But Cas’s own power also has a history, one she can’t remember—or control.

Criminal defense investigator Cecil Younger spends his days coaching would-be felons on how to avoid incriminating themselves. When Sherrie, a returning client with a good heart but a penchant for bad boys, asks him to track down some evidence that will help with her case, Cecil agrees. Cecil treks out to the shady apartment complex she mentioned, only to find his teenage daughter, Blossom, inside. He manages to get both the box Sherrie wanted and his daughter safely home, and later discovers the "evidence" is a large pile of cash - fifty thousand dollars, to be exact.

What would you do if your ex got abducted? Remember, they're an ex for a reason. So let's assume you hate them from the depths of your soul. Line up the tequila shots, right? Not your problem? Now stay with me for a second. What if you were the only person who could save their life? Then would you save them? We are talking about another human being's life, after all. Now, imagine you have seven million dollars in your bank account. Sweet, right? It's seven million dollars or your ex's life. This is a judgment-free zone.

The second in this hilarious cozy mystery series features a woman who is a talent agent for showbiz animals and discovers that she has a talent herself: solving crimes. Kay Powell, theatrical agent to non-human animals, is babysitting - that is, birdsitting - her client, a parrot named Barney, on the set of his new TV show, Dead City. When the show’s charismatic star is shot in his trailer between scenes, the only eyewitness to the crime is - you guessed it - Barney.

Dr. Georgia Thackery is back at home with her parents after finding a new adjunct position at Bostock College. Everyone is excited for their first family Christmas with nothing to hide. Why? Because Georgia’s daughter, Madison, is now in the know about Sid, their walking, talking family skeleton. But their Christmas cheer is interrupted when the Thackerys' dog, Byron, goes missing on a cold December night. When he’s finally found, he has a femur clutched between his jaws, and Georgia and Madison race to apologize to Sid for letting the dog gnaw on him yet again

This is Book Five in the Scottsdale series....

Oof! After solving the case of the Royal Rumpus, Olive Cobin Zang and her elite team of underdogs are on top of the world. As the awkward, crime-fighting Misfits, they’re acing every mission thrown at them from NOCK (aka No One Can Know, the covert agency they work for). But when their classmate Zeke starts receiving threatening notes, the Misfits are stumped. They’re no strangers to danger, but this case is a total head-scratcher. Who would target kind, friendly Zeke . . . unless he’s not what he seems to be?

In a calm, calm residential setting, two couples fight the battle of love, fidelity, and passion. Melissa and Jake are married; their once energetic relationship has been a boredom. Some miles down the same residential road are Mark and Linda—perhaps the lovely couple in town—and their unexpressed longings coupled with unfilled desires. Life paths chart another course altogether when one coincidence encounter in the night sparks an untimely interest between Melissa and Mark and the second between Jake and Linda.

Evie Laurent grew up in the shadow of her perfect older sister, Luna. Since they were young girls, she’d always longed to be a part of Luna’s attractive social circle. Evie gets her wish later in life when she begins dating Kyle Turner, a friend of her sister’s. But Kyle is not just a grown-up version of the handsome boy he used to be. The new Kyle is secretive and controlling, going so far as trying to stop Evie from purchasing her dream home - a house that seems oddly familiar to her and Luna’s entire group of friends.

To catch a sex killer targeting Upper East Side beauties, NYPD Officer Max Royster goes undercover...as an NYPD cop!

Even when murderous gangsters are shoving his head into a toilet, Mickey Fine can’t stop making jokes. He wants a career in comedy so badly that he takes a job as a Tummler, a comedian and host for a hotel in the Catskills, a hotel where he knows the very gangsters who abused him are staying. An already dangerous situation escalates when Mickey falls for Mutzie, the “number one girl” of Pep who is arguably the most violent thug in the hotel. Betrayals and politics within the mob play out behind the scenes while Mutzie joins Mickey on stage.

Southern matriarch Lillian Summer Fairview is settling right nice into prison, until Big Martha, the toughest broad on the cellblock, comes asking for a favor. Her niece has fallen for a guy she met online, and Martha’s convinced Mr. Too-Good-To-Be-True is up to no good. All Lil’s friends have to do is investigate the guy and report back. Will these amateur sleuths be able to track down the elusive Romeo in the scam-filled world of online dating without alerting the local police to their shenanigans, or will they find themselves in trouble right up to their granny panties?