Mystery Girl

Dear Diary... All I wanted to do was buy a new book, read, and relax. But when Bess, George, and I visited the local bookstore in Avondale, we found it in flames, and before we knew it, we were in the middle of another mystery. Or was it the middle of one of the best-selling author Lacey O'Brien's books? I know it sounds really strange, but it seemed like mysteries in her books were coming alive: first the fire; next a sinking boat; and then a missing statue. Were these innocent coincidences or chilling crimes?

A skilled mechanic and certified spitfire, Twinkle Winkleman is as hard as nails; she has to be with a name like hers. Twinkle learned everything there is to know about cars from her time in her daddy’s garage in Anchorage, and when her father dies, she gains ownership of the shop and Maude, her dad’s prized 1973 International Harvester Travelall. Life has not been kind to Twinkle: she grew up without her mother, her daddy’s gone, her ex-husband betrayed her, and her son Tad was killed after a trip to Seattle to handle some “unfinished business.”

FBI agent Olivia Knight and her partner Brock have had better days. While investigating a missing persons case in the Hamptons, they get a new assignment.

When Agent Tori Hunter is urgently called to the murder scene of Dan and Heidi Newman, she finds their throats slit and Dan tied up: forced to watch his wife lose her life. Tori’s first thought is for their 17-year-old daughter, Cara, who is nowhere to be found. Will this popular young girl be the next victim? A broken bracelet is the one clue left at the scene, but the team is running in circles until Tori finally tracks down Cara hiding in the woods. Sobbing, the devastated girl says all she remembers is a flash of a man’s face as she was chased through the forest.

Tamara Bentley thought rescuing her parents from the fairy queen would be enough—that she could go back to college and resume her life. Pity for her that reality has other plans, especially since it's on the verge of collapsing. Demonic entities are destroying the portals linking Earth to the multiverse. When the last one falls, all life as we know it will end. Sadly, with each connection severed, the supernatural beings of our world grow weaker. As their power fades, so too does their chances of stopping this cataclysm once and for all.

Set in Denmark in the here and now, The Quiet Girl centers around Kaspar Krone, a world-renowned circus clown with a deep love for the music of Johan Sebastian Bach, and an even deeper gambling debt. Wanted for tax evasion and on the verge of extradition, Krone is drafted into the service of a mysterious order of nuns who promise him reprieve from the international authorities in return for his help safeguarding a group of children with mystical abilities - abilities that Krone also shares.

Leah Mills lives a life of a fugitive - kept on the run by one terrible day from her past. It is a lonely life, without a social life or friends until, longing for a connection, she meets Julian. For the first time she dares to believe she can live a normal life. Then, on the 20th anniversary of that day, she receives a card. Someone knows the truth about what happened. Someone who won't stop until they've destroyed the life Leah has created. But is Leah all she seems? Or does she deserve everything she gets?

New York psychologist Will Hardy had it all - a loving family, a flourishing career, a best-selling book. Until the night it all ended in a tempest of fire and ash, leaving only Will and his 15-year-old daughter Bernadette to stand in the ruins. Haunted and grief-stricken, Will accepts an enigmatic invitation from his family’s past to begin their lives anew in the small town of Abbeville, Ohio. Meanwhile, Abbeville Chief of Police Ivy Holgrave is investigating the death of a local girl, convinced this may only be the latest in a long line of murders dating back decades.

A canny young woman is struggling to survive by perpetrating various levels of mostly harmless fraud. On a rainy April morning, she is reading auras at Spiritual Palms when Susan Burke walks in. A keen observer of human behavior, our unnamed narrator immediately diagnoses beautiful, rich Susan as an unhappy woman eager to give her lovely life a drama injection. However, when the "psychic" visits the eerie Victorian home that has been the source of Susan’s terror and grief, she realizes she may not have to pretend to believe in ghosts anymore.

On the banks of the River Rothay, as the first rays of sunshine hit the fast-flowing water, Melody Carrick’s body lies lifeless, red strangulation marks where her gold cross necklace used to hang. Detective Morgan Brookes is certain the killer was surprised by early-morning dog walkers, and she won’t rest until she unearths the evidence she needs to stop his next attack.

في الطابور الصباحي رأت "فلفل" عددًا من زميلاتها يتحدّثن بانفعال عن انضمام زميلةٍ جديدة إلى فصلهن، سألت فلفل زميلتها عفاف :أين هي هذه الفتاة التي يتحدثن عنها؟ فاجابتها وهي تشير بعينيها نحو ركنٍ من أركان الفِناء: ها هي ذي هناك تقف بمفردها ولا تريد التحدّث مع أحد..

كانت فتاة بملامح آسيوية سمراء ذات عينين واسعتين، شعرها أسود ينسدل على ظهرها في ضفيرة طويلة...ترتدي فستانًا أنيقًا وقد حملت في يدها حقيبة كتبها...

1942. Three years into the war, Pam turns down her hard-won place at Oxford University to become a codebreaker at Bletchley Park. There, she meets two young men, both keen to impress her, and Pam finds herself falling hard for one of them. But as the country’s future becomes more uncertain by the day, a tragic turn of events casts doubt on her choice. Present day. Julia is struggling to juggle her career, two children and a husband jealous of her success. Her brother presents her with the perfect distraction: forgotten photos of their grandmother as a young woman at Bletchley Park.

Newlyweds Chief of Police Kate Burkholder and John Tomasetti are happily spending their honeymoon at a beautiful Lake Erie cabin that was once part of an historic Amish settlement. But when a violent storm suddenly erupts, Lovina Nisley, the Amish owner of the cabin, goes missing. Lovina is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, so it initially appears the elderly woman simply took the wrong path, but her disappearance takes an ominous turn when her husband reveals that a developer has been threatening them if they refuse to sell him their home.

Myra is enjoying the convention, especially after dressing up like the Saturday morning cartoon character Thelma for the popular kids mystery show with the dog. She's even having fun flirting with the group of nerds playing video games, but she never expected she'd suddenly be tied down in plain view and gangbanged! Who would have thought the guys had it in them? Who would have thought she'd end up with all of them in her?

After a home invasion landed Emma in a comatose state. Sam faces another shocking event as he finds himself fighting off an assassin in Emma’s hospital room. Someone obviously wanted to keep Emma quiet forever. But the question is, why?

How far would you go to protect your child? Can you really keep them safe? What if who they are puts them at risk? And what if they have blood on their hands?Teenager Allie Kennaway heads off for prom night, cheered on by dad Steve and her little sister, Teagan. But Allie never comes home, beaten to death in an apparent hate crime because of her transgender identity. As police investigate the brutal murder, a crime that has appalled the country, one parent is at her wits' end with her son's behaviour. Are his outbursts and silences hiding something dark?

Clara Lawson is torn from her life in an instant. Without warning, her home is invaded by armed men, and she finds herself separated from her beloved husband and daughters. The last thing her husband yells to her is to say nothing. In chapters that alternate between past and present, the novel slowly unpeels the layers of Clara's fractured life. We see her growing up, raised with her sisters by the stern Mama and Papa G, becoming a poised and educated young woman, falling desperately in love with the forbidden son of her adoptive parents.

When Theo and Auggie return home—safe and sound and miraculously alive after being dragged into a murder investigation—all Theo wants is for life to get back to normal. No more murders. No more investigations. Nothing, in other words, that might put Auggie in danger. But when a girl from school goes missing, Theo finds himself reluctantly drawn into looking for her. Shaniyah was his former student, for one reason. And, for another, no one else seems interested in where she’s gone. Worse, her disappearance seems to be linked to a break-in at Theo and Auggie’s house.

When Dorothy’s obnoxious date is found dead in a hotel freezer, it not only ruins a gorgeous cheesecake but threatens the elaborate St. Olaf-themed wedding Rose is hosting.

How could things have gone so wrong between Syl Jameson and Viola Harrison? Syl and Viola are like sisters growing up in the small, stifling town of Love Hill. Though they are as different as light and dark, they connect. And for Syl, Viola’s family is a warm refuge away from the unaffectionate place that Syl calls home. But the reality is Syl can get a little needy and jealous. Viola can get a little toxic. And, like everyone in Love Hill, they have secrets. Eventually their friendship is bound to snap.