Rural Town Mystery

The sign welcoming travelers to Maggody, Arkansas, reads "Pop. 755," and don't expect Hizzoner Jim Bob to repaint it just because there's someone new in town. The mayor won't go out of his way for anyone, especially someone wicked—and a woman who would open a pawnshop in Maggody must be very wicked indeed. Kayleen Smeltner decided to open the shop after her husband was killed during a burglary. She came to Maggody expecting peace and quiet, but she'll find this quaint little patch of nowhere isn't as peaceful as it seems.

After her mother is sent to prison for art forgery, Edie Brown returns to Northern Vermont to rebuild her family’s fine art and antiques business. She’s certain she can do it now that her mother is gone. After all, butting heads with her mom over bad business practices was what drove Edie away three years ago, including a screw-up that landed Edie on probation for selling stolen property. When Edie scores a job appraising a waterfowl decoy collection at a hoarder’s farmhouse, she’s determined to take advantage of the situation to rebuild the business’s tarnished reputation.

When a local pickleball player is shot in the head while practicing at an abandoned tennis court with his partner-slash-lover, Sheriff Lew Ferris suspects that the bullet was a stray shot from hunters in the area. It’s not until a second player—the first victim’s mistress and pickleball partner—is killed that Sheriff Ferris realizes this is no hunting accident. Someone is hunting people, and it’s up to her to find out who.

It’s Lew Ferris’s first day as the newly-elected Sheriff of McBride County, and already things are heating up in the Wisconsin Northwoods. The tragic drowning of a teenage girl draws an eerie parallel to the unsolved murder of another teen thirty years earlier, but one of Lew’s new subordinates—Alan Stern, Chief of the Deer Haven Police Department—has ruled it an accidental death by drowning.

It was an addiction, really. One she couldn’t kick through no fault of her own. It wasn’t CJ Turley’s fault that someone stuck her dog, Caper, in a canoe in the middle of the lake. She also couldn’t help that Caper kept bringing her diamonds from a recent jewel heist in town. Any homebody seeking adventure would do the same thing, right? Gather your gumshoeing friends and find a jewel thief. What could possibly go wrong? The small-town tiny house community of Heavenly Acres is thrust into yet another mystery that might be CJ’s undoing.

If you love small towns, endearing relationships, food, animals, and a touch of murder, you will love this mystery series set in the small town of White Eagle, Montana. In book 10, Tess and Tony plan a secret wedding ceremony, Nona plans a visit, and Tess and Mike plan a face-to-face meeting with their father. Of course, you know what they say about the best laid plans. Meanwhile, Tess starts a new job, Tess and Tony welcome a new member to their family, the partial remains of two men are found during a search and rescue mission, and Mike and Bree are faced with an important decision.

Someone’s poaching the deer around Heavenly Acres. One of CJ’s friends is murdered. What ensues next is a wild hunt for illegal poachers, foolhardy activists, and a big, bad redneck truck that keeps showing up wherever CJ is. Car wrecks, storms, threats, and more keep CJ and her friends on their toes. It all comes down to the final confrontation. One of the wildest yet. Come along for the ride as CJ and her quirky sidekicks hunt down some poachers.

In a small town in rural America, murders of little girls have been going on for a long time. Can the FBI stop him before he kills again?

Tony has decided to donate the proceeds from the video game he developed with his friend Shaggy to the White Eagle Animal Shelter. Tess and Brady plan to use the generous donation to expand the facility. Permanent housing for elderly, sick, and other hard-to-place animals is their main focus, but then Brady decides to go all in on the new service dog and search and rescue training facility. Meanwhile, Tess has her feelings hurt when her dad contacts Tony to ask for help tracking down someone from his past, but as they dig deeper, they begin to wonder if the email even is from her dad.

The quaint mountain town of Riverbend Junction hasn't been home to Zadie Belle and Darla Belle, two of the three Belle sisters, since they moved away several years ago, but when they return this year for Christmas, a theft and a murder derails the train and all of their plans for getting back to their regular lives. Especially when Darla Belle disappears and is accused of the crimes. Stuck in the small town in more ways than one, the sisters must put their heads together to figure out who the murderer is, or else find themselves railroaded into a murder charge themselves.

He was a CPA with a practice run from his house. He lived quietly with his dog Lucy. Friendly guy, but secretive about his life. A very private person with no local friends except Danny Osgood, a neighborhood kid who played video-games on the CPA's high-speed computer. He had little contact with the neighbors or folks in town. How did he end up with two bullet holes in his head? A simple murder in a small upstate NY town - or something much bigger? The extent of the crime goes far beyond this quiet town. Other states come into play. Then, outside of the country.

Two homicides within minutes of each other! Robbery? Revenge killing? Contract hit? The police have to solve this quickly, or the impact of this horrific crime on the town will be devastating. Detectives Hendricks and Adams embark on an investigation that takes them far outside of upstate New York to another country.

Trixie, Sally, and Cora are determined to open Read Wine on schedule. After all, this is their dream—opening a bookstore in their small town. But you can’t open for business when there’s a dead body on the floor. Not only does it ruin the ambiance, but it definitely didn’t appear anywhere in their business plan.

With newlyweds Gramps and Tillie away honeymooning, bookstore and bar owner Jaycee Sullivan hopes for a mini stay-cay of her own. But her plans are quickly foiled by a mammoth fire and the attempted murder of her long-time friend. Armed with a stun gun, pepper spray, and yard stakes, Jaycee, Jax, Heidi, and Bridget set out, determined to catch the would-be assassin...all under the radar from Jaycee’s police detective boyfriend Mike Connors.

Finding a body in an alleyway when you are grounded is not a good idea. Especially if you are the town’s usual suspect for any mischief or mayhem. Teen rebel Lucas Krymanski is in trouble again, and this time, it’s big time! Only the town’s amateur sleuth librarian Kelly Armello believes Lucas is innocent. She even fears there’s darker schemes afoot - hidden and horrible conspiracies seething below the surface.

Brian Reynolds and Janet Codington walked down the hallway to their rooms at Edgewood Gardens Senior Living Center. They lived in the same wing, four doors away from each other. Before Brian went into his room, they agreed to meet with friends for dinner. Janet went down the hall to her room. Brian was in his room less than 20 minutes, catching up on some emails, when there was a commotion near Janet's room. He ran down the hall to her room. She was dead! Nothing fit! This didn't make sense. Why would anyone kill such a kind, gentle person?

He came out of the woods at the back of the rural bank in upstate New York. He was wearing a baseball hat, sunglasses, and a balaclava. Nothing of his face was visible. He was also wearing nylon basketball warm-up pants with snaps to allow for easy removal while standing and a loose-fitting nylon top. He went around the side of the small stand-alone building, avoiding the drive-through window on the other side. No customers were in the bank. The manager and her assistant were at the two teller windows.

Sean McCarthy lives with the guilt of his father's failure to solve a crime. Years back, a child was abducted, and as a boy Sean witnessed the abduction. He always remembered the vehicle. Now 40 years later, he sees it again. If he cannot unravel the mystery, a heinous crime will go unsolved, and he will never have closure.

A hit-and-run or something else? The district attorney does not like what she sees, and the police report is not conclusive. She assigns her part-time investigator Brad Petronella to look into the case. The case quickly expands into much more than just a possible road accident. Ranging over a number of upstate NY counties, a major drug network is uncovered.