Southern Fiction Mystery

Yes. I'm the daughter of the infamous couple, June Heal and Oscar Park. One teeny weeny problem, I'm a mortal. Yep. I guess I got my granny Darla's DNA. Good news! I might not have spiritual powers but I have a mean set of baking skills. I'm delighted to be moving out of Whispering Falls, where y'all know I can't live since I'm mortal, and to Celestial Falls, another small Southern town where I'm opening Heavenly Desserts. Of course, The Marys wouldn't let me leave unless I took my new kitten with me.

With the Mississippi sun beating down, An'gel and Dickce are taking a break to cool off and pet sit their friend Charlie Harris's cat, Diesel, when their former sorority sister, Rosabelle Sultan, shows up at their door unexpectedly, with her ne'er-do-well adult children not far behind. Rosabelle's selfish offspring are desperate to discover what's in her will, and it soon becomes clear that one of them would kill to get their hands on the inheritance.

When the queen of the tabloids, Juliette Cadbury, decides to film a movie in Fort Rosalie, Mississippi, local Tourism Bureau executive Mary Dell Hoskins is given the unenviable task of setting up a whirlwind inspection tour of the town's three bed-and-breakfasts, only one of which can win the right to host the outrageous actress and her hunky actor boyfriend during their three-month location shoot.

In a world of pageantry and show, the Montgomery family accepts the way of life that has been Antebellum Charleston for over 100 years. Two cousins, the handsome and debonair Wade Montgomery and the bold and brooding Cullen Smythe, were born to be brothers. Raised as Southern gentlemen, their character could never be questioned - loyalty, honor, duty to one's country, God, and family. It was the tie that binds until their bond is threatened, not only by the cry for secession but by a woman.

While Laurel Gray Hawthorne's life seems neatly on track - a passionate marriage, a treasured daughter, and a lovely home in suburban Victorianna - everything she holds dear is suddenly thrown into question the night she is visited by the ghost of a her 13-year old neighbor, Molly Dufresne.

Southern Justice is a work of fiction about a horrendous murder in a small town. A stranger will unravel many dark secrets while trying to get to the truth about the murder of an elderly couple.

An'gel and Dickce Ducote tend to stay put in Athena, Mississippi, but a wedding is a good reason to say a temporary farewell to Charlie Harris's cat Diesel and go visit relatives. But while their stay in Louisiana is scorching hot, the atmosphere at the wedding is downright cold, with bride-to-be Sondra Delevan putting her trust fund above little things like love and loyalty. When a violent storm supposedly sweeps Sondra off a balcony to her death, the sisters discover that many of the guests attending the wedding had major reasons to object to Sondra's marriage.

It's Christmastime, and the ladies of Witch Hazel Lane are going all out. Caroling, bonfires, Christmas parties, not to mention the decorating! But in the midst of all the fun, Birdie Devaine is given a gift she can't seem to get rid of - the presence of her old flame, Lucifer. Yes, that Lucifer. He's come to do some bargain shopping himself...for souls. And when the town's fake Santa is found keeled over only days away from Christmas, the whole town is left in a wintry shock.

Southern California is where dreams come true—or so Scarlett Gardner thought. When she moved there and opened the Palm Trees and Page Turners bookshop, she thought her boyfriend and business partner would be part of the story. When he leaves her for a better job, Scarlett finds herself struggling to keep her new business afloat. And that’s not the only thing she has to worry about—she discovers something underneath the pier by her bookshop that she didn’t outline for her life’s story: the dead body of a book-buying customer.

In their younger years, Trey Macready and his best friend Ben Marsh were distributors and enforcers for the local distillers who made their small hamlet of Ewald, Virginia, the moonshine capital of the world. But that was years ago, and now the only tie to their criminal past is the Felons’ Ball—Trey’s annual birthday party where they regale the crowed with tales of their youthful exploits. But when Ben is found dead after Trey’s fiftieth celebration, it’s clear those connections may not be past at all.

After her father’s murder, Janet Wright returns to her folksy childhood home to tie up loose ends and mend her broken heart. But the sassy heroine soon discovers that there is more than meets the eye within the enigmatic small town entangled in secrets, scandals, and lies. This suspenseful southern thriller will have Wright facing pieces of her broken childhood and fighting for her life. Mystery, murder, and romance converge to keep you listening section after section.

Caroline McAlister, college professor and lifelong skeptic, is reeling from the loss of her father and her marriage. Her once promising career has come to a standstill. When her father bequeaths the family cabin to her, it comes with a ghost who haunted her childhood. When she discovers a century-old journal in the attic, she awakens the voice of Carson Quinn. The journal reveals Carson's love for the same hollow that enthralled Caroline growing up. A little sleuthing uncovers rumors that the kind, curious boy in the journal grew up to murder his brother.

Graham Greene's first published novel tells the story of Andrews, a young man who has betrayed his fellow smugglers and fears their vengeance. Fleeing from them, with no hope of pity or salvation, he takes refuge in the house of a young woman, also alone in the world. Elizabeth persuades him to give evidence against his accomplices in court, but neither she nor Andrews is aware that to both criminals and authority, treachery is as great a crime as smuggling.

Fifteen-year-old Mattie Lee Watson dreams of men, not boys. So when James T. Cullowee, the Kudzu King, arrives in Cooper County, North Carolina, in 1941 to spread the gospel of kudzu—claiming that it will improve the soil, feed cattle at almost no cost, even cure headaches—Mattie is ready. Mr. Cullowee is determined to sell the entire county on the future of kudzu, and organizes a kudzu festival, complete with a beauty pageant. Mattie is determined to be crowned Kudzu Queen and capture the attentions of the Kudzu King.

Based on true crime, Jar of Pennies follows the story of how a murderer was brought to justice in small town east Texas. A book as much about east Texas culture deep in the pine forests of the state as it is about a chain of murders and the gathering of evidence, this riveting narrative has elements of both humor and noir as it rockets to its conclusion.

Hanna and Alex risked their lives to put mob boss Xander Lacroix behind bars. When they learn of his early release from prison and one of his henchmen starts a relentless campaign of harassment and revenge, they both find themselves again on the precipice of chaos and danger. The alarming death of a local woman in Alex's hometown of Dugganville leads to a surprising chain of events that quickly escalates into a deadly struggle with the dark forces of crime and corruption in the Low Country of South Carolina.

In Denton, Arkansas, the fate of the high school football team rests on the shoulders of Billy Lowe, a volatile but talented running back. Billy comes from an extremely troubled home: a trailer park where he is terrorized by his unstable mother's abusive boyfriend. Then Billy's abuser is found murdered in the Lowe family trailer, and all evidence points toward Billy. Now nothing can stop an explosive chain of violence that could tear the whole town apart on the eve of the playoffs.

Mason Fitzgerald is your average teenage boy. Until recently, his life has been fairly mundane: He's about to start his sophomore year of high school, hangs out with his best friend, and just went through his first breakup. All of these things seem normal, but what Mason doesn't know is that the nightmare he's had throughout his life is about to become more than just a bad dream.

After their mama's passing, Marygene Brown returned to Peach Cove Island to help her sister, Jena Lynn, run the family diner, renowned for its homemade peach desserts. But Mama is never too far away - her sassy spirit haunts the island, and more specifically Marygene. Lately Mama has been warning her that the dead will seek her out to solve their murders, an idea Marygene is far from peachy keen on. But that prophecy appears to be coming true when she goes skinny-dipping off the island and swims right into a woman's charred corpse floating in the waves.

This coming-of-age tale set in the mountains of post-WWII North Georgia features a fourteen-year-old Zeb Barton, his irascible surgeon father, and Thelka, the gun-toting maid who mentors Zeb through progressively dangerous times. Even though the book is set in the 1960's, many of the characters are still reeling from the damages of WWII combat while others are being haunted by dead family members.