Womens Fiction Thriller

It's been a sleepy summer for the folks of Lake Eden, Minnesota. In fact, it's been a whole four months since anyone in the Swensen family has come across a dead body - a detail that just made the front page of the local paper. And that means Hannah Swensen can finally focus on her bakery. . .or can she? Life is never really quiet for Hannah. After all, her mother's wedding is a little over a month away and guess who Delores put in charge of the planning?

The daughter of a distinguished soldier, Bess Crawford follows in his patriotic footsteps, volunteering to serve her country as a nurse during the Great War. In 1916 she promises Lieutenant Arthur Graham that she will carry his dying request to a brother. When Bess arrives at the Graham house in Kent, Jonathan Graham listens to his brother's last wishes with surprising indifference.

Jessica's in Washington, D.C., to support a senator's new literacy initiative. The week-long literacy event includes a visit to the White House to meet the president and a lavish party or two. But during one affair at the senator's home in Virginia, Jessica discovers the dark side of politics. At the foot of a rickety staircase, she finds the body of the senator's chief of staff - and he has taken a permanent recess.

Follow Mae West as she searches for clues to bring killers to justice in this Campers and Criminals Cozy Mystery bundle.

Ruth and Nelson investigate a string of murders and disappearances deep within the abandoned tunnels hidden far beneath the streets of Norwich. Norwich is riddled with old chalk-mining tunnels, but no one's sure exactly how many. When Ruth is called in to investigate a set of human remains found in one of them, she notices the bones are almost translucent - a sign they were boiled soon after death. Once more she finds herself at the helm of a murder investigation.

The handpicked stories in this collection introduce us to the most determined of gumshoe gals, from debutant detectives like Anna Katharine Green's Violet Strange to spinster sleuths like Mary Roberts Rinehart's Hilda Adams, from groundbreaking female cops like Baroness Orczy's Lady Molly to contemporary crime-fighting PIs like Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone, and include indelible tales from Agatha Christie, Carolyn Wells, Edgar Wallace, L. T. Meade and Robert Eustace, Sara Paretsky, Nevada Barr, Laura Lippman, and many more.

Peta Gore is the bane of her friend’s otherwise successful life. Maria Worth has come to hate her old friend - a noisy, vulgar glutton. There is no other way to describe Peta. She doesn’t just “have a good appetite” - she sucks and chomps and chews with relish. Not only are her table manners horrifying, but she has a habit of showing up at Maria’s carefully planned singles’ gatherings and spoiling everything by flirting with all the men.

The yuletide season in Lake Eden, Minnesota, guarantees a white Christmas, delectable holiday goodies from Hannah Swensen's bakery, The Cookie Jar - and murder. As a shadow hangs over her friends' Christmas wedding, Hannah's determined to cook a killer's goose before anyone else gets burned.The Cookie Jar's busiest time of the year also happens to be the most wonderful time...for Christmas cookies, Hannah's own special plum pudding - and romance!

A former CIA operative turned art dealer waits in Italy, wounded and in hiding, for the cavalry. According to his SOS, only Mrs. Pollifax will do....

It's summertime in Lake Eden, Minnesota, which means picnics aplenty for bakery proprietress and amateur sleuth Hannah. Then Uncle Gus is murdered following a big family reunion, and the only clues to be found at the crime scene are two slices of Hannah's infamous carrot cake.

Best-selling author Joanne Fluke serves up a tasty treat from her Hannah Swensen series in Apple Turnover Murder. Hannah is feeling the heat when she agrees to bake apple turnovers for a fundraiser and partake in the charity talent contest. But when Hannah discovers the MC dead with one of her apple turnovers in his hand, she realizes someone has murder on the menu.

Nursing a broken heart, Robbie Jordan is trading in her life on the West Coast for the rolling hills of Southern Indiana. After paying a visit to her Aunt Adele, she fell in love with the tiny town of South Lick. And when she spots a "for sale" sign on a rundown country store, she decides to snap it up and put her skills as a cook and a carpenter to use. Everyone in town shows up for the grand reopening of Pans 'n Pancakes, but when the mayor's disagreeable assistant is found dead, Robbie realizes that not all press is good press.

When Natalie Shelton thinks back to how things were before the car accident, she remembers a great marriage. She and her husband, Zack, seem as strong and dependable together as the houses he builds. They live in Portland, Oregon, and Natalie is co-owner of a successful accounting firm. They're happy, she's almost sure of it. Yet as Natalie lies trapped in a coma, unable to communicate though aware of everything around her, she realizes that her husband is hiding something.

Everyone knows the dead woman under the lighthouse, but no one seems to know why she died. What brought the folk-rock star back to Exham on Sea after so many years? Who wanted her dead? Does the key to her murder lie in the town, or far away across the Atlantic? Libby Forest arrives in Exham to build a new life making cakes and chocolates, and discovers a talent for solving mysteries, helped by Bear, an enormous Carpathian sheepdog, and a cast of local characters.

London, 1883. Actress Lizzie Dixie drowned in the River Thames, so how was she murdered five years later in Highgate Cemetery? Intrepid Fleet Street reporter Penny Green was a friend of Lizzie's, and Scotland Yard needs her help. Does Penny unwittingly hold clues to Lizzie's mysterious death? Penny must work with Inspector James Blakely to investigate the worlds of theater, showmen, and politicians in search of the truth. But who is following her? And who is sending her threatening letters?

New York Times best-selling author Joanne Fluke will leave listeners hungry for more with this, her best recipe for murder yet. Devil’s Food Cake Murder finds the residents of Lake Eden, Minnesota, buzzing with activity. Perhaps busiest of all is Hannah Swensen, proprietor of The Cookie Jar, who is experimenting with a devil’s food cake recipe. But no matter how hectic times may be, Hannah can always find time to help a friend—particularly a dead one.

Anna Graves' whole life has recently been turned upside down. A new mother, she's just gone back to her job as a radio presenter and is busy navigating a new schedule of late-night feeding and early morning wake ups while also dealing with her newly separated husband. Then the worst happens. While Anna is walking on the beach with her daughter, she's attacked by a crazed teenager. Terrified, Anna reacts instinctively to protect her baby.

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.

Kenzi Brannon loves the single life in California. She hasn't looked back since the day she walked away from her painful past. Everything comes crashing down when Kenzi gets a call about her estranged sister's suicide. If that news isn't shocking enough, she also learns that she is now guardian to Ember, a niece she doesn't even know. Kenzi heads up north and finds herself in her family's long-abandoned house. Neighbors whisper rumors of hauntings, but Kenzi has a more serious concern-mounting evidence points to her sister's death not being self-inflicted.

Hannah is thrilled to be marrying Ross Barton, her college crush. And her excitement only grows when she learns he'll be able to join her on her trip to New York City for the Food Channel's dessert chef contest. They get a taste of the Big Apple before Hannah wins the Hometown Challenge and the producers bring all the contestants to Lake Eden to tape the remainder of the show. It's nerve-wracking enough being judged by Alain Duquesne, a celebrity chef with a nasty reputation. But it's even more chilling to find him stabbed to death in the Lake Eden Inn's walk-in cooler.