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A Spy in the House (The Agency Mysteries)
By Y. S. Lee. 2009
Rescued from the gallows in 1850s London, young orphan and thief Mary Quinn is offered a place at Miss Scrimshaw's…
Academy for Girls where she is trained to be part of an all-female investigative unit called The Agency and, at age seventeen, she infiltrates a rich merchant's home in hopes of tracing his missing cargo ships.Payback (Orca Currents)
By Deb Loughead. 2017
This is the fourth story featuring Dylan O'Connor after The Snowball Effect, Caught in the Act, and Rise of the…
Zombie Scarecrows. Dylan O'Connor is in trouble again. While riding his bike home after dark, he has a run-in with a truck but doesn't give it a second thought until police show up at his door the next day. CCTV cameras put Dylan at the scene of a crime, and when the police question him, Dylan realizes he was an inadvertent witness. But he doesn't tell them the driver of the truck was Jeff Walker, a nasty piece of work. Dylan knows it's in his best interests to keep his mouth shut. Then he starts getting stalked by Jeff's weirdo sidekick, Eliot Barnes, a classmate of Dylan's. Is Eliot trying to protect Dylan, or is he making sure he stays silent? This short novel is a high-interest, low-reading level book for middle-grade readers who are building reading skills, want a quick read or say they don’t like to read!Murder at the Merton Library (A Wrexford & Sloane Mystery #7)
By Andrea Penrose. 2023
For fans of Miss Scarlet and the Duke and Bridgerton—a masterfully plotted mystery that combines engaging protagonists with rich historical…
detail and &“an unusually rich look at Regency life,&” (Publishers Weekly), plus a touch of romance that readers of Amanda Quick and Deanna Raybourn will savor. Responding to an urgent plea from a troubled family friend, the Earl of Wrexford journeys to Oxford only to find the reclusive university librarian has been murdered and a rare manuscript has gone missing. The only clue is that someone overheard an argument in which Wrexford&’s name was mentioned. At the same time, Charlotte—working under her pen name, A. J. Quill—must determine whether a laboratory fire was arson and if it&’s connected to the race between competing consortiums to build a new type of ship—one that can cross the ocean powered by steam rather than sails—with the potential to revolutionize military power and world commerce. That the race involves new innovations in finance and entrepreneurship only adds to the high stakes—especially as their good friend Kit Sheffield may be an investor in one of the competitors. As they delve deeper into the baffling clues, Wrexford and Charlotte begin to realize that things are not what they seem. An evil conspiracy is lurking in the shadows and threatens all they hold dear—unless they can tie the loose threads together before it&’s too late . . .Death and the Sisters (A Mary Shelley Mystery #1)
By Heather Redmond. 2023
The tangled relationships between Frankenstein author Mary Shelley, poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Mary&’s stepsister Jane Clairmont form the backdrop…
for an intriguing historical mystery, set in London in 1814, that explores the complex dynamic between sisters and the birth of teenaged Mary&’s creative genius. London, 1814: Mary Godwin and her stepsister Jane Clairmont, both sixteen, possess quick minds bolstered by an unconventional upbringing, and have little regard for the rules that other young ladies follow. Mary, whose mother famously advocated for women&’s rights, rejects the two paths that seem open to her—that of an assistant in her father&’s bookshop, or an ordinary wife. Though quieter and more reserved than the boisterous Jane, Mary&’s imagination is keen, and she longs for real-world adventures. One evening, an opportunity arrives in the form of a dinner guest, Percy Bysshe Shelley. At twenty-one, Shelley is already a renowned poet and radical. Mary finds their visitor handsome and compelling, but it is later that evening, after the party has broken up, that events take a truly intriguing turn. When Mary comes downstairs in search of a book, she finds instead a man face down on the floor—with a knife in his back. The dead man, it seems, was a former classmate of Shelley&’s, and had lately become a personal and professional rival. What was he doing in the Godwins&’ home? Mary, Jane, and Shelley are all drawn to learn the truth behind the tragedy, especially as each discovery seems to hint at a tangled web that includes many in Shelley&’s closest circle. But as the attraction between Mary and the married poet intensifies, it sparks a rivalry between the sisters, even as it kindles the creative fire within . . .The Girl Who Was Taken: A Gripping Psychological Thriller
By Charlie Donlea. 2017
The bestselling author of Twenty Years Later delivers a chilling thriller where nothing is at it seems and each reveal…
is more shocking than the last…right up to the jaw-dropping final twist.&“A gripping thriller that will blow readers away." –Mary Kubica, New York Times bestselling author on Don&’t Believe It&“A superb storyteller.&” —Robert Dugoni, New York Times bestselling authorTwo abducted girls—one who returns, one who doesn&’t. The night they go missing, high school seniors Nicole Cutty and Megan McDonald are at a beach party in their small town of Emerson Bay, North Carolina. Police launch a massive search, but hope is almost lost—until Megan escapes from a bunker deep in the woods. . . . A year later, the bestselling account of her ordeal has made Megan a celebrity. It&’s a triumphant story, except for one inconvenient detail: Nicole is still missing. Nicole&’s older sister, Livia, a fellow in forensic pathology, expects that one day soon Nicole&’s body will be found and her sister&’s fate determined. Instead, the first clue comes from another body—that of a young man connected to Nicole&’s past. Livia reaches out to Megan to learn more about that fateful night. Other girls have disappeared, and she&’s increasingly sure the cases are connected. Megan knows more than she revealed in her book. Flashes of memory are pointing to something more monstrous than she described. And the deeper she and Livia dig, the more they realize that sometimes true terror lies in finding exactly what you&’ve been looking for . . . &“A fast-moving page-turner. . . . Donlea skillfully maximizes suspense by juggling narrators and time all the way to the shocking final twists.&”—Publishers Weekly &“Well worth the read.&”—Booklist &“Donlea&’s sophomore effort is solid. He keeps the reader guessing and second-guessing until the end, thanks to an expertly crafted abundance of potential suspects.&”—Library JournalCall of the Void (Sloane Donovan Mysteries #2)
By J. T. Siemens. 2024
Now a fully-fledged private investigator, Sloane Donovan is bored by her latest task of keeping a debauched starlet alive and…
out of the headlines as she films a movie in Vancouver. When she and her partner Wayne Capson are contacted by a grieving mother looking to resurrect the cold case of her missing daughter, Sloane finds herself inexorably drawn into a clandestine world of disappearing girls, illegal narcotics and loose ends dating back forty years.Careening from the hardest edges of the city to creepy rural backroads where cries go unheard, Sloane’s relentless quest places the people closest to her at risk, while her own personal demons threaten to devour her. Lightning-paced and unputdownable, Call of the Void cements Sloane Donovan’s position amid the new generation of hard-boiled sleuths.Reckoning (The Ty Dawson Mysteries #3)
By Baron Birtcher. 2023
Ty Dawson is a small-town sheriff with big-city problems, in this riveting crime thriller from the award-winning author of Fistful…
of Rain. As lawman, rancher, and Korean War veteran, Ty Dawson has his share of problems in the southern Oregon county he calls home. Despite how rural it is, Meriwether can&’t keep modernity at bay. The 1970s have changed the United States—and Meriwether won&’t be spared. A standoff looms when the US Fish & Wildlife Service seeks to separate longtime cattleman KC Sheridan from his water supply—ensuring the death of his livestock. If that&’s not enough trouble, a Portland detective is found dead in a fly-fishing resort cabin. Though the Portland police, including the victim&’s own partner, are eager to write off the tragedy as a suicide, Ty has his own thoughts on the matter—as well as evidence that points to murder. His suspicions soon mire him in a swamp of corruption that threatens nearly everyone around him. Turns out that greed and evil are contagious—and they take down men both great and small . . .Praise for the Ty Dawson Mysteries &“Combines the mystery and honesty of Craig Johnson&’s Longmire with the first-person narration of a fiercely independent Oregon character.&” —Sheila Deeth, author of John&’s Joy &“A masterful work of a time gone by . . . Ty Dawson is a cowboy, lawman, father and philosopher like none other.&” —Neal Griffin, Los Angeles Times–bestselling author of The Burden of ProofAccessory to Murder (Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper #3)
By Elaine Viets. 2007
A secret shopper turns amateur sleuth when her best friend’s husband is accused of murder in this mystery by the…
Anthony and Agatha Award–winning author.Josie Marcus has an eye for the finer things in life. Unfortunately, her wallet can’t keep up—as a single mom and mystery shopper, she won’t be moving out of St. Louis’s suburbs anytime soon. Good thing her best friend, Alyce Bohannon, doesn’t mind sharing a taste of the high life in her posh gated community, Wood Winds. But the refined neighborhood turns ugly with gossip when Alyce’s neighbor, the well-heeled scarf designer Halley Hardwicke, is murdered.Talk is cheap . . . until the detectives begin questioning Alyce’s husband, Jake, about the crime. So Josie decides to do a little sleuthing of her own, going undercover to unravel the secrets of the cliquey Wood Winds wives. Hopefully she can clear Jake’s name and uncover the truth before the killer snags another victim.Fixing to Die (Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper #9)
By Elaine Viets. 2013
Mystery shopper Josie Marcus unlocks a DIY murder case when her new house’s “good bones” takes on multiple meanings…Josie’s been…
busy with a personal shopping project—scouring suburban St. Louis for a starter home for her and her newlywed husband, Dr. Ted Scottsmeyer. So she’s thrilled when Ted’s veterinary partner, Dr. Christine Cormac, hooks them up with a beautiful house, which her flaky sister, Rain, inexplicably abandoned months earlier. But before they’ve even picked out the paint, Josie and Ted discover Rain’s body beneath their backyard gazebo and Christine is immediately boxed up for murder.Now, Josie’s new home is a crime scene and Christine is headed for the big house…unless Josie steps in. Good thing she’s handy around a murder investigation, because she’ll need all her sleuthing skills to unpack the clues, flip the case, and nail the real killer.The Sultan of Sarawak: An Ava Lee Novel: The Triad Years (An Ava Lee Novel #14)
By Ian Hamilton. 2022
Shop Till You Drop (The Dead-End Job Mysteries #1)
By Elaine Viets. 2003
BIMBOS, BUSTIERS, AND BOTOX! MURDER MOST FASHIONABLE…Author Elaine Viets kicks off this funny and fresh cozy series—about a woman on…
the run from her ex—with a rollicking tale of crime and vanity in the shadow world of wannabe molls. When unlikely sleuth Helen Hawthorne flees St. Louis, she fetches up in Fort Lauderdale, suddenly surrounded by the beautiful and the Botoxed.They all shop at the same place—Juliana’s, the overpriced boutique where Helen works. And they’re all looking for a wealthy wise guy to take to the cleaners.It’s a dead-end job with no perks—but one that pays in cash. A little shady, but it beats leaving a paper trail. Turns out shady’s only the beginning.Juliana’s holds more secrets than a confessional, beginning with theft and drug sales, progressing to ever more ambitious scams, and inevitably, given the escalating level of crime, the murder of a felonious fashionista. The good news is there’s a reward—and Helen needs money. The bad is that she could die before she collects it.Readers will find Helen the perfect cozy protagonist—an ordinary woman squeezed by circumstance, feeling her way as she takes control of her life whatever way she has to do it, innocent yet growing savvier by the second. You root hard for her as she settles into the role of amateur detective because you just can’t help identifying with her and hoping you’d rise to the occasion as well. And you’ll laugh out loud at the sly way author Viets skewers the South Florida culture of vanity and money.Fans of everywoman heroines like those created by Joanna Campbell Slan, Donna Andrews, Joanne Fluke, CeeCee James, Jana DeLeon, and Janet Evanovich will fall in love with this plucky investigator. And they can settle in for a long and beautiful relationship. The best news is the series is fifteen books strong, and counting!Murder with All the Trimmings (Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper #4)
By Elaine Viets. 2008
‘Tis the season for sleuthing when secret shopper Josie Marcus’s ex falls victim to a festive fiend…Josie’s latest mystery shopper…
report won’t help business at Naughty or Nice, Maplewood’s raunchy year-round Christmas store. But she can’t worry about work when her ex-dealer, ex-convict, ex-boyfriend, Nate Weekler, just came home for the holidays, prepared to fight Josie for custody of their daughter. Josie wishes he’d catch the next sleigh out of town, but instead, Nate is poisoned…and suddenly Josie is a person of interest.With Nate’s criminal past, he’d never make Santa’s “Nice” column, but his own list of enemies also includes plenty of “Naughties” who might want him dead. Josie will need her team of little helpers to wrap up this case, before the killer commits another holiday homicide.Clubbed to Death (The Dead-End Job Mysteries #7)
By Elaine Viets. 2008
From Anthony and Agatha Award-winning author Elaine Viets—the thrilling mystery series about one woman trying to make a living... while…
other people are making a killing.The Superior Club is where Fort Lauderdale’s wealthiest—and snobbiest—come to play. But for Helen Hawthorne, it’s all work and no play. As a customer care clerk, it’s her job to cater to the clients’ every little whim and take care of their every little problem.But Helen has a very big problem of her own. After an acrimonious reunion with her ex-husband Rob, she ends up belting the bum in the mouth—which invites suspicion when Rob goes ominously missing. And when a club employee and a philandering member are found beaten to death with a golf club, the police assume Helen was the deadly duffer.With her freedom—and yet another job—on the line, Helen has no choice but to prove that someone else at the high-class club is a low-down killer…Final Sail (The Dead-End Job Mysteries #11)
By Elaine Viets. 2012
From Anthony and Agatha Award-winning author Elaine Viets—the thrilling mystery series about one woman trying to make a living... while…
other people are making a killing.As one half of Coronado Investigations in sunny Fort Lauderdale, Helen Hawthorne is working full time alongside her handsome hubby Phil. And after the surprising number of murders Helen helped solve while earning low pay on off the books jobs, anything else should be smooth sailing, right?Unfortunately, Helen’s unique work history also makes her a natural for undercover work—and in this case that means she’s going right back to scrubbing and cleaning while acting as a “yacht stewardess” to catch some smugglers. And even more annoying is the fact that Phil must stay on shore to figure out if a wealthy man has fallen victim to his gold-digging trophy wife.But after a member of the yacht crew disappears, Helen’s case quickly goes from simple smuggling to maritime murder. And if she doesn’t find out who pitched the man overboard, she might end up lost at sea herself…Just Murdered (The Dead-End Job Mysteries #4)
By Elaine Viets. 2005
From Anthony and Agatha Award-winning author Elaine Viets—the thrilling mystery series about one woman trying to make a living... while…
other people are making a killing.After all she’s endured with her own marriage, divorce, and subsequent flight from alimony, Helen Hawthorne getting a job at Millicent’s Bridal Salon is ironic in the extreme. But the pay is in cash and that’s what matters for Helen to stay incognito.But there’s no amount of cash worth having to deal with the abominable Kiki—a wealthy witch who’s lording it over her daughter’s wedding plans with the aim of making the day all about Kiki, not the bride. She also thinks her money makes her invulnerable…but she’s proven wrong when she’s found smothered to death with her daughter’s wedding dress. And worse, the cops seem to think Helen is responsible.Now, Helen has to keep her identity secret and prove her innocence before the bride and groom read their wedding vows—and the police read Helen her rights…The Fashion Hound Murders (Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper #5)
By Elaine Viets. 2009
Mystery shopper Josie Marcus is on the hunt for a killer when a pet store employee mysteriously dies after blowing…
the whistle on possible puppy mill connections…Josie’s latest assignment is one for the dogs—literally! Pets 4 Luv, a national pet store chain, has hired Josie to mystery shop its St. Louis suburban locations and she discovers possible puppy mill suppliers. When an employee tipster is killed in a suspicious hit-and-run, Josie’s job suddenly gets a lot hairier.Posh pets are a million dollar business for puppy mills; even so, Josie is staggered to think that her sniffing around led to an innocent woman’s murder and may have put her own life at risk. But she’s not ready to tuck her tail and run just yet. Using every bit of her secret shopper savvy, Josie must follow the designer dog trail to expose the illegal breeders, shutter the puppy mills, and finally collar the vicious killer on the loose.High Heels Are Murder (Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper #2)
By Elaine Viets. 2006
Secret shopper Josie Marcus checks out an exclusive shop where the shoes are to die for in this cozy mystery…
by the Anthony and Agatha award–winning author.Josie’s boss just assigned her a coveted gig—mystery shopping at Soft Shoe, one of the hottest boutiques in St. Louis. But trying on their exclusive designer footwear isn’t the treat Josie expected thanks to Mel Poulaine, Soft Shoe’s top seller. His hands-on fascination with feet goes far beyond professional interest. Josie’s scathing report kills Mel’s career . . . and later that night, someone kills Mel.Josie is determined to stay out of it. But when her neighbor’s daughter, Cheryl Malmy, becomes a suspect, Josie decides to investigate. It turns out “Perfect Cheryl” has more than a few dirty secrets in her closet, drawing Josie deeper into the seedy suburban underbelly. But can she trip up a killer who always seems to be one step ahead?Murder Unleashed (The Dead-End Job Mysteries #5)
By Elaine Viets. 2006
From Anthony and Agatha Award-winning author Elaine Viets—the thrilling mystery series about one woman trying to make a living... while…
other people are making a killing.At the Pampered Pet Boutique in Fort Lauderdale, the dogs are treated better than the people—a fact not lost on Helen Hawthorne, who is working at the fabulous and furry canine salon where the wealthy dog owners need a muzzle more than their beloved pets.And while some things shouldn’t happen to a dog, they do happen to humans—as Helen discovers when she drives out to the lavish home of Tammie Grimsby to deliver a freshly fluffed Yorkie, only to find Tammie stabbed to death with a pair of grooming scissors. In a panic, Helen speeds out of there—but she doesn’t report the murder, lest her own criminal past come to light.But that doesn’t mean she can’t look into the stabbing on the sly. As Helen sniffs around both the boutique and a growing list of pure breed suspects, she knows that her bark will have to be worse than her bite if she’s going to put the collar on a killer…Murder Between the Covers (The Dead-End Job Mysteries #2)
By Elaine Viets. 2003
From Anthony and Agatha Award-winning author Elaine Viets—the thrilling mystery series about one woman trying to make a living... while…
other people are making a killing.Helen Hawthorne is still on the run because of her refusal to pay her worthless ex-husband alimony. But a girl’s gotta eat…and pay rent, utilities, etc. So she’s taken a cash-paying job at Fort Lauderdale’s own Page Turners bookstore. And while the job is decent enough, the owner of the store is anything but.Page Turner III is a boor with more money than brains: he’s cheating on his wife while running his family business into the ground and has a list of enemies longer than any bestseller. So when he turns up dead, no one is too surprised. What is surprising is where—in the bed of Helen’s glamorous gal pal Peggy, whose usual bedmates are more cultured, refined…and still breathing.Worse still, it turns out that Peggy once had a tryst with the late Mr. Turner that ended quite badly, with a scorned Peggy promising the lothario payback—and someone is making it look like she finally collected. With Peggy as the prime suspect in a murder, it’s up to Helen to prove her friend innocent before the police throw the book at her…Killer Cuts (The Dead-End Job Mysteries #8)
By Elaine Viets. 2009
From Anthony and Agatha Award-winning author Elaine Viets—the thrilling mystery series about one woman trying to make a living... while…
other people are making a killing.Miguel Angel’s chic salon is where Fort Lauderdale’s high society hairdos get done. Even though Helen Hawthorne is just a gofer at the upscale salon, she has to admit the fabulous Miguel Angel is a master at the craft of coif.But with great heads of hair come great headaches. Especially when Miguel Angel and Helen try to prepare the pregnant fiancée of Kingman "King" Oden for her nuptials. King is a bloated, loudmouth bully with a gossip blog, a TV show, and a lousy attitude. When King tries to throw his weight around the shop, Miguel Angel delivers a vicious dressing down—along with a killer threat.Unfortunately, that’s why Miguel Angel is named the prime suspect when King's body is found drowned in a pool at his own wedding. Helen knows her boss might have a temper, but murder? That’s just not his style.So it’s up to Helen to find out which of King's countless enemies wanted to give him a final, fatal rinse…