Showing results by publisher "Dreamscape Media, LLC" in Amateur Sleuths

Serving a 10-year sentence in a Nevada prison for armed robbery, Ethan Lockhart hopes that he can one day become a productive, law-abiding member of society. But society has other plans for Ethan. When he’s given a 48-hour furlough to attend his sister Abby’s funeral, he learns that her body was never found - just enough blood to declare her dead instead of missing - and he begins to suspect that there’s more to her death than was reported. Ethan decides to use his 48-hour window to find out what happened.

It's a steamy September, and business is brisk at Perkatory, the hottest coffee shop in Devil's Beach, Florida. Much of the clientele pours in from Dante's Inferno, the hot yoga studio next door. But the bright, sunny Gulf Coast days turn decidedly dark roast when the body of the studio's owner turns up in a nearby swamp.

Langston Brown is running out of time and options for clearing his name and escaping death row. Wrongfully convicted of the gruesome Mother's Day Massacre, he prepares to face his death. His final hope for salvation lies with his daughter, Liza, an artist who dreamed of a life of music and song but left the prestigious Juilliard School to pursue a law degree with the intention of clearing her father's name.

Things are finally growing smoothly on the Finn Family Farm. With the help of caretakers Joe and Alice Wong and farmer Samuel Brown, Charlotte Finn is starting to feel at home at the Santa Barbara County produce farm she inherited. But all is not strawberries and cream: A blight is destroying young berry plants. Worse, another mysterious death is shaking Little Acorn.

November 1800, Maine. After helping their longtime friend Tobias escort his wife, along with a liberated slave and her child, from the Great Dismal back to Durham, Will and Lydia Rees’ lives are interrupted when a dead body is found near their home. The body is that of Mr. Gilbert, a slaveholder from the Great Dismal. Was he murdered in pursuit of the former slaves?

It's movie time in Sugar Springs, and the whole town is pitching together to get the historical Coliseum Theater ready for the event of the year - the premiere of Missing Girl, local author Wally Harrison's best-selling novel turned film. Thrilled to bring tourists to Sugar Springs, the town comes together to host the late author's event. But when a stranger arrives, boasting he has definitive proof that Wally didn't write Missing Girl...well, drama leaps from the page into real life.

The last scion of a once-powerful political family, Worcester mayor John O'Toole has his sights set on vastly higher aspirations. When night-shift paramedic Thomas Archer uncovers a secret that could upend the mayor's career, O'Toole is set on silencing him and sends Eamon Conroy, a brutal former cop, to ensure the truth remains under wraps.

On a dull and dreary October day, Lori Shepherd and her husband set off for a quiet weekend without the kids. But before they go, he must pay a visit to a reclusive client. After Lori drops him off, a storm that's been brewing intensifies, and she ends up stranded in an ancient, rambling inn named for a king's ransom in smuggled goods that passed through the village in ages past. When Lori begins hearing footsteps and strange noises, Aunt Dimity reminds her that the inn is almost certainly haunted but that not all ghosts are interested in harming the living. But the longer Lori is stuck at the inn, the stranger things seem.

With Angie and Tate's wedding just around the corner, it's a happy time for Melanie Cooper and the bakery crew. Not only are they finessing the last-minute details of the big day, but their bakery, Fairy Tale Cupcakes, has just been hired to bake cupcakes for the blockbuster book signing of a controversial author who wrote a steamy best seller filled with juicy local gossip. But one by one, the people Angie has hired to work the wedding begin turning up dead. As the body count rises, the best-selling author is the next to bite the dust.

Kate McKay had doubts about swapping her high-powered life in Manhattan for Wolfert's Roost, the quaint Hudson Valley village where she grew up. But when she moves back to care for her ailing grandmother, Kate decides to start fresh and indulge her dream of running an ice-cream shop. But as Lickety Splits Ice Cream Shoppe becomes a reality, her childhood frenemy, Ashley Winthrop, starts selling frozen treats in the bakery across the street. After the two rivals draw crowds with a heated argument, Ashley is found stabbed to death inside the bakery.

Even though resourceful caterer Faith Fairchild has called the sleepy Massachusetts village of Aleford home for most of her adult life, she isn't familiar with Havencrest until the owner of Rowan House calls her about catering a weekend house party. While discussing the lavish party he's planning for his 70th birthday, Max Dane - the legendary Broadway musical producer/director - makes a startling confession: "I didn't hire you for your cooking skills, fine as they may be, but for your sleuthing ability. You see, one of the guests wants to kill me."

It's fall in Winter Garden, Virginia, and business at the Down South Cafe has never been better. So when struggling beekeeper Stuart Landon asks Amy to sell some of his honey, she's happy to help. The jars of honey are a sweet success, but their partnership is cut short when she discovers his body outside the cafe early one morning. It seems unlikely that someone would have wanted to harm the unassuming beekeeper, so Amy worries that she might have been the intended target.

On a cold evening, Zeb, a single mum in her thirties, is found wandering aimlessly on a remote road. She is dazed, confused, and bloodied. She doesn't know where she is or how she got there. She has travelled far from home and someone has attacked her. Memory loss means she can trust no one, and, with her assailant unidentified, Zeb is desperate to be reunited with her son and to ensure his safety. But what will her search for the truth uncover? Will it bring answers or more questions? And what if the person she can rely on the least is herself?

The Down South Cafe is open and flourishing, and Amy Flowers is busy making pies and cakes for the holiday. The only thorn in her side is the chamber of commerce director George Lincoln, who is trying to buy the cafe so he can tear it down and build a B and B on the site. When George collapses while eating at the Down South, everybody assumes it's a heart attack - until the autopsy declares it to be poisoning.

Two of her four kids may be out of the nest, but Lucy Stone knows only too well that mothering is a lifetime commitment. At least that commitment means she gets to kick back and enjoy a fancy Mother's Day brunch - that is, before the festivities are interrupted by a nasty scene between two moms feuding over the popularity of their teenage daughters. Even after witnessing that scene though, Lucy never expects to see actual blood spilled.

With their reality TV series Antiques Sleuths, Brandy Borne and her quaintly kooky mother, Vivian, have a real hit on their hands. But when another hit enters the picture, Brandy's implicated for the crime. With Brandy now wearing basic jailhouse orange, Vivian must largely investigate alone, sorting through a rogue's gallery of suspects that includes a too-friendly farmer's wife, a ratings-happy TV producer, a questionable husband-and-wife auctioneer team, and even the chief of police himself!

Local artist and amateur sleuth Penny Brannigan has been spending her summer painting views of the once-lovely Gwrych Castle, which is now in a heartbreaking state of disrepair. So when she hears that one of the locals, Mark Baker, is leading a team of enthusiastic volunteers to restore the castle, she is thrilled. However, after disagreements over how the work should proceed break out, the body of an overbearing volunteer is discovered and Mark is implicated.

Francis Bacon never cared much for country living, so he is overjoyed when his father sends him to Berlin as punishment for his not-so-innocent flirtations with the other boys at school. With afternoons at the cinema, dinner at the Hotel Adlon, and nights at the most outrageous cabarets in Germany - and in his Uncle Lastings' bed - he'll fit right in.

Francis Bacon was having a ball in Berlin - until his uncle Lastings disappeared, leaving Francis alone, broke, and wanted by the burgeoning Nazi party for a political murder he didn't commit. Luckily, for a young painter still learning his craft, there's no better place to find refuge than the cafes of Paris. In the City of Lights, Francis can perfect his French, complete his education, and - if he's lucky - escape with his life. Strolling along the boulevard one lovely evening, he hears gunshots and sees a Russian emigre cut down by an assassin.

Not many people knew Old Dan Malone. The grizzled barkeep's social circle was limited to the rough-hewn lobstermen who frequented his bar. But when Dan's body is found bobbing in the icy harbor, Lucy Stone makes getting to know more about Old Dan a priority. Rumors abound: Old Dan conned a winning lottery ticket worth five grand from a local musician, Old Dan stiffed a handyman for repair work done to the bar. The confusion is compounded by the arrival of Dylan Malone, Old Dan's brother.