Showing results by publisher "Tantor Media" in Amateur Sleuths

Empty nested and eager to start a new chapter in life, Quinn Delaney is almost ready to open her new lakeside café in the small town of Bookend Bay. But her excitement turns to trepidation when she realizes she's being followed. Confronting the stranger sets Quinn on a course where her problems no longer revolve around selecting a feature scone. She's suddenly questioning everything she believed about her marriage and her sanity. Midlife isn't supposed to bring a change like this!

When Thwing is found sleeping with the fishes beneath a local lobsterman's boat, the police quickly finger Julia's brother-in-law Sonny as the one who cooked up the crime. Sure, everyone knows Sonny despised the Mussel King . . . but Julia believes he's innocent. Proving it won't be easy, though. It seems there's a lot more than murder on the menu, and Julia needs to act fast . . .

This collection includes Irish Soda Bread Murder by Carlene O'Connor, An Irish Recipe for Murder by Peggy Ehrhart, and Mrs. Claus and the Sinister Soda Bread Man by Liz Ireland.

Ruby Mae Jewell has enough on her plate with planning a wedding. If only some lingering doubts about her future with Luke didn't stand in her way. Of course, the last thing she needs is a stranger on her doorstep dredging up family secrets . . . or bringing Ruby's long-lost mother with her. Dealing with the unexpected visitors might push her to the breaking point. But when something sinister targets the local brides, Ruby's wedding planner takes the heat.

As a celebrity assistant, Stevie Young guards the lies, scandals, and personal drama of the famous elite. Maintaining discretion is just part of her job description. When she begins working for renowned celebrity couple Dean Bennington and Lana Lim, Stevie feels like she has hit the jackpot. Both stars are prolific and refreshingly unpretentious, not to mention the objects of public obsession. When Lana suffers a mysterious injury, the incident calls into question everything Stevie previously thought. Lana's accident sets an explosive chain of events into motion.

Mac is extra busy these days as she and Tim do their best as working parents of a preschooler and a baby, not to mention Mac's participation in the Cozy Capers book group. With Ella's fourth birthday approaching, Mac uses her lunch break to shop for a gift at the Toy Soldier, which is run by June Fadiman. Behind the counter is Zia Carven, a young woman Mac recognizes as a shopper at the Free Grocery food pantry Mac's father sponsors. Zia finds Mac a kid-sized gardening toolkit Ella will love and offers to gift wrap it. In a rush, Mac plans to pick it up after work.

The local festival should've been a breeze, but when the event treasurer and woman Foxberry residents love to hate turns up murdered in a scene straight out of a twisted fairytale, I'm forced into sleuth mode. My new friend Brigid is the prime suspect, and with a telepathic sheep whisperer and cheese cartel conspiracies in the mix, things are spiraling fast. The Sheriff wants me to leave it alone, but with shady characters lurking and animals going haywire, I can't resist digging deeper. Besides, someone's got to figure out why everyone's seeing things that aren't there.

Krissy is ready to provide one of the essential ingredients for Irish coffee this St. Patrick's Day—though without a liquor license, she'll have to team up with a local bar owner to complete the recipe. It's a perfect chance to distract herself from her upcoming wedding . . . and her worries about how her beloved cat will get along with his new canine stepsiblings. As she doles out some much-needed caffeine the day after the festivities, she learns that the town is dealing with something worse than a hangover: homicide.

Not attracting attention in Willowbark is a little hard to do when your inherited apothecary shop is brimming with magic, your cat might be a dragon, and someone just turned up dead in the middle of the Halloween festival . . . inside one of the decorative cauldrons. Festive, right? Add in local witches, vampires with attitude problems, and a coven watching my every move, and yeah—blending in isn't exactly going well.

Six years ago, Mariah Blackthorne was found lying on the floor of her home, unconscious, holding the murder weapon that had killed her husband. Swearing she had no memory of the tragic event but insisting she was innocent, she nonetheless agreed to a plea deal and went to prison for the crime. Now, out on parole and desperate to know the truth, she enlists the help of local sleuth Nora Charles to find out what really happened that day—even if it means discovering she was the guilty party after all.

In the tight-knit, secretive community of Camp Springs, undercover work is a dangerous game, and Maisie Doss is playing for keeps. When a series of mysterious events pulls her deeper into a web of deceit and crime, Maisie finds herself entangled in a high-stakes operation involving the Federal Reserve, illicit fortunes, and deadly secrets. With a target on her back and trust a rare commodity, Maisie must navigate treacherous alliances, expose a cunning mastermind, and protect those she loves.

Charlene has hired a van to ferry her B&B guests to an all-you-can-eat corned beef and cabbage dinner hosted by Salem's Irish community at the Ancient Order of Hibernians club—but she should have booked a hearse. It's never a good sign when the family black sheep drunkenly crashes a party by punching the guy dressed as a leprechaun. But things go from troublesome to fatal when Charlene stumbles upon a second brawl in an upper room—and this fight Connor Gallagher loses, his anonymous assailant rushing past Charlene, hidden by a hoodie.

Besides her witch's training, Mia has a lot on her plate with her catering business and cooking school in the Idaho town of Magic Springs. As All Hallows Eve approaches, Mia has almost completed her apprenticeship with Grans and must decide if she will join the coven. At the same time, her boyfriend Trent's familiar, Cerby—an adorable Maltese whose powers are far greater than his six-pound fluffy body might suggest—has flunked out of hellhound training at the werewolf camp. Something about a dragon?

Lillian Byrd has been searching her soul after the gut-wrenching experience of killing someone in self-defense. Scrabbling to make ends meet, she takes a job as a quasi-detective, solving life's little mysteries for a pair of eccentric women in one of Detroit's last prestigious neighborhoods. When she spots a corpse on the next-door lawn, she jumps back into honest work as an investigative journalist.

Food and cocktails columnist Hayley Powell doesn't know what to believe when Lydia Partridge, the put-together owner of gourmet Bar Harbor Ice Cream, suddenly reveals fears that her husband may be having an affair. There's no other way to explain why Jamie, a respected professor, was spotted in a remote part of town with a much younger woman. But instead of learning the truth about the secret meeting, Lydia opens her freezer truck to find another surprise—the dead body of a summer employee . . .

I thought I had my hands full when Dottie Swaggert and Mary Elizabeth Moberly entered the Ms. Blossom Queen Beauty Pageant for seniors, but when I witnessed a fight at the festival between Carrie Patillo and Jason Dresser, Carrie's daughter's accused killer, I knew Jason was wrongfully accused for the murder and set up. How was I going to prove it before the trial started? Easy. Gather the Laundry Club Ladies and use our unique sleuthing skills.

Ellie's sister-in-law, Summer, has planned a four-day destination wedding at a posh private resort on one of Georgia's beautiful barrier islands, but it won't be a vacation for Ellie. Summer has asked her to assist with the last-minute details, which includes preventing two mothers-in-law from killing each other. The ladies are a handful, but the real problems are the ones Ellie and Summer haven't anticipated - like mysterious pranks directed toward the bride.

Daisy Kincaid is in her 60s and heiress to a fortune. Now she wants to make a name for herself as a romance author...with a little help from Jaine, that is. As Jaine labors away on love scenes, she gets to know the wealthy woman's gentleman friend, her household staff, and her social circle - every one of whom is horrified when Daisy falls under the spell of a much younger stud named Tommy, a rude, crude lothario who's made himself a fixture in Daisy's Bel Air mansion. It doesn't take long for someone to stab him in the neck....

It's summertime in Busman's Harbor, Maine, and the clamming is easy - or it was until a mysterious new neighbor blocks access to the beach, cutting off the Snowden Family Clambake's supply. Julia Snowden is just one of many townspeople angered by Bartholomew Frick's decision. But which one of them was angry enough to kill?

When a last-minute opportunity arises to accompany her boss to an art auction in Atlanta, Lilly throws some money at the problem of where to board her toy poodle Aggie (short for Agatha Christie). Posh Pet Haven offers the most luxurious canine accommodations in all of Chattanooga, Tennessee. The place even provides pet cams so anxious owners can check in on their pampered pooches.