Showing results by publisher "Tantor Media" in Amateur Sleuths

It's a truth universally acknowledged that a genuinely top-notch party must be in want of a theme. Allie Catt, caterer and personal chef in the beautiful mountain community of Asheville, North Carolina, has devised a winning formula by using her clients' favorite books as inspiration. Her first themed event is based on Pride and Prejudice (Allie's cat, Darcy, approves), and it's so popular that soon she has grand ideas for future parties based on Rebecca, The Great Gatsby, Babette's Feast, and more.

England 1921. Lady Elizabeth Gaskins is throwing a big party to celebrate her birthday. But when an odious guest gets killed and steals her thunder, her father, the Earl of Buxley, becomes a suspect. After all, he came to blows with the dead man in front of several witnesses. Determined to find out who murdered his childhood friend, Lord Buxley summons a detective from Scotland Yard. Not to be outdone, Lady Bess and her spunky cohorts, the oldest Dowager Countess and great aunts, embark on a hunt for the killer.

It's love at first sight when Cleo arrives in Fairhope, Alabama, after taking early retirement from her longtime position as professor of social work. Touted as "the nicest town in the world," Fairhope is home to an eclectic community of retirees. Harbor Village boasts classes in painting, pottery, and photography, not to mention being a buyer's market for husbands. It seems an ideal place to make new friends and rediscover life. Until a dead body is found in the pool. When the victim turns out to be the unpopular director of senior living, Cleo is named acting director.

While private investigator Maya Kendrick is still mentoring her new partner, PTA president Sandra Wallage, in the detective game, the two women don't need incredible powers of deduction to know their marriages are on the rocks. With Maya's ex-cop husband in prison and Sandra's senator spouse separated from her, both find themselves investigating the dating scene. Until Diego Sanchez turns up dead.

California, Southern Humboldt County, 1985. Renata Drake steps off a Greyhound bus and into small-town Garberville, hoping to disappear. She checks the papers. She's not headline news. Not yet. But she's made a mistake. The FBI have the cannabis-producing "Emerald Triangle" town—and its corrupt residents—in their sights. Even worse, a teenage girl is missing, and when she turns up dead, the third in three years, it's clear a serial killer is living among them.

Baker Georgia Tepper has been hired to provide delicious and spooky cupcakes for the Reading Buddies Halloween Party at the library, and she and Kathleen are meeting to finalize the menu of festive confections. Unfortunately, once Georgia's former mother-in-law ambushes her at the library and threatens Georgia with legal action, the afternoon of fun is soured. When Georgia's litigious in-law is later found dead and the friendly baker is implicated, Kathleen is eager to help prove her innocence.

If Poppy didn't believe she was in too deep as the only female juror in a high-profile assault case involving an infamously hot-tempered crooner, she's sure of it upon meeting blast-from-her-past Rod Harper. A former TV costar from her short-lived acting days, Rod is as dashing as ever, and now he wants to partner again - this time to locate his missing daughter. Returning a pampered songstress with a penchant for running away back home unscathed shouldn't be too challenging. But dodging Rod's charms while on the job is another story - and so is finding a dead body!

Gideon is happy to be in Mexico with his wife - until he's asked to examine the mummified corpse of a drifter thought to be shot to death. Gideon's findings reveal that the cause of death is far more bizarre. Then he's asked to examine the skeleton of a murder victim found a year earlier - only to discover another coroner error.

Bangalore, 1922: Pregnant and confined to the house by her protective mother-in-law, Kaveri Murthy has resolved to take a break from detection. But when an elderly woman is stabbed at night and dies clutching a photograph of Kaveri while asking for her help—how can she refuse? Missing the assistance of her husband Ramu, who is working in Coorg, Kaveri investigates her new case with her able assistants, milk boy Venu and housemaid Anandi. They find a trail of secrets that lead them to suspect the killer may be in Coorg.

When Deputy Coroner Mattie Winston and her boss/best friend, Izzy, are called to the home of waitress and part-time model Shannon Tolliver, they find the ghoulish Halloween decorations a bit too authentic. Among the fake blood and skeletons is the corpse of Shannon herself. Since the whole town knows Shannon recently had a very public spat with her estranged husband, Erik, he's suspect number one. But Mattie happens to know Erik truly loved his wife and is simply incapable of the brutal act - even if he owns the exact same caliber handgun as the murder weapon....

Derbyshire, December 1861. Haunted by the events of the summer, Samantha Kingston has found her retreat to the country less restful than she hoped. When a house party reintroduces V. T. Wyatt into her life after a three-month absence, she has mixed feelings. It doesn't help that they must keep their distance to stop the gossip mill running. But when Samantha stumbles across the body of someone she recognizes and in whose death she fears she may have played a part, keeping their distance becomes impossible.

Daidoji Shin, unrepentant wastrel with a taste for scandal and dice, coasts through his role as Crane Clan's trade envoy in the City of the Rich Frog. But when a case of poisoned rice threatens the brittle peace between the competing clans, the Imperial Governor drags Shin from his indolence and orders him to find the culprit. Despite himself, Shin uncovers an intriguing conspiracy involving more than just dead rats.

After Lindsey Bakeswell catches her celebrity chef fiance sizzling in the arms of another woman, Lindsey leaves big city Wall Street for small town Beacon Harbor, Michigan, to pursue her own passion as a pastry baker - and gets mixed up in someone's sweet taste of revenge.

Portland is famous for its rain, hipsters, craft beers...and coffee. Sage Caplin has high hopes for her coffee cart, Ground Rules, which she runs with her business partner, Harley - a genius at roasting beans and devising new blends. That's essential in a city where locals have intensely strong opinions about cappuccino versus macchiato - especially in the case of one of Sage's very first customers. Sage finds the man's body in front of her cart, a fatal slash across his neck.

What's a kitchen witch to do when her almost-fiance leaves her suddenly single and unemployed? For Mia Malone, the answer's simple: move to her grandmother's quirky Idaho hometown, where magic is an open secret and witches and warlocks are (mostly) welcome. With a new gourmet dinner delivery business - and a touch of magic in her recipes - Mia's hopes are high. But her first catering job takes a distasteful turn when her client's body is found stabbed and stuffed under the head table.

Josie Posey, a mature yet ever-feisty big city crime reporter turned crime solver, has officially retired to a touristy small town in middle America where she and her posse of friends "unofficially" have their noses in everything. Josie loves her new life, but a weekly game of mahjong isn't enough: she itches to get back into the action. She gets more than she bargained for when The Village Gazette asks her to interview their local celebrity, a former NYC prima ballerina. Then, the ballerina's husband is discovered dead—face down in the couple's beloved field of flowers.

When twenty-five-year-old Danika Delaney, black sheep of the Delaney clan, returns home to Long Island to take over Jimmie's, her eccentric uncle's old fashioned malt shop on eastern Long Island, she's not exactly thrilled. But things start to look up when her uncle tells her she can do whatever she'd like with the shop, and it seems she might realize her dream of a small trendy cafe. That is, until she discovers the body of her ex-boyfriend's estranged wife in a melted puddle of rocky road in the malt shop basement.

In this small Midwestern town, everyone has something to hide, from Japanese business interests eyeing a piece of property to an angry sharpshooter harboring a murderous obsession. Meanwhile, working women struggle to make their way in a man's world, and their primary opposition might well be...other women.

In the second installment of Maria DiRico's new Catering Hall Mystery series, Mia Carina is back in the borough of Queens, in charge of the family catering hall Belle View Banquet Manor, and keeping her nonna company. But some events - like murder at a shower - are not the kind you can schedule....

Drafted as chaperones, Maya Kendrick and PTA president Sandra Wallage are accompanying the SoPo High seniors to the nation's capital—much to the embarrassment of Maya's daughter Vanessa and Sandra's son Ryan. Now both moms are about to find out which is harder—shepherding unruly high schoolers or solving a murder. The last sight they expected to see on this trip is a female intern who works for Sandra's soon-to-be-ex-husband, Senator Stephen Wallage, in a fatally compromising position.