Showing results by publisher "Blackstone Audio, Inc." in Women Sleuths

Stinging deaths aren't uncommon in the summertime, but when Henry Wiest turns up stung to death at an Indian reservation, Detective Hazel Micallef senses not all is as it seems. And when it turns out the "bee" was a diabolical teenaged girl on a murder spree with a strange weapon, a dark and twisted crime begins to slowly emerge. The questions, contradictions, and bodies begin to mount, as two separate police forces struggle to work together to save the soul of Westmuir County.

Mystery writer Lorinda Lucas tosses yet another paperback in the trash, appalled at the gruesome direction of today's crime fiction. She's even more disturbed at the half-starved state of Roscoe, the cat next door. Before Lorinda left for her latest book tour, Roscoe was as plump and pampered as her own two felines. It only takes a modicum of sleuthing to find out that in Lorinda's absence Roscoe's owner, Macho Magee, has acquired a new girlfriend-a harridan who has put the gentle Macho and his pet on a strict diet. And that's only the first disturbing news in Brimful Coffers.

When a seemingly simple case turns complicated, respected attorney Barbara Holloway must rethink her game plan. Gregarious Las Vegas entertainer and ex-con Wally Lederer claims he's turned his life around. But when Jay Wilkins, a childhood friend, accuses Wally of stealing a valuable artifact, it's up to Barbara to ferret out the truth. Wally swears he's innocent. But when a murder takes place and the police name Wally as their prime suspect, Barbara knows he is in serious trouble.

Victoria Trumbull, 92-year-old native of Martha's Vineyard, is savoring the sea air over Vineyard Sound with her granddaughter, Elizabeth, when she spots a person who seems in trouble near the top of a cliff. Elizabeth goes for help, but it's too late - the man dies before he can be rescued.

It's autumn of 1881, and Inez Stannert, still the co-owner of Leadville, Colorado's Silver Queen saloon, is settled in San Francisco with her young ward, Antonia Gizzi. Inez has turned her business talents to managing a music store, hoping to eventually become an equal partner in the enterprise with the store's owner, a celebrated local violinist. Inez's carefully constructed life for herself and Antonia threatens to tumble about her ears when the badly beaten body of a young musician washes up on the filthy banks of San Francisco's Mission Creek canal.

Life becomes more complicated than usual for LAPD Captain Josie Corsino after she chairs a disciplinary board that recommends firing a five-year police officer with a poor performance record and a history of irrational behavior. During his board of rights, the officer swears vengeance against her and anyone he believes is responsible for ruining his life and career.

Alice Roosevelt, the brilliant, danger-loving daughter of President Theodore Roosevelt, has already risked an assassin's bullet to solve one murder. She never expected to have to sleuth another, but she'd never pass up the opportunity, either. Anything to stave off boredom. And such an opportunity presents itself when Alice is invited to a lavish ball. The high-society guests are in high spirits as they imbibe the finest wines. But one man, detested by nearly all the partygoers, quaffs a decidedly deadlier cocktail.

Gin Sullivan is back in her small hometown of Trumbull, Pennsylvania, on an extended leave from her job at the Chicago medical examiner's office and rekindling an old flame with her high school sweetheart, Jake. Gin is readjusting to life at home when Jake receives harrowing news early one morning: the new housing development his construction firm is building has caught fire, and underneath one of the burnt homes is a dead body.

It's a crime scene worthy of Hieronymus Bosch, so shocking and so senseless that it challenges the local law and intrigues veteran reporter Geneva Chase, whose career may be dying alongside that of her small-town newspaper.

Chicago, 1881. Assigned to her second case as a Pinkerton, Lilly still needs to prove herself - both as a detective and as a woman in a man's world. Ordered to again work with Lilly, Cade needs to redeem himself for conduct unbecoming to a Pinkerton - a grief-driven drunken brawl. As if their forced partnership wasn't bad enough, the agents must pose as husband and wife servants in the troubled household of a wealthy New Orleans family. An acting challenge if ever there was one.

A sweltering July in Chicago, 1923. Edna Ferber, now a famous short-story writer, is supposed to be researching the novel that will become So Big, her Pulitzer-Prize winner. With her mother, Julia, she spends the week visiting her mother's old childhood friend, Esther Newmann, who lives with her family on the edge of the bustling Maxwell Street Jewish marketplace. But the awful specter of a scandalous murder 15 years before suddenly haunts Edna.

When the man who raped Scottsdale private investigator Lena Jones when she was a nine-year-old foster child is released from prison, Lena is waiting for him in the parking lot - with a big knife. "Papa" Brian Wycoff survives their meeting, but the next day, his wife is found dead in their Apache Junction home, shot through both eyes. Terrified he will be next, Wycoff violates his parole and flees north to the small town of Black Canyon City, taking shelter in an RV on his brother-in-law's small ranch.

Rookie cop Laura Mori catches her first investigation when the fiery crash of a sports car lights up the night sky. The fire burns the car and the body within it beyond recognition, but the police are able to identify the vehicle as belonging to Kent Jameson, a celebrity author and benefactor of their small town of Sunrise Lake, Oregon. Kent Jameson fears that the body is that of his 17-year-old daughter, Lucy, who stormed out of the house that night after an argument.

The dead don't keep pets. So when animal behavior expert Pru Marlowe gets a call about a kitten, she doesn't expect to find the cuddly creature playing beside the cooling body of prominent local lawyer David Canaday. Heart attack? His three adult daughters angrily blame drug interactions, feline allergies - and each other. And they begin to feud over their father, his considerable estate, and that cute ball of fluff.

Life is looking up these days for Chicago PI Cat DeLuca. Her Pants on Fire Detective Agency is booming, and FBI boyfriend Chance Savino still curls her toes. She both adores and dodges her outrageous Italian family. Mama's latest scheme to marry her off involves a romantic cruise, insane amounts of champagne, and a hijacked priest to tie the knot. But Cat's near-perfect world is thrown into a tailspin when Captain Bob's dog is kidnapped and a ghost from the past threatens to expose a terrible secret.

One afternoon while standing outside her newly renovated Malibu house, Diana Poole sees a woman across the highway waving at her, but Diana doesn't recognize her. Still waving, the woman walks into the oncoming cars and is killed instantly. Why would anyone do such a thing? The next night, still horrified by the accident, Diana is held at gunpoint by a man demanding the dead woman's scorpion. What kind of scorpion? A live one? A brooch? A pendant? Diana searches the accident scene and finds a diamond-encrusted object in the shape of a scorpion.

California zookeeper Theodora Bentley travels to Iceland to pick up an orphaned polar bear cub destined for the Gunn Zoo's newly installed Northern Climes exhibit. The trip is intended to be a combination of work and play. But on day two, while horseback riding near a picturesque seaside village, Teddy discovers a man lying atop a puffin burrow, shot through the head. The victim is identified as American bird watcher Simon Parr, winner of the largest Powerball payout in history.

Chicago, 1881. The idea of a female detective is virtually unheard of. But when famed crime buster Allan Pinkerton opens his agency's doors to a handful of women, one intrepid actress with her own troubled past is driven to defy convention and take on a new and dangerous role. Since the age of 11, when her mother was murdered, the life of the theater is all Lilly Long has known. Now 22, she has blossomed into an accomplished Shakespearean actress.

The summer after she graduated from high school, Gin Sullivan's sister, Lily, went missing. Her family fell apart, not to mention her relationship with her high school sweetheart, Jake. Now, almost 20 years later, Gin is living in Chicago and working as a medical examiner when she gets the call that a body's been found in the woods outside her small hometown. It's Lily's. As Gin examines her sister's remains, she uncovers a shocking truth that could change everything - if it doesn't kill her first.

Settled in to their new home after they lost their house in a fire, and fully established in their new shared offices, private investigator Sharon McCone and her business partner husband, Hy, are finally starting to feel comfortable. That calm is shattered when Hy's former colleague, Gage Renshaw - a shady troublemaker whom they presumed dead - reappears, and it's unclear what he wants from his prosperous former associate.