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

Life is sweet when you live in Confection, Oregon. Or, at least, that's how it's supposed to be. But on a summer day, when tourists and locals alike gawk at the majestic mountains, quaint Craftsman houses, and lovely flowers - particularly the renowned Confection Rose - the last thing anyone has come to see is a dead body, unearthed from a shallow grave by a curious dog.

For Chloe Abbington, the transition from fine-art painter in New York City to painting-event business owner in charming Whisper Cove is more than a little jarring. But when poison-pen journalist Fiona Gimble writes a viciously negative review of the newly opened Paint with a View, Chloe learns that critics are the same everywhere. And when she finds Fiona's body behind her shop with a painting knife in her neck, Chloe realizes that this picture-perfect town offers anything but peace and quiet.

Lilly Jayne typically spends the harvest season baking festive pies and crafting colorful wreaths to enter in the library’s annual fundraising contest. But this year, autumn opens on a somber note when beloved local theater owner Leon Tompkin dies unexpectedly. His memorial sets the scene for a mini reunion of The Goosebush Players’ best and brightest alumni, including Hollywood star Jeremy Nolan... until someone plucks Jeremy from the spotlight - permanently.

The late - as in dearly departed - Bailey Ruth Raeburn is delighted when she's assigned a new mission by Heaven's Department of Good Intentions, even if she is no good at following the rules for Earthly Visitations. This time she's determined to be the perfect unseen emissary, no matter what it takes. Arriving late in the evening in her old hometown of Adelaide, Oklahoma, to find a woman drowning in a pond, Bailey Ruth carries out a daring rescue with textbook invisible effort. But she soon realizes there's more to the woman’s accident than a late-night walk gone wrong.

Key Zest food critic Hayley Snow and her groom, Police Detective Nathan Bransford, chose Scotland for their long-delayed honeymoon, hoping to sightsee and enjoy some prize-winning scones. But their romantic duo swells to a crowd when they're joined by Nathan's family as well as octogenarian Miss Gloria. Nathan's sister Vera takes the women on a whirlwind tour of some of Scotland's iconic mystic places as research for a looming book project. But the trip takes a deadly tartan turn when a dinner party guest falls ill and claims she was poisoned.

Renovations on Tregarrick Rock Hotel are coming along, and Evie Mead thinks they just might be done by opening day. Then one of her sister Margot’s old Hollywood friends, Louise, arrives unannounced - and expects VIP treatment. Evie has half a mind to tell Louise to find other accommodations, but Margot pleads with Evie, saying that Louise is grieving her recently deceased husband. Evie pities her, and, besides, the sisters need help. But when a member of the hotel staff is found dead and then another murder follows, the sisters’ plans crumble before their eyes.

Ally Winter is going through a ruff patch. The 30-something veterinarian lost her fiancé, her clinic, and her savings in rapid succession. So when Ally's grandfather undergoes hip-replacement surgery, she moves back to Willow Bluff, Wisconsin, to care for him. She arrives home, tail between her legs, only to find sleazy lawyer Marty Shawlin murdered in his home office. And the only witness was Marty's faithful boxer, Roxy.

After Plum Lockhart's job as a travel magazine editor is eliminated in corporate cuts, she decides she's sick of cold winters in NYC and fruitless swiping on dating apps. On a whim, she accepts a job as a villa broker and moves to a beautiful Caribbean island. However, paradise isn't as perfect as it seems: The slow pace of island life, the language barrier, and a cutthroat office rival make Plum question leaving her old life behind. But when a client is found dead in the jacuzzi of Casa Mango - a property Plum manages - she knows she's really in a jam.

After her parents' deaths, Avery Ayers takes over the family business, Antiquities & Artifacts Appraised, from the home office in Lilac Grove and a branch in Manhattan. Now living back at home with her younger sister Tilly and their newly moved-in, eccentric Aunt Midge and her Afghan hound, Avery's life is filled with jewels, tapestries, paintings, and rare finds. But their world is rocked when Avery learns that the theft of a priceless ruby may be connected to her parents' demise.

Spring is a magical time in England - bluebells massing along the woodland paths, primrose and wild thyme dotting the meadows. Antiques dealer Kate Hamilton is spending the month of May in the Suffolk village of Long Barston, enjoying precious time with Detective Inspector Tom Mallory. While attending the May Fair, the annual pageant based on a well-known Anglo-Saxon folktale, a body turns up in the middle of the festivities.

August in Lake Potawatomi, Wisconsin, always means one thing: the annual baking contest. Picture The Great British Baking Show, writ Midwestern. It's a huge draw for the upper crust of Wisconsin pastry aficionados. And, of course, bon vivant baker-turned-mystery writer Teddie St. John has a pie in the ring. The white vinyl baking tent boasts an array of folding tables housing each entrant's daily baked good. And at one of those tables sits the corpse of the head judge, his face half-buried in a delectable coconut cream pie.

Beaufort, North Carolina, is home to Chapters Bed and Breakfast, owned and operated by former schoolteacher Charlotte Reed. This historic 18th-century inn draws in voracious readers from far and wide with its lovingly curated special events celebrating a host of genres and authors. But when the president of a reclusive writer's fan club is found dead in the harbor by the Beaufort docks - done in by a blunt-force blow to the head - it's up to Charlotte Reed, her neighbor Ellen, and Ellen's trusty Yorkshire terrier to sniff out the killer.

Undeterred by the handful of hiccups she's had with her bed and breakfast in the small tourist town of Cymbeline, Georgia, Nina Fleet has her pedal to the medal to make her inn the best it can be with her trusty Australian Shepherd, Matilda. Nina takes a booth at the annual Veils and Vanities Bridal Expo, put on by the town's two wedding pros: Virgie Hamilton, retirement-aged dress shop owner, and Roxanna Query, a Gen-X event planner and Nina's new friend. But everything goes wrong when Roxanna comes tumbling out of an oversized prop wedding cake, strangled to death by a scarf.

Between her family and her reporting duties for the Tinker’s Cove, Maine, Pennysaver, Lucy Stone could use a break. So when a friend tells her about a trip to England sponsored by Winchester College, she jumps at the chance for a girls’ getaway. But when the professor leading the tour dies mid-flight after an asthma attack, Lucy’s glad she packed her sleuthing skills.

Ever since local developer Fred Stanton and his wife, Mimi, built five modular homes next door to Lucy Stone’s farmhouse, life hasn’t been the same. When Mimi doesn't show up for her shift at The Hat and Mitten Fund bake sale, the scent of burnt sugar leads Lucy to a shocking discovery: Mimi, facedown on her kitchen floor, with a knife in her back. While the police start their investigation, reporter Lucy gets busy writing up the murder for The Pennysaver - and following a few leads of her own.

Lucy Stone is in the doghouse with her next-door neighbor, Mrs. Prudence Pratt. It seems that Kudo, the Stones’ misbehaving mutt, has developed a taste for Mrs. Pratt’s blue-ribbon-winning chickens, as well as an escape artist’s talent for sneaking out. With the Fourth of July coming up, Lucy doesn’t want to set off any more fireworks with the crabby Prudence.

Vincent van Dough focaccia is being touted on Instagram as the best thing since sliced bread. By strategically placing chives, olives, and yellow peppers to look like poppies and sunflowers, bakers create a mouthwatering masterpiece in the style of the great postimpressionist painter. At Yeast of Eden, where bread making has always been an art, they're baking their own version for the school district's Spring Fling. But one person won't be tasting the Mexican bakery's latest specialty. Ambitious school-board president Nessa Renchrik has been murdered.

When Emma Lawson, the youngest lead government-ethics investigator in California's capital, takes a day off to help her best friend, Kate, prepare for the opening of her new preschool, the morning takes a shocking turn. The school's most high-profile enrollee - Vivian Lange, the governor's granddaughter - is kidnapped at the same time Kate's teenage son, Luke, goes missing.

Antonia Bingham, chef and proprietor of the Windmill Inn, is looking forward to baking goodies for her customers and relaxing after a busy summer. But when a Labor Day visit by two slick Wall Streeters ends with their gruesome deaths in a summer rental house, Antonia gets pulled into the investigation. Soon she's wading through social media, the local nightclub scene, and other unfamiliar haunts of the young and glamorous, all while managing her inn and restaurant.

Amelia Matthew has done the all-but-impossible, especially for an orphan in Gilded Age New York City. Along with her foster brother Jonas, she has parlayed her modest psychic talent into a safe and comfortable life. When a distraught mother comes to Andrew searching for her missing daughter - a daughter she believes is being hidden at the asylum - he turns to Amelia. Together, they uncover evidence of a deadly conspiracy, and then it’s no longer just Amelia’s sanity and freedom at stake. Amelia must master her gift and use it to catch a killer - or risk becoming the next victim.