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

When a fire ravages the local bookstore late one evening, Liss immediately fears the worst for owner Angie and her two young children. After the terrible blaze dies down, however, the family is nowhere to be found among the ruins. It's as if the three just vanished into smoke. Or, even stranger, like they never existed at all.

From home invasions to cheating spouses, Rest Easy Property Management owner Leticia Tish Ballard thought she'd seen it all. Almost four years sober after flambéing her real estate career in an alcohol-fueled blowout, she's finally in a good place in her life when the discovery of skeletal human remains rocks her world and plunges her headlong into solving a decades-old crime. Now she must delve into the darkness of her own past, including the one-night stand gone horribly wrong with Spence Breedlove, who happens to be the lead detective on the case.

Julia Gooden remembers nothing about the worst night of her life. Thirty years ago, her nine-year-old brother, Ben, was abducted from the room they shared. Now a crime reporter at a Detroit newspaper, Julia tries to give others the closure she's never found. But guilt and grief over Ben's disappearance have left her fearful that whoever took her brother is going to come back. And then, on the anniversary of Ben's disappearance, Julia's worst fears are realized when her two-year-old son, Will, is snatched from his bed.

While exploring the attic in her cottage near the small English village of Finch, Lori Shepherd makes an extraordinary discovery: a gold and silver bracelet inlaid with gleaming garnets, which she quickly learns belonged to Aunt Dimity. When Lori brings news of the garnet bracelet to Aunt Dimity, it awakens poignant memories of a doomed romance in Aunt Dimity's past. Regretfully, Aunt Dimity asks Lori to do what she could not bring herself to do - return the bracelet to her unsuccessful suitor or to his rightful heir.

Brandy Borne's exceedingly eccentric mother, Vivian, has been invited to perform her one-woman interpretation of the Scottish play (sometimes called Macbeth) at the neighboring town of Old York's annual fete. As soon as they arrive, tragedy strikes: the theater owner drops dead onstage while giving Vivian the grand tour. Before they know it, Brandy and Vivian are entangled in a progressively perilous murder plot.

The US Attorney's Office for the Central District of California is responsible for enforcing the federal law of the US for an area that is larger than 14 states and has a population of more than five million people. Here, follow Lizzie Scott as she untangles an excessive-force case against a cop, all while balancing agency turf battles, secret grand jury proceedings, interoffice rivalries, and on-the-make prosecutors.

Bernie's college roommate, Ellen Hadley, is burning the candle at both ends. And after her children forget her birthday and her husband forgets their anniversary, her Mother's Day expectations are understandably modest. When Bernie jokingly suggests Ellen fake her own kidnapping to set her family straight, she never imagines the stunt will find Ellen in a hotel room next to a dead body.

Lucy normally loves planning for the holidays, but this year, Tinker's Cove has fallen on hard times. With so many residents struggling, Christmas festivities are a luxury some can't afford. But the story's not so bleak at Downeast Mortgage, whose tightfisted owners, Jake Marlowe and Ben Scribner, are raking in profits from everyone's misfortune. Half the town is in their debt, so when the miserly Marlowe is murdered, the mourners are few and the suspects are many. Scribner believes Marlowe's ghost has come to warn him of his own demise, and when he starts receiving death threats, Lucy wonders if there's more to the omen....

Lucy Stone has always loved covering the annual Easter egg hunt for the Pennysaver. Hosted by elderly socialite Vivian Van Vorst at Pine Point, it's a swanky event where the eggs are as likely to contain savings bonds as they are jelly beans. But when Lucy arrives, a man dressed as the Easter Bunny emerges, only to drop dead moments later. Lucy discovers the victim is VV's grandson, and soon learns that not all is as it seems at idyllic Pine Point.

As a reporter for the Pennysaver, Lucy is assigned a puff piece on upscale Chanticleer's Chocolates. But when a local fisherman drowns suspiciously, Lucy's certain her investigative skills could be put to better use. Everyone is shocked when Fern's Famous Fudge loses its status as 'Best Candy on the Coast' to Chanticleer's pricey newfangled confections.

Lucy's getting very annoyed that her husband Bill and his friend Evan have been working seemingly nonstop on their potentially prize-winning pumpkin catapult. But when the day of the big contest arrives, Evan is nowhere to be found - until a catapulted pumpkin busts open the trunk of the Dodge. Amid the pumpkin gore is a very deceased Evan. Bill is on the hook for the Halloween homicide, so Lucy knows she's got some serious sleuthing to do.

Tinker's Cove is abuzz with excitement when Norah, the queen of daytime TV, comes to town and selects Lucy and her pals to be featured in her "Women Who Make a Difference" episode. In recognition for their charitable work, the ladies and their husbands are awarded a dream vacation in Paris, complete with classes at Le Cooking School with renowned pastry chef Larry Bruneau. But their bon voyage is cut short when Lucy discovers the chef in a pool of blood on the second day of class.

It begins with a bang: Kathleen Stone is watching her friend, Dolly, and his fellow drag queens from The Pink Parrot perform at the Halloween parade when their float explodes. Suspecting foul play, The Pink Parrot's owner, Big Mamma, hires Kat to find the culprit. Meanwhile, Kat has not given up on her quest to bring gangster Salvatore Magrelli to justice and once more dons a disguise to infiltrate The Skyview, an exclusive club run by his wife, Eva.

Forensic scientist Theresa MacLean is puzzled by the questionable death of a female construction worker at a Cleveland building site. A witness to the death - a young girl nicknamed Ghost - may be able to help. Ghost says the woman was pushed by someone she can only identify as the Shadow Man. Soon Theresa finds herself in a race against time to protect Ghost from an unknown killer before he is able to find the little girl and silence her for good.

Could a missing book be haunted? Dulcie Schwartz doesn't want to think so, but ever since it disappeared from the university, things have gone from bad to worse - one of her colleagues has been accused of homicide, and another revealed as an impostor. To top it all off, both the ghost cat Mr. Grey and the kitten Esmé seem to have switched their allegiance to her boyfriend. Deprived of feline assistance, Dulcie must uncover the truth by herself, or else find herself on the hook for the thief - and murder.

February, 1571. Ursula is once more plunged into affairs of the state when she escorts her foster daughter Margaret to the Netherlands to meet her suitor. The queen’s spymaster, Sir William Cecil, learns that the wealthy Italian banker Roberto Ridolfi will be hosting their forthcoming wedding - a man who he fears may once again be plotting to put Mary Queen of Scots on the English throne.

When a corpse is discovered by a mountain, Lacey McCrae must trade in her Christmas shopping for Victim Services in order to find the killer before they strike again.

College friends of Megan's beau, the handsome veterinarian Dr. Denver Finn, are in Winsome for a corporate volunteer event. They will be mentoring troubled kids from a nearby school during a hiking and camping trip. When one of Dr. Finn's friends is murdered at the state park, a student - a boy with a brutal history - becomes the prime suspect. With a teen's life at stake, Megan digs into the victim's past to clear the boy's name.

Part-time reporter Lucy Stone doesn’t know what to expect as she arrives on a private Maine island owned by eccentric billionaire Scott Newman, only that the exclusive experience should make for a very intriguing feature story. An avid environmentalist, Scott has stripped the isolated property of modern conveniences in favor of an extreme eco-friendly lifestyle. A trip to Holiday Island is like traveling back to the 19th century, and it turns out other residents aren’t exactly enthusiastic about living without cell service and electricity.

When long-buried human remains are found at an old deserted mill in Jackson Creek, North Carolina, newspaper publisher Ava Logan uncovers more than a cold case. With a bullet still lodged in the skull, the only certainty is the victim died a violent death. As Sheriff Grayson Ridge and an anthropologist work to identify the remains, Ava sets out to discover where love, betrayal, and family ties entwine. Determined to uncover the identity of the victim, Ava unwittingly sets off a chain reaction of consequences no one in Jackson Creek is prepared for.