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

With three kids underfoot, a fourth on the way, and an oppressive heat wave bearing down, homemaker Lucy Stone is hardly enjoying an idyllic summer. But her preoccupation with swelling ankles, Bavarian cream doughnuts, and sewing sequins on ballet-recital tutus gives way to dread when she learns her waistline isn’t the only thing that’s recently vanished. The strange disappearance of a retired dance instructor has the tiny coastal town of Tinker’s Cove, Maine, in a tizzy - which turns into terror when a notoriously cantankerous shopkeeper is slain right on Main Street.

As co-owners of Eastport's beloved waterfront bakery The Chocolate Moose, Jake and Ellie know their customers expect them to cream the competition. But they're really just in it for fun, hoping to get Jake's daughter-in-law baking again. Those plans collapse when fearsome local curmudgeon Alvin Carter is murdered, and every crumb of evidence points to Tiptree family friend - and all-around sweet guy - Billy Breyer. Billy's sisters beg Jake and Ellie to prove his innocence. After all, lots of folks had gone sour on Alvin.

On her morning jog, Portia Paltrow comes upon the dead body of antique-store owner and college Professor Owen Hill, sprawled across the back doorstep of Selma Parker's fabric and quilt shop on Elderberry Road. The site of their Saturday morning quilting bee just became a crime scene.

P.I. Savannah Reid is shaken to the core when coroner Dr. Jennifer Liu appears on her doorstep late one night with a disturbing confession. In a potentially career-ruining move, a remorseful Dr. Liu admits to fudging an autopsy report to keep her friend Brianne's suicide a secret - fulfilling a final promise made before the terminally ill woman administered a lethal drug cocktail. But after Dr. Liu finds the same unique mixture in a second body, she fears the deaths share a dark connection....

Jacobia "Jake" Tiptree is deep in her latest home improvement project when she notices the man repeatedly biking past her house. His face is unsettlingly familiar, but his chilling message seems inexplicable: Blood shows up again. Murder will out. Back in her days as a hotshot financial manager she did business with plenty of shady characters, but she's still baffled as to the identity of her nemesis - until she receives a photo of a murdered man. Now Jake knows what she's up against.

When Arlene Wood, a mother of two, crashes her car against a tree at four in the morning, the case seems pretty straightforward. But evidence found in the remains of the car soon raised the question of whether this was really an accident. Shortly after, her husband is taken in and later convicted of having murdered his wife. But many questions remain unanswered. Why was Arlene driving in the middle of the night? Why did she leave the house, her husband, and her sleeping children, then get into her car and drive away? Was she meeting someone? A friend? A lover? A killer?

Spring, 1935 finds the little Alabama town of Darling excited about their new local radio station, WDAR. But there are problems brewing at the newspaper, where a trio of new hires causes headaches for Editor Charlie Dickens. That’s not the worst of it, though, as the Dahlias discover when the newest resident at Bessie Bloodworth’s Magnolia Manor is found dead. She had overindulged in a large and very rich chocolate cake - but was something else baked into that cake?

It’s springtime in Benedict, Alaska, and with the warmer weather comes an unseasonably somber local tradition...the annual Death Walk. At the end of each brutal winter, citizens gather downtown and then break into groups to search the community for those who might have somehow gotten stuck at home. Beth Rivers sets off with her friend Orin and dog Gus toward the cabin of an elderly resident, intending to check on him. When they reach the cabin, the old man is alive, but not in the best shape. Beth stays with him while Orin hurries to town for help, but it’s not Orin who returns.

When a body washes up on the rocks below, everyone assumes it must be brutish Edward Parker. Weeks ago, he slipped over the cliff’s edge, never to be seen again. But on closer inspection, it’s not him. The dead man is Pat Duggan, son of a wealthy nightclub owner, and it’s not the sea that killed him—it’s a gunshot wound.

When a heartbroken Samantha “Sammy” Kane returns to her hometown of Heartsford, Wisconsin, for her best friend Kate’s funeral, she learns that Kate’s much-loved craft store is in danger of perishing with its owner. Confounding all her expectations of the life she would live, Sammy moves back home with her golden retriever and takes over Community Craft. A few doors down Main Street, fellow new arrival Ingrid Wilson has just opened the Yarn Barn, a real “purl” of a shop.

Snowcapped pines and glittery dusted sidewalks adorn tranquil Heartsford, Wisconsin, while residents cuddle beneath heirloom quilts in front of cozy wood fires. But come the next day, the below-zero temperatures won't keep the locals away from Heartsford's annual Fire & Ice event. To boost customer traffic at Community Craft's one-night-only sale, Samantha Sammy Kane persuades a few of the craftspeople who sell their wares at the store to participate in a live mannequin window display contest.

Life changes once again for British spy Miss Mary Bennet when Napoleon Bonaparte escapes from the Isle of Elba. Mary quickly departs England for Brussels, the city where the Allied forces prepare for war against the French. But shortly after her arrival, one of the Duke of Wellington’s best officers is murdered, an event that threatens to break the delicate alliance between the Allies. Mary will need to unmask the murderer before more people are killed, but can she do so and remain hidden in the background?

Clover Ridge librarian Carrie Singleton is thrilled to attend her best friend Angela's wedding, but Angela's family can be a bit...much. Angela’s wealthy cousin Donna hosts an extravagant bridal shower at her resplendent home, but the celebrations turn to gossip as the guests notice Donna's surgeon husband, Aiden, spending a bit too much time with Donna’s cousin Roxy. At the wedding reception, the sweet occasion turns darkly bitter when Aiden topples into the chocolate fountain - dead.

Daphne Marriott strolls into Clover Ridge and informs librarian Carrie Singleton that she's a psychic. But if she had foreseen what fate awaited her, Daphne would have steered clear of the quaint Connecticut town. Evelyn, the library ghost, tells Carrie that there's more to Daphne than she lets on. The mysterious woman grew up in Clover Ridge with her no-good dad, who apparently met his end at the hands of Daphne's brother, Billy. Still, Daphne proves a welcome distraction when Carrie's overbearing mother hits town. Mom's much younger husband, Tom, is in a movie that's lensing locally.

The Monday Bunch and other local knitters are participating in a fundraising auction to save a community center, creating a growing pile of stuffed animals and toys right in front of the auctioneers as they bid. Among those contributing the most knitted goods is temperamental businesswoman Marsha Hanover, who keels over halfway through the event. After she is pronounced DOA at the hospital, an autopsy reveals that Marsha had been poisoned.

London, 1880. Kat Holloway, highly sought-after young cook to the wealthy of London, finds herself embroiled in murder when she’s accused of poisoning her employer, the loathsome Sir Lionel Leigh-Bradbury. Her only help as she works to clear her name comes from the mysterious Daniel McAdam, a handsome man-of-all-work who seems to know everyone and always happens to be in the right place at the right time.

There’s a big wedding coming up, and Lucy’s promised her friend she’ll help arrange the lavish event in a newly built gazebo. Too bad the groom, internet millionaire Ron Davitz, is getting on the nerves of the locals, especially after their boats were displaced to make room for his yacht. When Ron’s body is found floating in the harbor, Lucy isn’t convinced it was an accident. From the picturesque waterfront to tony Smith Heights Road, Tinker's Cove is awash with suspects.

When shy, lonely Ivy meets a woman who claims to be her long-lost sister, she knows it’s too good to be true. She decides to trust Kate anyway. She wants a family. She wants someone to love. But she’s making a mistake. When Ivy enters Kate’s fairy-tale cottage deep in the heart of Scotland, she doesn’t come out. She’s the first to go missing, and she won’t be the last. Meanwhile, in another part of the forest, Tash’s journey is just beginning.

Vivian Wainwright is living her dream. The middle-aged widow owns the Misty Bay Tearoom, a quaint English-accented shop on the Oregon coast. But on the eve of the tearoom's second anniversary, the dream turns nightmarish when a man falls to his death from a hotel balcony. The body belongs to Dean Ramsey, ex-husband of Vivian's assistant, Jenna. Detective Tony Messina quickly zeroes in on Jenna as the prime suspect, since she was seen leaving the hotel shortly before the body was found.

Beth Rivers is still in Alaska. The unidentified man who kidnapped her in her home of St. Louis hasn’t been found yet, so she’s not ready to go back. But as October comes to a close, Benedict is feeling more and more like her new home. Beth has been working on herself: She’s managed to get back to writing, and she’s enjoying these beautiful months between summer and winter in Alaska. Then, everything in Benedict changes after a mudslide exposes a world that had been hidden for years.