Showing results by author "Elaine Viets" in All Categories

Josie mystery-shops doggy daycare centers, including Uncle Bob’s Doggy Day Camp, known for its outrageous TV commercials, with Uncle Bob acting like a dog. But Josie discovers when the cameras are off, Uncle Bob is mean as a rabid dog. Franklin, the man who rents from Josie’s mother, works for Bob, and plans to quit now that he’s seen Bob’s cruelty. But Bob is murdered, and Franklin is arrested for the crime. Josie has to catch a killer and clear Franklin’s name–before more trouble is unleashed.

Josie Marcus savors her new assignment. She has to eat local food specialties for a City Eats Food Tour. She gets paid to eat toasted ravioli at Tillie’s Off the Hill Italian restaurant, but the fun goes out of this assignment when a customer is poisoned. Tillie is an old friend of Josie’s mother, and Josie can’t refused when her mom begs Josie to investigate. Was the victim the real target, or was someone trying to ruin the restaurant’s reputation? Josie has to find a killer who has no reservations about dishing up murder.

Newlyweds Josie and veterinarian Ted Scottsmeyer are happily married, and they buy their first house, a fixer-upper, from Ted’s partner, Christine. When they tear down the rickety gazebo in the backyard, they find the body of Christine’s sister, a free spirit who supposedly took off six months ago. The police arrest Christine for murder, and Ted has to work long hours at his practice to cover for his now jailed partner. Josie has to find the real killer to save her marriage and Christine.

Mystery-shopper Josie Marcus is thrilled to be getting married, and her latest assignment is perfect. She has to shop wedding flowers and cakes. Meanwhile, her future mother-in-law is trying to turn her simple wedding into an extravaganza. Josie’s finance is stalked by Molly, a homicidal bridezilla. Molly is shot, and Ted’s mother is arrested for the bridezilla’s murder. Josie has to find the killer before she can marry the man she loves.

Josie is assigned to mystery-shop a chain of lingerie stores, and she’s surprised to find her high school gym teacher, Mrs. Hayes, working as a shop manager and “C-cup counselor.” Even worse, Josie finds a high school acquaintance murdered in a restroom near the shop, her hands bound with the bra she just purchased. Thanks to a secret from her past, Mrs. Hayes has a motive for this murder, and a flimsy alibi. Josie has to find the real killer to save Mrs. Hayes.

Husband and wife PI team Helen Hawthorne and Phil Sagemont are hired by Trish Barrymore, who is divorcing her no-account accountant Mort. When Mort is found dead, Trish is the main suspect. She wants Helen and Phil to find out who killed Mort Barrymore—and more importantly, kidnapped Justine, the couple’s pedigreed Chartreux show cat. Helen goes undercover as an assistant to a woman who shows prizewinning Persians. Under the primping, posing, and purring, cat shows are a high-pressure world, and now the stakes are life and death.

Josie Marcus thought mystery-shopping pricey clothes for fashion-forward pups would be fun. Until she’s hired to check out a big pet store and finds out it’s involved with puppy mills.

Helen and Phil discover dark undercurrents of corruption behind the facades of cute beachfront businesses, as well domestic secrets. Helen and Phil have to solve this crime soon—before they’re all up a creek without a paddle.