Showing results by author "Alexie Linn" in All Categories

My name is Mary Linn Hasenpfeffer. I’m 15 years old. I’m in my sophomore year of school, and today is the first day of my 12th school since first grade. All I want to do is finish school in peace, maybe make a new friend, and help my mother get through the chemo and back to herself.

The body wedged in the doorway, floating on a pool glass shards and red liquid, was very much alive. But the body laid out under a palo verde tree in my retention pond was very much dead. The live body wedged in the doorway was blinded in the line of duty, living a demoralizing life of forced retirement with no enemies and no hope. The corpse under the Palo Verde tree was a county code enforcer with a plethora of enemies - and I was the targeted fall gal for the murder. A cozy mystery set in the desert southwest that started as two women on an adventure.

How many bodies does it take to jump-start the recovery of Elaine, the Hoarder? “It depends,” says Joan Freed, the rebel life coach, “on the variables, like which corpse - if any - is the cause of the hoarding.” This spiraling, hoarding, self-help mystery starts at Oak Flats Campground - east of Phoenix, Arizona. It quickly moves to Wellton - east of Yuma - where Joan is greeted by Elaine, a gray haired dumpling of a woman, and several years of saving "stuff" spread over 20 acres.

The rules state contestants must be 18-years-old. Bobby is 12 years old, going on 32. His father has vanished. His mother is rehabbing after being run over by a boulder.

The good news is what Joan and Jenny didn’t find when they tore into Jenny’s vintage Scotty for a makeover. But what they discovered in the false walls, the too short floor space, and secured to the underside of drawers more than made up for the lack of cadavers that most cozy mysteries require. Add to the adventure a kidnapping rescue, a big, beautiful red-headed narcissist magnet, and a smooth-talking cad that’s got his eye on Jenny. How many ghosts can live in a 40-year-old, 16-foot-long RV?

When Charlemagne (the pup) vanishes to uncover a lottery ticket alongside the road, Sally embarks on a tangled quest to reunite the ticket with its rightful owner. But time is ticking, and a mysterious, determined thief is hot on her trail. Will Sally and Joan crack the case before the ticket—or she—expires? Should she just cash it in and keep it for herself? What’s an 87-year-old spunky woman to do?

What if your 12-year-old grandson’s fingerprints turned up in a missing person’s database? What would you do? Would you investigate? Or blow it off as a blip in cyberspace?

That Sally the Loner would be at an ice cream social is surreal. But when she turns her van around to go to an ice cream social, it becomes a phantasmagoric moment for the record books.

Have you ever felt like you have to don your Yosemite Sam persona to protect your home from marauders? But not because you flaunt and hoard treasure. Oh no. It’s because the marauders aren’t in it for the loot alone. The marauders get their kicks from breaking and turning everything in their path inside out. It’s like they get their jollies from turning tidy, functional, and organized needs into heaps of trash. The cost in dollars, time, and outside help to repair and replace what these yahoos tear apart is more than Sally can manage at 87 years old.

Join Sally and Rodney on an out-of-this-world adventure as they team up with the enigmatic alien, G0ld3n$SunSat (Gordy Gordon), who crash-landed on Sally's igloo roof in a desperate bid to save his lost love Carmen (C133klmnop). Armed with a crucial energy cell and a pet rock with homing chip, Gordy must navigate Earth's treacherous terrain to reunite with Carmen before it's too late. Sally must convince her skeptical village of mystery solvers of the unbelievable truth before the clock runs out or go it alone.

Outside the door of her quaint little igloo in the desert, she encounters the most unexpected visitor - an orange tabby cat like no other. But here's the twist: Sally insists she has no pets! Meet Spaghettio, the mischievous cat with an agenda that keeps Sally on her toes. As the cat's relentless pursuit chases her back into the safety of her home, Sally's world transforms into a captivating mystery.

In The Secrets of the Tainted Trough, imagine waking up from a nap to see a donkey and a horse peering through the screen door, both desperately thirsty. Would you give them a drink? And then what? Sally, an energetic 87-year-old woman, faces this exact dilemma. Intrigued by the animals, she decides to investigate why they keep returning to her property. What she discovers shocks her to the core - their water trough is contaminated with a body. But whose body is it? And how did it end up in the water trough?

Get ready to embark on a whimsical and mysterious journey with Sally, a woman who has always been pet-free, as she grapples with the unexpected appearance of a black and white billy goat in her dooryard. This goat has no intention of leaving and becomes a constant and quirky presence in Sally's life, pushing her beyond her comfort zone and into world of goat-related antics and misadventures.