Amateur Sleuth Suspense

One-time socialite Maud Warner polishes up the rags of her once-glittering existence and bluffs her way into a signature New York restaurant on a sunny October day. When she shoots Sun Sunderland, the "Pope of Finance", as he lunches with "accountant to the stars" Burt Sklar - the man she's accused for years of stealing her mother's fortune and leaving her family in ruins - she deals the first card in her high-stakes plan for revenge.

Past midnight, Chyna Shepard, twenty-six, gazes out a moonlit window, unable to sleep on her first night in the Napa Valley home of her best friend’s family. Instinct proves reliable. A murderous sociopath, Edgler Foreman Vess, has entered the house, intent on killing everyone inside. A self-proclaimed “homicidal adventurer,” Vess lives only to satisfy all appetites as they arise, to immerse himself in sensation, to live without fear, remorse, or limits, to live with intensity. Chyna is trapped in his deadly orbit.

It's the day of the Christchurch Dog Show. The whole town is aquiver with excitement. The ladies of the Charity Shop Detective Agency are hoping to make lots of new furry friends. After a very dramatic Best Biscuit Catcher competition, Fiona, Sue, and Daisy from the Dogs Need Nice Homes charity shop come across a shocking scene. The dog show's vet is performing CPR on a woman. The ladies rush over, but it's too late. Back at the shop, the ladies learn that the poor woman was murdered. Someone injected Sylvia Steadman with something very nasty indeed.

Lady Emily Hardcastle is an eccentric widow with a secret past. Florence Armstrong, her maid and confidante, is an expert in martial arts. The year is 1908 and they've just moved from London to the country, hoping for a quiet life. But it is not long before Lady Hardcastle is forced out of her self-imposed retirement. There's a dead body in the woods, and the police are on the wrong scent. Lady Hardcastle makes some enquiries of her own, and it seems she knows a surprising amount about crime investigation...

Nine months ago, Sadie Greene shocked friends and family by ditching her sensible office job in the Chicago suburbs and buying a sight-unseen French bicycling tour company, Oui Cycle. Now she’s living the unconventional life of her dreams in the gorgeous village of Sans-Souci-sur-Mer. Sans souci means carefree, but Sadie feels enough pressure to burst a tire when hometown friends arrive for a tour, including her former boss, Dom Appleton. Sadie is determined to show them the wonders of France and cycling—and to prove she made the right move.

After unexpectedly losing her husband, Hope Herring and her daughter, Cori, leave their home and move away to start over in a new town. With a heavy heart, a new house, a new job, and a new community, Hope is trying to settle in when she is reluctantly drawn into two mysteries. Will Hope and Cori find the clues to a killer before he or she strikes again?

Three charming small-town cozy mysteries set in the heart of Derbyshire — perfect for fans of Richard Osman, M.C. Beaton, and classic British whodunits. Welcome to The Bookworm Bookshop & Café, where the coffee is warm, the friendships are strong, and murder is never far from the next chapter. Join Gemma, Mavis, and the rest of Belper’s quirky residents as they turn amateur sleuths. This collection includes the first three complete novels in The Bookshop Mysteries — over 21 hours of murder, secrets, and small-town intrigue.

Keshav has set up an investigation agency with his best friend, Saurabh. Can the two amateur detectives successfully solve another murder case that affects them personally? And where will it leave their friendship?

Sixty-year-old Jane Hunter, forced into early retirement from her job as a university librarian, is seeking a new challenge to keep her spirits up and supplement her meager pension. But as she’s about to discover, a retiree’s life can bring new thrills—and new dangers. Cameron “Cam” Clewe, an eccentric 33-year-old collector, is also seeking something—an archivist to inventory his ever-expanding compendium of rare books and artifacts.

'Tis the season for mince pies, mulled wine... and murder! A dead body. A locked Christmas stall with no way in or out. A cunning killer who's gone before the tea's gone cold. Christmas in Southbourne should be all twinkly lights and festive cheer, but Fiona, Daisy, and Partial Sue—the retired trio who run Dogs Need Nice Homes charity shop— have little to celebrate. What with the elusive "Southbourne Stalker" prowling the streets of their sleepy seaside town, they're in need of a little seasonal magic.

There’s bad news for Samantha Warren: the plucky Houston, Texas, reporter lost her job and her fiancé in rapid succession. But Sam has a way of making lemonade out of the bitterest of lemons.

Danielle Garrett presents Books 1-5 of the Sugar Shack Witch Mysteries, a paranormal cozy mystery series filled with magic, mystery, family squabbles, sassy heroines, and a mysterious monster hunter—all with a little sugar sprinkled on top. This bundle includes Sprinkles and Sea Serpents, Grimoires and Gingerbread, Mermaids and Meringue, Sugar Cookies and Sirens, and Hexes and Honey Buns.

Former actress and lifestyle guru Donna Bruce is found dead in her sauna cabin, the victim of a swarm of bees. With the town buzzing about whodunit, reporter Odelia Poole and Detective Chase Kingsley are on the case. Meanwhile, Max, Odelia’s blorange tabby, has a crisis of his own—he’s been put on a strict diet! Weak, cranky, and deprived of snacks, solving crimes is harder than ever. And to make matters worse, Odelia has put Harriet, her mother’s white Persian, in charge of the feline investigation! Harriet’s idea of detective work? Scrolling through celebrity gossip and watching cat videos.

In the small village of Kilbane, County Cork, Ireland, Natalie's Bistro has always been warm and welcoming. Nowadays twenty-two-year-old Siobhan O'Sullivan runs the family bistro named for her mother, along with her five siblings, after the death of their parents in a car crash almost a year ago. It's been a rough year for the O'Sullivans, but it's about to get rougher.

Jay Hallett leaves a flourishing law career in Boston to return to his hometown of Anchor Point on Cape Cod. He secretly purchases the local lighthouse and surrounding property to open The Shipwreck Cafe. Rich in history, the lighthouse is rumored to be haunted by multiple ghosts and hiding a buried treasure worth millions. But when two murders in as many weeks transpire in Anchor Point, Jay must discover who is killing the locals and why.

Southern California is where dreams come true—or so Scarlett Gardner thought. When she moved there and opened the Palm Trees and Page Turners bookshop, she thought her boyfriend and business partner would be part of the story. When he leaves her for a better job, Scarlett finds herself struggling to keep her new business afloat. And that’s not the only thing she has to worry about—she discovers something underneath the pier by her bookshop that she didn’t outline for her life’s story: the dead body of a book-buying customer.

After her mother is sent to prison for art forgery, Edie Brown returns to Northern Vermont to rebuild her family’s fine art and antiques business. She’s certain she can do it now that her mother is gone. After all, butting heads with her mom over bad business practices was what drove Edie away three years ago, including a screw-up that landed Edie on probation for selling stolen property. When Edie scores a job appraising a waterfowl decoy collection at a hoarder’s farmhouse, she’s determined to take advantage of the situation to rebuild the business’s tarnished reputation.

Librarian Nancy Daley loves a good mystery and enjoys moonlighting as a consultant for the sheriff’s department. When license plates go missing in Tipton County, she’s on the case. This time things are different—she’s been partnered with the new deputy, and he’s not interested in her help. To make matters worse, she’s angered the wrong person and is now being threatened.

It’s been 12 years since Sandi Parkman went missing after being dropped off at home by her schoolmate, Nick Larson, now the Sheriff of Freeport, Michigan. When a construction crew unearths Sandi’s bones - along with Nick’s letterman jacket and one of his hairs - Nick becomes suspect number one in the murder.

Beth Rivers is on the run - she’s doing the only thing she could think of to keep herself safe. Known to the world as thriller author Elizabeth Fairchild, she had become the subject of a fanatic’s obsession. After being held in a van for three days by her kidnapper, Levi Brooks, Beth managed to escape, and until he is captured, she's got to get away. Cold and remote, Alaska seems tailor-made for her to hide out, and she feels safer than she’s felt since Levi took her. That is, until she’s told about a local death that’s a suspected murder.