Suspense Amateur Detective

He's no Tony Soprano. Still, local crime boss Giustino "Tino" Fabrizio is one shady character that Tara would love to see behind bars. He operates a security business - or so he claims on his tax forms - but his clients don't feel so secure when it's time to pay up. Problem is, no one can get close enough to nail this wiseguy for extortion. No one, that is, except Tara. Going undercover, Tara lands a waitress job at Benedetta's Bistro - which is owned and operated by Tino's wife.

For ex-accountant Emma Reed and her beloved corgi, Oliver, opening Reed's Classic Tea & Cakes in the idyllic village of Trevena in Cornwall has been the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. How about being asked to help cater the local Daphne DuMaurier literary festival? But when the festival organizer is found dead and foul play is suspected, Emma, Oliver, and their friends are plunged deep into a poisonous mix of village jealousy, family tension, money troubles, and secret love affairs.

Whoever killed Shiloh Merkin hated her and wanted her dead. Her brother-in-law, Wade, is accused of the murder. An Indian activist and zealous defender of Native Montana lands, despised by Shiloh's New Age women's group, his knife appears to be the murder weapon. But Alix Thorssen, art dealer and forgery expert, knows there is no artistry in slashing a woman's throat, and believes Wade isn't the killer.

Lola Ramsay, an American in a quaint British village, finds her quiet life turned upside down when a local man vanishes, along with a rug. Joining forces with Sassy, her cheeky Frenchie with a nose for clues, she wades through local drama and potential dog-napping incidents, each mystery drawing her further from the truth.

Sam Strait lives his life by a set of rules. Unfortunately, they just went out the window. Former Deputy Sam Strait follows some simple guidelines to give him the life he wants. The first rule? Only be where flip-flops can be worn. This principle, along with several others, has helped Sam follow the sun and avoid the brutal winters of the Pacific Northwest. When a former lover calls with a plea for help, Sam’s life turns upside down. She might be the love of his life, but her current boyfriend is in deep trouble with the law.

When Lily Mason and her human boyfriend, Parker Knowles, help a friend rescue two abused pitties, they're determined to find out who abandoned the dogs in a deserted house. But the decrepit home has other secrets, too, such as the dead body in the basement. For once, Lily hasn't stumbled upon a corpse, but Parker's buddy has - and he's arrested for murder. With the help of their friends, human and nonhuman alike, Lily and Parker are determined to find out what really happened. Even if it means putting their own lives in danger.

Leilani Santiago is back in her birthplace, the Hawaiian island of Kaua’i, to help keep afloat the family business, a shave ice shack. When she goes to work one morning, she stumbles across a dead body, a young pro surfer who was being coached by her estranged father. As her father soon becomes the no. 1 murder suspect, Leilani must find the real killer and somehow safeguard her ill mother, little sisters, and grandmother while also preserving a long-distance relationship with her boyfriend in Seattle.

Everyone is dying to read the latest book in the popular Gap Lake mystery series, and Addison is no exception. As the novel's biggest fan, she's thrilled when the infamously reclusive author, R. J. Rosen, contacts her, giving her inside information others would kill for. Addison's always dreamed of what it would be like if the books were real. But then she finds the most popular girl in school dead. Murdered. And realizes that life imitating fiction is more dangerous than she could have imagined.

Estate sale organizer Audrey Nealon combines business with pleasure as she plans a sale at the exquisite beach home of the Gardner family. But the romantic getaway weekend with her husband is shattered when the body of a teenage boy washes up on the sand. The death soon proves to be more than an unpleasant distraction from Audrey’s work. Sophia, the troubled young woman who lives next door to the Gardners, is wracked with guilt over the death of her friend.

Nothing much happens in Myrtle Grove, Oklahoma. So when prominent businessman Harry Kerr is discovered face down in his pool shortly after dawn, the breakfast crowd in Jesse Camden's tearoom is buzzing. Recognizing the name, Jesse hurries to her friend Vivian Windsor, Myrtle Grove's resident oil heiress. Vivian is the great-aunt to Bliss Kerr, widow of the deceased and soon-to-be prime suspect in his suspicious death.

In this "bone-chillingly cool crime debut" (Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train), a young biologist studying the remote Swedish wetlands stumbles upon a body -- and finds that if the marsh's secrets can't stay buried, neither can hers . . . In the remote Swedish wetlands lies...

Private Investigator Kitt Hartley and her twin sister, Rebecca, are preparing for a holiday in Scotland when cruise ship entertainer Errol Jackson appears at the door. Errol breaks the news that Bryce Griffin, a former smuggler and an old friend of Kitt's, has been murdered; his body found washed up by a lighthouse, bearing a gunshot wound. Kitt persuades Rebecca to cancel their trip, and, together with Kitt's assistant, Grace Edwards, and best friend, Evie Bowes, book onto the next cruise to Norway to help with the ongoing murder investigation.

Hemlock Falls is one of the most picturesque villages in Upstate New York, with the Hemlock Inn, owned by the amateur sleuth Quilliam sisters, as its centerpiece. For the Quilliam sisters, there’s nothing jolly about this Christmas. Meg and Quill are near-broke. At least there’s one bright start on the horizon: A big-time magazine and television show will feature the Inn. But soon the editor’s husband skis to his death. Now, if the Quilliams are to save the Inn from a lawsuit, they’ll need to prove this was no accident.

After getting reassigned from the North Pole by a jealous Mrs. Claus, misfit elf Holly Hopewell is sent to work in the worst place imaginable - The North Pole Emporium Department store in Mistletoe, Oregon. The elves call it Mistletoe Row, a place so devoid of joy and Christmas spirit, that many a curly-toed folk has lost their poor mind working there. But just when Holly thinks things can’t get any worse, the store’s manager, who also happens to be Mrs. Claus’s nephew, is found murdered in his office.

When Juliette "Jules" Bridge began caring for rabbits on her beloved Fur Bridge Farm in rural New Hampshire, she never imagined she'd be solving murders with one of them. Not only can her black-and-white rabbit, Bun, communicate with her telepathically, he happens to be a pretty sharp sleuth. Bun comes along as part of a petting pen for a birthday celebration - but for one of the guests, the fun is soon over. Evelyn Montgomery is found lying in the bushes with a knife in her chest, and the distraught hostess begs Jules to help.

In the quiet seaside town of Tamarisk Bay, the police appear to be doing little to find Zara. Her friend Janie decides to make it her mission to track her down. It’s the "swinging sixties", and Janie fears that Zara may be mixed up with drugs, alcohol, or worse. As Janie explores the strange circumstances of Zara’s disappearance, she starts to question the truth about Joel’s death.

Marty Flaherty here: Half human, half werewolf, aaall girl and proud of it. First, let me say, we're not exactly great at this detective gig. But while in the midst of trying to choose our next case to solve and learning from the mistakes we made with our last investigation, my fifteen-year-old daughter Hollis makes a plea we can't turn our backs on.

Resourceful Bingo Riggs and his partner, Handsome Kusak, are in the sucker-bait business, snapping candid pics of tourists off Central Park. Their fly-by-night enterprise can be irresistible to souvenir lovers, but with one camera in a pawnshop and their developing room in the bathtub of a two-room dump near Hell’s Kitchen, their venture is wretchedly underexposed - until they stumble upon an insurance fraud scheme between the allegedly dead eccentric Mr. S. S. Pigeon and his business partner and beneficiary.

Radio star Nelle Brown is known coast-to-coast for her sweet and sultry voice. But her press agent and manager, Jake Justus, is familiar with another side of the darling of the airwaves: her crackpot marriage to a penniless tycoon, disastrous string of lovers, and propensity for flying into spectacular fits of rage. Now, it appears she’s being burned by an ex-flame who’s holding her scandalous love letters for ransom. The missives could ruin Nelle’s career, but so could the scoundrel’s murder.

Mas Arai's best friend, Haruo, is getting married, and he has grudgingly agreed to serve as best man. But when an ancient Japanese doll display of Haruo's fiance goes missing, the wedding is called off with fingers pointed at Haruo. To solve the mystery and to save Haruo's life, Mas must untangle a web of secrecy, heartbreaking memories, and murder.