Showing results by author "Lorraine Bartlett" in All Categories

The last thing Katie Bonner wanted was to become the manager of Artisans Alley. But when her business partner Ezra Hilton is found bludgeoned to death, she has no other choice. Business under Ezra had been faltering - but was it enough to provoke someone to murder? Only Katie can find the answer.

A tattoo parlor on Victoria Square? Some of the merchants get hot under the collar at the proposal, but could they be driven to kill to stop it? That's what the sheriff's office and Katie Bonner want to know when the building's owner is electrocuted with his own saw. Meanwhile, tensions rise when a hot chef takes over the square's tea shop. Will Katie have three men vying for her affections, or will her rival take the tea cake?

It's Christmastime, but not everyone is jolly - especially not Vonne Barnett. Her dead body has been found in Victoria Square. Katie Bonner, the manager of Artisan's Alley, happens to be at the tea shop Vonne's mother, Francine, owns when the news is delivered. Vonne left a trail of men behind her so the suspects are many - but the clues are few. A broken teacup leads Katie to one of the suspects, but before she can investigate, she's attacked. Katie may be closing in on a murderer, but time is ticking because the murderer is definitely closing in on her.

Katie Bonner feels like nothing can spoil her perfect day off, sailing Lake Ontario with her good friend, lawyer Seth Lander. Then she runs into her ex-boss, Jake, on the dock. It was never smooth sailing with Jake, and Katie is only too happy to get away from him as he makes a scene. Unfortunately, the next day her unpleasant former employer is found drowned in a bathtub at a bed and breakfast in Victoria Square. Who would pull the plug on Jake? When an autopsy reveals lake water - not bath water - in his lungs, Katie quickly finds herself in over her head.

Swans Nest Inn is about to open, and Kathy Grant solicits her BFF, Tori Cannon, to help spruce up her property at the marshy end of Lotus Bay, only they didn’t count on finding a body. Who was he? What’s his connection to their friend Paul Darcy? Meanwhile, two entrepreneurs with vast business ties are interested in helping Tori reopen the Lotus Lodge, and their real motives are as murky as the bay after a storm. Will Swans Nest open on time? Will the Lotus Lodge reopen at all?

The best thing about the holiday season is spending time with family. At the same time, sometimes the worst thing about the holiday season is spending time with family. The stories in this collection touch on that and more as Mandy Nichols, Jeff Resnick, and Judi Straub struggle through what's supposed to be the joyous season. One family contemplates murder; another wants to end what they see as a bad relationship, while another can only see their loved one for what she can do for them. Sound familiar? Happy Holidays? puts the Christmas fun into dysfunction!

Life takes an unexpected turn when Prince Paxdon bans Amanda Shelton from Telenia's Summer Palace, but that's just the first step in an incredible journey that has her leading the province's oppressed women into a life of self-sufficiency. The threat of war remains, and others are watching her every move as Amanda leaves the safety and security of the rural north and ventures to the capital city where she faces peril and life altering decisions. Will her future be a life of luxury or despair?

With sadness, Tori Cannon learns that the bait shop and small motel her grandparents ran has fallen on hard times. Jammed into one of the motel's units is a body, his mouth filled with spikes. Tori's friend, Kathy, arrives to help spruce up the property, and the two find themselves mixed up in the petty jealousies and deadly consequences that murder entails. Can they save the bait shop and find a murderer or will they, too, sleep with the fishes?

Katie Bonner, the reluctant manager of Artisans Alley in the quaint shopping district of Victoria Square, is no stranger to ambivalence. Things have been going hot and heavy with pizza maker Andy Rust - so much so that Katie has moved in over his pizza parlor. But now that summer's ushered in a heat wave, an apartment above pizza ovens without an air conditioner is making Katie hot and bothered.

If Katie Bonner's late husband hadn't invested all their savings in the craft fair Artisans Alley - which Katie is now responsible for keeping in the black - the Webster mansion could have been hers to remodel. For years she dreamed of renovating the old place on Victoria Square into a bed and breakfast. Now that dream belongs to another young couple.

Love & Murder, a bargain-priced bundle of stories by New York Times best-selling author Lorraine Bartlett (and her alter ego L.L. Bartlett) explores the highs and lows of love and humanity. Each free-standing, complete story explores a different theme representative of the author's style.

Amanda Shelton is clever, adventurous, and tough - and she's going to have to be, because she just crash landed on a world where her saviors might really be her enemies. It takes fierce determination to prevent the people of this frightening and unfamiliar place from stealing her shuttle technology, or from imprisoning her while they do it. Yet what she knows could save countless innocent lives - including those who keep this world safe. Facing this terrible test of spirit will take everything Amanda has.... If she survives at all.