Polly Blake never expects her family's annual spring barbecue to kick off with her uncle dropping dead in her backyard. When his death is ruled a homicide, it's up to her to figure out who the murderer is. Previously published as part of the Seasons collection.
The Springtime Murder Case Gib Stranton finally messes up. He murdered two people in the parking lot of the Nelson Ledges State Park. But he has disappeared. FBI undercover agents swear they have seen someone who looks like Gib, maybe. On the other hand, Gib is a well-known man. Hes a county truck driver, a snowplow truck driver, a known speaker in many schools on driving for the three neighboring counties to Portage County. Respected man. How can he be a killer too? Gideon wonders if anybody believes the reports. But Gib isnt the only manhunt. Someone is dealing drugs to kids in the county schools. Police and agents want to catch them at it, and the agents think Gib might also be a part of it. Detective Gideon Granger is called out on murder cases. Is Gib still killing women, or is someone else involved, and able to hide out as well as Gib Stranton? Who is behind the drug problem? Is it the Doctor, the Lawyer, or the Garage Manager? Or all three? Will Sara Jane become more than Gideons partner? Will Jarry Faldare get up the nerve to pop the question to Maryne? Whats Earlles surprise? Are Marietta and her daughters safe? Can they be kept safe? Whos that Deputy hanging around Marietta? Whats he up to?
The fifth in a planned series of seven cozy mystery novels spanning the course of a Cotswold village year from one summer to the next, Springtime for Murder is set at Easter. Like all of the series, it may be read as a standalone novel and makes a great seasonal read, but anyone who enjoys it is likely to want to collect the set!
An Agatha-Christie-style whodunit with a dash of Downton Abbey thrown in. Master detective Lord Edgington and his hapless grandson Christopher must outfox a killer when murder comes to the spring ball!
It's springtime on Cranberry Island—and love is in the air. It seems like every woman has the hots for buff trainer Dirk De Leon. He and his equally-gorgeous business partner, Vanessa Black, are leading a weight-loss retreat at the Gray Whale Inn—forcing innkeeper Natalie Barnes to lighten up her butter-laden breakfast menu. The mood on the island darkens when two grisly discoveries are made. The first is a skeleton walled up at the island's lighthouse. The second is a corpse of the fresh variety—the handsome Dirk! Could the spirit that once embodied the skeletal remains—perhaps the lighthouse keeper who disappeared a century ago—be responsible for Dirk's death? The police pin the blame on Natalie's boyfriend who—to her dismay—had a long-ago fling with Vanessa. To find the true killer and ease her own aching heart, Natalie must untangle the knot of jealous girlfriends and spurned admirers that once surrounded the hunky trainer. Praise: "MacInerney adds a dash of the supernatural, throws in some touristy tidbits and finishes with some tasty diet-right recipes."—Publishers Weekly "All thumbs up for Murder Most Maine, another in the engaging series of Cranberry Island mysteries. Karen MacInerney writes with verve and vitality, and her Natalie Barnes is a Maine original. I'm ready to book a room at the Gray Whale Inn!"—Susan Wittig Albert, bestselling author of Nightshade and other China Bayles Herbal Mysteries
"A wise, lonely novel . . . [and an] honest reflection of exile." —The New Yorker In the tradition of Roberto Bolaño's Savage Detectives, a celebrated classic and heart-wrenching story of a family torn apart by the forces of history, by one of Latin America's most celebrated writers The late Mario Benedetti’s work was often ranked with “such esteemed Latin American writers as Gabriel García Márquez, Carlos Fuentes and Julio Cortázar” (The Washington Post) and his novel The Truce has sold millions of copies around the world. His extraordinary novel Springtime in a Broken Mirror revolves around Santiago, a political prisoner in Uruguay, who was jailed after a brutal military coup that saw many of his comrades flee elsewhere. Santiago, feeling trapped, can do nothing but write letters to his family and try to stay sane. Far away, his nine-year-old daughter Beatrice wonders at the marvels of Buenos Aires, but her grandpa and mother—Santiago’s beautiful, careworn wife, Graciela—struggle to adjust to a life in exile. Published now for the first time in English, Springtime in a Broken Mirror tells with tenderness and fury of the indelible imprint politics leaves on individual lives. Generous and unflinching, it asks whether the broken bonds of family and history can ever truly be mended. Written by one of the masters of the Latin American novel, this is the story of a fractured continent, chronicled through the lives of a single family.
The third Aimée Leduc Investigation set in Paris When Parisian private investigator Aimée Leduc picks up the phone one hot July afternoon, the call turns her life upside-down. The voice on the other end, with its heavy German accent, belongs to a woman named Jutta Hald. Jutta claims to have shared a jail cell with Aimée’s long-lost mother, a suspected terrorist on Interpol’s most wanted list. If Aimée wants to learn the truth about her mother, she is to meet Jutta at a rendezvous point in an ancient tower in the Sentier. But when Aimée arrives, Jutta is dead, shot in the head at close range. Aimée realizes she has stumbled into something bigger than Jutta let on, and that her own life is in danger. She has a lot of unsolved mysteries in front of her: Jutta Hald’s murder, resurfaced materials from Sydney Leduc’s terrorist activities in the 1970s, police suppression of important information. The question is, can Aimée put the pieces together before someone else ends up dead?
Fans of small-town cozy mysteries will cherish this beloved holiday novella from the collection Gingerbread Cookie Murder is made available for the first time as an e-book single! Known for its cheerful staff and elaborate annual Easter Bonnet Contest, the Heritage House senior center regularly attracts new residents and positive press. But once the town’s retired librarian, Miss Julia Tilley, checks in to recover from an illness, Lucy sees a side of the facility that isn’t quite so perfect and pristine. And the place may soon be making headlines for different reasons following an unexplained disappearance . . . Lucy can’t fathom how Agnes Neal could go missing from assisted living over a silly Easter bonnet contest, or why few seem concerned as signs point to foul play. A retired journalist with an independent mind, Agnes had an eye for details and little interest in conforming to catty cliques or rules set by her caretakers—traits that threatened some and angered others. Gathering clues as flimsy as a half-eaten milk chocolate bunny, Lucy must discover what happened to Agnes—before her own story becomes another springtime tragedy left unsolved.
All evidence points to Gib Stranton as the murderer, but no hard evidence can be found. Gib has been very careful over the years. However, it has been proven he murdered two people and left them on the ground at the Nelson Ledges State Park. Hes gone into hiding. Thirty Sheriffs departments in Portage, Trumbull, Mahoning, and Geauga Counties are looking for the man. Several FBI men are searching for the man. But Gib is good at disguisessecret stashes of cars and trucks, homes, apartments, and aliases keep him hidden. Gib still manages to slip out and kidnap a woman, rape, and kill her. Police set up stakeouts, but he never goes where theyre waiting for him. Is someone helping him? With FBIs undercover man Detective Gideon Granger thinking Gib will go after his ex-wife, family members agree to guard her day and night. Gideon thinks that is the only way he will capture the man. Can he? In all that is happening, attorney for the family, Karrell Faldare, is working to get funds out of Harold Strangons estate before Gib absconds with it all, for Harolds daughters, twins Jean and Jeri and Meara and Nell. Karrell is also hunting for more elusive funds for Maryne from her ex-husband, Phil Montel. Both men were multibillionaires. Montel used a lot of false names. Can the hired detective in California discover where those funds are stashed?
Dust mops are deadly in this “irresistible” (Minneapolis Star Tribune) and “wickedly witty” (Chicago Sun-Times) cozy mystery featuring the beloved Ellie Haskell—the signature heroine of Agatha Award nominee Dorothy Cannell. When the ever-scrupulous and ever-caustic Mrs. Roxie Malloy leaves her employ in tears, Ellie Haskell—busy mother of twins—is forced to find another cleaning person. As she searches for someone who can at least aspire to taking Mrs. Malloy’s place, Ellie turns the household topsy-turvy, overcome with spring-cleaning fever. But when members of the Chitterton Fells Charwomen’s Association (C.F.C.W.A.) start biting the dust, Ellie swaps scrubbing for sleuthing to find out what dark secrets have been swept under the rug. With the help of her husband, Ben, her feckless cousin Freddy, and an assortment of homemade cleaning solutions, Ellie joins the C.F.C.W.A.’s roster and embarks on a brief stint as a mercenary maid—just long enough to snoop through her neighbors’ things and find out which one has more than dust bunnies and dirty dishes to hide. Praise for The Spring Cleaning Murders “Irresistible . . . Pick up [The Spring Cleaning Murders] and let the dust bunnies lie where they fall.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune “Wickedly witty . . . outrageous plotting.”—Chicago Sun-Times