Literary chef Tish Tarragon is preparing her English Secret Garden-themed luncheon for Coleton Creek's annual garden club awards, but two days before the event one of the competitors is found dead in his pristine garden. After hearing that he was the favourite to win the top prize this year, Tish can't help being drawn into the investigation...
Who killed Sally Kahn? There hasn't been a murder in 15 years in tranquil, affluent Hardington, Massachusetts. But someone pushed a moderately wealthy 65-year-old widow down her basement stairs, and then tried to make it look like an accident. Two people will work - together and independently - to find the murderer. John Flynn, a retired Boston Police Department detective with an outstanding record, will lead the official investigation. He will solve the murder despite the best efforts of Hardington's police chief, who cannot abide the idea of a murderer on the loose in his bucolic town and so who arrests the first likely suspect. Liz Phillips has a life centered on her garden and her garden club. Sally Kahn was one of her best friends and it is Liz who found the body. But Liz is a lonely woman, her daughter married and living far away, and her husband constantly on the road. Liz will help solve the murder by using intuition, asking questions, and knowing her town. Their quest to find Sally Kahn's killer will lead Liz Phillips and Detective John Flynn into an unfamiliar world of email inboxes and wireless Internet routers, hazardous waste disposal and the economics of tearing down houses to build 'McMansions'. Their search will also take them through an emotional landscape of adultery and the simmering resentment between 'townies' and the new-money affluent.
From Graham Landrum, the author of The Famous DAR Murder Mystery and The Garden Club Mystery, The Rotary Club Murder Mystery is another stellar cozy mystery case for senior sleuth Harriet Bushrow. When a district governor is found dead, octogenarian Harriet and the local rotary club suspect foul play and investigate.
Committing the perfect crime was just the beginning of their problems. When Paula, Eleanor, Alice and Jean – women of a certain age – plotted to steal the daily cash gate from the Brookfield Fair, they thought they'd split about $125,000. They pulled off the robbery without a hitch, without injuring anyone and without witnesses. But when they counted the money, they found they had nearly half a million dollars, far more than the fair reported stolen. In a matter of hours, the Garden Club Gang would find themselves in a battle of wits with the local and state police, a determined insurance investigator and the criminals looking for their money. Instead of a lark, the four women found themselves in danger, and dependent upon their own resources – and an unexpected ally – to outwit both the law and the crooks determined to find the money and silence those who stole it. The Garden Club Gang offers finely drawn portraits of four women with all-too-credible motives for doing highly unladylike things. If you're expecting a 'cozy', then be prepared for a cozy with quite a kick. The characters are memorable, the action is non-stop and the plot twists until the final page.
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A modern classic of true crime, set in a most beguiling Southern city—now in a 30th anniversary edition with a new afterword by the author “Elegant and wicked . . . might be the first true-crime book that makes the reader want to book a bed and breakfast for an extended weekend at the scene of the crime.”—The New York Times Book Review Shots rang out in Savannah’s grandest mansion in the misty, early morning hours of May 2, 1981. Was it murder or self-defense? For nearly a decade, the shooting and its aftermath reverberated throughout this hauntingly beautiful city of moss-hung oaks and shaded squares. In this sharply observed, suspenseful, and witty narrative, John Berendt skillfully interweaves a hugely entertaining first-person account of life in this isolated remnant of the Old South with the unpredictable twists and turns of a landmark murder case. It is a spellbinding story peopled by a gallery of remarkable characters: the well-bred society ladies of the Married Woman’s Card Club; the turbulent young gigolo; the hapless recluse who owns a bottle of poison so powerful it could kill every man, woman, and child in Savannah; the aging and profane Southern belle who is the “soul of pampered self-absorption”; the uproariously funny drag queen; the acerbic and arrogant antiques dealer; the sweet-talking, piano-playing con artist; young people dancing the minuet at the black debutante ball; and Minerva, the voodoo priestess who works her magic in the graveyard at midnight. These and other Savannahians act as a Greek chorus, with Berendt revealing the alliances, hostilities, and intrigues that thrive in a town where everyone knows everyone else. Brilliantly conceived and masterfully written, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is a sublime and seductive reading experience.
A New York Times bestseller | Soon to be a major motion picture “Witty, endearing and greatly entertaining.” —Wall Street Journal “Don’t trust anyone, including the four septuagenarian sleuths in Osman’s own laugh-out-loud whodunit.” —Parade Four septuagenarians with a few tricks up their sleeves A female cop with her first big case A brutal murder Welcome to... THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet weekly in the Jigsaw Room to discuss unsolved crimes; together they call themselves the Thursday Murder Club. When a local developer is found dead with a mysterious photograph left next to the body, the Thursday Murder Club suddenly find themselves in the middle of their first live case. As the bodies begin to pile up, can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer, before it's too late?
Tish Tarragon’s preparations for Coleton Creek’s annual garden club awards luncheon are threatened when one of the prime contenders is murdered. Literary caterer Letitia ‘Tish’ Tarragon is preparing her English Secret Garden-themed luncheon for Coleton Creek’s annual garden club awards, but when she is taken on a tour of some of the top contenders with the garden club’s president, Jim Ainsley, Tish is surprised at how seriously the residents take the awards – and how desperate they are to win. Wealthy, retired businessman Sloane Shackleford has won the coveted best garden category five years in a row, but he and his Bichon Frise, Biscuit, are universally despised. When Sloane’s bludgeoned body is discovered in his pristine garden, Tish soon learns that he was disliked for reasons that go beyond his green fingers. Have the hotly contested awards brought out a competitive and murderous streak in one of the residents?
A young widow takes her first steps back into London society only to get drawn into a murder investigation in this series debut, perfect for fans of Tasha Alexander and Rhys Bowen "Fast-paced, expertly researched, and intricately plotted. I actually gasped when I got to the end!”—Alex Grecian, New York Times bestselling author of The Saint of Wolves and Butchers Regency London, 1815. Though newly-widowed Lily Adler is returning to a society that frowns on independent women, she is determined to create a meaningful life for herself even without a husband. She's no stranger to the glittering world of London's upper crust. At a ball thrown by her oldest friend, Lady Walter, she expects the scandal, gossip, and secrets. What she doesn't expect is the dead body in Lady Walter's garden. Lily overheard the man just minutes before he was shot: young, desperate, and attempting blackmail. But she's willing to leave the matter to the local constables--until Lord Walter bribes the investigating magistrate to drop the case. Stunned and confused, Lily realizes she's the only one with the key to catching the killer. Aided by a roguish navy captain and a mysterious heiress from the West Indies, Lily sets out to discover whether her friend's husband is mixed up in blackmail and murder. The unlikely team tries to conceal their investigation behind the whirl of London's social season, but the dead man knew secrets about people with power. Secrets that they would kill to keep hidden. Now, Lily will have to uncover the truth, before she becomes the murderer's next target.
Can Helena solve the mystery of a murder in the family that has festered for over two generations? In 1925 the beautiful, bohemian Diana Pollexfen was celebrating her thirtieth birthday with a party at a country estate, but the celebrations soured when her husband died, poisoned by a cocktail that had been liberally laced with some of Diana's photographic chemicals. Sixty years later, Diana's grand-niece, Helena, is also turning thirty, but with rather less fanfare. An overworked attorney in London, Helena's primary social outlet is an obsessive love affair. By way of distraction, Helena starts looking through her great-aunt's papers and soon develops another obsession: Determining just who killed George Pollexfen in that lovely, sunlit garden between the wars. Praise for Elizabeth Ironside ‘Excellent local colour and culture, good adventure and an admirable denouement’ Marcel Berlins ‘She joins those few mystery writers you unreservedly look forward to reading ... a thoroughly satisfying psychological thriller’ Harriet Waugh, Spectator ‘A fine, stylish book to be savoured’ James Melville ‘Superbly handled ... a masterly example of classic crime fiction’ Birmingham Post ‘A spell-binding story of love, murder and deception’ Coventry Evening Telegraph ‘Enticing murder mystery’ Manchester Evening News
An instant New York Times bestseller! The second gripping novel in the New York Times bestselling Thursday Murder Club series, soon to be a major motion picture from Steven Spielberg at Amblin Entertainment “It’s taken a mere two books for Richard Osman to vault into the upper leagues of crime writers. . . The Man Who Died Twice. . . dives right into joyous fun." —The New York Times Book Review Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim—the Thursday Murder Club—are still riding high off their recent real-life murder case and are looking forward to a bit of peace and quiet at Cooper’s Chase, their posh retirement village. But they are out of luck. An unexpected visitor—an old pal of Elizabeth’s (or perhaps more than just a pal?)—arrives, desperate for her help. He has been accused of stealing diamonds worth millions from the wrong men and he’s seriously on the lam. Then, as night follows day, the first body is found. But not the last. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim are up against a ruthless murderer who wouldn’t bat an eyelid at knocking off four septuagenarians. Can our four friends catch the killer before the killer catches them? And if they find the diamonds, too? Well, wouldn’t that be a bonus? You should never put anything beyond the Thursday Murder Club. Richard Osman is back with everyone’s favorite mystery-solving quartet, and the second installment of the Thursday Murder Club series is just as clever and warm as the first—an unputdownable, laugh-out-loud pleasure of a read.
