Audiobook
- Rating: (3.5/5)
Plot Summary
Perfect for fans of Cleo Coyle and Lucy Burdette, reporter-turned-barista Lana Lewis is back on the case when a body is found in the community garden.
Lana Lewis is brewing up new concoctions at Perkatory, a popular café in Devil’s Beach, when she decides she wants to try her hand at growing her own coffee. She secures a gardening plot in the community garden, thanks to her father and the garden’s owner, Darla. Darla’s list of rules is long, but that doesn’t stop someone from leaving Jack Daggett’s body amongst the gardening plots.
Jack, an environmental activist, had been banned from the garden previously, because of his many fights with Darla about organic produce. Lana promises her boyfriend, police chief Noah, that she’s going to stay out of this case, having been too involved in previous cases. But when she learns that Jack died from an accidental overdose, and Darla is the top suspect because of her shady past, Lana can't help but poke around in an attempt to clear Darla's name.
As Lana dives deeper into the case, she learns that Jack had more enemies than she realized. When Darla turns up dead, Lana has to turn up the heat on her investigation. With Lana on the case, it won’t be long before someone spills the beans to crack this case wide open. But will she able to find the killer before they strike again?
- Rating: (4/5)
Plot Summary
When a woman’s mutilated body is discovered in a remote countryside property, Detective Kay Hunter is faced with one of the most challenging investigations of her career.
There is nothing in the victim’s past to explain her brutal slaying, and no clues as to how her killer got away.
Then a second body is found in a run-down storage facility, the man’s remains covered in horrific injuries that bear the hallmarks of prolonged torture.
With two families demanding justice, Kay is under pressure from her superiors to deliver a swift result – but there is no evidence to connect the two victims.
When a third victim is found just a short distance from her own incident room, Kay realises that the killer has no intention of stopping – and they already have their next victim in their sights…
A Deadly Promise is the 13th book in the Detective Kay Hunter series by USA Today bestselling author Rachel Amphlett, and perfect for readers who love fast-paced crime thrillers.
- Rating: (3/5)
Plot Summary
First in a new cozy mystery series!
There's nothing sweet about murder…
Leila Khoury has always believed that everyone loved her father as much as they loved his artisanal maple syrup. But when he's killed, and she returns to Sugar Ridge, Vermont to take over his business, she starts to realize how much of his life she's left untapped.
With her brother under suspicion, her mother just barely holding it together, and police not producing any leads, Leila will have to investigate herself if she wants answers about her father's sticky end. But the more she learns, the more she worries that there won't be a sappy ending to the story.
A cozy mystery perfect for fans of Joanne Fluke, this edition includes 5 delicious maple recipes for mystery readers with a sweet tooth!
- Rating: (5/5)
Plot Summary
May 1912. After the previous year’s deadly heatwave, it’s been an uneventful spring in Littleton Cotterell. Though for Lady Hardcastle and her fiercely loyal lady’s maid Flo, at least there are the provincial delights of the village’s inaugural art exhibition—and bicycle race—to look forward to. But at the exhibition opening, there’s a panicked shout of ‘Fire!’ In the confusion, the main attraction—an extremely expensive book—is stolen from under everyone’s nose, as is a valuable painting lent by Sir Hector Farley-Stroud. Then the race, which starts as a charming day out, ends in a shocking death. And to top it all off, the Farley-Strouds reveal they’re in debt and might lose their house. The sleuthing duo soon find themselves torn between a murder investigation, an art theft mystery, and trying to help their pals. All with a suspicious figure from Flo’s past, a supercilious insurance investigator, and a pair of rather bizarre treasure hunters on the loose…
- Rating: (3/5)
Plot Summary
Love and murder are in the air this Valentine’s day in Maggie Blackburn’s third Beach Reads mystery, perfect for fans of Eva Gates and Miranda James.
When Beach Reads bookshop hosts a Valentine’s Day event, “Romance by the Sea,” bookseller Summer Merriweather has no idea that the guest author is under investigation for her own husband’s murder. When that same author is found dead at the local bed and breakfast, nobody assumes it’s natural causes–there were plenty of people who wanted her dead.
As Summer searches for the truth about the author’s stranger-than-fiction life, Summer finds suspicious indications of shady behavior in the author’s belongings. But the casual sleuthing is quickly derailed when Summer’s friend Glads gets hauled in for the murder, and they launch a full-blown investigation to clear her name.
As Summer and company pick through the scant clues to solve the case, they may find more treachery and heartbreak than they bargained for.
- Rating: (4/5)
Plot Summary
When a techno-terrorist group threatens to break encryptions on a global scale, a CIA officer must take matters into his own hands to save a world held hostage.
A massive security breach in China. CIA operations compromised in Turkey. Undercover ops breaking down the world over. A techno-terrorist group dubbed “Archon” has unleashed a terrifying new technology that can break any encryption. Humanity’s secrets are about to be laid bare, and global order tilts toward chaos.
Up against a doomsday clock, CIA officer Colt McShane hatches a desperate infiltrate Archon, capture one of the terrorist group’s leaders, and force them to divulge the kill switch. But when Colt arrives just in time to see his target assassinated, he realizes that the stakes have been raised. Someone else is killing the terrorists and targeting their technology. And the question are they friends, or a new, and even more dangerous, enemy?
Aided by the beautiful and mysterious Ava Klein—an operator in a covert organization known only as Trinity—Colt must stay one step ahead of all who want him international terrorists, government agents, police. Even those he once called friends can no longer be trusted.
Because in a world where power is built on a foundation of secrets, unlimited truth is the most destructive force of all...
USA Today Bestselling author Andrew Watts teams up with Dale M. Nelson to bring you another chapter in The Firewall Spies, a technothriller series that mixes the political espionage of Jason Matthews with the thrills and adventure of Mark Greaney.
- Rating: (3.5/5)
Plot Summary
Most people flee to Hawaii for gorgeous weather, white-sand beaches, and cocktails at sunset. Charlotte Gibson, however, is fleeing for her life after a vengeful mobster leaves a severed finger on her doorstep as a warning. Message very much received.
That’s how Charlotte—Charlie to everyone except her mom— finds herself on Maui with six dollars to her name, living with a mother who can’t stop giving her advice on how to land herself a husband. But when a businessman is murdered and his company offers a reward to whoever finds the killer, Charlie sees an opportunity: with that kind of cash, she could afford her own place and start a new life here away from the people who want her dead. After all, how hard can hunting down a murderer be?
Teaming up with a couple of old ladies with more spunk than Betty White, Charlie is sure she’s on the right track to snag the reward money. However, the infuriating-but-smoldering-hot cop trying to keep her away from his case has other ideas. Throw in a day job at an ice cream shop, corrupt local politicians, and a best friend trying to act as the voice of reason, and Charlie has her work cut out for her.
Will she be able to find the killer, or is Charlie’s time in paradise going to go straight to hell in a handbasket?
- Rating: (3.5/5)
Plot Summary
USA Today bestselling author Ward Larsen's globe-trotting, hard-hitting assassin, David Slaton, returns for another breathless adventure, Assassin's Mark .
With the help of CIA operative David Slaton, America has shaken off a series of high-tech attacks. Then, just as the threat seems to have receded, the most brazen strike of Marine One is brought down in the heart of the capital. The president survives the crash, but is clinging to life by a thread.
Once again, Slaton gets the call. With limitless backing from the CIA, the agency’s most lethal assassin is dispatched halfway around the world. But as his mission nears completion, he finds himself targeted by a talented adversary, a ruthless young assassin who moves like a ghost, and whose motives are unclear.
What is clear is that Trident is not yet finished, and that there is a high-level traitor in the U.S. government. And the only way forward is to topple a conspiracy in the uppermost echelons of Washington.
- Rating: (3/5)
Plot Summary
You can’t always believe what you read…
Dogwood Donuts owner and amateur sleuth, Maggie Sharpe, is less than enthusiastic about the prospect of being interviewed by a journalist, particularly one who is rude and unprofessional. But when the journalist claims that she can get a story to go national, Maggie reluctantly agrees.
The arrangements for the interview are made, but when Maggie doesn’t hear back from the woman, she begins to worry. After further investigation, Maggie finds out that the journalist is known for writing hit pieces, which makes her want to call off the interview but she still can’t get in touch with the woman. Much to Maggie’s horror, the woman is found dead…while in the middle of writing the story about the donut shop.
While rumors abound, Maggie sets out to prove that the journalist wasn’t quite who she claimed to be. With her best friend in tow, she dives into an investigation, hoping to discover the whole truth about the journalist.
Suspects are abundant, but there’s still one big piece of the puzzle that’s missing and Maggie isn’t sure she’ll be able to get the answers that she needs in order to bring the case to a close.
Can she find the truth and save her reputation?
Find out in this delicious Cozy Mystery!
- Rating: (3/5)
Plot Summary
A surprise trip to Miriam's parents in Punta Cana, which should be filled with arroz con pollo and breezy days under the tamarind tree, quickly becomes a hunt for a possible property saboteur. But before Miriam can begin to uncover the person damaging the vacation rentals her parents manage, she’s called away to Puerto Rico to film a Three Kings Day special. She's welcomed to the blue ballast-stone streets of Old San Juan by crime-scene tape, and things only get worse from there.
An anonymous personal gift on Miriam's doorstep on New Year's Eve screams stalker, and the 400-year-old guesthouse creaks and moans like there is something trapped in its walls. Luckily, her BFF, Alma, and their mutual friend, Jorge, are in town to keep her distracted between filming cultural segments for the network. But private chef tables and spa days come to an abrupt halt when Jorge's telenovela heartthrob novio goes missing. And there is something worrisome about Alma's too-perfect boyfriend—specifically his duffle bag full of cash.
Will demon masks, African drumbeats, and dark alleys lead to Miriam's demise? Or will the mysterious events come together like the delicious layers of a pastelón?
- Rating: (3/5)
Plot Summary
Charlie is taking the plunge to become a private investigator, and her first official case is a doozy. When three of Zoe’s coworkers are shot in a brazen mid-day attack, Charlie is initially content to let the police deal with it. But when it becomes obvious the detective in charge has the IQ of a box of crayons, she decides to step in to ensure the killer is found.
What appears at first glance to be a random attack quickly becomes more than that, and before she knows it Charlie finds herself scouring the island for a murderer, with the help of Dot and Rosie, of course.
In case hunting down a shooter wasn’t enough, Charlie quickly nets herself another customer in the form of her eight-year-old neighbor. And of course, Charlie isn’t expecting Jake to take the news of her new career very well. Luckily, Charlie isn’t especially worried about his opinion, especially when she has so much on her plate.
Is Charlie about to make a splash in her new career, or will she quickly find herself drowning, instead?
- Rating: (2/5)
Plot Summary
The small town of Cranberry Cove has a deadly harvest in the first mystery in this delightful series from the author of the Gourmet De-Lite Mysteries.
When Monica Albertson comes to Cranberry Cove—a charming town on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan—to help her half-brother Jeff on his cranberry farm, the last thing she expects to harvest is a dead body.
It seems that Sam Culbert, who ran the farm while Jeff was deployed overseas, had some juicy secrets that soon prove fatal, and Jeff is ripe for the picking as a prime suspect. Forming an uneasy alliance with her high-maintenance stepmother, Monica has her hands full trying to save the farm while searching for a killer. Culbert made plenty of enemies in the quaint small town...but which one was desperate enough to kill?
- Rating: (4/5)
Plot Summary
How far would you go to bury the truth?
While searching for a missing hill walker, Glencoe Mountain Rescue Team uncovers a body - just not the one they were looking for.
Still dealing with the fallout from their last case, DCI Jack Logan and his team venture south from Inverness to investigate a brutal, gangland-style execution in the wilds of the Highland countryside.
As the victim's dark secrets are gradually revealed, Jack uncovers the rot lurking beneath the stunning scenery, making himself the target of a criminal more dangerous than any he has faced before.
If he isn't careful, it won't just be a murder he's dealing with in Glencoe.
It'll be a massacre.
- Rating: (3/5)
Plot Summary
In a trendy Salt Lake City, Utah, neighborhood, Ben Rosencrantz's board game shop has become a community hotspot for players of all ages--and for killer collectors.
Back in his hometown of Sugar House running his family's board game shop and cafe, Ben Rosencrantz just can't seem to get his life to pass go, much less collect $200. Once he was a happily married English professor in Seattle. Now he's a divorced caregiver, looking after his ill father and a chihuahua named Beans while still figuring out the rules of retail management. At least the town has become more LGBTQ+ friendly than when Ben was a teenager--and that flower shop owner Ezra McCaslin enjoys flirting with him.
But despite his usual clientele of gamers, Ben is barely earning enough to keep the store running and stay on top of his father's medical bills. Then a local toy and game collector named Clive offers him a winning strategy--to purchase a turn-of-the-twentieth-century edition of The Landlord's Game, the realty and taxation game that inspired Monopoly, at a tenth of the rare edition's true value. Suspicious of Clive's shady, low-priced deal, Ben turns the offer down.
Then Clive turns up dead in the dumpster behind Ben's shop and a backpack full of $100 bills appears on his doorstep. Now Ben is the #1 suspect in Clive's death, and unless he and Ezra can prove his innocence and find the real killer, he'll go to jail for murder--and no amount of double dice rolls will set him free . . .
- Rating: (3/5)
Plot Summary
A book lover's B&B in an idyllic waterfront village becomes the scene of a grisly murder--and a ruthless battle between treachery and the truth.
Nestled in the historic waterfront town of Beaufort, North Carolina, Chapters Bed-and-Breakfast is a reader's paradise. Built in 1770, the newly renovated inn hosts a roster of special events celebrating books, genres, and authors. It's the perfect literary retreat--until a rare book dealer turns up dead in the carriage house during a celebration of Golden Age mystery author Josephine Tey.
The victim's daughter points the finger at forty-two-year-old widow and former schoolteacher Charlotte Reed, who inherited the B&B from her great-aunt Isabella. Charlotte is shocked to discover that the book dealer suspected Isabella of being a thief who founded Chapters on her ill-gotten gains. Charlotte has successfully learned the B&B business in a year, but nothing has prepared her to handle a death on the premises.
Armed with intelligence and courage and assisted by her vibrant older neighbor, a visiting author, and members of a local book club, Charlotte is determined to prove her innocence and to clear her great-aunt's name. But the murderer is still at large, and equally determined to silence anyone who might discover the truth behind the book dealer's death. Now, Charlotte must outwit an unknown killer--or end up writing her own final chapter.
- Rating: (3.5/5)
Plot Summary
It’s time for a savory soirée—but something sinister is stewing—in Raquel V. Reyes’s second delightful Caribbean Kitchen mystery, perfectly delicious for fans of Mia P. Manansala.
Fall festivities are underway in Coral Shores, Miami. Cuban-American cooking show star Miriam Quiñones-Smith wakes up to find a corpse in her front yard. The body by the fake tombstone is the woman that was kicked out of the school’s Fall Festival the day before.
Miriam’s luck does not improve. Her passive-aggressive mother-in-law puts her in charge of the Women’s Club annual gala. But this year, it’s not canapes and waltzes. Miriam and her girlfriends-squad opt for fun and flavor. They want to spice it up with Caribbean food trucks and a calypso band. While making plans at the country club, they hear a volatile argument between the new head chef and the club’s manager. Not long after, the chef swan dives to his death at the bottom of the grand staircase.
Was it an accident? Or was it Beverly, the sous chef, who is furious after being passed over for the job? Or maybe it was his ex-girlfriend, Anastasia?
Add two possible poisonings to the mix and Miriam is worried the food truck fun is going to be a major crash. As the clock ticks down and the body count goes up, Miriam’s life is put in jeopardy. Will she connect the dots or die in the deep freeze? Foodies and mystery lovers alike will savor the denouement as the truth is laid bare in this simmering stew of rage, retribution, and murder.
- Rating: (2.0/5)
Plot Summary
Crime with a Slice of Cherry Pie
Cherry enthusiast Whitney Bloom is furiously baking her way into the heart of Chicago with her fabulous cherry pies when she receives a desperate call from her mother. The annual Cherry Blossom Festival has just kicked off at the Cherry Orchard Inn in Door County, Wisconsin, and the manager of the Bloom family orchard has been found dead beneath the cherry blossoms. Worse yet, all evidence points to Whitney's father as the killer. After she races home to help, things really land in the pits for Whitney when she discovers that Jack MacLaren, her old high school nemesis, is Cherry Cove's only police officer. Putting her cherry-tastic treats on hold, Whitney matches wits against Jack. But will she have what it takes to clear her father's name and sift out the real Cherry Cove killer?
"The first in an amusing new series features a fearless, reckless sleuth who unravels a complicated mystery while juggling her sex life and her future plans."--Kirkus Reviews
"Whitney is a well-drawn, sympathetic character, and the small-town frame, with a close-knit community and a cherry orchard, will appeal to cozy readers who enjoy Joanne Fluke's Hannah Swensen mysteries."--Booklist
"Hannah displays... talent."--Publishers Weekly
"Great fun and extremely well-written. The crime, the characters--everything comes together...an extremely "tasty" story you will definitely devour in one sitting."--Suspense Magazine
- Rating: (2/5)
Plot Summary
One woman's trash is another woman's--lost Chagall masterpiece?!?
Expat Zoe Barlow has settled well into her artist's life among the Lost Generation in 1920s Paris. When a too-tipsy guest at her weekly poker game breaks Zoe's favorite clock, she's off to a Montparnasse flea market to bargain with the vendor Laurette for a replacement. What Zoe didn't bargain for was the lost Chagall painting that's been used like a rag to wrap her purchases! Eager to learn whether Laurette has more Chagalls lying about like trash, Zoe sets off to track her down at her storage shed. With no Laurette in sight, Zoe snoops around and indeed finds several additional Chagalls―and then she finds Laurette herself, dead beneath a scrap heap, her beautiful face bashed in.
With Paris hosting the 1924 Summer Olympics, the police are far too busy with tourist-related crimes to devote much time to the clock seller's murder. After returning the paintings to a grateful Marc Chagall, Zoe begins her own investigation. Did the stolen paintings play any part in the brutal killing? Or was it a crime of passion? Zoe soon discovers that there were many people who had reason to resent the lovely Laurette. But who hated the girl enough to stop her clock permanently? When Zoe discovers a second murder victim, the pressure is on to find the killer before time―and luck―run out.
- Rating: (4/5)
Plot Summary
A man in a new city. A murderer on the loose. This is no time for embroidery.
Skeeter Dursky is the latest hire at the Lake Michigan Tower—a seventeen-story retirement community. It’s only his third day, and he’s determined to make a good impression. Unfortunately, his supervisor doesn’t believe he’s skilled enough to handle the simplest tasks.
When a figure from Skeeter’s past arrives, his world turns upside-down. For Skeeter has a secret to protect—it’s one the government has gone to a lot of expense to hide.
After a famous resident is murdered, members of Chicago’s finest swarm the tower and lock it down. Word of the crime brings the media and a ragtag group of mourning fans.
With nosy cops at every exit and the press gathered outside the lobby, Skeeter Dursky has nowhere to run. If he ever hopes to see freedom again, he must take matters into his own hands.
Can Skeeter find the murderer and slip away before anyone realizes his true identity?
- Rating: (4/5)
Plot Summary
Claire Barclay is enthusiastic about her British Mystery Book Tour business. She enjoys taking her guests, usually from America, to the settings of mystery novels where bodies are long dead. Her neighbor's plea for help to deal with a recently murdered well-known author unsettles her. She leaves the body to the police and takes her guests to Cornwall, including a British tourist who far is too interested in the dead author.