Smart Mystery

Withering and waspish, Ursula Smart (not her real name) gate-crashes her mother's book club at an isolated country house for a long weekend retreat. Much to Mother's chagrin. Joining them are Mother's best friend, Mirabelle, Aunts Charlotte and Less, and Bridget with her dog, Mr. Bojangles. It doesn't matter that they've read Gone Girl three times this year already, this retreat is their chance to escape bustling suburbia. But someone has other ideas. A body is found in the grounds.

Featuring a Special Introduction by Michael Connelly and a cameo by Harry Bosch! A reluctant detective. A town full of secrets. A past that won’t stay buried. In this gripping box set, award-winning and New York Times bestselling author Michael Lister presents six pulse-pounding novels featuring the complex and compelling Detective John Jordan—a former cop turned prison chaplain and then cop again who can’t escape the call of justice. After leaving Atlanta behind, John returns to his North Florida hometown, seeking peace. But murder has a way of finding him, pulling him back into the ...

When a traveling carnival arrives in Hollowbeck, it promises magic and mayhem. It's also an opportunity for Morgan to find someone who can transform her brother, Ruiner, back into a human—he's a little tired of being a talking cat, and she's a little tired of cleaning his litter box. Things look promising until the curtains rise on rehearsal night to reveal Ruiner sitting on the lifeless body of the wizard who promised to help him.

A reluctant psychic with a haunted past. A straight-laced FBI agent sworn to protect. A mystery they must solve together. Hailey Arquette uses ancestry rooted in the occult to hide her gifts in the small southern town of Hamchet, Texas. Experiencing a victim’s last moments when touching an object isn’t something she can turn off, but helps her to navigate the shadowy world where betrayal walks hand in hand with a smile. A threat against family forces Agent Trenton Briner back to Texas and into a mystery steeped in whispers of Vodou and magic. At each turn, he finds the raven-haired ...

A cozy take on the classic whodunit, set in the modern West. Eve Cordova loves history, Americana, and horses. Her inheritance of a remote historic hotel located on an old ranch just off Route 66 is a dream come true. She is preparing the Arizona high desert hotel for its grand reopening when the local sheriff informs her that the mysterious death at the hotel is in fact murder. Eve soon realizes that the employees of her skeleton crew are the only ones who could be responsible. She must unmask the murderer for the sake of her business and the new life she has created. As the clues start ...

Murder, Magic, and Midlife Mayhem—Faith Bracken’s new beginning is about to get downright deadly! Faith Bracken thought her fifties would be all about pruning bad habits and planting fresh starts—not dodging detectives, discovering magic, and digging up murder suspects. As a high-end Feng Shui consultant in L.A., Faith had mastered the art of balance—until a high-profile client turned up dead, her career wilted overnight, and the FBI’s most persistent agent, Harvey Wallbanger, started sniffing around. With no other choice, she uproots her life and returns home to Abracadabra, ...

I'm Tracy Belden, a single mom on my first solo case as a PI. Instead of creating crossword puzzles, I’m searching for my wealthy ex-husband’s second wife, missing for three days. I was hoping she ran off with his money. Then, I found her body. Now, the police are eyeing me as a suspect. To make matters worse, my precocious, 11-year-old son and my geriatric landlady are trying to solve the case without me, If my puzzle solving skills can't lead me to the killer, I'll be finishing my crossword puzzle in jail. If you like fast-paced, funny whodunits with smalltown adventures, you'll love ...

Oak Harbor is a 168 year old plantation house in North Carolina that has been shrouded in mysteries since it was built. Millions of dollars have been stolen from the family trust. Murder, suicide, and violent death has stalked each generation that has owned the old estate. Some long-term residents believe that the house is cursed since it is rumored to have been built over a Tuscarora burial ground. Others believe that the evil goes back to the man who built the house, Dupree Durant. He was rumored to have been a pirate and sadistic slave owner who murdered for his own pleasure. The ...

It was supposed to be fun. A relaxing trip to a remote mountain retreat where there’s no phone reception. Three couples, friends since high school, are looking forward to a weekend of drinking, reminiscing and flirting. When someone suggests swapping partners, it doesn’t seem like such a bad idea. The lights will be switched off, for privacy. It’s not really cheating if you don’t know who you were with, right? But when the lights come back on, one of the men is dead. No-one can agree who was in which bedroom with whom.

When the Australian Mystery Writers’ Society invited me to their crime-writing festival aboard the Ghan, the famous train between Darwin and Adelaide, I was hoping for some inspiration for my second book. Fiction, this time: I needed a break from real people killing each other. Obviously, that didn’t pan out.

Life is filled with choices, big and small. Critical thinking empowers children to evaluate options, foresee potential outcomes, and make informed decisions. This skill is invaluable, not just in their formative years but throughout life. Critical thinkers are naturally curious. They question the status quo, seek deeper understanding, and are always eager to learn. This innate curiosity can lead to a lifelong love for learning. When children think critically, they learn to face challenges head-on, adapt to changing situations, and bounce back from setbacks. This resilience is crucial for ...

When a modern home in High Peaks burns to the ground killing the family, it appears as if the tragic deaths were an accident. But a gut instinct tells Noah Sutherland otherwise. Days later, a family at another residence is found dead under bizarre circumstances. A coincidence, or are the two related? As the calculating stalker dubbed The Smart Killer stays in the shadows and continues slaughtering ordinary families in their homes, the investigation shakes the small Adirondack town to the core.

Yard sales can bring out the worst in people. So when Scumble River school psychologist Skye Denison organizes a 100-mile yard sale, otherwise neighborly folk get downright nasty: her own mother creams a woman, and a battle of the sexes breaks out. But when her former boss is found murdered, nobody knows for sure how this cookie will crumble.

After parting ways with his old party on a bad note, Regulus assumes the identity of Fletcher, a bow and arrow crafter that doesn’t speak and is covered in bandages. People avoided him thinking that he was suspicious or might have some sort of curse, but he makes a name for himself and improves his skills before taking the next step in his journey. Before he could decide what would that step be, though, Regulus receives a good offer from one of his clientes, the chance to explore one labyrinth by himself, sell his products for a better price and even some rare enchantments... the cost is ...

The quaint Gold Rush town of Buggy Springs was a wild and woolly city in the mid-1800's, but had become an eclectic and easy going place by the 21st century. At least that’s what Father Robert Bruce of St. Nicholas of Myrna Episcopal Church thought. Then a mysterious, anonymous caller who claims to want to make a confession quotes Scripture and gives a riddle. Father Robert soon realizes it’s about a murder. As he starts to investigate, he soon finds that there is far more dirt than gold in them thar hills. He discovers a hard drinking, drug using, wild living side of his town he never ...

dentist dangles from the window of a swanky Park Avenue hotel, while Toby Peters, a Los Angeles detective who's very far from home, clutches the man by his jacket, which is tearing slowly, stitch by stitch. Across the room, a dead man lies on the bed, his killer pounding on the hotel room door, which sounds like it's going to give way as quickly as the dentist's jacket. Somehow, this entire mess is Albert Einstein's fault. Two nefarious groups have been threatening the great physicist. One is a ring of blackmailers who claim to have evidence that he has been passing nuclear secrets to Russia.

SIX STRANGERS RECEIVE INVITATIONS TO A FUNERAL They are told that the deceased – a man called Reginald Charters – invited them on his deathbed. But who on earth is Reginald Charters? And why was he so desperate to have these six people at his funeral? “It’s a mystery worthy of Agatha Christie” The group of six strangers are told that they have 20 hours to work out why they have been invited to the funeral. If they can work it out, they will inherit a million pounds. So, they start talking. But it's complicated. Not everything is as it seems. More clues arrive, but they struggle to...

After escaping the underwater labyrinth, Regulus takes some time off to recover and put his mind on the right place after losing a lot there, only after 18 months he finally decides to explore the Skarnash Tribelands and see how the orcs, goblins, and ogres live there. However, he obviously won't be welcomed with open arms, and it seems that his timing is bad as well since some old acquatainces that are looking for him are approaching...

When a blue ribbon leads to a murder charge, the real recipe for justice is a dash of sleuthing and a pinch of trouble... Hannah Foster is still basking in the glory of her big win at the 35th annual Shady Pines Bake-Off—until she stumbles into her bakery the following day and finds Martin Grayson, the competition’s judge, dead behind the counter. The unmistakable scent of almonds fills the air, and all signs point to Hannah as the prime suspect. Determined to clear her friend’s name, Maggie and Tessa, along with Maggie’s ever-curious beagle, Sherlock, dive headfirst into the ...

When the Australian Mystery Writers' Society invited me to their crime-writing festival aboard the Ghan, the famous train between Darwin and Adelaide, I was hoping for some inspiration for my second book. And I needed a break from real people killing each other. Obviously, that didn't pan out. The program is a who's who of crime writing royalty: the debut writer (me!), the forensic science writer, the blockbuster writer, the legal thriller writer, the literary writer and the psychological suspense writer. But when one of us is murdered, six authors quickly turn into five detectives.