Smart Mystery Fiction

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 ...

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, ...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

When a killer strikes, single mom and PI, Tracy Belden puts game nights on hold to solve a puzzling case of murder. I’m Tracy Belden and I’m getting out of town. A quick meeting with a client in Las Vegas will pay for a weekend getaway for me and my guy. But our perfect plan derails when my client is found dead. Now the police and the perps both accuse me of having a priceless artifact. The only way to prove my innocence–and finish my crossword puzzle– is to find the missing object and track down the killer. If you like fast-paced, humorous cozies, dive into the Crossword Puzzle ...

In an instant, the lives of two women collide. One was behind the wheels of a Trans Am she liked to drive too fast. The other was lying in the road, dying an agonizing death. When Chicago private eye V.I. Warshawski gets out of her car to look at the woman she almost hit, she begins a long, harrowing descent into a world of shadowy secrets and tangled lives—and into the grimmest heart of her city.

When a killer strikes, PI and single mom, Tracy Belden puts game nights on hold to solve a puzzling case of murder. I'm Tracy Belden and I'm hunting ghosts, Until a tour through a haunted mansion turns up a murder victim. When my landlady's mysterious past is connected with the high-profile murder, I can’t stay on the sidelines. I know nothing about fine art or million-dollar forgeries. But I’ve never left a crossword puzzle unfinished, Will I be able to prove my friend innocent of murder? If you like fast-paced, humorous cozies, dive into the Crossword Puzzle Cozy Mysteries! Available ...

Four bestselling mystery authors meet up for a writers' retreat in tropical climes, on the dreamy Caribbean island of St. Mary. Seeking to infuse their tales with authenticity, they enlist the expertise of Penny Küfer, a spirited and sharp-witted private investigator known for her prowess in unraveling complex crimes. Penny arrives on St. Mary anticipating a serene break from her usual caseload, envisioning tranquil days under the tropical sun. However, while enjoying a romantic sunset on her very first evening, she witnesses a murder. As the line between fiction and reality blurs, Penny ...

Are you a Law & Order or CSI crime junkie? In these You Solve It mini mysteries, you get to be the lead detective who takes on the case. You will read the case file, collect the evidence and solve the crime. Become an iDetective.

Richard Dyck is a 37 year old lawyer who has just moved from a small town to the big city where he has accepted a position at a prestigious downtown Toronto law firm and has rented a tiny condominium apartment. Richard has an inconvenient personality disorder and blurts out inappropriate comments. Anita Weston lives in an opulent penthouse suite in the same building. She also suffers from a similar affliction and is unable to control her insulting mouth. Their chance meeting in the underground parking garage sparks an outrageous confrontation which spins out of control into a fierce rivalry...

Are you a crime show junkie? A law and order fanatic? A real-life who done did it grand master who uncovers the clues and solves the case before any of your family or friends? Then take the challenge and solve each of the thirteen cases before the end of every chapter. Become one of the elite and earn the title of a professional couch detective.

Are you a Law & Order or CSI crime junkie? In these You Solve It mini mysteries, you get to be the lead detective who takes on the case. You will read the case file, collect the evidence and solve the crime. Become an iDetective.

Joy thinks she's falling in love with FBI Agent Richard Fields—but is the man who makes her mind soar and her heart swoon really who he says he is? Those who challenge the Lords of the Universe—a secret society of new-age fanatics—have a habit of winding up dead from unnaturally 'natural causes.' While witnesses in the case against the LOTU drop like wilted rose petals, FBI expert Richard Fields has been investigating one suspect in particular, Dr. Joy Clayton. The newly exonerated widow of one of the cult's fanatical leaders, Joy is beautiful, brilliant, and an angel on earth—and ...