Dysfunctional Mysteries

The 1953 death of Bertram Warren was ruled an accident, but Detective Jerry Keating believed Bertram was murdered by his young wife, Cora. He also believed that their daughter, ten-year-old Meghan, saw what happened. When Jerry tried to question the girl, her mother called the chief of police, and they told Jerry to back off. Some sixty years later, Cora dies, and she leaves her house on the shore to her only living relative, a young woman named Mariah Kimball. Mariah has never heard of Cora Warren and refuses to believe it when she learns that Cora was her biological great-grandmother. ...

Author Grady Green is having the worst best day of his life. Grady calls his wife to share some exciting news as she is driving home. He hears Abby slam on the brakes, get out of the car, then nothing. When he eventually finds her car by the cliff edge the headlights are on, the driver door is open, her phone is still there. . . but his wife has disappeared. A year later, Grady is still overcome with grief and desperate to know what happened to Abby. He can’t sleep, and he can’t write, so he travels to a tiny Scottish island to try to get his life back on track. Then he sees the impossible.

When Theodora Scott met Connor—wealthy, charming, and a member of the powerful Dalton family—she fell in love in an instant. Six months later, he’s brought her to Idlewood, his family’s isolated winter retreat, to win over his skeptical relatives. Stay away from Connor Dalton.Theo has tried to ignore the threatening messages on her phone, but she can’t ignore the footprints in the snow outside the cabin window or the strange sense of familiarity she has about this place. Then, in a disused cabin, Theo finds something impossible: a photo of herself as a child. A photo taken at Idlewood.

Libby Day was seven when her mother and two sisters were murdered in "The Satan Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas". As her family lay dying, little Libby fled their tiny farmhouse into the freezing January snow. She lost some fingers and toes, but she survived, and famously testified that her 15-year-old brother, Ben, was the killer. Twenty-five years later, Ben sits in prison, and troubled Libby lives off the dregs of a trust created by well-wishers who've long forgotten her.

When Jane's husband left her and their children for greener pastures, she had no choice but to take as many housecleaning jobs as she could get to support them. Little did she know that during one of those jobs she would discover that a valuable ring her client owned had been stolen. Even more unexpected is when her client asks her to investigate the theft and find out who stole the ring. Jane soon discovers she has a knack for solving crimes as well as locating a treasure that has been missing for over a hundred years. When she looked at a long-lost map that a treasure seeker had ...

Back in 1985, Frank Mackey was a nineteen-year-old kid with a dream of escaping his family's cramped flat on Faithful Place and running away to London with his girl, Rosie Daly. But on the night they were supposed to leave, Rosie didn't show. Frank took it for granted that she'd dumped him-probably because of his alcoholic father, nutcase mother, and generally dysfunctional family. He never went home again. Neither did Rosie. Then, twenty-two years later, Rosie's suitcase shows up.

Carlton “Big-Carl” Watts made his name in the streets by robbing and terrorizing drug dealers in order to provide for his family. That is, until he was murdered by a close friend. Leaving his wife to raise their two sons, ‘Champ and Mook’, alone in a poverty-stricken environment where only the strong survive. After their father's untimely demise, brothers, Champ and Mook, find themselves knee-deep in street life at very young ages. Burdened with the pressures of providing for their family as well as living up to the ruthless legacy their father left behind, they decide to dive head-...

When Alice and Leo move into a newly renovated house in The Circle, a gated community of exclusive houses, it is everything they’ve dreamed of. But appearances can be deceptive… As Alice is getting to know her neighbors, she discovers a devastating secret about her new home, and begins to feel a strong connection with Nina, the therapist who lived there before. Alice becomes obsessed with trying to piece together what happened two years before. But no one wants to talk about it. Her neighbors are keeping secrets and things are not as perfect as they seem…

In this powerful true crime memoir, an award-winning identity theft expert tells the shocking story of the duplicity and betrayal that inspired her career and nearly destroyed her family. Axton Betz-Hamilton grew up in small-town Indiana in the early '90s. When she was 11 years old, her parents both had their identities stolen. Their credit ratings were ruined, and they were constantly fighting over money. This was before the age of the Internet, when identity theft became more commonplace, so authorities and banks were clueless and reluctant to help Axton's parents.

Perched atop a hill in the tiny town of Marchburg, Virginia, The Goode School is a prestigious prep school known as a Silent Ivy. The boarding school of choice for daughters of the rich and influential, it accepts only the best and the brightest. Its elite status, long-held traditions and honor code are ideal for preparing exceptional young women for brilliant futures at Ivy League universities and beyond. But a stranger has come to Goode, and this ivy has turned poisonous.

The strangest story ever written - it couldn't possibly be true. This is a completely mad tale of an extended Scottish family battling for an inheritance. A battle that reaches to the US President, ancient Mayan predictions and alien artefacts that cause a stir among every spy and extreme group in the known world. While investigating a double murder over a scrabble board with a central seven letter word - INHERIT - Detective Constable Callum MacCallum becomes drawn into an ancient mystery, helped along by the antics of the runaway CIA agent Jack Jacks III and the mysterious police woman ...

A week at a beautiful chateau in the south of France—it should be a straightforward final job for Dora. She’s a smart, stunning and discreet escort, and Daniel has paid for her services before. This time, all she has to do is to convince the assembled guests that she is his girlfriend. Dora is used to playing roles and being whatever men want her to be. It’s all about putting on a front.

In the latest thrilling installment of the Clean Sweeps Cozy Mystery Series, Jane finds herself entangled in a web of luxury, deceit, and danger. Known for her keen ability to unravel the most confounding mysteries, Jane is approached by a high-society socialite to solve a case that’s as scandalous as it is deadly: the murder of the socialite's boyfriend. As Jane delves deeper into the opulent world of the wealthy, she quickly learns that beneath the veneer of privilege and glamour lie the same passions and pitfalls that affect us all – love, jealousy, and, in this case, murder. ...

Christopher Dollanganger was 14 when he and his younger siblings - Cathy and the twins, Cory and Carrie - were locked away in the attic of Foxworth Hall, prisoners of their mother's greedy inheritance scheme. For three long years he kept hope alive for the sake of the others. But the shocking truth about how their ordeal affected him was always kept hidden - until now.

Before Alex Marzano-Lesnevich begins a summer job at a law firm in Louisiana, working to help defend men accused of murder, they think their position is clear. The child of two lawyers, Alex is staunchly anti-death penalty. But the moment convicted murderer Ricky Langley’s face flashes on the screen as Alex reviews old tapes—the moment they hear him speak of his crimes—they are overcome with the feeling of wanting him to die. Shocked by their reaction, Alex digs deeper and deeper into the case.

Within months of having taken control of the family detective business, Izzy Spellman is accused of embezzling from a former client, the ridiculously wealthy Mr. Slayter, who happens to have Alzheimer's, which Izzy and he are diligently trying to keep under wraps. Not only is Slayter's business and reputation on the line, but if Izzy gets indicted for embezzlement, she'll lose everything - her business, her license, and her family's livelihood. Is this the end of Izzy Spellman, PI?

I am a retired clinical psychologist whose forty-year specialty was treating substance abusers and their families. I worked both in private practice and in school settings. In the schools I frequently counseled both youthful bullies and their victims. The word “bully” fascinated me. It has gone through a mysterious evolution from its beginning in the middle ages. It originally identified someone as a “sweetheart,” but during the seventeenth century its meanings became, first, “fine fellow,” then, “blustering daredevil.” By the end of that century, being called a bully meant ...

Hale- Reaping what he has sown, Hale has been stripped of over half of his army and with no strong witch by his side, Hale must still face the war that he started with the other factions. Now he must reach out to an ally who he has failed for help as he worries for Klare and her new state. Will he be able to come out of this war alive with so many enemies? Or has his time on the Vampire throne come to an end of his own making? Klare- has now been effectively stripped of her humanity. She struggles to adjust to the what immortality brings and is not sure that she even wants to. Worrying for ...

Rosie and Laura are as different as two sisters can be. One is stable and has the perfect family. The other struggles to break free from her troubled past. When Laura disappears after going on a blind date, Rosie takes matters into her own hands. But as Rosie begins to search for her sister, her greatest fears come to the surface. Could Laura be more of a danger than the stranger she meets, or is the night before her last night alive?

14-year-old Ruth was expecting a few fights on her family's vacation at their remote farmhouse. But she wasn't expecting a murder. And "death by typewriter" wasn't quite how she thought her step-grandmother, GG, would meet her end. As an avid reader of mystery novels, Ruth is more than a little excited to have a real mystery to solve. (Though she's sad about GG. Obviously.) And she's read enough Agatha Christie that catching a killer should be a breeze... right?