Showing results for "The Book of Vows" in Amateur Sleuth

Ellie McLellan thought wedding planning would be the toughest challenge of her life. But with Quinn Walsh secretly crafting a surprise, relatives flying in from the UK, and the Cozy Corner Café doubling as their wedding venue, chaos quickly takes center stage. Ellie's nerves have nothing to do with saying "I do"—she just wants everything to go as planned.

Sixteen-year-old Valerie vanishes from home in the small hours clad only in her robe and slippers. Three days later, Sister Joan finds her body abandoned in the convent's little Moor Schoolhouse. The dead girl is dressed in wedding white. A garland of leaves encircles her head, and a thin red line runs round her neck. Valerie has been strangled. Then a second young Catholic girl, also dressed in white, turns up dead. Sister Joan is once again torn between her religious duties and helping Detective Sergeant Mill’s inquiries...but time is running out.

Sister Joan heads to the serene shores of Loch Morag for a spiritual retreat in a cave up a steep hill. She’s hoping for peace and quiet, but she soon finds trouble. Six years ago, the womanizing husband of the local store-owner disappeared. Then the minister’s wife died of an overdose. Was it an accident or suicide? Then, after a sudden storm, a body surfaces in the loch. What’s going on? The grumpy villagers don’t want to talk about it. Sister Joan must abandon her solitude to search for the killer and unearth the truth. 

Sister Joan receives a photo of her art school classmates, reminding her of a reunion pact they made 20 years ago. But for three of group, it’s too late - they’re already dead. Joan is more determined than ever to attend the get-together. Then another copy of the photo arrives, again anonymously, with the dead friends crossed out and an ominous black circle drawn around Sister Joan. Ten old friends. Three are dead. Is she next?

There is clearly something weird going on in their quiet corner of Cornwall. There's been some obscene vandalism in the kitchen. A dog is kidnapped. And when a cat is killed, Joan knows there's evil afoot. Then Sister Joan goes to visit Mrs. Pearson. She's met with a horrifying scene. Are these crimes just practical jokes gone horribly wrong? Or does someone have a dangerous obsession with the occult? Sister Joan teams up with Detective Sergeant Mill to get to the bottom of things. But can they stop anyone else getting hurt?

Jill's wedding to police chief Greg King is just days away, at a historic Spanish mission with a courtyard full of olive trees. But the folks in South Cove are more intrigued by what kind of ceremonies might be going on behind the walls of New Hope. Jill isn't fond of the man, but his followers seem nice, and they buy a lot of books. After a distraught woman stops by at Coffee, Books, and More with a picture of her daughter, who she believes needs rescuing from the suspected cult—and then Matthews's body is found, at Jill's wedding venue of all places—Jill makes a commitment to solve the case.

Old Town, Edinburgh. In a squalid tenement where poverty, rats, and disease are rampant, a young woman who worked in a local tavern lies dying. Just another number and bound for a pauper's grave in Greyfriars Kirkyard. Alone, his grandmother the only family left, young Angus Brodie hides in the shadows nearby, the bronze medallion his dying mother pressed into his hand clenched in a tight fist as the constables carry her body from the tenement. And a name overheard—the man who was there that night, seen by the woman who collected the rents.

Former Army brat Molly Owens is happily settling into her new life in the seaside town of Britton Bay - and into new her job as editor-in-chief of the local paper. But as tourists discover the desirable spot, the tide along the Oregon Coast is turning. Britton Bay is buzzing with preparations for a wedding at the bed-and-breakfast where Molly rents a small carriage home. Molly is even helping out and plans to interview the rising star caterer - until the woman is found dead. And then the bride-to-be goes missing.