Showing titles in Amateur Sleuth

My grandmother taught me that magic is like baking: it's all about intention. As a fire witch, I pour my heart into every loaf of bread, every comfort scone. Opening a bakery with my coven sisters was supposed to be the culmination of that dream—a place where our kitchen magic could shine. But during renovations, we didn't just find asbestos; we found a skeleton clutching a scorched spellbook. A spellbook that hums with a power that recognizes my own, practically begging me to uncover its secrets. This wasn't just any skeleton; it was a kitchen witch, just like me, and she was murdered.

Starting a new life in Florida means year-round sunshine, beautiful beaches, and balmy breezes. For most people, anyway. But not for thirtysomething Piper and her grandmother, former members of a motorcycle gang in Oregon. For them, it means entering the witness protection program and moving to Bitter End in the Sunshine State. Yes, to Bitter End. It doesn’t get much more ironic than this. But hey, it’s better than rotting in jail for getting busted with tax evasion and money laundering, and infinitely better than getting killed by said gang for testifying against them.

1961 plant Queen Elisabeth gerade ihren Staatsbesuch in Italien an Bord der Britannia, als sie eine schockierende Nachricht erhält: Ein Mann behauptet, vom königlichen Zug aus einen Mord beobachtet zu haben. Nun ist der angebliche Zeuge kein besonders vertrauenswürdiger Zeitgenosse – andererseits wird aber just seit dem Tag des möglichen Mordes ein Freund von Prinzessin Margarets neuem Ehemann vermisst. Der jungen Queen bleibt nichts anderes übrig, als in dieser delikaten Angelegenheit selbst zu ermitteln.

The annual yacht race off the coast of Mackinac Island, Michigan, is a highlight of the summer season, and Allie is pulling out all the stops making chocolate centerpieces for the occasion. Unfortunately, she and her bichonpoo, Mal, also pull a dead body from the murky waters of the marina. When Allie's boyfriend's sister becomes the prime suspect, Allie dives into investigating the murder herself. Amid bitter feuds and hushed-up scandals, the courageous candymaker quickly gets in over her head. Someone is trying to fudge the facts to keep a secret worth killing for....

After a class of children falls mysteriously ill and their teacher dies from eating poisoned sausage rolls, suspicion falls on mill owner Louise Wilkins. Working with her aristocratic friend Sybbie and the ever-skeptical DI Colin Bradshaw, Georgina delves into the mill's dark history and uncovers a chilling parallel: over a century earlier, the miller's daughter was accused of poisoning a local family with arsenic-laced flour.

A missing girl. A team of unlikely misfits. One terrifying descent into darkness. When a teen girl vanishes without a trace, everyone assumes she ran from her strict father. But Justin Boyle knows something sinister is afoot. He saw her at the mall. He saw the twisted intentions of the strangers with her. And he knows she's in danger.

The apparent heart attack that killed kennel owner Max Turnbull has left seven pups in mourning, and his wife Peg suspecting foul play. But the only evidence is their missing prize pooch—a pedigreed poodle named Beau. Enter Melanie Travis. With her young son happily ensconced in day camp, the thirty-something teacher and single mother is talked into investigating her uncle's death—unofficially, of course.

Hollywood, 1924. Grace Michelle's career is flourishing. As a lead costume designer in the heart of Tinseltown, she finally has the success she's worked so hard for. But when a father she believed dead resurfaces—and his glamorous new wife is kidnapped—Grace is thrown into a high-stakes mystery with deadly consequences.

When an elderly Miracle Springs resident, Lucille Wynter, arranges for Nora to deliver an order of books to her creepy, crumbling Southern Gothic mansion, Nora doesn't expect to be invited in. An agoraphobic, Lucille doesn't leave Wynter House. Nor does she invite anyone inside. But when Lucille doesn't come to the door to collect her books, Nora begins to worry. Forcing her way into Lucille's dilapidated home, Nora is shocked to find rooms packed to the ceiling with decaying books and a lifeless Lucille at the foot of her stairs.

Murder is a dish best served ice cold... In the idyllic, small town of Dewstow, Margery and Clementine are eagerly awaiting retirement from their work on the front-line serving meals to the students at Summerview secondary school. Their peaceful life is shattered when their kitchen manager is found dead in the school’s walk-in freezer. The police are adamant that it’s an open-and-shut case of accidental death. But Margery and Clementine are convinced that something more sinister is afoot and take it upon themselves to investigate.

A young woman’s carefully constructed fantasy world implodes in this brilliantly conceived novel that blurs distinctions between right and wrong, comedy and tragedy, imagination and reality: "Surreal . . . leaves you with the creeping certainty that there is a different world lurking just...

Hustling her fiance off to a neighboring tourist town might be the only way Jill Gardner can plan her nuptials to South Cove's in-demand police detective. But when a mystery man turns up dead at South Cove's PD, Greg is hightailing it back home to investigate, leaving Jill to finish the vacation solo. Jill can barely get in a spa day before her own respite is spoiled by a greedy hotel guest and unexpected revelations about Max Winter, the developer conniving to buy her home out from under her.

For all its merriment, Christmas can also bring melancholy-and in Magic Springs, Idaho, Mia finds that the season has brought her an unhappy ghost who's pulling poltergeist-style pranks to get her attention. When she demands an explanation, the ghost just sends a message: Ask Mary Alice-that is, Mia's beloved Grans, who's been training her to develop her witchy talents. If anyone can figure this out, it's Grans . . . even if she still hasn't managed to free Mia's cat from a previous spell that she cast.

Business is bubbling at Mia's catering service and cooking school, Mia's Morsels, but toil and trouble are not far behind. Mia just accepted her toughest gig yet: last-minute wedding planner for Magic Springs' own Romeo and Juliet. Though the small town is fairly accepting of magic, two families have been locked in a vicious feud spanning generations. Unfortunately for both families, they're about to become in-laws! But when she goes to pick up paperwork from the couple's previous wedding planner, Mia discovers the woman murdered in an apparent attempt to stop the contentious union.

Back in Balsam Dell to heal after the death of her husband, Carly Hale is finally pursuing her lifelong dream — opening Carly's Grilled Cheese Eatery. After only five months, business is booming as Vermont vacationers and townspeople alike flock to lunch on her Party Havartis and other grilled-cheese concoctions. That is, everyone is but Lyle Bagley, her one-time high-school boyfriend who’s now the town bully — and he just bought the building that houses her eatery and wants her out.

Angie Turner's Idaho restaurant, the County Seat, is the perfect site for a picturesque country wedding, but the party planning skids to a halt when the groom-to-be is implicated in a murder investigation....

Ever since meeting the wary owners of an antique shop opening across the street, Robbie has been scrambling to manage weird incidences plaguing her cafe and country store. Pricey items vanish from shelves without explanation, a fully equipped breakfast food truck starts lingering around the area each morning, and loyal diners mysteriously fall ill. When an elderly man dies after devouring an omelet packed with poisonous mushrooms, Robbie must temporarily close down Pans 'N Pancakes and search for the killer with a real zest for running her out of business - or else.

Food anthropologist Miriam Quiñones-Smith's move from New York to Coral Shores, Miami, puts her academic career on hold to stay at home with her young son. Adding to her funk is an opinionated mother-in-law and a husband rekindling a friendship with his ex. Gracias to her best friend, Alma, she gets a short-term job as a Caribbean cooking expert on a Spanish-language morning TV show. But when the newly minted star attends a Women's Club luncheon, a socialite sitting at her table suddenly falls face-first into the chicken salad, never to nibble again.

A car strikes a woman in the middle of the night, and a young actress lies dead in the road. The London police force thinks it's an accident, but private detective James Leipfold and computer whiz kid Maile O'Hara aren't so sure. Putting their differences aside, and brought together by a shared love of crosswords and busting bad guys, Maile and Leipfold investigate. But not all is as it seems, as they soon find out to their peril....

It's the role of a lifetime for Jules. The Shakespeare Festival has returned to Ashland, Oregon, for the season and Torte has been cast as the supplier of Elizabethan-era treats for the main event. But on the eve of opening night, a brawl between Jules's friend Lance, the artistic director, and a strapping young thespian named Anthony almost brings down the house...and the next morning, Anthony is dead.