Dive into a Cozy Mystery
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I write mysteries about people caught up in crimes who pursue justice, armed with quick thinking and courage. My Five-Ingredient Mysteries feature a café manager solving murders with her live-wire grandfather in a historic Chesapeake Bay town. Each book has five suspects, five clues, and Granddad's five-ingredient recipes.
New! Bake Offed: Five-Ingredient Mystery #8
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When Granddad's rival in the Deadly Desserts bake-off at the Maryland Mystery Fan Fest is found dead next to her whistling tea, he and Val blow the whistle on a murderer. Each contestant in the mystery fest's bake-off must plays the role of a fictional sleuth's cook. Assigned the part of Nero Wolfe’s gourmet chef, Granddad is up against his nemesis, Cynthia Sweet, playing Sherlock Holmes's landlady, Mrs. Hudson. After she's found dead and a witness is in jeopardy, Val and Granddad must figure out which mystery lover had the biggest beef with Ms. Not-So-Sweet. |
"A mystery fan fest makes the perfect place for murder. ~ Kirkus
"A fun romp in an equally fun setting...Granddad is a hoot, and a
clever method of faking an alibi adds to the fun" ~ Mystery Scene Magazine
"Enough hidden agendas, mistaken identities, and red herrings
to give even Hercule Poirot’s little gray cells a workout." ~ Kings River Life
"A fun romp in an equally fun setting...Granddad is a hoot, and a
clever method of faking an alibi adds to the fun" ~ Mystery Scene Magazine
"Enough hidden agendas, mistaken identities, and red herrings
to give even Hercule Poirot’s little gray cells a workout." ~ Kings River Life
By Cook or by Crook: Five-Ingredient Mystery #1
ISBN: 978-1-61773-138-9
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As Val adjusts to living with her curmudgeonly grandfather, he takes up cooking, and she pursues the killer who framed her cousin for murder.
Haunted by the car accident that ended her career as a cookbook publicist, Val Deniston has left Manhattan for a quieter life near the Chesapeake Bay. Now living with her grandfather in Bayport, she enjoys running the Cool Down Café at the sports club. After a club member is murdered, she cooks up a scheme to find the killer while Granddad creates havoc in the kitchen, the least of Val's problems with a murderer gunning for her. x
Buy from Kensington Books, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Walmart, or a local bookstore through Indie Bound. |
Final Fondue
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When Granddad's houseguest is murdered while eating chocolate fondue, he and Val must stop a killer bent on re-creating Hitchcock’s creepy scenarios.
As Val helps her grandfather prepare for houseguests, visitors to Bayport’s Tricentennial Festival, he reminisces about the fondue parties of the 1970s and makes chocolate fondue to greet them. One of them eats her final fondue that night. In the dark the murderer might have mistaken her for another houseguest or even for Val. When a fondue fork and a kitchen knife disappear, Val and Granddad team up to keep the killer from making another stab at murder. Read more about Final Fondue. |
ISBN: 978-1-61773-142-6
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The Tell-Tale Tarte
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When an actor who portrays Poe is murdered, Val and Granddad track the killer to a “House of Usher” on the Chesapeake Bay and to the cemetery where Poe is buried.
Val fears for her grandfather’s life when an actor is murdered while dressed like Granddad. She soon learns the actor isn’t the only one doing an impersonation. The search for his murderer takes Val and Granddad to the home of a Poe-inspired author, Rick Usher. When they are stranded at the "House of Usher" by an ice storm, they uncover clues to the murder, but will they live to tell the tale? Read more about The Tell-Tale Tarte. |
ISBN: 978-1-4967-0917-2
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S'more MurdersWhen Val caters a Titanic memorial dinner on a yacht in the Chesapeake Bay, long submerged grievances lead to murder.
A Titanic-obsessed yacht owner hires Val to re-create the final meal served on that doomed ship. On the anniversary of its sinking, the yachtsman welcomes his guests aboard and assigns them roles in a murder mystery game, "Death on the Titanic." Val soon reaches the chilling conclusion that the host is fishing for the culprit in a real crime. When someone goes overboard, Val has to reel in a killer before s’more murders go down. Read more about the last dinner on the Titanic and S'more Murders. |
ISBN: 978-1-4967-0919-6
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Crypt Suzette
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When a murder masquerades as an accident, Granddad's ghost-busting and Val's foray into a haunted house turn up clues to the killer.
As Val caters a Halloween party at Bayport’s bookshop, a group of would-be writers, the Fictionistas, compete in the costume contest. One of them, the secretive Suzette, rents a spare room from Granddad. When she’s found dead after a hit-and-run, the Fictionistas accuse each other of murder. Did one of them kill her or was her death rooted in the past she’d worked hard to escape? Val and Granddad must pull off a Halloween ruse to rip the mask off a murderer. Read more about Crypt Suzette. |
ISBN: 978-1-4967-2242-3
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Gingerdead Man
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When a Santa keels over after eating gingerbread at the holiday party Val caters, she and Granddad must keep a killer from baking more deadly treats.
During Bayport's Dickens of a Holiday festival, Val hosts a private tea party for the volunteers dressed as Dickens characters, Santa, and Mrs. Claus. Then an unexpected guest arrives, shrouded in black like the eeriest Dickens ghost, and hands out gingerbread men with white icing skeleton bones. Though the creepy gingerdead man looks like a Halloween leftover, the insatiable Santa can't resist it. When the man in red turns blue, Val and Granddad have a cookie-cutter killer to catch. Read the first chapter of Gingerdead Man. |
ISBN: 978-1496722447
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"A fun romp in an equally fun setting."
-Mystery Scene Magazine "A mystery fan fest makes the perfect place for murder. . .Granddad is a hoot, and a clever method of faking an alibi adds to the fun." -Kirkus Review "Enough hidden agendas, mistaken identities, and red herrings to give even Hercule Poirot’s little gray cells a workout." -Kings River Life |