JUST BECAUSE HER HUSBAND’S NAKED, DEAD, AND IN A HOTEL BED...

...it might not be what it seems. But there’s that scarf in his mouth. Of course it is.

Given the situation, Kiki Lowenstein can’t help remembering that her (late) husband got her pregnant while cheating on his girlfriend.True, he did the right thing at the time, and their much-loved daughter Anya is now eleven years old. But suddenly he’s dead, and Kiki’s financially embarrassed—that jerk disinherited his own family!

Time for the timid to toughen up. Passive Kiki transforms herself into a fighter, walking right out of her luxurious life and into a scrapbooking store, where she deftly turns a hobby into a moneymaker. Her new gig goes slightly awry when her late husband’s not-so-ex-girlfriend insults her in public, but that’s just the beginning. The hurts keep piling up. How much can one woman stand?

As her husband’s secret life explodes before her eyes, Kiki discovers that their daughter has a shocking secret of her own. Then the cops come for Kiki. And Family Services comes for Anya. No more Mrs. Nice Guy. Kiki has to fight for all she holds dear, and her quest must start with tracking down her late husband’s killer. Hope arrives for Kiki in the twin forms of a hot, homicide detective and her own newfound ability to cope.

Paper, Scissors, Death was an Agatha Award Finalist. It is the kind of mystery that keeps you turning the pages just to spend time with the characters, who somehow make you feel this could be you if your life turned upside down—and make you hope you’d turn it around as gracefully. Joanna Campbell Slan’s first Kiki Lowenstein mystery showcases the author’s delightful gift for turning life’s most dismal moments into humor, yet making us feel there’s hope for us all, even at the darkest of times

In case that’s not enough of a stress-reliever, Slan also provides the ultimate warm-and-fuzzy: a wonderful floppy-eared dog. Fans of feel-good cozy mysteries, especially funny ones with animals or hobbies, will enjoy this book if they love authors like Alexander McCall Smith, Hope Callaghan, Amy Vansant, CeeCee James, Cindy Bell, Diana Orgain, Tony Kappes, Laura Child, and Carolyn Hart. Grab your copy today!

FREE GIFT—Download your copy of Bad, Memory, Album, a full-length Kiki Lowenstein book.

It's a deadly winter for archaeologist Emma Fielding as she tracks a killer in an old New Hampshire hotel, in this fifth mystery from real-life archaeologist Dana Cameron.

Archaeologist Emma Fielding should be on top of the world. Her teaching job secure and home life stable, she arrives at an archaeological conference at a famous old New Hampshire hotel, having outrun the winter storm that's paralysing the East Coast. A rising star in the field, she's in the midst of friends she's known all her life, celebrating the work of Professor Garrison, a venerable legend in the field.

 When Garrison is found dead on the iced-over lake outside the snow-bound hotel, however, Emma realizes that everyone has something to hide, including herself. While the police determine whether Garrison's death was an accident, suicide, or murder, Emma's intimate knowledge of her colleagues hasn't prepared her for what they're concealing, even from themselves. Emma is also forced to face the fact that the dead man was no friend of hers (or her grandfather Oscar) and that everyone-colleagues, police, and herself included-wonders why her view of him is so very different.

The presence of Emma's old flame Duncan brings up bitter memories she'd rather were left buried deep in the past: Duncan wants something from her and Emma can't tell whether it is an opportunity to rekindle their relationship or a way to ensure her silence permanently. Professional jealousies and infighting would be enough added to Garrison's mysterious death, but a series of thefts and attacks in the isolated hotel make the stranded archaeologists ask whether a vengeful ghost has returned, practiced criminals are targeting the conference, or one of their own number has finally succumbed to an array of deadly temptations.

The British governess-turned-sleuth visits a small village hiding big secrets in this “timelessly charming” cozy mystery series (Charlotte MacLeod).

 The citizens of Melling are perfectly ordinary. Some might even consider them boring, but not Miss Maud Silver. It’s been some years since she gave up work as a governess to become a detective, and her fascination with people has served her well during that time. Now, she’s come to Melling to pay a long-postponed visit to an old school chum—but Miss Silver’s vacations never last long. The town’s prodigal son has returned, wealthy and not exactly nostalgic for his hometown. He intends to sell his manor house and be done with Melling forever. But this cozy English hamlet hasn’t finished with him yet . . .

THE LURE OF THE TRACK, A RIDE ON THE WILD SIDE, AND DANGER AT EVERY TURN…

"This little gem of a mystery centers around murder, mayhem and race-fixing

at a fictional racetrack ... Dawson, a longtime racing fan, has really done her homework well... "

--California Thoroughbred

Intrepid Jeri Howard, Janet Dawson’s savvy female private eye, steps into the Winner’s Circle in Dawson's NINTH action-packed mystery, set almost entirely at a track seething with intrigue.

Author Dawson takes us to the fascinating and forbidden backside,

where you practically need a hotwalker for the humans, as owners fret, jockeys throw fits, and vets sweat to hold overworked horses together with duct tape.

Overworked is a hazard of the job, but “injured” can result in lost fortunes or death—and not just death for horses, as Jeri soon finds out. You don't have to be a detective to know that

if it's a track, there’s always a bad actor out there, looking to make a killing the easy way.

And if they have to kill to do it, our intrepid PI’s not going to rest until the desperation stakes.

So here’s how it goes—

one dead jockey, then two dead jockeys, three exotic poisons, and several possible payoffs

—Jeri’s positively in a lather! But you can wager she’s going to show her stuff in the stretch and take home the purse. (She’s reliable that way.)

Dawson’s complex plot is a pleasure, but

the rich backside lore makes this one a sure thing.

When you can practically feel the breeze as the horses sweep by, you

know

you can't lose!

Dick Francis fans will be in heaven, as well as lovers of women sleuths of all kinds, but especially female private investigators like Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone, Linda Barnes’ Carlotta Carlyle and Marcia Muller’s Sharon McCone.

“I don’t know how much Janet Dawson knew about racing before writing A Killing at the Track but she makes you feel as though she’s gotten up at dawn to watch the horses work out all her life. She makes the most of her setting and peoples her story with wonderful characters. Highly recommended.”

--Sally Powers, I Love A Mystery

A puzzler of a tale about a dead bookshop owner, a priceless cache of first editions, and a deadly secret taken to the grave.

It’s no mystery who killed Robert Ripple, owner of Precious Finds Bookstore in Pokesville, Pennsylvania. It was Agatha Christie—or rather, a large carton of valuable Christie hardcovers that the not-so-young Ripple was attempting to lift when his heart gave out. The real question is why the so-called Friends of England, who meet regularly in the back room of Ripple’s literary emporium, are so eager to keep the place open after its proprietor’s death. Certainly it must have something to do with the Friends’ past lives as the associates of a slain New York mobster. Whatever their plan is, they’ll need the help of Tanya Tripp, Ripple’s recently hired and completely unsuspecting assistant, if they want to pull it off. But despite her trustworthy appearance, Tanya may well be hatching a scheme of her own. For over four decades, Peter Lovesey has occupied an honored place as one of crime fiction’s best and brightest. With 

Remaindered

, he offers his readers a delectable tidbit about books and those who live—and die—for them.

The Bibliomysteries are a series of short tales about deadly books, by top mystery authors.