When Jolie Gentil’s parents leave her with Aunt Madge for her junior year so they can ‘work things out’ in their marriage, she’s angry. She knows no one at Ocean Alley High School. Some kids snub her, but she makes friends with the irreverent Scoobie. He’s quirky and fun, but he’s skipped school and smoked pot in the past, so people avoid him. Jolie learns how to shoot a squirt gun from under the boardwalk and tries not to flunk geometry. She also learns that the family she babysits for has a secret, one that puts Jolie in danger. You’ve met Jolie and Scoobie as crime-solving adults. Check out their high school friendship. Same humor, different challenges. Plus a couple of hints about why Jolie wants to get to the bottom of murders when she’s all grown up.

Jolie Gentil cozy mystery box set. After rekindling friendships, Jolie has gotten readjusted to life in Ocean Alley and manages to balance appraising real estate with chairing the Harvest for All Food Pantry. What she can't quite do is mind her own business. This boxed set puts together books five through seven of the Jolie Gentil Cozy Mystery Series. They are Trouble on the Doorstep, Behind the Walls (short-listed for the 2014 Chanticleer Mystery and Mayhem Awards), and Vague Images. Join Jolie and friends as they figure out if the two deaths relate to contracts for Hurricane Sandy repairs, determine who is willing to kill for a stash of jewels behind the walls of the house Jolie just bought, and find out who killed the hospital budget cutter. And the food pantry? The fundraisers have a worthy purpose, but it's the laughs you'll remember. Can you say liquid string contest? What are readers saying? Trouble on the Doorstep: There's something for everyone in these stories- plenty of mystery and intrigue, loyal friendships and a spark of romance--and it's fun to reacquaint with the old friends from volumes 1-4. I'd love to see more stories from this series! Vb Behind the Walls: “I like the way the stories are tied together from the first book to the most recent. This author is spending a lot of time carrying the continuity forward.” Vague Images: This is the most exciting in this wonderful series…I look forward to every addition. Not sure how Jolie always end up in the middle of all these murders, but it's fun to see how she muddles her way through.

Jolie Gentil Mysteries: Books 12-14 and the Prequel -- Jolie and Scoobie High School Misadventures The Jersey Shore can be fun, but then there's the occasional murder. Ocean Alley's most curious sleuth, Jolie Gentil, stays on top of crime, but has to use careful judgment so she doesn't mess up life with her great husband and four-year old twins. Somehow, trouble still finds her, and from time to time she enlists friends to help her solve a murder before a killer comes after her. Sticky Fingered Books. Generally, parents don't find bodies in their kids' daycare center. Leave it to Jolie to be the exception. Murder isn't funny, but the adults and 4-year-old twins bring chuckles as Jolie gets help from Scoobie and friends George and Ramona as she tries to figure out who wanted the daycare director dead. And what does it have to do with plans for downtown changes. Can development be deadly? New Lease on Death. People don't usually keel over in the Java Jolt Coffee Shop, and Jolie does not (often) find bodies in vacant houses. Jolie didn't think anyone in Ocean Alley's real estate business could be ornerier than cigar-chewing Lester Argrow, but Buck Brock wins the prize. Problem is, the prize is death in a vacant house, with an old friend of Jolie's as a key suspect. Phoning in a Murder. The band director hates cell phones in class or on the football field. But is that a good reason to kill him? Or maybe he's chosen his friends poorly. Either way, Scoobie's much younger brother is the last person seen on security footage before the band teacher dies. Jolie needs to prove he isn't the one who stuck a needle in the man's neck. Jolie and Scoobie High School Misadventures. Sixteen-year-old Jolie is furious to be duped. She gets dropped off at Aunt Madge's Cozy Corner B&B not for a fun weekend, but for her junior year of high school while her parents "work things out" in their marriage.She feels like an outsider, but does make friends with Scoobie, a kid who seems to be always on his own. To make money, she babysits. Who knew taking care of kids could be dangerous? Review: "My favorite part of this series is following the arc of characters whose lives feel authentic: Babies and seniors, recovering alcoholics and vets with PTSD, and everything else we all see in our communities. These topics are treated as the part of life, which they are, and rather than detract from the story, they enrich it." Amazon Review

This set has the first four books in the Jolie Gentil Cozy Mystery Series, set in the fictional Ocean Alley, NJ. Fiction you can share with your mom. Even better than that, you can introduce yourself to the series for free. The Jolie Gentil mystery series debuted in October 2011 with Appraisal for Murder. It was followed by Rekindling Motives, When the Carny Comes to Town, and Any Port in a Storm. Jolie is a real estate appraiser in a New Jersey Beach town and her flexible schedule seems to allow plenty of time for trouble. With a name that translates to "pretty nice" (thanks to her French Canadian dad), she's used to teasing, and her embezzler ex-husband taught her more about trouble than she ever expected. But stumbling across dead bodies in the middle of the work day? That's a new one. As she reconnects with old friend and walks Aunt Madge's prune-eating dogs, Jolie tries to stay one step ahead of murder.

Though she never wanted to sit on the plank above the dunk tank for the food pantry fundraiser, Jolie never dreamed what Scoobie saw would nearly kill him. His ex-con mother arrives and there's a murder to add to the mix. Even appraising real estate is complicated by home burglars. Jolie grudgingly seeks help from her nemesis, reporter George Winters, and tries to evade a kidnapper and murderer and take charge of her world again. The police wish she'd butt out and Aunt Madge is furious that Jolie insists on talking to a couple shady characters on her own. Soon even the guests at Aunt Madge's Cozy Corner B&B are in the way. Can Jolie keep her friends safe, and will Scoobie recover enough to say what happened to him and plan another silly fundraiser?

Two Plus Two: Jolie Gentil Cozy Mystery Series Enjoy four books in the Jolie Gentil Cozy Mystery Series. Two are "numbered" books, and two are special books to the series. The Unexpected Resolution (Book 10) The Twain Does Meet (Novella) Underground in Ocean Alley (Book 11) Aunt Madge and the Civil Election (an Aunt Madge Long Short Story) Many of the story lines from earlier books come together in these four books. “The Unexpected Resolution” is part of another box set of Jolie Gentil cozy mysteries. However, the four books in this grouping are part of an integral story line. If you’ve already read “The Unexpected Resolution,” I hope you enjoyed it. If you haven’t, you’ll appreciate having these books together.

"The Twain Does Meet" is a between-the-numbers book in the Jolie Gentil series, and while there are joys and problems to discover it's not a traditional cozy mystery. In book 10 (The Unexpected Resolution) Jolie solves a murder, she and Scoobie get married, and they gain a new family member--Scoobie's much-younger half-brother. Book 11 (Underground in Ocean Alley) takes place a few years later, and mystery solving is accompanied by their three-year old twins. I promised readers they would have the story of the twins' birth -- an anything-but-calm event -- but it didn't seem right to mix it with a murder. So, we have a 33,000 word novella that features laughs and angst with the Ocean Alley crew and more than a few surprises. A fun read with familiar characters.

“You're fired!” Grouchy news publisher Hal Morris sends reporter Melanie Perkins packing for taking too many photos of flowers. Panicked at being unemployed, she lands a job as a landscaper, but an ugly surprise greets her on her first day. A pile of mulch, a tangerine, and a stolen hoe cast suspicion on Melanie. Melanie’s efforts to find a murderer instead put a target on her back. Some of the aim is coming from law enforcement, but they aren’t the ones who want to silence her permanently. Life along the Des Moines River in Iowa can be peaceful, but a murderer has no problem disturbing her tranquility.

Life for Melanie has returned to normal. She works as a gardener with friend Stooper, eats at Mason's Diner, and sits on her farmhouse porch with friends Syl and Sandi. Her biggest challenge is helping Mr. Tibbs get used to the still-unnamed black cat that sauntered into the household. And then she finds a body in the coat closet at the Farm Bureau dinner. The local grain operator had angered farmers with increased prices, but who kills for an extra few cents per bushel of corn? Tired of fingers pointing toward her and curious about why someone burned some of her late father's files, Mel does some poking on her own. The kidnapping of a local woman raises the stakes. With pets who have a nose for trouble, Melanie seeks a devious suspect. * * * * Melanie isn't much of a cook, but her mom was. Check out the recipes for banana bread and the Spaghetti and Chicken Casserole. Yum!

Opening your apartment door to see a woman sliding down it is distressing. Especially when that woman has a knife in her chest. How could a murderer be roaming the halls in the middle of the night? After all the times she has encouraged Jolie to mind her own business, Aunt Madge has had a change of heart. It's Jolie's boyfriend, Scoobie, Madge turns to for help figuring out who the murderer is. Not that being temporarily in an assisted living apartment prevents Aunt Madge from investigating herself. No, a fall from a stool that results in a broken wrist and ankle can't hold down the owner of the Cozy Corner B&B. Could the murderer be a resident with a grudge, or a philandering neighbor who didn't want to get caught in someone else's bed? Aunt Madge's scooter rides take her to the laundry room where she thinks she spots a body in a bin, and into the cold to check exit doors to be sure they can't be entries for murder. All she gets is a reputation for being nosy. It's hard not to be when a dead woman's blood is on your carpet. Murder's not all Madge and friends juggle. What will happen to the Alzheimer's patient whose husband wants to keep her in their apartment? Will Scoobie find information about Melvin, his ornery former professor, that will explain his odd behavior? And how will Madge and her good friend Lance avoid the acid-tongued Elmira Washington, who has decided she wants an apartment in their building? Elmira has been a thorn in Jolie's side for years. Would she be willing to kill to eliminate a roadblock to her move? For a change, it's Madge whose persistence annoys Sergeant Morehouse of the Ocean Alley Police. Certainly the director of the Silver Times senior complex wants Aunt Madge to get well enough to leave. And she does miss her exuberant retrievers and husband Harry. He's busy burning muffins at the B&B instead of helping Jolie with the appraisal business. Good humor at the Jersey shore. Except for the poor dead woman. Add the Christmas and Hanukkah season and there's good fun mixed with the murder. ISBN: 9780986338021