What self-respecting undertaker would allow himself to get involved in a murder investigation, a series of dirty videos, a case of political blackmail, and police corruption, as well as one of the worst amateur theater productions in recent memory? None, unless your name happens to be Hitchcock Sewell, the most charming suspense hero to come along in years. And who knew an undertaker could look so good? In this fast-paced and enormously entertaining mystery, Hitch has gotten himself into more trouble than any self-respecting undertaker should.

A full-time undertaker and part-time sleuth investigates a suspicious death in this darkly humorous mystery by the author of The Hearse You Came In On. Libby, a former flame of Baltimore’s most eligible mortician Hitchcock Sewell, has returned to town with her two children, but minus one husband and one nanny. Libby’s husband has been accounted for—she left him back in Annapolis. However, the nanny, Sophie, is truly missing. As soon as Hitch starts to nose around, Sophie turns up—literally—in the Severn River. She’s quite dead, and just a little bit pregnant. The police suspect suicide, but Sophie’s mom is adamant it’s murder. Hitch’s intuition says to believe the mother. But as he races around Baltimore for answers, he only digs up more questions—and more suspects. “Those who enjoy lighthearted mysteries with screwball characters will relish Cockey’s fourth outing to feature Baltimore undertaker Hitchcock Sewell.” —Publishers Weekly

Following the adage "You can't take it with you when you go," this work teaches readers how to put their faith in God and focus on the things in life that money can't buy.

Just days from meeting the reaper, a convicted murderer hires Chicago’s most hard-boiled PI to save his neck—before the executioner can claim it Robert Westland’s death is just around the corner when he finally decides to fight the murder rap that’s sending him to the electric chair. Fingered for his wife’s grisly demise, Westland is in a bind, and his last hope is Bill Crane, a booze-soaked detective who’s as ruthless with a quip as he is when trawling the streets for Chicago’s most brutal criminal element. Crane’s got just a few days to suss out the real killer—someone clever enough to off Westland’s wife and lock her in a room whose only key belongs to Westland himself. Fueled by an abundance of liquor and a habit of bad manners, Crane sets his sights on a cast of oddball characters among whom hides a murderer. But in 1930s Chicago, everyone’s got a secret, and the pressure is on for Crane to separate the dangerous from the truly homicidal before it’s too late.

Mystery bookstore owner Tricia Miles has been spending more time solving whodunits than reading them. Now a nearby gas explosion has injured Tricia's sister's boyfriend, Bob Kelly, the head of the Chamber of Commerce, and killed the owner of the town's history bookstore. Tricia's never been a fan of Bob, but when she reads that he's being tight-lipped about the "accident", it's time to take action.

Located within the boundaries of one of the East Side of Detroit's "bluest" of blue collar neighborhoods, 9074 St. Cyril Avenue served a dual purpose - funeral home and family residence. Occupying the first floor of the impressive yellow bricked structure from 1942 until 1978 was the Van Kula Funeral Home - the second floor I called home. For over four decades I was associated with death and dying on an almost daily occurrence. Residing over a funeral home with five siblings added to the plenitude of memories - poignant, humorous and enduring. As an observer and eventual practitioner of one of the world's oldest professions, I have borne witness to human nature under the most demanding of emotional circumstances. In "DAD, CAN I BORROW THE HEARSE?" I have attempted to present a summary of events as they related to me - "The Funeral Director's Kid".

Hitchcock Sewell, Baltimore's hippest undertaker and civilian sleuth, is back in a second sly, original mystery. One of the most charming and offbeat amateur detectives to come around in years, Hitchcock Sewell does for the undertaking profession what Marilyn Monroe did for the ukulele--gives it a touch of class. In this rollicking follow-up to Tim Cockey's "witty, punchy, snappy, well-written, and dang funny debut" (Harlan Coben, author of The Final Detail), a surprise blizzard dumps more than snow on the steps of Sewell & Sons funeral home--it leaves behind the corpse of a murdered waitress as well. Hitch's television meteorologist girlfriend sees the crime as an opportunity to move into hard news. Her unctuous mentor wants to beat Hitch to the punch. Hitch's snooping takes him from low-life strip joints to high-tone mansions, proving yet again that undertakers and their clue-happy cohorts can be a pretty lively bunch.

Now who would kill a used-car salesman? In a city like L.A., Brock Callahan figures there’s about a million suspects—each with a motive. Nevertheless, the former gridiron star turned private eye is hired by the widow to find out just who killed the one and only Loony Leo Dunbar. It seems someone offed the king of the dubious deal as he was sitting in the front seat of his Lincoln. And now Brock “the Rock” is looking for Loony Leo’s killer. It’s not easy work; Brock’s got to go through a bevy of Leo’s girlfriends and seedy associates on a trail that leads into the sleaziest side of the used-car business he’s ever seen …

A Bloody Words Light Mystery 2014 Finalist Spa owner and habitual amateur sleuth Penny Brannigan finds herself at a clerical conference at Gladstone's Library in North Wales. Also attending as a guest speaker is her boyfriend, DCI Gareth Davies, there to give a talk on theft prevention. But behind the ornate red sandstone facade of this most respectable of Victorian buildings, Penny encounters deception, blackmail, and murder. When the bishop's secretary dies of a suspicious case of food poisoning, Davies leads the investigation. At Penny's suggestion, Florence Semble, a friend from Penny's adopted hometown, is invited to the Library to decode the secretary's shorthand notebook in the search for clues. As the conference continues, another body is found in the beautiful Library itself, and Penny must once again search for a killer. Elizabeth J. Duncan's Never Laugh as a Hearse Goes By is a fine entry in a series celebrated for its small-town charm, Welsh flavor, and lovable characters.