What's worse than a string of calls from a telemarketer? Elise Pepper is about to find out. Her return to her southern hometown after a scandalous divorce is stressful enough, but when she trips over the body of the town playboy, her stress meter hits an all-time high. Between bizarre phone calls and more, the victim has left behind a heap of trouble that includes missing money, missing pets, and mourning lovers. Add in a growing list of suspects and Elise is neck deep trouble. Stuck in the middle of her personal drama and the small town rumor mill, there’s no shortage of theories. But when she discovers her best friend, Lavina is the number one suspect, she knows what she has to do. The question is will it help or hurt? Can amateur sleuth Elise clear her friend's name, or will her friendship blinders shield her from the truth? Find out more in the first book of this 6 book cozy murder mystery series, the Angel Lake Cozy Mysteries! Cozy mystery books free

As seen on Investigation Discovery: “A true crime murder mystery that will leave you gasping for breath.” —Steve Jackson, New York Times–bestselling author of No Stone Unturned Frank Rodriguez, a much-loved counselor of troubled teens, lies dead on the bedroom floor. His wife and stepdaughter are in shock, and so is the medical examiner when he performs the autopsy. Aside from being dead, Frank is in perfect health. Demanding to know the cause of her husband’s death, Angie Rodriguez badgers the police, insisting that Frank was murdered. The cops attribute her assertions to overwhelming grief, but soon they too believe that Frank didn’t die of natural causes. When the police enlist their number one suspect to help in the investigation, things spiral out of control until law enforcement is dealing with a daring plot to murder Angie’s best friend, and allegations of another homicide so evil and perverse that even seasoned LA County Detectives are shocked beyond belief . . . New York Times–bestselling and Edgar Award–winning author “Burl Barer, with co-author Frank Giradot, has hit yet another home run with this crime story. A smart and well-written who-dunnit tale” (Cathy Scott, Los Angeles Times–bestselling author of The Killing of Tupac Shakur). “A doozy of a murder.” —Suzy Spencer, New York Times–bestselling author of Breaking Point

The follow-up to Murder in Chianti finds ex-NYPD detective Nico Doyle recruited by Italian authorities to investigate the murder of a prominent wine critic. One year after moving to his late wife’s Tuscan hometown of Gravigna, ex-NYPD detective Nico Doyle has fully settled into Italian country life, helping to serve and test recipes at his in-laws’ restaurant. But the town is shaken by the arrival of wine critic Michele Mantelli in his flashy Jaguar. Mantelli holds his influential culinary magazine and blog over Gravigna’s vintners and restaurateurs. Some of Gravigna's residents are impressed by his reputation, while others are enraged—especially Nico's landlord, whose vineyards Mantelli seems intent of ruining. Needless to say, Mantelli’s lavish, larger-than-life, and often vindictive personality has made him many enemies, and when he is poisoned, the local maresciallo, Perillo, has a headache of a high-profile murder on his hands—and once again turns to Nico for help.

Kitty Blakemore is not really ill. That is what Anne Harrison is told when she goes to work as a private nurse for the famous author. Or is she? Is someone trying to poison Mrs Blakemore? Why are the servants in the house so strange? Soon it becomes a matter for the police, and Nurse Harrisonfinds herself involved in a murder.

Private investigator Kate Weller must confront her troubled past and clear her brother’s name in the second gripping Marked for Retribution mystery. When a wealthy socialite is found dead on her luxury yacht, her daughter Lainey hires Kate Weller to investigate. Agnes Westin created plenty of enemies during her climb to the top of society, many with a taste for revenge – but did any of them feel strongly enough to kill her? But Kate has another reason altogether for returning to Pensacola, Florida, the only town she has ever called home. Her brother Liam has spent the past sixteen years in jail for his part in a robbery homicide – and unless Kate uncovers the truth of what really happened that day, she will never be safe. Now someone wants to make sure her repressed memories stay buried. Can Kate clear her brother’s name before the real killer silences them both forever?

Dismissed as déclassé by gourmands, blamed for the scourge of obesity, and yet loved by all, the taste of sweet has long been at the center of both controversy and celebration. For anyone who has ever felt conflicted about a cupcake, this is a book to sink your teeth into. In The Taste of Sweet, unabashed dessert lover Joanne Chen takes us on an unexpected adventure into the nature of a taste you thought you knew and reveals a world you never imagined. Sweet is complicated, our individual relationships with it shaped as much by childhood memories and clever marketing as the actual sensation of the confection on the tongue. How did organic honey become a luxury while high-fructose corn syrup has been demonized? Why do Americans think of sweets as a guilty pleasure when other cultures just enjoy them? What new sweetener, destined to change the very definition of the word sweet, is being perfected right now in labs around the world? Chen finds the answers by visiting sensory scientists who study taste buds, horticulturalists who are out to breed the perfect strawberry, and educators who are researching the link between class and obesity. Along the way she sheds new light on a familiar taste by exploring the historical sweet­scape through the banquet tables of emperors, the pie safes of American pioneers, the corporate giants that exist to fulfill our every sweet wish, and the desserts that have delighted her throughout the years. This fabulously entertaining story of sweet will change the way you think about your next cookie.

USA Today bestselling series! Sally Muccio’s had her crosses to bear: a cheating ex-boyfriend, crazy Italian parents, and an unfaithful husband, just to name a few. After her divorce, she returns to her hometown to start a novelty cookie shop whose specialties include original fortune cookies, served with a sprinkle of foreshadowing. But there’s no warning when her ex-husband’s mistress drops dead on Sal's porch, and police confirm it’s a homicide. Determined to stop her life from becoming a recipe for disaster, Sal takes matters into her own hands. With two very different men vying for her affection, dead bodies piling up, and a reputation hanging by an apron string, Sal finds herself in a race against time to save both her business and life—before the last cookie crumbles. The Cookies & Chance Mysteries: Tastes Like Murder (book #1) A Spot of Murder (short story in the "Killer Beach Reads" collection) Baked to Death (book #2) Burned to a Crisp (book #3) Frosted With Revenge (book #4) Silenced by Sugar (book #5) A Drizzle Before Dying (short story in the "Pushing Up Daisies" collection) Crumbled to Pieces (book #6) "The delightful whodunit kept me guessing until the end, and the tasty treats had my mouthwatering from start to finish! A fantastic culinary mystery in the vein of Joanne Fluke and Diane Mott Davidson!" —Gemma Halliday, New York Times & USA Today bestselling mystery author "Catherine Bruns has found a winning recipe for an exciting mystery mixed with a dash of humor and a heap of danger. Add in a little romance for spice, and you get one sweet reading treat." —Mary Marks, bestselling author of the Quilting Mystery series.

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER / AN OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK ONE OF PRESIDENT OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2021 Winner of the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize Longlisted for the 2022 Carnegie Medal for Excellence Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize In the spirit of The Known World and The Underground Railroad, "a miraculous debut" (Washington Post)​ and "a towering achievement of imagination" (CBS This Morning)about the unlikely bond between two freedmen who are brothers and the Georgia farmer whose alliance will alter their lives, and his, forever--from "a storyteller with bountiful insight and assurance" (Kirkus) A Best Book of the Year: Oprah Daily, NPR, Washington Post, Time, Boston Globe, Smithsonian, Chicago Public Library, BookBrowse, and the Oregonian A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice A July Indie Next Pick In the waning days of the Civil War, brothers Prentiss and Landry--freed by the Emancipation Proclamation--seek refuge on the homestead of George Walker and his wife, Isabelle. The Walkers, wracked by the loss of their only son to the war, hire the brothers to work their farm, hoping through an unexpected friendship to stanch their grief. Prentiss and Landry, meanwhile, plan to save money for the journey north and a chance to reunite with their mother, who was sold away when they were boys. Parallel to their story runs a forbidden romance between two Confederate soldiers. The young men, recently returned from the war to the town of Old Ox, hold their trysts in the woods. But when their secret is discovered, the resulting chaos, including a murder, unleashes convulsive repercussions on the entire community. In the aftermath of so much turmoil, it is Isabelle who emerges as an unlikely leader, proffering a healing vision for the land and for the newly free citizens of Old Ox. With candor and sympathy, debut novelist Nathan Harris creates an unforgettable cast of characters, depicting Georgia in the violent crucible of Reconstruction. Equal parts beauty and terror, as gripping as it is moving, The Sweetness of Water is an epic whose grandeur locates humanity and love amid the most harrowing circumstances.

At the scene of the crime, Katinas dresser drawers had been dumped, closets ransacked, her desk had been rambled through and someone had even gone through her private safe. What was the perpetrator looking for? Who would want to take Katinas life?Princeton saw the long, ten inch, knife and knewKatina had fought for her life. There were pieces of glass all over the room, broken bookends and she had a black mask in her hands when they found her body in the bushes below her balcony. Princeton knew his wifes last vision was that of her attacker.

First in the New York Times-bestselling mystery series: “A cleverly plotted cozy full of appealing characters and delicious cookie recipes.”—Publishers Weekly Take one amateur sleuth. Mix in some eccentric Minnesota locals. Add a generous dollop of crackling suspense, and you've got the recipe for this mystery series featuring Hannah Swensen, the red-haired, cookie-baking heroine whose gingersnaps are almost as tart as her comments and whose penchant for solving crime is definitely stirring things up. While dodging her mother’s attempts to marry her off, Hannah runs The Cookie Jar, Lake Eden’s most popular bakery. But after Ron LaSalle, the beloved deliveryman from the Cozy Cow Dairy, is found murdered behind her bakery—with Hannah’s famous Chocolate Chip Crunchies scattered around him—she’s determined not to let her cookies get a bad reputation, so she sets out to track down a killer. But if she doesn’t watch her back, Hannah’s sweet life may get burned to a crisp. “Culinary cozies don’t get any tastier than this winning series.”—Library Journal