Café owner Maggie Miller’s offer to help out the bridal shop owners next door leads to a case of cold-blooded murder in this light-hearted mystery. Settling into her new life running a coffee and beignet café in the small town of Table Rock, Arizona, Maggie Miller expects nothing but smooth sailing from here on. But she’s blown way off course when Clive Rothschild, co-owner of The Hitching Post, the bridal shop next door, begs her for a favour. That favour leads to Clive and Maggie discovering a dead body buried beneath a wedding cake. And with the evidence stacking up against Clive and his partner, former professional skater Johnny Wolfe, it’s up to Maggie to dig through the layers of deceit and hem in the real killer. But she may have to skirt the law to do it . . .

Amid the Halloween festivities, one of the Beignet Cafe’s customers comes to a sticky end in this entertaining cozy mystery… It’s Halloween, and café owner Maggie Miller’s special pumpkin spice beignet promotion is proving popular at her café in Table Rock, Arizona, halfway between Sedona and nowhere. But the evening ends in disaster when Maggie discovers the body of one of her regular customers, strangled to death with an expensive cashmere scarf. The late Nancy Alverson had tended to keep herself to herself—but what secrets was she hiding? And why had she been studying books on witchcraft? Of one thing Maggie is certain: It was no witch who killed Nancy. Instead, someone has taken advantage of the spookiest night of the year to commit a brutal murder… “[Maggie’s] dotty internal monologues will amuse many cozy fans.”—Publishers Weekly

Charles Trenet of the Gendarmerie Nationale has just arrived on St. Barthelemy for three years in paradise. The exclusive island in the French West Indies lives up to its jet-setters' reputation as a beautiful and peaceful retreat for models, moguls and movie stars. However, Trenet's life is suddenly thrown into turmoil when he is assigned to solve the murder of Bobbi Freon, a rich and eccentric American fashion designer who has been found stabbed to death in his pricey villa. Murder on St. Barthelemy is nearly unheard of, and Trenet's superiors are eager to protect the island's thriving tourist industry by discreetly and swiftly handling this mounting crisis. The inexperienced young gendarme's investigation into the fashion designer's life uncovers a dark world of decadence and unsavory business practices, with the victim's former business partners quickly scrambling to take control of the multimillion dollar company he created. Bobbi Freon clearly was disliked by many people who all stand to gain by his death and Gendarme Trenet must sort through the seemingly endless list of suspects... First in a series, Murder In St. Barts introduces the likeable and boyish Gendarme Charles Trenet in this entertaining tale of murder and redemption.

Maggie Miller’s attempt to run from her troubles leads her to Table Rock, Arizona, her own beignet café . . . and disaster. Welcome to Table Rock, Arizona, the place where folks who aren’t too keen on the ‘mainstream’ move to. Maggie Miller has come here to forget about her dead husband. OK, so he isn’t really dead. That’s just what she tells everybody. Recently divorced, Maggie flees Phoenix and the sight of her husband and his new wife and moves to Table Rock to be closer to her own family. She’s also planning on opening her own beignet and coffee business, Maggie’s Beignet Café. But that dead guy in her storeroom might just put a kink in her plans. Unless she can figure out who killed him, and why, she might never open for business . . .

For Amy Simms, owner of Birds & Bees, nothing is more important than impressing her old professor, but this odd bird is about to fall to earth . . . When her favorite ornithology professor comes calling, Birds & Bees owner Amy Simms hangs six hummingbird feeders around the shop to welcome Professor Livingston with a flock of his favorite flying creatures. But Amy soon finds that the sugar water in the feeders brings more than a swarm of hummingbirds. It also attracts murder. Professor Livingston is just as friendly as Amy remembers, but something seems to be troubling him. When Amy pays him a visit that night, she finds the professor slumped over a table with a pair of scissors buried in his neck. And standing over his body is Rose Smith, the local bookseller, who claims she killed him. But while the police believe they have a bird in hand, Amy thinks the real killer may still be in the bush . . . Praise for J.R. Ripley’s Beignets, Brides and Bodies “A clever, amusing cozy.” —Publishers Weekly “Ripley’s entertaining second series outing is a tasty option for foodie mystery fans of Sandra Balzo and Jessica Beck.” — Library Journal

Nola Dutrey is as dedicated to her jazz singing career as she is to her kids' community band in New Orleans. When she meets her best friend’s brother, her heart beats with a newfound passion. But falling in love with someone whose life is in New York has no future. Restaurateur and music enthusiast Rex Arceneau is in town to settle his father’s estate. He must get the financials into the black before handing over the family restaurant to his sister. To reduce expenses—the weekend singer must go. However, he meets Nola, and their connection sizzles. When he hears her sing, he’s hooked. Nola’s torn between powerful attraction and life in New Orleans. Rex is determined to use music as a secret weapon to entice Nola north. Will she ever be a bride at Fleur de Lis or will life’s dissonant notes ruin their harmony and once-in-a-lifetime love?

When Nydia's friend calls with the exciting news that she's getting married, she happily rushes to New Orleans to be her maid of honor. Once she visits the lovely Garden District estate her friends are transforming into a luxury inn, she's wistful to join them in their venture. Then she meets the sexy engineer in charge of the renovation. With his seductive Southern drawl, he could make her believe in love again.

Includes a bonus short story by Brenda Jackson.

HE WAS A MAN CONVINCED THAT LOVE CAME AFTERMARRIAGE… He believed a successful merger was made up of two parties with similar goals, backgrounds and wealth. So, tired of being alone, Cash McRay decided to pop the question to the daughter of a close business associate. She would be the perfect wife and he'd learn to love her—later. His plans went awry the moment he met Vivian Escobar, his intended's former sister-in-law. She was the embodiment of Cash's every desire, but to Vivian, the magnetic American tycoon was her worst nightmare. She dared not act on the immediate, fiery attraction that consumed her. Yet Cash was determined to claim a bride, and taming the tempestuous Vivian meant a total merger of love— now and forever!

It is 1704 when Genevieve Gaillain and her sister board a French ship headed for the Louisiana colony as mail-order brides. Both have promised to marry one of the rough-and-tumble Canadian men in this New World in order to escape religious persecution in the Old World. Genevieve knows life won't be easy, but at least here she can establish a home and family without fear of beheading. But when she falls in love with Tristan Lanier, an expatriate cartographer whose courageous stand for fair treatment of native peoples has made him decidedly unpopular in the young colony, Genevieve realizes that even in this land of liberty one is not guaranteed peace. And a secret she harbors could mean the undoing of the colony itself. Gulf Coast native Beth White brings vividly to life the hot, sultry south in this luscious, layered story of the lengths we must go to in order to be true to ourselves, our faith, and our deepest loves.