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?

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.

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.

City Clerk Donald Dingle is a pest. He's a tightwad with the city budget and criticizes the police department to the point that Police Chief Elizabeth Friedman would love to see him retire. And she did mean retire, not expire. When he dies soon after having stents implanted, it's natural to wonder why he didn't recover. When the reason becomes apparent, people in town wonder if they're safe in the hospital. Then some of the pointing fingers aim at Medical Examiner Skelly, a good friend of the police department Dingle wanted to abolish. Chief Elizabeth Friedman has her hands full. She has to tread on some important toes to find the answers. Even if her department survives, can the hospital and her friends there do the same? And how long does a small town survive without its hospital? Join the quirky characters of Logland, Illinois in this police procedural with a cozy feel.

There’s something hidden behind the walls of the hurricane damaged house Jolie bought in her New Jersey beach town. Something someone seems willing to kill for. After Jolie and Scoobie find a small sack of jewelry as they do a mold attack on her bungalow, Jolie is pursued by a purse thief and a burglar. But the guy she’s most worried about is the one who left an elderly auctioneer dead on her porch swing. In between appraising houses and planning a fundraiser for the food pantry (can you say liquid string contest?), Jolie tries to figure out if there is more stolen bounty around town. Is the feared killer the same person who burned some vacant houses, or the as-yet unmasked Peeping Tom? And are they willing to kill again to get to the hidden riches? Her friends and local police warn her to butt out, but that’s just encouragement for a woman who likes to get to the bottom of things. Jolie tries to get her cat, Jazz, to feel at home in the new house. Maybe an unexpected visitor can be a substitute for Aunt Madge’s golden retrievers. And then there’s her love life. Jolie also needs to decide if she really wants to get back with her former boyfriend, Ocean Alley Press reporter George Winters. Or are feelings for someone else trying to get her attention?

Reviews of The Gorehound's Guide to Splatter Films of the 1960s and 1970s: "recommended"--Booklist; "exhaustive...useful"--ARBA; "a solid reference work"--Video Watchdog; "bursting with information, opinion and trivia...impeccably researched"--Film Review; "interesting and informative"--Rue Morgue; "detailed credits...entertaining"--Classic Images. Author Scott Aaron Stine is back again, this time with an exhaustive study of splatter films of the 1980s. Following a brief overview of the genre, the main part of the book is a filmography. Each entry includes extensive technical information; cast and production credits; release date; running time; alternate and foreign release titles; comments on the availability of the film on videocassette and DVD; a plot synopsis; commentary from the author; and reviews. Extensive cross-referencing is also included. Heavily illustrated.

No Experience Necessary is Chef Norman Van Aken’s joyride of a memoir. In it he spans twenty-plus years and nearly as many jobs—including the fateful job advertisement in the local paper for a short-order cook with “no experience necessary.” Long considered a culinary renegade and a pioneering chef, Van Aken is an American original who chopped and charred, sweated and seared his way to cooking stardom with no formal training, but with extra helpings of energy, creativity, and faith. After landing on the deceptively breezy shores of Key West, Van Aken faced hurricanes, economic downturns, and mercurial moneymen during the decades when a restaurant could open and close faster than you can type haute cuisine. From a graveyard shift grunt at an all-night barbeque joint to a James Beard–award finalist for best restaurant in America, Van Aken put his trusting heart, poetic soul, natural talent, and ever-expanding experience into every venture—and helped transform the American culinary landscape along the way. In the irreverent tradition of Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential,and populated by a rogues’ gallery of colorful characters—including movie stars, legendary musicians, and culinary giants Julia Child, Emeril Lagasse, and Charlie Trotter—No Experience Necessary offers a uniquely personal, highly-entertaining under-the-tablecloth view of the high-stakes world of American cuisine told with wit, insight, and great affection by a natural storyteller.

When Jolie Gentil goes to buy a cup of coffee the morning after a storm knocks out power at her house in Ocean Alley, she finds Java Jolt unlocked and minus its owner. A bigger surprise is seeing proprietor Joe Regan a few minutes later, badly injured. It seems a potential killer thinks Jolie has something Joe was hiding. The normal routine of appraising houses and volunteering at the Harvest for All food pantry is interrupted by an SUV that nearly smashes Jolie, a break-in at the home Jolie and Scoobie share, and a terrifying kidnapping. Jolie needs to figure out who's telling the truth and how far the thugs will go to to find what they want. Only solving the puzzle will keep Jolie safe, protect a vulnerable Iraqi vet, and make sure everyone stays alive. But if Jolie keeps searching, her budding romance with Scoobie may grind to a halt.

Final Cycle A Police Procedural with a Cozy Feel Marti and Nick have inherited The Bully Pulpit Diner in Logland, Illinois, and their first Christmas season is not off to a good start. When Marti heads to the laundromat to retrieve clean linens, she finds the body of town grouch Louella Belle Simpson cycling through the dryer. Louella Belle has racked up a lot of ill will by constantly voicing her opinions on Logland inhabitants' weight and food consumption. Chief Elizabeth Friedman has few clues and little help from the alarmed Logland residents. When a second body turns up in the senior citizen apartment parking lot, it seems the killer wants to silence anyone who's a threat. And then someone goes after Skelly, the medical examiner who likes to needle the chief. As Elizabeth and the small Logland police force wade through suspects and clues, they learn some poignant facts that serve as a reminder of why we need to reach out to people who aren't easy to help. Join the eclectic mix of Logland characters as they try to solve a murder and celebrate Christmas.

When Minnie Mullins sold her deceased husband's barbershop to Howard, a personable young stranger, little did she realize the portent of his sudden appearance in her community. Everywhere Jake goes something happens to get him drawn into resolving a mystery, even worse than when he was a cop. Like the Tennessee country music icon and his religious counterpart. Jake came to Knoxville to visit his "Dutch Uncle," only to find him incarcerated for murder. Albia is a typical mid-western county seat town of four thousand people, minus one. When an early blizzard finally relinquishes what it is hiding, the area will never be the same again. The snow-covered secret not only rewrites the community's history, but determines its future as well, and all the residents are affected.