Mud Run Murder
Merry Wrath Mysteries book #5
Ex-CIA Agent turned small town Girl Scout leader, Merry Wrath, thinks she has her hands full getting her troop ready for the Mud Run out at scout camp. But a trip to the movies, where she sees her whole career played out on the big screen, turns her world from little girls to great big lies. Turns out her former handler, Riley, is hiding something and the Agency is on the warpath, thinking Merry has leaked classified intel.
From a bizarre organization called Coats for Cats to redecorating her guest room with bullet holes, her life is turning into a Merry-go-round of misdirection, miscreants and misdemeanors. Can she clear her name, or will the Mud Run turn into a run for her life?
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Motto For Murder
Merry Wrath Mysteries book #6
For ex-CIA Agent turned Girl Scout troop leader, Merry Wrath, planning a wedding is infinitely more terrifying than the time she was a mole in Carlos the Armadillo's drug cartel. To make matters worse, while plagued by insomnia (brought on by diabolical details that include bizarre things like "boutonnieres") Merry and her cat, Philby, witness a midnight murder next door.
Or do they? With her record of sleeplessness, everyone from her fiancé, Rex, to her Girl Scout troop are questioning her sanity. And when strange incidents of arson start popping up all over Who's There, Iowa and a mysterious woman vanishes, Merry begins to believe her neighbors are foreign spies.
Throw in meeting her fiancé's odd twin sisters, late night visits with Mr. Fancy Pants—the King Vulture at the zoo—and a scary sleep study, and Merry wonders if she's in danger of losing her mind...or her life.
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Map Skills Murder
Merry Wrath Mysteries book #7
Summer is moving fast for ex-CIA Agent turned Girl Scout troop leader, Merry Wrath. Wedding plans are underway, with the groom's twin sisters on a mission to decorate the festivities with taxidermized animals and a full troop of flower girls with terrible taste in dresses.
If that wasn't enough to deal with, the Girl Scouts dig up a treasure map in Merry's yard. A century ago, the mysterious axe murder of Mad Mimi and the secret of her missing treasure were never solved. Merry thinks this map could be the key...but unfortunately, the investigation of this cold case—complete with a secret diary, gold bullion, and a llama named Tinkles—yields a modern day murder!
Are these crimes connected? And more importantly—who has an axe to grind with Merry Wrath?
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Mean Girl Murder
Merry Wrath Mysteries book #8
The Halloween Parade is coming up, and former CIA agent-turned-suburbanite Merry Wrath's Girl Scout Troop hopes to repeat a 1st place trophy for the 3rd year in a row. But when they find a dead woman dressed as a witch, a mysterious treasure, and face a ruthless kidnapping, it looks like Merry's in for a different kind of triple threat.
To add fuel to her bonfire, Mom's in town—meaning Merry has to replace all that bullet-riddled furniture in the guest room—and with her wedding date approaching, her groom-to-be's twin taxidermist sisters are insisting on doing the decorating.
Between her family fiascoes and a dead witch who was loathed by everyone in town, Merry's head is spinning faster than an apple in a bobbing barrel. Who wanted this mean girl dead? Will this Halloween end with a treat? Or has Merry been tricked?
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Marriage Vow Murder
Merry Wrath Mysteries book #9
Wedding Traditions as good as gold…Let’s start out with Something Old…
When this creepy message is found with an elderly, murdered florist in the first pew of a church the day before Merry Wrath's wedding, her hopes wilt like day old, discount flowers. And when the groom, Rex, vanishes into thin air, she can only assume the worst—and she’s not talking about the ugly, Vegas showgirl-like flower girl dresses her Girl Scout troop have picked out.
Weddings make a family of two…Let’s add in Something New…
The clues come with diabolically difficult puzzles, so Merry enlists the help of her former 4th grade teacher—a champion puzzler—while she turns the town upside down, in a frantic search for her fiancé. Once a surprising past is revealed, it doesn’t take long for the investigation to spin out of control faster than ten fourth-graders high on Pixy Stix on a merry-go-round.
With many suspects, few leads, and the clock ticking, will Merry find her groom in time for a happily ever after?
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Mystery Night Murder
Merry Wrath Mysteries book #10
Mrs. Gable in the Conservatory with a noose?
It was supposed to be a fun weekend of pretend murder. Girl Scout Troop leader Merry Wrath and four of her scouts play an important role at the Murder Mystery Night Fundraiser on a secluded island in the middle of Dead Otter Lake. The guests, major donors, have all arrived in period costume, are eager to play, and can’t wait for the "killer" to strike!
Mr. Blunt in the Ballroom with a lead pipe?
Unbeknownst to them, a very real murderer roams the mansion’s halls, and the first victim falls with the first round of cocktails. A violent storm leaves the guests stranded and cut off from the outside world, as our cast of characters, one by one, are dying off in a very real mystery in a very unusual house. Of course, people aren’t who they seem and red herrings abound, throwing a wrench into the investigation.
Did the Butler do it?
With a nod to a mystery classic, can Merry solve this case and catch a killer before there’s no one else left to play the game?
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Meerkats and Murder
Merry Wrath Mysteries book #11
Just as Merry Wrath’s former career as a CIA agent seems to be fading into a distant memory, the agent turned Girl Scout troop leader discovers that her beloved little suburban ranch house may not be what it seems. When a masked gunman breaks in to demand the return of "Nye," she fears that she may not have been the first spy to live there. What…or who is "Nye?"
And when Merry trips over the dead body of that same gunman later at the zoo, she realizes that her favorite king vulture and his mouthy scarlet macaw friend may be witnesses to a murder. Suddenly this becomes much more personal, and her list of suspects grows from a cosplaying teenaged demigod zookeeper, to a possible plot by the Russians... which may even include Merry's old arch-nemesis.
Things aren’t going well for her Girl Scout troop either, as a new addition causes trouble, and the girls begin to turn against each other—sparking way more than just preteen angst. From a dangerous close encounter with a mythical red wolf, to a jovial, geriatric group of Russian expats who brew their own mind-bending vodka, Merry Wrath worries that if she doesn’t find the killer soon, this case may be her last.
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Make Believe Murder
Merry Wrath Mysteries book #12
Merry Wrath’s summer plans didn’t originally include an unexpected visit from her old friend, Hilly—a quirky CIA assassin who’s been forced by HR to take her first vacation in…forever. The fact that Hilly chose a small town in Iowa for vacation doesn’t bother Merry or her scout troop (especially since Hilly’s teaching them how to kill a man with one punch), but her former handler, Riley, believes something sinister is afoot.
After all Lana, Merry’s arch-nemesis, is sighted all over town, and when a Chinese operative ends up murdered in her backyard, Merry starts to wonder if Riley is right and Hilly is secretly on the job. It doesn’t help that a group of cosplaying teenage druids have targeted Merry for a misguided ritual sacrifice, or that Medea Jones, cub reporter, constantly harasses Merry, seeing the former spy as her Pulitzer Prize winning vehicle out of Who’s There, Iowa.
Merry wonders if her strange friend really is on vacation, or if she's after another target? Is it Lana? Was it the Chinese operative? Or is it Merry Wrath?
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Maltese Vulture Murder
Merry Wrath Mysteries book #13
What’s better than one King Vulture? Two, of course!
Merry Wrath, former CIA turned Girls Scout troop leader, is over the moon when her wacky taxidermist sisters-in-law present her with a stuffed King Vulture named Nellie Lou. But while the bird is beautiful, the deceased vulture has a secret past that leads to unanticipated trouble—ranging from a bad LSD trip to actually tripping over a dead body in Merry's garage!
When a bizarre pair of men named Mr. Sun and Mr. Moon start lurking about, and Central Iowa is plagued with a rash of taxidermied animal thefts, Merry wonders how she’s once again managed to get in the middle of it all. It doesn’t help that she has to mentor a younger troop with two unmotivated leaders and a kid who experiments with napalm.
With an arrogant mayor causing trouble, her house being trashed, and a dangerous kidnapping, Merry has to figure out who the killer is before Nellie Lou isn’t the only dead thing in her life.
Coming January 14!
Preorder coming soon!
Fishing Badge Murder
a Merry Wrath Mysteries novella
Merry Wrath has been out of the CIA for two years when she decides to take her precocious Girl Scout troop fishing. Merry expects the biggest trauma she’ll deal with is getting the girls to put worms on hooks. Turns out that’s the least of her problems, when a man is shot dead not far from their fishing hole.
The sheriff seems to have it under control until a Fed named Jones shows up to take over. But is the FBI agent really who he says he is? Merry soon discovers that’s not the only thing that isn’t what it seems as government agencies suddenly find her hometown of Who’s There, Iowa far more interesting than it has any right to be...
Only available until May 31!!
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Mystic Wedding Bell Blues
a Mystic Isle Mysteries novella
It's springtime on the bayou—flowers bloom, the days are warm, and romance is in the air, especially at The Mansion at Mystic Isle resort outside New Orleans, where resident tattoo artist Melanie Hamilton's best friend is about to tie the knot.
Catalina Gabor is looking forward to becoming Mrs. Chief Deputy Quincy Boudreaux, and, in Mel’s opinion, making him the luckiest man in the universe. The wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner go off without a hitch, overseen by the Reverend Bocephus Jones, semi-famous courtesy of his come-to-meetin' revival program on local TV. But the festivities end in disaster when the reverend suddenly drops dead at the bottom of the grand staircase—poisoned!
Who would want the reverend dead? Mel is determined to find out in order to save Cat’s wedding. But can she catch a killer in time? Or will the murderer be looking for a second victim in one petite strawberry-blonde tattoo artist?
Coming March 28!
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Faded to Death
a Danger Cove Mysteries novella
When a national quilt-show promoter brings her event to the small town of Danger Cove, and Keely Fairchild is invited to be its official appraiser, Keely sees it as an opportunity to expand her client base. Instead, she finds a quilt show in disarray. There's a poorly vetted vendor selling fake antiques, a vandal destroying a master quilt with bleach, and a killer stalking the show's judges!
With her friends in the Danger Cove Quilt Guild implicated in both the vandalism and the murder, Keely is determined to get some answers. Unfortunately, the investigation is likely to tarnish her reputation as an appraiser, since the suspects are all prominent members of the national quilt scene and are publicly badmouthing Keely for daring to question them. Worse, she uncovers evidence that the killer is planning for other people associated with the show to end up FADED TO DEATH like the first victim.
And Keely may be at the top of the list...
Coming April 11!
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That Dog Won't Hunt
a Birdwell, Texas Mysteries novella
Helen Harding gets faced with mysteries everyday living in the small town of Birdwell, Texas. Like the mystery of how the local hairdresser gets her beehive so high. Or the mystery of why the local gas station doesn't have a name. But one mystery she never anticipated is why all the dogs in Birdwell are vanishing without a trace. Now she and volunteer sheriff Aodhagan MacFarley are on the hunt to find out if the disappearances are supernatural, like the local news outlet thinks, super explainable, like Aodhagan thinks, or just super ridiculous, like Helen thinks. Whatever the reason, it's up to the ragtag law enforcement of Birdwell to bring home an entire population of purloined pooches!
Coming April 18!
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