Rosalie Spielman
Rosalie Spielman enjoys moving in order to clean out her closets. After meeting her husband when they were both in the Army, they moved eleven times in twenty-four years, to multiple states and three countries. Somewhere along the way, Rosalie discovered that she could make other people laugh with her writing. She finds joy in giving people a humorous escape from the real world. Her cozy mystery novels are set in locales that have chickens, such as rural Idaho and sunny Kauai.
Rosalie is an active member of Sisters in Crime and is represented by Dawn Dowdle of the Blue Ridge Literary Agency. She currently lives in Maryland with her husband and four creatures—two teens and two fur babies.
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Hometown Mysteries
Welcome Home to Murder
Hometown Mysteries book #1
Tessa Treslow never wanted a small town life. As soon as she graduated high school, she happily escaped her tiny town to join the U.S. Army, leaving New Oslo, Idaho, population 852, firmly behind her. Twenty years later, the hometown hero is finally ready to come back—even if she has just a visit with loved ones in mind while her family is hoping to convince her to stay for good.
With her fawn boxer dog, Vince, in tow, Tessa falls into the unsettlingly familiar small town life, helping out in her family's general store and her feisty Aunt Edna's auto body shop. But her peaceful homecoming is suddenly shattered when the dead body of a crooked con man turns up in her aunt's shop, and the police have some serious questions for the family. To make matters worse, the sheriff in charge just happens to be Tessa's ex-boyfriend... and things did not end well between them all those years ago. When it comes out that the con man was trying to get his hands on the family business, Tessa knows they're in trouble.
With her family in danger of being dragged away in handcuffs, Tessa becomes a woman on a mission to find the con man's killer. Between a slew of suspects, a meandering moose, and a handsome newcomer with his eye on Tessa, she has her work cut out for her. But when the killer changes tactics—putting everything her family holds dear in jeopardy—Tessa begins to realize what home really means to her. Can she be the hero for her hometown once again... before it's too late?
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Home Is Where the Murder Is
Hometown Mysteries book #2
Retired U.S. Army officer Tessa Treslow has settled in with her Aunt Edna in her hometown of New Oslo, Idaho. After the disasters of the previous fall, Tessa and her family are back on their feet as they start a new dream venture: a vehicle restoration business, "BOSS—Band of Sisters Services, call the She-canics."
Tessa and the enticing local math teacher, Nick Hunt, are also working together to organize a charity run during the New Oslo Pioneer Days festival. All seems to be going well... until Tessa finds a dead body in the town park!
The murder victim is a stranger to their small town, who claimed that she was the illegitimate cousin of Tessa's best friend, Deputy Petunia "Freddie" Frederickson. The victim's bloody finger is pointing to a mark on the veterans' honor roll sign, circling the names of Freddie and her grandfather. Complicating matters, Freddie was witnessed in an altercation with the woman just before her death, and it was Freddie's knife found at the scene.
In order to help her best friend, Tessa and Aunt Edna search for the real identity of the victim. Was she actually a long-lost family member? Who would want her dead? And what was she doing in New Oslo? Tessa is determined to find out... even if the answers lead her straight into the crosshairs of a killer!
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Murder Comes Home
Hometown Mysteries book #3
Army retiree Tessa Treslow is as excited as the other residents of New Oslo, Idaho, when the cast and crew of the TV show Picks with Ricks comes to town! Tessa and her Aunt Edna put their car restoration business on hold to let the celebrity antique hunters pick through their old garage, hoping the trash contains a treasure that will help fund their new business. But it turns out that the pickers come with TV cameras, likeable stars, a stressed-out producer—and a murderer!
The show’s lead makes an insistent offer on one of Aunt Edna’s renovation projects and won’t take no for an answer. And when Tessa finds the show's cameraman dead in the restored 1965 Mustang, Tessa knows murder has come home yet again. And the mystery takes a very personal turn when the dead man is found with an antique inscribed pocket watch connected to the former owners of Aunt Edna's farmhouse. As Tessa digs into the history surrounding the pocket watch and the relationships of the TV crew, shocking details—both old and new—arise. Will Tessa be able to catch a killer...before they return for a repeat performance?
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Aloha Lagoon Mysteries
Death Under the Sea
Aloha Lagoon Mysteries book #16
Former socialite Kiki Hepburn can think of no better place to hide out from her controlling family than the pristine waters of Kauai’s Aloha Lagoon. That is until her debit card is cancelled, old frenemies from her life back home show up at the resort, and a mysterious stranger arrives on the island, intent on dragging Kiki back to the life she so desperately wants to outrun. Kiki is resigned to her fate and ready to say goodbye to her dreams of scuba diving her way through paradise...
Until the mysterious stranger turns up dead.
Suddenly cancelled debit cards are the least of her worries. With the police involved, Kiki is sure her true identity will come out—not to mention her less-than-friendly connection to the dead man. Unsure who she can trust, Kiki sets out to clear her name... before it's on everyone's lips. Throw in an epically uncomfortable wedding engagement, family secrets, stolen couture, a hot dive shop guy, and a kooky landlady with a cranky parrot, and it’s sink or swim for her in Aloha Lagoon.
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Death on a Cliff
Aloha Lagoon Mysteries book #18
Former socialite Kiki Hepburn is happily settling into life with her new found-family in Aloha Lagoon, Hawaii—working at Aloha Lagoon Dive Shop, living in a cottage in Auntie Akamai’s back yard, and getting to know the hot dive guy Dex a whole lot better.
But all that changes when Dex’s longtime friend and former football teammate, “Tiny” Anelo, comes home to Aloha Lagoon, celebrating being an NFL draft pick. Tiny is surrounded by an entourage, but not all of his hangers-on are admirers—most notably Tiny's ex-girlfriend, Delany. While no one seems happy to see her, Kiki is still shocked when Delany's body is found lifeless in the meadow at the top of a jagged cliff.
It's clear someone has murdered the young woman. And when Kiki unwittingly provides the police with evidence that points to Tiny as the killer, Dex begs her to try to help his friend. It's a request she can't ignore, even if the list of people who wanted Delany dead is longer than a late night luau. Between a smarmy sports agent, an obsessed fan-slash-“best friend,” and a former college professor, Kiki finds no shortage of motives. And the plot only thickens when a second dead body shows up, along with a mysterious clue in the form of a Hermes handbag. With the clock ticking and the police closing in, Kiki finds herself in deep water... can she tread water long enough to catch the killer?
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Hallo-waiian Murder Mystery
Aloha Lagoon Mysteries book # 20
It's Kiki Hepburn's first Halloween in Aloha Lagoon, and she doesn't know exactly what to expect. Between working at the busy Aloha Lagoon Dive Shop and living with the eccentric Auntie Akamai, life is always unpredictable. But one thing Kiki definitely didn't expect to find is the dead body of Auntie Akamai's life-long friend, Celine Suzuki! And when the island's Homicide Detective Ray shows up, Kiki knows the death is not an accident—it's murder.
Now Auntie Akamai's friends are all suspects in the death. Was it Oliana Harris, the Pineapple Princess, and heiress to a pineapple fortune? Margaux La Roux, a transplant from New Orleans? Or Stella Keawe, Akamai's gossipy goose of a neighbor? They're all acting suspiciously. And each is hiding something. But is what they're hiding worth killing over?
To complicate matters even more, Kiki's parents want her to bring her hot diver boyfriend Dex home for the holidays, and Kiki's not sure how she feels about the whole situation—let alone how Dex feels. Instead of enjoying her first Hawaiian Autumn under the waves, Kiki's investigation takes her to gardens of flowering poisonous plants, an over-the-top animal shelter, a prickly pineapple plantation, and a zombie theme "Hallo-wedding." With time running out and "something" stalking her every move, will Kiki live to see her Halloween treats? Or will this year end in a "trick" Kiki won't come back from?
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