Bücher veröffentlicht von Level Best Books

When Hollywood comes to small-town Connecticut, it should be the stuff of dreams-but when a fading movie star ends up dead, a whole different kind of stuff hits the fan. Unity Historical Society head and antique household items-stuff!-expert Christian Shaw is on set when actor Brett Studebaker falls from the pulpit during a streaming service shoot in an old church. She, the "dads she should have had," Garrett and Ed, her son Henry, who has a photographic memory and Type-1 Diabetes, and her colorful friends end up helping Assistant State's Attorney Joe Poli track the killer. Along for the ride: her giant tuxedo cat, Cookie, Ed and Garrett's big red mutt, Norm, and Joe's tiny dog, Cannoli. Woodworking, embroidery, old poisons, and vintage weapons all figure in the case, which comes together in a wild scene at the Historical Society on Fourth-Grade Field Trip Day.

One brilliant spring morning, a woman named Carolyn Macgregor comes to Mike Ramsey's apartment with an astonishing announcement: she thinks she is his half-sister. Mike is skeptical at first, but eventually he comes to believe Carolyn's story-that his mother gave birth to her first child when she was only sixteen, and gave up her baby for adoption. When Carolyn begins searching for information about the father she never knew, she attracts the attention of some very dangerous people. She is beaten up and told to stop asking questions, and then she disappears. Mike feels obliged to find her. He soon realizes that his search for Carolyn is really a search for her father, a man who seems desperate to keep his identity secret. To save Carolyn, and himself, Mike must uncover that secret and learn the painful truth about what happened to his mother. While Mike struggles to cope with these events from the past, he faces a pressing problem in the present. His relationship with Marie Romaine has become tense and complicated. He knows he must do something about that before he loses the woman he loves.

Spend time in the Big Apple with your soon-to-be-favorite wise-cracking amateur sleuth, Melanie Deming, as she follows clues from glamorous Park Avenue mansions filled with super-rich moms to gritty soup kitchens. Snarky writer and health fanatic Melanie is shocked to find the body of her gorgeous co-worker. She's scared of every germ, yet she must have justice for her friend. A blue-eyed, hard-to-resist journalist wants Melanie for a screenplay and more. But she could lose her marriage and her life by stalking a killer who now stalks her. Killer Calories is filled with colorful characters, NYC scenes, and laugh-out-loud dialogue, yet the twists and turns will keep you guessing till the end.

***Nominated for the Agatha Award for Best First Mystery Novel***Rare books librarian Juniper Blume knows this much...an ancient Celtic manuscript shouldn't be in a Maryland cemetery. But that's exactly what her brother-in-law claims. Last year, Juniper saw the 1,200-year-old Book of Kells in Ireland. She learned how their bejeweled covers were stolen centuries ago, never to be seen again. So how could they have ended up in Rose Mallow, a small Chesapeake Bay town? Being Jewish, the Book of Kells might not be her sacred text, but as a rare books librarian, the ancient book is still sacred to her, making it important to Juniper to find out the truth. Rose Mallow is the same place where Juniper used to summer with her sister Azalea and their grandmother Zinnia, known as Nana Z. Ever since Nana Z passed away, Juniper's avoided returning, but her curiosity is greater than her grief, so she heads down in her vintage convertible with her rescue dog Clover. Juniper discovers that her sister Azalea has transformed their grandmother's Queen Anne style mansion into the Wildflower Inn, backing up to the Chesapeake Bay. Although Juniper isn't much of a cook, Azalea has kept their grandmother's legacy alive, filling the house with the smells of East European Jewish treats, like sweet kugels and tzimmes cake. Will coming back here feel like returning home or fill Juniper with a deeper sorrow? Can she apologize to her sister for not being there when she was needed most?

Love is in the air when Hollywood arrives in Mermaid Bay, and the town may never be the same. Fans will do almost anything to get a glimpse of the actors or a chance to be an extra in the Love Channel's "My Coastal Valentine." Crowds flock to the cozy beach town from all over and business is booming for Christmas shop owner, Jade Hicks until the body of a testy reporter is found in one of the actors rooms. And if murder isn't bad enough, someone tries to kill the show's star, hunky Raphael Allard. The cozy little beach town feels cursed, as the Love Channel threatens to pull out of the project. Jade and the gang, Lorelei, Peppermint Patti, Bernie, Chloe, and Neville the Devil Cat, have to solve the crimes before it ruins the town's reputation and breaks the hearts of fans across the country.

Raising butterflies is peaceful and calm, until someone dies. Majestic Monarch Butterfly Farm might flitter away forever. That is, unless Seneca James acquires the property next door. She and Winifred, her costume-wearing cat, have a fight on their hands. Their land sits next to a milkweed-covered field, essential for monarchs. If she's unsuccessful in buying it, her precious, winged friends won't survive. When people end up dead on her farmland, Seneca is suspected of murder. What is it about the milkweed field that's worth killing for? And who's the murderer?

A quiet tree-lined street in New Orleans erupts in panic when the body of Sally Wilcox is discovered by her landlord. Sally had been stabbed, and she was clutching a kitchen knife in her hand at the time of her death. Later, police discover evidence at the scene which implicates Sally's son, Jeremy, in her murder. He was arrested the next day. Law school professor Emma Thornton is convinced by a friend to take Jeremy's case. She begins her investigation into Jeremy and his family and the facts surrounding the night of the murder. Layer after layer of family secrets slowly reveal themselves as the numbers of murders and kidnappings multiply. Holding the key to the killer's trail and the case's final resolution, Emma's success depends on whether she can maintain control over her own reckless impulses.

Lenore is a professional mourner with the unwanted gift of a peculiar variety of precognition. She spends her days pretending to grieve for strangers and her nights genuinely grieving her recently deceased boyfriend. When Lenore is hired to attend the funeral of wealthy businessman Elliott Brindle, she discovers that she not only is the sole attendee but that, as a result of a curious stipulation in the will, she is now the heir to his estate. Upon inspecting his open casket, she finds a small gold watch in his mouth, engraved with the name of his missing daughter, Riley. She discovers that her newly inherited house is filled with all manner of strange secrets, not least of which is the cryonically frozen corpse in the backyard shed. Her arrival at the house instigates an encounter with Brindle's former colleague, Csaba, who controls a cult of cryonics-obsessed aristocrats who want to find Brindle's long-lost daughter for a variety of bizarre and sinister reasons. Meanwhile, Lenore's brother Darius is working on the set of a mysterious film that seems to never finish production, and whose lead star has been invited to be the cult's spokesperson. Lenore and Darius soon cross paths with an alarmingly pallid young man named Orin, who is also trying to come to terms with a recent death; his own. As the threads of their stories bind together and the search for Riley continues, Lenore discovers that there is far more to the cult-and to Riley-than any of them could have guessed.

Shay appears to have the perfect marriage to Gideon Wells, Boston's most popular news anchor. But their lives are ripped apart when she is attacked outside the soup kitchen where she volunteers. Depressed and struggling to remember who assaulted her, Shay hires a new maid to help her around the house while she recovers from her injuries. But this new maid is not what she seems, and things go from bad to worse, causing Shay to revisit a painful childhood past that she's been desperately trying to forget.

Summer 1776. Different missions call Faith Clarke and Jeremy Butler to Philadelphia, where delegates are meeting to determine the path of the rebellious American Colonies. Faith has been called back to her childhood home to make peace with her terminally ill mother, while Jeremy has been summoned by General Washington to report to Philadelphia to deal with a crisis impacting the Continental Crisis. Yet nothing is as it seems. Her mother's wandering mind reveals a secret that no one wants to discuss, but Faith realizes must come to light. A child, born out of wedlock, haunts her mother's memories and destroys her peace. No matter the cost, Faith knows this child must be found for her mother to pass in peace, even as her own family tries to stop her. Only her older sister, Hannah, is willing to help her find the truth that will allow her mother to die in peace. Meanwhile, Jeremy Butler hunts for an assassin determined to kill a member of the congress meeting to draft a proclamation from the American Colonies. All attempts lead back to Benjamin Franklin, who is at the heart of the negotiations to send a united message to the King of England. But who would want to kill Franklin, a man respected by all? Alone in a strange town, Jeremy enlists the help of Faith's sister, Hannah, a formidable widow with a mind of her own. Together, they work to keep Franklin safe while hunting a ruthless killer wandering the streets of Philadelphia. While Jeremy seeks answers from Franklin's estranged son, William, Faith, and Hannah hunt for their long-lost sister, who they believe may still be living in Philadelphia. None of them realizes that in a city rife with rebellion, anyone could be tempted to rise up and revolt against those held responsible for the deepest of betrayals.

After the murder of her ex-husband is solved, visiting nurse Melanie Bass is confident she will never again cross paths with Detective Sunny Cody. She is shocked when the detective suddenly shows up on her doorstep to ask Melanie for a favor. What starts out as an assignment Detective Cody assures her will be quick and simple, instead soon puts Melanie, her dog Bruno, and Detective Cody herself in serious jeopardy. Melanie quickly becomes increasingly enmeshed in an investigation involving drugs, lies, and danger. To make things worse, Melanie's good friend Lynn Duncan is being stalked by an unknown man, and Melanie's love life is threatened by her commitment to helping Detective Cody. While compelled by what she feels is a moral and personal obligation to be involved with Detective Cody's investigation, Melanie must also find a balance in her personal life and avoid putting her own life in further jeopardy.

Christmas has come to Fern Valley, and the town's decked out with enough glitter and sparkle for a month's worth of celebrations, each more over-the-top than the previous one. The idyllic setting, filled with laughter, carols, and sweet treats, is shattered, along with some of the decorations, when the current wife and the ex-wife of a big-cat showman have a knock-down, drag-out fight in the center of town. Jules Keene, owner of the Fern Valley Glamping Resort, tries to keep peace among her guests and with the town council, but it turns into a catastrophe when Tabbi Morris, winds up dead in one of her ex-husband's tiger cages. And if the murder wasn't enough, Jules discovers that some of the big cats are missing, but the owner and his family insists that nothing is wrong. Curiosity gets the best of her, and she has to solve the murder and figure out if the owner of Cal's Cats is pussy-footing around or whether it's something more sinister before it ruins the holiday season and her business.

While on a remote island in Orkney to the north of Scotland, a member of a tour group reluctantly led by a young minister is found dead in a Neolithic tomb. The police suspect the death to be the work of a serial killer who has murdered two clergymen on the same date-the summer solstice-in the last two years. The Rev. Seth Ludington and his sharp-tongued sidekick, Harriet van der Berg, agree at first, but come to suspect otherwise and find themselves pulled into another investigation, leading them into danger and the darkest moral terrain.

Nashville PI Jackson Gamble is hired by a muckraking newspaper columnist to track down a missing woman named Darlene Munson, who is in possession of a secret file that holds the proof needed to expose a far-reaching conspiracy to rig a statewide election. In the process of searching for the "woman in the wind," bodies pile up as Gamble runs afoul of the city's police department, and political leadership, its most widely-read newspaper, the all-powerful recording industry and an urbane, but no less ruthless, organized crime boss. And after nearly getting killed himself, Gamble must make one of the hardest choices he has ever faced, one that may quite literally allow a beautiful woman to get away with murder.

Too many secrets, too many lies-and now a missing husband. Since the death of her parents, Mallory has suffered from increased anxiety and depression. When she falls in love with Jake, he revives her will to live. One day Jake is a no-show at work, even though Mallory dropped him off there. She can't find him anywhere. When Mallory hears noises at night and senses someone watching her inside their home, she suspects the reason for Jake's disappearance stems from something sinister. And if her husband's life is in danger, then so is hers and their baby's. As memories of her happy life with Jake morph into haunting flashbacks, Mallory realizes there's a dark side to their relationship and that their marriage is far from perfect. She wonders if she knew her husband at all. Now she must decide whether it's worth having him home or if she should forget he ever existed. Mallory has so much to lose-the perfect little family that she's always imagined.

RSVP TO MURDER - A new twist on the English country house mystery. Embarking on their most daring time-travel experiment to date, Depression-era cop Steven Blackwell and his 21st-century partner-in-crime Olivia Watson travel to the Adirondack Mountains for a Christmas party at one of the legendary Great Camps. Their host, a wealthy New York publisher, has planned a weekend filled with holiday activities, but, as the last guest arrives, temperatures plummet, and a blizzard hits. Before long, the area is buried in snow, the roads are impassable, and the publisher is poisoned. Unwilling to wait until the local police arrive, the victim's widow convinces Steven to launch an unofficial investigation. Soon, a family member goes missing, and Steven and Olivia discover a second victim. Trapped with a killer, Steven and Olivia race against the clock before the murderer strikes again.

Artist and cosmetic purveyor Marketta Davis faces a daunting task: join the faculty of an elite prep school and avenge the brutal murder of Aunt Violet's protégé, a teacher and social justice warrior. Soon a clever killer stalks the corridors of this venerable institution imperiling the lives of students, faculty and one upstart sleuth named Marky Davis.

Mad Music was the buzziest new show of the upcoming Broadway season, with a hot score, a cool director, and a deadly plot twist no one saw coming. When rumors of a behind-the-scenes disaster surface, ballerina Leah Siderova finds herself with the opportunity of a lifetime: the chance to make her Broadway debut while playing a double role. The producers hope to capitalize on her talent, as well as her devoted fan base, to revive ticket sales. Leah's true reason for abandoning Lincoln Center for the Great White Way is her undercover investigation of online threats against Amber Castle, the star of the show.Leah finds herself in a deadly race against time as the virtual threats escalate into real-life violence. Her collaboration with the handsome detective assigned to the case complicates their fragile romance as she battles jealousy, hidden motives, and a shadowy stalker who endangers her personal and professional future.Surrounded by actors skilled in deception, can Leah solve the mystery in time to save the show?

Pennsylvania State Trooper Jim Duncan responds to a call regarding a missing autistic young man. When the boy is quickly found, Jim thinks the case is closed...until the young man insists the police need to help a "sleeping blue lady" and leads them to a dead woman in an abandoned shack, clad in only her underwear. Meanwhile, defense attorney Sally Castle is searching for a troubled young woman who wandered into her office wanting protection from an unnamed man...and disappeared before Sally could obtain any details. Sally is bothered by the incident and unnerved when she discovers that Jim's dead body and her missing potential client are the same person. Jim and Sally soon discover the young woman led a secret double life, with ties to the autistic boy who started it all. As Jim and Sally investigate, the case takes increasingly ominous turns, uncovering hidden money and a seamy underbelly of sex work, before turning into a desperate race to stop a killer. Can Jim and Sally solve the case in time to stop the murder of an innocent boy?

A bed & breakfast haunted A guest stabbed A couple's future in ruins Real estate rule #3: It's the rare buyer who wants to buy a haunted house. A grand opening for Captain's Quarters Bed & Breakfast on the outskirts of the little Chesapeake Bay town of Port Anne is creating quite a stir. Real estate agent Helen Morrisey sold the neglected Victorian to state senator candidate Eliot Davies and his wife, Alison. Despite rumors of ghostly images, they've toiled for months to bring the painted lady back to its prime. Now, the couple is ready to celebrate and the whole town is invited. A piercing scream cuts through the chatter as their party winds down. Helen bolts toward the pool house with her on-again, off-again love interest, Detective Joe McAlister, steps behind. A hysterical Alison is standing over the motionless body of one of their guests. A nine-inch pair of antique fishing shears juts from the woman's back. Helen takes in the shocked expressions of guests gathered at the pool edge. Why would someone want this woman dead? Has the tale of a ghost roaming Captain's Watch returned to haunt Eliot and Alison? Getting involved in another local murder investigation could be the kiss of death for her relationship with Joe. Yet, she knows a murder in her friends B & B might cut their future to ribbons. Is it time to consult the expertise of her infamous Detection Club sleuths? Or should she look the other way before her own reputation is bloodied? Peril in the Pool House is the third book in the award-winning Chesapeake Bay Mystery Series.

Young, prodigious Metropolitan Opera violinist Julia Kogan, having survived her entanglement in an investigation of her mentor's murder and a subsequent violent, life-threatening attack of a ruthless killer, is called upon for a key musical leadership position at the Santa Fe Opera. But at the spectacular outdoor theatre in the shadows of the mysterious New Mexican Sangre de Cristo Mountains, she witnesses yet other operatic murders, both onstage and off. Dark and painful secrets emerge as, ignoring warnings from her colleagues and from Larry, her significant other, Julia plunges into her own investigation of the killing. Ghostly apparitions combine with some of the most bloody and violent operas in the repertoire to make Julia question her own motives for searching for the killer. But this time, the threat to her life originates from a source she never would have imagined.

Movie star Nicky Tallon selects architect Wren Fontaine to renovate Turnbull House, where he'll be filming his next movie. Even to Wren, used to old homes, this one is special: a 200-year-old federal-style home on a private island in New York harbor, designed by the most celebrated architect of the day. But Turnbull House hides many secrets, such as the disappearance of the sea captain who built it. That's just a historical curiosity, until a studio executive no one likes is killed. Wren just wants to keep her worksite safe, but then another murder occurs, and she starts noting eerie connections between the mysteries surrounding the Turnbull family and Nicky and his entourage. The handsome star seems to have two girlfriends, a childlike folk singer and a cynical fashion model. Meanwhile, renowned actress Veronica Selwyn renews a friendship with Wren's father, which Wren finds more disturbing than she wants to admit. She concludes it's time she and her girlfriend Hadley take the next step and find a place together, an exciting but stressful change. As the attacks continue, Wren realizes she will have to solve the mysteries surrounding Captain Turnbull and Nicky Tallon. Turnbull House speaks of order and harmony, and Wren must dig deep to see how the house has affected its owners, old and new. Fortunately for her, the eminently practical Hadley is by her side, pepper spray at the ready-because a frighteningly clever killer is about to find that Wren is getting too close to the horrific truth.

Returning to Fox Island where she grew up, Kate Sloan begins her career as a professional organizer. When a woman accuses Kate's police chief brother of having an affair, her priority shifts from organizing to proving her brother's innocence. Kate visits the woman, hoping for a confession. The woman won't admit she lied, and to make the situation worse, the accuser is found dead the next day by Kate and her business partner.Kate has an eye for seeing what's out of place, and she knows how to fix problems. Can she utilize her organizational skills to toss red herrings and focus on legitimate clues? Kate's business is at risk as well as her brother's career. The clock is ticking, and this could be the deadliest deadline of Kate's life. She must discover the truth behind the victim's vicious lies, but most of all, she needs to solve the murder before she becomes the next victim.

December 1925: Salem, Massachusetts When Matthew Gardner, the heir to a shipping fortune, hires New York jazz singer Lizzie Crane and her band to perform during the Christmas holidays, she has high hopes that this prestigious event will foster their career and bring them riches and recognition. She's also eager to reconnect with a handsome man from one of Boston's most esteemed families, whom she met at an earlier visit to Massachusetts. But the evening the musicians arrive in historic Salem to begin their engagement, police discover the body of a man near a tavern owned by Lizzie's cousin--a cousin she even didn't know she had until Christmas Eve. In the dead man's pocket is a cryptic letter addressed to Gardner. To compound her dismay, she also learns that her host plans to marry his daughter to the man Lizzie wants for herself. Soon Lizzie's caught in the middle of a high-stakes feud between her cousin and her employer over a mysterious lady. When she digs deeper into their conflict, she discovers its roots are deep and bitter: her cousin's father crewed on one of Gardner's grandfather's ships that sunk during a storm in 1868. As she struggles to piece together the puzzle and find the lady at its center, Lizzie becomes a pawn in each man's deadly game for money and revenge.

While attempting to support Gram's venture out into the world after Gramps' death, Iris stumbles onto a corpse and inadvertently embarrasses the church her grandmother has joined. When boss Jose Camargo attempts to help Iris, and a handsome Mill Valley detective comes sniffing around, things get worse instead of better.

Seattle, 1956 Inspector Michael Riggs doesn't believe in "women's intuition," but when Margaret Baker insists that her friend, Ruby, would never willingly have jumped off a bridge to end her own life, Riggs reluctantly agrees to re-examine the closed case. Riggs wants to give Miss Baker a sense of closure, but he quickly learns that Ruby was hated by her mousy cousin and adored by her wealthy uncle. Ruby's lifestyle was unconventional, and her shady boyfriend had both a motive and an alibi. Add to that, a tight-lipped boss facing financial ruin, a jealous wife, and a bitter landlady, and Riggs begins to wonder if Ruby wasn't murdered after all. Riggs soon uncovers a gold watch with a cryptic inscription, a missing cocktail dress, and a curious green hatbox, but he's no closer to catching Ruby's killer. As the police chief starts to boil over, Riggs decides to call on his old friend, Victoria, to help him prove what really happened the night Ruby jumped. Victoria is determined to stay out of the limelight, and he agrees to help Riggs only if her involvement is kept a secret. But when the murderer strikes again, Victoria realizes that she'll have to risk more than the spotlight if she's going to help Riggs catch the murderer.

Deepfakes Can Be MurderKylee Kane, a security consultant for Welch HOA Management, finds the first victim, Andy Fyke, crumpled at the bottom of a flight of stairs. Kylee suspects his fall's no accident and is tied to Andy's campaign to prohibit rentals in his Hilton Head Island community. Yet, Andy's obvious enemies have ironclad alibis.When another Lowcountry HOA retiree dies in a hit-and-run boat tragedy, Kylee begins to think the incidents are linked-even though the victims and their assailants have little in common. The link is the Chameleon, an Artificial Intelligence expert, who can create a deepfake of almost anyone-living or dead. Even more frightening is the Chameleon's ability to seek out disturbed souls and laser-focus their rage. A talent employed to compel subjects to act as surrogate assassins.When Kylee begins to pursue the Chameleon, the AI expert decides it's time to groom an assassin to permanently sideline Kylee.