Bells, Tails & Murder is the delightful first book in the Dickens & Christie Mystery series. If you like spunky literary women, amusing animal sidekicks, and inviting cultural backdrops, then you'll love Kathy Manos Penn's engaging cozy mysteries.

Sarah Grayson is the happy proprietor of Second Chance, a charming shop in the oceanfront town of North Harbor, Maine. At the shop she sells used items that she has lovingly refurbished and repurposed. But her favorite pet project so far has been adopting a stray cat she names Elvis. The big black cat with a scar across his nose turned up at a local bar when the band was playing the King of Rock and Roll's music and hopped in Sarah's truck.

Holly Miller's life has gone to the dogs. She has no job, her boyfriend's former flame is sniffing around, and a scruffy but lovable Jack Russell terrier is scattering crumbs all over her borrowed car. Just when she thought things couldn't get worse, a troubling phone call about her grandmother sends her rushing home to the family inn on Wagtail Mountain.

After graduating from culinary school, Juliet Capshaw returns to her quaint hometown of Ashland, Oregon, to heal a broken heart and help her mom at the family bakery. The Oregon Shakespeare Festival is bringing in lots of tourists looking for some crumpets to go with their heroic couplets. But when one of Torte's customers turns up dead, there's much ado about murder.

When Marilyn Peña, an eccentric billionaire, vanishes after dropping off her beloved talking parrot, Tiki Lulu, at the Coral Shores Veterinary Hospital, Dr. Emily Benton and her best friend, Anthony, embark on a quest to find her. The search leads them to a gruesome discovery—a dead body in the swamp behind Marilyn’s house. To make matters worse, the veterinary hospital becomes overrun by Marilyn’s devoted social media followers who are gathered as a show of support but also to unravel the next clue in Marilyn’s wild bird center treasure hunt.

When Marilyn Peña, an eccentric billionaire, vanishes after dropping off her beloved talking parrot, Tiki Lulu, at the Coral Shores Veterinary Hospital, Dr. Emily Benton and her best friend, Anthony, embark on a quest to find her. The search leads them to a gruesome discovery—a dead body in the swamp behind Marilyn’s house. To make matters worse, the veterinary hospital becomes overrun by Marilyn’s devoted social media followers who are gathered as a show of support but also to unravel the next clue in Marilyn’s wild bird center treasure hunt.

Meet Sarah Booth Delaney...an unconventional Southern belle whose knack for uncovering the truth is about to make her the hottest detective in Zinnia, Mississippi...if it doesn't make her the deadest. No self-respecting lady would allow herself to end up in Sarah Booth's situation. Unwed, unemployed, and over 30, she's flat broke and about to lose the family plantation. Not to mention being haunted by the ghost of her great-great-grandmother's nanny, who never misses an opportunity to remind her of her sorry state.

It starts with the hanging woman in the Maple Valley woods; the woman with no shoes, no car and no name. On paper it’s an obvious case of suicide - but to Officer Dean Matheson, something doesn’t add up. Then there are the other deaths, deaths that also look like suicides - but are they? The victims are all women living on the fringes of society, addicts and criminals. Who will miss them? Does anyone really care if they die? Dean Matheson is making it his business to care, even if it means he becomes a target....

Detective Daniel “Boone” Buckam is more than burned out. After 14 stellar years on the job, one bad judgment call - and, fine, a whole lot of cynicism - has forced him into a mandatory vacation. If he can get his head on straight, there’s a job as Police Chief waiting for him back in his Minneapolis suburb.

Holly Miller's life has gone to the dogs. She has no job, her boyfriend's former flame is sniffing around, and a scruffy but lovable Jack Russell terrier is scattering crumbs all over her borrowed car. Just when she thought things couldn't get worse, a troubling phone call about her grandmother sends her rushing home to the family inn on Wagtail Mountain.