Detective Mysteries Humor

How can you hold an auction when the auctioneer is dead? That’s the problem facing Jessica Braun after her scheme to clear out thrift shop inventory through a bidding war goes sideways. Before the truck is even unloaded, she and her friends discover a terrible crime. With luck working against them and no one on their side, can Jess and her crew find enough evidence to solve the murder and stop the killer before they get away? What will happen to Jess if her auction plans are killed, too?

Max Moran, who looks like Superman but has the personality of Clark Kent, is a failed Broadway actor who manages his uncle's inn on the New Jersey shore. Although Max would like nothing better than to be an innkeeper and an actor in community theater, life requires him to solve murders. These are the first three cases Max must solve, often at great danger to himself as he is forced to rely on his acting skills to pretend to be a detective. This is a newly revised and edited edition.

Fresh off recovering a billion-dollar ruby and losing the criminal who stole it, John Boarhog and Inspector Toadius McGee are soaring high on a new adventure. Hoping to intercept the Mauve Moth before they execute their next great heist, Toadius and John book passage on Her Majesty’s Royal Air Armada—a luxury cruise liner airship. But alas, there will be no clear skies ahead. A committee from the Society of Sleuths (S.O.S) is also aboard, ready to put John through his first trial to gain full membership, despite Toadius’s objections.

After being placed in witness protection, Ruby Shaw and her daughter move to the former ghost town of Paradise, Arizona, which is nothing like its name implies. The US marshal handling their case has this advice: Fly under the radar—but that’s difficult to do after their neighbor is murdered. ==================== New Yorker Ruby Shaw arrives in a hillside town in Arizona with a brand-new name, a duffel bag on her shoulder, and her daughter, Allie, at her side. Before arriving, Ruby witnesses a murder that lands her in the witness protection program. That decision means she’s gone from...

When a suspect explodes mid-interrogation and his office is taken over by an intergalactic despot, undead detective Dan Deadman reckons he's finally hit rock bottom. Banished to a dangerous underground hostel network, Dan becomes embroiled in a mass-murder investigation that will take him from the bowels of Down Here to the depths of the ocean. As the clues run out and the case collapses around him, Dan discovers a sinister plot that could wipe out two whole civilizations, and plunge the planet of Parloo into an endless bloody war.

In a fading town, far from anyone he knew or trusted, a young Lemony Snicket began his apprenticeship in an organization nobody knows about. He started by asking questions that shouldn't have been on his mind. Now he has written an account that should not be published, in four volumes that shouldn't be read. This is the first volume.

Here comes a new witch... She’s mean, evil, and she's too familiar with Jack. What’s Fio to do with her? FREE on Kindle Unlimited! Haunted and Hexed takes on a new meaning for Fio Valentine when she finds herself competing with a witchy newcomer to solve a case. When FBI psychic Abby Scott breezes into the office claiming to be Jack’s former lover, Fio is understandably vexed, but there’s no time to play mind games with the arrogant agent. A ghostly girl appearing in a team photo has become a harbinger of disaster for members of the women’s basketball team at Jack and Abby’s ...

Meet the hottest sleuth apprentice in town. She’s tiny, cute, and rocks the world on a stroller! FREE on Kindle Unlimited! It’s another haunting Halloween for the Rowling Family! New addition Baby Sophie is almost a year old, and Mandy is taking motherhood in stride, but when ghost-in-law Clara pops in asking for help for a newly deceased friend, Mandy’s back on the job, trading maternity leave for murder. A woman who fell from the balcony of her Brooklyn home insists she just had a dizzy spell, but a big insurance payout, a cheating husband and a jealous paramour point to foul play. ...

Life is reasonably rosy for plus-size ex-pop star turned assistant dormitory director and sometime sleuth Heather Wells. Her freeloading ex-con dad is finally moving out. She still yearns for her hot landlord, Cooper Cartwright, but her relationship with "rebound beau", vigorous vegan math professor Tad Tocco, is more than satisfactory. Best of all, nobody has died lately in Death Dorm, the aptly nicknamed student residence that Heather assistant directs. Of course every silver lining ultimately has some black cloud attached.

Suzie survived the police academy. Will the residence of small-town, USA survive her? From amateur bookstore sleuth to police cadet, Officer Suzie Ivy beat the odds and made it through the toughest eighteen weeks of her life. Join Suzie during her midlife wacky adventures, a Glock .35 on her hip, and a whole new attitude. With a shiny new badge pinned to her chest; hilarity and tears ensue. Add a Beefalo named Old Betty, crazy old men with rocks, and unlicensed drivers who think they own the road and you’ll stumble along with Suzie while she takes law enforcement by storm. Hold on tight, ...

Thrift shop til someone drops... It’s time for Halloween, and that means costume sales at the Pine Grove Thrift Store. After Jessica Braun finds her aunt’s odd stash of disguises, she will have more than enough inventory for this holiday. But where did the costumes come from? And why did Aunt Daphne collect them? When Jess and her friends reheat a cold case, they stir up dangers, old and new. And when her suspicions about the killer lead her down roads she never expected to travel, another life will be lost in Pine Grove. Which will Jess be more frightened of this Halloween—a murderer...

A bewitching bookstore. A tome of secrets. And a crime-solving witch. After inheriting a magical bookshop and an obnoxious black cat, Mercy Brew moves to Hemlock Hills, California, with her French bulldog. For a book-loving witch, it’s a dream come true. Unfortunately, the bookstore also comes with a murder mystery to solve. When Mercy discovers that her eccentric aunt was murdered and an irate coven member turns up dead, she knows trouble is brewing. Especially when Mercy becomes the prime suspect in the crimes, and both casualties are linked to a mystically sealed book. Determined to ...

A missing manuscript and a dead author spell a narrative of chaos in Bloomsville. When reclusive author Ashton Blackwood is found lifeless at Shelf Indulgence, I’m drawn into a plot twist thicker than the most intricate novel. I’m Grace Thompson—florist by trade, sleuth by necessity. Rosie, my terrier with a nose for mysteries, sniffs out intrigue, guiding me to characters ranging from rival authors to disgruntled editors. The stakes rise higher than a climactic chapter as I join forces with Chloe, my forensic partner. Sheriff Waverly admits this mystery is more baffling than a poorly...

These are the first four novels featuring Charles Bentley, a retired professor of English Literature who worked at Opal College in Opalsville, Massachusetts in the upper northwestern corner of the state. Upon his retirement, Charles finds himself becoming involved in solving a number of murders that occur in his part of the world. A widower, now without a full-time job, he is also at a decision point in his life where he must deal with new romantic interests and the possibility of pursuing a career path allowing him to develop new talents. Charles rapidly finds that the remaining decades of...

As gumshoes go, I was one of the best, back when it said Triplett on my badge—back when I had a badge, and a uniform to pin it on, not to mention a man’s body instead of a parakeet’s. No joke. Fortunately, though, I still have a few moves up my— Let’s move on. Seymour’s the name. I ended up in this avian form after my untimely demise, but against all odds I have been reunited in sunny Mountain Springs with my wife Sharon and our two children, Lila and Ethan. A lot of mysterious things have happened in this area over the past year, and all four of us have played a part in ...

One day, after fishing on the pier at Hamilton Island in 1934, 13 year-old Walt Jenkins saw two men load a body into the back of a Model-T Ice Truck. He ran away, but left behind his Bucket of Fish. When he returned later, the Bucket of Fish was gone! Walt and his friend George Bailey (GB) set out to solve the mystery. The boys soon find themselves tracking down bootleggers, a crooked policeman and a hired killer. Their detective work involves Walt pedaling hard with GB on the handlebars, George Bailey shining a killer’s shoes for 5 cents and his girlfriend Sharon disguised as a 7 year-...

Owning two thrift shop locations doubles the secondhand fun for Jessica Braun. However, it also means double the work and, soon enough, she finds herself embroiled in double the trouble. A shocking crime strikes Pine Grove, leaving two people injured. Jessica can't shake her suspicion that another shop owner is involved. The catch? The community sees things differently, and convincing them won't be an easy task. How will she rise to this challenge, protect her town, and safeguard her business? As the situation grows more complex, Jessica must piece together the puzzle. But when the going ...

What could be better than reading a one-of-a-kind mystery novel on a cold winter night? How about finding out it’s actually evidence of a murder? The manuscript for Murder in Walnut Cove is even more entertaining than Jessica Braun expected it would be when she rescued it from storage. But it isn’t just a thrilling tale of intrigue and criminal behavior. Some of the characters bear an unlikely resemblance to real people, and the town in the book sounds awfully familiar… Sharing news of the story stirs up a hornet’s nest of trouble with Jessica right in the middle, leaving her to ...

He forecasts the weather on TV to the delight of his many fans. But the residents of Ocean Vista Condominiums are less fond of Uncle Weatherwise—the newest arrival at the condo—especially when a hurricane that he predicted would bypass Palmetto Beach instead heads straight for their town. The morning after a frantic evacuation, Kate Kennedy is blown away when she stumbles upon the corpse of Uncle Weatherwise, with a sharpened weather vane pointed in the direction of his heart. Suddenly Kate’s neighbors are her suspects, from a retired Rockette to a former federal prosecutor to a man ...

A Nutty Fruitcake, a Nuttier Ghost, and a Murder... FREE on Kindle Unlimited! The newlyweds Mandy and Rick are looking forward to their first Christmas in wedded bliss when the untimely death of a real estate developer puts a crimp in their plans. A bite of deadly dessert at a trendy bakery seems to be the culprit, and now the naughty ghost of Woody Napoleon is demanding justice. A spirited investigation turns up a plethora of suspects, but only Mandy’s special gift can unwrap the killer in this holiday edition of the Manhattan Mystery Series. Wicked as a Christmas Fruitcake is part of ...