Southern Fiction Mystery

The Pinesby Harper Stanwick, Sr. is a gripping mystery novel set in the eerie and atmospheric surroundings of 1920s Pine Cone, North Carolina. Janice Nicole, a young and desperate woman, accepts a position as a housekeeper at "The Pines," an old Southern mansion owned by Mrs. Anderson. Upon her arrival, Janice is struck by the eerie atmosphere of the mansion and the peculiar behavior of its inhabitants, including Mrs. Anderson and her frail son, Gorman. As Janice settles into her role, she becomes increasingly aware of strange occurrences within the house. Gorman, the young boy, is ...

Southern California is where dreams come true—or so Scarlett Gardner thought. When she moved there and opened the Palm Trees and Page Turners bookshop, she thought her boyfriend and business partner would be part of the story. When he leaves her for a better job, Scarlett finds herself struggling to keep her new business afloat. And that’s not the only thing she has to worry about—she discovers something underneath the pier by her bookshop that she didn’t outline for her life’s story: the dead body of a book-buying customer.

Just when Pepper Dunn starts accepting her ability to communicate with animals, she’s thrown for a loop - an egg containing a baby dragon winds up on her doorstep. Convinced the creature will grow up to become a destructive force of nature, Pepper gives the dragon to the first person interested in buying - a traveling magician named Mysterio, who claims he can communicate with the dead.

Sharyn McCrumb is the New York Times best-selling author of the Ballad novels, which celebrate the rich history of Appalachia. An elegant saga set against the American Revolution, King' s Mountain features John Sevier and his legendary Carolina Overmountain Men, who find themselves defending their families and farms against the troops of a haughty British major.

A teenage girl has been missing from her Montgomery, Alabama, home for six weeks. She may be a runaway, a crime victim, or both. What’s amazing is other people’s lack of concern. Just one person cares that she’s gone: a spunky amateur sleuth on the sunset end of 60. Armed with razor-sharp insight, a salty wit, and tenacious faith, MacLaren Yarbrough follows a trail of clues - a wisp of a hint, a shadow of a lie - in search of answers to questions that come hot and fast and that grow increasingly alarming.

Andy Buckland has always dreamed of being a chef. But after a live studio audience is stricken with food poisoning during her debut cooking show, she finds herself blacklisted in the culinary community. The only job open to her is working in her family's Southern pasta shop, and her first assignment is serving baked ziti to her former lover and his spoiled bride-to-be at their engagement party! But that's the least of Andy's troubles when she discovers a dead body. Andy will prove that she has what it takes to not only cook the best dish in town but also catch a killer, too!

Everyone thinks fourteen-year-old Violet is a murderer. After a summer-night swim with her best friend, Ainsley, Violet is found confused, wandering in the forest - and Ainsley’s never seen again. But without a body, murder charges won’t stick, so Violet is sent away. After more than a decade in a psychiatric ward, Violet returns to her broken-down hometown of Normal, Alabama, to claim her dead mother’s inheritance and help her overworked sister care for their unstable, alcoholic father.

Part love story and part ghost story, this is an unforgettable New York Times best seller about a science journalist and a North Carolina librarian who dare to believe in the impossible. As a science journalist with a regular column in Scientific American, Jeremy Marsh specializes in debunking the supernatural - until he falls in love with the granddaughter of the town psychic. When Jeremy receives a letter from Boone Creek, North Carolina, about ghostly lights appearing in a cemetery, he can't resist driving down to investigate.

A secret dark past and a string of messy affairs haven't stopped self-made millionaire Jamison Jackson from becoming mayor of Atlanta. But while he may have a gorgeous new wife and new alliances, he can't quite escape his past and those who want to see him fail. There's his jilted first wife, a lover he'd rather forget, and a ruthless faction of old guard politicians and power lords who have no problem getting blood on their hands. And the fact that Jamison's ambitious current wife, Val, schemed and blackmailed her way into his arms - despite his mother's not-so-subtle warnings - is far from the least of his problems.

In the heart of Amblewood’s bustling downtown, Café Cozy is the go-to spot for warm conversations, freshly brewed coffee, and a touch of autumn magic. Owned by Emma Blake, the café is more than just a place to grab a latte—it’s a community hub where friends gather, secrets are shared, and the espresso is always made with love. But when ruthless food critic Derrick Matheson collapses after sipping the café’s newest seasonal drink, the cozy atmosphere turns cold. Whispers of poisoning spread through the town like wildfire, and business drops as suspicion swirls around Emma and her ...

An eclectic collection of stories from the members of the North Alabama Science Fiction and Cake Appreciation Society. Earl, Bubba, and the Flying Hubcap -- by Louise Herring-Jones – Two Alabama good ol’ boys have a close encounter. Messenger -- by Dan Thompson – A wanderer arrives at an isolated village with news about the plague that devastated the world. Pink Eggs in a White Box -- by Michael Guillebeau – A lonely technician finds love in an unexpected place. Mother Gone -- by Nancy G. Swanner – Three children search for their kidnapped mother, unaware that there is magic ...

Actor and sex worker Nats is experienced at putting on a show. However, her new gig supplying intimate whispers for growgirls takes her to a place darker and lonelier than she could have ever imagined. The lab-grown dolls can respond to pleasure or pain; their synthetic heads contain only the simplest AI to prevent any pesky robo sex doll uprisings. But just because growgirls don’t have a brain, doesn’t mean they don’t have a voice...

Stacey is the dusty air, the cracked soil, the drought. To thirteen-year-old Bethany Sloane, she’s everything. Abandoned by her mother at a remote African boarding school, Bethany will do anything to stay in Stacey’s good graces. And that means learning the rules of each twisted game.

One sunny Spring morning, EJ's simple life is turned upside down when the town's master gardener unceremoniously hands her a stack of handwritten letters that have all been addressed to a nonexistent person at the garden. This simple act sets in motion a chain of events that will lead EJ on a life-altering quest to uncover the identity of the mysterious letter writer―and into a surprising head-on confrontation with the harsh realities of the racial injustice that is as deeply rooted in the life of her community as the ancient herbs cultivated in the Moravian garden.

When investigative journalist Nick Hunter dies from a scorpion sting on his isolated cheetah preserve in Kenya, American safari guide Jazz Jasper thinks it a natural tragedy – but then something doesn't fit. Her search for Nick’s killer leads her on a sweeping adventure from the rich suburbs of Nairobi to an illegal Saudi hunting camp, and the hidden home of a stone-age hunter. This is a page-turner with equal parts African adventure and clever murder mystery. “Powerful…A marvelous story with a wonderfully appealing heroine…Absolutely smashing.” – Jackson Clairion-Ledger ...

In just one week, Hannah will pick her new dream home and start her new life. That is, assuming she survives her current case tracking down a nasty killer.

Mail carrier Bernadette (Bernie) Butler, along with the Front Porch Ladies, are curious about their new neighbor, Courtney Gaines, who is the niece of Florence Gaines, the wealthiest widow in Sugar Creek Gap. Florence lets it be known that she is seeing Zeke Grey, which doesn't set well with the Front Porch Ladies. They were all in competition for Zeke's attention. While delivering the mail, Bernie overhears what could be the couple's first marital spat. When Florence turns up dead in mulch, Bernie can't help but want to get involved.

The polite Piedmont town of Hillston, North Carolina, wants to go on believing it is still too temperate to require homicide experts. But when the wife of a state senator is found beaten to death, the inner circle of Hillston’s ruling families arranges to have the case assigned to Detective Justin Savile, the charming black sheep of the dynasty that founded the town. Aided by his wise-cracking partner and a young woman from the Carolina mountains whose strength and love rescues him from his own destructive impulses, Savile sets out to unravel the deceit hidden in Hillston’s past.

Tobias Blaise never expected to find any woman he wanted to spend his life with, let alone one who looked at him the way Ellis did, despite that she’d been seriously wounded because of him. Even now, knowing that by allowing her to be anywhere near him made her vulnerable…he couldn’t let her go. He’d always believed he was a fair man. She made him better. Family meant everything to Ayden Stratton. It always had even when he didn’t always allow it to show. Because of that, he understood the fury in Tobias Blaise’s eyes when they learned that his sister had been dragged out the ...

Daniel Russell was only 13 years old when his father tried to kill them both by driving their car into Moon Lake. Miraculously surviving the crash - and growing into adulthood - Daniel returns to the site of this traumatic incident in the hopes of recovering his father's car and bones. As he attempts to finally put to rest the memories that have plagued him for years, he discovers something even more shocking among the wreckage that has ties to a twisted web of dark deeds, old grudges, and strange murders.