Real estate rule #1: A dead body creates buzz. A dead body in a house for sale is never the buzz you want.It isn't the first time real estate agent Helen Morrisey has found someone naked in bed while showing a house to a potential buyer. But this one is different. One glance at the bluish cast around his lips and the vacant, staring eyes, and Helen knows big-time developer Al Capelli is never going to sign another sales agreement. His death is big news for a small, top of the Chesapeake water town where a family empire is built around secrets and their brash money style is resented by locals. Within days, his lover, her old friend, begs Helen to find the killer before she's arrested for murder. With her fight for the underdog style, Helen jumps in. She quickly realizes that solving a murder mystery in real life is a lot more dangerous than reading one. Helen decides to create her own Detection Club of expert sleuths-Miss Marple, Jessica Fletcher, Nora Charles, Agatha Raisin, and, yes, Nancy Drew to help unearth the truth.Detective Joe McAlister recognizes the value of Helen's insight into back-office real estate deals and local players. And for the first time since her husband's death, Helen meets a man who might be able to return zingers as quick as she can toss them out. Mystery lovers hungry for a smart gutsy woman, a fast-moving plot, and an insider's look into a business everyone talks about, but few understand, will devour this first in a series Murder in the Master.

In this classic novel, James A. Michener brings his grand epic tradition to bear on the four-hundred-year saga of America’s Eastern Shore, from its Native American roots to the modern age. In the early 1600s, young Edmund Steed is desperate to escape religious persecution in England. After joining Captain John Smith on a harrowing journey across the Atlantic, Steed makes a life for himself in the New World, establishing a remarkable dynasty that parallels the emergence of America. Through the extraordinary tale of one man’s dream, Michener tells intertwining stories of family and national heritage, introducing us along the way to Quakers, pirates, planters, slaves, abolitionists, and notorious politicians, all making their way through American history in the common pursuit of freedom. BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from James A. Michener's Hawaii. Praise for Chesapeake “Another of James Michener’s great mines of narrative, character and lore.”—The Wall Street Journal “[A] marvelous panorama of history seen in the lives of symbolic people of the ages . . . An emotionally and intellectually appealing book.”—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution “Michener’s most ambitious work of fiction in theme and scope.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer “Magnificently written . . . one of those rare novels that is enthusiastically passed from friend to friend.”—Associated Press

“An epic history of piracy . . . Goodall explores the role of these legendary rebels and describes the fine line between piracy and privateering.” —WYPR The story of Chesapeake pirates and patriots begins with a land dispute and ends with the untimely death of an oyster dredger at the hands of the Maryland Oyster Navy. From the golden age of piracy to Confederate privateers and oyster pirates, the maritime communities of the Chesapeake Bay are intimately tied to a fascinating history of intrigue, plunder and illicit commerce raiding. Author Jamie L.H. Goodall introduces infamous men like Edward “Blackbeard” Teach and “Black Sam” Bellamy, as well as lesser-known local figures like Gus Price and Berkeley Muse, whose tales of piracy are legendary from the harbor of Baltimore to the shores of Cape Charles. “Rather than an unchanging monolith, Goodall creates a narrative filled with dynamic movement and exchange between the characters, setting, conflict, and resolution of her story. Goodall positioned this narrative to be successful on different levels.” —International Social Science Review

Terrifying tales of the ghosts that roam the marshes, swamps, and waterways of the nine counties on Maryland’s eastern shore. They walk beside the murky waters of the Chesapeake Bay, linger among the fetid swamps and roam the manor halls. These are the tormented souls who refuse to leave the sites of their demise. From pitiless smugglers to reluctant brides, the ghostly figures of the Eastern Shore are at once terrifying and tragic. Mindie Burgoyne takes readers on a spine-tingling journey as she recounts the grisly events at the Cosden Murder Farm and the infamous legend of Patty Cannon. Tread the foggy lanes of Kent Manor Inn and linger among Revolutionary War dead to discover the otherworldly occupants of Maryland’s most haunted shore. Includes photos! “A compilation of tales of hauntings and mysteries in the Eastern Shore area . . .The response to the book was so overwhelming, Burgoyne began organizing bus tours that travel to the sites, allowing her fans to see firsthand the location of the hauntings.” —Cumberland Times-News

Chesapeake Crimes 3 is the latest installment of the Agatha- and Anthony-award-winning Chesapeake Crimes series. "The Chesapeake Bay area is home to strong winds, joys, and fears, where you lock your doors at night in the cities and probably should lock them in the countryside, too, especially after reading this anthology. [It] gave me 15 reasons to wish I had not moved to the Midwest. And for the folks who are still living in this supposedly mild-mannered region, all I can say is, enjoy the weather, but watch your back." -- Sujata Massey

Looking to the future, Pelton offers a provocative vision of the hard steps that must be taken if we truly want to save the Bay.

Seventeenth-century Chesapeake involved the area of the colonies of Virginia and Maryland.