It's 1952. Reporter Sydney Lockhart checks into the historic Arlington Hotel in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Before she even unpacks, she discovers the brutally murdered body of the hotel's bookkeeper. What had begun as a simple travel-writing assignment now turns into a murder investigation. The bad news is that Sydney is a suspect. Determined to clear her name and prove herself a reporter deserving more than just travel assignments, Sydney becomes embroiled in the underworld of gangsters and gamblers. In her fight for the truth, she soon faces a more urgent battle: saving her own skin.

By 1966, Hot Springs, Arkansas wasn’t your typical sleepy little Southern town. Once a favorite destination for mobsters like Al Capone and Lucky Luciano, illegal activities continued to lure out-of-state gamblers, flim-flam men, and high rollers to its racetracks, clubs, and bordellos. Still, the town was shaken to its core after a girl was found dead on a nearby ranch. The ranch owner claimed it was an accident. Then the rancher was found to be the killer of another woman – his fourth wife. The story begins when 13-year-old Cathie Ward was found dead after horseback riding at Blacksnake Ranch on the outskirts of Hot Springs, Arkansas. Frank Davis, the owner of the ranch, tells authorities Cathie’s death is an accident. He claims her foot caught in a stirrup and she was dragged to her death despite his pursuit of the runaway horse. People who know the 42-year-old skilled horseman don’t believe his story, and soon rumors of her rape and murder begin swirling around town. The rumors reach a crescendo after Davis viciously guns down his fourth wife and mother-in-law in broad daylight outside of a laundromat. Davis is arrested and charged with first-degree murder. Soon after, Hot Springs authorities re-open the investigation into Cathie Ward’s death. Snake Eyes is the first book to examine this decades-old murder and cover-up, and the only in-depth account of the man who would become the town’s most notorious villain. Featuring personal interviews, crime scene records, court documents, and Davis’ own prison files, author and lifelong Hot Springs resident Bitty Martin reveals the true story for the first time.

A Fresh Start Sarah Garland Spencer is now happily married to Detective Conrad Spencer and her life seems peaceful with her nightmares far behind her. When Sarah's best friend Amanda announces that she's going to buy a hot springs resort, Sarah simply agrees to go with her friend as support, not knowing what darkness awaits. A Twisted Tale When Sarah and Amanda arrive at the hot spring resort they immediately encounter trouble, when they are met by a hungry grizzly bear and a dead body. Matters turn worse when a strange woman appears and begins spinning a frightening tale that involves Sarah and Amanda being infected with an invisible virus. Terrified and desperate to leave, Sarah and Amanda are forced to fight for their lives. A Looming Question Will Sarah and Amanda survive the virus they are infected with or will they become the victims? As time begins to run out, the question looms, is anyone safe in the snow? Keywords: winter cozy mystery novels box cold, alaska snowman mystery series books woman author, Coffee shop owner mystery books, Woman sleuth amateur cozy mysteries reluctant, Cozy mystery with cat or dog romance books sets, Retired cop writer in a clean mystery series, Divorced mystery writer sleuths join forces, cozy murder mysteries, cozy mystery novels collection, small town mystery, mysteries women sleuths, older sleuth mystery, cozy mystery, amateur sleuth, traditional mystery, mystery, small town mystery, female protagonist mystery, murder mystery, cozy mysteries, female sleuth, humor, series, female protagonist, novel, secret, suspense, mystery detective stories, mystery romance books clean, mystery romance suspense, mystery suspense murder, mystery with women, mystery women books, mystery romance, cosy mystery book

The Line between Lawmen and Lawless On December 26, 1910, Oscar Chitwood lay lifeless on the courthouse lawn in Hot Springs, his wrists shackled together, and his body torn by bullets. The deputies on the scene claimed that masked men had lynched their prisoner and that the lawmen were innocent bystanders to the carnage. Newspapers everywhere proclaimed this killing another example of vigilantism run rampant. Within days, however, the official story fell apart, and these deputies were charged with cold-blooded murder. Authors Guy Lancaster and Christopher Thrasher tell the little-known story of accused outlaw Oscar Chitwood, the authorities he dared defy, and the mysterious resort town of Hot Springs, a place where the Wild West met the epitome of civilization, and where the boundaries between lawman and outlaw were never all that clear.

The chilling tome that launched an entire genre of books about the often gruesome but always tragic ways people have died in our national parks, this updated edition of the classic includes calamities in Yellowstone from the past sixteen years, including the infamous grizzly bear attacks in the summer of 2011 as well as a fatal hot springs accident in 2000. In these accounts, written with sensitivity as cautionary tales about what to do and what not to do in one of our wildest national parks, Whittlesey recounts deaths ranging from tragedy to folly—from being caught in a freak avalanche to the goring of a photographer who just got a little too close to a bison. Armchair travelers and park visitors alike will be fascinated by this important book detailing the dangers awaiting in our first national park.

A chronicle of sixteen ruthless killings from Lone Star history and the dirty details that have shocked and bewildered Texans for decades. Texas has long boasted of its iron fist and strict treatment of criminals. Nevertheless, a number of homicidal scoundrels and fiends have slipped through the state’s justice system despite even the best efforts of the legendary Texas Rangers. In 1877, Texas saw its first high-profile murder case with the slaying of a woman in Jefferson and the subsequent “Diamond Bessie” trial. More than a century later, state legislator Price Daniel Jr., was shot in cold blood by his wife at their home in Liberty, TX. True crime writer and historian Bartee Haile unburies these and other stories from Texas’s murderous past. With these stories and more—from senseless roadside murders to political assassinations—discover the seedy underbelly of the Lone Star State’s murderous past.

It’s 1908, and 16-year-old Charlotte O’Dell is forced to move away from her great Aunt Ginny in Victoria, and live and work at the St. Alice Hotel in order to make enough money to finish school. Her unruly red hair instantly makes her a new friend in Lizzie, though her equally fiery temperament doesn’t go over quite as well with her boss, Mrs. Bannerman. It does, however, give her the opportunity to get to know the rest of the staff, and the guests, at the St. Alice. Between organizing a women’s march in support of the suffragettes, and memorizing all there was to know about her new profession in The Up-to-Date Waitress, Charlotte befriends one of the hot springs regulars, Mr. Doyle, and quickly learns about his tumultuous past with a boy he saw as a son, Henry. Determined to fix their relationship, she is ecstatic when all seems forgiven with a reunion at the St. Alice until she goes to brew her daily healing tea for Mr. Doyle... and finds him dead. Who killed Doyle? Was it Henry, reeling from lingering resentment over Mr. Doyle’s supposed betrayal of his mother? Colonel Mitterand? He fought in the Boer War alongside Doyle and discovers a secret romance he cannot fathom. Or is it Charlotte herself? The police seem to think so; after all, she’s the one they arrested... Becky Citra has once again crafted an incredibly intricate web of mysteries and intrigue, and when all of the pieces are unravelled, who will remain standing?