Trixie Matkowski is warming up to running her family’s diner in the small town of Sandy Harbor in upstate New York. But the only thing more demanding than serving up piping-hot comfort food twenty-four hours a day is getting to the bottom of a double homicide.... Trixie fondly remembers summers as a child spent visiting the shores of Lake Ontario. Not much has changed—there are still vinyl booths at the Silver Bullet Diner, families eating home-cooked comfort food, and days of swimming in the lake. But before Trixie can say “Order’s up,” someone’s summer is abruptly cut short. One of the cottage residents is found dead, and Trixie suspects the crime might be linked to an unsolved disappearance in the picturesque town’s past. As Trixie works with Deputy Ty Brisco to solve both mysteries, their shocking discoveries will shake up the small town. And when word gets out that she’s on the case, Trixie’s in trouble—after all, the murderer won’t spare her life just because she makes a killer corned beef sandwich.... Includes Delicious Home-Style Recipes!

Adam Dalgluish is called to the elegant Steen Psychiatric Clinic to investigate why the head of the clinic, Enid Bolan was found with a chisel through her heart.

The Blue Ridge Mountains, fun historical tidbits, a hint of the supernatural, and a taste of romance—this bookish cozy mystery series debut about a crime-solving librarian is “one of the best” (New York Journal of Books). Librarian Amy Webber must archive overdue crimes and deadly rumors before a killer strikes again in small-town Virginia . . . Fleeing a disastrous love affair, university librarian Amy Webber moves in with her aunt in a quiet, historic mountain town in Virginia. She quickly busies herself with managing a charming public library that requires all her attention with its severe lack of funds and overabundance of eccentric patrons. The last thing she needs is a new, available neighbor whose charm lures her into trouble. Dancer-turned-teacher and choreographer Richard Muir inherited the farmhouse next door from his great-uncle, Paul Dassin. But town folklore claims the house’s original owner was poisoned by his wife, who was an outsider. It quickly became water under the bridge, until she vanished after her sensational 1925 murder trial. Determined to clear the name of the woman his great-uncle loved, Richard implores Amy to help him investigate the case. Amy is skeptical until their research raises questions about the culpability of the town’s leading families . . . including her own. When inexplicable murders plunge the quiet town into chaos, Amy and Richard must crack open the books to reveal a cruel conspiracy and lay a turbulent past to rest in A Murder for the Books, the first installment of Victoria Gilbert’s Blue Ridge Library mysteries.

Reporter Emerald Malloy returns to Minnesota's Red River Valley to gather more recipes for an encore feature the Minneapolis newspaper plans to run on rural cooking. Her plans are interrupted by the murder of a farmhand. When someone close to Margie is arrested for the murder, Emerald must investigate to discover the real killer. -- Page 4 of cover.

Small-town Texas sheriff Dan Rhodes is in for another puzzling mystery in this next in the entertaining, award-winning series Before classes start one morning, the body of English instructor Earl Wellington is found outside the building of the community college. Wellington was clearly involved in a struggle with someone and has died as a result. Sheriff Dan Rhodes pursues and arrests Ike Terrell, a student who was fleeing the campus. Ike's father is Able Terrell, a survivalist who has withdrawn from society and lives in a gated compound. He's not happy that his son has chosen to attend the college, and he's even less happy with the arrest. Rhodes discovers that Wellington and Ike had had a confrontation over a paper that Wellington insisted Ike plagiarized. Wellington also had had a confrontation with the dean and was generally disliked by the students. As the number of suspects increases, it's up to Rhodes to solve the murder while also dealing with an amusing but frustrating staff, a professor who wants to be a cop, and all the other normal occurrences that can wreak havoc in a small town. Bill Crider's Compound Murder is an enjoyable police procedural filled with surprises, chuckles, and a quirky cast that will captivate mystery readers.

Author and Charlene appeared on the Sally Jessy Raphael show on April 11, 2002. Lewis Junior High, now a Middle School, where three hired killers attempted to kill Charlene as she sat waiting in her car for school dismissal. She was like "a sitting duck," said the judge who called Floyd "a pretty greedy husband" who victimized his wife in front of a school, of all places motivated to collect 3/4 of a million dollars." The students at Lewis Junior High School crowded around the exit door but were locked in. They clamored to see who had been shot. "Jericha, look! It's your mother! They got her!" A dating service brought Floyd and Charlene together. During their courtship Floyd charmed, romanced and lied his way into Charlene's heart, convincing her to become his "forever girl". Thus began the story of a woman whose dreams for a long and love-filled marriage became hellish nightmares of threats, violence and eventually, her attempted murder. Using code words was Floyd's way of life. Only Floyd and his best buddies knew what they meant. He even had a code for murder. When the hitmen completed their mission of murder in front of Lewis Junior High School where Charlene was waiting for one of her daughters, they paged him with that code as the contract demanded. But, they botched the job and Floyd got caught. At the trial, snickers floated through the packed courtroom as the defense lawyers derisively repeated "Wahbee, Wahbee", what the prosecution claimed was Floyd's code for the hit. Only it wasn't funny to Charlene. She knew who had made it up and what it meant. The challenge was how to prove it.