Heat Level: Smooth Sailing

The Pierogi Peril

Lydia Wienewski has opened her Polish-American cafe and bakery on the shore of Lake Erie, but her idyllic new venture is shattered when the low tide leads to a terrible discovery.

June, 1982. Lydia Wienewski’s dream has finally come true: Lydia’s Lakeside Cafe and Bakery, selling delicious Polish-American fare on the shore of Lake Erie, is now open and her fortunes are looking up. Even her old nemesis and tutor, the irascible Madame Delphine, has made time to sample Lydia’s delectable pierogi, with some of her students in tow.

But when Lydia finds Madame Delphine dead in the water, her lakeside dream turns into a nightmare. Was it a bizarre suicide, or brutal murder? As Lydia and Grandma Mary investigate, they discover that there was more to Madame Delphine than meets the eye, and quickly find themselves drawn into an increasingly perilous situation! Can they uncover the truth about Madame Delphine’s untimely death?

A Wasp in the Woods

Retired Navy Pilot Angel Warren’s sleuthing days are behind her. At least, that’s what she tells herself after finding two dead bodies during her first year back in Stonebridge, Pennsylvania. Murders make customers wary and Angel’s sales are suffering. With her daughters back in college and the cases behind her, Angel focuses on attracting more customers into her novelty shop.

Hoping to boost local tourism, Angel researches how to create a walking history tour. During a dry run for her inaugural walk, her brother’s Pomeranian leads her through the woods and to her third body, the apparent victim of multiple stings from a nearby wasp nest. Angel recognizes the deceased as her sister’s cherished employee who was days away from being married.

The scene doesn’t sit right with Angel’s best friend, Detective Trinity Colson, however, who suspects foul play. When the autopsy reveals a different cause of death, Angel dives into her most dangerous case yet. Soon Angel, along with her eclectic crew featuring two dogs and a feisty parrot, are once again on the hunt for a murderer. But is Angel also being hunted?

The Kielbasa Killer

Lydia Wienewski discovers that her family’s ever-popular kielbasa isn’t the only thing that’s been pricked when she finds a body in this entertaining and smartly written cosy.

Lydia Wienewski can’t wait to open her dream Polish-American café and bakery in Cheektowaga. But while her father recovers from a stroke, Lydia must help manage the family business, Wienewski’s Wieners & Meats, over the busy Easter holiday. She’s soon preparing a huge amount of their famous kielbasa – and dealing with her father’s rogue meat supplier, Louie McDaniel.

When Lydia finds Louie dead in the family’s private smoker next to the kielbasa, the family’s antique sausage pricker sticking out of his neck, her problems are about to get much worse, especially as she seems to be the police’s prime suspect! Who would commit such a terrible act? Enlisting the help of her irrepressible grandma Mary, can the sleuthing duo catch the killer and prove the Wienewski’s innocence before more grisly deaths occur?

A Mid-Summer Murder

This small Pennsylvania town once again becomes a hotbed of secrets.

Only Angel Warren, a retired Navy Pilot and owner of Shop ‘Round the World, can turn a summer day at the river into a murder investigation. But when her brother Bryce’s unicorn float snags on a corpse’s hand, suddenly Angel and Bryce are suspects. It doesn’t help that Angel knows the victim and was one of the last people to see Hank Price alive, or that Angel witnessed a disturbing argument between Hank and his wife. Plus, she and Bryce may have heard the shot that killed Hank.

Once more, Angel inserts herself into the middle of the investigation, this time with her best friend Detective Trinity Colson’s tacit approval. Who could have wanted Hank dead? Angel soon discovers Hank had a secret life that included sketchy business dealings and a gambling addiction.

The question isn’t how Angel will juggle her sleuthing alongside managing her gift store during the height of tourist season, family drama, and a burgeoning romance. It’s how will Angel solve the crime without stumbling into the killer’s sights?

A Santa Stabbing

She didn’t realize she’d traded “Naval Aviator” for “amateur sleuth”…

Retired Navy pilot Angel Warren’s new life awaits in Stonebridge, Pennsylvania, where she’s opening Shop ‘Round the World, her travel-inspired gift and novelty shop. A newly empty nester and longtime widow, she’s looking forward to leaving her flying career and its many life-or-death decisions behind and reconnecting with family and friends. Right now, Angel’s biggest challenge is getting the shop ready for its grand opening just weeks before Christmas.

Until she finds a dead body in the shop murdered with one of her specialty Santa figurines. Even worse, Angel’s fingerprints are on the “weapon” and she’s a prime suspect. It doesn’t help that the deceased is an old friend who’s collected a long list of enemies as a cut-throat real estate agent. And then there’s the Stonebridge Chief of Police—and Angel’s high school BFF—who brings her in for questioning.

If Angel wants to clear her name before the Christmas rush, she’s going to need to do some sleuthing on her own—and with the help of her stressed out parrot, Ralph.

Lethal Holiday

A spine tingling tale about a heroine dressed as a Christmas Elf, the serial killer who wants her dead, and the detective who saves her life–and captures her heart.

A Rendezvous to Remember

World War II to Present.

“My dear Melinda, I hate to see you throw away what may be the love of your life…”

Melinda Thompson knew that her grandmother had always adored Nick. But Grammy’s gone now and Melinda’s on the verge of divorce…

When she comes home to her widowed grandfather, Grandpa Jack hands her a leather-bound journal and invites her to look into some family secrets. Grammy’s voice rings out from the journal, begun when she was in her twenties and living in Nazi-occupied Belgium. Breathlessly, Melinda reads the story of a young woman involved in the Resistance and the British airman whose life she saved. The story of passionate love and a wartime promise. One that saw her grandparents, Esmée and Jack, through World War II. And a marriage of more than sixty years. With the example of her grandparents’ lives, Melinda looks for the courage to believe again. In the love of her life.

What Family Means

To Debra Bradley, marriage is being with the man you’ve always loved—despite the odds. Despite what other people think. And marriage is about family, about protecting your children from a sometimes hostile world.

To her husband, Will Bradley, family is about creating a safe haven. Where it doesn’t matter that one of you is white, the other black. Where it’s never mattered…

All these years later Will and Debra are still in love, still each other’s best friend. They’ve made a good life for themselves and their children. But their daughter, Angie—pregnant and estranged from the husband she loves—has to discover for herself what family means….

Sasha’s Dad

A mom for Sasha?

Dutch is a man on his own, trying to raise his children.
Sometimes he gets things right. Sometimes he needs a little help. Sasha Archer doesn’t have a mother, but she’s got one of the best dads around. Now she feels it’s time he had a new woman in his life. And she’s decided it should be Claire Renquist.

She knows that Claire and her mom were best friends growing up—but then something happened and Claire moved away from Dovetail, Maryland. She’s finally come home, trying to make a go of it with her llama farm. So that means Claire needs Sasha’s dad, Dutch—who happens to be the local vet!

But getting over the past seems to be hard for Claire and Dutch. Good thing they have Sasha to bring them together!