When Dead Detective Seamus is asked to investigate the death of wealthy businessman William Dunbar, he agrees, but there is an additional request. Will he take a detective-in-training along? Reluctantly, Seamus agrees and meets Mildred, who seems charming if a little headstrong.  Suspects include Dunbar's family and staff, notably his beloved grandson Bud, who was with him when he fell from a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan. There's chemistry between Bud and a member of the household staff, Scarlet. Seamus wonders why they work so hard to keep it hidden. As they try to learn what happened, Mildred decides she must help Dunbar's adopted granddaughter Brodie, a problem child devastated by "Gramps" death. Brodie feels that no one on earth cares about her now, and Mildred becomes determined to convince her otherwise.  Disgusted by the fact that Mildred ignores the rules of non-interference with the Living, Seamus works on without her. Events soon spin out of control. A kidnapping leads to a desperate chase toward the Straits of Mackinac, where several characters find themselves in peril. Will Mildred become a lost soul? Will Brodie find the will to survive? Can Seamus help his host defeat the killer, or is he more hindrance than help? Nothing is sure except the reason behind it all. Just like William Dunbar, others he cares for might end up Dead for the Money.

Dead for the Money

Literature & Fiction

Herring, Peg

Genre Fiction

LL-Publications

Is It Possible to Be a Rescuer When You Live among the Lost? Killing Silence, the first of The Loser Mysteries, presents a unique protagonist: Loser, who sleeps on the streets of Richmond, Virginia, washes up in gas station bathrooms, eats when an opportunity comes along, and spends her waking hours in front of the local drug store, watching the world pass by and speaking less than thirty words per day. When a child is murdered and Loser finds herself in the company of the prime suspect, can she pull herself out of her own pain to help catch a killer? Her investigation is hampered by her inability to hold a normal conversation and her inner demons. Why should anyone believe her anyway? She is Loser. A nobody. A freak who can barely speak. Every street person has a story, and Loser is no different. Her past haunts her present. Besides, Loser has good reason to avoid the police...and it goes way beyond loitering.

Killing Silence: Book One of the Loser Mysteries

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Mystery

THIS IS A NEW EDITION OF THIS BOOK, FIRST RELEASED IN 2011. Tori Van Camp wakes one morning on a luxurious ocean liner where she's offered whatever a person might desire: food, clothes, recreation, and the companionship of congenial people. But Tori has no memory of booking a cruise. What she does have is a vivid recollection of being shot point blank in the chest. With the help of the stunningly handsome Mike and the unnervingly serene Nancy, Tori soon learns the purpose of her voyage. Still, she’s haunted by the image of the gun, the crack of the shot, and the malevolent face of the shooter. Who wanted the young personal secretary dead, and why? Determined to find out, Tori enlists the help of Seamus, an eccentric but shrewd detective. Together they leave the Afterlife and embark on an investigation unlike anything Tori ever thought possible. Death is all around, the future is uncertain, and if Tori doesn’t act quickly, two people she cares about in Grand Rapids, Michigan, are prime candidates for murder. First in the Dead Detective Series of paranormal mysteries

The Dead Detective Agency (The Dead Detective Mysteries)

Gwendolyn Books

THIS IS A NEW EDITION OF A 2012 RELEASE.When Dead Detective Seamus is asked to investigate the death of wealthy businessman William Dunbar he is more than willing, but there's an additional request. Will he take a detective-in-training along? Reluctantly, Seamus agrees and meets Mildred, who seems charming if a little headstrong. Suspects include Dunbar's family and staff, notably his beloved grandson Bud, who was with him when he fell from a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan. There's chemistry between Bud and Scarlet, a member of the household staff, and Seamus wonders why they work so hard to keep it hidden. Mildred insists on remaining with Dunbar's adopted granddaughter Brodie, a problem child who is devastated by "Gramps" death. Brodie feels that no one on earth cares about her now, and Mildred is determined to convince her otherwise. Disgusted by Mildred's disregard for the rules of non-interference with the Living, Seamus investigates the case without her. Events soon spin out of control. A kidnapping leads to a desperate chase toward the Straits of Mackinac, where several characters find themselves in peril. Will Mildred become a lost soul? Will Brodie find the will to survive? Can Seamus help his host defeat the killer, or does his presence make things worse? Nothing is certain except the possibility that more innocent people could end up Dead for the Money.

Dead for the Money (The Dead Detective Mysteries)

When a long-time friendship dies, does murder follow? Decades past junior high in a small, northern Michigan town, Caroline Batzer is snubbed by her best friend. At first confused, she's later stunned to learn Sarah Leigh betrayed her in a way she'd never have suspected. In an all-too-public setting, Caroline airs her anger at the woman everyone else in town considers saintly. When Sarah disappears soon afterward, it looks like Caroline murdered her. Desperately she tries to figure out who else could have done it—Sarah’s philandering husband? Her useless son? Why did Sarah go to the lake near the sinkholes? How did she vanish in the cold northwoods? Caroline’s nightmare is just beginning, because those responsible for what happened to Sarah come after her, and they won’t stop at just one murder. SOMEBODY DOESN'T LIKE SARAH LEIGH is a cozy Michigan mystery about the disintegration of a friendship between two women with an intriguing murder mystery that involves the historic Bay View community near Petoskey. Excerpt Darkness masked the face of the terrified woman beside me, but her labored breathing matched my own. Stumbling blindly through the dark woods, we ran into tree trunks and tripped over mounds, each of us occasionally gasping from pain at the lash of a branch across the face or stubbing a toe on an unseen rock or root. I sensed her waning spirit and flagging energy. I was not much better off. And why should I care if she fell behind? We had to stop running soon. For one thing, we had pushed ourselves farther than I would have thought possible for two women in the fifth decade of life. In addition, our hippo-like crashing through the woods made so much noise that our flight had to be easy for pursuers to track. And worst of all, we had no idea where we were going. We could end up circling back to the very people we now sought desperately to avoid. Suddenly my path was blocked, and I stopped, breath rasping in my chest. A tree lay before me, broken off halfway up, probably by lightning. Its jagged trunk pointed into the sky, but its branches swept the ground, held in place by a splinter of raw white wood that caught what little moonlight there was. My companion blundered into my back, unaware that I had stopped. Her push sent me forward a step, and I stumbled into the still-springy jumble of branches. As I caught my balance, my foot felt the edge of a depression. I thumbed the flashlight on for the briefest moment, beam angled downward. The ruined treetop hung over a gully, and the thick layers of dying branches hid an empty space beneath. My belabored brain grasped at an idea. The safety we might find there was better than nothing. How had this happened to me, middle-aged Caroline Batzer, the Bilbo Baggins of Aldridge, Michigan? The fact that I was hiding from murderers, desperate men who intended that I breathe my last before this night was over, was because of a woman who had once been such a close friend that I could never have imagined she would turn on me. Because of her, I had suffered confusion and stress, told the biggest lie of my life, was suspect in a mysterious disappearance, and was now a candidate for murder victim. I had a long time to think about the situation as we sat petrified, our legs cramping in that dank almost-grave. What had I done to deserve this? Until two years ago, I had been Sarah Elizabeth Leigh’s best friend.

Somebody Doesn't Like Sarah Leigh

Simon Maldon is a physician's son. Elizabeth Tudor is Henry VIII's daughter. Thrown together by circumstances, the two form an odd friendship. When it's learned that murdered women are being left in public dressed as nuns, no one can say what it means. Is the killer mocking the king, who ordered two of his former wives beheaded? Is it a message concerning England's religious controversy between Protestants and Catholics? Is it a madman whose motives can't be understood? Elizabeth wants to know, but there is no way she can take an active role in the investigation. To his surprise and dismay, she decides Simon must be her agent and help the King's Guard find the culprit.The investigation leads in many directions. Though unsure at first, Simon finds that he likes asking questions and ferreting out information. Elizabeth does what she can to assist without alerting her father to her involvement. While Henry doesn't know exactly what his daughter is up to, the killer soon does. That makes targets of her and Simon, and it will take all the courage they can muster to face the danger and defeat it.

Her Highness' First Murder: Simon & Elizabeth Mystery #1 (The Simon & Elizabeth Mysteries)

Her Highness' First Murder (Simon & Elizabeth Mystery)

Thorndike Press

After one of the king's advisors is poisoned, Elizabeth Tudor fears her brother was the intended target and asks Simon Maldon to investigate, but Simon faces a fight for his life against a clever adversary who will not be caught.

Poison, Your Grace (Thorndike Press Large Print Clean Reads: Simon & Elizabeth Mystery)

United States

In this third book of the Simon &amp; Elizabeth Mysteries, Elizabeth Tudor is accused of treason and imprisoned in the Tower of London. Most, including Elizabeth herself and her old friend Simon Maldon, believe she will never leave the place alive. Loyal to a fault, Simon manages to get in to see his "Highness," once a princess but now demoted to simply Lady Elizabeth. After one visit, Simon meets another old friend, Peto the Pope. Accused of murder, Peto swears he is innocent. Simon can't resist investigating to learn what really happened. At the same time, Simon's wife Hannah takes in a frightened pregnant girl who refuses to identify herself. Hannah is captivated when her guest has a baby girl. Childless herself, Hannah is determined to help this mother and child get a start in life. Distracted by his own concerns, how to help Elizabeth escape and how to prove Peto's innocence, Simon pays little attention to what's happening at home. Neither he nor Hannah realizes they should be listening to each other. When they finally do, it's too late. In trying to help others, they have put themselves in deadly danger.

The Lady Flirts with Death (Simon & Elizabeth Mystery: Thorndike Press Large Print Clean Reads)

As England's young king struggles with illness, one of his advisors is poisoned. Elizabeth Tudor, fearing her brother was the target, asks her old friend Simon Maldon to investigate the crime. With the help of his fiancee, Hannah, Simon, now an apothecary's apprentice, braves the corridors of power to protect the king. In the days after the first murder, a knight, a baron, and a serving girl also die in mysterious circumstances, but it is unclear how their deaths benefit any of the possible suspects. In order to find out, Simon employs various (sometimes embarrassing) disguises, and Hannah uses her position as Elizabeth s newest chambermaid. As the crimes multiply, the danger they face grows. In the end, Elizabeth herself is accused of the murders. To save the princess he admires, Simon faces a fight for his life against a wickedly clever adversary who will not be caught. This fast-paced historical will delight mystery lovers, Tudor admirers, and all who love a whodunit with (to quote one critic) "panache."

Poison, Your Grace (A Simon & Elizabeth Mystery)

Five Star

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