Old Town Albuquerque potter and merchant, Hubie Schuze agrees to create unique chargers for the table settings in a soon-to-open restaurant. The fee is too enticing to pass up, although the restaurateur is not negotiable on the potting site...the plates must be made at the restaurant in Santa Fe. Grumbling about forfeiting the comforts of his tailor-made shop and home, Hubie arranges for his absence, packs his equipment into his Bronco and heads to Santa Fe... Once onsite, Hubie is immersed in the politics, procedures and polemics of the restaurant business. In an effort to negotiate the egos and agendas, Hubie invites the grillardin for cocktails. The inebriated grill cook insists on snoozing in Hubie’s truck, but the next morning, Hubie finds the garde manger there instead…not breathing and as cold as his menu items. Before Hubie can recover from the shock, things spiral out of control at Schnitzel, forcing the eatery to close its doors after the first night. Unwilling to cede defeat, Hubie rallies the troupe and they reopen with a Mexican-Austrian fusion menu. The reviews are rave and the money rolls in, but soon Hubie is faced with that old prophecy …no good deed goes unpunished.

The Pot Thief Who Studied Escoffier

Literature & Fiction

J. Michael Orenduff

Humor & Satire

Dark Oak Mysteries

Devil's Kitchen…Southwest noir – crime and romance in the Sonoran Desert… where the sacred feminine traditions conflict with the masculine logic of profit and environmental exploitation. When a severed head shows up at a Tucson landfill, Pima County Sheriff’s Detective Manny Aguilar gets the case. He handily tracks down the dead man’s heroin-addicted friends, and Manny thinks he’s identified the killers—until someone starts killing them. Suddenly Manny finds himself in the middle of a hellish conspiracy between a Mexican drug lord and an Arizona land developer. Aguilar’s redheaded, butt-kicking girlfriend, Reina, along with his Yaqui grandmother help solve the mystery, but it’s Johnny Oaks, a Cherokee PI, who rides with Manny to the showdown in Arizona's remote Skeleton Canyon.

Devil's Kitchen

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Clark Lohr

Mystery

When Pulitzer-winning reporter Mitch Malone's editor presses him for a favor, Malone breaks his vow to never return to his hometown. It seemed simple enough--lead a seminar for Flatville, MI's newspaper, keep a low profile and get back to the city post haste. But memories of his parents' death swarm him, and, to avoid solitude, he stops for a beer. In the crowded bar, Mitch is dismayed to see many of his former classmates--including the still-lovely Homecoming Queen, Trudy. Once the object of his teenage crush, Trudy joins Mitch. He quickly realizes she is upset and inebriated. Always the gentleman, Mitch sees her safely home, and returns to his B&B, still trying to shake memories of his parents' sad demise. The next day, he is stunned to learn Trudy was murdered and he is the prime suspect. The locals treat the murder charge as a slam dunk, and Mitch realizes he must track down the real killer to keep his butt out of jail. As he investigates, facts he thought he knew about his family unravel, and danger ratchets up. Can Mitch discover the truth that will allow his parents to rest in peace, or will he be resting with them?

A Case of Hometown Blues

Gager, W. S.

The man who telephoned him implied he wants to do business with amusement ride rep Andy Zartanian, and Andy seriously needs to do some business. When they meet, it is clear within moments that the man doesn€™t know Chance€™s Aviator from the Log Flume. Annoyed at having his time wasted, Andy turns to go. The man hurries to explain he€™s there on behalf of a wealthy Bostonian whose granddaughter was last seen with a carnie on a Virginia midway. His employer, the man says, is offering a handsome compensation package to Andy. All he has to do is track down the young woman and bring her home. Suspicious, but drawn to the financial upside, Andy signs on and starts refreshing his carnie contacts. But as Andy suspected from the get-go, it€™s much more complex than simply extracting young Emily from her newfound companions. As he fights his way through the seamy backside of sparkling midways and festive crowds, Andy is reminded why his grandfather always said carnie life was th

Possum Belly Queen

O'Hanneson, Robert

Prior to its publication, Jambalaya Justice won the 2011 PSWA First Place award for Best Unpublished Fiction in the Novel categoryWhen the body of a hooker is discovered in a crackhouse, New Orleans prosecutor Ryan Murphy refuses to let the case languish into yet another unsolved homicide.  She has a connection to the victim and won't back down until the murder is solved, even if it means insinuating herself into the investigation.  And if she hides her involvement from her detective boyfriend, it's only because he's busy working late nights on a secret case of his own.When Ryan isn't hounding the homicide detective for information or investigating the murder behind his back, she's juggling her Strike Force cases, including a four-victim mob hit, a nasty domestic violence assault, and the armed robbery of a strip club. At first, Ryan's only concern is getting justice for her victims.  By the time the weekend ends, she'll settle for staying alive. Set against the backdrop of pre-Katrina New Orleans, Jambalaya Justice is the second in the Crescent City Mystery Series.About the Author:  Holli Castillo is a Louisiana Appellate Public Defender and former New Orleans prosecutor. She was born and raised in New Orleans, where she still lives with her husband, two children, dog, and deaf cat.

Jambalaya Justice

Castillo, Holli

Literary

Guy and Carol Mallon own a used bookstore on the north coast of California, a land of rocky shores and redwood forests, with a rich history of gold, lumber, Native Americans, and hardy entrepreneurs. They are content with their small-town life until Pete Thayer, their friend and the publisher of the local alternative newspaper, is stabbed to death behind their favorite tavern. Urged on by Pete’s girlfriend, River Webster, Guy begins to poke around, uncovering a past festering with power politics, a newspaper war, a multigenerational family feud, marijuana traffic—and murder. Guy’s investigation takes him from the town square to the harbor to the forests and into the mountains, where he must confront evil in the form of a bully nearly twice his size.

Behind the Redwood Door: a Guy Mallon Mystery

Daniel, John M.

History & Criticism

At the height of Prohibition in 1925 Hollywood, Joe Holder, an ex-con just released from prison, seeks to reclaim a lost love. But there is a hitch – in the years since he has been locked up, she has become a movie star. Amid the glitter and grit of silent filmmaking, Joe soon finds he has two rivals for Rose Allen’s affection – an actor named Yancey Dix and Hollywood itself. Yet, Joe cannot give up this woman who is tattooed in his heart. He must win her back, thus beginning his conversion from a roughneck to “a gent what can star in his own flickers.” Told by Pooch, a pickpocket and Joe’s sidekick, WAIFS takes the reader back to the first golden age of tinseltown. It is a hectic world filled not only with movie folk but also with bootleggers and socialist-labor leaders, sassy flappers and newshounds. In their midst appears a genuine tough guy who reaches for a star – and nearly captures her.

Waifs of the Wasteland

Beauvais, Wayne

Suspenseful, riveting, as brilliant, vivacious women take on the banking industry. Born unwanted because she is a girl instead of a boy, into a banking empire, Eva Pennington, at the age of twenty-three, inherits three banks, after her father commits suicide. While computerizing her banks, Eva realizes that women control ninety percent of the deposits in her banks, yet men make all of the decisions as to what to do with those deposits. She uses this knowledge to form a woman’s bank, securing huge deposits, and power, to become the largest banking institution in Florida. Eva’s motto, “Men, get out of the way. Women will lead, not serve.” An early reader says: “Walter Luce knows how to write about strong women, and Eva Pennington is one of the strongest. This is a story about a young woman taking charge of her life, and no one better get in her way.” --F. M. Meredith, author of the Rocky Bluff PD series and the Tempe Crabtree series 
 WALTER W. LUCE was born in Vermont where he still spends his summers. He has been a successful real estate developer in Florida, Georgia, and California. He lives in the Palm Springs, California area with his wife Bonnie, where he wrote his first novel of six, Eva Pennington. That work was followed by the release in July, 2012 of Vermont Bound the first in his Donatelli series. Eva Pennington-Trouble in Georgia was released in July 2012. (full bio follows text)

Eva Pennington

Luce, Walter

EUREKA! Award Nominee / 2012 Left Coast Crime “I’m not a detective! I just played one on television!” Get ready to swoon over a new kind of amateur sleuth! From 1975-79 teen idol Sandy Fairfax recorded 10 gold albums and starred in the hit TV series Buddy Brave, Boy Sleuth. Now he’s a 38-year-old recovering alcoholic, forgotten and desperate for a comeback. An easy gig—a guest appearance at a Beatles fan convention in Evansville, Ind.—turns deadly after a member of the Mersey Marvels tribute band is shot. When police suspect Sandy, and he fills in for the dead musician at a concert, the schoolboy shamus is back in action to find the killer.

The Baffled Beatlemaniac Caper (Sandy Fairfax Teen Idol Mysteries)

Carpenter, Sally

When JAKE MORTENSEN and his “always ready to party” crew are sent to Mexico to retrieve a stolen 50-foot ketch called SHORE LOSER, his first venture as a repo-yacht captain places his three friends in danger and almost gets him killed in the process.   He doesn’t know it, but concealed on board SHORE LOSER is a package so valuable some San Diego businessmen would resort to murder to recover it and others would be shocked to learn what it contained.  While trying to protect the boat and his crew, Jack discovers the hidden goods, exposes an investment scam that rocks the San Diego yachting community, helps catch the bad guys, and learns the real reason why the Russians were unable to participate in the ’95 America’s Cup.

Shore Loser

Danielson, Douglas

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