Showing results by narrator "Darlene Allen" in All Categories

It's Halloween, and Maria Dolores is hoping for a trouble-free weekend, the last one before the Lighthouse Farmers' Market closes for the winter. But her hopes are dashed when a state agricultural inspector threatens to shut down the market prematurely...right before a young woman falls to her death from the lighthouse cliff! The local homicide detective thinks it was suicide and won't listen to Maria's extensive list of possible suspects for foul play or the fact that the victim was known for getting into fights that went beyond mere words. Now, it's up to Maria to unearth a secret.

Labor Day weekend starts with a bang in Danger Cove when a dead body is found in the orchard of Maria Dolores' mentor and maybe-boyfriend, Merle! While it's clear the murder took place long ago, the police are still keeping Merle tied up, leaving Maria on her own to run the local farmers' market. She's prepared for the petty squabbles, disorganized vendors, and even a rowdy group of costumed pirates - it comes with the territory. But she isn't prepared for the fresh body found in an isolated corner of the market!

Young detective, Annie Tillery, wins a series of art lessons at a prestigious art gallery, plunging her into the New York City art world and a brutal murder. At the gallery, Annie discovers her instructor, Francesca Gabrielli, engaged in a volatile argument with John DiCristiani, the gallery's director. He demands that Francesca make forgeries of masterpieces for him. When the gallery director is found murdered in cold blood, Francesca becomes the prime suspect and calls upon Annie to help clear her name.

When a quilting event falls to pieces, Beatrice works to patch things up. Dappled Hills quilters are eagerly anticipating new events at the Patchwork Cottage quilt shop. The shop’s owner, Posy, has announced "Sew and Tell" socials and a mystery quilt group project. But one day, instead of emailed quilt instructions, the quilters receive a disturbing message about a fellow quilter. When that quilter mysteriously meets her maker, Beatrice decides to use her sleuthing skills to find the killer before more lives are cut short.

The wreckage of a World War II plane is found in the mountains of Appalachia. It mysteriously crashed in 1943 on its way to a naval base. Inside the plane is a note, written by Annie Tillery's great-grandmother, Charlotte, who was in love with a fighter pilot. Young Charlotte tested the planes and flew them to naval bases; her fiancé flew the planes in battle.

In modern day Chicago, deja vu draws together a handsome mounted policeman and the beautiful young woman who saves his life. This tender love story pulls the reader back to previous lives and a time richly elegant. Yesterday is also a harrowing tale of escape through the American Civil War and the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. A life of tragedy is Amanda's destiny, or so she believes. But, in this historical romance, Mark fights through Amanda's rejection to prove that she will love again as she once loved - Yesterday.

After being thrown in the clink for private investigating without a license, she's fled the state to go where her talents will be more appreciated: South Dakota. She has big plans to set up shop, but an injury halts her journey shortly after crossing The Sunshine State's state line. She and Calvin are forced to hole up in a struggling campground, and when Gertrude finds the body of the campground owner, she is certain the man has been murdered.

Gertrude's never been so busy. There's been a murder at a Wild West theme park, and Gertrude is on the scene. But she can't stay long, because there's been another murder in Mattawooptock. To complicate matters, Deputy Hale has lost his patience with her eccentric sleuthing. Can she avoid his handcuffs long enough to solve a murder? Or two?

Gertrude is still feeling confident after her first gumshoe victory. So when she finds a murder victim at her local thrift store, she is excited to tell the Sheriff's Department everything she's learned at the scene of the crime. Unsurprisingly, they don't listen. So Gertrude must solve the mystery herself. And the only way she can figure to do this is to go undercover—as the Mattawooptock Thrifty-Help's newest team member. Anyone who knows Gertrude knows this probably isn't the best idea. She'll probably get fired. Or arrested.

A young woman is missing, and her boyfriend is desperate to find her. Desperate enough to hire Gertrude, Gumshoe. Thrilled to have her first real client, Gertrude gets right to work. But is she ready for a real case? Can she catch a kidnapper without getting snatched up herself?

There just isn't enough crime in Mattawooptock, so Gertrude has to convince Calvin to go to the big city—Portland, where she will go undercover as the newest slam poet on the scene. But have any actual crimes been committed, or is this just Gertrude's wild imagination at work?

Gertrude thinks she's got a knack for proving that ghosts don't exist, but this time she's taking on a celebrity phantom: Seth Bullock. She and Calvin pack the cats into the camper and head to Deadwood, where she will attempt to prove herself right once again. But shortly after she gets there, a movie star drops dead, and she finds herself with two cases to solve. Maybe the two cases are even connected?

WARNING: Gertrude can be a bit cranky! She shoots from the hip, is unburdened by tact, and likes things done her way. Yet, the people who know her adore her. It's a mystery. Speaking of which, Gertrude never set out to be a sleuth. But when one of her many cats goes missing, she goes out searching and learns that one of her neighbors has also disappeared. And when she starts poking around, Gertrude finds out she's got quite a knack for snooping.

Twenty years ago a teenager drowned in Clearwater Lake. Now her ghost is haunting its shores. Gertrude knows there's no such thing as ghosts, and she's going to prove it—even if it means spending some time in the water herself.

In Books 4 through 6, Gertrude tears all over Maine trying to find crimes to solve. She adds another "assistant" to her team, competes in poetry slams, tries to use a pistol, tracks down an ex-spook, and hunts down a ghost.

You know that eccentric great-aunt no one wants to sit beside at family functions? Or that neighbor who’s just a little too strange to get to know? Or the pushy woman at the thrift store? Maybe you know Gertrude. She’s rude. She’s frightfully frugal. And she’s fearless. Here are the first three Gertrude, Gumshoe novellas, collected for you in one place. She’ll find a body in a house of balls. She’ll tick off the local police. She’ll go undercover at her local thrift store. And she might even manage to get herself kidnapped while yardsaling. All in the name of justice.