Showing results by author "Carolyn Ridder Aspenson" in All Categories

USA Today bestselling author Carolyn Ridder Aspenson delivers a fast-paced mystery series filled with action and intrigue, perfect for fans of Kendra Elliot, Robert Dugoni, and Lisa Regan.

New to town and a little rough around the edges, Detective Rachel Ryder finds herself on the receiving end of a suspicious person’s call in Hamby, Georgia. When the call turns out to be a dead body, the medical examiner is quick to rule the death a suicide. But was it something more sinister? Everyone in the small department believes the case is closed - except for Rachel.

Welcome to Holiday Hills, a magical small town full of quirky and sometimes strange magical beings, talking cats, coffee, and books! Things aren’t always what they seem here in town. Here, our secrets are as dangerous as a cursed love potion! I'm a paranormal cozy mystery author, and what’s happening? Even I couldn’t make this up!

I wear many hats. I'm a friend. A sort-of girlfriend. A ghostwriter, and...oh yeah, a witch. My editor always tells me to “write what you know.” Unfortunately, that’s what’s happening...literally. When the main character in my latest novel - a witch herself - takes a new job with the Magical Bureau of Investigators, she stumbles upon a threat so big, it could destroy everything she holds dear. Fiction, right? Nope. For reasons beyond my witchy sixth sense, everything I write is now happening to me in real life!

Witches don’t always follow the rules, and when they don’t, bad things happen. Like Cassandra Bloom’s death, for starters. Holiday Hills residents, magical and humans, were afraid of Cassandra. She was the bad witch in every fairytale, the one with the ugly wart and long, stringy gray hair. But she didn’t just look scary. She was scary. Sure, everyone in town might feel secretly relieved Cassandra’s no longer with us, but they’re missing the bigger picture. Cassandra didn’t die of old age. She was murdered.

My name is Abby Odell, and I’m leading a double life. Don’t get me wrong. I love it! But being a witch in a predominantly human world is challenging sometimes. My hometown, Holiday Hills, isn’t your typical small town. It’s a magical town, but not to the humans. At least not until recently. Something’s happening, and it’s not good. Magic is no longer hidden, and people are starting to witness events that don’t seem humanly possible.

I have a perfect life. I recently rented the most adorable little apartment on top of my favorite bookstore coffee shop on Main Street in Holiday Hills, the charmingest of charming small southern towns. I spend my days ghostwriting a cozy mystery series for a well-known author, and maybe just a minute or two crushing on the town’s police chief. But of course, I’d never let that cat out of the bag.

My name is Abby Odell, and I’m a witch. Some call me a newbie because I didn’t know I was one until my mother died and her spell that bound my powers died along with her.

When the fire department discovers a body near the scene of a suspicious blaze, Detective Rachel Ryder and her partner Rob Bishop are called to investigate. A set of numbers has been deliberately left near the body, and an autopsy reveals that the victim was killed before the fire. This death was no accident. When the investigation turns up few clues and no previous references to the killer’s calling card, Rachel and Rob turn to the media for help, eliciting contact from an unexpected source. It seems a killer from the past is back in the game...and the body count is growing.

A killer's revenge plot unfolds in the shadows of Atlanta's landmarks, leaving a trail of bodies and cryptic clues—each one more personal than the last. A chef floating in Lake Lanier. A man pushed from Stone Mountain. Two deaths connected by a single thread: Jack Parks. Private investigator Jenna Wyatt ignored the first unsettling message. Now bodies are dropping. And both victims are tied to her partner—a former NCIS agent with secrets he won't share.

Talking to ghosts can be killer. Castleberry, Georgia is a small Southern town with a ton of history, and that history includes a lot of ghosts. How do I know? Because I can see them. And trust me, that’s not always a good thing. Take the Baptist church on the outskirts of town. I’m in the process of certifying it as a historical building. And not only is it full of ghosts, but...surprise!...there’s a body in the basement. And I’m the one who found it.

A wealthy shut-in is found murdered in his mansion. Five other people were in the lavish home at the time of the crime—one of whom had motive enough to kill. And Detective Rachel Ryder is determined to discover who. But the more she and partner Rob Bishop learn about the wealthy and unsociable victim, the harder it becomes to narrow down the suspect list. Frustrated, the investigators refuse to allow anyone to leave, until the culprit is unmasked.

Welcome to Holiday Hills, a quaint, small town filled with quirky residents and magical mayhem. And for me? Just toss a pinch of a love triangle as twisted as a unicorn's horn! I'm a witch and a paranormal cozy mystery writer with a serious case of heartache. You see, my ex-boyfriend, Gabe, has been kidnapped by a mountain man who's out for blood. And things are about to get even more complicated! Both my life, and my feelings.

I try hard to help the restless dead find closure. And usually, I succeed. But this time my detective boyfriend is throwing a wrench into my efforts. I might be able to take the word of a dead guy, but the police sure can't. And as always, things don’t turn out as planned. Now I’m stuck in the middle of a double murder - one from the past - and one from now.

A drug overdose case hits close to home when a body is linked to the family of Rachel's friend. But the seemingly simple investigation leads her down a rabbit hole from her past - a past she fears has finally come back to haunt her. As bodies begin to accumulate, Detective Ryder knows in her gut that vengeance is upon her. Yet time and again, the evidence just doesn't add up. Increasingly isolated, Rachel begins to question her own sanity. Is she succumbing to fear? Or has Rachel's past finally caught up with her?

When the town’s biggest high school bully of all time decides to come back and haunt Castleberry High, it’s my job to stop him. The problem is, this job is bringing up a whole lot of personal baggage and bad memories...because that bully bullied me. The good news is, the town detective knows my secret and wants to protect me. The bad news is, the town detective knows my secret and wants to protect me. My goal is to send this ghost back to where he came from. But he’s pushing hard for me to solve his murder.

When Bramblett County Realtor Lily Sprayberry puts her deceased client’s townhome, the last in a sought-after mixed-use development community, on the market, she winds up in the throes of a bidding war. Knowing a portion of the money will go to a scholarship in her client’s name, Lily schedules a realtor-only open house to raise the bids even higher. But on the day of the event, she discovers the home’s been vandalized, and every potential offer is taken off the table. Someone is out to stop the sale, and ruin Lily in the process.

Bessie Frone, the beloved owner of the Enchanted Bookstore and Café, is in BIG trouble. Her family wand, made of pure gold and passed down for generations, has been stolen. Of course, Bessie is heartbroken, and now she’s ready to sell the shop and the building unless the wand is found. I can’t let her sell the Enchanted. It’s the heart of Holiday Hills, the place where gossip is always the daily special, and Bessie’s coffee is to die for! Well, not literally, thank Goddess!

Thirty-five years ago, Genevieve Ryland stepped off the stage of her high school graduation and disappeared without a trace. For years her mother searched for her, hitting dead end after dead end. Now that she’s on her deathbed, her other daughter has asked me to find out what happened to her sister. Before her mother passes. It’s like opening a time capsule buried in 1985 when neon shirts, scrunchies, and big hair were all the rage.

Widow Missy Kingston takes on the job of a lifetime, and it’s not the one at her town’s animal shelter. It’s Halloween season, and the local animal shelter’s pooch adoption manager, Missy Kingston, is excited to show off the available dogs at her town’s Halloween festival! But when she discovers the festival’s organizer dead in a pile of pumpkins, Missy’s convinced there’s more to the story than meets the eye. When Missy sets out to investigate the murder on her own, what she discovers could solve the case, but only if the killer doesn’t get to her first.