Remember Me by Mary Higgins Clark
Copyright 1994

ISBN 0-671-86709-3

Murder Gets A Life  by Anne George
A Southern Sisters Mystery
Copyright 1999 ISBN 0-380-79366-0
Murder Gets A Life (A Southern Sisters Mystery)

Patricia Anne can’t imagine why Mary Alice is in such an uproar over her son Ray’s new bride. Sunshine Dabbs is Ucute as can be,” even if she is a bit unconventional, which should hardly come as a shock to Mary Alicc given that she’s the one who raised her boy. But with all her motherly instincts, Mary Alice is sure that this sweet little blonde Barbie doll–who met her son in Bora Bora after she won the trip on Wheel of Fortune–thinks she’s found herself a fortune in Ray’s hefty wallet.

The sisters can’t wait to get a look at Sunshine’s family, and quite a look it turns out to be. As soon as Meemaw Turkett invites Mary Alice and Patricia Anne into her cozy trailer on the family compound they stumble over a corpse, and Meemaw’s best hog butchering knife is stuck in its chest. Meemaw, a Cabbage Patch look-alike and Sunshine’s grandmother, guardian, and the family matriarch is shocked to pieces and immediately summons the family to her trailer. Pawpaw, a lovable bearded grump has his own trailer, and their grown kids each enjoy a private home-away-from-home on the five-trailer compound.

The discovery of the mysterious body brings in Mary Alice’s nemesis, good ol’ boy Sheriff Reuse, who, she knows from her experience at the Skoot ‘n’ Boot, is nothing but trouble. Within minutes, the compound is strewn with a weird collection of friends, neighbors and relatives. There’s Meemaw’s spooky channeler, ready to give guidance as needed; Sunshine’s jilted boyfriend skulking around; a bunch of dogs ready to attack…and Kerrigan, Sunshine’s mostly absentee mama, who stars in the kind of video flicks that might even shock Mary Alice.

Patricia Anne can’t imagine why Mary Alice is in such an uproar over her son Ray’s new bride. Sunshine Dabbs is Ucute as can be,” even if she is a bit unconventional, which should hardly come as a shock to Mary Alicc given that she’s the one who raised her boy. But with all her motherly instincts, Mary Alice is sure that this sweet little blonde Barbie doll–who met her son in Bora Bora after she won the trip on Wheel of Fortune–thinks she’s found herself a fortune in Ray’s hefty wallet.

The sisters can’t wait to get a look at Sunshine’s family, and quite a look it turns out to be. As soon as Meemaw Turkett invites Mary Alice and Patricia Anne into her cozy trailer on the family compound they stumble over a corpse, and Meemaw’s best hog butchering knife is stuck in its chest. Meemaw, a Cabbage Patch look-alike and Sunshine’s grandmother, guardian, and the family matriarch is shocked to pieces and immediately summons the family to her trailer. Pawpaw, a lovable bearded grump has his own trailer, and their grown kids each enjoy a private home-away-from-home on the five-trailer compound.

The discovery of the mysterious body brings in Mary Alice’s nemesis, good ol’ boy Sheriff Reuse, who, she knows from her experience at the Skoot ‘n’ Boot, is nothing but trouble. Within minutes, the compound is strewn with a weird collection of friends, neighbors and relatives. There’s Meemaw’s spooky channeler, ready to give guidance as needed; Sunshine’s jilted boyfriend skulking around; a bunch of dogs ready to attack…and Kerrigan, Sunshine’s mostly absentee mama, who stars in the kind of video flicks that might even shock Mary Alice.

Restless Hearts (The Flanagans, Book 6) (Love Inspired #388)by Marta Perry
ISBN 10- 0-373-15087-3
A search for her roots brought midwife Fiona Flanagan to Pennsylvania Dutch country—and made her wonder whether she should turn back. The area’s mixture of Amish and English culture confused her, and her first encounter with local police chief Ted Rittenhouse didn’t help. he’d thought she was breaking into her own office!

Despite the misunderstanding, Fiona could see that Ted’s tough-as-nails exterior hid a kind soul—one caught between two worlds, seeking a place to belong. She felt the same, but trusting him with her heart would require the biggest step of faith she had ever taken.

Sense of Evil by Kay Hooper
ISBN 0-553-58347-6 Copyright 2003
Sense of Evil

Kay Hooper is the brightest new star of suspense fiction. Now the New York Times bestselling author who’s built a reputation for keeping her readers’ pulse in the red zone delivers a thriller that will stun the senses—all six of them. This time a psychic special agent and a gritty cop must stop a brutal killer with a chilling M.O. and an unstoppable…Sense of Evil.

The victims are always the same: beautiful, successful, and blond. Someone was able to coax these intelligent and confident women away from safety. Someone was able to gain their trust long enough to do the unthinkable. Their shocking murders have terrified the inhabitants of a small, peaceful town where such heinous crimes are simply not supposed to happen. Police Chief Rafe Sullivan knows he has to find answers fast before another woman is lured to her death–but Sullivan literally doesn’t have a clue. And when the FBI sends one of their top profilers to help, he’s more than a little surprised that his new partner is nothing like the straight-by-the-book “suit” he expects.Special Agent Isabel Adams is tough, fearless, determined, and every bit Sullivan’s equal. She’s also psychic. And blond.Skeptical of his new partner’s ability to get inside the mind of a killer, Sullivan can’t deny that Isabel has tuned in to the killer’s wavelength, is following the twisted thoughts of a murderer obsessed with stalking, seduction, and death. But in getting so close, Isabel has set herself up as the next victim. Now, with time running out, she and Rafe will find themselves forced to take the greatest risk of all, because this psychopath is playing for keeps and Isabel is the perfect trophy. Unable to turn back, Isabel may have already gone too far. Smart, savvy, and confident, she may find that the very qualities that have kept her alive could turn out to be her undoing. For Isabel has entered the world of a cold-blooded monster who kills without mercy and eludes every sense but one…the sense of evil.

Stonebrook Cottage by Carla Neggers
ISBN  0-7783-2256-4 Copyright 2002
Stonebrook Cottage

Kara Galway thought moving home to Texas after years in New England would put her life back in perspective. An up-and-coming defense attorney, she intends to concentrate on her career and on spending time with her Texas Ranger brother, Jack, and his wife, Susanna. But fate has something else in store. First, Kara’s good friend and mentor, Connecticut governor Mike Parisi, dies under suspicious circumstances. Then the children of the new governor, Kara’s best friend, Allyson Stockwell, show up unannounced at Kara’s home in Austin. It’s clear the children are scared out of their wits–and hiding something. Something connected to their mother’s new role as governor and to Mike’s death. And then there’s Sam Temple, the Texas Ranger she can’t believe she’s fallen head over heels in love with. Now Kara has to return to Allyson’s home, Stonebrook Cottage, with the children to unravel what exactly is going on. Are the children really in danger? What secrets is Allyson hiding? And what is she going to do about Sam Temple, who has followed her to Connecticut and has no intention of leaving without her?

Damsels in Distress by Joan Hess
Copyright 2007 ISBN13-978-0-312-31501-6

A Renaissance Fair is coming to the relatively quiet college town of Farberville Arkansas, which is not the sort of news that usually sets local bookseller Claire Malloy’s heart racing.  But with Caron, Claire’s perpetually petulant teenage daughter, being pulled into volunteering (or face the horror of doing homework over the summer) and her fiancé, Police Lieutenant Peter Rosen, away, Claire finds herself drawn into the strange inner workings of the group putting on the fair.
But just as Claire has decided that her time might be better spent fretting over the details of her upcoming nuptials, one of the volunteers helping with the Ren Fair falls victim to arson, her body found burned in the wreckage of her rented home. Even stranger, none of the members of the local chapter of The Association for Renaissance Scholarship and Enlightenment (ARSE) – the group putting on Farberville’s first RenFair – had ever met the woman in the flesh and can’t provide any information about who she is and where she came from.  However, someone is definitely dead and the fire looks very suspicious – but is it murder?  When the fair opens, tensions expose the dark secrets and malevolent schemes that lurk beneath the superficial congeniality of the ARSE members.  The lords are leaping, the ladies are lying, and the knights are fighting–while someone is committing murder most heinous.  And with Claire’s dreams of a blissful wedding hanging in the balance, she has no choice left but to fling herself into the battle and match wits with the killer…

Busy Bodies by Joan Hess – A Claire Malloy Mystery
Copyright 1995
ISBN 0-525-93910-5

Leave it to Claire Malloy, owner of the Book Depot in Farberville, to start out having tea with retired schoolteacher Miss Emily Parchester and end up investigating a murder. An avant-garde artist who moved into a house on Willow Street has the whole neighborhood up in arms. His “interactive art”, complete with a nearly nude model and a coffin in the front yard, is attracting a mob of noisy gawkers.

Irate residents are worried about declining property values. The local mystery writer cannot meet her deadlines with the constant clatter. And when the artist’s estranged wife rolls up in a limo and announces to one and all that she intends  to have him committed to a mental institution, all of Farberville is in a dither.

But before the night is out, even stranger things happen: the volatile artist’s house goes up in smoke, a dead body is found inside the coffin, the artist is promptly arrested for murder… and Clarie Malloy, devoted amateur sleuth that she is, starts snooping where she doesn’t belong.

While local residents, including handsome police detective Peter Rosen, are ready to believe the crazy artist is capable of anything. Claire and Miss Parchester are convinced that, thought he had the motive and the opportunity, he lacks the necessary evil to have done the deed. Claire fully intends to exercise her right of creative expression by being the busybody who find the real killer.

Deep Dish by Mary Kay Andrews Copyright 2008

ISBN 978-0-06-083736-5

After years of hard work, Gina Foxton, chef extraordinaire and former runner-up Miss Teen Vidalia Onion, is hosting her own show, Fresh Start, on Georgia public television. She’s also dating the producer. But when Fresh Start goes bad—and her boyfriend is caught in flagrante delicto with the boss’s wife—Gina decides it’s time to pursue bigger dreams. Namely a gig on national television.

Gina knows she’s destined to be the Cooking Channel’s next superstar. But the execs also have their eyes on Tate Moody, Mr. “Kill It and Grill It” himself, host of the hunting, fishing, and cooking show Vittles. The ultimate man’s man, Tate is a tasty side of beef with a large, swooning female fan base. Gina’s loyal devotees consist of her free-spirited college-dropout sister and her mother . . . who calls every single day.

Mrs. Malory: Death of a Dean by Hazel Holt
0-525-94150-9
copyright 1996