Böcker utgivna av Crooked Lane Books

The tenth Key West Food Critic cozy mystery is piping hot with pie-enthusiasts and murder suspects.When a fierce rivalry between key lime pie bakers leads to a pastry chef’s murder, food critic Hayley Snow is fit to be pied . . . During the week between Christmas and New Year's, the year-round population of Key West, Florida, faces a tsunami of tourists and snowbirds. It doesn't help that outrageously wealthy key lime pie aficionado David Sloan has persuaded the city to host his pie-baking contest. Every pie purveyor on the island is out to win the coveted Key Lime Key to the City and Key Zest food critic Hayley Snow is on the scene to report it.Meanwhile, Hayley's home life is turning more tart than sweet. Hayley's new hubby, police detective Nathan Bransford, announces that her intimidating mother-in-law is bearing down on the island for a surprise visit. Hayley offers to escort Nathan's crusty mom on the iconic Conch Train Tour of the island's holiday lights, but it becomes a recipe for disaster when they find a corpse among the glittering palm trees and fantastic flamingos. The victim--Au Citron Vert's controversial new pastry chef--was a frontrunner in Sloan's contest.It's bad enough that Hayley's too-curious mother-in-law is cooking up trouble. Now, the murderer is out to take a slice out of Hayley. Can she handle the heat of a killer's kitchen?

"Dr. Hannah Bryers, anthropology professor and forensics expert at the prestigious Mad River University, takes pleasure in examining corpses, but small talk and living people fill her with dread. When she's not teaching, she analyzes the decomposing flesh of murder victims around the globe. Winter Jones is Hannah's most promising graduate student. She's smart, cunning, and dedicated, but she's got her own agenda for coming to Mad River: to bring Hannah Bryers down"--

Perfect for fans of Lisa Scottoline and Kimberly McCreight, Michelle Cruz's debut novel will have readers furiously turning the pages as they plunge headlong into the seedy underbelly of glitzy and glamorous Dallas in this gripping Texas noir.Reagan Reyes hunts other people’s secrets. A former intelligence officer, she’s currently the in-house investigator for pricey criminal defense attorney, Cade McCarrick…and she’s his lover, despite the law firm’s rules forbidding romantic relationships between partners and staff. But their love—including their agreement never to lie to each other—is the only authenticity they have in a world of subterfuge and betrayal.That agreement is pushed to its limits when a mysterious woman leaves an envelope for Cade and is soon discovered dead. While the envelope’s contents aren’t related to any of Cade’s current cases, Reagan uncovers a connection to a recent murder outside a Deep Ellum nightclub—and an even more ominous link to the dead woman.The police don’t seem to care about either death, but they hit too close to home for Reagan to ignore. As she digs deeper into Dallas’s sordid underbelly, she’s completely on her own except for Cade—and there’s a killer bent on eliminating them both at any cost.This pulse-pounding romantic thriller offers a fresh new take on big-city crime, from a dazzling and exciting new voice in the genre.

"Blackmail in the Big Easy turns to cold-blooded murder in this debut cozy mystery ... When the mysterious letter arrives by courier, Valerie Cooper doesn't know what to make of it. She's become the beneficiary of her late husband's estranged uncle's will--a man she never knew--and inherited a majority partnership in the family's company, New Orleans Fine Antiques. Valerie knows nothing about antiques, but she decides to learn the business and become an active partner. She's also got her hands full fending off Collette, a woman who wants to sell the huge old house in the Irish Channel neighborhood Valerie and her husband painstakingly renovated. Valerie isn't interested in selling--but when her best friend Lauren, drags her to a costume party for the women's Mardi Gras club, the Krewe of Athena, she stumbles over Collette's body, a jeweled dagger sticking out of her chest. In a rush of panic, Valerie recognizes the dagger from her shop--and before she knows it, she's become murder suspect number one. Egged on by Lauren, she starts digging into Collette's business dealings, and the deeper she digs, the dirtier it gets. Now all fingers are pointing at Valerie. In a desperate bid to clear her name, Valerie frantically tries to find who could have gotten hold of the dagger. But among a cadre of guests in full costume, it could be impossible to find the thief--and unmask the real killer"--

"Public defender Julia Geary's star is rising, and now she's got her first murder case defending local denizen Ray Belmar in the death of a homeless man. But Julia's professional and personal challenges are mounting. First, she's assigned an intern whose arrogance is insufferable. Then, her widowed mother-in-law, whose home Julia and her son Calvin share, announces her plans to re-marry, meaning they'll have to find a new place to live. And to top things off, Julia's boss removes her from the case, saying that she's lost perspective, replacing her with an attorney who advises Ray to plead guilty. Julia can't shake the suspicion that the murder, and the subsequent killing of a homeless woman, is linked to the death of a state legislator who had been crusading for political reform. With the help of Duck Creek's homeless community and her old friend, Sheriff's Deputy Wayne Peterson, she launches her investigation--but then the anonymous threats start pouring in. Just as Julia begins to uncover the ways the system is shockingly stacked against those on the fringes of society, she makes an even more damning discovery. Someone close to her is harboring a dark secret they are desperate to protect--even if that means silencing Julia once and for all." --provided by publisher.

Gemma and Jayne donate their time to raise money for the rebuilding of a burned out museum--but a killer wants a piece of the auction.tion.