Böcker utgivna av Level Best Books

Detective Joe Erickson is called to investigate a burned-out pickup truck containing the charred bodies of two individuals. The truck's license plate helps identify the victims as a young man and his cousin, who were living in a house owned by the man's father. But when a suspicious area in the backyard is excavated, and skeletal remains are found, the case grows increasingly complicated. Who would burn the two victims beyond recognition? And could the skeletal remains have anything to do with it?

Tammy Wright, a bestselling mystery author, returns to her hometown to give her Aunt Clara a hand with running her ceramic shop during tourist season. She discovers that two vindictive realtors have been bullying her aunt and others into selling their properties to make room for new housing developments. Those who don't comply pay the consequences. Tammy stumbles upon a body, and when her aunt refuses to give in to either realtor, she disappears without a trace. With the help of an old schoolmate turned policeman, Tammy must step out from behind her computer screen and her fictional mysteries to confront real-life crime. If she doesn't, she may never see her aunt again.

Twenty-five-year-old Victoria Justice has never really gotten over a near drowning at the hands of her high school bully but has attempted to build her confidence and career as a court stenographer under the mentorship of The Honorable Frederica Scott Wannamaker, the county's first African American Superior Court judge. But when Victoria's childhood nemesis appears on the court docket, our heroine's carefully crafted world implodes―evidence goes missing, a potential mistrial abounds, and the judge winds up drowned in the courthouse bathroom. Victoria quickly realizes her trial transcript unlocks everyone's secrets...including the murderer's. But can she suppress her fears long enough to crack the code, reclaim her voice, and avoid the crosshairs of the killer?

Two women's lives intersect. One goes missing and needs to be found while the other must remain lost. Both their lives depend on it. Following a horrific event twelve years ago, Cheryl MacGregor disappeared from the city where she grew up and moved to a remote northern town, assuming a new identity with her husband, Jim. She thought she was safe from the danger that led her to flee-until her parents' deaths last year. When Jim's receptionist, Julia, mysteriously vanishes from her home Cheryl teams up with Detective Scott Evans for two reasons: to find Julia and to write the exclusive report that will forward Cheryl's career as a journalist. While investigating the possibility that Julia's disappearance may be linked to strange happenings at an abandoned mine, Cheryl uncovers a connection to her own former life, reminding her that the threat to her family is still out there. As wildfires threaten the town, Cheryl and Detective Evans race against the encroaching smoke to find Julia before it's too late. When the investigation hits too close to home, Cheryl must face the reality that she may never be lost enough to escape her past.

For a decade, the Magic Box game store in Marysburg, Indiana, has hosted a twenty-four-hour gaming marathon as a fund-raiser for a local charity. Shockwaves go through the town when the newest marathon champion is strangled less than an hour after the event's conclusion. In the parking lot right behind the game store. Marysburg resident and record store owner Darcy Gaughan isn't convinced the police are correct then they label the murder a robbery gone wrong. When the Magic Box's owner asks her to look into the case, she finds not everybody believes in fair play, especially when gamer reputations are at stake.

The quaint town of Brookville was just what Trixie Tanner needed for a fresh start. The condominium brochure promised, "Your vacation destination for everyday living," and so far, it was true. She loved her new condo, the charming town, and her new life. But during Trixie's early morning run, all that changed. A piercing scream shattered the morning tranquility and the illusion. When the body of a young woman is discovered murdered on the condominium trail, Brookville's idyllic façade starts to crumble. Despite warnings from law enforcement and the formidable medical examiner, Trixie and her new friends Martha, a quirky CSI-wannabe, and Kathleen, a prim and proper retired schoolteacher, the Lady Dragons of Brookville join forces to find the killer and become the voice for the dead.¿ ¿

Liza Johnson, at loose ends on summer break from teaching fifth grade, is drawn into intrigue when her 84-year-old neighbor, Mrs. Wilkens, insists that Ramona, Liza's former GED student, has been murdered. Everyone assumes Ramona, a recovering addict, died of an accidental or intentional overdose, but Mrs. Wilkens is out to prove them wrong. Liza is urged to act when the voice in her head of her twin sister Charlee, who died at age four, tells her, Help Mrs. Wilkens. Spurred by the irrepressible Mrs. Wilkens and Charlee, Liza finds herself embroiled in an investigation involving a failing church, a very ill pastor's wife, and a secret within the walls of the parish house. Adding to the intrigue, she becomes the begrudging caretaker of Goldie, Ramona's cat-the only witness to her death.

Parker City, 1985 . . . A picturesque spring morning takes a disturbing turn when the frozen body of a young woman is discovered in a field on the outskirts of the city. As Detectives Ben Winters and Tommy Mason arrive on the scene, they have no idea upon what type of an investigation they are about to embark. With no identification, no breadcrumbs to lead them to the girl's origins, or even a cause of death, they face a daunting task ahead as they take on their latest case. As the investigation lingers in limbo, a surprise revelation connects it to a mysterious chapter from Parker City's past. One that Tommy's own uncle was a part of four decades early as a debonair private investigator working for the venerable Stride Detective Agency, tenaciously searching for the missing daughter of a former diplomat. It's a connection that binds two generations of detectives in an intricate web of intrigue. In this captivating new installment of Parker City Mysteries, both investigations unravel simultaneously, forging an unbreakable link between the past and the present. As Ben and Tommy navigate their way through the case, they must confront the truth to a secret that has remained concealed for far too long.

Mysteries of Golfton Hills is a set of sixteen gripping psychological suspense, crime, and thriller short stories set in the fictional town of Golfton Hills, Florida, situated in the Panhandle. An assortment of crimes and victims with storylines including infidelity, seduction, betrayal, revenge, kidnapping, sex trafficking, arson, tax fraud, robbery, murder, serial homicides, undercover operations, and more heart-pounding twists and turns with unpredictable or surprising conclusions that will keep you glued from start to finish.

A social media collab turns deadly for influencer Coco Cline. ¿ Cordelia "Coco" Cline is over the moon when she learns mega-influencer LaTàge wants Center of Attention Consulting to handle her rebranding campaign. But things come crashing down when Coco arrives for a brainstorming meeting only to find LaTàge dead on the floor of her rented mansion. While the Central Shores police don't suspect Coco of the disturbing crime, the Internet has other ideas. Coco is horrified to see the hashtag #CocoClineistheProblem trending everywhere on socials, with anonymous accounts accusing her of having a hand in LaTàge's tragic death. ¿ Armed with her phone and her fabulous friends (dubbed the Sleuth Squad), Coco dives into LaTàge's glamorous, over-the-top world of influencer-turned-celebrity. Who in Central Shores would want the LA native dead? What skeletons had LaTàge been hiding? ¿ Join crime-solving influencer Coco Cline for her most outrageous case yet as she and her friends uncover long-buried scandals trending just below the surface.

Josie Posey and her posse of Mahjong Mavens are at it again in this cozy mystery where the retired big-city crime reporter turned small-town crime solver uncovers another murder in her picturesque English Village. When a clockmaker's daughter returns home for a visit, reporter Josie is assigned the task of interviewing the talented watch designer. That very afternoon, the young woman falls from a ladder while inventorying antique clocks. At first, Josie is certain the fall was an accident. Everyone loved Ella McGregor Benjamin. But Ella's deathbed statement is a mysterious riddle that can't be ignored. With her Old English Sheepdog Moe by her side and an ever-growing list of suspects, Josie scrambles to identify the killer before anyone else gets hurt. The local police chief wants Josie to help solve the puzzle but stay out of his murder case. The editor of The Village Gazette wants an in-depth story for the next edition. And somebody wants Josie to stop asking questions. Deadlines loom. In this fast-paced rollercoaster ride of a mystery, the clock is ticking as Josie vows to find the killer before time runs out.

Einstein Flint is an ex-rodeo rider, born in Brooklyn and raised in every other borough in the city.¿ Now, he's banged-up, burnt out and back in NYC, bouncing at Boom Boom's. Dasha Bragin was smart, fearless and...remorseless as desert sun. But now she's dead and the cops are pretty sure Flint is their guy. ¿Flint and Dasha had been a couple before the cops found her body, damaged in ways that don't allow the next breath. When word on the street gets out that Flint had brought somebody into town to kill her, the police are even more certain they have their man.¿ Flint learns the street chatter is coming from people that Flint thought were his friends-he's not sure who he can trust or why he's being setup. Flint finds the first loose thread when Dasha's roommate, Mya, shows up at his door looking for help.¿ Dasha and Mya, had taken off a private, high stakes game for almost a million dollars and then left a trail of bread crumbs.¿ But they had picked the wrong game-these boys would kill you for insulting their sister.¿¿ Take their money? They would pull you apart, one thin layer at a time...until the only thing between you and dead was that wishes don't come true.¿ Einstein has to find a path to the real killers and take them down without becoming part of the body count. Boom Boom's Last Call is influenced by characters like James Sallis' Lew Griffin, Robert Crais's Elvis Cole and a young Dave Robicheaux-men who know that words like honor and duty have become a punch line...but they just don't get the joke.

New York City private eye Nic Knuckles gets the call all private investigators live for: a mysterious client with money to burn who needs answers and needs them now. The job is simple. Fly to Kleinstadt, Indiana, and determine whether fifteen years ago, teenage murder victim Mindy Bauerman got justice, or if her classmate, Timmy Hanlon, had been wrongly convicted and wasting away in prison. Nic's analytic skills lack the rigor of a Sherlock Holmes, as memories of past romantic failures derail his thinking. But they all pale in comparison to the long-running emotional issues Nic has with his mother. He may not have a silky-smooth interrogation style, and more than one Nature documentary has informed his decision-making, but Nic's saving grace is a relentless drive to solve criminal mysteries and a soft spot for forgotten victims and their loved ones. As Nic himself would say, "I'm a big city private eye with a boatload of heartbreak, traversing the universe in pursuit of justice for the little guy."

When Phoenix probation officer Casey Carson goes to work, she expects naked people to answer doors, meth-addicted clients to hit on her, and angry judges to chew her out in court. After a routine home visit with a client, a Diablo gang member, goes horribly wrong, she knows she must watch her back. Even she must admit that a one-eyed, bad-ass, angry gangster and his crew gunning for her is a bit more than she was trained to handle. Casey has even more reason to fear Diablo when her cousin Hope goes missing, and it looks like their handiwork. With women vanishing at an alarming rate in the area, police treat Hope's disappearance as a priority. Still, Casey can't sit on the sidelines, even with her ex-husband leading the investigation. After she receives information that proves her suspicions about Diablo right, the gang will do anything to keep her from sharing it with police, even if that means taking her on a one-way trip to the desert.

It all begins at 6:10 a.m. on a Friday morning when Glen Brebeuf calls demanding answers. He had reported his former lover, Elizabeth MacDonald, missing the previous day and Detective Mike O'Shea finds himself cleaning up the mess some rookie had made of the initial call. Within hours, Mike takes over the investigation and is on the doorstep of the missing elderly woman's home, determining that Elizabeth MacDonald-Sibby Mac to her friends-is not missing. Sibby Mac has been murdered. In Man At The Door, the third in Desmond P. Ryan's Mike O'Shea Crime Fiction Series, Detective Mike O'Shea solves a homicide, juggles an increasingly complex personal life, and continues to hunt for the cop-killer who has remained at large for the past thirteen years. Whether as a stand-alone or as your next step in the Mike O'Shea Crime Fiction Series, Man At The Door will keep you reading far too late into the night following Detective Mike O'Shea through the twists and turns of a homicide investigation.

A cross between Agatha Christie's Miss Marple and a Cheers bartender, Sally Witherspoon, a fifty-something accountant turned biker-bar owner, loves solving puzzles. Up to now, she has focused on helping neighbors and friends find lost jewelry, lost pets, and lost loves. But when she finds her best friend and business partner, Bill Arnold, dead in a dumpster behind her bar on a Saturday night, she needs all her wits and grit to find out who did it. And she won't stop until she does.

Lauren and Kane each harbor a dark secret. One of them believes their secret is safely buried, but the other is very much aware their skeletons share the same closet. After Lauren experiences a traumatic assault, she returns to her small hometown of Lamington, Massachusetts. Finding a job in a local bookstore, she meets the charming Kane, a security consultant, and an immediate attraction sparks between the two. As their relationship develops, she puts her past behind her and looks forward to the future. When Lauren finds a box of Kane's hidden in the attic, long-buried memories are triggered. Faced with a discovery that makes her life a living nightmare and promises to destroy her hope of happiness, she takes matters into her own hands.

When Maddie McGuire finds herself tumbling over a cliff while hiking The Cotswold Way, she uncovers much more than ancient woods. Terrified by her shocking discovery, she returns to the safety of her international internship at the Roman Baths only to find competition in the form of the tittering, aristocratic Gwendolyn De Valence, who has captured the attention of everyone Maddie hopes to impress. Turning to her boyfriend Constable Edward Bailey, only reveals dark secrets about his past, leading her down a dangerous path which, this time, she may be unable to escape.

There are no lattes in jail. Décor diva, Sari-not-sorry Samson, a doting shih-tzu mom, loves her eclectic clients, coffee, and her bffs, though not necessarily in that order. Her meticulously organized life is turned upside down when the authority-shy interior decorator witnesses a suspect fleeing a murder scene. When Sari works up the nerve to report what she saw, a hard-nosed detective turns the tables and eyes her as a suspect. Mad as heck, and determined to prove her innocence, Sari steps way out of her comfort zone and dives into investigating the murder. Strange and sinister events shatter her peaceful existence, and against the advice of a madcap supporting cast-her granola-eating parents, her gbf, and her bff-Sari's tenacity gets the best of her. The suspects are many and the clues are piling up, but even Sari is shocked when she discovers the killer's identity. Get ready for snarky banter, fun flirtation, and an ensemble of quirky characters in this lighthearted Cozy Mystery.

Librarian Greta Plank is hard at work planning and preparing for Larkspur's Fall Festival and regional tourism showcase which, if successful, will be a boon to the local economy. But disaster strikes and chances of a positive review look slimmer than a periodical's spine when a series of pranks escalates and one of Larkspur's own is found dead the same day the reporter is set to arrive. Desperate to defend her town's character and get to the bottom of the circulating mayhem, Greta begins indexing suspects. Could the crimes be an outside job, undertaken by someone intent on harming the town's reputation? Or is someone closer to home trying to ruin Larkspur from the inside? With destruction of property, sabotage, and strange animal mishaps piling up on top of murder, Greta wouldn't recommend this 'choose your own (disastrous) adventure' to anyone. In the end, she must decide who she can trust so she can close the book on these crimes before the shadowy vandal authors another kill.

Penelope Sutherland and her Red Carpet Catering Crew have landed in sunny California for their latest gig, a blockbuster action movie starring Sebastian Beauregard, the hottest new actor out of Australia. Movie industry buzz and the studio boss, Calvin Pope, a seasoned producer who's seen it all, say he's about to be the next big breakout star. When a stunt gone wrong endangers the lives of everyone on the set, Penelope wonders if it was really an accident or if someone was trying to snuff out that bright star. When Calvin's wife goes missing in the middle of the night after a violent altercation with Calvin, Penelope sets out to uncover a killer, who might be hiding in plain sight.

Penelope's life revolves around cooking and keeping her Red Carpet Catering business afloat, and she's just landed a hearty new job for her and her staff. Just when Penelope thinks life couldn't be sweeter, a panicked late-night phone call from Max, her best friend's brother, ends abruptly with shots fired on his end. The next morning, a handsome model and club promoter turns up dead, and when the police serve up Max as their main suspect, Penelope risks it all to prove his innocence (and find him before the police do). With her relationship as sturdy as a soup sandwich and her own life being threatened, it's up to Penelope to find the truth before anyone else is eighty-sixed.

Filming a movie on a sunny Florida beach may seem like working in paradise, but dealing with the brutal heat, a difficult director, and a leading lady with a serious aversion to seafood makes for a challenging task for Penelope Sutherland and her Red Carpet Catering crew. After two girls go missing during a raucous beach party thrown by the movie's director, the cast and crew fall out of favor with the Andrea Island locals. When an eccentric celebrity chef is accused of the crime, Penelope steps in to help her former culinary school instructor find the truth. Surrounded by suspicious locals with a history all their own, she uncovers clues from the past, revealing an undercurrent of evil amid the powdered-sugar sand of their beach.

After surviving a brazen attack at one of her favorite local cafes, Penelope Sutherland is ready to escape the big city and head to her next film set. She and her Red Carpet Catering crew set up their kitchen on location in the tranquil mountains of Vermont, but peace and quiet aren't on the menu. Things heat up when a series of accidents befall the celebrity tennis pro consulting on the film. Mixing in an uptight director, an isolated location, and a quirky bunch of locals with secrets of their own creates a recipe for disaster. After Penelope suspects a connection between the cafe attack and the incidents on set, she must uncover the truth before her goose gets cooked.

Small Town. Big Secrets. Penelope and her Red Carpet Catering crew find themselves transported to a different world when they get to their newest movie set in rural Indiana. Surrounded by prickly locals, a nervous director out to prove herself, and a vast forest with secrets all its own, Penelope feels more homesick for the big city than ever before. When she finds their host, owner of Indiana's newest culinary hotspot, dead of an apparent suicide, Penelope works to uncover the darker truths boiling beneath the surface of his seemingly perfect life. Asked to help keep the late chef's restaurant afloat, Penelope is fried trying to juggle two kitchens and a ravenous cast and crew. When the chef's suicide turns out to be murder, and the restaurant is vandalized in the middle of the night, Penelope must find out who is behind it all before she's the next one on the chopping block.

When Hollywood comes to small-town Connecticut, it should be the stuff of dreams-but when a fading movie star ends up dead, a whole different kind of stuff hits the fan. Unity Historical Society head and antique household items-stuff!-expert Christian Shaw is on set when actor Brett Studebaker falls from the pulpit during a streaming service shoot in an old church. She, the "dads she should have had," Garrett and Ed, her son Henry, who has a photographic memory and Type-1 Diabetes, and her colorful friends end up helping Assistant State's Attorney Joe Poli track the killer. Along for the ride: her giant tuxedo cat, Cookie, Ed and Garrett's big red mutt, Norm, and Joe's tiny dog, Cannoli. Woodworking, embroidery, old poisons, and vintage weapons all figure in the case, which comes together in a wild scene at the Historical Society on Fourth-Grade Field Trip Day.

One brilliant spring morning, a woman named Carolyn Macgregor comes to Mike Ramsey's apartment with an astonishing announcement: she thinks she is his half-sister. Mike is skeptical at first, but eventually he comes to believe Carolyn's story-that his mother gave birth to her first child when she was only sixteen, and gave up her baby for adoption. When Carolyn begins searching for information about the father she never knew, she attracts the attention of some very dangerous people. She is beaten up and told to stop asking questions, and then she disappears. Mike feels obliged to find her. He soon realizes that his search for Carolyn is really a search for her father, a man who seems desperate to keep his identity secret. To save Carolyn, and himself, Mike must uncover that secret and learn the painful truth about what happened to his mother. While Mike struggles to cope with these events from the past, he faces a pressing problem in the present. His relationship with Marie Romaine has become tense and complicated. He knows he must do something about that before he loses the woman he loves.

***Nominated for the Agatha Award for Best First Mystery Novel***Rare books librarian Juniper Blume knows this much...an ancient Celtic manuscript shouldn't be in a Maryland cemetery. But that's exactly what her brother-in-law claims. Last year, Juniper saw the 1,200-year-old Book of Kells in Ireland. She learned how their bejeweled covers were stolen centuries ago, never to be seen again. So how could they have ended up in Rose Mallow, a small Chesapeake Bay town? Being Jewish, the Book of Kells might not be her sacred text, but as a rare books librarian, the ancient book is still sacred to her, making it important to Juniper to find out the truth. Rose Mallow is the same place where Juniper used to summer with her sister Azalea and their grandmother Zinnia, known as Nana Z. Ever since Nana Z passed away, Juniper's avoided returning, but her curiosity is greater than her grief, so she heads down in her vintage convertible with her rescue dog Clover. Juniper discovers that her sister Azalea has transformed their grandmother's Queen Anne style mansion into the Wildflower Inn, backing up to the Chesapeake Bay. Although Juniper isn't much of a cook, Azalea has kept their grandmother's legacy alive, filling the house with the smells of East European Jewish treats, like sweet kugels and tzimmes cake. Will coming back here feel like returning home or fill Juniper with a deeper sorrow? Can she apologize to her sister for not being there when she was needed most?

Love is in the air when Hollywood arrives in Mermaid Bay, and the town may never be the same. Fans will do almost anything to get a glimpse of the actors or a chance to be an extra in the Love Channel's "My Coastal Valentine." Crowds flock to the cozy beach town from all over and business is booming for Christmas shop owner, Jade Hicks until the body of a testy reporter is found in one of the actors rooms. And if murder isn't bad enough, someone tries to kill the show's star, hunky Raphael Allard. The cozy little beach town feels cursed, as the Love Channel threatens to pull out of the project. Jade and the gang, Lorelei, Peppermint Patti, Bernie, Chloe, and Neville the Devil Cat, have to solve the crimes before it ruins the town's reputation and breaks the hearts of fans across the country.

A quiet tree-lined street in New Orleans erupts in panic when the body of Sally Wilcox is discovered by her landlord. Sally had been stabbed, and she was clutching a kitchen knife in her hand at the time of her death. Later, police discover evidence at the scene which implicates Sally's son, Jeremy, in her murder. He was arrested the next day. Law school professor Emma Thornton is convinced by a friend to take Jeremy's case. She begins her investigation into Jeremy and his family and the facts surrounding the night of the murder. Layer after layer of family secrets slowly reveal themselves as the numbers of murders and kidnappings multiply. Holding the key to the killer's trail and the case's final resolution, Emma's success depends on whether she can maintain control over her own reckless impulses.