Murder at Mile Marker 18

Perfect for fans of Lilian Jackson Braun and Christy Barritt.

An unlucky amateur sleuth, an adorable cop, and a cat with a hunch...

If anyone had told Mallory Beck she would become Honeysuckle Grove''s next unschooled detective, she would have thought they were ten noodles short of a lasagna. Her late husband had been the mystery novelist with a penchant for the suspicious. She was born for the Crock-Pot, not the magnifying glass, and yet here she is elbow deep in fettuccine, cat treats, and teenagers with an attitude, the combination of which lands her smack-dab in the middle of a murder investigation.

Maybe she should have thought twice about delivering a casserole to a grieving family. Maybe she should have avoided the ever-changing green eyes of her seventh-grade crush-now the most heart-stopping cop in town. Maybe she should have stopped listening to the insightful mewls of her antagonistic cat, Hunch, who most likely wants her to be the town''s next murder victim.

Whatever the case, Mallory Beck got herself into this investigation, and she has a distraught teenage girl counting on her to deliver the truth.

Start this new cozy mystery series now! Readers are calling it heartwarming and page-turning, with characters you''ll think of as friends.