When a woman is murdered in her home with some curious clues left behind, a seasoned detective and curious citizen embark on separate missions to unravel the mystery.

Maureen O'Donnell, comes from a family so seriously dysfunctional that it deserves a television series of its own. Her mother is an overly dramatic alcoholic who "could scene steal from an eclipse"; her brother Liam is a bumbling drug dealer; and the black sheep of the family is a sister who went to London and became a Thatcherite. The troubled but gutsy Maureen decides to dump her boyfriend, Douglas--an abusive (and married) psychologist she met...

The town's ten-year-old walking encyclopedia again solves ten neighborhood mysteries. The final solutions to the cases are at the back of the book, giving readers a chance to compare their sleuthing skill to that of Encyclopedia Brown.

"Lucas Davenport has seen many terrible murder scenes. This is one of the worst. In the small Minnesota town of Deephaven, an entire family has been killed--husband, wife, two daughters, dogs. There's something about the scene that pokes at Lucas's cop instincts--it looks an awful lot like the kind of scorched-earth retribution he's seen in drug killings sometimes. But this is a seriously upscale town, and the husband was an executive vice president...

"Joe Pickett is attempting to enjoy his mother-in-law's wedding to a local big-shot rancher when he receives some disturbing news: Will Jensen, a fellow Wyoming game warden and good friend, has killed himself. And Joe's been picked to temporarily run Jensen's Teton district." "Jackson, Wyoming, is a far cry from Joe's hometown of Saddlestring. An elite playground for the rich and powerful, and the epicenter for many environmental extremists, it's...

Ten brief cases in which the reader pits his wits against those of Encyclopedia Brown, an ingenious twelve-year-old detective.

"Miss Jane Marple has checked into Bertram's Hotel in London for a much-needed vacation. The last thing she expects is that this elegant establishment, known for its service and old-world charm, could be embroiled in scandal. But after a series of strange events--including the disappearance of a fellow guest, the arrival of a notorious celebrity bad boy, and finally, a shocking murder--she finds herself drawn into a multifaceted mystery."--Cover,...

Two brothers in a small Midwestern town--one the high school's beloved football coach on the verge of a state championship and the other one scraping by as a bail bondsman--have been at odds since their sister was abducted and murdered when they were teenagers. Now a new killing with ties to each of them forces a painful and adversarial reunion.

Investigating the murder of a Navajo Tribal Policeman, Lt. Joe Leaphorn and Sgt. Jim Chee unravel a complex plot of death involving a historical find, a lost fortune, and the mythical coyote, who is always waiting and always hungry.

Nobody cuts deeper than family...Dr. Noah Alderman, a widower and single father, has remarried a wonderful woman, Maggie Ippolitti, and for the first time in a long time, he and his young son are happy. Despite her longing for the daughter she hasn't seen since she was a baby, Maggie is happy too, and she's even more overjoyed when she unexpectedly gets another chance to be a mother to the child she thought she'd lost forever, her only daughter Anna.Maggie...