murder

A Tango Before Dying

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When trouble waltzes in, it’s not long before Georgie Shaw and Detective Jack Wheeler step in to solve another mystery!The renowned dancer, Madame Charlotte Carol Chantel, is visiting LA to participate in the World Ballroom Dance Championship. Lunch and a photo op in Arcadia Park with “Mad” Max Marley suddenly go terribly wrong. An angry woman hurls a glass of wine at Madame Chantel along with accusations and threats. Before she can be caught, she runs away and disappears into the crowded theme park.

A Godmother’s Mysterious Death

Carol Ripley, Georgie’s Executive Assistant, is distraught when she finds her godmother and namesake dead a few hours later. There’s no apparent sign of foul play, but Madame Chantel’s death comes as a surprise since the sixty-something dance teacher and performer was in excellent health. It’s even more shocking when the investigators soon discover reasons to treat her death as suspicious, and an autopsy reveals someone murdered Madame Chantel.In the immortal words of Voltaire, “Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world.”

Reading maybe, but not dance, apparently. Dressed as she was when Carol found her, with music still playing in the background, was a tango before dying Madame Chantel’s final act?

Was Madame Chantel murdered by a jealous romantic partner, an obsessed fan, a rival in the competitive world of Ballroom Dancing or someone else? Is Madame Chantel the only target or are other dancers in danger as well?Grab your copy of, A Tango Before Dying in the much-loved Georgie Shaw Cozy Mystery series by USA Today and Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author, Anna Celeste Burke. Don’t wait to find out who murdered Madame Chantel!

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Meet Anna Celeste Burrke

On my way to Oahu to join the rock musician and high school drop-out I had married in Tijuana, I was nabbed by the police as a runaway. When the police let me go and the rock band broke up, my husband and I had to find another way to survive. Our next stop: Disney World where we trained to be chefs. After my husband earned his GED we went to college and eventually completed Ph.D.s from the University of Michigan. As luck would have it, we found professor jobs with U of M’s longstanding football rival, The Ohio State University. Go blue! Go bucks!

Retired now from my role as a professor, I’ve picked up a long-standing interest in writing fiction. At the university, I wrote and published widely as a scholar. I also carried out hundreds of training, consulting and speaking engagements on gloriously nerdy topics.

​So what on earth does a research scientist have in common with a mystery writer? As avid fans of the mystery genre will tell you at the core of any good mystery is a passionate search for the truth. Discovering the truth involves finding and assembling pieces of complex puzzles in order to solve seemingly intractable problems. Scientist and sleuth are cut from the same cloth!

​Still married to the same sweet guy, I live with my husband in one of the seven desert resort cities in the Palm Springs area. As my heroine, Jessica Huntington will tell you, the Sonoran Desert is a beautiful setting in which to ponder life’s mysteries while enjoying the bountiful delights of the resort communities.

The Serenity Murder: A Luca Mystery Crime Thriller

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When a detective second-guesses his gut, he’ll have to get creative to catch the killer.

Luca worries cancer and divorce have dulled his razor-sharp instincts. So the detective is relieved when his next murder case seems like a no-brainer.

When the wealthy victim is found dead in her private-island home, the gold-digging husband seems like the obvious killer.

As Luca digs deeper and follows the clues, however, he uncovers a whole new line-up of possible suspects. No longer able to rely on his gut feelings, Luca puts the victim’s sordid affairs and her rivalries under the microscope.

With time running out, Detective Luca must find a way to regain his swagger and solve the case before the killer strikes again.

The Serenity Murder is the third book in the riveting Luca Mystery police procedural series. If you like hardened detectives, unexpected plot twists, and seeing the crime from multiple points of view, then you’ll love Dan Petrosini’s gripping whodunit.

Buy The Serenity Murder today and hold on for a white-knuckled police procedural!

The 13th Vote

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On a distant world, in a not-too-distant future, Alyn Frederick Jr. arrives home from college and is shocked by his father’s murder. Alyn hasn’t a clue as to who killed him or why, but even more puzzling, finds himself as the main suspect. A forlorn detective, employing a rapidly developing A.I., partners with an idealistic journalist to find answers. They uncover a grand conspiracy, orchestrated by a powerful politician, who aims to radically transform society, but must trigger an interplanetary civil war to do it. Alyn must discover a dark truth about his family’s legacy if he is to clear his name and prevent the genocide. And the key to it all, is his grandfather’s wristwatch. 

Meet Brendan Gavin

Brendan is a book-lover, curator of ideas and a keen observer of our human condition, who has combined these with his passion for vintage time pieces, and finally wrote the book he was always wanted to read.

Moonlight Kisses and MugShots

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Moonlight Kisses and MugShots (Saddle Creek Book 4) - ASIN B08964Q92V

Veronica (Ronnie) Travis, Miami policewoman, now a Saddle Creek, WY Sheriff’s Deputy and the new owner of Travis B&B, thanks to her Aunt Sally, who leads her on a scavenger hunt to discover her illegal activities.

Sheriff Mitch Rogers, a permanent non-paying guest at Travis B&B is convinced the late owner of the B&B had secrets; big ones. And hopes to find out what it is from his new deputy, Ronnie, If he can only keep it professional between them.

After Rosie’s Diner becomes a crime scene with an ensuing investigation, Ronnie has to sacrifice everything she’s come to love and treasure, but is Mitch included? Or is Ronnie leading Mitch on a wild goose chase just like her Aunt Sally?

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Westhill Drive

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Westhill Drive - ASIN B08CGLRVB6

Residents of an affluent neighborhood in Silicon Valley, California, are woken in the middle of the night by flashing lights and sirens. A neighbor has been murdered. 

All fingers quickly point to next-door resident Mike Thomas, who does not want to disclose his shady past with the deceased. Soon Mike’s life is turned upside down as skeletons come of out the closet and he is exposed for his indiscretions. While everyone in his life turns against him, Mike is the only one who knows he’s innocent and being set up. 

Soon a desperate man is on the hunt to expose the truth and salvage whatever is left of his marriage, his career, and his freedom. Mike slowly realizes the boring neighborhood he once called home has a secret behind every front door.

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Justice for Jessica

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Justice for Jessica - ASIN B01DOU03OA

Mousey, overweight Stacey Sullivan would love to trade places with her glamorous socialite BFF, Jessica James—that’s until she discovers Jessica murdered in her own home. Whip-smart detective Rachel Storme is ready to exchange her gun and badge for a gardener’s hat and hoe. But she reluctantly puts her plans on hold when she’s asked to help solve Jessica’s murder. These two strangers from different generations—Stacey a millennial and Rachel a baby boomer—become unlikely friends in their pursuit of JUSTICE FOR JESSICA. But their friendship is put to the test when Stacey insists that her husband, Matt, is innocent in spite of evidence that speaks to the contrary. Rachel, baffled by Stacey’s blind loyalty to Matt, doggedly fights to take Matt down, but with Stacey’s help, he eludes her at every turn. Is Matt the killer or could Grant, Jessica’s husband, be the culprit? Perhaps it was her jealous sister, Georgette or the maid, Rosa? No matter who the killer is, Rachel, by any means necessary, is determined to find her man or woman.

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Nighthawk Crossing

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Nighthawk Crossing - ASIN B00CKWTUPC

The story centers on people, drugs and weapons smuggling and the ruthlessness of a well-entrenched criminal organization. The smugglers are mainly Native American Indians and motorcycle gang members led by a chieftain with a Navy SEAL background. Although the smuggling is within the aegis of the Border Patrol and various ICE sub-agencies, the FBI steps in when two Border Patrol agents are killed by smugglers. The pursuit of the killers not only uncovers drug and gun distribution rigs in America but also unveils a major plot to supply a secret weapon to the Taliban and Al Qaida and sub plots of the State Department, Canadian spy agencies, NATO and the CIA. The story transports the reader from the Okanagan Canada-U.S.A. border region to England, Kyrgyzstan and the Maldives. Action scenes include: murder of two Border Patrol Special Agents; ambush and murder of Korean human trafficking gang members; a winter ambush and destruction of two FBI helicopters while attempting to intercept a smuggling operation; a gun battle between smuggler and FBI helicopters; and a Navy SEAL underwater approach assault on an armory and meth lab on a remote island in the Maldives.

The story and the persona are complete fiction but ideas have been gleaned and exaggerated from some “life experiences and characterizations” and events. For example, trans border drug smuggling by helicopter in the Okanagan is well known and some aircraft have been confiscated. In another example, the Taliban and Al Qaida used a resort in the Maldives for conferences when your author was working in the Maldives. Some towns have been fictionalized but other well-known landmarks are retained.

The Chieftain is portrayed as a sociopathic “anti-hero” – well respected in his environmental activities and leadership roles with no remorse for killing adversaries. He is not “killed off” in the story – although much of his well-ordered world is lost – as your author has at least three more episodes in mind.

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The Art Flogger

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Linda DuPont has a successful career as a Fine Art Auctioneer on cruise ships until she marries the love of her life and settles on the island of Cozumel, Mexico. There she partners with her husband successfully growing a tourist diving operation, boosting local artists and raising three children. Tragedy strikes when her husband, Dan dies. She sells the business and moves to Bellingham, Washington to be close to family.
Eventually, she establishes as a famous art auctioneer in demand across America. She is approached by a Texan billionaire to help sell some of his art collection unaware he is a king pin in a Colombian drug cartel. As the DEA begins to investigate art sales linked to cocaine dealers, she is eliminated as a loose end.

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Fashion Victim: Romantic Suspense

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Fashion Victim: Romantic Suspense - ASIN B01BSYJTHQ

Hot isn’t a hot enough word to describe corporate raider Fletcher Wolf, but since he’s suing couturier Cara Fletcher for, oh, a gazillion dollars, she figures she shouldn’t hit on him…at least not too hard.

On top of that, she wonders if he’s responsible for the harassment and vandalism that’s plaguing her, irritants that escalate into crimes when her workshop is trashed to the tune of a hundred thousand dollars. The economic damage enables him to seize her company, bringing him into her life on a daily basis. When her Manhattan loft home is torched and her assistant murdered, Cara realizes that the man she wants is the only man who can keep her safe.

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The Widow’s Husband

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The Widow's Husband - ASIN B07P6T1P4B

Allan Tuttle’s wife identifies his body, the victim of a homicide, and no one is more surprised than he is.

The simple task of proving he isn’t the dead man turns into a challenge when the police decide to look at him as a suspect in the murder.

Despite obstacles every step of the way, Allan sets out on an unintended journey of self discovery in the hopes to reclaim his identity and maintain his freedom.