Nancy Martin Books

Sensible Philadelphia debutante Nora Blackbird turns sleuth when her friend Lexie becomes the prime suspect in the killing of a prominent philanthropist, but her investigation is complicated by the return of her scheming parents.

After agreeing to marry Mick Abruzzo, the son of New Jersey's most notorious gangster, impoverished Philadelphia heiress Nora Blackbird and her sisters investigate the disappearance of Penny Devine, the daughter of a wealthy Philadelphia family.

Roxy Abruzzo decides to solve her money problems by working for her uncle, one of the last mob bosses in Pittsburgh, but when one of her targets is murdered, Roxy becomes the prime suspect and must clear her name before it is too late.

Mirabai, an iconic sixteenth-century Indian poet-saint, is renowned for her unwavering love of God, her disregard for social hierarchies and gendered notions of honor and shame, and her challenge to familial, feudal, and religious authorities. Defying attempts to constrain and even kill her, she could not be silenced. Though verifiable facts regarding her life are few, her fame spread across social, linguistic, and religious boundaries, and stories about her multiplied across the subcontinent and the centuries. In Mirabai, Nancy M. Martin traces the story of this immensely popular Indian saint from the earliest manuscript references to her through colonial and nationalist developments to scholarly and popular portrayals in the decades leading up to Indian independence. This book examines Mirabai's place as both insider and outsider to the developing strands of devotional Hinduism and her role in contested terrain of debates around the education and independence of women and the crafting of Indian and Hindu identities. Mirabai offers a comprehensive and multi-layered portrait of this remarkable and still controversial woman, who continues to be a source of inspiration and catalyst for self-actualization for spiritual seekers, artists, activists, and so many others in India and around the world today.

When the three Blackbird sisters show up to claim their deceased aunt's supposedly-fabulous country estate, they find a decayed house and a dead body.

When the husband of a wealthy dog food heiress is found bludgeoned to death at an exclusive hunt club, Nora Blackbird is as surprised as anyone. Worse still, the evidence points toward a devious blackmail scheme-with Nora's sister, Emma, as the main suspect. Investigating with the help of friend and foe alike, Nora uncovers the secrets of some of Philadelphia's high-and-mightiest-and attracts the unwanted attentions of the real killer...

Giving up my socialite life to get a real job writing a society column for a Philadelphia paper hasn't worked out as well as I hoped. The developers still want to turn the Blackbird estate into an outlet mall. My eccentric sisters are convinced I need a dog, a baby or a keeper. And now I'm falling hard for a Jersey tough guy with criminal connections. On top of my family feuding, one of the city's nouveau riche has just been murdered, and I could be a prime suspect. What would Emily Post do?When a high society jewel thief winds up drowned at the bottom of a pool with a tacky garden gnome tied to her ankles, Nora must swing into action to save her old flame, Flan Cooper, from a hasty murder charge. A politically ambitious millionaire with hushed up secrets, a dotty grand dame with a penchant for polo teams, and a cat fancier who keeps a gun with his silver tea set all steer suspicion onto Nora herself. It's enough to make the bluebloods turn pale! Nora must find the killer on her own or risk trading her grandmother's couture for an orange jumpsuit. All in an ex-débutante's day's work, Nora. All in a day's work.