This author crafts compelling mystery novels that delve into complex moral quandaries and hidden secrets. Her writing is characterized by meticulously built suspense and a keen insight into human psychology, drawing readers into intricate puzzles. She focuses on character development and their inner motivations, creating engaging and memorable narrative experiences. Her works are noted for their emphasis on investigation and the pursuit of truth, often featuring surprising twists.
Bay Tanner investigates the suspicious death of a wealthy matron amid allegations of a scam targeting seniors, a situation that is complicated by the disappearance of Bay's client and Red's mixed feelings about working for the agency.
Originally published: New York: St. Martin's, 2005.
"Private Investigator Bay Tanner is hired by a young mother desperate to locate her estranged family. Joline Eastman's daughter is dying of leukemia, and all other sources for a bone-marrow transplant have been exhausted. A yellowing photograph and a handful of wartime letters are the only clues she has to offer. But it's what she's not willing to share that may hold the ultimate solution to saving her daughter's life. Meanwhile, Bay has her own family to worry about. A phone call from Lavinia Smalls, her aging father's companion and caretaker, sends her rushing to the hospital. A few, whispered words, uttered in a moment of semi-conscious confusion, shatter her world and launch Bay on a quest that will redefine everything she thought she knew about herself. Battling time, Bay and her late husband's brother, sheriff 's sergeant Red Tanner, search desperately for Joline's missing family, only to discover that an old murder and a haunted woman from Bay's past may hold the key to everything."--Provided by publisher.
Hilton Head private investigator Bay Tanner has seen enough murder and mayhem to last her several lifetimes. Her decision to accept only the most mundane cases has led to a more settled life with her husband and employees until the appearance of an old friend scuttles all her good intentions. Sylvia Reynolds, lovingly known as Pudge back when their crowd shared forbidden cigarettes in the girls' restroom, has morphed into Sylvie Reynaud, one of the world's former top fashion models. Every few months she and a few women meet at Sylvie's spectacular north island home to drink, party, and commiserate as they slide into middle age. Except one of them has a husband who enjoys using her as a punching bag, and her injuries are becoming more serious every time the group meets. Sylvie wants Bay to help put a stop to it before their friend ends up dead. It sounds straightforward enough at first--until Mary Alice Stuart's husband suddenly disappears from the yacht they keep docked at a local marina. Then evidence that points to something more sinister than a simple marital squabble begins to mount, and his battered wife becomes the prime suspect. But could the petite, very proper woman they all called Scarlett really be capable of violence--or worse? Or is this just another facet of James Stuart's vicious campaign to punish his wife? With her longtime partner Erik Whiteside off on a personal mission and with an inexperienced employee as backup, Bay tries valiantly to balance the demands of her other clients with the search for James Stuart and her own private fears for the safety of her beloved Lavinia Smalls. One thing she knows for certain--friends in need can be a deadly serious business
While restoring her Hilton Head home after a brush with a hurricane, PI Bay Tanner reluctantly accepts bestselling true-crime writer Winston Wolfe as a client. Arrogant and secretive, Wolfe is researching the cold-case disappearance of reclusive millionaire Morgan Tyler Bell from his secluded private island off the South Carolina coast. Adding to the mystery, Bell's personal assistant vanished as well. But what has Bay's investigative antennae quivering is the apparent suicide at the time of Bell's longtime housekeeper. After viewing the scene inside the millionaire's abandoned mansion on Jericho Cay, Bay isn't so sure she should've taken the case. Bay's husband and new employee is hot to pursue the inquiry. A former sheriff's deputy, Red would like nothing better than to solve the one case his old boss has never been able to close. But as Wolfe's behavior becomes more and more bizarre, Bay is torn between her desire to earn her hefty fee and her fear that something much more sinister is going on just below the surface. Is Bell dead or alive? And who is the elusive man in the red baseball cap who just may hold the answers to all her questions? While dealing with another tragedy that strikes at the heart of her family, Bay Tanner must dig beneath the lies and evasions that threaten all she holds dear--and her own life as well. A Bay Tanner Mystery - Book 11
Originally published: New York: St. Martin's Minotaur, 2006.
Murder and blackmail amid the ruins of antebellum splendor... Someone is making a killing in real estate. Coastal South Carolina...ancient live oaks, pristine beaches, the remains of antebellum splendor... Bay Tanner's world is paradise until she witnesses her husband's horrific death. Wounded and grieving, Bay retreats to her hideaway on Hilton Head Island. Then a cry for help forces her back to reality. Can she ignore the plight of her old money friends and family whose involvement in a shadowy land scheme may lead them to financial disaster? And what does all this have to do with Rob's murder? When a body is discovered floating near the ruins of an old plantation house, Bay is forced to confront these questions and admit that one thing is certain--someone is making a killing in real estate. From In For A Penny: the sharp blare of sirens penetrated my half-conscious mind. My attacker dropped me, face down in the pine straw, and sprinted away. I had just managed to struggle to my hands and knees when the night was shattered by a blast so loud it seemed to come from inside my head. I had barely a second for the smoke and flame to register on my numbed senses. Then choking darkness enveloped me.