This author, writing under various pseudonyms, is celebrated for her compelling mystery novels. Her distinctive style blends sharp psychological insight with a masterful ability to build suspense. Her narratives delve into the complexities of human relationships and explore profound moral questions. With a unique perspective and engaging storytelling, she crafts unforgettable literary experiences for her readers.
Set against the backdrop of the Great Depression, siblings Robert and Lily Brewster find themselves living in their late great-uncle's mansion, embracing a life of elegance despite their financial struggles. With Franklin Roosevelt's inauguration signaling a new era, Robert, fresh from witnessing the event, is quickly taken to a nursing home where the Brewsters have committed to assist the staff. This story explores themes of resilience and family support during challenging times.
Jane Jeffry embarks on a transformative journey as she assists her friend Bitsy Burnside in restoring a run-down mansion, a project that sparks both creativity and tension. With an almost all-female crew, the endeavor is humorously nicknamed "the House of Seven Mabels" by Jane's witty friend Shelley Nowack. However, the project also stirs resentment in the community, adding layers of conflict to their ambitious plans. This story blends humor, friendship, and the challenges of home improvement.
Set against the backdrop of the Great Depression, Lily and Robert Brewster navigate their new life in a small town after losing their fortune. Their routine is disrupted when Robert uncovers a mummified corpse in their estate, leading Lily to collaborate with the charming Chief of Police, Howard Walker. As they investigate, a second body emerges, deepening the mystery and entangling the siblings in a web of deception and danger, all while a killer lurks nearby.
In 1932, a brother and sister sharing a mansion on the Hudson River--the Grace and Favor Cottage--are faced with a party gone fatally wrong when one of their paying weekend guests is strangled.
Jane investigates a murder connected to her new gardening class with the help of her police detective boyfriend.
The latest delectable cozy from Agatha Award winner Churchill has suburban single mom Jane Jeffry sleuthing again when a wedding she is planning at a monastery-turned-hunt club turns into a killer affair.
They Have Inherited a Lovely Upstate Mansion. . .The crash of 1929 has ended the party for high-living New Yorkers Lily Brewster and her brother Robert and takes them from the upper echelons of the idle rich and deposits them to the lowly depths of the disillusioned poor. However, rescue arrives in the form of their recently deceased great-uncle Horation who bequeaths to them Grace and Favor "Cottage" which is really a great sprawling mansion. And there's a fortune to go with it, but only if they reside there for ten years. And an Inconvenient Corpse With no other alternative, the spirited Manhattanites move to a quiet and quaint Hudson River community and try to fit in. But they soon find out that great-uncle Horatio didn't die peacefully. He was murdered while on an elaborate sailing party on the Hudson River aboard his yacht -- and Lily and Robert are suspects. But when another corpse appears in the kitchen of the mansion, the siblings are determined to clear themselves. Without a clue how to begin, Lily and Robert start snooping, unaware that their savvy sleuthing could make them the killer's next targets.
It's beginning to look a lot like murder'Tis the season to jolly and suburban mom Jane Jeffry's in a mad scramble to finish her cookie baking and household chores before her teenage kids arrive home. Also expected are two moms-both the late husband's mother and the disapproving mater of Det. Mel VanDyne, Jane's significant other. The kitchen is a disaster zone, the dog has decorated the house with hair, and the earsplitting racket coming from the neighbors tacky, music-making Christmas display is driving Jane crazy. Now she has to get the green icing out of her hair and be ready to host her post-caroling dinner party.One thing Jane isn't ready for is a surprise visit from a muckraking TV "action reporter," disguised as Santa Claus. The nasty old St. Nick is out to wrap a happy holiday caroling into a package marked "scandal," but before he has a chance to color the event with yellow journalism, his red-suited body slides off the neighbor's roof to land, silenced forever, on the horns of a plastic reindeer. It looks like Santa's mishap is no accident and, with the help of her friend Shelley, Jane finds plenty of suspects. The phony Santa has an ex-wife and a female assistant who both hate him, and plenty of nice people ruined by tales of naughtiness. Now Jane has to find the Grinch who thought murder was a way to save Christmas before the holiday turns into the unhappiest day of the year.
Despite a full schedule, frazzled suburban single mom Jane Jeffrey has agreed to help out during a two-day gathering of her friend Shelley's former high school girls' club. So while the reunited ladies are dishing dirt, Jane is sweeping it up - and inadvertantly becomes privy to all sorts of interesting gossip and long smoldering resentments. But then a corpse turns up among the one-time student body. And unless Jane gets to the bottom of a nasty senior-year scandal, more alumnae will die at the hands of a calculating classmate who's majoring in murder.
Set in a Wisconsin resort, a suburban Chicago widow finds herself in a culinary conundrum when a corpse, seemingly bludgeoned by a frying pan, turns up during her rustic getaway. As the body mysteriously vanishes and the victim reappears, she embarks on a quirky investigation to uncover the truth behind the bizarre events. With her aversion to cooking and a love for food, Jane navigates a comedic mystery in the wilderness, blending humor and intrigue.