An Invitation To Murder

Lady Katherine only has one week to catch the Pink Ribbon Killer. Not only to stop the killing but also to prove her skills at detection to her father and win her dowry and independence. There’s only one catch—she has to take one last matchmaking job to do it. Never mind that the match is impossible, all the better because if she fails, then no one will seek her services again. The job provides the perfect cover especially when her peculiar investigatory techniques are mistaken for unconventional matchmaking attempts. Things would go a lot smoother if she weren’t knee-deep in suspects and thwarted at every turn by a rival matchmaker. But when the killer strikes again, Katherine’s investigation leads down a dangerous path. Too late, she discovers that she has a lot more to lose than her dowry…

An impossible crime with one clear prime suspect; herself... Mary Blake had it all. Actress, icon and darling of the nation, she was the queen of TV crime drama. Then she turned fifty. When replaced on the show by a younger woman, she thinks her days in the limelight are over when an invitation to a murder mystery party from an old friend throws her back into the public eye. This time as a murder suspect. After playing a detective for years, Mary must now become one as she tries to prove her innocent with the help of her puppy-like brother and her surprisingly useful friend and assistant, Dot.

WAS HE A LOVING, PROTECTIVE HUSBAND? OR A COLD, CALCULATING KILLER? TV's 48 Hours Mystery unravels the lethal secrets inside a seemingly perfect marriage -- and behind a chilling double homicide. "My wife is dying on the floor! Please, please come help!" The frantic 911 call sent emergency units racing to a tidy brick home in suburban Springfield, Illinois. Beautiful, vivacious Donnah Winger had been bludgeoned to death by a male intruder; her attacker was fatally shot by Donnah's husband, Mark. In the aftermath of the horrific home invasion, family and friends rallied around Mark, a wellliked and respected nuclear scientist, and the infant daughter he and Donnah had just adopted; some even called him a hero. But one rookie detective didn't buy Mark Winger's version of the grisly events of that August afternoon. After four years of relentless investigation, a closed case is reopened, and fragments of truth -- including shocking new witness testimony -- come together to reveal how Mark Winger turned a chance meeting with a troubled young man into the almost seamless killing of his own wife, with an Invitation To A Murder.

With family tensions intensifying in Tinker’s Cove, part-time reporter Lucy Stone could really use some time off the grid—but disconnecting from reality comes at a deadly price . . . Lucy doesn’t know what to expect as she arrives on a private Maine island owned by eccentric billionaire Scott Newman, only that the exclusive experience should make for a very intriguing feature story. An avid environmentalist, Scott has stripped the getaway of modern conveniences in favor of an extreme eco-friendly lifestyle. A trip to Holiday Island is like traveling back to the nineteenth century—much to the dismay of the island’s other residents . . . Before Lucy can get the full scoop on Scott, she is horrified to find one of his daughters dead at the bottom of a seaside cliff. Stuck on a clammy island with murder suspects aplenty, Lucy must tap into the limited resources around her to outwit a cold-blooded killer—before it’s lights out for her next!

A treat for fans of Masterpiece Mystery and Downton Abbey, Colleen Cambridge’s charming and inventive new historical series introduces an unforgettable heroine in Phyllida Bright, fictional housekeeper for none other than famed mystery novelist Agatha Christie. Hijinks—and murder—ensue. Tucked away among Devon’s rolling green hills, Mallowan Hall combines the best of English tradition with the modern conveniences of 1930. Housekeeper Phyllida Bright manages the large household with an iron fist in her very elegant glove. In one respect, however, Mallowan Hall stands far apart from other picturesque country houses. For the manor is home to archaeologist Max Mallowan and his famous wife—Agatha Christie . . . Phyllida is both loyal to and protective of the crime writer, who is as much friend as employer. An aficionado of detective fiction, Phyllida has yet to find a gentleman in real life half as fascinating as Mrs. Agatha’s Belgian hero, Hercule Poirot. But though accustomed to murder and its methods as frequent topics of conversation, Phyllida is unprepared for the sight of a very real, very dead body on the library floor . . . It soon becomes clear that the victim arrived at Mallowan Hall under false pretenses during a weekend party. And when another dead body is discovered—this time, one of her housemaids—Phyllida decides to follow in M. Poirot’s footsteps to determine which of the Mallowans’ guests is the killer. Now only Phyllida’s wits will prevent her own story from coming to an abrupt end . . .

The legendary Nero Wolfe finds himself deep in foul territory in these three baffling cases of murder and mayhem. In the first, some sharp questions about a poisoning come to an abrupt end—as in death by a blunt instrument. Then Wolfe must decode the last message of a competitor who pencils in the name of his killer before he's rubbed out with one shot in his soundproof office. Finally, the stay-at-home sleuth deigns to attend a World Series game where a rookie's struck out before he gets to bat, leaving Wolfe to prove that when it comes to detection he's in a league by himself. Introduction by Linda Ellerbee “It is always a treat to read a Nero Wolfe mystery. The man has entered our folklore.”—The New York Times Book Review A grand master of the form, Rex Stout is one of America’s greatest mystery writers, and his literary creation Nero Wolfe is one of the greatest fictional detectives of all time. Together, Stout and Wolfe have entertained—and puzzled—millions of mystery fans around the world. Now, with his perambulatory man-about-town, Archie Goodwin, the arrogant, gourmandizing, sedentary sleuth is back in the original seventy-three cases of crime and detection written by the inimitable master himself, Rex Stout.

It begins with a simple mystery - elderly widow Violet William's van goes missing after her granddaughter Pia forgets to lock the door when using it to cater for a wedding reception. But this is Ramsar, and soon, a simple case turns sinister when ASP Timothy Thapa finally finds the missing van, and promptly discovers a dead body inside it. Enter Colonel Acharya, Ramsar's resident amateur sleuth, with his merry band of bridge-playing Watsons. As the detective begins his investigation, he finds that things are not what they seem, and with few clues, several suspects, and no leads to go on, Colonel Acharya might be facing his most challenging case yet.

Kinue Nomura survived World War II only to be murdered in Tokyo, her severed limbs discovered in a room locked from the inside. Gone is the part of her that bore one of the most beautiful full-body tattoos ever rendered. Kenzo Matsushita, a young doctor who was first to discover the crime scene, feels compelled to assist his detective brother, who is in charge of the case. But Kenzo has a secret: he was Kinue’s lover, and soon his involvement in the investigation becomes as twisted and complex as the writhing snakes that once adorned Kinue’s torso. The Tattoo Murder Case was originally published in 1948; this is the first English translation.