Deadly Dance

The Deadly Dance continues the tradition in M. C. Beaton's beloved Agatha Raisin cozy mystery series—now a hit show on Acorn TV and public television. Bossy, impulsive, and unlucky in love, the all-too-human Agatha Raisin has proved to be a surprisingly effective---and endearing---amateur sleuth. But can Agatha make it as a private investigator? After getting mugged on vacation, in what she will always think of as the Paris Incident, she decides to find out. Agatha soon learns that running her own detective agency in the Cotswolds is not quite like starring in a Raymond Chandler movie. Instead of dames in distress with big shoulder pads, her clients are ladies with missing cats and a man whose son has run off with his car. Agatha even worries that she might be outclassed by her sixty-seven-year-old secretary, Emma Comfrey. But then wealthy divorcée Catherine Laggat-Brown walks in with their first "real" case. Mrs. Laggat-Brown's daughter has received a death threat, and when Agatha thwarts an attack on the girl at a dinner dance, she recognizes an opportunity to show what Raisin Investigations can do. Even better, the case gives her a chance to reunite with her long-absent friend, Sir Charles Fraith. As they scour the Cotswolds in search of leads, Charles' insights prove invaluable and his charms irresistible, leading poor Emma to fall madly in love with him. As ever, Agatha bumbles her way through the case, trying her friends' patience and flirting shamelessly with the chief suspect. Will she put her tiny agency on the map, or has even the outrageous Agatha finally bitten off more than she can chew?

Sex, Money and Murder in 1980s LA and New York: In 1987 a heroin addict murdered an Emmy Award-winning choreographer in Manhattan. Then a wealthy LA surgeon and his teenaged son were targeted. In 1991, an out-of-work redneck flew to London with cyanide to poison three members of a male exotic dance review. If the poison didn't work, he was told to use a hammer to beat them to death. Who was behind these seemingly unrelated horrific crimes? Deadly Dance tells the fascinating story of Steve Banerjee, founder and owner of the smash LA nightclub, Chippendales. In the post-pill, pre-AIDS, sex-filled LA club scene of the 1980s, celebrities, desperate housewives and wild bachelorettes converged on one place: Chippendales-and behind it all was arson, the Mob and murder.

As the intelligence specialist for A-Tac, a black-ops CIA unit masquerading as Ivy League faculty, Hannah Marshall is used to working behind the scenes. But when a brutal murder hits too close to home, Hannah finds herself in the middle of the action, falling in love while racing to outwit a sadistic mastermind. A KILLER CLOSES IN After the death of her A-Tac partner, Hannah doubts everything she thought she knew about love and loyalty. When handsome Harrison Blake joins the team, she’s reluctant to trust him—or to act on her intense attraction to him. Then Hannah receives a podcast of a gruesome murder, and the only person who can help her find the killer is Harrison. Harrison has spent years trying to hunt down the cunning monster who killed his sister. Now investigating with Hannah, he faces a shocking possibility—his sister’s murderer has resurfaced. As the danger escalates, Hannah and Harrison grow closer, and the desire simmering between them ignites. After Hannah disappears, Harrison has only one chance to save the woman he loves.

A Greek vacation takes an unexpected turn when Penny travels back to ancient Crete, where she has to use her gymnastic skills to save her life.

Some secrets refuse to stay buried... When Scott Drayco's ex-girlfriend begs him to prove her rich fiance, Harry Dickerman, is innocent of murder, Drayco's torn; he's suspicious of Harry's motives for wanting to marry a much younger woman, but on the other hand, the man seems to be a paragon of virtue. The police think it's an open-and-shut case — the victim was Harry's ex-wife, killed in Harry's home with his own letter opener, and only Harry's prints were on the murder weapon. But as Drayco digs deeper, he starts to find cracks in that "open-and-shut" case and investigates whether corporate espionage was involved and how a shady attorney figures into the mix. Most puzzling of all, why was the victim living in an mysterious, out-of-the-way commune for Wall Street refugees? And why does the commune seem to be less about peace, love, and brotherhood and more about drugs, sex, and blackmail? With help from his former FBI partner, "Sarg" Sargosian, Drayco uncovers a possible Russian connection that may be key to the mystery. But as he plunges deeper into a cesspool where everyone seems to be guilty of secrets and lies, he's not sure who he can trust ... or whether a deadly dance with the devil will be his undoing. The Suicide Sonata is the fifth installment in the acclaimed Scott Drayco mystery series, a finalist for the Shamus, Silver Falchion, Daphne, and Foreword Book Review Awards. Praise for the Scott Drayco Mystery/Thriller Series: "Worth putting on your reading list." - The Library Journal "Lawson's protagonist is greatly compelling." - Publishers Weekly Booklife Prize "Lawson’s book was so good, I read it twice from beginning to end." - Readers Favorite Reviews Keywords: brainy detectives, thrillers, traditional mysteries, crime thrillers, murder, mystery series, private investigator, detective books, crime series, thriller series, crime thriller series, vigilante justice, detective series, private investigator series, PI series, private eye series, crime authors, thriller authors, psychological thrillers

Private Investigator Taylor Nash had more bad news for Dr. Evander Parker. Once a noted psychiatrist, a loving husband, respected in the community, Dr. Parker is now a homeless fugitive, at the mercy of a private investigator he does not know. And it all began when John McIlvane walked into his office.

DI David Vogel is first on the scene when Melanie Cooke’s bruised and strangled body is discovered in Bristol’s red-light district. The evidence points to Melanie’s father being the killer, but Vogel’s on edge. The quick arrest is too easy, too straightforward. When two new murders are reported, Vogel’s team broaden the search: new evidence suggests that there are three different, disturbed criminals. Any one of them could have killed Melanie, but which one did? Vogel’s team inch towards the answer, never suspecting that the killer is watching them too, waiting for his moment to strike.

Researching the history of a dilapidated Elizabeth manor house, Phineas Fox uncovers the shocking truth behind a mysterious - and deadly - dance. Having unexpectedly inherited an Elizabethan manor house in rural Norfolk, the new owner Quentin Rivers has asked Phineas Fox to investigate the house's history. Phin soon becomes immersed in The Tabor's dark and mysterious past, and in the course of his research uncovers tales of a curious dance, the Cwellan Daunsen: a dance that has not been performed for centuries but whose strange legend still lingers. The dance has a dark side; whenever it took place, children were told to stay indoors - and on no account to look through their windows . . . As Phin delves further, the terrible secrets of The Tabor and the Rivers family ancestors begin to reveal themselves, secrets stretching back more than six hundred years. But as the past gradually creeps up on the present, is history destined to repeat itself . . . ?