I Murdered The Spelling Bee

A Daphne Lee-Lee Misadventure Daphne Lee-Lee is a rock-and-roll mom whose band, Bob's Brain Freeze, has finally made it big. Back from tour, she's glad to return to normalcy and attend the national spelling bee in Los Angeles, where her 13-year-old daughter is one of the competitors. But "normal" is over way too soon and the mayhem begins when Daphne gets into a tussle with the spelling bee mascot, leading to a serious case of double murder in a skanky old hotel. Daphne knows she's not the one who choked the life out of two victims, so who could the perpetrator be? The good-looking, smooth-talking lawyer that's been giving her way too much undivided attention? His soon-to-be ex-wife? Or is it someone else? Join Daphne on yet another wild ride as she takes us on a first-person tour in the second in a series of her patented misadventures.

The murder of a moderator for a school competition spells trouble for Portland P.I. partners and moms Maya Kendrick and Sandra Wallage . . . Twelve-year-old Rocco Fanelli is a spelling bee champ in the making. He’s the odds-on favorite to win the local middle-school bee and go on to the regionals, the state, and ultimately the nationals. Which is why someone is trying to intimidate him to drop out with a threatening note in his locker. Rocco’s concerned parents hire Maya and Sandra to uncover the culprit and ensure their son’s safety. But the competition turns killer when a high school teacher who’s running the bee, clearly favoring certain students, is found dead in the school supply closet. Sandra had already confronted Ellie Lambert over unfairly grading her son Ryan—which now makes her a suspect. She’s not the only one who tangled with the teacher, however, and with suspects ranging from helicopter parents to the school custodian, Maya and Sandra will need to put their heads together to spell out who had the motive and opportunity to silence Ellie Lambert . . .

FINALIST FOR THE J. ANTHONY LUKAS BOOK PRIZE NATIONAL BESTSELLER Named One of The Best Books of 2020 by NPR's Fresh Air * Publishers Weekly * Marie Claire * Redbook * Vogue * Kirkus Reviews * Book Riot * Bustle A Recommended Book by The New York Times * The Washington Post * Publisher's Weekly * Kirkus Reviews* Booklist * The Boston Globe * Goodreads * Buzzfeed * Town & Country * Refinery29 * BookRiot * CrimeReads * Glamour * Popsugar * PureWow * Shondaland Dive into a "tour de force of investigative reporting" (Ron Chernow): a "searching, atmospheric and ultimately entrancing" (Patrick Radden Keefe) true crime narrative of an unsolved 1969 murder at Harvard and an "exhilarating and seductive" (Ariel Levy) narrative of obsession and love for a girl who dreamt of rising among men. You have to remember, he reminded me, that Harvard is older than the U.S. government. You have to remember because Harvard doesn't let you forget. 1969: the height of counterculture and the year universities would seek to curb the unruly spectacle of student protest; the winter that Harvard University would begin the tumultuous process of merging with Radcliffe, its all-female sister school; and the year that Jane Britton, an ambitious twenty-three-year-old graduate student in Harvard's Anthropology Department and daughter of Radcliffe Vice President J. Boyd Britton, would be found bludgeoned to death in her Cambridge, Massachusetts apartment. Forty years later, Becky Cooper a curious undergrad, will hear the first whispers of the story. In the first telling the body was nameless. The story was this: a Harvard student had had an affair with her professor, and the professor had murdered her in the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology because she'd threatened to talk about the affair. Though the rumor proves false, the story that unfolds, one that Cooper will follow for ten years, is even more complex: a tale of gender inequality in academia, a 'cowboy culture' among empowered male elites, the silencing effect of institutions, and our compulsion to rewrite the stories of female victims. We Keep the Dead Close is a memoir of mirrors, misogyny, and murder. It is at once a rumination on the violence and oppression that rules our revered institutions, a ghost story reflecting one young woman's past onto another's present, and a love story for a girl who was lost to history.

The owner of a Hudson Valley ice cream shop is out to get the scoop on a hometown homicide in this “decadent, deadly, and delightful” series debut (Jenn McKinlay, New York Times bestselling author). After leaving her high-powered Manhattan life behind, Kate McKay is indulging her dream of opening an ice cream shop in her Upstate New York hometown of Wolfert’s Roost. But her spirits melt when she learns that her childhood frenemy, Ashley Winthrop, has started selling frozen treats in the bakery across the street. Full of sour high school memories, Ashley is more than game for some unfriendly competition. But before Ashley can kill Kate’s new business, someone kills Ashley. And now half the town thinks sweet Kate is hiding a sinister secret. To clear her name, she’ll do whatever it takes to put the real killer on ice—even join forces with an old flame. But she’ll need to exercise more than restraint if she wants to expose the killer and live to see another sundae. “[A] charmer of a cozy mystery. A delicious read that left me hungry for more.” —Jenn McKinlay Includes mouthwatering ice cream recipes from the Lickety Splits Ice Cream Shoppe!

Book ten in the Inspector Lestrade series. Beyond the mountains of the moon … ‘Right, gentlemen. Recapping by numbers.’ Superintendent Lestrade, in martinet mood, was driving his minions. ‘Murder One. Four victims, Captain Orange, late of the merchant service and his three nieces, when the harness of their trap broke on a downhill gradient near Peter Tavy, Devon.’ ‘Clues?’ ‘A tall man seen near the Captain’s horse shortly before the trap left. He could have cut the harness.’ ‘And?’ ‘A broken mirror found in the Captain’s breast pocket.’ ‘Murder Two, sir. Janet Calthrop, fell downstairs at King’s College, London, on the way to the boudoir of her lover. Tripwire across the stairs. Broken neck.’ ‘Clues?’ ‘One broken mirror found in said lover’s boudoir.’ ‘Murder Three. Juan Thomas de Jesus-Lopez, honorary major in the Sixteenth Lancers; body found in a ruined lighthouse near Beachy Head.’ The clues accumulate; so do the mirrors and the murders … And the suspects. ‘Mirror, mirror on the wall,’ mused Sholto Lestrade. ‘Who’s the guiltiest of them all?’ He was to find out …

The killer is making a list and checking it twice. A famous mystery writer goes missing at the annual Killer Clause convention and the police dismiss it as a hoax. But when amateur sleuth Becky Robinson uncovers a ransom note written to the tune of a Christmas jingle, she vows to unwrap the truth. The investigation leads Becky and her pals into a backstabbing fictional world where everyone thinks they can pull off the perfect crime. But all the fun reindeer games come to an end when one of the suspects turns up dead under a Christmas tree. Can Becky determine who's naughty and who's nice? Or will the cotton-headed ninny muggins strike again? ---------------- Stuff your stockings this year with Holly Jolly Murder, the sixth installment in the Hollywood Whodunit cozy mystery series. Can be read as a seasonal stand-alone! If you love clumsy heroines, a Winter Wonderland, quirky suspects, and an adorable rescue puppy this series is for you! Hollywood Whodunit Series Order Book 0: Lake Day Shenanigans Book 1: Prime Time Murder Book 2: Stand-In Murder Book 3: Music City Murder Book 4. Trap Door Murder Book 5: Fool's Gold Murder Book 6: Holly Jolly Murder Book 7: Blue Suede Murder Book 8: Family Reunion Murder Book 9: Summer Vacation Murder Book 10: Sunlight Swindler Murder Book 11: Castle Island Murder Book 12: Fixer-Upper Murder Book 13: Hometown Murder ----------------- Keywords: cozy mystery, cozy mystery series, murder mystery, animal mysteries, dog mysteries, female sleuth mysteries, amateur sleuth mysteries, clean mysteries, mysteries with humor, funny cozy mystery, whodunit cozy mysteries, murder, Los Angles, Hollywood, actress, pop culture references, witty dialog, quirky characters, friendship, Jack Russell terrier, chasing your dream, Christmas, mystery writers convention, Christmas hotel, winter wonderland hotel, exposing a hoax, rags to riches