Murder Plays House

From the author of Bad Mother and Love and Other Impossible Pursuits--a mystery series featuring a Los Angeles mom... With a new arrival on the way, the Applebaum household is bursting at the seams. And Juliet is balancing clue-chasing and diaper-changing with a new task: house-hunting… Juliet loves her kids. She loves their dirty little faces and skinned knees. She loves the ridiculous and amazing things they say. But when three-and-a-half year old Isaac evicts her husband and her from their own bed one night, love is the last thing on her mind. Juliet now recognizes the need for a few changes…starting with a bigger house. And when the new baby arrives, they’ll welcome the extra space. But if there’s ever a bad time to search for a new house in L.A., it’s now. In a buyer-unfriendly real estate market, one practically has to kill to find an affordable home. No wonder Juliet is prepared to over look a corpse on the grounds of her would-be dream house. To salve her conscience—and get her foot literally in the front door—she vows to find the killer of the homeowner’s sister. The investigation leads her from the madness of house-hunting into a world of washed-up actors and canceled TV shows, a world more depraved than she could ever have imagined… “[Juliet is] a lot like Elizabeth Peters’ warm and humorous Amelia Peabody—a brassy, funny, quick-witted protagonist.”—Houston Chronicle Ayelet Waldman is the author of numerous books including Love and Treasure and the Mommy-Track Mysteries featuring Juliet Applebaum. The series includes such titles as The Big Nap, A Playdate with Death, and Death Gets a Time-Out.

At a stately manor home, open for public tours, a young boy lifts the helmet on a suit of armor and finds a human face staring back at him! Detective C.D. Sloan and his wisecracking sidekick, Crosby, must figure out who stashed the body and why.

Mystery / Characters: 5 male, 6 female It is the fifth anniversary of the death of Lord Rutherford. Lady Rutherford is throwing her annual dinner in commemoration of the event-- to which you are cordially invited. On arrival you are given a character name and a dossier explaining your background and connection to the Rutherford family. Over cocktails, you mingle with the other guests, spotting the Baroness von Keepsemfrumfloppen and figuring she's an actress, but what about all these other peo

Addie Greyborne loved working with rare books at the Boston Public Library—she even got to play detective, tracking down clues about mysterious old volumes. But she didn’t expect her sleuthing skills to come in so handy in a little seaside town . . . Addie left some painful memories behind in the big city, including the unsolved murder of her fiancé and her father’s fatal car accident. After an unexpected inheritance from a great aunt, she’s moved to a small New England town founded by her ancestors back in colonial times—and living in spacious Greyborne Manor, on a hilltop overlooking the harbor. Best of all, her aunt also left her countless first editions and other treasures—providing an inventory to start her own store. But there’s trouble from day one, and not just from the grumpy woman who runs the bakery next door. A car nearly runs Addie down. Someone steals a copy of Alice in Wonderland. Then, Addie’s friend Serena, who owns a nearby tea shop, is arrested—for killing another local merchant. The police seem pretty sure they’ve got the story in hand, but Addie’s not going to let them close the book on this case without a fight . . .

1920s England. Lighthearted cozy historical mystery.Two people have been targeted. Shots have been fired. Who stands to inherit? Who has the most to lose? Evangeline 'Evie' Parker, Countess of Woodridge, thinks it's nothing but an accident but then an attempt is made on her host's life. Suddenly, all the guests attending the Duke of Hetherington's house party think they are being targeted. Who will be next?Evie and her new chauffeur form an unlikely alliance to discover as much as they can before the killer can get it right.

The tongue-in-cheek style adds a bit of humor to this murder mystery story, which isn't just a story of a wealthy widow in a dysfunctional family who believes a mystic can contact her dead husband through a seance and he in turn can help her put order back into her life. The second half of the book provides the information and instructions needed to perform this story in play format in the privacy and comfort of your home. There are many characters so all guests can participate and experience stepping into a different persona, if only for an intriguing evening of murder...starring YOU! With the publication of Murder in the Haunted House, Ms. Russell brings to the public not only the conceived story but also full instructions and the means to perform the story as a play in a party atmosphere. Be daring, let yourself go and give it a try. Look for other similar mystery party plays coming soon: "A Race to Murder," "Murder By Magic," and "A Wake For Murder."

Something bad is brewing among a friendly group of book lovers: “A deliciously Agatha Christie-style mystery that sucks you in from the first page.” —Sibel Hodge, bestselling author of Look Behind You Imagine nine women meeting. Tea and cake are on the coffee table. They’ve come together to share their love of books. They are friends. They trust each other. It’s a happy gathering. What could be more harmless? Then scratch the surface and look closer. One is lonely. One is desperate. And one of them is a killer. When the body of a woman is discovered on a Cambridge common, DCI Barrett and DI Palmer are called in to investigate. But the motive behind the crime isn’t clear—and it all leads back to a book club. As the lies, volatile friendships, and tension among the group rise to the surface, DCI Barrett and DI Palmer must work out the motive and track down a cold-blooded killer. But just when they think they’re on the right track, a twist in the plot throws them off course . . . “Will keep readers guessing till the very end!” —J.A. Baker, bestselling author of The Other Mother “A deliciously devilish whodunit!” —Robert Bryndza, bestselling author of the Detective Erika Foster series

“Writing Crooked House was pure pleasure and I feel justified in my belief that it is one of my best.” --Agatha Christie Described by the queen of mystery herself as one of her favorites of her published work, Crooked House is a classic Agatha Christie thriller revolving around a devastating family mystery. The Leonides are one big happy family living in a sprawling, ramshackle mansion. That is until the head of the household, Aristide, is murdered with a fatal barbiturate injection. Suspicion naturally falls on the old man’s young widow, fifty years his junior. But the murderer has reckoned without the tenacity of Charles Hayward, fiancé of the late millionaire’s granddaughter.