Murder Takes A Bow

Olivia’s life goes from a permanent vacation to a nightmare when one of the cruise ship’s staff is murdered. Olivia Morgan’s life working as an assistant in her boyfriend’s cruise ship act has been a permanent vacation. But her cruise to the Bahamas takes a terrible turn when Peter leaves Olivia and her talkative parrot Chico stranded on the ship with a show scheduled in just a few days. It takes an even worse turn when a crew member is murdered! Can Olivia pull off the show without Peter, or will they throw her and Chico off the ship when they reach Nassau? Will the murderer get caught before someone else is killed? Will Olivia be the next victim? Travel along with Olivia and Chico on their killer cruise. As close to taking a cruise as you can get from your couch.

“This is a great cozy filled with sparkling humor and lots of twists and turns ... Every cozy lover will revel in The Skeleton Takes A Bow." — Criminal Element English adjunct Georgia Thackery and her best friend, Sid the skeleton, must find a murderer and the victim after the local high school auditorium becomes the scene of a late-night murder...and Sid is the only witness! Against her better judgment, Georgia allows her daughter Madison to sneak Sid into the Pennycross High School Drama Club’s spring production of Hamlet. As a bona fide member of the Thackery family, Sid is thrilled to lend a hand—or in this case, a skull—to help Madison’s thespian pursuits. But when Sid accidentally overhears a murder occurring off the stage, he and Georgia suspect something’s rotten in the state of...well, Massachusetts. As an adjunct English professor, Georgia is familiar with Hamlet’s typical body count. So, she knows the scene Sid heard from the wings—long after rehearsals ended and the high school closed for the night—was definitely off-script. But how can she and Sid investigate a murder if the victim’s corpse is nowhere to be found? It seems like a dead end. But even a bare bones investigation is better than none at all, because if Georgia and Sid don’t act quickly, Madison and her classmates could be in danger of something far worse than stage fright... Readers will be delighted by the second book in the Family Skeleton cozy mystery series by Agatha award-winning author Toni L. P. Kelner, writing as Leigh Perry—perfect for fans of Charlaine Harris and Bailey Cates! Praise for The Skeleton Takes a Bow: “This mystery moves effortlessly with good plotting, amusing dialogue and a suspenseful and funny ending. Georgia’s endearing family of crime solvers will have readers clamoring for the next in the series.” — RT Book Reviews “The humor and wit are razor sharp ... Leigh Perry, the pen name of Toni Kelner, shines in this delightfully funny and unique series that blends paranormal with mystery and academic satire.” — Kings River Life Magazine “The family love and humor are forefront in an enjoyable mystery ... THE SKELETON TAKES A BOW deserves applause for its refreshing departure from the cozy mystery formula.” — Lesa’s Book Critiques

At a banquet in 1940s New York, the guest of honor is a goner: “A genuinely puzzling mystery . . . with the delightful wackiness that has made the Norths famous.” —The New York Times Tonight, Jerry North faces something so terrifying that no amount of martinis could quiet his nerves: He has to make a speech. He’s introducing one of his authors, Victor Leeds Sproul, a continental novelist whose delicate tales of Parisian life have been selling like hotcakes ever since the Nazis goose-stepped into the City of Light. Crippled by stage fright, Mr. North enters the banquet hall feeling like a condemned man, but he isn’t the one who will die. Despite his terror, North delivers the speech of his life. But when he introduces the guest of honor, the distinguished author doesn’t stand. Sproul’s eyes jerk open, his chest heaves, and he breathes his last. He has been murdered in plain sight, but it will take the combined genius of Jerry and Pamela North to find out who killed the writer, and committed the unforgivable crime of ruining a perfect speech. “[An] excellent series.” —The New Yorker Death Takes a Bow is the sixth book in the Mr. and Mrs. North Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

A relaxing trip to a Palm Springs resort turns deadly for Mason Adler and his friend Walter Wingate when first one of their fellow guests, then another, ends up murdered. Suspects and motives abound among the remaining guests as well as the owner of the Oasis resort, Marvin Gagliardi, an old friend of Walter’s. Mason investigates, hoping to prove Marvin’s innocence, but the more he uncovers, the more he wonders if Marvin actually might be the murderer. Distracting Mason is the handsome and eligible police detective assigned to the case, Brian Branchford. Mason had vowed not to become interested in anyone living a five-hour drive from Phoenix, but Branchford’s green eyes, gray hair, and toothbrush moustache are compelling reasons to give it a try. It’s up to Mason to uncover the truth about the deaths at the Oasis, and to discover if there’s romance as well as murder at the Oasis.

It’s 1946, and on a hot spring night in Phoenix, Arizona, things are only beginning to heat up at the Monte Vista Road home of flamboyant decorator Walter Waverly Wingate. Private detective Mason T. Adler isn’t thrilled to be turning fifty, and the party Walter throws him makes him even more uncomfortable. Walter has arranged a special birthday present for Mason: a private hour with the handsome, young Henry Bowtrickle in Walter’s upstairs bedroom. But the night turns deadly when his birthday gift turns up murdered. The room was locked, no way in or out, and only Henry and Mason were inside. Mason Adler is on the case, but he is also a suspect, along with the other assorted party guests who were all downstairs at the time of the stabbing. Or were they?

Alan Keyes takes a break from his police duties to scratch his acting itch in a local stage production. But when the leading man is murdered during the opening night performance, his partner Detective Heath Barrington is thrust into the limelight to find the killer. Alan soon learns the theater has a deadly past and ghostly forebodings, including a telegram that seems to have come from the beyond. Among the large cast of suspects is Oliver Crane, the director whose finances depend on the success of this play, Jazz Monroe, Milwaukee’s sweetheart with a secret, and the handsome actor Henry Hawthorne, who has designs on Alan. When Alan seems to return Henry’s attentions, Heath must put his jealousy and insecurities aside to determine what’s real, what’s illusion, and who’s acting and who’s telling the truth before death takes a bow. A Detective Heath Barrington Mystery