Set Sail For Murder

Daisy and Hazel leap into action when a murder is committed on their cruise along the River Nile in Egypt.

In the long-awaited seventh installment of Hart's popular series starring feisty retired journalist Henrie O (after 2001's Resort to Murder), Henrie O's erstwhile lover, Jimmy, has married another woman, the dashing Sophia Montgomery, and he's afraid that one of Sophia's stepchildren from a previous marriage is trying to kill her. When Jimmy begs Henrie O to accompany his family on a cruise and get to the bottom of the suspicious accidents that keep befalling Sophia, she reluctantly agrees. It turns out that Sophia's stepkids have plenty of reasons to hate her, not least that she stands in the way of their inheritance. The scheming stepkids are predictable and two-dimensional, but Henrie O remains a complex character, and her struggles to keep her feelings for Jimmy platonic are every bit as engaging as the putative mystery. Henrie O's fans, and devotees of Hart's lighter Death on Demand series, will enjoy this quick read.

When retired newspaper reporter Henrietta O'Dwyer Collins, Henrie O to her friends, receives a call for help, she discovers that love once kindled never burns to ashes. Although she refused Jimmy Lennox's marriage proposal, there is still a special place for him in her heart. She wished him well when he found happiness with Sophia Montgomery, world-famous documentary filmmaker and stepmother to the now grown heirs of a great fortune. Sophia is at odds with the heirs, and Jimmy fears for her safety. He asks Henrie O to come along with the family on a Baltic cruise. Henrie O can't turn down her old friend, though old passions are stirred when he calls. On the voyage she soon realizes this dysfunctional family is plunging toward destruction and one of the travelers has murder in mind. As the ports of call pass—Copenhagen, Gdynia, Tallinn, St. Petersburg—death inexorably approaches. Henrie O works desperately to save Jimmy and to bring hope to lives blighted by anger, resentment, and heartbreak.

The iconic Polly Pepper, musical comedy superstar of yesteryear, is experiencing a bit of a professional dry spell-she can barely keep her bank account afloat, let alone her career. So when the nefarious Laura Crawford, scene-stealing former cast mate and perpetual diva, proposes a Polly Pepper Playhouse reunion cruise, Polly is on board, full-steam ahead. But she soon realizes that Hollywood on the high-seas will be nothing short of a shipwreck, especially after Laura is found dead, slain by the Season Six DVD of The Polly Pepper Playhouse box set. Now, if Polly can't solve this maritime mystery, a clever killer could send Polly's whole career-and even her life-overboard. "Polly proves once again that she's no slouch as a detective." -Publishers Weekly "The plot is well-crafted. . .will keep the reader guessing until the end." -Romantic Times

The iconic Polly Pepper, musical comedy superstar of yesteryear, is experiencing a bit of a professional dry spell-- she can barely keep her bank account afloat, let alone her career. So when the nefarious Laura Crawford, scene-stealing former cast mate and perpetual diva, proposes a Polly Pepper Playhouse reunion cruise, Polly is on board, full-steam ahead. But she soon realizes that Hollywood on the high-seas will be nothing short of a shipwreck. . . Packed to the gills with has-beens, D-listers, and sycophantic fans, Polly's celebrity cruise is really a ship of fools, and it's sinking fast. If that weren't enough, Polly's tiny room, troubling lack of champagne, and mandatory appearance schedule leave her feeling more than a little murderous towards Laura. Unfortunately, that ship already sailed! Laura is found dead the next morning, slain by Season Six of "The Polly Pepper Playhouse" box set--the collectors DVD ruthlessly sharpened to a razor's edge. Polly immediately begins fishing for clues, and her first big catch is pianist-at-sea Lawrence Deerfield, whose career sank when Laura maliciously cut him from a recent stage production. But Polly will have to cast a wider net to catch this killer--with a ship's worth of burned cast mates, spurned lovers, and obsessed fans there are plenty of other motives in the sea. When Polly herself is accused of the crime she knows it's time to shape up or ship out. If she can't solve this maritime mystery the clever killer could send Polly's whole career--and even her life--overboard.

When retired newspaper reporter Henrietta O'Dwyer Collins, Henrie O to her friends, receives a call for help, she discovers that love once kindled never burns to ashes. Although she refused Jimmy Lennox's marriage proposal, there is still a special place for him in her heart. She wished him well when he found happiness with Sophia Montgomery, world-famous documentary filmmaker and stepmother to the now grown heirs of a great fortune. Sophia is at odds with the heirs, and Jimmy fears for her safety. He asks Henrie O to come along with the family on a Baltic cruise. Henrie O can't turn down her old friend, though old passions are stirred when he calls. On the voyage she soon realizes this dysfunctional family is plunging toward destruction and one of the travelers has murder in mind. As the ports of call pass—Copenhagen, Gdynia, Tallinn, St. Petersburg—death inexorably approaches. Henrie O works desperately to save Jimmy and to bring hope to lives blighted by anger, resentment, and heartbreak.

A murdered heiress, a missing necklace, and a train full of shifty, unusual, and suspicious characters leaves Daisy and Hazel with a new mystery to solve in this third novel of the Wells & Wong Mystery series. Hazel Wong and Daisy Wells are taking a vacation across Europe on world-famous passenger train, the Orient Express—and it’s clear that each of their fellow first-class travelers has something to hide. Even more intriguing: There’s rumor of a spy in their midst. Then, during dinner, a bloodcurdling scream comes from inside one of the cabins. When the door is broken down, a passenger is found murdered—her stunning ruby necklace gone. But the killer has vanished, as if into thin air. The Wells & Wong Detective Society is ready to crack the case—but this time, they’ve got competition.

"Grips you by the throat from beginning to end."—Cleveland Plain Dealer ALONE WITH HER NEW HUSBAND on a tiny Pacific atoll, a young woman, combing the beach, finds an odd aluminum container washed up out of the lagoon, and beside it on the sand something glitters: a gold tooth in a scorched human skull. The investigation that follows uncovers an extraordinarily complex and puzzling true-crime story. Only Vincent Bugliosi, who recounted his successful prosecution of mass murderer Charles Manson in the bestseller Helter Skelter, was able to draw together the hundreds of conflicting details of the mystery and reconstruct what really happened when four people found hell in a tropical paradise. And the Sea Will Tell reconstructs the events and subsequent trial of a riveting true murder mystery, and probes into the dark heart of a serpentine scenario of death.