The Bitter Taste Of Murder

The follow-up to Murder in Chianti finds ex-NYPD detective Nico Doyle recruited by Italian authorities to investigate the murder of a prominent wine critic. One year after moving to his late wife’s Tuscan hometown of Gravigna, ex-NYPD detective Nico Doyle has fully settled into Italian country life, helping to serve and test recipes at his in-laws’ restaurant. But the town is shaken by the arrival of wine critic Michele Mantelli in his flashy Jaguar. Mantelli holds his influential culinary magazine and blog over Gravigna’s vintners and restaurateurs. Some of Gravigna's residents are impressed by his reputation, while others are enraged—especially Nico's landlord, whose vineyards Mantelli seems intent of ruining. Needless to say, Mantelli’s lavish, larger-than-life, and often vindictive personality has made him many enemies, and when he is poisoned, the local maresciallo, Perillo, has a headache of a high-profile murder on his hands—and once again turns to Nico for help.

Set in the heart of Tuscan wine country, Camilla Trinchieri's new mystery introduces Nico Doyle, a former NYPD homicide detective who's just looking for space to grieve when he finds himself pulled into a local murder investigation. Mourning the loss of his wife, Rita, former NYPD homicide detective Nico Doyle moves to her hometown of Gravigna in the winesoaked region of Chianti. Half Italian and half Irish, Nico finds himself able to get by in the region with the help of Rita’s relatives, but he still feels alone and out of place. He isn’t sure if it’s peace he’s seeking, but it isn’t what he finds. Early one morning, he hears a gunshot and a dog's cries near his new home and walks out to discover a dead body in the woods, flashily dressed in gold tennis shoes. When the police arrive, Nico hastily adopts the fluffy white dog as his own and wants nothing more to do with the murder. But Salvatore Perillo, the local maresciallo, discovers Nico's professional background and enlists him to help with the case. It turns out more than one person in this idyllic corner of Italy knew the victim, and with a very small pool of suspects, including his own in-laws, Nico must dig up Gravigna’s every last painful secret to get to the truth.

What's worse than a string of calls from a telemarketer? Elise Pepper is about to find out. Her return to her southern hometown after a scandalous divorce is stressful enough, but when she trips over the body of the town playboy, her stress meter hits an all-time high. Between bizarre phone calls and more, the victim has left behind a heap of trouble that includes missing money, missing pets, and mourning lovers. Add in a growing list of suspects and Elise is neck deep trouble. Stuck in the middle of her personal drama and the small town rumor mill, there’s no shortage of theories. But when she discovers her best friend, Lavina is the number one suspect, she knows what she has to do. The question is will it help or hurt? Can amateur sleuth Elise clear her friend's name, or will her friendship blinders shield her from the truth? Find out more in the first book of this 6 book cozy murder mystery series, the Angel Lake Cozy Mysteries! Cozy mystery books free

A determined young girl joins forces with an adventure-loving street boy to save her father’s life in this “thoroughly entertaining” (Kirkus Reviews) magical murder mystery. In the spell-powered city of Tarreton, the wealthy have all the magic they desire while the working class can barely afford a simple spell to heat their homes. Twelve-year-old Isaveth is poor, but she’s also brave, loyal, and zealous in the pursuit of justice—which is lucky, because her father has just been wrongfully arrested for murder. Isaveth is determined to prove his innocence. Quiz, the eccentric, eyepatch-wearing street boy who befriends her, swears he can’t resist a good mystery. Together they set out to solve the magical murder of one of Tarreton’s most influential citizens and save Isaveth’s beloved Papa from execution. But is Quiz truly helping Isaveth out of friendship, or does he have hidden motives of his own?

Ex-NYPD homicide detective Nico Doyle investigates the murder of a local bartender in the Tuscan countryside. On a late October Sunday morning in Gravigna, local maresciallo Perillo is having breakfast with ex-NYPD detective Nico Doyle when he is called back to the station in Greve. Laura Benati, the young manager of Hotel Bella Vista, is worried—her bartender and good friend eighty-year-old Cesare Costanzi has been missing for three days. The next morning, Jimmy, co-owner of Bar All’Angolo, Gravigna’s local café, where Nico is a frequent patron, runs out of gas on his way back from Florence. When Nico meets him to help, Nico’s dog, OneWag, reacts to the smell coming from Jimmy’s trunk. Inside Nico finds a body wrapped in plastic: Cesare Costanzi, stabbed several times in the chest. Why would anyone kill Cesare, and how did he end up in Jimmy’s car? That’s for Nico to find out, as Perillo once again turns to Nico for help with the investigation.

“A fascinating tale of poisons and poisonous deeds which both educates and entertains.” --Kathy Reichs A brilliant blend of science and crime, A TASTE FOR POISON reveals how eleven notorious poisons affect the body--through the murders in which they were used. As any reader of murder mysteries can tell you, poison is one of the most enduring—and popular—weapons of choice for a scheming murderer. It can be slipped into a drink, smeared onto the tip of an arrow or the handle of a door, even filtered through the air we breathe. But how exactly do these poisons work to break our bodies down, and what can we learn from the damage they inflict? In a fascinating blend of popular science, medical history, and true crime, Dr. Neil Bradbury explores this most morbidly captivating method of murder from a cellular level. Alongside real-life accounts of murderers and their crimes—some notorious, some forgotten, some still unsolved—are the equally compelling stories of the poisons involved: eleven molecules of death that work their way through the human body and, paradoxically, illuminate the way in which our bodies function. Drawn from historical records and current news headlines, A Taste for Poison weaves together the tales of spurned lovers, shady scientists, medical professionals and political assassins to show how the precise systems of the body can be impaired to lethal effect through the use of poison. From the deadly origins of the gin & tonic cocktail to the arsenic-laced wallpaper in Napoleon’s bedroom, A Taste for Poison leads readers on a riveting tour of the intricate, complex systems that keep us alive—or don’t.

Previously published as The Murder Stone The acclaimed fourth novel in the bestselling Chief Inspector Gamache series, by international phenomenon and number one New York Times bestseller Louise Penny. It's the height of summer, and the wealthy Finney family have gathered at the Manoir Bellechasse to pay tribute to their late father. But as the temperature rises, old secrets and bitter rivalries begin to surface. When the heat wave boils over into a mighty storm, a dead body is left in its wake. Chief Inspector Gamache, a guest at the Bellechasse, finds himself with a building full of suspects. With the hotel locked down, the murderer is trapped. But a cornered predator is always the most dangerous of all... 'A cracking storyteller, who can create fascinating characters, a twisty plot and wonderful surprise endings' Ann Cleeves 'Impossible to put down' Globe and Mail