The Picture Perfect Mystery

When artist and gallery owner Lila Cramer is conned into selling all her paintings for the price of one, Nancy Drew agrees to investigate—and discovers that there are many people who would like to see disagreeable Lila lose her business.

Ryli Sinclair had no idea moonlighting as the forensic photographer for the Granville Police Department would put her in the direct path of a crazed killer. Determined to capture the murderer before she's next in line, Ryli enlists the help of her best friend, Paige, and her elderly great-aunt Shirley, a former private investigator. Driving Aunt Shirley's coveted 1965 Falcon for inspiration, Ryli and the girls chase down clues and the murderer...all with comical results. If only the handsome chief of police, Garrett Kimble, wasn't hampering her every move.

"As the owner of Coffee, Books, and More, Jill Gardner likes to support other Main Street businesses, so she attends a paint-and-sip event where, sadly, her brushstrokes look more like blobs. It's still fun, though--aside from some disruption by a couple doing more sipping than painting. Jill's police-detective boyfriend is on alert, but a designated driver volunteers to take the drunken pair back to their bed and breakfast, and everything seems resolved. Until the wife's body turns up the next morning back in the studio. The victim, Nan, is from out of town, so it's hard to imagine who'd have a motive aside from her spouse. Now, in between puzzling over her fortuneteller neighbor's strange behavior, preparing for her best friend's wedding, and pouring cups of java at the bookstore, Jill must uncover the secrets of Nan's life and find out who wanted her out of the picture . . .."--Publisher description.

Police detective Chad Detweiler is overjoyed to learn he's having a baby with Kiki Lowenstein. But when his estranged wife, Brenda, is found shot to death with bullets from his revolver, the proud papa-to-be finds himself up the creek without a lawyer. Meanwhile, Kiki and Dodie Goldfader are in for a surprise when an unidentified young woman bursts into their craft store claiming to have killed Dodie's son. Embarking on a memorial scrapbook project as a ruse to unravel the facts, Kiki can't stop herself from wondering if the man she loves is tangled up in murder.

In a collection of mini-mysteries, Mr. Boddy invites his six best friends to be guests at his mansion for the weekend, providing the setting for crimes which readers must try to solve.

The New York Times Bestseller by Shanna Hogan, Picture Perfect is the true crime chronicle of Jodi Arias. A DEVOTED BACHELOR Travis Alexander was a handsome, hard-working, practicing Mormon who lived in Mesa, Arizona. His good looks and easygoing manner made him popular with everyone, especially the ladies. So when he was found with a bullet wound in the face and his throat slashed, the brutal murder sent shock waves throughout his community. Who could have done something so sinister? A DEADLY OBSESSION But soon a suspect was singled out—Jodi Arias. A beautiful, aspiring photographer, Jodi had been in a long-distance relationship with Travis the year before. But Travis wasn't interested in a serious commitment; he was seeing several women during that time. When he broke up with her, that didn't stop Jodi from leaving California, moving to just a few miles away from Travis's home, and inserting herself into his daily life. Investigators found one piece of startling evidence in Travis's home that implicated Jodi. But in a bizarre turn of events, Jodi would claim self-defense. Was she a victim—or a devious femme fatale? With 8 pages of chilling photos

When Ian Slater's best friend, Teddy, suddenly vanishes, it's up to Ian to find out what happened. He and Teddy were supposed to take photographs together on the day Teddy disappeared—but Teddy never showed up. Rumors are flying, and everyone looks to Ian for answers. Has Teddy run away, searching for the father he's never met? Or has something more sinister happened? Ian doesn't know, and he can't quite remember everything that happened the day Teddy vanished. On top of that, he keeps having terrifying dreams and hearing strange voices. People are starting to say he's acting strangely, and the sheriff keeps questioning him. As Ian tries to hold it all together and search for clues to Teddy's disappearance, he strives to present those around him with the picture of a normal kid. But the more he finds out, the less he understands. How well does he really know Teddy? How well does he even know himself?

November, 1940. Tom Tyler, Detective Inspector of the small Shropshire town of Whitchurch, is a troubled man. The preceding summer had been a dark one for Britain, and even darker for Tom's own family and personal life. So he jumps at the opportunity to help out in the nearby city of Birmingham, where an explosion in a munitions factory has killed or badly injured several of the young women who have taken on dangerous work in support of the war effort. At first, it seems more than likely the explosion was an accident, and Tom has only been called in because the forces are stretched thin. But as he talks to the employees of the factory, inner divisions -- between the owner and his employees, between unionists and workers who fear communist infiltration -- begin to appear. Put that together with an AWOL young soldier who unwittingly puts all those he loves at risk and a charming American documentary filmmaker who may be much more than he seems, and you have a page-turning novel that bears all the hallmarks of Maureen Jennings' extraordinary talent: a multi-faceted mystery, vivid characters, snappy dialogue, and a pitch-perfect sense of the era of the Blitz, when the English were pushed to their limits and responded with a courage and resilience that still inspires.