The tide has turned for Dodie O’Dell since a hurricane upended her life on the Jersey Shore. Now she’s further up the coast in sleepy Etonville, managing a restaurant that dishes dinners themed around the community theater’s latest productions. But Dodie just never imagined she’d land the starring role in a case of bloody homicide . . .Intrigued by rumors of vanishing box office money, Dodie has agreed to help oversee the casting of Romeo and Juliet at the modest ...

Restaurant manager Dodie O'Dell's themed food ideas have been called cute, clever, and delicious, but never revolutionary—until now. Dodie's Windjammer Restaurant is stocking the Etonville Little Theatre's concession stand with colonial-era desserts and drinks: Swamp Yankee applesauce cake, pumpkin bread, hot cider punch, and mulled wine to complement the latest production. A local playwright has adapted Thornton Wilder's Our Town into Eton Town, shifting the story to col...

BAD BLOODWith Halloween just around the corner, Dodie O’Dell is making preparations to transform the Windjammer Restaurant on the Jersey Shore into a haunted house, while the Etonville Little Theatre is staging Dracula. But casting the titular Transylvanian is proving challenging. The amateur actors in the company are not shy about chewing the scenery, but who among them can convincingly sink their fangs into a victim's neck? When a mysterious newcomer wit...

KNISH OF DEATHThe amateur actors at the Etonville Little Theatre may be known for chewing the scenery, but restaurant manager Dodie O’Dell has something more appetizing for them to sink their teeth into. She’s been taking bows in her small New Jersey town for her theme menus, designed to complement the local productions. This fall, the community theatre is staging Arsenic and Old Lace, set in 1940s Brooklyn, so Dodie is serving up hot dogs, Italian ices, e...

DEATH TAKES A HOLIDAYRestaurant manager Dodie O’Dell has found her niche in the cozy New Jersey town of Etonville, creating menus that make a delicious double-act with the community theater’s productions. Now she’s ready for a vacation at the Jersey Shore town she called home before a hurricane hit. Sun, salty air, and seagulls make for a nostalgic escape from regular life—until a contingent from Etonville arrives to compete in a Jersey Shore theater festival....

FACE THE MUSICBusiness is humming at Dodie O'Dell's Windjammer Restaurant, where she offers theme menus connected to the Etonville Little Theatre’s amateur productions. This June, the theatre is collaborating with the neighboring Creston Players to stage Bye Bye Birdie under the stars—their first musical! There's a contest in the play to pick a fan to receive rock idol Conrad Birdie's last kiss before he ships off for the Army, so Dodie plans a contest to ...

Lab Lit: Exploring Literary and Cultural Representations of Science is the first formal, systematic, scholarly investigation of laboratory literature from the perspective of literary studies. Lab Lit as a new genre has received a lot of public and media attention due to its compelling presentation of science practitioners and the relatable explanations of the scientific advancements that have shaped modern society and will continue to do so. However, the genre has been largely overlooked b...

Perfect for fans of Laura Childs and Amanda Flower, this second Bee Keeping mystery takes Bailey Briggs to the brink as murders threaten the future of her granny’s Bee Festival.The small town of Humble Hills, Colorado, is abuzz with excitement over the upcoming annual Bee Festival, sponsored by Bailey’s Granny Bee and the Honeybuzz Mountain Ranch. The long weekend of festivities includes a beauty pageant, beekeeping demonstrations, a local restaurant bake-off, and ...

Wedding planner Mallory Shepard doesn’t have time to organize her own nuptials—because right now she’s engaged in solving a murder . . .When Mallory discovers some old lace at a Port Quincy antique shop, she knows it’ll make a perfect headpiece. But she’s barely gotten it out of the store before Helene Pierce tears it from her hands. Helene claims it’s a family heirloom that went missing when her late husband died in a hit-and-run twenty-five years ago.

Vivien Chien's Lana Lee returns for Killer Kung Pao, another delectable cozy set in a Chinese restaurant in Cleveland, Ohio!Is life at the Ho-Lee Noodle House becoming too hot to handle?Lana Lee’s plate is already plenty full. Running her family’s Chinese restaurant in Cleveland’s Asia Village is challenging on the best of days. But just when Lana thinks she might be able to catch her breath before the weekend—which she’s eager to ...

Murder hits the stacks when literary agent Allie Cobb investigates a fatality in the local library . . .Allie Cobb returns home from a book conference armed with hugs for her cat and her boyfriend, and dreams of a long, hot bath. She’s also getting ready to take the plunge by hiring an intern for her expanding literary agency. But it’s one for the books when Allie finds the town’s librarian—and her longtime role model—seconds away from death on the library floor.

Overcommitted committee member Abby McCree gets in a patch of trouble trying to solve the murder of a pumpkin farmer …The small town of Snowberry Creek, Washington, is gearing up for the Halloween Festival, and naturally Abby is on the planning committee. As part of her duties, she's picking up a pumpkin order from ornery farmer Ronald Minter. But what she finds instead is the farmer in the middle of his corn maze with a knife in his back.The police suspect...