New Releases by Barrie Summy

“This splendid collection of border fiction is haunting and intense. Bravo to San Diego Sisters in Crime.” —T. Jefferson Parker, Edgar Award-winning author of The Last Good Guy Good stories start with characters crossing borders and finding themselves in worlds filled with hurt, harm, and danger. In Crossing Borders, the first anthology from Partners in Crime, the San Diego Chapter of Sisters in Crime, fifteen stories capture moments before, during and after characters cross borders and find themselves stumbling around strange lands that abound with saints, sinners, and monsters. Crossing Borders explores that liminal space—the place where people cross from not just from one place to another, like national boundaries, but the dividing line between life/death, stability/insanity, or innocence/guilt. This anthology contains stories that look at the duality of our lives, as we cross borders between people, values, and beliefs. Join us as we explore crossings, where a character, involved somehow in a crime, must pass over a border, literally or figuratively. As Rachel Howzell Hall says in our foreword: “Be prepared to hold your breath” as we enter that special space of crossing, transitioning, change, and death. Welcome to the border. Contributors: Lauren Avenius, Greta Boris, Pam Clark, Barbara DeMarco-Barrett, Cornelia Feye, Cheryl Garrett, B. J. Graf, S.J. Haworth, Kim Keeline, Kathy Krevat, Melinda Loomis, Gerald Martin, Jo Perry, Barrie Summy, and Carl Vonderau.

Eighth-grader Raine, a new girl at Yielding Middle School, uses her supernatural ability to see other people''s memories to solve the disappearance of a teenaged girl.

Having a boyfriend in eighth grade makes me kind of a celebrity at school. I''m also known throughout the spirit world--I''ve helped my ghost mom solve some tough cases. And now I''m on my biggest one of all . . . in Hollywood! Everyone is so famous here. But there''s no time for stargazing. Somehow I managed to stumble upon a mystery right on Hollywood Boulevard. Homes of young celebs are being burglarized, and it''s up to me to figure out who''s behind the million dollar crimes--and prove it to the Beverly Hills police. And to complicate things? The ghost of a teen star is dying to help me. One thing you never hear in the land of glitz & glamour? I so don''t do famous.

The third title in Barrie Summy''s tween mystery series! What''s better than a sleepover? A sleepover with makeovers! Sherry and her friends are having an awesome time with eye shadow, glitter, and more hair products than a salon. But when the girls wake up the next morning with serious skin issues, Sherry is freaked. Someone tampered with her makeup! It turns out that the mall''s cosmetics kiosk—where Junie''s cousin Amber works—has had lots of products returned by upset customers. Sherry''s determined to get to the bottom of things. After all, she''s become a bit of a crime-solving celebrity (well, at least in the spirit world). Ghost academies around the world are impressed by Sherry and her ghost mom''s skills. And if anyone can solve a mystery involving mascara, it''s Sherry Holmes Baldwin.

Someone’s out to get Sherry’s stepmom. . . .Can she save her before it’s too late? Did you know that the main campus of the Academy of Spirits is at a Dairy Queen in Phoenix? Me either. Until now. Some weird stuff has been happening to my stepmother, Paula, and the Academy has asked me, Sherry Holmes Baldwin, to get to the bottom of it. They think someone’s trying to hurt her. I really don’t want to get involved—my life is way too busy. Josh and I are celebrating two blissful months of togetherness. And my best friend, Junie, is finally showing a teeny bit of interest in clothes and makeup after years of brainiac behavior. But being that my mom is a ghost and all, me, my brother, and my dad rely on Paula a lot. So it’s not like I can just ignore what’s going on. Especially since my mom is competing at the Ghostlympics. If she comes in first place, she earns five minutes of Real Time. And that means I’ve got to get involved in a creepy, freaky mystery. But . . . I so don’t do spooky.

SO HERE I am spending spring break in California with my best friend, Junie. Our chaperone is a teenager, like us. And soon I’ll get to hang out with the coolest, cutest boy in the Southwest. Life is so good. Except I should tell you that I’m not actually in San Diego for fun. Even though I’m a normal person who likes normal stuff—friends, clothes, the mall—I’m supposed to be solving a mystery, one that involves a rhino heist and a crazy chef. And I have to do it because my supercop mom is counting on me. Did I mention she’s a ghost? A ghost who can make contact with only one person. Me, Sherry Holmes Baldwin. My mom is flunking out of the Academy of Spirits, and if I don’t help her, she’ll be banished to an afterlife for ghost failures. But . . . I so don’t do mysteries.