Most Popular Books by Carolyn G. Hart

Annie Laurance, the lovely, young owner of the "Death on Demand" bookstore, and her wealthy lover, Max Darling, search for a killer after author Elliot Morgan is murdered during a meeting of famous mystery writers.

Bookstore owner Annie Darling is determined to untangle an unholy marriage--even if she has to cross swords with hubby Max and cross paths with a cruelly clever stalker.

Just married, Annie Laurance, a mystery bookstore owner, and Max Darling, a police detective, receive a call that leads them to a murder and the disappearance of Annie''s store assistant

Mystery bookstore owner, Annie, turns sleuth to protect her beloved from an accusation of murder on the set of the local production of "Arsenic and Old Lace."

On a business trip to London, a former wartime undercover agent realizes that someone from her past is trying to harm her.

Max ignores a woman''s request for help until Annie hears about it and seeks the woman out in time to hear her final words.

Working at the local newspaper during the summer of 1944, Gretchen Gilman investigates the mysterious death of Faye Tatum, found dead in her own living room, supposedly murdered by her husband, a World War II veteran.

Arrogant media magnate Chase Prescott calls Henrietta O''Dwyer Collins for help when an attempt is made on his life. When she arrives at Prescott''s opulent house on his private island, Henrie O encounters a lethal collection of suspects.

When ambitious, abrasive Maggie Winslow announces her intentions to investigate a trio of unsolved local crimes, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter-turned-journalism teacher, Henrietta "Henrie O" Collins, urges her talented student to pursue the story with uncommon vigor. But when Maggie''s corpse is discovered the next day in Lovers'' Lane--the site of one of the crimes the budding reporter was exploring--the guilt-stricken, sixty-something sleuth vows to get to the bottom of Maggie''s murder, even if it means dredging up a past everyone seems to want to keep buried and placing herself firmly in a relentless killer''s path. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

Annie and Max Darling work to clear their friend of the murder of a woman who had been blackmailing several members of their community.

An ancient onetime movie star announces that she is leaving her fortune to a charismatic charlatan, and when she shows up murdered, the finger of suspicion is pointed straight at Annie Darling''s deadbeat dad.

“Cheers for Henrie O, an intelligent, engaging sleuth!”—Mary Higgins Clark Henrie O is looking forward to a quiet holiday. Instead, the ex-journalist turned sleuth awakens in a Tennessee mountain cabin to discover her friend’s nephew, his shirt stained with blood, his handsome face stricken by fear and horror. Craig Matthews swears he didn’t kill his wife, swears he didn’t lure Patty Kay out to the playhouse of their lavish Fair Haven estate and leave her bloodied and dead. Why, then did he run away? It’s a question that draws Henrie O into the thick of a life-and-death drama, into the lives of Fair Haven’s best families, and into a world where wealth and privilege mask a hotbed of sex, lies, and desperation. Only when Henrie O begins to question the motives of the bereaved widower, the sullen nymphet of a daughter, the irresistible ex-husband, the venomous sister, even the ingratiating schoolmaster of the exclusive school where Patty Kay was a trustee, does the truth start to emerge. But when another corpse turns up, Henrie O knows time is running out. Now she must untangle this deadly web—or become the next victim of a mind bent on murder.

A group of Christie buffs. . .In honor of Agatha Christie''s one hundredth birthday, mystery bookstore owner Annie Laurance Darling plans a week-long celebration of mystery, treasure hunts, title clues, and Christie trivia. Yet even as the champagne is chilling and the happy guests begin arriving on Broward''s Rock Island, Annie feels a niggling sense of doom. But the last thing she or her guests expect is that the scheduled fun and mayhem will include a real-life murder. The unexpected arrival of Neil Bledsoe, the most despised book critic in America, was sure to raise a few hackles. An advocate of hard-boiled detection and gory true crime, Bledsoe drops a bombshell on the devoted Christie assemblage: He''s penning a scurrilous biography of the grand dame of suspense herself. Before the first title clue is solved, no less than two attempts are made on Bledsoe''s life. Now Annie and her unflappable husband, Max Darling, find themselves trying to stop a murder in the making-only the first corpse isn''t the one they''re expecting. . .and it isn''t the last.

On a mist-shrouded private school campus in Southern California, ex-reporter and new teacher Ann Farrell finds the body of a student sprawled among the rocks at the bottom of a barranca. Did the victim write the ugly poison pen notes sent recently to several faculty members, including Ann? Did the notes lead to his murder? Ann Farrell doesn''t think so. Determinedly, Ann starts asking questions. She gets some shocking answers, and ultimately faces a deadly encounter with a ruthless and calculating killer.

Annie stages a Mystery Night for the annual antebellum house tour of the Historical Preservation Society of Chastain, South Carolina. When the grand dame is murdered, Annie is the prime suspect. Max Darling, Annie''s fiance pieces together evidence and finds a witness to clear her name--but then the witness is murdered.

Attorney K.C. Carlisle lives and works as a storefront lawyer in an exclusive northern California seaside town. When her lawyer cousin Kenneth is arrested on a murder charge and other family members are implicated, K.C. plunges into a search for the killer -- even thought the investigation may destroy her late father''s good reputation. K.C. faces some ghosts from her past as she attempts to bring the real criminal to justice.

A celebration for former Broward''s Rock resident Alex Griffith and the release of his latest novel is overshadowed by a newspaper story about the writer''s plan to expose the real-life people behind his characters.

Catherine Cavanaugh was the beautiful wife of an ambitious American diplomat - a woman who denied her passions and hid her regrets. Jack Maguire was a brash reporter who lived by his wits and broke all the rules. In a moment, their lives touched and a dangerous love was born. From bomb-shattered London to the besieged Philippines, Catherine and Jack were caught in the sweeping tides of war. Finally, Catherine was forced to make a choice between keeping her love trapped inside her forever, or embracing the joy meant for only for brave hearts...

To celebrate an April Fool''s Day appearance by the island''s most famous mystery author, Death on Demand Bookstore owner Annie Darling creates a unique promotion that embarrassingly backfires, thanks to an interfering prankster.

Henrie O, retired Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, travels to Bermuda to accompany her grandchildren to their father''s wedding and ends up trying to unmask the restless spirit supposedly haunting the hotel.

Ghostly gumshoe Bailey Ruth Raeburn of Heaven s Department of Good Intentions is checking out a troubling disturbance in Adelaide, Oklahoma. But what seems at first like simple vandalism won t be an open-and-shut case Bailey Ruth s supervisor, Wiggins, is worried about a dear old friend. The ghost of elegant Lorraine Marlow haunts Adelaide s college library. Known as the Lady of the Roses, she plays matchmaker, using the fragrant flowers to pair up students. But someone s making mischief after hours, leaving roses strewn about the library, destroying a gargoyle, and stealing a valuable book. Concerned with Lorraine s reputation among the living, Wiggins dispatches the irrepressible redhead Bailey Ruth to investigate. Soon after her arrival, trouble begins to stack up. A campus security guard is shot by an intruder, and Bailey Ruth uncovers a catalog of evidence blaming a student for the crimes. As a ghost, she may not be all there, but even Bailey Ruth can decipher that something isn t adding up. So with police preparing to make an arrest, the spirited detective must race against the clock to find the real culprit, because when justice is overdue, it takes more than death to stop Bailey Ruth Raeburn "

A chilling message is delivered to sexagenarian sleuth Henrietta O''Dwyer claiming that her beloved late husband''s death six years ago was no accident.--

Annie''s friend and fellow shop owner Ves Roundtree is a very wealthy woman. Upon her death, several cash-strapped islanders are in line to collect life-changing inheritances. The problem is, Ves is still very much alive. She hosts a dinner for the prospective beneficiaries and, not long after, Ves suffers a bad fall that was no accident. Everyone at the table had a motive but not a shred of evidence was left behind. When one of the suspects is found floating in the harbour and Ves disappears, Annie and her husband Max spring into action to catch a calculating killer before greed takes another life.

Annie and Max Darling find themselves marooned on an island while trying to determine which of their fellow guests murdered an unpopular media magnate.

Bailey Ruth Raeburn''s latest mission is to guide the spirit of a deceased young man named Jimmy to the next life. But Jimmy is determined to watch over his still-living girlfriend, Megan. As if being haunted by her late boyfriend wasn''t enough, Megan is dealing with an arrogant, manipulative senior partner who threatens to fire Megan''s vulnerable secretary if Megan accepts a partnership at another law firm. Since Jimmy refuses to move on while Megan is being blackmailed, Bailey Ruth agrees to help him. But after the partner turns up dead and Megan is found at the crime scene, Bailey Ruth and Jimmy must uncover a killer before the love of Jimmy''s life is ordered to spend a lifetime behind bars.

Married at fifteen to a man chosen by her father, Camilla has long since resigned herself to the role of dutiful and respectable wife. Hers is a loveless union, however; her husband, Decimus, has no interest in Camilla beyond the money, possessions, and social station she provides him. And then Camilla meets the good and gentle Marcus Julius Paulus and learns for the first time what it means to be cherished by a man. Despite her feelings for Marcus, Camilla would rather give up her true love and lasting happiness than bring scandal on her family. But when she learns of ambitious Decimus''s despicable plan to gain favor with the emperor Caligula, Camilla knows she must free herself from her husband''s clutches. Now she has become a liability and Decimus is determined to rid himself of the wife he has never loved without giving up either her money or family connections.

Pleased with the success of her murder-mystery cruise, Annie Darling and her husband, Max, are suddenly on the hunt for a killer when one of the cruise participants falls overboard, the first in a series of suspicious deaths.

After two locals disappear during the height of tourist season, local mystery bookshop owners Annie and Max Darling investigate a twisted path of adultery, blackmail and betrayal to find the culprit in the third novel of the series following Death Comes Silently.

"Everyone dreams of stumbling upon a long-lost treasure in the attic or inheriting a fortune from some distant rleative. But for Ellen Gallagher, the impoverished owner of a thrift store in South Carolina, that dream comes true when she finds her possession a first edition of Agatha Christie''s Poirot Investigates that has been signed by the author...and inscribed to the Queen of England. When the book disappears from her shop, Ellen must call on her friend, Annie Darling, owner of the mystery bookstore Death on Demand, to track it down"--Front flap of dust jacket.

A frantic phone call from an old friend sends sixty-something sleuth Henrie O to San Antonio, Texas, in search of her friend''s granddaughter, Iris Chavez. Iris had been working on San Antonio''s famous River Walk at the Tesoros Gallery, a shop renowned for its unquestioned integrity, excellence, and priceless treasures. Iris has disappeared without a word and hasn''t been heard from since. And nobody at Tesoros seems to care. Hidden amid the exquisite objects in the gallery and among the many family members who run the business is a secret -- a secret Henrie O must uncover if she is to find Iris. Interviews with the charming matriarch, Maria Elena Garza, who created the business decades earlier, and with her children and grandchildren reveal nothing. When an unsigned note summons Henrie O to the River Walk, she is stunned by what she finds. An ominous threat, followed by a horrifying murder, convinces her that Iris is in terrible danger. Disgrace lies in wait for an old and respected business...and death waits for anyone who gets in the way.

Down south to solve a missing person case the local police cannot crack, Annie and Max Darling discover that the secretive, aristocratic Tarrant family may be trying to cover up a forty-year-old murder. By the author of the award-winning Something Wicked.

When a publisher turns up at the annual Dixi e Book Fair peddling a tell-all novel detailing the indiscre tions and darkest secrets of five nominated authors, the aut hors are up in arms. Then a fatal shot of bourbon ends the p ublisher''''s life. ''

Even though her own heart was breaking, Coley could still derive great pleasure watching the angry scowl on Jason''s face as she mocked him about his plans to have her for his wife. How upsetting for him and his plans for the Slash S ranch that Coley wasn''t falling into his arms as he had expected her to. But how long could Coley maintain her distance from this arrogant man who made her heart race?

FICTION-MYSTERY/DETECTIVE

When mystery bookstore owner Annie Laurance is invited to teach "The Three Great Ladies of the Mystery" class at Chastain Community College, the sometime sleuth discovers that all is not strictly academic in Chastain''s hallowed halls of learning. And when a shocking scandal in the school newspaper erupts in a suicide and two violent deaths, Professor Laurance enlists the talents of her new hubby, private eye Max Darling, and dons her thinking cap to probe intrigue and vengeance among Chastain''s faculty. A Dangerous Thing Max and Annie, with dubious help from three of their own great ladies of the mystery -- Annie''s pixilated mother-in-law, a batty local dowager, and a Christie crime fanatic -- learn that just about everyone at the school had means, motive, and access to the murder weapons. From the secretly boozing professor of advertising to the muscle-bound campus cad who barters passing grades for a little extracurricular activity, anyone on the faculty is a possible killer -- waiting to strike again!

Although "Dr. Ellen Christie, an anthropologist, knows San Francisco can be a dangerous city," she agrees to follow a stranger in a "desperate hunt that leads through the darkest byways of Chinatown."--Cover.