Showing results by author "Elaine Viets" in All Categories

Ah, the Danessa Celedine handbag. To have one is to invite envy and flaunt wealth, with each bag costing about five thousand dollars. When a big company considers paying millions for the use of the Danessa name, mystery shopper Josie Marcus is hired to shop the stores secretly. Each boutique is worse then the other. Josie's less than stellar report provokes threats of a lawsuit—until Danessa is strangled with one of her thousand-dollar snakeskin belts. Now Josie has to bag the killer to keep her job—and maybe her life.

When unlikely sleuth Helen Hawthorne flees St. Louis, she fetches up in Fort Lauderdale, suddenly surrounded by the beautiful and the Botoxed. They all shop at the same place — Juliana’s, the overpriced boutique where Helen works. And they’re all looking for a wealthy wise guy to take to the cleaners.

When Fort Lauderdale’s wealthiest want to discreetly trade their best barely-worn threads for cash, they bring it to Snapdragon’s Second Thoughts - which is where Helen Hawthorne finds herself selling the most chic second-hand clothing in Florida. But the usual haggling turns homicidal when a particularly petty customer turns up dead - dangling by a darling Gucci scarf - and Helen's boss Vera is eyed as a suspect.

Newlyweds Josie and veterinarian Ted Scottsmeyer are happily married, and they buy their first house, a fixer-upper, from Ted’s partner, Christine. When they tear down the rickety gazebo in the backyard, they find the body of Christine’s sister, a free spirit who supposedly took off six months ago. The police arrest Christine for murder, and Ted has to work long hours at his practice to cover for his now jailed partner. Josie has to find the real killer to save her marriage and Christine.

Helen and Phil discover dark undercurrents of corruption behind the facades of cute beachfront businesses, as well domestic secrets. Helen and Phil have to solve this crime soon—before they’re all up a creek without a paddle.

Miguel Angel’s chic salon is where Fort Lauderdale’s high society hairdos get done. Even though Helen Hawthorne is just a gofer at the upscale salon, she has to admit the fabulous Miguel Angel is a master at the craft of coif. But with great heads of hair come great headaches. Especially when Miguel Angel and Helen try to prepare the pregnant fiancée of Kingman "King" Oden for her nuptials. King is a bloated, loudmouth bully with a gossip blog, a TV show, and a lousy attitude.

Still on the run from the long arm of the law, Helen Hawthorne has found employment as a maid at Fort Lauderdale’s Full Moon Hotel, picking up after clueless tourists and keeping her head down. But staying discreet gets a bit more difficult when Helen opens the hotel dumpster and discovers the dead body of a fellow hotel employee. Then a hotel guest is murdered in the shower, and Helen’s no-good ex-husband Rob arrives in town in search of the money the court said he deserves.

The Superior Club is where Fort Lauderdale’s wealthiest - and snobbiest - come to play. But for Helen Hawthorne, it’s all work and no play. As a customer care clerk, it’s her job to cater to the clients’ every little whim and take care of their every little problem.

Mystery-shopper Josie Marcus is thrilled to be getting married, and her latest assignment is perfect. She has to shop wedding flowers and cakes. Meanwhile, her future mother-in-law is trying to turn her simple wedding into an extravaganza. Josie’s finance is stalked by Molly, a homicidal bridezilla. Molly is shot, and Ted’s mother is arrested for the bridezilla’s murder. Josie has to find the killer before she can marry the man she loves.

Newly married, Helen Hawthorne can’t wait to start her life anew - and start an investigation agency with her PI hubby, Phil. Her penchant for working dead-end jobs comes in handy when they’re hired to look into a fitness fanatic who may be cheating on his wife. Taking a receptionist job at their subject’s gym, Helen soon discovers that she has to start pumping her own iron if she wants to keep an eye on the weight-lifting lothario.

Josie mystery-shops doggy daycare centers, including Uncle Bob’s Doggy Day Camp, known for its outrageous TV commercials, with Uncle Bob acting like a dog. But Josie discovers when the cameras are off, Uncle Bob is mean as a rabid dog. Franklin, the man who rents from Josie’s mother, works for Bob, and plans to quit now that he’s seen Bob’s cruelty. But Bob is murdered, and Franklin is arrested for the crime. Josie has to catch a killer and clear Franklin’s name–before more trouble is unleashed.

Still living under the radar in Fort Lauderdale due to her refusal to pay her ex-husband’s spousal support, Helen Hawthorne’s latest workaday job might just be the lowest rung on the employment ladder - telemarketing. While Helen is conducting a phone survey with the wealthy Henry “Hank” Asporth, Helen is convinced she heard a murder being committed. With no solid proof, Helen is driven to find out what really happened with Hank and the mystery woman. But if she’s not careful, she just might end up holding a dead line of her own.

Angela Richman, Chouteau County death investigator, finds herself deep in the Missouri woods on a perfect spring day. But there is nothing idyllic about her grim walk - a body has been discovered in a muddy creek, and Detective Jace Budewitz wants Angela on the scene.

"Ageless" Hollywood diva Jessica Gray is finishing the last leg of her one-woman show in St. Louis, Missouri, and the nearby town of Chouteau Forest is dazzled. During the show, she humiliates three homeless women onstage, fires her entourage - not for the first time - and makes a bitter enemy of the town's powerful patriarch. After she collapses at an after-show party and is rushed to the hospital, she ignores the advice of her doctors and discharges herself in order to return to LA.

Helen Hawthorne and her new husband, Phil Sagemont, are a PI team. To catch a jewel thief on a luxury yacht, Helen goes undercover as the ship’s new stewardess, serving drinks to snobs, scrubbing floors, and cleaning up after seasick passengers. While Helen is cruising the Bahamas, Phil has to catch a sexy gold digger who may have killed her elderly husband for his fortune.

After all she’s endured with her own marriage, divorce, and subsequent flight from alimony, Helen Hawthorne getting a job at Millicent’s Bridal Salon is ironic in the extreme. The newest client is Kiki, a wealthy witch who’s making her daughter's wedding day all about Kiki. When Kiki is found smothered to death with her daughter’s wedding dress, the cops seem to think Helen is responsible. Now, Helen must prove her innocence before the bride and groom read their wedding vows—and the police read Helen her rights.

At the Pampered Pet Boutique in Fort Lauderdale, the wealthy owners need a muzzle more than their beloved pets. On her way to deliver a freshly groomed Yorkie, Helen discovers client Tammie Grimsby stabbed to death with a pair of grooming scissors. As Helen sniffs around both the boutique and a growing list of pure breed suspects, she knows that her bark will have to be worse than her bite if she’s going to put the collar on a killer.

Undercover retail spy and single mom Josie has to mystery shop a shoe store with a salesman called Mel Poulaine, who’s just a little too interested in women’s bare feet. Josie is caught in a web of blackmail, gambling, and truly desperate housewives.

Helen Hawthorne is still on the run because of her refusal to pay her worthless ex-husband alimony. But a girl’s gotta eat...and pay rent, utilities, etc. So she’s taken a cash-paying job at Fort Lauderdale’s own Page Turners bookstore. And while the job is decent enough, the owner of the store is anything but. Page Turner III is a boor with more money than brains: He’s cheating on his wife while running his family business into the ground and has a list of enemies longer than any best seller. So when he turns up dead, no one is too surprised. What is surprising is where.

The last thing Chouteau County death investigator Angela Richman wants to do during the holidays is her job. So it’s with some trepidation that she agrees to help the desperate Mr. and Mrs. LaRouche when they show up on her doorstep. Their daughter Juliet is missing. She was last seen leaving a high-school party just before midnight, and they’d like Angela’s help getting their trusted local detectives involved. The officer assigned to the case - Chouteau newcomer Det. Jace Budewitz - is far too blunt and impolite for their liking.