Showing results by narrator "Darlene Allen" in All Categories

You know that eccentric great-aunt no one wants to sit beside at family functions? Or that neighbor who’s just a little too strange to get to know? Or the pushy woman at the thrift store? Maybe you know Gertrude. She’s rude. She’s frightfully frugal. And she’s fearless. Here are the first three Gertrude, Gumshoe novellas, collected for you in one place. She’ll find a body in a house of balls. She’ll tick off the local police. She’ll go undercover at her local thrift store. And she might even manage to get herself kidnapped while yardsaling. All in the name of justice.

In Books 4 through 6, Gertrude tears all over Maine trying to find crimes to solve. She adds another "assistant" to her team, competes in poetry slams, tries to use a pistol, tracks down an ex-spook, and hunts down a ghost.

When it comes to solving cold cases, nothing is ever cut and dried…. Quilter Beatrice Coleman is enjoying the sleepy peace of a tranquil afternoon…until it’s interrupted by her friend, Miss Sissy. The elderly lady is making wild claims about narrowly escaping an intruder. And intruders are unusual in tiny Dappled Hills.

After being thrown in the clink for private investigating without a license, she's fled the state to go where her talents will be more appreciated: South Dakota. She has big plans to set up shop, but an injury halts her journey shortly after crossing The Sunshine State's state line. She and Calvin are forced to hole up in a struggling campground, and when Gertrude finds the body of the campground owner, she is certain the man has been murdered.

When a quilting event falls to pieces, Beatrice works to patch things up. Dappled Hills quilters are eagerly anticipating new events at the Patchwork Cottage quilt shop. The shop’s owner, Posy, has announced "Sew and Tell" socials and a mystery quilt group project. But one day, instead of emailed quilt instructions, the quilters receive a disturbing message about a fellow quilter. When that quilter mysteriously meets her maker, Beatrice decides to use her sleuthing skills to find the killer before more lives are cut short.

There just isn't enough crime in Mattawooptock, so Gertrude has to convince Calvin to go to the big city—Portland, where she will go undercover as the newest slam poet on the scene. But have any actual crimes been committed, or is this just Gertrude's wild imagination at work?

Gertrude's never been so busy. There's been a murder at a Wild West theme park, and Gertrude is on the scene. But she can't stay long, because there's been another murder in Mattawooptock. To complicate matters, Deputy Hale has lost his patience with her eccentric sleuthing. Can she avoid his handcuffs long enough to solve a murder? Or two?

Former Boston Brahmin Mercy Allcutt is excited to be renting out suites of rooms to deserving working women in her new home on Bunker Hill in Los Angeles. She considers she's performing an act of good-heartedness, no matter skeptical her boss, private investigator Ernie Templeton, is about her endeavor. Mercy not only takes driving lessons from Ernie, but she discovers there's more to being a landlady than meets the eye. Is one of her Angels of Mercy not what she appears to be? Only time, and perhaps Mercy and Ernie, will tell...

As Beatrice’s wedding day approaches, murder finds a way to make her pressed for time. Beatrice and Wyatt’s days are spent planning their cozy, chapel wedding. Both widowed, they mean to keep their wedding an intimate, family affair. But everyone in Dappled Hills still wants to celebrate the happy couple. Beatrice and Wyatt find themselves at dinners, picnics, and barbeques in their honor.

Gertrude thinks she's got a knack for proving that ghosts don't exist, but this time she's taking on a celebrity phantom: Seth Bullock. She and Calvin pack the cats into the camper and head to Deadwood, where she will attempt to prove herself right once again. But shortly after she gets there, a movie star drops dead, and she finds herself with two cases to solve. Maybe the two cases are even connected?

Gertrude is still feeling confident after her first gumshoe victory. So when she finds a murder victim at her local thrift store, she is excited to tell the Sheriff's Department everything she's learned at the scene of the crime. Unsurprisingly, they don't listen. So Gertrude must solve the mystery herself. And the only way she can figure to do this is to go undercover—as the Mattawooptock Thrifty-Help's newest team member. Anyone who knows Gertrude knows this probably isn't the best idea. She'll probably get fired. Or arrested.

The Wright family has trekked their way from Arizona to Minnesota on their homeschooling RV adventure of a lifetime! In the "Land of 10,000 Lakes," they discover some really big things. Will Nadia have time to see all the sculptures she wants to? Can Aidan pick up a cherry as big as his head? Will Stephanie's love of rock climbing come in handy to keep Harrison safe? Just how do you paint metamorphosis? And can the Wrights manage to get the Time Tuner to work again?

Twenty years ago a teenager drowned in Clearwater Lake. Now her ghost is haunting its shores. Gertrude knows there's no such thing as ghosts, and she's going to prove it—even if it means spending some time in the water herself.

For 15 minutes each night, a portal opens in Tamara's barn and a horde of ghosts spills into her yard. She and her co-worker, Dex, work together to find a way to help Cal and the thousands of spirits stuck in the void to cross over. When she learns she has the ghost touch - the ability to touch the ghosts as if they were corporeal - and she accidentally helps a little boy cross, she believes it might be possible. But not all the spirits play nice.

Historical cozy mystery set in Los Angeles, CA, in 1926. Mercy Allcutt, Boston Brahmin, wants to experience life in all its grittiness. How better than by working for a down-on-his luck PI in Hollywood? Once she discovers what PI actually stands for, she knows Mr. Ernest Templeton is the boss for her. Together, they must cope with a stray child, kidnapping, blackmail, murder, a toy poodle, a vamp, a stalker, Mercy's overactive imagination and Ernie's strong protective streak.

Seventeen-year-old Annie Tillery and her Aunt Jill set off for Long Island's Fire Island for a vacation of surf, sun, and sailing. Annie is happy to leave behind the stress of her relationship with her parents. Aunt Jill, who is an NYPD detective, is mixing her vacation with a case she must keep secret from Annie, who is suspicious nevertheless. Annie finds romance and intrigue when she meets Ty Egan, the nephew of their host on the island.

Thanksgiving Angels brings Mercy Allcutt and Daisy Gumm Majesty together for the first time when Mercy's parents buy a winter home in Pasadena, CA, and force Mercy to visit for Thanksgiving. To Mercy's shock, Mrs. Allcutt hosts a séance, conducted by Daisy. Mayhem ensues.

Transplanted Boston Brahmin, Mercy Allcutt, has had some very exciting times as secretary to private investigator, Ernie Templeton. While it’s true she’s been in what she considers a wee bit of trouble (and Ernie considers out-and-out danger) a time or two, she’s determined to continue learning the ways of the “real” world. However, when she sets out to find her wandering boss, Ernie, one hot September afternoon, she not only discovers a corpse, but she also finds Ernie, bound and gagged. Worse, when the police arrive to investigate the crime, they peg Ernie as the killer.

The wreckage of a World War II plane is found in the mountains of Appalachia. It mysteriously crashed in 1943 on its way to a naval base. Inside the plane is a note, written by Annie Tillery's great-grandmother, Charlotte, who was in love with a fighter pilot. Young Charlotte tested the planes and flew them to naval bases; her fiancé flew the planes in battle.

Detectives Alexandra Winter and Jack Daniels have been close friends and partners ever since they started working at the San Diego Police Department. In fact, on their latest case there's only one thing separating them: the fact that Alexandra's been murdered by their main suspect. But that doesn't mean either of them have stopped in their hunt for the killer...