Showing results by narrator "Madeline Mrozek" in All Categories

After my second husband bails without a word, I’ve moved back to my hometown, San Marcos, Florida, one of the nation’s oldest cities. I’m here to open a 300-year-old inn, and, hopefully, begin a new life. It turns out the inn comes with ghosts, a decrepit vampire, and a snarky gargoyle. Plus, the paranormal in my genes is going haywire.

For PI Franki Amato, New Orleans is anything but The Big Easy. Her best friend and employer has assigned her an unsettling investigation - the murder of a gorgeous cosmetics CEO at an allegedly haunted plantation. Adding to Franki’s stress, her meddling Sicilian nonna is planning her engagement even though her boyfriend, Bradley, hasn’t popped the question, and his new secretary seems determined to ensure a proposal never happens. As Bradley grows distant and the plantation grows dangerous, Franki turns to a psychic who is deathly afraid of ghosts.

Despite the rumors, I'm definitely not a witch, my VHS tapes are not cursed, and renting one absolutely will not hurt anyone. Unless they forget to return it on time—late fees are killer. Kidding! As a werewolf, I can smell everyone's emotions. Guilt stinks like rotten fish, happiness is citrusy, and buttery popcorn...well, that's just my snack. But it's all too overwhelming. To make matters worse, a visitor ends up dead in front of my video rental shop and rumors spread fast. Gossiping ghosts and busybody vampires claim my movies magically murdered him.

Francesca "Franki" Amato is a straight-shooting rookie cop in Austin, Texas, until an embarrassing 911 call prompts her to take a job at her best friend’s PI agency in New Orleans. But Franki soon learns that solving crime in The Big Easy is no Bourbon Street party. Case in point, her first investigation involves the murder of a beautiful boutique manager who was strangled with a cheap yellow scarf, and her primary suspect is her client.

Pumpkin spice, buttery popcorn, and gasoline. One of these scents is not like the other and Noema's nose knows. As a werewolf who can smell emotions, Noema always finds herself tangled in small-town gossip. Gossip that explodes when superstitious locals cry wolf after a visitor winds up dead in front of Noema's video rental shop. Can she sniff out the suspects before the rumors put her out of business?

Catriona Masterton's fiancé, Ethan, is normal. In other words, he's the exact opposite of the Masterton clan. What on earth will Catriona's normal fiancé think when he comes home with her to meet her parents? What will he think when he discovers his soon-to-be in-laws invited Cat's ex to join them for a holiday dinner? Find out in a laugh-out-loud journey of self-discovery, familial pandemonium, and love.

An ax murder leaves Franki less than jazzed.... Jazz Fest is in full swing in The Big Easy, but PI Franki Amato is singing the blues. The owner of an historic Italian grocery and deli is murdered in a manner eerily reminiscent of the Axeman of New Orleans, a notorious serial killer who hasn’t struck in over a century, and someone Franki knows has been arrested for the crime. Adding to her distress, Franki, her mom, and her meddling Sicilian nonna finally meet her fiancé’s family, but the tone of their encounter is decidedly downbeat.

When Franki Amato leaves her cheating ex and erratic job as a rookie cop in Austin, Texas, she hopes for a quieter existence at her best friend Veronica’s New Orleans PI firm, Private Chicks. But life in The Big Easy is anything but quiet. Or easy. Her furnished apartment resembles an old French brothel, and her aging ex-stripper landlady has some rather odd policies.

Roxy becomes entangled in another murder as she puts her sleuthing skills to work in order to prove that Louise Carlton didn't kill Fred Hill over a pet adoption gone wrong. After all, if Louise goes to jail, who is going to find all the animals at Pet Palace a home?

Scene of the Grind is the first book in USA Today best-selling author Tonya Kappes' new A Killer Coffee Mystery Series. The series takes place in the cozy southern fictional tourist town of Honey Springs, Kentucky. Roxanne Bloom (her friends, though few call her Roxie) quit her job as a lawyer, divorced her cheating husband, and moved to the quaint town of Honey Springs, Kentucky where she'd spent many of her teenage summers visiting her eccentric and fun-loving Aunt Maxi.

Private investigator Franki Amato has just turned 30, and she feels anything but festive. To add insult to birthday injury, she has to investigate a surreal strip club homicide - with her 60ish ex-stripper landlady. Adding to her troubles, she has to figure out what a missing amber pendant and a mysterious amaretto bottle have to do with the murder, not to mention why she's being followed. When a second dancer goes down and a third is threatened, Franki turns to a weird witch to crack the case and cancel a curse.

It’s a slow, steamy summer in New Orleans’ French Quarter, but Franki Amato is busy planning her bridal shower—that is, until a hit-and-run outside a coffee shop gets her PI senses percolating. The victim is linked to crimes at a fancy society wedding in a haunted hotel where Franki’s fiancé’s family is staying. As for the java joint, it’s straight out of a hardboiled detective movie, and there’s something hinky about its walnut liqueur coffee.

Sarah Hastings's life is chaotic. Between running her organic farm, her yurt-style holistic B&B, and her vegan cafe Eat Me!, she barely has time for an aura cleanse. What's more, her spirit guide just announced the universe is sending her a man.

Six years ago, 10-year-old Sophie Albright disappeared from a shopping mall. Her mother, Jesse, is left in a self-destructive limbo, haunted by memories of her intense and difficult child, who was obsessed with birds. Trapped in her grief and guilt, Jesse stumbles through her workdays at a bookstore and spends her off hours poring over Sophie’s bird journals or haunting the mall to search for the face of her missing child.

Roxanne Bloom quit her job as a lawyer, divorced her cheating husband, and moved to the quaint town of Honey Springs, Kentucky where she'd spent many of her teenage summers visiting her eccentric and fun-loving Aunt Maxi. Roxy follows her dream and opens The Bean Hive, Honey Springs first coffee house on the town's newly revitalized boardwalk. that opens just in time for Honey Springs annual Honey Festival. Roxy's life couldn't be better.

Books 4, 5, and 6 in the USA Today best-selling Franki Amato Mysteries: Campari Crimson, Galliano Gold, and Marsala Maroon. When Franki Amato leaves her cheating ex and erratic job as a rookie cop in Austin, Texas, she hopes for a quieter existence at her best friend Veronica’s New Orleans PI firm, Private Chicks. But, life in the Big Easy is anything but quiet. Or easy. Her furnished apartment resembles an old French brothel, and her aging ex-stripper landlady has some rather odd policies.

When PI Franki Amato was invited to watch her 60-something landlady, Glenda, compete at the French Quarter’s annual kickoff to Mardi Gras weekend, she had reservations. After all, the event is called the Greasing of the Poles, and Glenda is an ex-stripper. But she never expected the fun event to turn her world upside down—and, literally, the victim’s.

Back in college, Marco Dawson never thought of Belle as anything more than a friend. If she had crossed his mind on his wedding day, it was probably only to wonder why she hadn't shown up to be a bridesmaid. After all, his new wife was her old roommate. Seven years have passed since then, and Belle just found out that Marco is divorced and vacationing with his family in an elegant Cancun resort. She's not about to let the right man get away twice. She heads to the resort where she plans to casually bump into Marco and ignite some romantic flames.

Franki Amato is in Venice to celebrate her best friend’s Christmas Eve nuptials. She’s looking forward to a relaxing break from the PI grind and a romantic gondola ride with her Casanova. But when a chef goes belly-up after making violet risotto for the reception, her holiday plans start sinking like La Serenissima. Dead set on finding the killer and saving her BFF’s wedding, Franki navigates the city’s streets and canals, which are darker and more twisted than catacomb tunnels, and all while the ghosts of past and present are quite literally haunting her.

Party-planner Cat leaves the hustle and bustle of New York City to move back to her tiny hometown outside of Chicago. She even buys her parents' farm with plans to turn the barn into a stylish wedding venue. Enter House to Home Television's Renovation Brothers. Cat gets accepted as one of the show's projects, bringing two gorgeous brothers to her doorstep. Unbeknownst to Cat, the TV hosts are behind a secret her newfound boyfriend will go to great lengths to keep hidden.