Jennifer Rowe

Debate rages when Trevor Lamb, convicted five years ago for the brutal murder of his wife, is released with a pardon. Passions run high, especially in Hope's End, the tiny rural backwater that is home to the notorious Lamb clan. When, twenty-four hours after his release, Trevor Lamb is foud dead in his hometown, the police think it's an open and shut case. Privately, some think it's no more than Lamb deserved. But then matters take a shocking twist and private investigator Verity Birdwood finds herself compelled to uncover the truth.

She stared into the speckled mirror, wondering how she had come to this. How could she, Holly Love, apple of her parents' eye, competent manipulator of invoices in Gorgon Office Supplies, have ended up alone and starving in a dead man's flat? How indeed? Most reluctant heroines would throw in the towel at this point. But Holly Love is made of sterner stuff. She's sworn to track down the cheating swine who ripped her life apart, and make him pay. But as she tries to keep her head in the face of a bizarre mystery, a gloomy old house, a hearse-driving Elvis impersonator and a gang of vengeful thugs - not to mention a garrulous and possibly possessed parrot - Holly is forced to come to terms with a great truth. However bad things seem, they can always get worse.

In a contemporary story based on Shakespeare's play, Macbeth, Horatio Wilkes seeks to solve the murder of Duncan MacKae at the Scottish Highland Games in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

The last thing Verity Birdwood wants is a beauty makeover. But when the scrappy TV researcher goes on assignment to a luxurious spa, that's just what she gets. A glimpse of the glamorous retreat's lurid intrigues gives Birdie the creeps - even before she discovers a shocking connection with a serial killer. When Margot Bell, the spa's icily stylish owner, is grotesquely stabbed to death, and a raging storm traps the occupants of the mansion with a corpse and an unknown murderer, Birdie's sleuthing instincts spring into action. Searching for a motive, she swiftly excavates a trail of torment, treachery, and blackmail. The spa's skillful hairstylist and silent partner, the harassed housekeeper, the hysterical male secretary, and the hunk of a masseur who was the dead woman's lover - all had reason to resent Margot. Then there are the pampered guests, from fat Josie to gaunt Helen, neurotic Belinda to ambitious Edwina - each presenting a possible motive. As a flood ravages the countryside, Birdie asks herself if Margot's murder was a "copycat killing," or if a demented and practiced slayer is about to strike again. Then a second savage stabbing tells Birdie she must discover the killer's identity before he or she can claim yet another victim.

It was the publishing event of the season . . . until someone added murder to the menu. When Quentin Hale, the ruthless new takeover boss of one of Australia's oldest publishing houses, launched a glittering round of parties, interviews, and book signings to promote his top four authors, he unwittingly whipped up a recipe for disaster. His jolly author of popular gardening books was actually a notorious lush. His successful authoress of muckraking biographies was a malicious troublemaker. And his queen of children's books had once shared a disastrous love affair with his number-one novelist, a man teetering on the brink of yet another nervous breakdown. The disgruntled staff could have warned Hale that the promotion was a deadly mistake, if he'd asked. But even they couldn't have known just how deadly . . . until one famed author downed a fatal drink and a second soon went missing. Now it looks as if someone in this literary crew has been plotting murder all along. Can editor Kate Delaney and her friend Birdie catch the killer before he writes off his next victim?

The old crowd had gathered at Aunt Alice's once again - to pick apples against a chilly orchard setting. Beneath the surface were the usual boiling jealousies, frustrations and uneasy gaps between the generations and in-laws. Or was there something different about this year?

* Also known as Deadline (Tessa Vance, #1) "Introducing Senior Detective Tessa Vance. Jennifer Rowe's brilliant, intuitive homicide investigator now featuring in the outstanding televison series Murder Call. A series of bizarre and mystifying murders plunges Tessa Vance into a hunt for an obsessive killer while a terrifying shadow from the past threatens to overhwhelm her. This is Tessa's first case with her new Homicide division. She has to prove herself - especially to her new partner, Steve Hayden. She knows there won't be any second chances. And this killer is clever, ruthless, implacable. The grotesque clues left at the crime scenes lead nowhere. The murderer's victims seem to have nothing in common. But Tessa knows that the deaths form a pattern. Her discovery of just what that pattern is shocks her and surprises her. But more shocking is the twist that turns the investigation on its head, and propels Tessa & Steve into a deadly race against time."

The latest in a series of popular crime and mystery anthologies from Diamond Dagger Award-winning genre expert Martin Edwards, featuring authors including Ngaio Marsh, Edmund Crispin and Julian Symons. As a collection of mysteries about books, libraries, book shops and authors, this will appeal to bibliophiles and booksellers alike. A bookish puzzle threatens an eagerly awaited inheritance; a submission to a publisher recounts a murder that seems increasingly to be a work of nonfiction; an irate novelist puts a grisly end to the source of his writer’s block. There is no better hiding place for clues – or red herrings – than inside the pages of a book. But in this world of resentful ghost writers, indiscreet playwrights and unscrupulous book collectors, literary prowess is often a prologue to disaster. With Martin Edwards as librarian and guide, delve into an irresistible stack of tales perfect for every book-lover and armchair sleuth, featuring much-loved Golden Age detectives such as Nigel Strangeways, Philip Trent and Detective Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn. But readers should be warned that the most riveting tales often conceal the deadliest of secrets....

It wouldn't be Christmas without a visit to Fredericks' department store, whose festive atmosphere and lavish decorations are famous. The sounds of carols and tiny silver bells lilt and tinkle through the halls, glittering ornaments adorn the trees and angels, and the delightful Fredericks' Santa Claus reigns supreme in his grotto. A trail of enthralled children line up through the magic forest of Christmas trees that surround the grotto, anxiously awaiting their turn to meet the kind, jolly figure in red, sit on his lap atop his elegant golden throne, and receive their special gift to take home and put under their own tree. No expense is spared to create the Fredericks' Christmas magic. That's the Fredericks' tradition. But among the staff at the big store this year, tidings of comfort and joy are noticeably lacking and the strain is obviously telling. And Verity Birdwood, sent to research a TV program about Christmas in a big store, gets more than she bargained for. Between interviews, Verity sleuths her way through a maze of decked halls and suspicious personnel only to discover that not everyone is in the holiday spirit. In fact, for someone, the holidays can be murder....