New York Times bestselling author Mary Jane Clark whips up a savory and suspenseful confection, filled with murder, mystery, history, and voodoo, in which Piper Donovan must unmask a devious killer striking in New Orleans's legendary French Quarter
That old black magic
Aspiring actress and wedding-cake decorator Piper Donovan has barely arrived in New Orleans to perfect her pastry skills at the renowned French Quarter bakery Boulangerie Bertrand when a ghastly murder rocks the magical city.
Intrigued by the case, Piper can't help but look for the "Hoodoo Killer" among the faces around her. Could it be the handsome guide eager to give her special private tours? Or the inscrutable jazz musician who plays on historic Royal Street? What about the ratings-starved radio talk-show host? Or even the amiable owner of the local Gris-Gris Bar?
Though Piper has a full plate decorating cakes for upcoming wedding celebrations, she's also landed an exciting but unnerving role in a movie being shot in the Big Easy. When the murderer strikes again, leaving macabre clues, she thinks she can unmask the killer. But Piper will have to conjure up some old black magic of her own if she hopes to live long enough to reveal the truth.
It's the dead of winter and struggling actress and wedding-cake decorator Piper Donovan is thrilled to be in warm and romantic Sarasota, Florida, enjoying the powdery white beaches, soothing seas, and golden sunsets over the Gulf of Mexico. She and her family are there to celebrate her beloved cousin's wedding. Not only is Piper creating the sugar-sand-dollar-festooned wedding cake, she's also the maid of honor.
But a cloud seems to be hovering over the whole affair. Shortly after a bridesmaid mysteriously disappears, a kindly neighbor's car is run off the road and a prospective witness, an innocent Amish teenager, is threatened to keep silent. Then a body is found on the beach where the wedding will take place. With the nuptials threatened, it falls to Piper to unmask a killer. Could it be the wedding planner with something to hide? A doctor and his wife who collect unusual Japanese figurines? The best man, an ex-drug dealer with lecherous eyes and roving hands? What about her cousin's future stepfather-or even the bridegroom himself?
As Piper gets close to figuring out who's been covering his guilty footprints in the sand, the cunning killer has already set his sights on Piper as his next victim!
The Associated Press calls her 'one of the most talented storytellers around.' Now, New York Times bestselling author Mary Jane Clark brings readers a delicious new mystery.
The Look of Love
Piper Donovan accepts when the owner of Elysium, an exclusive spa and plastic surgery center, offers her an all-expenses-paid trip to Los Angeles to create a dazzling and unique wedding cake. The job also gives Piper the time and distance she needs to sort out her feelings for handsome FBI agent Jack Lombardi.
The ultra-luxurious spa caters to the rich and famous in need of a little 'refreshing''a nip here, a tuck there, a little Botox, a little detox. Nestled in the Hollywood Hills, Elysium seems picture-perfect: the grounds, the staff, even the guests. But no sooner does Piper arrive than a guest is brutally murdered in one of the private bungalows. Someone, it seems, wants to make sure Elysium's beautiful director, Jillian Abernathy, never gets to walk down the aisle. Piper soon discovers that beneath the glamorous surface of this idyllic oasis lies an ugly truth'and a cold-blooded plan for murder.
New York Times bestselling author Mary Jane Clark delights readers with her tasty new mystery
To Have and to Kill
Piper Donovan never imagined that decorating wedding cakes could be so dangerous! A struggling actress with no immediate prospects and a recently broken engagement, Piper moves back in with her parents to take stock of her life. She steps tentatively into the family bakery business and finds herself agreeing to create a wedding cake for the acclaimed star of a daytime television drama. But soon someone close to the bride-to-be is horribly murdered and it seems that that someone is ruthlessly determined to stop the wedding.
With the help of her former neighbor, Jack, a handsome FBI agent with a soft spot for the gorgeous cake-maker, Piper moves closer to the truth. And as she narrows in on a suspect, she realizes that it's hotter in the kitchen than she may be able to handle. . . .
The New York Times bestselling author delivers a thrilling novel of psychological suspense set in the world she knows best--network news Botulism, malaria, smallpox, plague . . . as medical producer for television's highly rated morning news program Key to America, Annabelle Murphy makes her living explaining horrific conditions. So when someone dies inside the broadcast center with symptoms terrifyingly similar to those of the latest scourge, she knows the panic spreading through the corridors of KEY News is justified. One death follows another, and to Annabelle the circumstances begin to suggest that they may be diabolical murders. When the authorities lock down the broadcast center, neither victims nor murderer can escape. In Nowhere to Run, Mary Jane Clark's insider's eye and talent for high-speed pacing create an authoritative thriller.
When death shatters the serenity of the exclusive moneyed enclave of Tuxedo Park, New York, Eliza Blake, cohost of the country's premier morning television show KEY to America, is on the scene. While attending a lavish gala at her friends' newly renovated estate, Pentimento, Eliza's host is found dead'a grotesque suicide that is the first act in a macabre and intricately conceived plan to expose the sins of the past involving some of the town's most revered citizens.
Determined to find out the truth, Eliza and her KEY News colleagues'producer Annabelle Murphy, cameraman B.J. D'Elia, and psychiatrist Margo Gonzalez'discover that Pentimento holds the key. Nestled in the park's sprawling architectural masterpieces, picturesque gardeners' cottages, and lush, rolling landscape, the glorious mansion is actually a giant "puzzle house," filled with ingenious clues hidden in its fireplaces, fountains, and frescoes that lead them from one suspicious locale to another'and, one by one, to the victims of a fiendish killer.
As Pentimento gives up its secrets, it becomes clear that no amount of wealth or privilege will keep the residents of Tuxedo Park safe. But just when Eliza unearths one final surprise, she comes face-to-face with a murderer who believes that some puzzles should never be solved.
Eliza Blake, host of the top-rated KEY News morning show, has witnessed tragedy and danger in her career. But nothing the accomplished professional has experienced has prepared her for when her seven-year-old daughter, Janie, is snatched from summer camp. The country's viewers are glued to their television sets, anxiously awaiting the news that their favorite morning-television personality's little girl has been found.
With each passing day, the FBI and local authorities track down every lead: A profile of the kidnapper's most likely characteristics is developed, every fan letter written to Eliza over the last six months is scrutinized, every sex offender registered within a fifty-mile radius is interviewed, and psychics from around the country appear on Eliza's doorstep offering their help.
But Eliza isn't going to sit around and wait for answers. She and the rest of the Sunrise Suspense Society'brilliant producer Annabelle Murphy, cameraman extraordinaire B.J. D'Elia, and psychiatrist Dr. Margo Gonzalez'will band together to outwit a cunning criminal whose shocking motives threaten to snuff out a terrified little girl's life.
Eliza Blake, veteran of the morning show and now the anchor of the KEY Evening Headlines is suddenly thrust into the spotlight when Constance Young, the undisputed star of morning television, is found at the bottom of her swimming pool. Eliza is committed to finding out who wanted Constance out of the way, and why.
But the mystery runs deeper than anyone expects. Why was Constance wearing a precious artifact and where is the missing treasure now? Eliza soon learns that Constance has more enemies than she could ever have imagined. The closer Eliza gets to unmasking the murderer, the closer she gets to becoming the next victim.
Eliza marshals three KEY News co-workers to help. Annabelle Murphy is able to switch from producing to investigative work at a moment's notice. B.J. D'Elia contributes brains, brawn, and a much-needed male perspective. And on-air psychiatrist and recent KEY News hire Dr. Margo Gonzalez has a frightening propensity to figure out what suspects may really be thinking. Together they come to form the "Sunrise Suspense Society," relying on each other, their ingenuity and courage tested to the limit, in this nail-biting media thriller in which everyone is a suspect, and every word is a clue.
New York Times bestselling author Mary Jane Clark turns up the heat in a drop-dead frightening novel about an idyllic beach community turned killer's hunting ground KEY News correspondent Diane Mayfield has to give up her vacation and bring her children and her sister to the New Jersey shore town of Ocean Grove to investigate a story. "Girls Who Cry Wolf" is the topic for the season premiere of "Hourglass," television's premiere news magazine show. Diane lands an exclusive interview with a troubled young woman whose tale of being abducted and held against her will for three terrifying days and nights had been disbelieved by the authorities. No sooner does Diane finish taping the interview, though, than a second victim turns up: this time bound, gagged, and dead. And as soon as the police think they've solved the case, a third victim is discovered. Already in the grip of a record heat wave, the small beach community is now wracked by fear and terror-there's a murderer on the loose. Diane and the police turn to the first victim for clues. But it may be too late to save Diane and her loved ones from the mortal danger that lurks in Ocean Grove. Full of twists, turns, and terrifyingly real danger, Dancing in the Dark is Mary Jane Clark's most suspenseful thriller yet.
With her insider's eye and her talent for high-speed pacing, Mary Jane Clark delivers another bestselling novel of suspense
The repercussions of ambitious reporting have derailed the career of KEY News legal correspondent Cassie Sheridan. A Washington insider, she is forced to the Miami bureau to wait out the end of her contract. While covering a hurricane that's moving up the west coast to Florida, she meets 11-year-old Vincent, who has just made a grisly discovery on the beach. In one week, Cassie traces the connection between Vincent's newfound "treasure" and a secret operation in the dark shadows of sunny Sarasota - a story that has national significance and maybe, just maybe will win back her reputation. As Cassie moves closer to the truth, a young woman's murderer will stop at nothing to keep the crime a secret.
Secrets can really kill your career.Beautiful New York TV anchorwoman Eliza Blake has a past to hide. Her popular coanchor has a scandal he'd die to keep secret. The president's pretty wife wants desperately to avoid an indecent exposure. A parish priest knows a terrible truth. And a killer has a secret agenda that reaches from New York City's streets to the White House-it includes the time and place where Eliza Blake will have to die ...
