Can Christmas be joyful if Santa doesn't deliver?
There’s something about Christmas that drives even the sanest people crazy.
Estate sale organizer Audrey Nealon’s long quest to become a mother may finally work out, so she’s looking forward to the holiday this year.
Until her loyal assistant Ty becomes obsessed with acquiring BlastMaster, the season’s hottest toy. Determined to give his nephew the fantasy Christmas he himself never had, Ty allows his hunt for BlastMaster to lead him into some very dark alleys.
His quest unleashes a world of trouble. A criminal ring, a defaced painting, and a long-unsolved murder provoke revenge that threatens Audrey’s estate sale business. Eager to keep her young assistant out of harm’s way, Audrey inserts herself into the ad hoc investigation.
Will Audrey’s insatiable curiosity help to restore justice in time for the holidays? Or will it imperil her efforts to have a child with her beloved husband?
All will be revealed on Christmas Eve.
A reclusive heiress…a loyal servant…a mansion frozen in time.
After her husband’s plane goes down in a WWII battle, a poor nurse becomes the wealthiest widow in town.
And she never leaves her mansion for 70 years.
When estate sale organizer Audrey Nealon enters the Tate Mansion after the widow’s death, she discovers nothing’s been changed since the day the house was built. Why did the heiress and her maid eat canned soup and read used paperbacks surrounded by magnificent art and antiques? Why were the house and its contents bequeathed to a small local charity?
Audrey’s idle curiosity soon turns into a desperate need to know. Because someone wants to profit from the Tate Mansion’s secrets. And if others have to die to make that happen, so be it.
Can Audrey outwit a wily con man? Or is she is too smart to live?
Any risk is worth taking when you have this much to lose.
Estate sale organizer Audrey Nealon combines business with pleasure as she plans a sale at the exquisite beach home of the Gardner family. But the romantic getaway weekend with her husband shatters when a body washes up on the sand.
The death proves to be more than an unpleasant distraction from Audrey’s work. Sophia, the troubled young woman who lives next door to the Gardners, is wracked with guilt over the death of her friend. When Audrey rescues Sophia from a rash action, she is pulled into the vortex of lies and cover-ups swirling through the exclusive beach community. Where should Audrey place her trust—with the client who hired her or with Sophia, who reminds Audrey of her younger self?
Someone in this enclave knows how and why the young man died, but these families will close ranks to protect their own. And they won’t hesitate to destroy an outsider like Audrey who threatens their way of life.
Audrey’s curiosity and compassion pull her into danger. Will her wit and determination be enough to restore justice?
Or has Audrey met her match in this killer who has everything to lose?
Now You See Him . . . Now You're Dead
An escaped prisoner eludes police in the thick forests and remote fishing cabins of the Adirondack Mountains. Using his backwoods skills, he stays one step ahead of his pursuers, mocking them as he slips away. To some, Ronnie Gatrell is a folk hero, bravely resisting government authority. To others, he's a harmless prankster. Everyone in Trout Run, New York, seems to enjoy watching him play the police for fools.
Everyone except police chief Frank Bennett. He knows Ronnie is dangerous and unstable, and he's determined to bring him to justice.
Then the game of hide-and-seek turns deadly.
Frank knows the only way he can catch Ronnie before he kills again is to figure out who's helping the prisoner stay on the lam, and why. But the price of knowledge is steep. Frank may solve his most baffling case, but lose the friends he holds most dear.
Short mysteries. Big twists.
The beauty of the Adirondack Mountains offers no protection from evil.
Join small-town Police Chief Frank Bennett as he investigates three puzzling crimes in idyllic Trout Run, New York. In the Christmas mystery 'Chainsaw Nativity,' Frank's relentless pursuit of the thief who stole the Joseph statue from the town's Nativity scene brings him up against the limits of compassion. In 'Losers Weepers,' a locket that's lost, found, and stolen holds the secret to past betrayals. And in 'Coyote Justice' Frank's simmering attraction to Penny the librarian threatens to divert him from the path of justice. These three mystery short stories explore twisting Adirondack mountain trails just as surely as the dangerous terrain of the human heart.
Tough love . . . or torture?
A tough-love school for troubled teens opens its doors in Trout Run, New York. What could go wrong?
The locals are thrilled. The North Country Academy promises more jobs and more money flowing into town. But all Police Chief Frank Bennett sees is a throng of juvenile delinquents unpacking on his turf.
Then Frank's worst fears are confirmed. An Academy teacher leading a wilderness expedition is mauled to death by a bear. Evidence points to sabotage.
As Frank investigates, he learns more about the school's controversial techniques: isolation, restraints, and mind control. He meets students who might be terrified . . . or might be brilliant liars.
And he uncovers disturbing information about the Academy's headmaster. What is more impressive? His track record of putting teens back on the right path . . . or his skill in covering up past scandals?
When an Academy student turns up dead, Frank must unravel a knot of deceit and revenge whose threads lead right into the heart of the Trout Run community. Frank's pursuit of the truth brings him up against a hard choice every good cop dreads.
Small town charm. Big city evil.
In a small Adirondack Mountain town, secrets are closely guarded. And outsiders with crazy ideas are not welcome. So Police Chief Frank Bennett has his hands full when a group of environmental activists shows up in Trout Run, New York, trying to close down Raging Rapids, a popular tourist attraction.
Frank thinks they're all noise. Until their leader turns up with a bullet in his heart.
Now Frank must figure out why this group targeted Trout Run. And how they're connected to a feral family who lives off the grid.
As Frank untangles the clues, he confronts the lure of cash, the lure of power, and the lure of a happy family.
Now Frank must navigate the dangerous intersection of love and greed. And one wrong turn could spell death to those he most wants to protect.
What lies buried in a hoarder’s house— precious treasure or ghastly secrets?
One moment of misguided generosity throws estate sale organizer Audrey Nealon’s life into turmoil.
She loses a client’s money, cripples her budding romance, and witnesses a murder.
Strapped for cash, she accepts a questionable project: clearing out the home of a mentally ill hoarder who may have hidden valuable Civil War letters. What really lies at the bottom of twenty years’ worth of collected buttons and antique dolls and stuffed owls and atlases?
As Audrey digs through the hoarder’s obsessions, she unleashes a vengeful response from all sides--the hoarder's angry neighbors, his alienated family, and the police. The house has destroyed lives in the past. Will Audrey and those she loves--her friends, her father, and even her dog--be its next victims?
As the final twist reveals, secrets can remain buried, but they never disappear.
On a snowy Christmas Eve, a beautiful young mother goes out to buy a few last minute gifts...and never returns.
Thirty years later, her daughter picks up her trail.
What really happened to Audrey Nealon’s mother? Did she die in a tragic accident? Or did she abandon her husband and young daughter? And why is Audrey’s father so cold and distant?
As the successful owner of an estate sale business, Audrey has put the past behind her. Her mother is a distant memory, her father a problem she keeps closed away.
Until the day Audrey clears out the home of a lonely old widow and finds some shocks.
Street drugs in the silverware drawer, a trunkful of jewels in the attic, and the distinctive ring Audrey’s mother was wearing the night her car supposedly sank to the bottom of a New Jersey lake.
Relentlessly, Audrey pursues clues to her family’s troubled history. Because the truth will set her free…unless it gets her killed.
Each fact Audrey uncovers drags her further away from the love she craves. Now she’s on a collision course with people more determined, more ambitious, and more dangerous than she can fathom. As the twist ending reveals, some truths are too awful to bear, and too terrible to share.
