The next in Maia Chance's dazzlingly fun Prohibition-era caper series featuring society matron Lola Woodby and her stalwart Swedish cook, Berta.The Discreet Retrieval Agency is doing a brisk holiday business of retrieving lost parcels, grandmas, and stolen wreaths. But with their main squeezes Ralph and Jimmy once more on the back burner, both Lola and Berta pine for a holiday out of New York City. So when they receive a mysterious Christmas card requesting that they retrieve an antique ring at a family gathering in Maple Hill, Vermont, they jump at the chance. Sure, the card is signed Anonymous and it's vaguely threatening, but it's Vermont.In Maple Hill, several estranged members of the wealthy Goddard family gather. And no sooner do Lola and Berta recover the ring—from Great-Aunt Cressida Goddard's arthritic finger—than Mrs. Goddard goes toes-up, poisoned by her Negroni cocktail on ice. When the police arrive, Lola and Berta are...

Agnes Blythe and her glamorous Aunt Effie must take a break from restoring their inn to rake in the clues when a local mechanic is murdered in national bestselling author Maia Chance’s charming second Agnes and Effie mystery. It’s leaf-peeping season in Naneda, New York, and Agnes Blythe has settled into helping her eccentric Great Aunt Effie restore the Stagecoach Inn. It seems nothing can shatter the golden idyll—or the ka-ching of cash registers—until a mechanic at Hatch Automotive is found bludgeoned to death with a wrench. Sweeping into action, Agnes and Aunt Effie are on the scene, when a tourist-laden motor coach breaks down outside of town. The Stagecoach Inn isn’t exactly ready for guests, but Agnes and Effie agree to take in a group of seniors while they wait for repairs. But then, Agnes finds herself pulled into the investigation when she learns her new boyfriend, gorgeous Otis Hatch, is the Naneda Police Department’s prime suspect. With bodies falling faster than the foliage, Agnes must leaf through the more viable suspects and clear Otis’s name of murder in Bad Neighbors, the charming second Agnes and Effie mystery from national bestselling author Maia Chance. **Review Praise for Bad Neighbors: “Fully rounded characters and a well-executed plot lift this entry well above the average cozy.” ―Publishers Weekly Praise for Bad Housekeeping: "Chance kicks off a humorous cozy series marked by mesmerizing characters and laugh aloud high jinks, making this a fun romp." ―Library Journal starred review “[A] witty series launch…Readers will look forward to spending more time with Agnes and Effie.” ―Publishers Weekly “Quirky characters and plenty of humor distinguish this entertaining cozy.” ―Booklist “Fans of cozy mysteries will love Chance's newest heroine, Agnes Blythe...This is a quick and fun summer mystery―the perfect beach read!” ―RT Book Reviews “Maia Chance is an incisive and funny writer…Bad Housekeeping was an incredibly enjoyable read that had me snickering and writing down quotations all the way through.” ―Mystery Scene Magazine "An excellent start to a new series! It’s well-written and unpredictable. The characters were all realistic and delightful. It’s a very fun read that will have you lusting for the next one when you’re finished! I highly recommend!" ―Night Owl Reviews Top Pick “A hilarious debut to a new series…You couldn’t find a more unique and entertaining cozy if you put up a neon light and advertised for one! I’ve read a book or two by Maia Chance in another series, but after the sheer joy of reading Bad Housekeeping, I am on a mission to obtain copies of everything this witty and imaginative author has had published! I highly recommend that you do, too!” ―MyShelf.com “Maia Chance has created unforgettable characters, the ones legends are made of…Ms. Chance’s sparkling wit is at its apex.” ―Fresh Fiction “A fun-filled murder mystery that keeps you guessing right to the end.” ―Manhattan Book Review "Saucy, sassy fun!...A sparkling new cozy series!" ―Juliet Blackwell, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author “You’ll be rooting for the Stagecoach Inn―and its spunky new owners―from page one! Maia Chance has a winner in Bad Housekeeping.” ―Susan Wittig Albert, New York Times bestselling author of the China Bayles Herbal Mysteries “Maia Chance makes Bad Housekeeping more enjoyable than ever! Jump aboard for fun...in this great new cozy series.” ―Paige Shelton, New York Times bestselling author About the Author Maia Chance, national bestselling author, writes mystery novels that are rife with absurd predicaments and romantic adventure. She was born in rural Washington State, grew up in the small-town of Moscow, Idaho, and after living in upstate New York and Boston for a decade, she returned to the Seattle area. She now makes her home with her family on magical Bainbridge Island. This is her second Agnes and Effie mystery.

When 28-year-old Agnes Blythe, the contented bifocals-wearing half of an academic power couple, is jilted by her professor boyfriend for the town Pilates instructor, her future is suddenly less than certain. So when her glamorous, eccentric Great Aunt Effie arrives in town and offers a job helping to salvage the condemned Stagecoach Inn, what does Agnes have to lose? But work at the inn has barely begun when the unlikely duo find the body of manipulative Kathleen Todd, with whom Agnes and Effie both have recently had words. Words strong enough to land them at the top of the suspect list. The pair have clearly been framed, but no one else seems interested in finding the real murderer and Agnes and Effie's sleuthing expertise is not exactly slick. Nevertheless, they're soon investigating a suspect list with laundry dirtier than a middle school soccer team's and navigating threats, car chases, shotgun blasts, and awkward strolls down memory lane.In Bad Housekeeping, the...

30-year-old society matron Lola Woodby has survived her loveless marriage with an unholy mixture of highballs, detective novels, and chocolate layer cake, until, her husband dies suddenly, leaving her his fortune...or so Lola thought. As it turns out, all she inherits from Alfie is a big pile of debt. Pretty soon, Lola and her stalwart Swedish cook, Berta, are reduced to hiding out in the secret love nest Alfie kept in New York City. But when rent comes due, Lola and Berta have no choice but to accept an offer made by one of Alfie's girls-on-the-side: in exchange for a handsome sum of money, the girl wants Lola to retrieve a mysterious reel of film for her. It sounds like an easy enough way to earn the rent money. But Lola and Berta realize they're in way over their heads when, before they can retrieve it, the man currently in possession of the film reel is murdered, and the reel disappears. On a quest to retrieve the reel and solve the murder before the killer comes after them...

From the author of Cinderella Six Feet Under, a beauty must solve a beastly murder.Variety hall actress Ophelia Flax knows how to win over an audience. That's why she's accepted the marriage proposal of the brutish Comte de Griffe to nettle her occasional investigative partner—and romantic sparring partner—the pompous if dashing Professor Penrose. But with his boorish table manners, wild mane of hair, and habit of prowling away the wee hours, the comte has shredded Ophelia's last nerve. She intends to disengage from her feral fiancé at his winter hunting party—until Penrose, his lovely new fiancée, and a stagecoach of stranded travelers arrive at the comte's sprawling château. Soon she can't tell the boars from the bores.When one of the guests is found clawed and bloody in the orangerie, Ophelia is determined to solve the murder before everyone starts believing the local version of Beauty and the...

"Whatever Lola wants, Lola gets—and has a high old time doing it! So will you."—Ann B. Ross, New York Times bestselling author of the Miss Julia seriesFormer socialite Lola Woodby, not-so-discreet private eye in Prohibtion-era New York City, along with her grim Swedish sidekick, Berta, take on a piece-of-cake job: retrieving a rhinoceros trophy from the Connecticut mansion of big game hunter Rudy Montgomery. After all, their client, Lord Sudley, promises them a handsome paycheck, and the gin and tonics will be free. But no sooner do they arrive at Montgomery Hall than Rudy is shot dead with a houseful of suspicious characters standing by. Lord Sudley ups the ante, and Lola and Berta take the case. Armed with handbags stuffed with emergency chocolate, gin flasks, and a Colt .25, Lola and Berta are swiftly embroiled in a madcap puzzle of stolen diamonds, family secrets, a clutch of gangsters, and a flapper who knows her way around a safari...

After her philandering husband died and left her penniless in Prohibition-era New York, Lola Woodby escaped with her Swedish cook to the only place she could—her deceased husband's secret love nest in the middle of Manhattan. Her only comforts were chocolate cake, dime store detective novels, and the occasional highball (okay, maybe not so occasional). But rent came due and Lola and Berta were forced to accept the first job that came their way, ultimately leading them to set up shop as a Discreet Retrieval Agency, operating out of Alfie's cramped love nest. Now they're in danger of losing the business they've barely gotten off the ground—they haven't had a job in months and money is running out. So when a society matron offers them a job, they take it—even if it means sneaking into a detox facility and consuming only water and health food until they can steal a diary from Grace Whiddle, a resident at the "health farm." But barely a day in, Grace and her...

This Cinderella goes from ashes to ashes in the new Victorian-era Fairy Tale Fatal Mystery by the author of Snow White Red-Handed . . . Variety hall actress Ophelia Flax's plan to reunite her friend Prue with her estranged—and allegedly wealthy—mother, Henrietta, is met with a grim surprise. Not only is the marquise's Paris mansion a mouse-infested ruin, but Henrietta has inexplicably vanished, leaving behind an evasive husband, two sinister stepsisters, and a bullet-riddled corpse in the pumpkin patch decked out in a ball gown and one glass slipper—a corpse that also happens to be a dead ringer for Prue. Strangely, no one at 15 rue Garenne seems concerned about who plugged this luckless Cinderella or why, so the investigation is left to Ophelia and Prue. It takes them through the labyrinthine maze of the Paris Opera, down the trail of a legendary fairy tale relic, into the confidence of a wily prince...