Midwest Cozy Mystery

An editor murdered. A midlife romance. A small-town writer with the pen name of Sexy Cissy. Did someone hate steamy novels enough to commit murder? The secret life of Kat, a widow, falls apart when her true identity becomes known, and she’s the one who finds her murdered editor. Will she be the next victim?

Kat Denham, a popular author of steamy romance novels, has decided to write a book in a different genre. She has a friend who's a doctor of acupuncture, has just lost over 100 pounds, is getting married in mid-life for the first time to a doctor, and seems like the perfect role model for the protagonist in Kat's soon-to-be-written book. 

A dead judge, a college porn queen, and a castle in Kansas. Clearing her husband’s name is just part of the honeymoon. When the county judge is murdered and Kat’s district attorney husband of far less than six months is not only a suspect, but now the lead attorney in another murder case, Kat has to find the killer to clear his name. Sometimes a guard dog is just as important as a former Green Beret, and Kat was grateful to both of them when they saved her life! 

When you’re the head of the Sex Therapy Department at a university and you find out your husband has been having an affair - actually, a lot of affairs - it’s not a good day. How can you continue to counsel people about their marriage when you’ve missed all the red flags in your own?

Florence, Italy, and a wedding. Sardinia, Italy, and a murder. Is there a choice? For Kat and Blaine, there wasn’t. A romantic trip to Florence to take part in a wedding becomes a search for the groom’s best friend’s murderer in Sardinia.

Kat only wanted to be part of the convention on how to write successful books, not solve a murder that took place there - the murder of a beloved “tell-all” author. Was that the motive? Greed, revenge, and hatred are also reasons to murder, at least to people who live on the slippery edge of sanity. Parsons who gamble, women who blackmail, and a number of people with outsized egos make for most interesting characters. 

Marie Moorhead looked like a million bucks, even at the age of 84. In Hollywood, you never outgrow the need to prove your relevance. Too bad she was murdered on the eve of her book launch. Marie knew secrets about everyone in Hollywood. And when you’re 84, why save them? Because those who are outed might just kill to keep those secrets from going public. Join Kat, the ghostwriter and amateur detective, and her dog Rudy as they search for the murderer before Kat becomes the next victim.

A bad business deal. An unfaithful husband. A hacked computer. A sick child. A death - but was it?Those are the things that take Kat and Blaine to the Caribbean. Some people think it’s a great place for a vacation, but as they quickly find out, it’s not just tropical drinks and sitting in the sun.

What could be better than going to Northern England to visit the places where famous authors such as Bram Stoker, Beatrix Potter, and Catherine Cookson lived and worked? It was something Kat had always wanted to do. Her dream became a reality when her friend, Marion, decided such a trip should be a payback to her friends for helping her discover the truth about her husband. But having the popular pub employee, Sam, murdered the night they arrived at the pub/hotel where Kat and her friends were staying, was not a preferred way to start a vacation.

When Kat and her friends took a vacation trip to Seychelles, they were planning on spending some time snorkeling in the Indian Ocean, enjoying the food of Seychelles, and exploring the island of Mahé. What they weren’t planning on was becoming involved in solving the murder of the father of the bride. And nearly all of the members of the large, wealthy Texas family, of which the victim was the patriarch, had a motive to commit murder. 

When Kat Denham decided it was to time to become a licensed private investigator, in addition to her successful career as an author, she never expected her first case to take her to South Africa to investigate the murder of a member of the US Trade Commission. Talk about trial by fire! Not only does she have to navigate language and living condition barriers, but she also has to walk a very fine line not to upstage the investigation by the local Cape Town police officials. Ladies of the night, gamblers, old feuds, and jealousy make for a lot of suspects.