New York Times bestselling author Carolyn Hart's warm-hearted sleuth returns in the ninth Bailey Ruth Ghost Novel, with a case that will test even her Heavenly powers After a busy morning dispatching emissaries from Heaven's Department of Good Intentions to those in need, Bailey Ruth Raeburn is feeling flush with success. So when an urgent call for help comes through from her old hometown, she can't resist taking on the mission herself. After all, what could go wrong? With the shouted warning of her boss, Wiggins - "Irregular! Problematic!" - ringing in her ears, she arrives to face a shocking scene: Professor Iris Gallagher leaning over the corpse of her colleague Matt Lambert, the murder weapon clutched in her hand. Bailey Ruth is only sent to help the innocent, but things are looking very black for Iris. With Wiggins breathing down her neck, and her old friend Police Chief Sam Cobb casting doubt on her every theory, Bailey Ruth must uncover the truth...

It's getting to look a lot like Christmas on the sea island of Broward's Rock, South Carolina. At the Death on Demand mystery bookstore, owner Annie Darling's Yuletide preparations have to be put on hold thanks to several rather inconvenient distractions -- including murder. Across the windswept isle, in the spacious, spooky mansion of Marguerite Dumaney Ladson, a motley crew is gathering for the onetime movie star's gala Xmas/birthday bash. And when it turns deadly, it's Annie who has to prove the innocence of the most disturbing suspect: her own deadbeat dad.From Publishers WeeklyIn this 12th Death on Demand adventure, Anthony and Agatha award-winner Hart uses a couple of reliable mystery devices to serve up a story as entertaining as any in this deservedly popular series. The first of these is the perennial fake psychic, here handsome charmer Emory Swanson, who comes to Broward's Rock Island to establish the Evermore Foundation, where individualsDparticularly rich, older womenDcan get in touch with their dearly departed. One of Swanson's unsuspecting devot es is retired movie star Marguerite Dumaney. She's still glamorous, still imperious, and ready to sign over her fortune to the foundation, though her many needy relatives have other ideas for her money. While any of them might be desperate enough to kill Marguerite, it's Happy, her aptly named sister, who is murdered. Annie Darling, proprietor of the Death on Demand Mystery Book Store, enters the picture when her long-absent father, who turns out to be Happy's ex-husband, appears. Annie, ably assisted by husband Max, has to clear her father and stepsister of suspicion, while she simultaneously searches for the real culprit. The evidence surrounding a second murder points to the man they all love to hate: Swanson. Or is he too obvious? Another classic story twist resolves matters in a fully satisfying finale. Hart, who's also the author of the Henrie O series (Death in Paradise, etc.), knits a tidy plot, though the cute descriptions of Max and Annie's cat, Agatha, may be too cloying for some. The insider view of the mystery bookstore world remains a special draw. (Nov.) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library JournalThe catalytic agent in Hart's latest series addition (White Elephant Dead) is "Pudge" Laurence, the long-lost father of bookstore-owner and village sleuth Annie Laurence Darling. At the behest of a famous actress, Pudge is visiting Broward's Island, SC, where a financially slippery purveyor of crystals and otherworldly contacts creates problems for both families; the actress and Annie's mother-in-law seem enamored of his ways. Annie must tread a fine line, then: she tries to help her mother-in-law while circumventing her unwanted father. An charismatic characterization, the familiar island, and an excellent plot that is nicely knit together make this an essential purchase. Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In the tenth Bailey Ruth ghost novel from New York Times bestselling Grand Master of Mystery, Carolyn Hart, the "charmer of a detective" (Kirkus Reviews) takes on a puzzler of a mystery when she's sent to Adelaide, Oklahoma to rescue a woman in trouble. The late – as in Dearly Departed – Bailey Ruth Raeburn is delighted when she's assigned a new mission by Heaven's Department of Good Intentions, even if she is no good at following the rules for Earthly Visitations. This time she's determined to be the perfect unseen emissary, no matter what it takes. Arriving late in the evening in her old hometown of Adelaide, Oklahoma to find a woman drowning in a pond, Bailey Ruth carries out a daring rescue with textbook invisible effort. But Bailey Ruth soon realizes there's more to Fran's accident than a late-night walk gone wrong. The young widow was running away – but what from? Soon Bailey Ruth finds herself caught up in a complex web of family...

INTRODUCING A NEW LINE OF CAROLYN HART CLASSICS, each with a new introduction by the author!BEIJING, 1941: The ancient bones of the famed "Peking Man" are placed in two wooden crates for shipment to the United States to escape the invading Japanese army. The bones are never seen again. San Francisco, 1980s: The greatest treasure in the history of paleontology remains missing-until a frantic stranger named Jimmy calls on noted anthropologist Ellen Christie and shares a scintillating secret with her: he may have the famous bones in his possession. After allowing Dr. Christie to examine an intriguing skull in a dank Chinatown basement, Jimmy is forced to flee with the evidence, a couple of violent thugs in hot pursuit. As Ellen navigates the treachery of the city's elite criminals along with Jimmy's brother, Dan, her dreams of academic stardom draw closer. Unfortunately, so does danger.

It's getting to look a lot like Christmas on the sea island of Broward's Rock, South Carolina. At the Death on Demand mystery bookstore, owner Annie Darling's Yuletide preparations have to be put on hold thanks to several rather inconvenient distractions -- including murder. Across the windswept isle, in the spacious, spooky mansion of Marguerite Dumaney Ladson, a motley crew is gathering for the onetime movie star's gala Xmas/birthday bash. And when it turns deadly, it's Annie who has to prove the innocence of the most disturbing suspect: her own deadbeat dad.

Four of mystery's reigning matriarchs have joined together to concoct a delectable stew of clues, corpses, and felonious hijinks -- all spectacularly seasoned with a mother's loving touch! In this witty and winning quartet of all-new mysteries, the incomparable Mary Daheim gives harried mom Cousin Renie from the bestselling "Bed-and-Breakfast" series a triple dose of the murderous wedding bell blues; the inimitable award-winner Carolyn Hart of "Death on Demand" fame lets madcap mother-in-law Laurel Darling take a turn at the investigative chores; the remarkable Jane Isenberg sets menopausal mother Bel Barrett loose to solve a dastardly case of nanny-cide; and the fabulous Shirley Rousseau Murphy -- whose "Joe Grey" mysteries are the cat's meow -- enchants once again, as a delightful duo of feline mamas sinks their clawsinto a murder investigation.So sit back and enjoy the Mother of All Mystery Collections!

Annie Darling—owner of the mystery bookstore, Death on Demand—prefers fictional crimes as opposed to the real things. But in one tragic week, two acts of violence shake the island community of Broward's Rock. First, a beloved doctor is found shot dead, seemingly by his own hand. Only days later, a local artist is arrested after his wife is found murdered, bludgeoned by her husband's sculpting mallet. Convinced her brother did not commit suicide, the doctor's sister turns to Annie and her husband, Max, for help. She has found a cryptic sketch her brother drew, linking him with the murdered woman. Did someone want them both out of the picture? With the police considering both cases as good as closed, it's up to Annie and Max to sort through a rogues' gallery of suspects to see if someone is trying to frame the artist. But if Annie isn't careful, she may find herself having her own brush with death...

Britt Barlow is certain her media mogul brother-in-law Jeremiah Addison's fatal tumble a year ago was no accident -- especially since she herself discovered, and disposed of, the trip wire someone had strung across the stairs. Now she's bringing all who were in attendance that weekend back to Golden Silk -- Addison's luxurious secluded island estate -- and inviting two extra guests, Annie and Max Darling, to help uncover a killer.Annie Darling wouldn't miss this party for the world! And there certainly is no lack of suspects among the guests, each of whom had a substantial motive for doing in the insufferable tycoon. But the party turns deadly when a houseman mysteriously vanishes, along with the boats which are the only escape off Addison's island -- leaving the Darlings stranded on a floating rock in the middle of nowhere, too close to a solution for comfort, and stalked by a crafty murderer.

Bailey Ruth Raeburn has always been great at solving mysteries. Why should a little thing like her death change anything? In fact, being dead gives her more of an opportunity to be on top of events. Bailey Ruth is delighted that her unique position as a ghost makes it possible for her to lend a helping hand, sometimes seen and sometimes not. And if anybody needs a little help, it's Kathleen, the pastor's wife. There's a dead man on her porch, and once the body is discovered, the pastor is sure to become a suspect. Uncharitable people might call it meddling, but Bailey Ruth knows Kathleen needs her help! As a member of Heaven's Department of Good Intentions, Bailey Ruth goes back to earth to extricate Kathleen from a dire situation. If Bailey Ruth has to bend a few rules to help Kathleen save her family, Wiggins, her fussbudget supervisor, will make sure it all turns out right in the end.

A young woman is convinced she's living with a murderer among family members, lodgers, and ranch hands in New Mexico. Serena Mallory came to the huge New Mexico ranch of Castle Rock as a twelve-year-old orphan. She grew up as the ward of owner Dan McIntire. Now in her early twenties, Serena watches the ranch's idyllic summer charm disappear when Dan dies in a riding accident. The night before his accident, she overheard him arguing with someone, and since his death, a series of strange accidents has plagued the ranch. Convinced that Dan's accident was anything but, Serena sets out to find the guilty party.

New York Times bestselling author Carolyn Hart's ghostly gumshoe Bailey Ruth Raeburn is frequently amusing...but this is the first time she's been a muse.When you wish upon a star, you get...Bailey Ruth? You do if you're a little girl whose mom needs help and you touch the soft heart of Supervisor Wiggins at Heaven's Department of Good Intentions. Granted it's not the usual task of an emissary, but then again Bailey Ruth is not your usual emissary. So Wiggins dispatches the spunky spirit to her old hometown of Adelaide, Oklahoma, to help a single mother and struggling writer find some creative solutions to her problems.Deidre Davenport is just about broke, trying to support her two children, and has her hopes pinned on getting a faculty job with the Goddard College English department. Jay Knox, who is in charge of the writer's conference she's participating in, will decide who gets the job, but he's more interested in her body than her body of work.Not...