Color Me A Crime - Book Two

"Tonya Kappes' A Magical Cure Series, charmed me until the end!" ~ Cozy Mystery Book Reviews

Bubble, Bubble. . .

It seems shop owner and newly appointed Whispering Falls Village President June Heal has it all: Beauty, wits, bewitching powers...Sheriff Oscar Park. Life is good. Because life in Whispering Falls is magical.

Cures and Trouble. . .

But when a member of the community is found dead on the steps of A Charming Cure, June's homeopathic cure shop, and her fingerprints show up at the scenes of local robberies, she is kicked off the village council and her powers fall under scrutiny. Until it's uncovered who is wreaking havoc on the town...June's magic is suspended.

Magic Stirs. . .

With the help of a rather obnoxious genie and Mr. Prince Charming, June's Fairy-God cat, June is determined to figure out who is framing her. Time is of the essence when it becomes clear that the true villain is trying to get rid of her...permanently!

And Trouble Doubles. . .

Oscar Park will do anything to protect June even if that means giving up all of his magical powers. . .or worse, his life.

(If you enjoy this book, check out the sequel, NO SUBSTITUTE FOR MONEY)

Notice:  This mystery contains no vampires, werewolves, zombies, or space aliens. It was not tested on laboratory animals. It makes no claims to political correctness. Characters may not be fully clothed at all times.
Divorced from a philandering con man and downsized from her job as a talk radio show producer, Barbara Reed is desperate for money. She's got a mortgage, a college loan, an aging car, and a ten-pound dog named Cheese Puff.

With her unemployment checks running out, she signs on as a high school substitute teacher and learns what stress is all about. When she finds history teacher Henry Stoddard strangled with his own outdated tie, her stress level soars into the red zone. Then she's assigned to cover his classes.

Stoddard was a bully and a blackmailer. The list of suspects is a long one, and police put Barb at the top. When she discovers a second body, the noose of circumstantial evidence tightens.

With help from the showgirl widow of a reputed mobster, a trash-scavenging derelict, and members of the Cheese Puff Care and Comfort Committee, Barb struggles to keep a grip on her job, her sanity, and her freedom.

ABNA Novel Competition QUARTERFINALIST - 2013!

Publishers Weekly Review:

At the relentless urging of her mother, Annie Graceland, a 30-something soon-to-be-divorced baker living in Los Angeles, heads to her hometown of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, to help judge the first annual Hot Guys competition in this blithe and funny contemporary cozy mystery.... There's a large cast of characters... which includes a smarmy former boyfriend, and a fussy old teacher, but it's Annie who shines in some laugh-out-loud moments, making this novel a pleasant... romp.

NEW BOOK COVER ALERT! Don't buy this book if you already bought the edition with the red and blue striped cover.  That said...

Annie Graceland's a baker with a pinch of psychic ability. She's empathic—can feel other people's lusts and desires in her own body. No biggie if she experiences someone else's cravings for dark chocolate or a foot massage. But Annie's recently acquired a spookier skill—she can see and talk to ghosts. Much to her dismay, they can also talk to her—nagging her incessantly to solve their murders. 

In the third installment of this popular, hilarious mystery series, Annie's happily dating hunky Detective Raphael Campillio in Los Angeles, when her mom signs her up to be a judge at Wisconsin's first annual Hot Guys Contest. Who cares if it's 4th of July weekend with scorching temperatures? It's a free trip home to Wisconsin. She can visit family and friends on someone else's dime. What could possibly go wrong? 

When hometown Hot Guy, Mr. Oconomowoc, is killed and doesn't pass to the Afterlife, he begs Annie to investigate his murder. Now she's not only a pageant judge, but also meddling with suspects that include her former high school rival, an old boyfriend, Hot Guy contestants, a supermodel and a mysterious illegal betting ring. It doesn't help that Detective Jamie Ryan, a boy from Annie's past, is all grown up, sexy as sin, and determined to make her fall for him. 

Annie’s about to discover that going back home could be sweet as frosting or a cake wreck. The temperature's rising at the Hot Guys Contest...

Includes REAL Recipes!!!

“Superfab fun mystery” … “A giggle a minute” … “Happy might be the next Stephanie Plum!”

So say readers of the debut mystery in the Ms America series, MS AMERICA AND THE OFFING ON OAHU. Now beauty queen and budding sleuth Happy Pennington returns, this time to gaudy, garish Las Vegas …

When Happy pulls bridesmaid duty for pageant-wear purveyor Sally Anne Gibbons, the last thing she expects to find at the altar is a corpse. But at these over-the-top nuptials that’s what she gets: a dead best man and a groom who just might be the killer.

Sometimes it seems everybody in Sin City has a secret, from the cocktail waitress trying to land a reality-show gig to the silver-haired cougar with a penchant for blackjack dealers. Maybe hunky pageant emcee Mario Suave is hiding something, too: like the hots for everybody’s favorite beauty queen ...

* * *
Author Diana Dempsey never competed in beauty pageants but she did the next best thing: she worked in TV news. After a dozen years as an Emmy-winning anchor and reporter, Diana hung up her mic to become an author of fast, fun romantic fiction.

Her novels have been called “almost impossible to put down” (Romance Reviews Today), “skillfully plotted and filled with realistic detail” (Library Journal), and “spicy, sexy, and sultry” (Booklist). Her first novel was nominated for a RITA award for Best First Book by Romance Writers of America; another was a Top Pick of Romantic Times; a third was a selection of the Doubleday Book Club.