Midnight Clear

Former cop, currently co-owner of the House Mouse housecleaning service, and freelance p.i., Callahan Garrity raises eyebrows when she accepts an assignment from the most hated woman in Atlanta -- a wealthy white socialite who killed a young black girl in a drunken hit-and-run and was punished with no more than a slap on the wrist. Even Callahan's "Mice" are grumbling.

But when a roadside murder turns up the heat on the racial tensions that have been simmering dangerously since Whitney Albright Dobbs received her laughably light sentence, Callahan realizes she'll have to pull out all the stops to trap a mean, mad killer -- for the sake of justice and a city that's threatening to explode.

With a nose for crime and grime, Callahan Garrity has handled dirty killers on the streets as an Atlanta cop and on the job as a house cleaner. But she's always been able to keep her private life neatly separated from work -- until her cousin, Patti, is found dead. Exchanging her House Mouse cleaning uniform for a detective's cap, Callahan is hellbent to find the culprit. It's notthat she doesn't trust the Atlanta PD. She just knows that her suburbanite cousin's death is too strange to be accidental.

Callahan's search takes her on a convoluted trail from Patti's priest, who may have provided more than spiritual counsel, through Atlanta's inner city and into the shady deals of her cousin's newly prosperous husband. Yet, as the pieces start to fall into place, Callahan faces an even bigger challenge -- staying alive.

The winds of change are blowing, bringing gentrification to Callahan Garrity's funky Atlanta neighborhood. Though it probably won't harm her House Mouse housecleaning service, not everyone welcomes the rebirth. And when the body of a murdered microbrewer is discovered in the aftermath of a furious Halloween gale, suspicion falls on the aging "flower child" shopkeeper whom the victim put out of business.

A former cop, Callahan isn't as quick to condemn a colorful local character as some law officers still on the force. But her investigative zeal is stirring up secrets that are forcing her to reassess old friendships and a one-time love -- and is brewing up more lethal trouble than Callahan and her "mice" can safely swallow.

From her time on the Atlanta police force, Callahan Garrity, house cleaner and private investigator extraordinaire, has excelled at mopping up messes -- of all kinds. But she has no idea what she's getting into when she agrees to work for infamous antiques dealer Elliot Littlefield.

The first day on the job she and her crew discover the bloodied body of a young woman in a bedroom -- and are soon on the trail of a priceless Civil War diary stolen by the killer. As if two crimes aren't enough, deadly serious collectors, right-wing radicals, and impulsive teenagers make the case even more difficult to tidy up ... and more dangerous.

Since retiring from the Atlanta Police Department, Callahan Garrity is really cleaning up with her House Mouse housecleaning company -- especially since she added"crime investigation" to the list of services offered.

Callahan agrees to locate the missing member of the popular '60s girl group, the VelvetTeens, and she doesn't have to search long. Deloras Carter, the a.w.o.l. singer, is found passed out drunk by a swimming pool near the dead body of the trio's former producer. The smoking gun in Deloras's hand suggests that the VelvetTeens won't be reuniting for a comeback tour anytime in the near future ... unless Callahan and her "Mice" can spotlight -- and survive -- a different killer act.

After ten years of cleaning up the dirt on Atlanta's streets, Callahan Garrity is trading in her badge for a broom and a staff of house cleaners. But, though the uniform is a little different, Callahan soon finds herself right back in the middle of a mystery when a client's pretty, pious nineteen-year-old nanny is gone ... along with the jewelry, silver, and a few rather sensitive real estate documents.

Before she knows it, the meticulous Callahan is up to her elbows in a case involving illicit love triangles, crooked business deals, long-distance scams, and a dead body. Now she has to roll up her sleeves and start some industrial strength sleuthing to solve -- and survive -- this mess.

Sometimes, when you need a change in your life, the tide just happens to pull you in the right direction…

Ellis, Julia, and Dorie. Best friends since Catholic grade school, they now find themselves, in their mid-thirties, at the crossroads of life and love. Ellis, recently fired from a job she gave everything to, is rudderless and now beginning to question the choices she's made over the past decade of her life. Julia--whose caustic wit covers up her wounds--has a man who loves her and is offering her the world, but she can't hide from how deeply insecure she feels about her looks, her brains, her life. And Dorie has just been shockingly betrayed by the man she loved and trusted the most in the world…though this is just the tip of the iceberg of her problems and secrets. A month in North Carolina's Outer Banks is just what they each of them needs.

Ty Bazemore is their landlord, though he's hanging on to the rambling old beach house by a thin thread. After an inauspicious first meeting with Ellis, the two find themselves disturbingly attracted to one another, even as Ty is about to lose everything he's ever cared about.

Maryn Shackleford is a stranger, and a woman on the run. Maryn needs just a few things in life: no questions, a good hiding place, and a new identity. Ellis, Julia, and Dorie can provide what Maryn wants; can they also provide what she needs?

Mary Kay Andrews' novel is the story of five people questioning everything they ever thought they knew about life. Five people on a journey that will uncover their secrets and point them on the path to forgiveness. Five people who each need a sea change, and one month in a summer rental that might just give it to them.

Where there’s smoke there’s fire, and no one knows this better than New Jersey bounty hunter Stephanie Plum.
 
Dead bodies are showing up in shallow graves on the empty construction lot of Vincent Plum Bail Bonds. No one is sure who the killer is, or why the victims have been offed, but what is clear is that Stephanie’s name is on the killer’s list.

Short on time to find evidence proving the killer’s identity, Stephanie faces further complications when her family and friends decide that it’s time for her to choose between her longtime off-again-on-again boyfriend, Trenton cop Joe Morelli, and the bad boy in her life, security expert Ranger. Stephanie’s mom is encouraging Stephanie to dump them both and choose a former high school football star who’s just returned to town. Stephanie’s sidekick, Lula, is encouraging Stephanie to have a red-hot boudoir “bake-off.” And Grandma Bella, Morelli’s old-world grandmother, is encouraging Stephanie to move to a new state when she puts “the eye” on Stephanie.

With a cold-blooded killer after her, a handful of hot men, and a capture list that includes a dancing bear and a senior citizen vampire, Stephanie’s life looks like it’s about to go up in smoke.