Showing results by author "Elaine Orr" in All Categories

What if you lived in a small town, lose your job, and don't see other employment options nearby? That was Melanie Perkins' predicament when grouchy news publisher Hal Morris fired her because she took too many photos of flowers when she was supposed to concentrate on the story at hand. She lands work as a landscaper, but there's an ugly surprise her first day at the new job. At first no one thinks Melanie could be a killer. But when her hoe turns up in the same mulch pile as a body, the local sheriff isn't so sure. Mel’s initially willing to let law enforcement clear her name, but the hoe...

Least Trodden Ground. Digger Browning looked forward to spending time with Uncle Benjamin after damaged pipes put her kitchen ceiling on the floor. She didn't expect to find his body at his Western Maryland home, the Ancestral Sanctuary. Who would kill the parsimonious octogenarian? Sure, some people were mad about him pushing the historical society to find a new abode, but they got over it, right? And then she finds out he had a new 'foxy lady,' and she's not his usual type. Antsy before the funeral, Digger delves into family history, but makes an unexpected find. Between trying to figure ...

A dinner invitation for Digger, who is accompanied by the very pale Uncle Benjamin, gets her involved with a recently discovered relative of their elderly friend Thelma, whose brother died during World War II. DNA testing has led his until-now-unknown great-grandson, Peter, to Maple Grove in the Western Maryland Mountains. Thelma enlists Digger's help as she gets to know Peter. But his presence is not the only surprise. Letters Thelma recently received from another brother’s estate raise questions about what happened to some of her parents’ prized possessions. Were they submerged with ...

Kate, a recent college graduate, is still reeling from the deaths of her beloved parents when the discovery of hidden letters forces her to re-examine everything she knew about her family. Tacker, a young engineering student and all-around boy-hero, has returned from a West African odyssey where he fell in love with the local culture but was sent home in shame. Kate's and Tacker's stories come together when, on the same day and in different moments, they encounter a young African American man named Gaines. The relationship that develops between the three is complicated, as each one searches for love, freedom, and new beginnings.

Can a real estate appraiser in a New Jersey beach town get in this much trouble? If your name translates to "pretty nice" in French, you've probably gotten used to teasing. It doesn't prepare you to find out that your soon-to-be-ex-husband has a gambling problem, raided your assets, and embezzled from his bank. Jolie Gentil moves to Great Aunt Madge’s bed and breakfast at the Jersey shore, taking her cat Jazz, and joining Madge's pair of prune-eating dogs. Jolie does not view this as a retreat, just a smart change. She had no idea her life at the Jersey shore was about to get even more ...

B.R.A.G. Medallion Honoree Digger is bouncing back from a tough year. With the new graphic design firm she and her friend Holly started, things are looking up. But then life throws her a curve when she trips over a body while she and her friend Marty are taking photos at an abandoned train depot. As she tries to piece things together, Digger begins to think the body she found is linked to a long-ago disappearance in her town of Maple Grove. Did Daniel Stevens abandon his family in 1963, or is there a more sinister explanation? When she tries to learn more about Daniel’s life, Digger ends ...

Jolie always has her hands full appraising houses, running the food pantry, and enjoying her family. Enter Buck Brock — an annoying landlord who likes to skimp on amenities and wants Jolie to lowball appraisals on properties he’s buying. He makes Lester Argrow -- usually Ocean Alley's most annoying realtor -- look like a polite uncle. She and Scoobie also decide to let a troubled Iraq War vet back into their lives, and Jolie finds him work cleaning units for Buck. Will Josh’s presence help or hurt her family — especially Scoobie? Jolie’s in the Java Jolt Coffee Shop when Buck’s ...

Remember when candidates were polite and talked about issues? Well in Ocean Alley at the Jersey Shore, they still do. Well, there was the issue with the fire at the garage... If this is your first book in the Jolie Gentil series, it’s a bit different than the others. In fact, it’s called an Aunt Madge Story in the Jolie series. In terms of story chronology, it follows "Underground in Ocean Alley" (book 11). In that book, Jolie solves a murder while Aunt Madge happens to be running for mayor of Ocean Alley. In "Aunt Madge and The Civil Election," events of the crime-solving are muted and...

Mountain Rails of Old, third book in the Family History Mystery Series. Digger Browning never paid much attention to the abandoned cottage and its long-gone occupants until she accompanied her friend Marty, who wanted to photograph it for a news story. Everything changed when Uncle Benjamin made a huge discovery nearby. What really happened to Samantha and her eight-year old daughter twelve years ago? If it hadn’t been for a growling raccoon, Digger might not have badgered enough people to find out. Her friend Holly doesn’t like the ancestors Digger found for her, and Marty thinks ...

The daughter of medical missionaries, Elaine Neil Orr was born in Nigeria in 1954, in the midst of the national movement that would lead to independence from Great Britain. But as she tells it in her captivating memoir, Orr did not grow up feeling American, but rather identified with Nigerian culture. Orr came back to America to attend high school, feeling the loss of Nigeria keenly. It was only in her forties, in the crisis of kidney failure, that she began to recover her African life.

14th Jersey Shore Cozy MysteryThe band director at Ocean Alley High School doesn't want students to be distracted by cell phones when they march on the football field. Imagine his reaction when one goes off during the National Anthem. When no student will apologize, Mr. O'Halloran cancels band practice the week before a big competition. Talk about a good way to tick off students, parents, and band boosters. With Scoobie's brother Terry as one of the bass drummers, Jolie and family have strong opinions. But someone is a lot more upset. At least the knitting needle in the band director's neck...

The reverberating bangs shake Melanie Perkin's nerves. Either someone's aiming at her truck, or they don't know fireworks are supposed to go upward. Could things get any worse? Yes. The next day she discovers a dead body in the barn on her late parents' farm, Sheriff's Deputy Granger's gun pointed at the chest of a primary suspect - someone she holds dear.

When Jolie Gentil goes to buy a cup of coffee the morning after a storm knocks out power at her house in Ocean Alley, she finds Java Jolt unlocked and minus its owner. A bigger surprise is seeing proprietor Joe Regan a few minutes later, badly injured. It seems a potential killer thinks Jolie has something Joe was hiding. The normal routine of appraising houses and volunteering at the Harvest for All food pantry is interrupted by an SUV that nearly smashes Jolie, a break-in at the home Jolie and Scoobie share, and a terrifying kidnapping.

It's fun to buy a house. Unless, there is something hidden behind the walls and someone wants it. Someone who is willing to kill for it. Jolie is pursued by a purse thief and a burglar, but the guy she's most worried about is the one who left an elderly auctioneer dead on her porch swing. In between appraising houses and planning a fund-raiser for the food pantry (can you say liquid string contest?), Jolie, Scoobie, and friends need to figure who left a cache of jewelry behind the walls in her house.

Jolie never liked the idea of sitting on the plank above the dunk tank for the food pantry's fundraiser at the carnival. Even so, she never dreamed what Scoobie saw that day would leave him battling for his life. Scoobie's ex-con mother shows up and there's a murder to add to the mix. Soon Jolie is doing a lot more than appraising real estate, though even that is complicated by home burglars. Jolie reluctantly seeks help from her nemesis - reporter George Winters - and tries to stay a step ahead of a kidnapper and murderer so she can take charge of her world again.

Jolie Gentil gets tapped for some appraisal work at 10th reunion of her Ocean Alley High School class. When appraising the vacant Tillotson-Fisher house, she finds the skeleton of Richard Tillotson hidden in an antique attic wardrobe. He vanished just after his sister married his business partner in 1929. Jolie sees a link to the Fisher family's Prohibition era business and works with friends Scoobie and Ramona to gather clues from old photo albums and ledgers. The photo albums lead her to Mary Doris Milner, Richard's girlfriend, who has fond memories of him and is certain of who murdered him. But, there was nothing to link her suspect to the murder then, and he's long dead himself.

From Hurricane Sandy to B&B repairs to Aunt Madge's wedding in three weeks. If Jolie can handle that surely she can deal with a sobbing woman who shows up at midnight. When the next morning Jolie learns that Pooki's husband is missing and his partner is dead, it seems there may be a connection to some shady hurricane repairs at Ocean Alley's senior complex.

When Jolie Gentil's parents leave her with Aunt Madge for her junior year so they can "work things out" in their marriage, she's angry. She knows no one at Ocean Alley High School. Some kids snub her, but she makes friends with irreverent Scoobie. He's quirky and fun, but he's skipped school and smoked pot in the past, so people avoid him.You've met Jolie and Scoobie as crime-solving adults. Check out their high school friendship.

Scoobie never knew much about his family - and after the way he grew up, who could blame him for liking it that way? A 9-1-1 call during the wedding changes everything. Suddenly, Jolie has to help Scoobie figure out what he wants to know and determine who seems to want someone in his family dead. Knowing more about Scoobie's past could change their future together. But a special wedding arrival may cause even more complications.

Bad enough that Jolie ends up in the Emergency Room because she tried to avoid hitting a deer. Worse to find a dead woman in the hospital restroom. Jolie is on the lookout for a runaway teenager and whoever planted the dead hospital budget cutter in her path. Just when Jolie's ready to leave the murder investigation to the police, she gets a surprise - and it's not a good one. Will her need to know see her hurt - or worse?