Cozy Train

One mystery, one romance, and a possessed raven. In the corridors of Singsong's Magical College, Gabriela the janitor's flesh began turning to stone. Why didn't anybody say that kissing gargoyles is a bad idea? Things are rocky enough, but then someone summons a malevolent demon on her shift in the school's library, and now he's stalking her. Gabby embarks on a desperate quest to locate her elusive father to save her from turning to stone while avoiding the demon, but she can't do it alone. She'll need the help of Percival Marigold, her arch nemesis, to navigate the balls and tea parties ...

Cherringham is devastated. Otto Brendl, the likeable old man who had hosted the classic Punch-and-Judy show for the kids each summer, died suddenly of a heart attack. But while the memorial service is being planned, Jack becomes suspicious that Otto wasn't just the friendly man next door. Maybe there's more behind the heart attack? Soon Jack and Sarah are on the trail of a particularly sinister murderer - and together they will find that there's not only one kind of justice.

Jack's a retired ex-cop from New York, seeking the simple life in Cherringham. Sarah's a Web designer who's moved back to the village to find herself. But their lives are anything but quiet as the two team up to solve Cherringham's criminal mysteries. This compilation contains episodes 4 - 6: THICK AS THIEVES, LAST TRAIN TO LONDON and THE CURSE OF MABB'S FARM.

When the Australian Mystery Writers' Society invited me to their crime-writing festival aboard the Ghan, the famous train between Darwin and Adelaide, I was hoping for some inspiration for my second book. Fiction, this time: I needed a break from real people killing each other. Obviously, that didn't pan out. The program is a who's who of crime-writing royalty. But when one of us is murdered, six authors quickly turn into five detectives. Together, we should know how to solve a crime. Or commit one.

A sleuth who sees spirits, a chef who reads tea leaves, and a cat who knows all the games. Murder doesn’t have a ghost of a chance. For Staley Stoneybrook, life has been turned upside down. As the beneficiary of her long lost uncle’s will, she finds herself the owner of the historic Paradise Bay Station & Inn. But in a strange twist, the beautiful oceanfront property will only be hers when she posts a profit at the end of a year—something she’s determined to do. But as she’s about to make her first report to her uncle’s lawyer, he’s killed in front of his office. It’s only ...

A chill in the air, a cemetery at the station, and a body in the clocktower. Halloween sneaks up on Staley Stoneybrook. As the preparations for the station’s annual Ghoul’s Night Out get underway, everyone pitches in to do their part. It promises to be a fun and spooky time for the trick-or-treaters of Paradise Bay. But before they can hang a single cobweb, a real body turns up. Although Staley uses all of her paranormal allies to solve the murder, she has two mysteries on her hands. It seems that a poltergeist has decided to visit the station for Halloween.

Charlotte Baxter is eager for the circus to come through her dusty Texas town on the railroad, but the exciting event turns deadly when a star performer dies in the center ring. After Charlotte discovers a devastating secret at home, she takes her son and escapes her dangerous husband by jumping on the circus train. Jay Edwards manages logistics for the traveling circus, but challenges arise as the circus faces a financial crisis while his personal life goes off the rails. Jay finds someone he can confide in when he meets Charlotte.

A betrayal...a secret baby….an unknown imposter…will Tess survive the wagon train journey to Sunset Hills, Oregon after her life is threatened? And if so, what will she do once she gets there? 1855. Tess Findlay can’t wait to be reunited with her beau who went out west three months ago to mine for gold, saying he’d send for her soon. Even though she hasn’t heard from him, she’s discovered she’s with child and decides to join a wagon train to travel to Oregon to surprise him with the news. When a band of robbers holds up the caravan, Tess is shocked to recognize her beau as one...

A luxury train tour in Europe. A dysfunctional family. A murdered matriarch. When a long-awaited vacation ends in murder for one of the tour guests and passports are confiscated by the authorities, the dream trip turns into a nightmare. DeeDee, Jake, Al, and Cassie find themselves stranded in a luxury hotel in Venice, Italy. Sounds great, but they can’t leave until the murderer is found. They have no choice but to help the local police so they can return home to the United States.

A classic steam train, an old mining town, and danger around the bend. It’s the dog days of summer in Paradise Bay. The beach is sizzling, the tourists are swarming, and the inn is full. At someone’s suggestion, Staley Stoneybrook decides to see one of the area’s other attractions—the old mining town of Ravenston. Although the Gold Rush era saloon, candy store, and even a staged bank robbery are charming, the gaping mine in the hills above the town looms over it. The lawless days of the Wild West may be far behind the former ghost town, but Staley discovers that finding gold can ...

A gaming convention, a gaggle of geeks, and an accident waiting to happen. Staley Stoneybrook has settled nicely into the Paradise Bay Station & Inn. As spring gives way to summer, her routine pleasantly starts with making the inn’s coffee and finishes with the evening bonfire. But her first real challenge arrives when an errant roof tile tumbles into the vegetable garden. At the invitation of some young guests at the station, Staley is also trying to broaden her horizons while staying close to home. She visits her first Paradise Bay gaming convention. Game nerds compete with each other ...

A fun filled festival, a trip through time, and the curse of a mummy. Paradise Bay is abuzz with the annual Roaring 20s festival. A lecture on Egyptomania with authentic artifacts kicks it off, and Staley Stoneybrook is delighted to be in attendance. But when a famous archaeologist drops dead in the middle of his lecture, Staley and her paranormal crew spring into action. As she tries to find a killer while also running the station, an even more pressing mystery presents itself: What can she can possibly wear to the 20s Gala?

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 ...

A family at odds, a business on the line, and a body at the wharf. It’s a busy time in Paradise Bay with spring break in full swing. Although the sun is glorious and the water is inviting, Staley Stoneybrook is busy with her job. As the owner of the Paradise Bay Station & Inn, she not only manages her own business but also forges ties with others. In the early morning hours, she’s enjoying a tour of the world-class local seafood market until a body is discovered upstairs. She’ll have to bring all her paranormal allies onto the case when she decides that something about the death is ...

Columbine Pepper Drugget's background wasn't one that equipped a young woman to manage a motel worth a million dollars, or cope with rude guests, jewel thieves, an unscrupulous competitor - or even the attentions of a brassy but oddly attractive lawyer. She had spent her life so far as an assistant to her aunt at Miss Cordwainer’s School for Girls from 5-to-10. What she knew about the world was limited to the novels of Jane Austen and such bits of knowledge as the pupils possessed.

The Monastery Murders moves to Canada when Antony is invited to lecture on the British saints who inspired the founding of Toronto and Felicity couriers an ancient manuscript connected with Saint Patrick to monasteries in Montreal and Vancouver. A spectacular train journey across the breadth of the continent carries them even further away from the murder Felicity witnessed in England. Or does it? In Against All Fierce Hostility, Donna Fletcher Crow allows you to take the fanciful trip we all wish we could embark on during these strange times. It’s an all-frills-and-chills included journey...

Mystery writers and church ladies derail on a cross-country train, chuffing with intrigue, shenanigans, and romance. Too bad Sandra can’t concentrate on honing her writing. Or purifying her heathen soul. Because, she keeps discovering dead bodies. Sandra has an aversion to a particular detective Lt. Hottie. She can’t let things get stirred up with him again. Because of what she did during the hurricane.

1929, London. In the darkness before dawn, a London railway porter discovers a man's body as he unloads a special goods train from Yorkshire, all means of identification stripped away. Hitting a dead end, Scotland Yard call on indomitable sleuth Kate Shackleton, hoping her local Yorkshire knowledge and undoubted skills at winkling out information will produce the results they need. 1929, Yorkshire. Fears of unrest in the Yorkshire coalfields mean that Kate must conduct her investigation with the utmost secrecy.

Murder on the Royal Rocky Express Autumn, 1924 All aboard the most luxurious train route in the country. No expense is spared to pamper travelers on an enchanting ride through the snow-capped mountains. Penelope van Kessler, a stylish young sleuth, embarks on the trip with a secret agenda - find a thief who has been stealing from passengers. But when a wealthy woman is found murdered in her lush, private compartment, Penelope’s investigation is derailed and rerouted. A U.S. Marshal takes charge and steamrolls the case with his one-track-mind approach. With all the passengers trapped in ...

In the early hours of Christmas Eve, the sleeper train to the Highlands is derailed, along with the festive plans of its travellers. With the train stuck in snow in the middle of nowhere, a killer stalks its carriages, picking off passengers one by one. Those who sleep on the sleeper train may never wake again. Can former Met detective Roz Parker find the killer before they kill again?