Sarah E Glenn

"Get up, quietly," he said. "Behave, and nobody has to get hurt. You understand?" Cornelia Pettijohn thought she was leaving Florida. She boarded the train, but so did three gangsters. Instead of a quiet trip back to Colorado, Cornelia is kidnapped at gunpoint and pressured into solving the murder of a beautiful young blues singer. No matter how carefully Cornelia explains that she is not a detective, her reputation for solving crimes has convinced the gangsters she can get pal, Chago, out of a jam. Luckily for her, her uncle and Teddy Lawless saw what happened and gave pursuit. Soon, the three snowbirds are reunited and up to their ears in hot water. Just when Cornelia thinks it can't get any worse, the trio gets a surprise visit from Teddy's estranged mother. She's heard about Teddy's engagement and is here to see her finally wed. It started as a polite fiction. Tampa Bay's Cuban quarter has never been more dangerous. The snowbirds search for clues, but someone is looking for them, too. Club Tropical is closed after two witnesses are murdered. Then, a tumble down the stairs leaves Cornelia trapped with a dead man. She isn't sure she can untangle this mess before she loses her life.

Relatives - you can't choose them and you can't lose them... unless they die. And that's what Cousin Maud did. The distant cousin of his Irish mother was never a big factor in Dash Hammond's life. As a child, he remembers her pinching his cheeks. As an adult, he rarely saw her as he traveled the world serving in the United States Army. But Maud remembered him. "A good man, a reliable man....a seeker of truth and a finder of lost things." She leaves everything to Dash counting on his sense of duty and honor to do the right thing and make amends for her mistakes. If Dash finds Maud's abandoned daughter, how many lives will this impact? As he drives back and forth from Clover Pointe, Ohio, to Cleveland, Dash curses her under his breath but refuses to back away from a challenge. Dash learns that old sins do indeed cast long shadows.

"Never waste good rum on a bad night." - Teddy Lawless, February 1926. There are many bad nights ahead for Teddy. Shortly after she arrives at the newly opened Vinoy Hotel in Saint Petersburg, she comes face to face with her ex-fianc , Ansel Stevens, in the dining room. Cue the slap that was thirty years in the making. Unfortunately, her ex-fianc dies during a yacht race shortly thereafter. Conclusion of the authorities: poison. His family closes ranks, leaving Teddy as the prime suspect. Worse, Teddy's hair comb is found on the deck of Ansel's boat, leading to her swift arrest. Can Cornelia Pettijohn and Uncle Percival save fun-loving Teddy before she goes from the grand hotel to the big house?