**It’s curtains at Christmas in a special short story:**“If you delight in the absurd and enjoy manic humor, you’ll treasure the Trash ‘n’ Treasure mysteries.” —Mystery SceneDuring the dress rehearsal for a festive Christmas play in small-town Serenity, Iowa, star Madeline de Morlaye topples over—on stage!—after a bite of prop pastry. Since the frosty actress had earned plenty of enemies through her offstage dramatics, the cast of suspects is longer than S...

At a small-town antiques market, someone is dealing in death: “Charming…a laugh-out-loud funny mystery.”—Romantic Times (4 stars)Halloween may be a time of treats, but for Brandy Borne, there's nothing trickier than keeping her batty mom out of mischief. Opening a booth at the Serenity antiques mall seems like a frightfully sensible solution—until a corpse turns up between the cornucopia and the candy corn. Local law scares up a suspect in the victim's dog...

**A special holiday short story in the series starring “**a hilarious team of snoops” (Joan Hess).Hey Santa, get a clue . . .Baby, it’s cold outside at the small town of Serenity’s annual Holiday Stroll festivities. But that doesn’t stop Brandy Borne and her theatrical mother, Vivian, from making merry. That is, until the two find something frosty in Santa’s workshop—the jolly man in red, dead as a doornail. And the goodies inside his donation bag ...

A con artist meets his end on a country road—and a lot of swindled senior citizens are suspects: “Hilarious…a delightful debut.”—Joan HessDetermined to make a new start in her quaint hometown on the banks of the Mississippi, Brandy Borne never dreams she'll become the prime suspect in a murder case. . .Moving back in with her eccentric, larger-than-life mother, Brandy Borne finds small-town Serenity, Iowa, anything but serene. It seems an unscrupulous antiq...

A special Christmas short story in “one of the funniest cozy series going” (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine).The Christmas rush is on as Brandy Borne and her quaintly quirky mother, Vivian, sniff out plum collectibles for resale, only to find the owner of a Santa's workshop worth of treasures has received some deadly tidings. It's beginning to look a lot like murder. . .but who wanted the deceased closed for the holidays—permanently? Maybe a rival antiques d...

A mother-and-daughter sleuthing team are on the trail of the bad guys in this “diverting” cozy mystery (Publishers Weekly).As spring lassos small-town Serenity, Iowa, Brandy Borne’s crime-bustin’ mama, Vivian, hatches a harebrained scheme to run for county sheriff—ropin’ in her daughter as campaign manager. First stop: a local assisted-living home, the ideal place to round up some voters and some much-needed funds. But shortly after they snag a valuable do...

That local theater diva of a certain age, Vivian Borne—a.k.a. Brandy’s Mother—is sheriff of Serenity County now, but still hot on the trail of precious antiques. On a tour of the historic Wentworth Mansion, the two dedicated dealers are aglow at the treasure trove of priceless objects . . . never dreaming everything will turn to ashes, hours later.A charred corpse in the ruins is identified as the mansion’s caretaker, a one-time flame of Vivian’s. But Tony Cassato—Brandy’s beau and...

“This humorous cozy—with its well-drawn, quirky characters—is a hoot.”—BooklistWhen a series of creepy crimes plagues an ill-fated Edgar Allan Poe festival, newly elected county sheriff Vivian Borne, along with her reluctant deputy daughter Brandy and spunky shih tzu Sushi, springs into action. A purloined tome, a black cat, a musty mausoleum, and mysterious disappearances—these tell the tale of a heartless murderer. But Vivian and Brandy Borne are ...

A village festival offers a Shakespeare play, an antiques sale—and a murder: “Surely one of the funniest cozy series going.”—Ellery Queen Mystery MagazineBrandy Borne’s exceedingly eccentric mother, Vivian, has been invited to perform her one-woman interpretation of “the Scottish play” (sometimes called Macbeth)—with different hats for different characters—at the neighboring town of Old York's annual fête. The weekend festival celebrates the quaint village...

**The wife of a local tycoon is murdered, and there’s a wealth of suspects to choose from…**“A madcap series with nonstop humor.”—RT Book ReviewsIt happened at Serenity's swap meet, right after Brandy Borne and her ever-more-eccentric mother, Vivian, finished shooting the pilot for their very own TV show, Antiques Sleuths. Brandy just, well, lost her balance and fell . . . into the helpful arms of an old flame, lo...

A trip to a New York comic-book convention pits antiques dealers against a villain: “Brandy and her eccentric mother make a hilarious team of snoops.”—Joan HessSmall-town Iowa sleuths Brandy and Vivian Borne—with their trusty shih tzu, Sushi—head for a Big Apple comics convention to sell a rare 1940s Superman drawing. When an intruder breaks into their hotel suite, their madcap Manhattan misadventure is only beginning. Soon the out-of-towners stumble onto a murder ...

A mother-and-daughter team explore old furniture—and an old murder: “One of the funniest cozy series going.”—Ellery Queen Mystery MagazineBrandy Borne and her dramatically ditzy mother, Vivian, are stars of the new reality show Antiques Sleuths. The season opens in a perfect location—a quaint old house echoing with the unsolved whispers of a sixty-year-old axe murder. But when the show's producer meets a similarly grisly end, Brandy and Mother mus...