Mystery Nook
Chicken Cutlet Caper
Available Spring of 2022
Click here to order at e-stores OTHER than Amazon and click on the book to order from Amazon.
Two-point-five million dollars’ worth of solid gold soap?
Life in Leavensport, Ohio, had been boring for Jolie Tucker growing up. Now, moving into her thirties, life had changed to near-constant pandemonium. Twelve cats, a husband, eight-month-old twin girls, co-owning a restaurant and part-time PI firm, not to mention her helicopter mom, grandma, and aunt—Jolie’s life left a lot to be desired. A vacation could not come soon enough!
Jolie and her best friend, Ava Martinez, have been planning a staycation since Halloween, when their babies were born on the same day. They’ve planned out who in their families will watch their kids while they lie by the Leavensport pool, drinking in plenty of sun and hopefully some fun fruity beverages.
But life has a way of pulling them back into the daily chaos. When Devonte, the manager of Leavensport’s local shelter for unhoused people, is found dead, face down in Jolie’s famous Cast Iron Chicken Piccata, Ava and Jolie fear that their friend Lia may also be in danger. Lia has been hiding in plain sight from her ex, Jackson Nestle, an unscrupulous local businessman Jolie and Ava suspect is connected to many criminal activities in their village.
Things get extra dicey when one of Nestle’s henchmen goes missing along with two-point-five million dollars’ worth of gold bars. The criminals of Leavensport are hot under the collar after one hundred grams of gold wrapped in hotel soap packaging that was supposed to have been smuggled through the Villy Crisis Center instead disappears into thin air.
Now, the women have their hands full trying to figure out a murder, find a missing man, and get their hands on the gold before Nestle so they can finally put him behind bars for good!
Will this turn out to be the staycation from Hades?
Welcome to Leavensport, Ohio, where DEATH takes a DELICIOUS turn!
Punkin Strudel Mayhem
Available 10/29/21
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It is a Spooktacular time for Jolie and Ava as they have their hands’ full catering Leavensport’s annual Halloween Pumpkin Bash. When Ava convinces Jolie to get their fortunes told by a visiting psychic, they receive an ominous prediction.
“Masks–literal and figurative, chaos, deceit, betrayal, death. The cards have spoken.”
Madame Esme Emerald’s fortunes are looking more like premonitions of doom. It seems that someone in Leavensport received a reading that did not sit well because Madame Emerald is found dead, and it looks like her crystal ball is the murder weapon—or is something more supernatural going on?
Bounty-Full Investigative Services is on the case, or is it more of a paranormal manifestation? This could be a first for the girls as they take on the underworld’s spirits.
Welcome to Leavensport, OH, where DEATH takes a DELICIOUS turn!
Pork Chopped To Death
Available 7/23/21
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You know what they say, you are what you eat, and Jolie and Ava are about to turn into everything they have been craving including pounds of chocolate, pizza, pickles, and ice cream.
Mafia, urban sprawl, gentrification, newborn babies, and the lives of the Leavensport villagers will be altered forever. Change is inevitable. Jolie Tucker is a Type-A perfectionist with fanatic tendencies who detest the very thought of change. Regardless of what she wants, change is a comin' along with a grizzly discovery of murder of one of the village’s most beloved, mayhem between the villagers and the urbanites of Tri-City, and new dynamics of family dysfunction.
Get ready for a roller coaster ride from the peaks of new life, yummy food, and blossoming relationships to the lows of slayings, chaos, and war. The residents of Leavensport are in for the battle of their lives, and it’s up to Jolie, Ava, and their crew to determine the future of their village.
Welcome to Leavensport, Ohio, where DEATH takes a DELICIOUS turn!
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Monkey Bread Business
Available 4/16/21
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Nature breeds new life with the sign of Spring in the air in Leavensport, Ohio, and Jolie and Ava find their new families’ lives turned upside down! With properties in Leavensport beginning to sell, Nina Sanchez opened a bakery after purchasing the lot next to M&M’s Italian restaurant. She is new to town and swears to Ava and Jolie she has no connection to the Dominican Republic Sanchez mafia family. Yet, Ava is skeptical, and this sends Jolie and Ava off on yet another investigation looking at how organized crime connects to their little village and the politics that surround it.
Meanwhile, Nina Sanchez is not thrilled to feel obliged to cross-sell and become a full-fledged member of Leavensport, especially not with Jolie and Ava investigating her history. She has no choice when her son discovers a murdered homeless woman on the street on his way to deliver bread to the local shelter—it looks a lot like a mob hit and the reveal of who the homeless woman is will send all of Leavensport on alert making Jolie question the future of her town.
Welcome to Leavensport, Ohio, where DEATH takes a DELICIOUS turn!
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Yuletide Cast of The Iron Skillet
Book 5.5 A Holiday Book in The Cast Iron Skillet Mystery Series
Available 12/18/2020
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Welcome to Leavensport, OH, where DEATH takes a DELICIOUS turn!
Holiday folly—LITERALLY! Alongside a murder comes another new little addition to the human race in Leavensport, Ohio. Not to mention a broken-off engagement, a double wedding, and buried bones in the village chapel cellar. The Martinez family is back in town to observe Nochebuena with Ava as the Tucker family gears up for their Christmas feast. Leavensport community center is abuzz with preparations for the village multi-cultural shindig until the discovery of an old unresolved crime casts a dark shadow over the town. Will Jolie and Ava solve their first cold case in time to save the holiday celebrations—and will they both survive it?
Deep Dish Pizza Disaster
Book 5 in The Cast Iron Skillet Mystery Series
Available 9/4/20
Click here to order your copy NOW on e-devices other than Amazon. Click on the book cover to order your copy from Amazon.
Welcome to Leavensport, OH, where DEATH takes a DELICIOUS turn!
"NO! He’s not the father. You're all wrong! The father is . . .”
Everyone at the festival stood with their mouths hanging open as Lydia, who went into labor on Labor Day, revealed the identity of the baby’s father.
Autumn is beautiful in Leavensport, Ohio, with the colorful leaves and that crisp bit of coolness that dissipates the humid air that blankets the village each summer—but there is a dark cloud when a merchant from Tri-City is killed at the Leavensport Fall Festival.
Suburbanites clash with villagers, an MS flare-up puts Detective Meiser in a wheelchair, two couples announce their engagement, and someone is poisoned! This Labor Day weekend will do more than honor the laborers of Leavensport and Tri-City—it will pit them against one another to find a killer.
Cast Iron Stake Through the Heart
Book 4 in The Cast Iron Skillet Mystery Series
Available 5/29/20
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On again, off again, ON AGAIN–Jolie Tucker and Mick Meiser are giving their relationship another try. Things seem to be working out for them so far, and love is on the menu all over Leavensport! An unexpected pregnancy with a surprising partner, a therapist pairs off with the chief of police, and the mayor of Leavensport falls for Jolie’s Aunt Fern!
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Blueberry Cobbler Blackmail
Book 3 in The Cast Iron Skillet Mystery Series
Available 2/28/20
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Welcome to Leaven—oh wait—Santo Domingo, where DEATH takes a DELICIOUS turn!
Family bombshells, sibling rivalries, blackmail, and a trip that could be deadly...and the new year has only just begun! After a disastrous Thanksgiving, Jolie Tucker is beside herself and feeling the walls closing in around her. She feels like she needs to escape Leavensport before she loses her mind. She unexpectedly gets her wish when her best friend and co-owner of Cast Iron Creations, Ava Martinez, gets a terrifying email revealing that her papa, Thiago, is in danger in Santo Domingo. The girls are off on a dangerous adventure in new territory. Will they be able to save the day before danger finds them?
Turkey Basted to Death
Book 2.5 A Holiday Book in The Cast Iron Skillet Mystery Series
Available 11/15/19
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Thanksgiving is here, and Jolie Tucker has had quite the year! She is ready to sit back and relax with family and friends. But this is Leavensport, OH—so get ready for intense therapy sessions, dysfunctional family holiday gatherings, uninvited guests, and an inner-city teen advocate found DEAD—stabbed in the ear with the turkey baster!
Welcome to Leavensport, OH, where DEATH takes a DELICIOUS turn!
Jalapeño Cheddar Cornbread Murder
Book 2 in The Cast Iron Skillet Mystery Series
Available 6/21/19
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Financial fraud of elderly villagers in Leavensport, an urban sprawl threat to the community, disastrous dates, cross-sell marketing gone wrong, and another murder? Jolie Tucker is ready to try dating again. Well, she has no choice—since her family auctioned her off to the highest bidder. Her best friend, Ava, has agreed to a double date, but both friends find out hidden secrets about their partners as well as deception by one of the village’s own, who will soon be found dead. This plot is sure to be spicy!
Welcome to Leavensport, OH, where DEATH takes a DELICIOUS turn!
"Sweet Retreat" is a short story meant to be read between book one and book two! Available on Kindle Unlimited! Or you can purchase it on Amazon for 99 cents!
Pineapple Upside Down Murder
Book 1 in The Cast Iron Skillet Mystery Series
AVAILABLE TO READ NOW!
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Introducing Jolie Tucker, an introverted yet passionate restaurant co-owner of Cast Iron Creations, who, at her best friend Ava’s request, steps out of her comfort zone. This leads her into the shade of a killer in the small, cozy village of Leavensport, Ohio. The victim is the village's beloved Ellie Siler who runs the village sweet spot, Chocolate Capers. Jolie finds her grandma Opal is a prime suspect and goes on a search for answers only to find out that her family's secret recipes may not belong to the Tucker family at all. Jolie’s job, family, and livelihood are all on the line. The answers are assuredly lethal.
"The crime novel is the great moral literature of
our time."
JEAN-PATRICK MANCHETTE
