"Anglophiles, especially, will adore this book's many pleasures." — Kirkus Reviews"Not only is Alice Boatwright a good detective writer, but a first-class storyteller as well."— M.C. Beaton, author of the Agatha Raisin mysteriesIn Under an English Heaven, the first Ellie Kent mystery, Ellie has left behind her college teaching job and life in San Francisco to marry a handsome widowed vicar and live in a Cotswold village. At first, she thinks her biggest challenge will be to gain acceptance from the villagers as a foreigner and "incomer." But, when she discovers a dead man in the churchyard, her outsider status leads to her becoming the prime suspect in his murder. To prove her innocence, Ellie finds she must draw on her research skills to unravel a web of decades-old secrets before more people die—and her new life unravels too.Winner of the 2016 Mystery and Mayhem Grand Prize

Don't miss the first three books in this warm Southern Cozy collection, now offered as a box set! Fabulous family recipes included.Start at the beginning with Book 1, Too Many Crooks Spoil the Plot, in which Mabel Aphrodite Brown and best friend Lurleen must protect orphaned children from harm and find a killer. In Book 2, Into the Frying Pan, Ditie must settle issues with an old boyfriend and find a murderer on a Civil War battlefied reenactment. Ditie participates in a cooking contest laced with murder in Book 3, Murder Most Southern.

At their twenty-fifth high school reunion in Portland, Maine, P.I. partners and moms Maya Kendrick and Sandra Wallage must figure out which of their former classmates should have been voted most likely to kill . . .After all these years, Maya and Sandra have mixed feelings about seeing their high school classmates, but in one sense the evening promises to be something of a red carpet event. A shy wallflower in school, Alyssa Turner has blossomed into an Oscar-nominated actress—and she’s coming to the reunion.To their surprise, before the event, Alyssa contacts Maya and Sandra. She’s going to be playing a private eye and would like to hear about their experiences. When they meet, she confides she was bullied in school by cheerleader Tawny Bryce and her mean girls’ clique while also having a huge crush on Tawny’s boyfriend, the star quarterback.When Tawny’s body is discovered the night of the reunion behind the bleachers, the spotlight is on Alyssa. She turns to Maya and Sandra to find the real killer. But is she as innocent as she seems—or turning in another Oscar-worthy performance?

Books 4 and 5 in Edgar-winner Julie Smith’s series featuring funny, lively lawyer Rebecca Schwartz—at a very nice price!"Nobody gets inside her characters like Julie Smith." -Linda Barnes, author of the Carlotta Carlyle series“Julie Smith writes like jazz should sound--cool, complex, and penetrating right to the heart.” -Val McDermidVol. 4: DEAD IN THE WATERWHAT'S THE ETIQUETTE WHEN YOUR HOSTESS IS ARRESTED FOR MURDER? San Francisco lawyer Rebecca Schwartz has occasion to wonder when she and her weekend hostess, Marty Whitehead, find a body floating in the 30-foot kelp tower at the Monterey Aquarium, and Marty's promptly dragged off to the slammer.Rebecca quickly grasps the Emily Post solution—sign on as Marty's lawyer, try to keep her client's two young kids out of the deep end, and somehow avoid drowning in the sea of lies gushing from Marty's mouth--and everyone else’s. There’s a lot of intrigue among the aquarium's oceangoing primates, as well as rumors of a pearl beyond price. Plus a new romance for our heroine!Volume 5: OTHER PEOPLE’S SKELETONSWHAT SHE'S ABOUT TO LEARN WILL ROCK HER WORLD! Rebecca Schwartz, “Jewish feminist lawyer,” as she’s fond of saying, thought she knew her best friend--and her boy friend. Not to mention her family. But everything’s about to change.Secrets spill out of these pages like hornets out of a nest, each with its own distinct sting, as author Smith weaves a thrill-packed and complicated San Francisco mystery that’s as much about how little we know about our nearest and dearest as it is about whodunit.Rebecca’s shocked when Chris Nicholson, her glamorous law partner, is arrested for murder--but not nearly so shocked as when she discovers Chris can’t come up with an alibi. What she was doing, Chris says, involves a secret so damaging she’d be drummed out of San Francisco legal circles if anyone knew. Sure enough, when Rebecca uncovers it, her world tilts on its axis—and continues to list, ever more dangerously, as the story picks up speed and this formerly rational lawyer finds her worldview threatened by things she never knew existed. At least not in her circle! And Chris is far from the only one with a skeleton in her closet.Fans of Nancy Pickard’s delicate psychological probes, Janet Evanovich’s wild romps, and Marcia Muller’s complex yarns will appreciate this one. Author Alert: I wrote these after I'd written the first book in the Skip Langdon Police Procedural Series, which is a much darker proposition than the Rebecca Schwartz books. Usually. But some readers have remarked that these two are a good deal darker than the three previous titles in the series -- edgier, more realistic, and...well, just not as funny. Guilty as charged. (Sorry! They just came out that way.) DEAD IN THE WATER has some scary scenes, and some readers have been offended by the way the characters wrestle with issues of religion and lack of same in OTHER PEOPLE’S SKELETONS. Whatever you decide, we've got your back: if you think you’ll like it and you guess wrong, we’ll refund your money and throw in a free book! Just write me at juleorleans@cox.net. --Julie Smith