Unfortunately Graham can't stand his roommate, Bishop. Even more unfortunately for Graham, when he wakes up for a lecture, he finds Bishop dead. With Graham the prime suspect, E.J., Willis and the girls race up to Austin immediately. Bishop annoyed many people on campus, but who killed him? E.J. faces a battle to prove her son's innocence.
A satisfying and enjoyable read that is appropriate for all mystery collections" Booklist Sheriff Milt Kovak and his team must track down a determined killer hell-bent on revenge against them and their families. Someone is out to get revenge against Milt Kovak, sheriff of Prophesy County, Oklahoma, and his team with a series of pranks. First a sinister note is found taped to the office front door. Then the alarm system is tampered with and a dummy found hanging from a light fitting in the interrogation room. If that wasn’t disturbing enough, things start to escalate when the brake lines on Milt’s deputy Anthony’s car are cut, causing his wife Maryanne to crash. Meanwhile, two friends of Inez Pettigrew, mother of Milt’s other deputy, Dalton, are taken to hospital with arsenic poisoning after eating her peach melba. It’s not long before Milt and his team have a murder investigation on their hands. And if Milt doesn’t find the killer soon, his own nearest and dearest could be next in line . . .
Arresting a Blanton was always going to be bad news, but things are about to get even worse for Sheriff Milt Kovak. Everyone in Prophesy County knows that you don’t mess with the dim-witted, in-bred Blantons. So when Milt gets a call to say that Darrell Blanton has shot dead his wife, he’s expecting a rough ride. Arresting Darrell and putting him in the slammer may have been surprisingly easy, but things are about to get a whole lot worse. Eunice Blanton, Darrell’s mama, takes a dim view of her son’s arrest and decides to storm the Longbranch Inn where Milt’s partner, Jean McDonnell is hosting a bachelorette party for Holly Humphries. With the women taken hostage, Eunice’s terms are – unsurprisingly – simple: release her boy or a hostage gets shot every ten minutes. But there’s a problem: Darrell has been found dead in his cell, with not a mark on him . . .
“Characters and dialogue as American as apple pie, a keep-’em-guessing plot, and laugh-aloud humor. A downright good read.” —Booklist When Oklahoma sheriff Milt Kovak wins a seven-day cruise for four to Puerto Rico, he takes his family—wife Jean and son Johnny Mac, plus Johnny Mac’s best friend, Early Rollins. It’s spring break and the ship is running over with children—and they really are running, everywhere. It’s complete chaos, but things are about to get even worse when Johnny Mac and Early are caught stealing. The boys confess that they were put up to it by an older boy named Joshua—who is soon found dead on the top deck. And with two full days of sailing ahead—plus word of trouble back home in Prophesy County—Milt and his wife must team up with the ship’s security officer to try to find the killer . . . “One of today’s finest mystery writers.” —Carolyn Hart
With a voice that's as comforting as a rocking chair and as salty as a fisherman" (Houston Chronicle, of Houston in the Rearview Mirror), Deputy Sheriff Milton Kovak of Prophesy County, Oklahoma, returns. Milt finally gets up the nerve to ask his longtime ladylove, Glenda Sue Rainey, to marry him—only to be rebuffed with no explanation and a good-bye at the door. When Glenda Sue is found dead the next day, brutally murdered, Milt is dazed. Enter Glenda Sue's long-lost daughter, who arrives in town for the funeral with her own little girl in tow. The only problem: little Rebecca is half-black, and the residents of Prophesy County aren't all as open-minded as Milt. As the threat of more violence looms, Milt begins to have strange dreams about Rebecca's safety, dreams whose common feature is the presence of a woman with leg braces. These dreams lead him to Dr. Jean McDonnell, a handicapped psychiatrist, whom Milt enlists to help him find out what happened to Glenda Sue—and why. When sister Jewel Ann announces plans to move herself and her family out of Milt's house and into the home of Harmon Monk, Milt begins to see Dr. McDonnell as having a role to play in his personal life as well.
E.J. Pugh’s Weight Watchers’ group is supposed to help members lose pounds – not their lives . . . When Berta Harris of E.J.’s Weight Watchers’ group succumbs to an untimely death, amateur sleuth E.J. is puzzled. Why was Kerry Killian, the realtor selling Berta’s house, was murdered the day after E.J. questioned her? What does this have to do with Berta’s mysterious death? And why would anyone in the group want to put on weight? As E.J. immerses herself in these big questions, her marriage to husband Willis grows increasingly strained. Can Pugh solve the mystery around the deaths and save her own marriage?
Oklahoma law officer Milt Kovak is a character so humorous toward himself and his blunders, and toward the rest of the world as well, that he almost seems a figure of fun. His complexities, however, slowly reveal themselves as the story unfolds. He is warm and down- to-earth, with small human failings and large integrity—a person of genuine depth. In Doctors and Lawyers and Such, Milt is running for sheriff and his wife, psychiatrist Jean McDonnell, is pregnant and not missing a symptom. A national television figure who recently married a local man and moved to Prophesy County is brutally murdered. There's been an unusually high number of suicides in the region, including the wife of Milt's best friend, the chief of police. Milt is juggling all this while trying to fend, off a nosy newspaperman, cope with the fact that his son's birth will be a hazardous one, and keep his career prospects intact. But he's got his army of readers rooting for him!
“The sheriff of Prophesy County, Okla., tackles a murder case involving several wives, all married to the same man . . . A twisted mystery” (Kirkus Reviews). The members of the New Saints Tabernacle generally try not to draw the attention of Sheriff Milt Kovak, but now one of Jerry Hudson’s three wives has been murdered—and that’s a much worse crime than polygamy as far as the Oklahoma lawman is concerned. With some help from his wife, a psychiatrist who’s conducting interviews for the police, Milt digs into the tensions that existed among the plural family and various relatives and neighbors—and considers the possibility that the perpetrator may have come from outside the walls of the community . . . “One of today’s finest mystery writers.” —Carolyn Hart
Someone is stalking romance novelist E.J. Pugh's 14-year-old adopted daughter, Bessie. When she was a child, Bessie's entire family was murdered . . . so who is this person claiming to be her dead brother Aldon?
“A trip to deliver their son to college pits a Texas family against several dangerous criminals. . . . A rollicking mystery.” —Kirkus Reviews After almost ruining her marriage because of her habit of involving herself in dangerous business, E.J. Pugh is determined to stay out of any sleuthing and pay attention only to her husband, children, and writing career. How hard can it be? But through no fault of their own, E.J. and Willis are plunged into another crisis when someone hides a black satchel in Willis’ truck, apparently while they were using it to cart their son—and all his stuff—to the University of Texas at Austin. And their foster daughter, Alicia, finding no ID inside, decides to make it her new backpack. When Alicia suddenly disappears, along with the satchel, E.J. and Willis are beside themselves, and E.J. has no choice but to get involved in another mystery, possibly connected to a murder in Austin—and this time, solving it is more urgent than ever . . . “Plenty of red herrings and amusing characters who could have been friends of Stephanie Plum.” —Kirkus Reviews “One of today’s finest mystery writers.” —Carolyn Hart
E.J. has a surprise twentieth wedding anniversary present for Willis – a weekend away in the Texas hills. She’s found the perfect Bed and Breakfast – the Bishop’s Inn in the quaint town of Peaceful. Unfortunately, they’ve barely arrived before the inn’s troubled elderly owner, Carrie Marie Hutchins, confides in them about a harrowing event from her childhood involving her dead father . . . and his spirit, which won’t go away . . . E.J. has little time to digest Carrie’s tales of strange goings-on: screaming, the guests’ suitcases slashed, underwear hanging from a light fixture, before a further bizarre twist occurs: Humphrey Hammerschultz and Diamond Lovesy, self-proclaimed ‘psychic detectives’, suddenly turn up at Carrie’s door. And when E.J. discovers a body, she determines to find out what’s really going on in this not-so-peaceful town.
ONE OF TODAY'S FINEST MYSTERY WRITERS." —Carolyn Hart A VIRGIN ISLAND LOSES ITS INNOCENCE There is no love lost between novelist/sometime sleuth E.J. Pugh and her three sisters: four high-strung Texas redheads who have made sibling rivalry an art form. In an attempt to ease their stretched-thin family ties, the ladies and their respective mates have rented a vacation home together on the Caribbean island of St. John. But reconciliation must take a back seat to crime detection when a waterlogged corpse is discovered clogging up the cistern of their stunning beachfront house. The body belongs to a former employee of the dentist husband of sister Liz, which leads the local police captain to surmise that the killer is a member of the clan—especially after an exploding pleasure boat and other untimely "accidents" rapidly raise the body count up from one. E.J., however, is not convinced. And, to the chagrin of her loving, long-suffering hubby, Willis, she's determined to salvage what's left of their vacation by exposing whomever is rapidly turning a family gathering into a wake in paradise. "E.J. is a Central Texas housewife and author who simply cannot keep her nose out of other people's business. If she's your friend, you couldn't ask for better. If she's on your case, you might just as well give up...The E.J. Pugh mysteries are among my favorites." —Austin American-Statesman
Sheriff Milt Kovak, having joined his psychiatrist wife on a trip to a conference in Las Vegas, expects a welcome vacation, inspecting the casinos. He has left a capable second-in-command to watch over his small town in Oklahoma, but almost as soon as they arrive, Milt gets an S.O.S. call from his cousin Maida. Her pregnant daughter has been beaten by her husband, and Maida's husband, Burl, has thoroughly trounced his son-in-law. The young man is the son of a very powerful businessman in Vegas, and the police want to lock Burl up. Milt manages to talk his fellow cops into giving him custody of Burl until the trial and takes the still-steaming man to their hotel room; Burl reciprocates by disappearing. Milt doesn't think anything else can go wrong—except it does. The next morning, the young man is found dead. Now Milt must forego the wonders of Las Vegas to try to find Burl and clear him from the charge of murder. He expects to get some help from the young widow's several brothers, who descend on the town "volunteering to help.'' But they are more involved with quarreling among themselves than in finding the murderer. Will Milt hit the jackpot? Susan Rogers Cooper has upped the ante with her latest, fun-filled, adventure-packed addition to this consistently entertaining series.
The tenth Milt Kovak mystery from this best-selling author . . . - Strange things are happening in Prophesy County. First, Deputy Dalton Pettigrew disappears on a mysterious date in Tulsa. His sister goes to rescue him, only to disappear herself. She'd left her middle child, Eli, in the care of Jean, the sheriff's wife, but now he's missing too. Who is the mysterious Dr. Emil Hawthorne, and why is he out to get Jean? Can Milt Kovak find Eli before it's too late?
In spite of some predictable nervousness common in new bridegrooms, things look pretty good for Milt Kovak as he is joined in matrimony to his pregnant lover Jean. After four outings as undersheriff, he is running unopposed for the chief honcho spot—sheriff of Prophesy County, Oklahoma. His house is once more his home since baby sister Jewel departed with her brood to join her new spouse, the election looks like a shoo-in, and although Prophesy County is having its share of crime, Milt isn't really worried. Hah! Back from the honeymoon, Jean and baby sister clash over a question of home decoration. Milt ends up in the middle—and alone on the couch at night. Then he learns that his handsome, smooth old buddy Wade Moon has surfaced from Oklahoma City and is back—and running against him in the election. People like Wade. When news comes that Milt is once more unopposed, it is no help, because someone has removed Wade from contention by bashing him on the head and dropping him in a lake in the next county up. And guess who is the most likely suspect? Can you be under suspicion of murder and win an election for top lawman at the same time? Milt Kovak, in his previous adventures, has gained a growing number of admirers with his down-home humor and appealing humanity. They'll be rooting for him as he pursues his troubled way in this one.
The Most vivid portrait of a real family anywhere in mystery fiction." —Mary Willis Walker A HOUSE OF CARDS-A PACK OF LIES Her husband, Willis, calls her a "danger junkie." But suburban Texas mom and romance writer E. J. Pugh believes that the truth is something that must always be pursued no matter how perilous the path that leads to it. When her black sheep sister-in-law is arrested for the murder of a young homeless woman, E. J. is unwilling to simply accept the swift judgment of her husband's family that Juney is a lost cause, good for nothing but trouble. The Pughs have never forgiven Juney for the tragic death of Willis's brother, yet E. J. feels certain she's innocent of this crime. But the plucky sometime-sleuth's investigation could topple a very fragile house of cards with shocking revelations of sex, drugs and depravity...and bring E.J.'s own happy homelife crashing down as well. "A GIFTED AND PERCEPTIVE WRITER WHOSE CHARACTERS ARE SECOND TO NONE." —Sharyn McCrumb "EVEN A BRIGHT, SUNNY DAY FEELS MENACING IN THE HANDS OF THIS PRO." —Margaret Maron
One of today's finest mystery writers" —Carolyn G. Hart THE FAMILY THAT DIES TOGETHER... Everyone in the small, tightly knit community of Black Cat Ridge, Texas, knows everyone else’s business. And everyone is stunned by the slaying of the well-liked Lester family, minus its youngest member, in their own home. Apparently loving husband and father Roy did the bloody deed—before turning the murder weapon on himself. The Pughs were the Lesters’ nearest neighbors and closest friends. In fact, sharp-tongued housewife/romance writer E.J. Pugh first discovered the bodies... and four-year-old Bessie Lester, who may have witnessed the carnage. But Bessie isn’t speaking. And E.J. may be the only one in Black Cat Ridge who believes this case is not closed... and that a murderer still walks among them all. “Susan Rogers Cooper is a gifted and perceptive writer whose characters are second to none” —Sharyn McCrumb, author of The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter
What you can’t see…can hurt you. ONE BLIND MOUSE A plumpish mid-Texas romance novelist and mother of three, E. J. Pugh is being harassed by someone unseen. An invisible high-tech prankster is wreaking havoc with her computer, phone lines, bank account, her existence in general. She suspects a certain creepy neighbor kid is responsible—until the creep winds up naked and dead in the Pugh family car. Suddenly the anonymous hacker/stalker is more brazen than ever—even threatening the lives of E. J’s kids. The police won't help, since they believe E. J. has a vivid imagination. So it's up to mother hen to protect her own chicks—by uncovering a hidden trail of deadly passions that leads to a killer...and living to tell about it. “Even a bright sunny day feels menacing in the hands of this pro.” —Margaret Maron, author of Up Jumps the Devil Don't miss the first E. J. PUGH mystery: ONE, TWO, WHAT DID DADDY DO?
EVEN A BRIGHT, SUNNY DAY FEELS MENACING IN THE HANDS OF THIS PRO." —Margaret Maron NEIGHBORHOOD BLIGHT Romance writer, suburban mom, and sometime sleuth E.J. Pugh is certainly not thrilled to have Michael Whitby for a neighbor. A convicted criminal, Whitby served his time in prison and now has moved to the quiet Texas community of Black Cat Ridge, the Pughs' hometown. Despite her fears, E.J. feels the townsfolk's campaign on harassment—which is affecting the ex-con's innocent family—is unnecessarily cruel and blatantly unfair. The local citizenry has decided that Whitby must go! And no method is too extreme if it removes him from the vicinity. But a line is crossed on Halloween night when a dead body is discovered on the Whitbys' front lawn. And now a morally outraged E.J. is on the trail of a killer, digging for dangerous secrets that might best be left interred—secrets that might possibly be buried in her own backyard. "A GIFTED AND PERCEPTIVE WRITER WHOSE CHARACTERS ARE SECOND TO NONE."—Sharyn McCrumb
THERE WAS A LITTLE GIRL AND WHEN SHE WAS BAD…SHE WAS A KILLER. NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED Romance novelist, harried mom, and sometime sleuth, E. J. Pugh has a habit of being in the wrong place at the right time. This time she's on hand to pull a suicidal teenager from a freezing Texas river. The distraught young girl, Brenna, has good reasons for wanting to end it all, since she comes from the worst horror of a family since Charles Manson's. And a good Samaritan act has plopped E. J. into the middle of the dysfunctional mess. Then comes the news that makes E. J.'s blood run cold: the girl's mother has been murdered, and Brenna stands accused of the crime. E. J. feels certain the frightened teen is innocent, and the determined crime solver is making it her business to save a troubled child's life one more time...even at the risk of losing her own. "A gifted and perceptive writer whose characters are second to none." —New York Times bestselling author, Sharyn McCrumb "One of today's finest mystery writers" —Carolyn G. Hart “Even a bright sunny day feels menacing in the hands of this pro.” —Margaret Maron, author of Up Jumps the Devil Don't miss E. J. PUGH mysteries: ONE, TWO, WHAT DID DADDY DO? and HICKORY DICKORY STALK
In this, the second novel about tiny redheaded comic Kimmey Kruse, Cooper does deal her readers a surprise—a deep and authentic knowledge of a colorful American subculture. She's got the lingo of Kimmey's East Texas Cajun relatives just right, and she lovingly describes the delectable and distinctive Cajun cuisine. Kimmey is summoned from a Pittsburgh gig by Me-Maw, her grandmother, because Paw-Paw, her grandfather, has broken his leg. Since Me-Maw banished him from her house years before ("You can't keep a house clean with a man in it, yeah.") and Kimmey's mother has gone off to the Antarctic with her professor husband, it is up to the comic to baby-sit the feisty old man. The picnic-family reunion that Me-Maw takes her granddaughter to turns out to have several memorable elements. There's the food, of considerable interest to ninety-pound Kimmey; there's her gorgeous cousin Willard, whom she's never known because Willard's mother, Letitia, and the female relatives have been feuding for ages; and then there's the death of Letitia, in her car, from a barrage of wasp stings. Two dead wasps in a jar in the dead woman's car convince Kimmey that Letitia was murdered; of course, no one believes her. Until the sexy and infuriating Chicago cop Kimmey met during her first murder case shows up uninvited to exasperate Kimmey and inflame her with desire. Eventually, she is proved right, but what's the good of that if the proof is being pursued by a killer at midnight along the top of a slippery sea wall! Kimmey is sassy, funny, and lovable, and her relatives and their neighbors are a treat to meet.
Oklahoma law officer Milt Kovak is a character so humorous toward himself and his blunders, and toward the rest of the world as well, that he almost seems a figure of fun. His complexities, however, slowly reveal themselves as the story unfolds. He is warm and down- to-earth, with small human failings and large integrity—a person of genuine depth. In Doctors and Lawyers and Such, Milt is running for sheriff and his wife, psychiatrist Jean McDonnell, is pregnant and not missing a symptom. A national television figure who recently married a local man and moved to Prophesy County is brutally murdered. There's been an unusually high number of suicides in the region, including the wife of Milt's best friend, the chief of police. Milt is juggling all this while trying to fend, off a nosy newspaperman, cope with the fact that his son's birth will be a hazardous one, and keep his career prospects intact. But he's got his army of readers rooting for him!
“A gifted and perceptive writer whose characters are second to none.”—Sharyn McCrumb The many devoted readers of Susan Rogers Cooper's Milt Kovak mystery series have been noticed from time to time laughing out loud, even during a passage of thrilling drama. Obviously, the author is a very funny woman. And now she brings that aspect of her talent to fruition in the creation of Kimmey Kruse, stand-up comic. Kimmey is constantly assaulted by the public—bartenders, dentists, cleaning ladies—all trying to give her jokes. "I don't tell jokes! I'm a stand-up comic!" But she is just as funny offstage as on, and a character to be savored. Life at this point, however, is about as much fun as picking okra for our pint-sized comedian. While playing the Kaiser Komedy Klub in Chicago, she encounters a former lover, Cab Neusberg, whom she hasn't seen since the Laff-a-Lot club in Denver several years earlier. Planning a brief reprise, Cab arrives at Kimmey's hotel room only to expire in her arms just as things are getting interesting. That's not funny at all, and it's even less funny when Sal Pucci, the Chicago detective who catches the case, informs Kimmey that somebody gave Cab enough digitalis to kill a Buick with heart disease. Who could it have been, Ms. Kruse? As a kind of up-to-date Greek chorus with common sense, there is Kimmey's corporate lawyer friend Phoebe, a very present phone presence in whom Kimmey confides. Phoebe gives the comedian strong doses of reality and the name of the Chicago equivalent of super-lawyer Racehorse Haynes. She'll need it. “Funny as a Dead Comic deftly pulls back the curtain on a world both witty and sordid. Kimmey Kruse in her debut as comedian and crime-solver keeps the crowd laughing and the pages turning. Susan Rogers Cooper has created a stand-up tragedy of the first order.”—Kinky Friedman, author of Elvis, Jesus & Coca-Cola
Milt Kovak, sheriff of Oklahoma’s Prophesy County, has been missing from the bookshelves for too long a time. Readers who have developed a friendship with this down-to-earth hero will be delighted to find the lawman back at the old stand and, as Kirkus Reviews has described him, “ever more simpatico.” Milt has married and has a toddler son. Then one day, Milt receives a terrified phone call from Laura Johnson, an old girlfriend who broke his heart. Laura’s teenage son, Trent, went on a religious retreat of some kind with his girlfriend Amanda and has not returned. Since the dubious “church” is in Milt’s county, Laura wants him to look into young Trent and Amanda’s whereabouts. What Milt finds is more than enough to alarm a mother. On the other side of a fence around the farmland deeded to the cult, Milt sees vultures circling over something in the grass. Hoping it’s a cow, Milt dares the barbed wire and a suspicious bull, to find instead the body of Amanda. Milt’s investigation is barred at every turn by “Brother Grigsby,” his wife, and their mostly female followers (an amazing number of whom are pregnant). Meanwhile, Laura is a shrieking hysteric, and Milt’s niece sneaks incognito into the compound to do some detecting of her own. Cooper’s stories always strike a fine balance of humor and solid suspense, and her characters are as real as the neighbors down the street, although their antics are more entertaining. Milt Kovak’s return is a real treat.
“Characters and dialogue as American as apple pie, a keep-’em-guessing plot, and laugh-aloud humor. A downright good read.” —Booklist When Oklahoma sheriff Milt Kovak wins a seven-day cruise for four to Puerto Rico, he takes his family—wife Jean and son Johnny Mac, plus Johnny Mac’s best friend, Early Rollins. It’s spring break and the ship is running over with children—and they really are running, everywhere. It’s complete chaos, but things are about to get even worse when Johnny Mac and Early are caught stealing. The boys confess that they were put up to it by an older boy named Joshua—who is soon found dead on the top deck. And with two full days of sailing ahead—plus word of trouble back home in Prophesy County—Milt and his wife must team up with the ship’s security officer to try to find the killer . . . “One of today’s finest mystery writers.” —Carolyn Hart
E.J. Pugh’s Weight Watchers’ group is supposed to help members lose pounds – not their lives . . . When Berta Harris of E.J.’s Weight Watchers’ group succumbs to an untimely death, amateur sleuth E.J. is puzzled. Why was Kerry Killian, the realtor selling Berta’s house, was murdered the day after E.J. questioned her? What does this have to do with Berta’s mysterious death? And why would anyone in the group want to put on weight? As E.J. immerses herself in these big questions, her marriage to husband Willis grows increasingly strained. Can Pugh solve the mystery around the deaths and save her own marriage?
Wish: Dream's Beginning - (Wish Trilogy #1)."Headstrong and feisty, Rielle is lost, and she knows it. When she and the faithful Pud find themselves hopelessly astray in a wild landscape, they drift into an untamed forest. Rielle has been in plenty of pickles, but the hairs rising on the back of her neck tell her that this time things are going to be very different... Charmed by an enigmatic unicorn and his cryptic ways, Rielle and Pud find themselves locked into an adventure of soul-seeking, friendship, mystery and truth that is both disarming and sometimes sinister... and there may be no turning back!" Reviews: www.goodreads.comMore about the WISH trilogy: www.unicornkisses.com
E.J. has a surprise twentieth wedding anniversary present for Willis – a weekend away in the Texas hills. She’s found the perfect Bed and Breakfast – the Bishop’s Inn in the quaint town of Peaceful. Unfortunately, they’ve barely arrived before the inn’s troubled elderly owner, Carrie Marie Hutchins, confides in them about a harrowing event from her childhood involving her dead father . . . and his spirit, which won’t go away . . . E.J. has little time to digest Carrie’s tales of strange goings-on: screaming, the guests’ suitcases slashed, underwear hanging from a light fixture, before a further bizarre twist occurs: Humphrey Hammerschultz and Diamond Lovesy, self-proclaimed ‘psychic detectives’, suddenly turn up at Carrie’s door. And when E.J. discovers a body, she determines to find out what’s really going on in this not-so-peaceful town.
Could Graham Pugh really be involved in a murder? E.J. Pugh finds herself back at her old university stomping ground, determined to prove her son is no killer . . . Graham Pugh should be having a ball as a first-year student at the University of Texas in Austin. Unfortunately for him, his roommate, Bishop ‘Call Me Bish’ Alexander, is an arrogant asshole he can’t stand, to the point of dreaming of killing him in his sleep. Even more unfortunately for Graham, when he wakes up early one morning for a lecture, he finds that Bishop actually is dead on the floor. With Graham the prime suspect, E.J., Willis and the girls race up to Austin immediately. Unsurprisingly, it just so happens that Bishop annoyed a lot of people on campus, not just Graham. But who killed him? E.J. is soon facing a desperate battle to prove her son’s innocence.
With a voice that's as comforting as a rocking chair and as salty as a fisherman" (Houston Chronicle, of Houston in the Rearview Mirror), Deputy Sheriff Milton Kovak of Prophesy County, Oklahoma, returns. Milt finally gets up the nerve to ask his longtime ladylove, Glenda Sue Rainey, to marry him—only to be rebuffed with no explanation and a good-bye at the door. When Glenda Sue is found dead the next day, brutally murdered, Milt is dazed. Enter Glenda Sue's long-lost daughter, who arrives in town for the funeral with her own little girl in tow. The only problem: little Rebecca is half-black, and the residents of Prophesy County aren't all as open-minded as Milt. As the threat of more violence looms, Milt begins to have strange dreams about Rebecca's safety, dreams whose common feature is the presence of a woman with leg braces. These dreams lead him to Dr. Jean McDonnell, a handicapped psychiatrist, whom Milt enlists to help him find out what happened to Glenda Sue—and why. When sister Jewel Ann announces plans to move herself and her family out of Milt's house and into the home of Harmon Monk, Milt begins to see Dr. McDonnell as having a role to play in his personal life as well.
The new E.J. Pugh murder mystery - Someone is stalking romance novelist E.J. Pugh's fourteen-year-old adopted daughter, Bessie. The whole Pugh clan rallies round her to keep her safe - but Bessie has more problems than an average teenager. When she was a child, her entire family were murdered . . . so who is this person claiming to be her dead brother Aldon? And who seems to be willing to take out her entire new family to get to her? The Pugh family is taken back, full circle, to where the horror all began.
Author of One, Two, What Did Daddy Do? and Hickory Dickory Stalk WHAT HAPPENED TO WILLIS? E. J. and Willis Pugh aren't one of the more ordinary married couples in Black Cat Ridge, Texas. E. J. writes romance novels, Willis washes the dishes. Willis works on the cars, E. J. solves local homicides. But the latest murderous mystery strikes much too close to home when Willis himself vanishes. E. J. isn't sure if her couch potato hubby's disappearance is some kind of mid-life crisis romp or something far, far worse. But she won't rest until she knows for certain the fate of her missing spouse—following Willis's tracks to a corpse, a lovelorn redneck turkey trucker...and a nasty mess of family secrets that could turn very deadly indeed. "One of today's finest mystery writers" —Carolyn G. Hart “Even a bright sunny day feels menacing in the hands of this pro.”—Margaret Maron, author of Up Jumps the Devil Don't miss E. J. PUGH mysteries: ONE, TWO, WHAT DID DADDY DO? and HICKORY DICKORY STALK
A satisfying and enjoyable read that is appropriate for all mystery collections" Booklist Sheriff Milt Kovak and his team must track down a determined killer hell-bent on revenge against them and their families. Someone is out to get revenge against Milt Kovak, sheriff of Prophesy County, Oklahoma, and his team with a series of pranks. First a sinister note is found taped to the office front door. Then the alarm system is tampered with and a dummy found hanging from a light fitting in the interrogation room. If that wasn’t disturbing enough, things start to escalate when the brake lines on Milt’s deputy Anthony’s car are cut, causing his wife Maryanne to crash. Meanwhile, two friends of Inez Pettigrew, mother of Milt’s other deputy, Dalton, are taken to hospital with arsenic poisoning after eating her peach melba. It’s not long before Milt and his team have a murder investigation on their hands. And if Milt doesn’t find the killer soon, his own nearest and dearest could be next in line . . .
Winner of the Connecticut Book Award (2011) Winner of the Connecticut League of History Organizations Award of Merit (2012) Connecticut women have long been noted for their creation of colorful and distinctive needlework, including samplers and family registers, bed rugs and memorial pictures, crewel-embroidered bed hangings and garments, silk-embroidered pictures of classical or religious scenes, quilted petticoats and bedcovers, and whitework dresses and linens. This volume offers the first regional study, encompassing the full range of needle arts produced prior to 1840. Seventy entries showcase more than one hundred fascinating examples—many never before published—from the Connecticut Historical Society's extensive collection of this early American art form. Produced almost exclusively by women and girls, the needle arts provide an illuminating vantage point for exploring early American women's history and education, including family-based traditions predating the establishment of formal academies after the American Revolution. Extensive genealogical research reveals unseen family connections linking various types of needlework, similar to the multi-generational male workshops documented for other artisan trades, such as woodworking or metalsmithing. Photographs of stitches, reverse sides, sketches, design sources, and related works enhance our understanding and appreciation of this fragile art form and the talented women who created it. An exhibition of needlework in this book will be held at the Connecticut Historical Society in late fall, 2010. Funding for this project has been provided by the Coby Foundation, Ltd., and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Arresting a Blanton was always going to be bad news, but things are about to get even worse for Sheriff Milt Kovak. Everyone in Prophesy County knows that you don’t mess with the dim-witted, in-bred Blantons. So when Milt gets a call to say that Darrell Blanton has shot dead his wife, he’s expecting a rough ride. Arresting Darrell and putting him in the slammer may have been surprisingly easy, but things are about to get a whole lot worse. Eunice Blanton, Darrell’s mama, takes a dim view of her son’s arrest and decides to storm the Longbranch Inn where Milt’s partner, Jean McDonnell is hosting a bachelorette party for Holly Humphries. With the women taken hostage, Eunice’s terms are – unsurprisingly – simple: release her boy or a hostage gets shot every ten minutes. But there’s a problem: Darrell has been found dead in his cell, with not a mark on him . . .
“The sheriff of Prophesy County, Okla., tackles a murder case involving several wives, all married to the same man . . . A twisted mystery” (Kirkus Reviews). The members of the New Saints Tabernacle generally try not to draw the attention of Sheriff Milt Kovak, but now one of Jerry Hudson’s three wives has been murdered—and that’s a much worse crime than polygamy as far as the Oklahoma lawman is concerned. With some help from his wife, a psychiatrist who’s conducting interviews for the police, Milt digs into the tensions that existed among the plural family and various relatives and neighbors—and considers the possibility that the perpetrator may have come from outside the walls of the community . . . “One of today’s finest mystery writers.” —Carolyn Hart
“A trip to deliver their son to college pits a Texas family against several dangerous criminals. . . . A rollicking mystery.” —Kirkus Reviews After almost ruining her marriage because of her habit of involving herself in dangerous business, E.J. Pugh is determined to stay out of any sleuthing and pay attention only to her husband, children, and writing career. How hard can it be? But through no fault of their own, E.J. and Willis are plunged into another crisis when someone hides a black satchel in Willis’ truck, apparently while they were using it to cart their son—and all his stuff—to the University of Texas at Austin. And their foster daughter, Alicia, finding no ID inside, decides to make it her new backpack. When Alicia suddenly disappears, along with the satchel, E.J. and Willis are beside themselves, and E.J. has no choice but to get involved in another mystery, possibly connected to a murder in Austin—and this time, solving it is more urgent than ever . . . “Plenty of red herrings and amusing characters who could have been friends of Stephanie Plum.” —Kirkus Reviews “One of today’s finest mystery writers.” —Carolyn Hart
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