Crime With the Classics

Arsenic with Austen is the first book in a delightful new cozy mystery series in which an English teacher becomes involved in murder cases that reflect elements of her favorite books. When Emily Cavanaugh inherits a fortune from her great aunt, she expects her life to change. She doesn't expect to embark on a murder investigation, confront the man who broke her heart thirty-five years before, and nearly lose her own life. Emily travels to the sleepy coastal village of Stony Beach, Oregon, to claim her inheritance, centered in a beautiful Victorian estate called Windy Corner but also including a substantial portion of the real estate of the whole town. As she gets to know the town's eccentric inhabitants-including her own once-and-possibly-future love, Sheriff Luke Richards-she learns of a covert plan to develop Stony Beach into a major resort. She also hears hints that her aunt may have been murdered. Soon another suspicious death confirms this, and before long Emily herself experiences a near-fatal accident. Meanwhile, Emily reads Persuasion, hoping to find belated happiness with her first love as Anne Elliot did with Captain Wentworth. She notices a similarity between her not-quite-cousin Brock Runcible, heir to a smaller portion of her aunt's property, and Mr. Elliot in Persuasion, and her suspicions of Brock crystallize. But as she and Luke continue to investigate and events speed toward a climax, Emily realizes that underneath the innocent-looking rocks of Stony Beach lurk festering jealousies that would have shocked even the worst of Jane Austen's charming reprobates. "Arsenic with Austen-what's not to love in crime solved by a classic?" "Children's author Hyde makes her adult fiction debut with an intelligent traditional mystery that stars an endearing woman of a certain age who draws on her knowledge of literature to solve crimes." "Murders are solved handily, and first love is reignited in this contemporary cozy with a literary bent…Jane Austen is ever present here, in snippets from her novels at the start of chapters and in Emily's comparison of Stony Beach residents to Austen characters…An engaging start to a series by debut-novelist Hyde." "A cleverly-constructed village mystery, filled with hidden treats for Jane Austen fans and mystery lovers alike-a promising and delightful series debut!" "An intelligent mystery, with surprising plot twists and a dash of good old-fashioned romance. A delightful debut."

Windy Corner is being remodeled into a writers' retreat. Two of the young workers, Jake and Roman, are showing too much of the wrong kind of interest in Katie, Emily's young single-mother housekeeper. It's a stormy autumn and Emily is reading Wuthering Heights. Roman, a dark and brooding type, reminds her of Heathcliff. At a Halloween murder mystery fundraiser at Windy Corner, someone is found stabbed to death. Windy Corner's very own detective, Luke, is reluctantly forced to investigate Katie. Luke digs into the background of the contractor, Jeremiah Edwards, and Emily, now reading Jane Eyre, realizes Jeremiah resembles St. John Rivers in his obsessive, tormented piety. Will Luke figure out who the murderer is before Katie ends up in jail or someone else is killed?

A game of charades ends in coldblooded murder in this entertaining cozy mystery-third in the Crime with the Classics series. Having finished transforming Windy Corner, the grand Victorian mansion she inherited from her great aunt, into a writers' retreat, widowed literature professor Emily Cavanaugh is ready to receive her first set of guests. But her careful planning is thrown into disarray by the unexpected arrival of outrageous true-crime writer, Cruella Crime, whose unpardonably rude behavior is causing great offence. As a ferocious ice storm rages outside, the guests entertain one another with a game of charades. But their revelries are brought to a sudden halt by the discovery of a body in one of the guest bedrooms. When it transpires the victim was poisoned, Emily decides to take a leaf out of the book of her favorite detective writer, Agatha Christie, and investigate. But as she pursues her inquiries, it becomes chillingly clear that she herself may have been the intended victim ...

Professor Emily Cavanaugh makes a horrific discovery while writing her book on Dostoevsky in the entertaining fourth Crime with the Classics story. Professor Emily Cavanaugh has left Windy Corner behind and is back at Bede College on her sabbatical, determined to finish writing her book on Dostoevsky. She is soon reunited with one of her promising students, Daniel Razumov; as well as familiar faces on the teaching staff-her friend, Marguerite Grenier; her half-brother, Oscar Lansing; the abrasive division chair, Richard McClintock; and the predatory Taylor Curzon, known for her relentless pursuit of young male students-and Taylor now has Daniel firmly in her sights. Emily knows Taylor must be stopped, but as she starts gathering evidence of Daniel's harassment, she has a disturbing flashback, and then makes a gruesome discovery ... Can Emily catch a dangerous campus killer while also confronting events from her own past?