Death on Demand

Murder is, surprisingly, not all that uncommon on tiny Broward's Rock, an idyllic sea island community off the South Carolina coast. Annie Darling's popular mystery bookshop, Death on Demand, is where the locals come to discuss the juicy details of each criminal offense--under the watchful gaze of a pampered feline prima donna named Agatha. But now Annie's dear friend (and best customer) Henny Brawley stands accused of murdering a Women's Club volunteer-cum-blackmailer. So Annie rouses her husband Max into action, and together they dive into the shark pool of dotty eccentrics and imperious belles who constitute the island's smart set. Because only there can the Darlings prove hapless Henny innocent--by determining who among the well-heeled had the dirtiest little secret...and would kill to protect it.

It's getting to look a lot like Christmas on the sea island of Broward's Rock, South Carolina. At the Death on Demand mystery bookstore, owner Annie Darling's Yuletide preparations have to be put on hold thanks to several rather inconvenient distractions -- including murder. Across the windswept isle, in the spacious, spooky mansion of Marguerite Dumaney Ladson, a motley crew is gathering for the onetime movie star's gala Xmas/birthday bash. And when it turns deadly, it's Annie who has to prove the innocence of the most disturbing suspect: her own deadbeat dad.

Someone is playing a rather nasty April Fool's prank on mystery bookstore owner Annie Darling. A felonious forger on the idyllic -- if rarely tranquil -- South Carolina island of Broward's Rock has made it appear as if Annie is accusing some of her neighbors of murder. In the wink of a bloodshot eye, the Darling name is mud…and then the Broward's Rock body count starts mysteriously increasing. And now it's up to Annie to follow the well-hidden trail of the vicious trickster -- or a secret slayer's next lethal "joke" may very well be on her!

Annie Darling, owner of the Death on Demand mystery bookstore, is understandably upset. It isn't like her P.I. husband Max to abruptly disappear-and homicide is definitely not his style. But when his car is found abandoned on a remote road with a brutally slain, once-beautiful young woman nearby and the murder weapon stashed in the trunk, Annie's worst fears seem justified. The police have Max all but tried and convicted-except for Chief Billy Cameron, whose unshakable belief in his friend's innocence prompts his removal from the case. And as a media circus descends on tiny Broward's Rock, Annie will have to place her own life in jeopardy to clear her husband's name. But time is running out-and she has only one slim chance to unmask a killer who just may have committed the perfect crime.

Death is the uninvited guest at a Broward's Rock gala thrown by bookstore owners and sometime sleuths Annie and Max Darling in Dare to Die-the 19th captivating whodunit in Caroline Hart's much adored Death on Demand series. A Grande Dame of mystery, Hart's wonderfully evocative, multiple Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity Award-winning novels will delight Diane Mott Davidson and Lillian Jackson Braun fans-and Dare to Die is a wonderful display of the skill and imagination that moved a Los Angeles Times reviewer to declare, "If I were teaching a course on how to write a mystery, I would make Carolyn Hart required reading."

Master mystery spinner Carolyn Hart gives us the tenth high-spirited entry in her Agatha, Anthony and Macavity Award-winning Death on Demand series. The most delectable sleuthing couple since Nick met Nora, Annie and Max Darling manage to find quite a bit of murder in their allegedly safe and serene South Carolina island resort town. After all, murder is Annie's business -- well, sort of. She's the proprietor of the popular Death on Demand mystery bookstore and cafe, and her establishment seems to attract trouble like Annie's pesky felines, Dorothy L. and Agatha, attract hairballs. Now, Annie and Max watch their Fourth of July holiday explode not only with fun and fireworks, but with murder as well. The library board wants to declare its independence from new member, retired Brigadier General Charlton "Bud" Hatch, a man accustomed to being in charge. Hatch's takeover attitude has alienated everyone in town, especially the women. But Annie finds it difficult to ignore him at a crowded patriotic festival -- particularly when he's shot dead before her eyes...

Max Darling hasn't been interested in crime since his brush with a seductive young woman put him in danger of losing his freedom. He even refuses to talk to a woman who calls for help and says she is afraid. The caller leaves word she's hidden something in the antebellum house Max and his wife, Annie, are restoring. When Annie finds out, she hurries to the woman's home, only to discover she's been murdered. Evidence links the dead woman to a fortune in gold coins that has recently gone missing. Was this mysterious woman killed for a fortune in coins? The dead woman's son is accused but Max believes in his innocence, and Max and Annie plunge wholeheartedly into the investigation. Are the coins hidden in Annie and Max's house? The intruder who shoots at Max seems to think so. And when Annie discovers the secret of their old house, death arrives at their door.

When wealthy, widowed art patron Virginia Neville officially announces her engagement to Jake O'Neill -- her handsome, charming, and much younger fiancé -- at a gala gallery opening, not all the gathered friends and stepfamily are pleased. And before the last champagne bubble pops, murder disrupts the grand celebration. Bookstore owner Annie Darling has a vested interest in the investigation, and she's determined to untangle an unholy marriage of jealousy, blackmail, and malicious mischief, even if it means having to cross swords with hubby Max and cross paths with a cruelly clever stalker.

"Carolyn Hart is one of the most popular practitioners of the traditional mystery." -Cleveland Plain Dealer Return to Broward's Rock in Laughed 'Til He Died, Carolyn Hart's landmark 20th novel in her much loved and critically acclaimed Death on Demand mystery series. Island sleuths Annie and Max Darling must solve three related local murders in this wonderful new whodunit by the multiple Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity Award-winner-a must for fans of Diane Mott Davidson and Lillian Jackson Braun.

Britt Barlow is certain her media mogul brother-in-law Jeremiah Addison's fatal tumble a year ago was no accident -- especially since she herself discovered, and disposed of, the trip wire someone had strung across the stairs. Now she's bringing all who were in attendance that weekend back to Golden Silk -- Addison's luxurious secluded island estate -- and inviting two extra guests, Annie and Max Darling, to help uncover a killer. Annie Darling wouldn't miss this party for the world! And there certainly is no lack of suspects among the guests, each of whom had a substantial motive for doing in the insufferable tycoon. But the party turns deadly when a houseman mysteriously vanishes, along with the boats which are the only escape off Addison's island -- leaving the Darlings stranded on a floating rock in the middle of nowhere, too close to a solution for comfort, and stalked by a crafty murderer.

Annie Darling's murder mystery cruise in the waters off her not-always-idyllic isle of Broward's Rock is going swimmingly -- until one of the revelers plunges overboard. And despite hubby Max's courageous rescue attempt, faux murder turns all too quickly into real-life death. As the body count rises over the next few days, the popular proprietress of the Death on Demand bookstore begins to suspect that all the victims were murdered most foully, and that they are all connected in some unknown way. But what intrepid crime solver Annie does not realize is that the killer she seeks is more ingeniously efficient than most -- and the puzzle she wishes to unravel is, in reality, a time bomb packed with an explosive mix of arson, assault, kidnapping, robbery ... and homicide, naturally. One false step and Annie, Max, and their canny cohorts will be blown off Broward's Rock for good.

"If I were teaching a course on how to write a mystery, I would make Carolyn Hart required reading." -Los Angeles Times "One of the most popular practitioners of the traditional mystery" (Cleveland Plain Dealer), Carolyn Hart is unstoppable-and her Death on Demand mystery series seems to get better with every book. The proof? Dead by Midnight, once again featuring bookstore owner and sometime sleuth Annie Darling and her adoring p.i. husband Max. Their search for the truth behind a shocking "suicide" that rocks the idyllic (if somewhat homicide-prone) island of Broward's Rock will make any mystery reader an instant fan-joining an ever-growing multitude that includes bestselling thriller author Robert Crais, who declares, "I'm a sucker for Carolyn Hart's Annie and Max series."