Hamptons Home & Garden Mystery

In between scouring estate sales for her new interior design business, Cottages by the Sea, Meg Barrett visits the swanky East Hampton home of her old college roommate, Jillian Spenser. But instead of seeing how the other half lives, she learns how the other half dies. Jillian's mother, known as the Queen Mother of the Hamptons, has been murdered. Someone has staged a coup. When she helps a friend inventory the Spensers' estate for the insurance company, Meg finds herself right in the thick of things. Cataloging valuable antiques and art loses its charm when Meg discovers that the Spenser family has been hiding dangerous secrets, which may have furnished a murderer with a motive. As Meg gets closer to the truth, the killer will do anything to paint her out of the picture.

To keep her mind off the legal battle over the oceanfront cottage she's trying to buy, Meg Barrett agrees to help her friend inventory and clear out furniture from the massive Montauk estate of wealthy art broker Harrison Falks. But the job takes a terrifying turn when Meg discovers a skeleton in a hidden room in one of the estate's many bungalows. The remains turn out to be those of Harrison's son, who went missing nearly twenty years ago-along with one of his father's Warhol paintings. As Meg delves into the Hamptons' pop art past, she gets drawn into the sketchy goings-on and family drama at the estate. But when Meg makes no bones about solving the crime, she just might become the subject of the killer's next installation.

The first Sag Harbor Antiquarian Book and Ephemera Fair is right around the corner, and interior designer Meg Barrett has her hands full decorating rooms at the Bibliophile Bed & Breakfast for wealthy rare book collector Franklin Hollingsworth. Rumor has it Hollingsworth is in possession of an unpublished manuscript written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. When the Fitzgerald manuscript's authenticator is found dead at the bottom of a cliff, Meg suspects a killer is on the loose. Rare books start disappearing from the B & B and Meg sees a connection between the stolen books and the deceased authenticator. With the fair looming, she finds herself caught up in catching a killer and thief before another victim is booked for death.

In a new Hamptons Home & Garden Mystery, Meg Barrett will have to uncover the truth about a long-ago murder before a killer decides she's history... When decorator Meg Barrett travels to a remote mansion to help select period pieces for a new 1930s-style television mystery series, she's chilled to learn that the manor was once a mental asylum and the site of a mysterious decades-old murder. And when a fierce blizzard knocks out the power and strands Meg and her cohorts in the home's rickety old elevator, they emerge to discover that another person has been murdered - in the same macabre manner as the original victim. With a suspect list limited to those who were also stranded at the manor, Meg begins digging through their backgrounds for clues to both the old and new murder, trying to discover a connection that will lead her to the culprit's identity. But the more she learns, the more clear it becomes that someone wants to keep the secrets of the past buried, and Meg knows she'll have to watch her back before a ruthless killer decides to commit her to a grisly fate...

Montauk's first annual Designer Showhouse was meant to be a collaborative event, so decorator Meg Barrett can only despair at the group of cutthroat designers scheming to sabotage each other on the project, not to mention the oddball collection of ghost hunters slinking around to investigate a supposedly haunted cottage. But when one of the owners of the showhouse is found murdered on the rocky beach below, Meg suddenly finds herself clashing with local police because of evidence that points to her as a prime suspect. Desperate to clear her name and track down the real culprit, Meg discovers that many of her fellow designers despised the victim for his unscrupulous business dealings, while others were speculating about his extramarital affairs. And as more secrets emerge about both the deceased and the many outsiders who have come together for the showhouse, Meg realizes she'll have to decipher a murky pattern of clues to escape the killer's deadly designs on her...

Tensions are high on the eve of the grand opening of Prive, an exclusive gourmet dining club that interior designer Meg Barrett played a large part in decorating. With just the well-heeled owners, the kitchen staff, and Meg gathered for the pre-opening feast, it seems that everyone in the small group is airing their grievances, with their most venomous attacks directed at the notorious sous-chef. But it still comes as a shock when the young woman is found dead the following morning, and Meg knows she'll have to go into sleuthing mode to discover who had murder slated for the main course. The most obvious suspect is the bitter winery owner next door, who'd been forced to sell her family's French farmhouse to the owners of the dining club. But rumors are swirling of an affair between the victim and one of the owners, and clues begin to surface suggesting that the young woman was holding something over the owners' heads. With the Hamptons elite closing ranks, Meg begins to think she may be out of her depth - and next on the killer's list - because money can make for a powerful motive, and there are some secrets a person will kill to protect...

As shooting concludes on the season finale of the TV mystery Mr. & Mrs. Winslow, interior decorator and set designer Meg Barrett can feel the hostility in the air. The show's new director had already alienated the entire cast and crew, and now Meg's boyfriend, Patrick, was ready to throttle him for taking liberties with the script. Meg thought the director was a very lucky man to have gotten out of there in one piece-until a few nights later when she stumbles over his dead body. Meg knew it wasn't her job to investigate every murder she came across, especially that of a man so universally disliked, but Patrick had no alibi for the time of death and has now disappeared. As she begins to dig into every facet of the victim's life, she soon discovers that his children resented him for a lifetime of mistreatment, and his new fiancee had a history of leaving dead husbands in her wake. Certain that this was a family affair and that she was closing in on the killer, she'll have to rely on all her wits and cunning to nab the culprit, because they've decided to set the stage for her final scene . . .

Interior design meets ulterior motive when murder strikes the family of a leading light in home décor . . . Never in her wildest dreams did interior decorator Meg Barrett think she'd get the chance to team up with the iconic Jessica Sterling. A do-it-yourself dynamo, Jessica's Dahlia Lane Farms brand has swept the country, and Meg is thrilled to discover she's just as charming and gracious in person as she is on TV. But tragedy strikes when her beloved brother is killed in a hit-and-run, and when the evidence points to foul play, Meg vows to help Jessica by investigating. It doesn't take long for Meg to figure out that not everyone working with Jessica has her best interests at heart, and she's certain that Jessica's brother was killed for something he knew about one of them. And then another body turns up, and it's clear that someone is going to desperate lengths to protect their secret. With Jessica still reeling from her loss, Meg puts herself in harm's way to unearth the secret and catch the killer-before they can carry out their murderous designs on her . . .