Last Ditch mystery

Lexy Campbell fights to prove the innocence of a client she's been providing marriage guidance to after she is accused of murdering her husband. It's the Fourth of July in California and Lexy Campbell is headed home to Scotland. But first she must deliver her final dose of marriage guidance to the elderly Bombarros. They don't turn up for the session, but the cops do. Turns out Mr. Bombarro is in the morgue and Mrs. Bombarro is in the jail, arrested for murder. Certain of the old lady's innocence, Lexy decides to stay and clear her name. But after her own recent whirlwind divorce, she's got no money and no place to stay. So she checks into the Last Ditch Motel. As the plucky little band of motel guests start to take over Lexy's life, and the shady Bombarro relations come to town, one thing is for sure ... the fireworks have only just begun.

A body surfacing next to her houseboat on Halloween night with a Jimmy wig stapled to its head leads Lexy Campbell and her friends to delve into the past of the area's residents. Lexy Campbell's Halloween party barely has time to begin before a body bobs up beside her houseboat. Who is this man? Why was he killed? And how come there's a Jimmy wig stapled to his head? When she learns that a horse has been attacked on a bridge the same night, Lexy can't help but think of Tam O'Shanter and Robert Burns. With the police dismissing the notion, and fresh from solving her first murder - not to mention the fact that the clues point to Scots and she's the only one in town - Lexy decides to investigate. Joined, once again, by the rag-tag crew from the Last Ditch Motel, Lexy is soon neck-deep in cutty sarks and tartan, but it seems the roots of this California murder lie much closer to her new home.

Lexy Campbell's ex-husband begs for her help finding his current wife, whose disappearance mirrors that of a number of statues around California-menacing ransom note and all. A community is devastated when the bronze statue of local legend Mama Cuento is stolen on Valentine's Day. When Lexy Campbell arrives on the scene, a big bronze toe is found along with a ransom note — "Listen to our demands or you will never see her again. There are nine more where this came from". Then, Lexy's ex-husband Bran turns up begging for help to find his wife, Brandee, who has disappeared. Lexy agrees to pitch in, but when she shows up at Bran's house he has just discovered one of Brandee's false nails and another ransom note with the same grisly message. Are the two cases linked or is a copycat on the loose? Who would want to kidnap a bronze statue or, come to that, Brandee? And can Lexy put aside her hatred for Bran long enough to find out?

Despite efforts to create a safe environment to see out the pandemic, the residents of the Last Ditch Motel face more dangers than they imagined possible in this hilarious yet claustrophobic mystery. March 2020 and Operation Cocker is a go! The owners of the Last Ditch Motel, with a little help from their friend Lexy Campbell, are preparing to support one another through the oncoming lockdown, offering the motel's spare rooms to a select few from the local area in need of sanctuary. While the newbies are settling in, an ambiguous banner appears demanding one of them return home. But, who is it for? Lexy and her friends put a plan into action to ward off the perpetrator, but the very next night, a resident disappears and a message scrawled in human blood is found. As California shuts down, the Last Ditchers make another gruesome discovery. They tried to create a haven, but now it seems as if everyone's in danger. Is the motel under attack from someone on the outside? Scary as that is, the alternative is worse by far.

In this darkly funny mystery Lexy Campbell's first love turns up dead at the Last Ditch Motel on Thanksgiving . . . and she becomes the prime suspect! A mysterious object the size of a suitcase, all wrapped in bacon and smelling of syrup, can mean only one thing: Thanksgiving at the Last Ditch Motel. This year the motel residents are in extra-celebratory mood as the holiday brings a new arrival to the group - a bouncing baby girl. But as one life enters the Ditch, another leaves it. Menzies Lassiter has only just checked in. When resident counsellor Lexy Campbell tries to deliver his breakfast the next day, she finds him checked out. Permanently. Shocking enough if he was a stranger, but Lexy recognises that face. Menzies was her first love until he broke her heart many years ago. What's he doing at the Last Ditch? What's he doing dead? And how can Lexy escape the fact that she alone had the means, the opportunity - and certainly the motive - to kill him?