Life's a Beach Cozy Mystery

Welcome to beautiful Sunrise Bay, where the beach is hot and the corpses are cold . . . When Charlie Carter catches her fiancé cheating with her best friend, she swaps power suits for swimsuits and moves to the idyllic seaside town of Sunrise Bay. Maybe a dose of vitamin sea can cure her broken heart. Beautiful beaches aren't the little town's only attractions. It's also the home of her feisty retired aunt, who soon has Charlie surrounded by new friends and fulfilling a lifelong dream of becoming a photographer. Everything is going swimmingly until Aunt Evie's book club pal Peggy turns up deader than Charlie's engagement. Aunt Evie is convinced it was murder and will make waves big enough to swamp the whole retirement village unless Charlie does something about it. Charlie's not convinced, but the more she discovers, the more she suspects that Aunt Evie is right-as usual. Now Charlie-with the help of one inquisitive four-legged neighbor-must use her keen photographer's eye to spot the killer . . . before they take her out of the picture.

A beach wedding with a killer twist . . . Charlie Carter's new life in idyllic Sunrise Bay is beachy keen. A wedding could be the big break Charlie's fledgling photography business needs-she's got all her fingers and toes crossed for a perfect day. Beautiful bride: check. Gorgeous weather: check. Dead guest at the reception: definitely not part of the plan. When the husband of one of Charlie's friends becomes a suspect, Charlie must turn sleuth again. Can she win a game of cat and spouse with the matrimonial murderer before the police arrest the wrong guy?

Turning thirty is murder. Everything's panning out for Charlie in picture-perfect Sunrise Bay. She has a new dog, a brand-new photography business, and maybe even a fresh romance with the hottest policeman in town. Plus, her latest photo shoot is double the fun. Identical twins Sam and Jess want photos to celebrate their thirtieth birthday. But the party stops when Sam disappears. Rumors spread faster than you can say "cheese". Is her hot-tempered new boyfriend to blame? What did her neighbor really see? When Sam's body is found in mysterious circumstances, Jess is distraught . . . or is she? It's up to Charlie to sort fact from fiction in a puzzling case of double trouble.

Someone in Sunrise Bay is definitely on Santa's naughty list. Romance is in the air, and Charlie's first date with Sunrise Bay's hottest policeman is to the Yule Ball. Organized by Charlie's unstoppable Aunt Evie, the charity ball is the town's biggest fundraising night of the year. A dazzling sapphire necklace is the centerpiece of the auction and the bidding is fierce. But as the auctioneer's hammer comes down, the lights in the ballroom go out. When they come back on, the necklace is gone. Aunt Evie is devastated and Charlie is determined to use her newfound detective skills to find it. The pressure is on to bring the necklace ho-ho-home for Christmas. But Charlie isn't the only one searching for it, and the other hunters will stop at nothing to get their hands on it.

Checking out has never been so final. Storms are brewing in peaceful Sunrise Bay as Charlie's boyfriend prepares to battle his vindictive ex for custody of their little girl. A night out at a fancy hotel with her book club pals is a ray of sunshine among Charlie's clouds-until a woman falls to her death from a hotel balcony. Was it a tragic accident or something more sinister? The woman's husband claims he was walking on the beach when she fell, but if that's true, why don't his shoes have any sand on them? And, speaking of footwear, why has one of the dead woman's own shoes gone missing? It's a puzzle Charlie's determined to resist. With the custody hearing looming, this is no time to be poking her nose into a police investigation. But when her dog finds the missing shoe, Charlie's caught up in the case in spite of irate detectives, uncooperative suspects, and the collateral damage to her private life. Sometimes the best way to weather a storm is to face it head-on.