When Sydney Bonner overhears a fellow mah jongg player arguing on the phone with her husband, she realizes the couple’s “perfect marriage” isn’t all it appears to be. A few days later, the husband is found dead, his head bashed in. Fearing she’ll be considered the most likely suspect, the widow prevails upon Sydney and her three friends—Marianne, Kat and Micki—to find out who really killed him. Though none of these four fun-loving, take-charge retirees has any training as detectives, the women agree to launch a secret investigation. As they dig under the happy veneer of their community’s social life, they find more than enough suspects, from shady ladies to resentful golf buddies, to keep them looking over their shoulders. Could the murderer be lurking among the talent in a chaotic production put on by Sydney’s husband, who will do anything to keep busy in retirement? Could the sheriff, who may have more than a professional interest in chanteuse Kat, end up pinning the crime on the women instead? Each discovery during their investigations and their weekly mah jongg game keeps them running as they close in on the killer—but the killer may also be closing in on them.This cozy mystery, the first in the Mah Jongg Mystery series, features four retired amateur sleuths who live in the small Florida town of Serendipity Springs, all female and all friends who play the game of mah jongg together. Though they don’t set out to investigate murder, after their first experience in this story, others start looking to them to help investigate subsequent homicides and questionable accidents. In this first book, Sydney Bonner takes the lead, although she turns to her three friends for help. Though this series features four protagonists, the others will take the lead in subsequent stories. Two are married, one is divorced and the fourth, who has been single all her life while she tended to her ailing mother, now finds herself the object of the sheriff’s attention in this series. The four don’t seek out murder; somehow the circumstances and those affected drag them in. Meanwhile, as they attempt to gather information, life goes on in their community in such activities as a women’s club, a social group for those over 50, real estate transactions, numerous stops at the local coffeehouse, and even a shopping trip to Naples. Sydney’s husband, Trip, and her friend Marianne Putnam’s husband, Beau, are golf buddies who spend many a day on the course. When not there, Trip is busy seeking to build a new post retirement life, and Beau is often prevailed upon to join in Trip’s latest activity, which in this first book is a town follies. Kat Faulkner has lived a frugal life until winning big in a lottery shortly after her mother’s death; suddenly, Kat has money and doesn’t know how to spend it. But her divorced friend and freelance writer, Micki Demetrius, does, even if it’s to guide Kat through a makeover and wardrobe change for her lounge act. This cozy mystery is the first book in the Mah Jongg Mystery series. Barbara Barrett is already published in contemporary romance. She is a member of the Mystery/Romantic Suspense chapter of Romance Writers of America. Like her protagonists, she is retired and is a resident of Florida, although she spends her summers in her home state of Iowa. She spent over three decades as a human resource management analyst with Iowa state government. She can be contacted at barbarabarrett747@gmail.com. Check her website at barbarabarrettbooks.com. Read more

Real estate agent Ryan Chaise lives a quiet life in Southern Spain with his beautiful girlfriend. Everything in his life seems perfectly ordinary. Except that Ryan has a secret. A former agent for the British Secret Intelligence Service, Chaise gets embroiled in a world of drug-pushers and gangsters after accidentally killing a petty criminal absconding with a package of cocaine. Forced to protect himself and his family, Chaise’s old skills come to the fore as danger and death tolls rise. Who to trust, who to ignore, who to kill. Chaise has many choices, and he’ll need to make the right ones to survive. It’s going to be a difficult balancing act. But does he still have the tools to make it? Read more

Detective MacFarland was kicked off the Denver police force… …because of what he did at the mistrial of the man who murdered his wife. After losing his wife, his job, and his partner, beautiful Detective Cynthia Pierson… MacFarland hit the bottle and even lost himself. But now he’s crawling back out of that hole of anger and depression. After a couple of years on the streets, MacFarland is back on his feet, operating a small hot dog cart. He doesn’t make much money, gives a lot of his product to his former homeless friends, and studies language CDs in his spare time. He’s put his detective days behind him, and he’s happy that way. But then MarFarland is approached by a high-priced lawyer to help prove a woman innocent. A fishing buff has been found murdered and the wife is the prime suspect. MacFarland is not a detective anymore. It’s not his problem if an innocent woman goes to prison and a killer roams free. That’s not MacFarland’s job any more. Not even if it means working with Cynthia again. He’s just a hot dog vendor. If you enjoy seeing the down-and-out underdog get back on his feet to find justice, you’ll love this book and love the whole The Hot Dog Detective series. Get this book now, and start reading! This is a cozy mystery with amateur sleuth. Each book stands alone, but the slow-burn romance between Mac and Cyn, and Mac’s friendship with his wise but humorous homeless vet friend, Rufus, will keep you coming back for characters who have each other’s backs. This is a 70,000 words novel. About Mathiya Adams: Hello from Denver, Colorado! I am the author of The Hot Dog Detective series. As a consultant and corporate trainer, I’ve traveled and lived in California, Texas, New Jersey, India, the Philippines, Mexico, and Scotland, and too many other places to name. After having circled the globe numerous times, I’ve settled down in the Denver. Just as Denver is the gateway to the Rockies, I intend that The Hot Dog Detective stories will take place all over the Front Range and throughout Colorado. Read more

Who knew that finding a rare book would also involve running for her life? When Poe Baxter fled her job as an English professor, she was thrilled to be launching into her career as an antiquarian book dealer with a trip to Edinburgh. But she soon finds that her queries into a particular book’s provenance are drawing some less desirable attention to her and her best friend Beattie. Not everyone is interested in sharing this particular story. Will the women be able to discover the book’s origins without bringing about their own ends? Read more