New Titles

Baskets and beignets : a Miss Fortune mystery

DeLeon, Jana,


Sequel to: Swamp Spies. "So little evidence and so many suspects." -- Back cover. Ten years ago, Ryan Comeaux was convicted of killing his girlfriend and was sentenced to life in prison. Now a witness has come forward who claims she was with Ryan the entire night and it's not possible that he was the killer. But the local police assume she's mistaken and aren't interested in reopening what they view as an open-and-shut case. The witness, Kelsey Spalding, has her own reason for wanting Ryan's conviction overturned and hires Swamp Team 3 to prove him innocent. Fortune has solved cold cases before, but never one with so little evidence and so many suspects with not only strong motive but opportunity. Can she solve a decade-old murder, or will the real killer strike again to cover his tracks? -- Adapted from back cover.
Date Published:2024

Sequel to: Swamp Spies. "So little evidence and so many suspects." -- Back cover. Ten years ago, Ryan Comeaux was convicted of killing his girlfriend and was sentenced to life in prison. Now a witness has come forward who claims she was with Ryan the entire night and it's not possible that he was the killer. But the local police assume she's mistaken and aren't interested in reopening what they view as an open-and-shut case. The witness, Kelsey Spalding, has her own reason for wanting Ryan's conviction overturned and hires Swamp Team 3 to prove him innocent. Fortune has solved cold cases before, but never one with so little evidence and so many suspects with not only strong motive but opportunity. Can she solve a decade-old murder, or will the real killer strike again to cover his tracks? -- Adapted from back cover.

Date Published:2024

Fortune teller : a Miss Fortune mystery

DeLeon, Jana,


"I see dead people."--Title page. Sequel to: Clue Krewe. "With Carter off on a military mission, there's a new sheriff in town, and Fortune, Ida Belle, and Gertie have been tasked with not interfering. But then a young girl is pulled out of the swamp, unconscious and with no memory of how she got there. And when no one comes to claim her, Fortune knows they have to help. For decades, a mysterious group known only as the Brethren has been rumored to live deep in the swamp, their contact with civilization rare. Some suggest the girl might have been one of them, but if so, why was she alone in the swamp in the middle of the night? Swamp Team 3 is on the case, but long-buried secrets like to stay that way, and finding the Brethren proves to be a difficult and dangerous task. The deeper they dig, the more pieces of the puzzle they expose, but can they put the pieces together in time to save the girl?"--
Date Published:2023

"I see dead people."--Title page. Sequel to: Clue Krewe. "With Carter off on a military mission, there's a new sheriff in town, and Fortune, Ida Belle, and Gertie have been tasked with not interfering. But then a young girl is pulled out of the swamp, unconscious and with no memory of how she got there. And when no one comes to claim her, Fortune knows they have to help. For decades, a mysterious group known only as the Brethren has been rumored to live deep in the swamp, their contact with civilization rare. Some suggest the girl might have been one of them, but if so, why was she alone in the swamp in the middle of the night? Swamp Team 3 is on the case, but long-buried secrets like to stay that way, and finding the Brethren proves to be a difficult and dangerous task. The deeper they dig, the more pieces of the puzzle they expose, but can they put the pieces together in time to save the girl?"--

Date Published:2023

Swamp spies

DeLeon, Jana,


"Things have reached a critical point in the Middle East. Carter agreed to serve as a consultant for his old Force Recon unit but for reasons unknown to his friends and family, jumped from the command center and into the field. Now he's MIA, and Fortune is the only one who can put together a rescue mission that has any chance of being successful. But will her skills and connections be enough? Most Sinful residents are unaware of Carter's crisis and are going about their daily lives as they always have, including local prankster Gage Babin. Except this time, Gage's attempt to elicit laughs leaves him on a slab in the medical examiner's office. Everyone knows how unhealthy he was, but Fortune thinks there's more to his death than a poorly timed prank that caused his bad heart to give out. Unfortunately, what she knows and what she can prove are two different things. And unless she can find the evidence to support her theory, someone will get away with murder" -- Amazon.com.
Date Published:2024

"Things have reached a critical point in the Middle East. Carter agreed to serve as a consultant for his old Force Recon unit but for reasons unknown to his friends and family, jumped from the command center and into the field. Now he's MIA, and Fortune is the only one who can put together a rescue mission that has any chance of being successful. But will her skills and connections be enough? Most Sinful residents are unaware of Carter's crisis and are going about their daily lives as they always have, including local prankster Gage Babin. Except this time, Gage's attempt to elicit laughs leaves him on a slab in the medical examiner's office. Everyone knows how unhealthy he was, but Fortune thinks there's more to his death than a poorly timed prank that caused his bad heart to give out. Unfortunately, what she knows and what she can prove are two different things. And unless she can find the evidence to support her theory, someone will get away with murder" -- Amazon.com.

Date Published:2024

Marsh mystics : a Miss Fortune mystery

DeLeon, Jana,


Yoga retreats are supposed to have bodies...just not dead ones. But when Eleanor, the owner of the retreat, turns up dead, Ronald and Gertie know just who to call. Eleanor's sister, Mildred, is convinced Eleanor's shady business partner had something to do with her death, but there's no evidence to prove it. To add more limitations to the mix, Carter is being audited by the state police due to complaints concerning his conduct, with specific claims that he's feeding Fortune confidential information. Swamp Team 3 fully intend to help Mildred find out what happened to her sister, but they'll have to fly below radar to avoid risking Carter's position as sheriff.
Date Published:2024

Yoga retreats are supposed to have bodies...just not dead ones. But when Eleanor, the owner of the retreat, turns up dead, Ronald and Gertie know just who to call. Eleanor's sister, Mildred, is convinced Eleanor's shady business partner had something to do with her death, but there's no evidence to prove it. To add more limitations to the mix, Carter is being audited by the state police due to complaints concerning his conduct, with specific claims that he's feeding Fortune confidential information. Swamp Team 3 fully intend to help Mildred find out what happened to her sister, but they'll have to fly below radar to avoid risking Carter's position as sheriff.

Date Published:2024

Coeds and cattails : a Miss Fortune mystery

DeLeon, Jana,


"Mimi Clark was never going to win the most popular student award. The prolific tattletale seemed to cruise through university life, seeking out rule-breakers so she could bring their sins to the dean’s attention. She probably never thought she’d be murdered for her favorite pastime. Detective Casey certainly didn’t think her daughter, Audrey, would become the prime suspect. With Casey sidelined from the investigation and feeling helpless to protect Audrey, she hires Swamp Team 3 to investigate, but the case has enough suspects to fill a stadium. Fortune has to sort them out quickly and find a killer before the ADA makes a move that could ruin Audrey’s bright future." -- Amazon.com.
Date Published:2025

"Mimi Clark was never going to win the most popular student award. The prolific tattletale seemed to cruise through university life, seeking out rule-breakers so she could bring their sins to the dean’s attention. She probably never thought she’d be murdered for her favorite pastime. Detective Casey certainly didn’t think her daughter, Audrey, would become the prime suspect. With Casey sidelined from the investigation and feeling helpless to protect Audrey, she hires Swamp Team 3 to investigate, but the case has enough suspects to fill a stadium. Fortune has to sort them out quickly and find a killer before the ADA makes a move that could ruin Audrey’s bright future." -- Amazon.com.

Date Published:2025

Marsh madness

DeLeon, Jana,


High school wasn't a grand time for everyone, but when a group offriends decide to meet up at a B and B ahead of their ten-year reunion, old grudges resurface, and one of them ends up dead. Now the owners, a kindly older couple, are on the hook for the accidental death due to anaphylaxis, but they insist no mistakes were made on theirpart.
Date Published:2024

The cafÃ© by the sea : a novel

Colgan, Jenny,


"Years ago Flora fled the quiet Scottish island where she grew up - and she hasn't looked back. What would she have done on Mure? It's a place where everyone has known her all her life, where no one will let her forget the past. In bright, bustling London, she can be anonymous, ambitious ... and hopelessly in love with her boss. But when fate brings Flora back to the island, she's suddenly swept once more into life with her brothers - all strapping, loud, and seemingly incapable of basic housework - and her father. Yet even amid the chaos of their reunion, Flora discovers a passion for cooking - and finds herself restoring a dusty little pink-fronted shop on the harbor: a cafe by the sea. But with the seasons changing, Flora must come to terms with past mistakes...and work out exactly where her future lies..." -- Front jacket flap.
Date Published:2016

"Years ago Flora fled the quiet Scottish island where she grew up - and she hasn't looked back. What would she have done on Mure? It's a place where everyone has known her all her life, where no one will let her forget the past. In bright, bustling London, she can be anonymous, ambitious ... and hopelessly in love with her boss. But when fate brings Flora back to the island, she's suddenly swept once more into life with her brothers - all strapping, loud, and seemingly incapable of basic housework - and her father. Yet even amid the chaos of their reunion, Flora discovers a passion for cooking - and finds herself restoring a dusty little pink-fronted shop on the harbor: a cafe by the sea. But with the seasons changing, Flora must come to terms with past mistakes...and work out exactly where her future lies..." -- Front jacket flap.

Date Published:2016

Christmas at the Island Hotel : a novel

Colgan, Jenny,


On the tiny, beautiful, and remote island of Mure, halfway between Scotland and Norway, a new hotel opening is a big event. New mother Flora MacKenzie and her brother Fintan are working themselves half to death to get it ready in time for Christmas. The new hotels impressive kitchens throw together two unlikely new friends: Isla Gregor is the hardworking young girl who has been a waitress in the island's cafe, dreaming of a bigger, better life now that shes at a proper fancy hotel. Konstantin Pederson is working his way up in the hotel's kitchens toobut he is also, secretly, the only son of the Duke of Utsire. Konstantin has been sent to learn what it is to work hard for a living, before receiving his inheritance. Although hes initially resentful, the place grows on him; he has never met anyone quite like Isla and her fellow Murians before. As the islands residents and special VIP guests gather for the hotels grand opening gala, Christmas is in the air. But so are more than a few small-town secrets.
Date Published:2020

On the tiny, beautiful, and remote island of Mure, halfway between Scotland and Norway, a new hotel opening is a big event. New mother Flora MacKenzie and her brother Fintan are working themselves half to death to get it ready in time for Christmas. The new hotels impressive kitchens throw together two unlikely new friends: Isla Gregor is the hardworking young girl who has been a waitress in the island's cafe, dreaming of a bigger, better life now that shes at a proper fancy hotel. Konstantin Pederson is working his way up in the hotel's kitchens toobut he is also, secretly, the only son of the Duke of Utsire. Konstantin has been sent to learn what it is to work hard for a living, before receiving his inheritance. Although hes initially resentful, the place grows on him; he has never met anyone quite like Isla and her fellow Murians before. As the islands residents and special VIP guests gather for the hotels grand opening gala, Christmas is in the air. But so are more than a few small-town secrets.

Date Published:2020

Christmas on the island : a novel

Colgan, Jenny,


"Originally published in the United Kingdom under the title An Island Christmas by Little, Brown Book Group in 2018"--Title page verso. Includes recipes. While Flora struggles with how to inform her ex-boss that she is carrying his baby, a doctor refugee from war-torn Syria embarks on his first Christmas season without his wife on the remote Scottish island of Mure.
Date Published:2018

The endless beach

Colgan, Jenny,


When Flora MacKenzie traded her glum career in London to reunite with her family on the remote Scottish island of Mure, she never dreamed that Joel, her difficult, adorable boss, would follow and that they would soon be taking their first faltering steps into romance.
Date Published:2018

Swamp Spirits : a Miss Fortune mystery

DeLeon, Jana,


Sequel to: Flame and Fortune. Ghost of a chance? Fortune is thrilled when Ben Harrison, her former CIA partner, and his fiancée, Cassidy, decide to leave DC and move to the Louisiana bayous. They've already secured jobs and are only lacking a place to live, so everyone is excited when they quickly find a home. There's only one problem--the house has a reputation. It's haunted. Fortune doesn't believe in ghosts, but when Cassidy starts seeing a woman in white inside her house and can't determine how she's entering or exiting, Fortune knows she's got to figure out what's going on before things get worse. As Swamp Team 3 takes on the "spirited" case, they dive into a decades-old mystery of love, money, voodoo curses, and a missing woman. But can they get answers before Ben and Cassidy give up the ghost and go back to DC?
Date Published:2022

Sequel to: Flame and Fortune. Ghost of a chance? Fortune is thrilled when Ben Harrison, her former CIA partner, and his fiancée, Cassidy, decide to leave DC and move to the Louisiana bayous. They've already secured jobs and are only lacking a place to live, so everyone is excited when they quickly find a home. There's only one problem--the house has a reputation. It's haunted. Fortune doesn't believe in ghosts, but when Cassidy starts seeing a woman in white inside her house and can't determine how she's entering or exiting, Fortune knows she's got to figure out what's going on before things get worse. As Swamp Team 3 takes on the "spirited" case, they dive into a decades-old mystery of love, money, voodoo curses, and a missing woman. But can they get answers before Ben and Cassidy give up the ghost and go back to DC?

Date Published:2022

Flame and Fortune : a Miss Fortune mystery

DeLeon, Jana,


Sequel to: Swamp sweets. "No smoke without fire"--Cover. "It's New Year's in Sinful. The competition for the New Year's Queen is heating up as the warring churches go head-to-head. Fortune Redding is not the sequined dress kind of woman, but reluctantly agrees to partake in the debacle so that Ida Belle and Gertie can best their nemesis, Celia, who's put up former Sinful mean girl RJ Rogers. RJ and her friend Brock Benoit left plenty of devastation in their wake when they fled Sinful after high school. So when they return and Brock is found dead, there's no shortage of suspects. Fortune, Ida Belle, and Gertie know all too well what it's like to live under suspicion of a crime with no resolution. When good people become the targets of gossip, they know they have to rush to unravel the tangled lives of RJ and Brock and expose a killer before the wrong person's reputation is ruined. Or worse--they're arrested for a crime they didn't commit"--
Date Published:2022

Sequel to: Swamp sweets. "No smoke without fire"--Cover. "It's New Year's in Sinful. The competition for the New Year's Queen is heating up as the warring churches go head-to-head. Fortune Redding is not the sequined dress kind of woman, but reluctantly agrees to partake in the debacle so that Ida Belle and Gertie can best their nemesis, Celia, who's put up former Sinful mean girl RJ Rogers. RJ and her friend Brock Benoit left plenty of devastation in their wake when they fled Sinful after high school. So when they return and Brock is found dead, there's no shortage of suspects. Fortune, Ida Belle, and Gertie know all too well what it's like to live under suspicion of a crime with no resolution. When good people become the targets of gossip, they know they have to rush to unravel the tangled lives of RJ and Brock and expose a killer before the wrong person's reputation is ruined. Or worse--they're arrested for a crime they didn't commit"--

Date Published:2022

Clue Krewe : a Miss Fortune mystery

DeLeon, Jana,


Sequel to: Swamp spirits. Beckett Rousseau is the firstborn son of one of New Orleans' most prominent families. He's the quintessential golden boy--great looks, money, and a political career in his future--until his wife murders him. Or at least that's what everyone thinks. Athena Durand is still reeling from her murder conviction but now that it's overturned, she's at a loss on how to proceed with her life. As long as people still believe she's guilty, she has no future in Louisiana and more importantly, she wants to know who killed her husband. When she hears about Fortune's exploits, Athena knows she is the one person who might be able to give her answers, and her life back. But too many people are harboring secrets about Beckett's life and death, including Athena. Can Fortune sort through the half-truths and lies to discover the truth? Or did the jury get it right the first time?
Date Published:2023

Sequel to: Swamp spirits. Beckett Rousseau is the firstborn son of one of New Orleans' most prominent families. He's the quintessential golden boy--great looks, money, and a political career in his future--until his wife murders him. Or at least that's what everyone thinks. Athena Durand is still reeling from her murder conviction but now that it's overturned, she's at a loss on how to proceed with her life. As long as people still believe she's guilty, she has no future in Louisiana and more importantly, she wants to know who killed her husband. When she hears about Fortune's exploits, Athena knows she is the one person who might be able to give her answers, and her life back. But too many people are harboring secrets about Beckett's life and death, including Athena. Can Fortune sort through the half-truths and lies to discover the truth? Or did the jury get it right the first time?

Date Published:2023

Dolly all the time

Monaghan, Annabel,


Includes discussion questions and an excerpt from the author's 'It's a Love Story' (pages 367-387). "If they start by pretending, can they end with something real? Dolly Brick has never met a problem she couldn't solve. Not when her mom left when she was twelve, and not at thirty-nine when she moves with her son back to Whitfield, Rhode Island for the summer to keep her dad and brother from losing the family home. So when she comes across Stewart Whitfield: annoyingly handsome scion of the Whitfield family: with a flat tire and at the wrong end of a very public, very humiliating breakup, it's in her nature to help. But Stewart's proposed arrangement ends up being more than either of them bargained for, because as public dinners and high society benefits turn into sunset boat rides and kisses that hit her bloodstream like a ghost pepper, Dolly starts to feel something more than helpful. She's never relied on anyone besides herself, can she really start now?"-- Provided by publisher.
Date Published:2026

Includes discussion questions and an excerpt from the author's 'It's a Love Story' (pages 367-387). "If they start by pretending, can they end with something real? Dolly Brick has never met a problem she couldn't solve. Not when her mom left when she was twelve, and not at thirty-nine when she moves with her son back to Whitfield, Rhode Island for the summer to keep her dad and brother from losing the family home. So when she comes across Stewart Whitfield: annoyingly handsome scion of the Whitfield family: with a flat tire and at the wrong end of a very public, very humiliating breakup, it's in her nature to help. But Stewart's proposed arrangement ends up being more than either of them bargained for, because as public dinners and high society benefits turn into sunset boat rides and kisses that hit her bloodstream like a ghost pepper, Dolly starts to feel something more than helpful. She's never relied on anyone besides herself, can she really start now?"-- Provided by publisher.

Date Published:2026