Bøker av Daryl Wood Gerber

This delectably intriguing new series debut from one of the queens of cozy mysteries features a caterer who crafts literary-themed dinner parties—and must ensure that a killer gets their just desserts . . .It’s a truth universally acknowledged that a genuinely top-notch party must be in want of a theme. Allie Catt, caterer and personal chef in the beautiful mountain community of Asheville, North Carolina, has devised a winning formula by using her clients’ favorite books as inspiration. Her first themed event is based on Pride and Prejudice (Allie’s cat, Darcy, approves), and it’s so popular that soon she has grand ideas for future parties based on Rebecca, The Great Gatsby, Babette’s Feast and more. Business is booming, and a rival catering company is fuming. But there’s a sting in the tale when the aunt of one of Allie’s clients and best friends, Tegan, is murdered. Tegan is the victim’s sole heir, and quickly becomes the main suspect. Allie has no doubts about her friend’s innocence, but how to prove it?  Once again, her love of literature comes to the rescue, and with some guidance from her favorite fictional detectives, including Hercule Poirot and Sherlock Holmes, Allie sifts through the clues.  With a little luck—and the kind of pluck that would make Elizabeth Bennett proud—she may be able to stop a killer from serving up a second course of murder . . .

Hope Lyons's husband ran through all their money and split Portland, Oregon, forcing Hope to sell her beloved Pie in the Sky bakery and move with her two children back to charming Hope Valley, her hometown. She has been working as a waitress and pinching pennies to get their lives back on track; however, when her children win KPRL's Spirit of Christmas vacation contest, Hope worries about the extra expenses she will incur on such a trip and turns it down. Steve Waldren, the handsome KPRL sports anchor, is now of an age where he can't afford to have a gap on his resume. His confidence is already shaky, ever since his fiancée dumped him, claiming Steve would never reach his potential. When Steve's boss dubs Steve to be Giveaway Santa, he's forced to accept. Steve, as Santa, readily travels to Hope Valley to award the prize. But when Hope refuses it, he's at a loss. His boss threatens to fire him if he doesn't convince Hope to take it, and Steve does all he can to change her mind. But Hope can be stubborn, life can be a challenge, and Hope's children can be unpredictable. Not to mention, the truth isn't always what it seems. Will Hope and Steve find their happily ever after? It might take a holiday miracle.

What if you're the only one who believes your son is missing? A chilling, twisty psychological suspense novel, perfect for fans of Laura Dave and Gillian Flynn. Maggie Lawson is the smart, capable dean of a boutique college, but even the most confident mother has a weakness - her child. When Maggie can't reach her college senior son, Aiden, to tell him that his father has been shot, she starts to panic. She texts. She calls. Is Aiden ghosting her, or have the dangerous stories Aiden's father, her investigative journalist ex-husband, pursues finally brought trouble to her door? Maggie is sure that something is very wrong, but no one believes her. As dark events unfold, she must rely on her own investigative instincts to find Aiden. But when Maggie uncovers a devastating secret, she faces a race against time to save him.

Courtney is delighted when her tiny friend Fiona returns from the fairy realm, appearing at the base of a Cypress tree. When her Ragdoll cat, Pixie, emerges from her own portal--aka the cat door--the three set off for a busy day. Busier than usual, since Courtney has rented a small plot of land at the Flower Farm, where she hopes to grow her own supplies for her fairy-garden business. Plus, the annual Summer Blooms Festival is coming up, and Courtney has booked a booth... But the murder of Courtney's friend, Genevieve, casts a pall over the festival. Ever since Genevieve sold her floral business, she'd been building a career as an influencer. She was perennially opinionated--but in her new role she'd become surprisingly vicious, dissing local entrepreneurs with nasty posts and unwarranted bad reviews. That's landed a couple of Courtney's other friends on the suspect list--including Flower Farm owner Daphne Flores. And when a second victim is discovered, seeds of doubt about Daphne's innocence sprout in Courtney's mind. With only a germ of a clue, Courtney will have to overturn every rock to get the dirt on the real killer...

In the cutthroat world of crossword solvers, Jenna Hart will have to decipher some puzzling clues to catch a killer . . . The annual crossword puzzle contest has drawn contestants from near and far to Crystal Cove, and Jenna watches in amazement as puzzle-themed books fly off the shelves at the Cookbook Nook. Her aunt Vera is putting up a sizable cash prize, and no one is more surprised than Jenna to discover there's bad blood between Vera and the prominent puzzle constructor who's acting as master of ceremonies. And when the puzzle guru has his throat slit while he's out hiking, the police instantly peg Aunt Vera as the culprit. Jenna can't stand by and watch her aunt take the fall. It's been clear since the victim arrived that he had contentious relationships with a number of the contestants-even going so far as to steal puzzles from some of them and claim them as his own-and Jenna's certain one of them is the killer. Trading puzzle solving for crime solving, she sorts through the convoluted clues and cryptic suspects, hoping to nab the guilty party before they decide she's a problem they'll solve with another murder . . . Includes mouthwatering recipes! Praise for Daryl Wood Gerber and the Cookbook Nook Mysteries: "There's a feisty new amateur sleuth in town and her name is Jenna Hart. With a bodacious cast of characters, a wrenching murder, and a collection of cookbooks to die for, Daryl Wood Gerber's Final Sentence is a page-turning puzzler of a mystery that I could not put down." -Jenn McKinlay, New York Times bestselling author of the Cupcake Mysteries and Library Lovers Mysteries "In Final Sentence, the author smartly blends crime, recipes, and an array of cookbooks that all should covet in a witty, well-plotted whodunit." -Kate Carlisle, New York Times bestselling author of the Bibliophile Mysteries "Readers will relish the extensive cookbook suggestions, the cooking primer, and the whole foodie phenomenon. Gerber's perky tone with a multigenerational cast makes this series a good match for Lorna Barrett's Booktown Mystery series . . ." -Library Journal

From Agatha Award-winning author Daryl Wood Gerber, the fourth in an enchantingly whimsical series featuring Courtney Kelly, the owner of a fairy-gardening and tea shop in Carmel, California. It’s a special place brimming with good vibes and the kind of magical assistance its proprietor will need to investigate a shocking murder at a prestigious art show!Making fairy gardens, and teaching crafters how to do the same, keeps Carmel-by-the-Sea shop owner Courtney Kelly busy—but sometimes she has to make time for a wee bit of detective work . . .With a theater foundation tea and an art show planned at Violet Vickers’s estate, Courtney is hired to create charming fairy gardens for the event. It’s not so charming, however, when her best friend Meaghan’s ex-boyfriend turns out to be Violet’s latest artistic protégé. Even worse, not long after Meaghan locks horns with him, his body is found in her yard, bludgeoned with an objet d’murder.There’s a gallery of suspects, from an unstable former flame to an arts and crafts teacher with a sketchy past. But when the cops focus on Meaghan’s business partner, who’s like a protective older brother to her, and discover he also has a secret financial motive, Courtney decides to draw her own conclusions. Fearing they’re missing the forest for the trees, and with some help from Fiona the sleuthing fairy, she hopes to make them see the light . . .

From Agatha Award-winning author Daryl Wood Gerber, the third in an enchantingly whimsical series featuring Courtney Kelly, the owner of a fairy-gardening and tea shop in Carmel, California. It’s a special place brimming with good vibes and the kind of magical assistance its proprietor will need to prepare for an old sorority sister’s birthday bash awhile solving a puzzling murder!Courtney has thrown a few fairy garden parties—for kids. But if a local socialite is willing to dip into her trust fund for an old sorority sister’s fortieth birthday bash, Courtney will be there with bells on. To make the job even more appealing, a famous actress, Farrah Lawson, is flying in for the occasion, and there’s nothing like a celebrity cameo to raise a business’s profile. Now Courtney has less than two weeks to paint a mural, hang up tinkling windchimes, plan party games, and conjure up all the details. While she works her magic, the hostess and her girlfriends head off for an indulgent spa day—which leads to a fateful facial for Farrah, followed by her mysterious death. Could the kindhearted eyebrow waxer who Farrah berated in public really be the killer, as the police suspect? Courtney thinks otherwise, and with the help of her imaginative sleuth fairy, sets out to dig up the truth behind this puzzling murder . . . 

From Agatha Award-winning author Daryl Wood Gerber, the second in an enchantingly whimsical series featuring Courtney Kelly, the owner of a fairy-gardening and tea shop in Carmel, California. It's a special place brimming with good vibes, lush greenery, miniature fairy accessories, and soothing fountains; the perfect venue for book club teas and home to a cat named Pixie. But in Carmel-by-the-Sea, things aren't all sweetness and fairy lights...When Courtney's friend Wanda gets into a ponytail-pulling wrestling match in public with a nasty local art critic, Courtney stops the fight with the help of a garden hose. But Lana Lamar has a talent for escalating things and creating tension, which she succeeds in doing by threatening a lawsuit, getting into yet another scuffle--in the midst of an elegant fundraiser, no less--and lobbing insults around like pickleballs. Next thing Courtney knows, Lana is on the floor, stabbed with a decorative letter opener from one of Courtney's fairy gardens, and Wanda is standing by asking "What have I done?" But the answer may not be as obvious as it seems, since Wanda is prone to sleepwalking and appears to be in a daze. Could she have risen from her nap and committed murder while unconscious? Or is the guilty party someone else Lana's ticked off, like her long-suffering husband? To find out, Courtney will have to dig up some dirt...

Fairy garden store owner Courtney Kelly believes in inviting magic into your life. But when uninvited trouble enters her shop, she’ll need more than a sprinkling of her imagination to solve a murder . . .   Since childhood, Courtney has loved fairies. After her mother died when she was ten, she lost touch with that feeling of magic. A year ago, at age twenty-nine, she rediscovered it when she left her father''s landscaping business to spread her wings and start a fairy garden business and teashop in beautiful Carmel, California. At Open Your Imagination, she teaches garden design and sells everything from fairy figurines to tinkling wind chimes and trickling fountains. Now she''s starting a book club tea.   But the light of the magical world she''s created inside her shop is darkened one night when she discovers neighboring dog-grooming business owner Mick Watkins dead beside a fountain. To make matters worse, the police suspect Courtney of the crime. To clear her name and find the real killer, Courtney will have to wing it. But she’s about to get a little help from an unexpected new friend . . .