Bøger udgivet af Crooked Lane Books

The hotel was her refuge, but scandal is afoot—and a killer stalks the halls in this charming series debut perfect for fans of Rhys Bowen and Ashley Weaver.It’s 1958 and Evelyn Elizabeth Grace Murphy has not left the Pinnacle Hotel in fourteen months. She suffers from agoraphobia, and what’s more, it’s her father’s hotel, and everything she needs is there. Evelyn’s always been good at finding things, she discovered her mother dead in a Manhattan alleyway fifteen years earlier. Now she’s finding trouble inside her sanctuary. At a party for artist Billie Bell, his newest work is stolen, and Evelyn’s fake boyfriend (and real best friend), movie star Henry Fox, is accused of the theft. But just as Evelyn sets out to prove Henry’s innocence, she finds Billie Bell dead. The murder weapon links the crime to the hotel’s chief of security. But why would he use a knife with his initials on the handle? With her beloved home in disarray, Evelyn joins up with hotel employee (and her secret crush) Mac Cooper to get to the bottom of the case. As Mac picks locks and Evelyn snoops around the hotel, they discover the walls around them contain more secrets than they previously knew. Now, Evelyn must force herself to leave the hotel to follow the clues—but when she and Mac set off to chase a lead, their car crashes and they barely escape with their lives. Someone snipped Evelyn’s brake lines, and now the stakes have become dangerously high. Evelyn’s knack for sleuthing—and her playful imagination—are always hard at work, and she throws an elaborate party at the hotel where every guest is a suspect. But will the killer emerge from the glamorous lineup? If not, Evelyn just might find herself…next in line for murder.

Mona Awad's All's Well meets Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt in Lauren Danhof's darkly humorous debut, in which a daughter races to save her mother from a dangerous cult before it's too late.Glinda Glass is truly trying her best. After dropping out of her graduate school program, she moves back to her childhood home with her mom—who has not only joined a cult, the Starlight Pioneer Society, but has also become enraptured by its charismatic and menacing leader, Arlon. Meanwhile, Glinda spends her days working in the Drench-the-Wench dunk booth at the local Renaissance fair with her only friend Troy—who may be falling in love with her.When Glinda learns that the cult will be turning her family’s home into their commune, she decides to take matters into her own hands—by infiltrating the cult and taking it down from the inside. There, she realizes things are far more sinister than she could have ever imagined and that she must get her mom out from under the spell of Arlon by any means necessary.But Glinda can’t do it on her own; to save her mother, she’ll have to confront her own history of trauma and grief and repair her relationships with her sisters and Troy, no matter the cost.

"Harlem, 1936. Clyde "The Viper" Morton boards a train from Alabama to Harlem to chase his dreams of being a jazz musician. When his talent fails him, he becomes caught up in the dangerous underbelly of Harlem's drug trade. In this heartbreaking novel, one man must decide what he is willing to give up and what he wants to fight for. Viper's Dream is a fast-paced story that is charged with suspense. A snappy, provocative voice and a stark look at Viper's Black American experience weave with endless plot twists to offer readers a stunningly original, achingly beautiful read."--

"Isla Jane is living the millennial nightmare. She's got a shiny new MBA and no way to pay for it, thanks to her dead-end entry-level job, and nowhere to live, thanks to her miserable salary. Going home to her parents is not possible, but for once Isla's brother may be her saving grace. He's out of town on business for a month, meaning the guest room in his condo is blissfully empty. Or so Isla thinks, until she runs into Cade Greenley, her brother's best friend--who's crashing there while his own condo is undergoing renovations. When a desperate plan to sleep under her desk miraculously turns into a house-sitting job for one of the big bosses at her office, Isla is certain her luck has turned--with no one, Cade included, the wiser. It's a perfect solution--until Cade catches her sunbathing at a mansion that is definitely not hers, and she admits she's house-sitting because she can't afford rent. The pair strike a deal--Cade will keep Isla's secret from her overbearing parents if she agrees to pose as his girlfriend at a few upcoming corporate events. The fun and friendly vibe of his office is a surprise compared to hers, but the biggest shock is that each "date" with Cade feels less and less fake. Suddenly she's looking forward to every minute they spend together while the chemistry between them sizzles. As Isla's house-sitting scheme begins to unravel, she'll have to face the fact that her biggest lie of all is the one she's telling herself: that she's not falling in love with Cade"--

"Mercury Rhodes and her world were utterly changed when the bombs fell, releasing the green mist. While it proved deadly to all the men who breathed it in, it gave new life to women who did the same. The green mist provided each member of her newfound family an ability: Stella's heightened intuition, Imani's earthly connection, Karen's bond with Spirit, and Gemma's healing ability. Although Mercury now has incredible physical strength--she doesn't know if she will be strong enough for what comes next. Especially after the death of Ford, their companion through the aftermath of the mist. The group finds respite in creating a small community in the John Day Fossil Preserve, near the Painted Hills in Oregon. Together, they hope to find a place where they can start over and rebuild a better world. But Mercury knows it won't be that simple, not when she knows someone, or something, is hunting them. Something that wants to rule the ruins of the world and something who sees Mercury as a threat that must be eliminated"--

In 1939 Hollywood, when a shocking act of violence on the set of Hitchcock's Rebecca reawakens the shadows of the past, Josephine Tey teams up with DCI Archie Penrose and together, they follow a trail of clues that echoes Rebecca's timeless themes of obsession, jealousy and murder.

Life as a secretary in New York just got tougher when Viviana Valentine’s boss goes M.I.A in this debut historical mystery, perfect for fans of Susan Elia MacNeal and Frances Brody.New York City, 1950. Viviana Valentine is Girl Friday to the city’s top private investigator, Tommy Fortuna. The clients can be frustrating, and none more maddening than fabulously wealthy Tallmadge Blackstone, who demands Tommy tail his daughter, Tallulah, and find out why she won’t marry his business partner, a man forty years her senior. Sounds like an open-and-shut case for a P.I. known for busting up organized crime—but the next day, Viviana opens the office to find Tommy missing and a lifeless body on the floor.The cops swoop in and Detective Jake Lawson issues a warrant for Tommy’s arrest. Desperate to clear Tommy’s name, Viviana takes on the Blackstone case herself. When she goes out for a night on the town with the heiress, she begins to learn the secrets behind Tallulah’s headline-grabbing life. Meanwhile, Lawson is itching to solve his murder case, and continues harassing Viviana for answers—until she’s the victim of a series of violent attacks.But Tommy’s still missing, and Viviana is scared. As she digs into the dirty history of the Blackstone empire, she suddenly realizes the true danger at hand. Now, it’s up to her to find her missing boss and make sure he doesn’t turn up D.O.A.

Arriving at a Brooklyn drug den to rescue her brother, Tina, with her brother nowhere to be found, discovers the body of a PI who has been shot to death and his gun is missing from its holster and must decide if she's willing to risk her life to uncover the truth.

Hunting the one man who puts fear into her heart-and who could destroy everything she loves-Susannah Faulkner, who has lived a dangerous and violent life, journeys across the U.S., contending with both new and old friends and foes, to take down her evil equal.

"Working at a small family-owned cookie manufacturing plant in Florida, 27-year-old Karina Cortâes, happy with her single life, finds business mixing with pleasure when she meets the company's hot new mechanic and must decide whether she's willing to risk her heart or continue keeping people at arm's length."--Provided by publisher.

"As a successful mystery author, Bailey Briggs writes about murder, but nothing prepares her for actually discovering the dead body of the founder of her hometown of Humble Hills, Colorado. Bailey grew up at Honeybuzz Mountain Ranch and was raised by her beekeeping grandmother, Blossom Briggs, aka Granny Bee, and her two eccentric sisters, Aster and Marigold--which is why she drops everything to come home and help Granny Bee after a bad fall. A broken foot doesn't stop her grandmother from ruling The Hive, her granny's book club, or continuing to prepare and package her bee-inspired products. But when Bailey's grandmother's infamous "Honey I'm Home" hot spiced honey turns out to "bee" the murder weapon and her granny is now the prime suspect, Bailey has no choice but to use her fictional detective skills to help solve the murder and "smoke out" the real culprit. With the help of Bailey's witty bestie, a pair of meddling aunts, the feisty members of The Hive, and her computer-savvy daughter, this amateur sleuth is determined to solve the case. A malicious attack and an ominous threat reveal that someone wants Bailey to butt out of the investigation, but there's no way she's backing down. She must use her skills to uncover the truth and catch the clever culprit before her grandmother ends up bee-hind bars"--

When a bestselling novel fictionalizes the death of her childhood best friend—and accuses her of the murder—Petal Woznewski must figure out who wrote it and why. Truth and fiction collide in this captivating debut novel by Cayce Osborne.Petal Woznewski is content with her quiet, introverted life in New York City: she has her junk food, her movies, and her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Gus. That peace is shattered when her name appears on the dedication page of an anonymously written thriller with a cryptic note: “I know what you did, Petal Woznewski. And now everyone else will, too.”As she reads, Petal realizes the story is rooted in a secret she buried thirty years earlier, when she was fourteen. A secret involving the tragic death of her friend, Megan. A secret that only one other person knows—their old friend, Jenny. Armed with a copy of the book and her own suspicions, Petal returns to her hometown of Madison, Wisconsin. There, she discovers more questions than answers. Jenny has disappeared, and Petal’s old high school crush, Ben, doesn’t know anything about the book—at least not anything he’s telling.As sinister clues pile up, and the thriller’s plot detours dangerously from the facts, Petal has no choice but to confront her past and solve the mystery of who wrote it—before her very real life ends as tragically as the novel.

"A Connecticut cookie shop owner with unreliable employees and a cheating boyfriend is suspected of murder after a blogger who accused her of stealing a recipe turns up dead"--

"American consultant Kat is staffed on a six-month project in London and has two very small, very reasonable ambitions before returning home: get promoted to partner and fall in love with a handsome English aristocrat. No problem, right? But work is a grind, and the British men she meets are a far cry from her royal ideal. Then one morning, she sees a man on a double-decker bus and just knows that he's her person. But when Kat finally musters the courage to board the bus and introduce herself, he turns out to be very different from the Prince Charming she expected. Can Kat open herself up to a love that's not like the movies, or is she too imprisoned by her rom-com expectations? And just as importantly, will she be able to see that success isn't about landing a C-suite job, but rather living a life that's aligned with her soul?"--

When Miss Tiffany Woodall assumes the identity of her half-brother after his death, she realizes she isn’t the only one with a secret to hide in this historical series debut, perfect for fans of Deanna Raybourn and Sherry Thomas.1784 London. Miss Tiffany Woodall didn’t murder her half-brother, but she did bury him in the back garden so that she could keep her cottage. Now, the confirmed spinster has to pretend to be Uriah and fulfill his duties as the Duke of Beaufort’s librarian while searching Astwell Palace for Uriah’s missing diamond pin, the only thing of value they own. Her ruse is almost up when she is discovered by Mr. Samir Lathrop, the local bookseller, who tries to save her from drowning while she's actually just washing up in a lake after burying her brother.Her plan is going by the book, until the rector proposes marriage and she starts to develop feelings for Mr. Lathrop.  But when her childhood friend, Tess, comes to visit, Tiffany quickly realizes her secret isn’t the only one hidden within these walls.  The body of a servant is found, along with a collection of stolen items, and someone else grows mysteriously ill. Can Tiffany solve these mysteries without her own disguise  being discovered? If not, she’ll lose her cottage and possibly her life.

Twenty-five-year-old Linda Donovan has spent her life working for her father, Anthony, at Donovan and Daughter Exterminators in New York City. On the anniversary of her mother's death, her father makes his annual visit to his late wife's grave while Linda heads to a Park Avenue apartment building to work solo. When she arrives, she finds the body of an elderly resident, partially eaten by rats. The gruesome death not only speaks poorly of the Donovans' exterminating services -- it also points to foul play. When the cops show up, they demand to speak to Linda's father. But despite her efforts to contact him, Anthony has gone off the radar. As he evades a possible murder charge, Linda's father records in five notebooks -- and five damning acts -- the story of how he met and fell in love with her mother, a previously untold history of familial abuse, tormented souls, and true love gone terribly wrong.

When best friends Hannah and Scarlett meet Thomas in college--the chemistry is instantaneous. They grow closer while playing the Daring Game, where each dare is riskier than the last. As the trio's friendship begins to cross boundaries between the platonic and the illicit, jealousy and secrets quickly develop. As tensions between the three grow, so do the stakes in the Daring Game, resulting in tragedy with Scarlett's final dare to Thomas. When Thomas gets expelled from school and leaves without a trace, it seems like the Daring Game has finally ended. Sixteen years later, Hannah is unhappy in marriage and in life. That is, of course, until she gets a mysterious letter about the Daring Game from none other than Thomas himself. With Scarlett out of the picture, and a renewal of the dangerous game, the sparks begin to fly between them once more. Until the day Hannah and Thomas are called to the secret meeting place of the Daring Game, where they're welcomed by a single dare--"to tell the truth." Someone else has joined the game and knows about their affair, going as far as leaving a cryptic message in Hannah's house: Don't You Dare. Hannah's list of suspects is long: Could it be her nosy neighbor, Libby, who has a few secrets of her own? Or did her husband plan this as revenge for the torrid affair? Is Scarlett back and ready to play again? The truth may set Hannah free--but only if she dares to risk everything she knows and loves.