Showing results by author "Dianne Harman" in All Categories

Being hired to cater a wedding in Provence provides an incredible opportunity to see and explore the area. And the who’s who in France will be attending it at the enchanting Chateau Madrigal outside of Marseilles. There's plenty of time off to explore Michelin restaurants, where Van Gogh lived and painted, and to see Provence in all its beauty, with its flamingos, black bulls, and miles of Camargue salt flats. To say nothing of imbibing in the award-winning wines the chateau produces. Sounds ideal, right? Not quite!

Telling someone that the antique they paid a lot of money for is a fake isn’t always welcome news to the owner, or for that matter, the dealer who sold it to them. Is that why Carl, the owner of the Palm Springs Antique Shop, had his life threatened? Or maybe someone thought dressing his dog in silks and jewels was ridiculous? Or maybe it was telling his adult daughter, a daughter he didn’t know he had, and who wanted to have a relationship with him, that he wasn’t interested. Our pasts have a way of catching up with us. Maybe it was just Carl’s time.

Did the famous movie star fall off the cliff or was she pushed? The last thing Sheriff Mike needed in the final weeks leading up to his run for re-election was to have his wife, Kelly, discover the dead body of a famous movie actress. Join Kelly, Mike, their dogs, and a helpful neighbor as they try to find out what really happened on the cliff that night and win the election.

The famous cowboy movie star had become the dearly beloved mayor of Palm Springs. Too bad he was murdered. But who could have done it, and what was their motive? Greed? Political rival? An environmental extremist? Son? Stepdaughter? Ex-wives? And what about his present trophy wife? Then there’s that pesky proposed desert windmill turbine project.

The famous cowboy movie star had become the dearly beloved mayor of Palm Springs. Too bad he was murdered. But who could have done it and what was their motive? Greed? Political rival? An environmental extremist? Son? Stepdaughter? Ex-wives? And what about his present trophy wife? Then, there’s that pesky proposed desert windmill turbine project.

Kat Denham, a popular author of steamy romance novels, has decided to write a book in a different genre. She has a friend who's a doctor of acupuncture, has just lost over 100 pounds, is getting married in mid-life for the first time to a doctor, and seems like the perfect role model for the protagonist in Kat's soon-to-be-written book.

When several members of Brigid’s book club are threatened with blackmail and ask her to help them, she can’t refuse. Their secrets are too private to be exposed, so she tries to handle the case on her own, without any help from the sheriff. Her family isn’t so sure she should get involved. The blackmailing case and her marriage are on a collision course, and she doesn’t know what the right thing is to do.

A desperate call from a Sonoma County sheriff Kelly and Mike have helped before leads them to a winery guest house in Sonoma and then on to the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado, searching for that connection. Good thing they took their boxer dog, Rebel, with them. He’s a master at preventing murders.

The war hero returns home with his dog, Wicked. Both have been injured. Their welcome should be pretty straightforward, but not everyone likes a war hero. Maybe Kelly’s son, Cash, should have stayed in Afghanistan. At least there he knew who the enemy was! All Kelly and Mike want to do is help Cash recuperate from his injuries. They never planned on becoming involved with a kidnapping. Good to have guard dogs when you need them.

When a daughter that Kelly’s best friend gave up for adoption at birth is accused of murder, Kelly has no choice but to see what she can do to help. But there are several things that present major problems. A sheriff who just wants a quick conviction, a woman who has a history of embezzling, an errant husband, looking for a way to escape from what life has dealt him, a jealous competitor, and a frustrated employee. So just who was the murderer? And what about that red-headed judge? Could he inadvertently preside over a murder trial where his daughter is the accused killer?

Poor Maureen. Was she just collateral damage? She had an ex who wanted to reconcile, a chef she’d broken up with, and a salesman from Kansas who’d fallen in love with her. Her brother-in-law had ties to the Mafia as well as some interesting business deals. Was she simply a pawn in their game? And what about her ex-husband’s fiancée? Plenty of suspects, but who’s the murderer? Al, a retired mobster, has taken over a friend’s private investigation firm. Mobsters have a different way of dealing with murderers. Sometimes they revert to old habits.

Cooking is nourishing. Murder isn't. Kelly and her husband, Sheriff Mike, take a belated honeymoon and travel to a cooking school at the Castello di Nardo in Tuscany. The day after they arrive, they discover that Signora Nardo, the owner of the cooking school, has been murdered. The Signora had her share of people who would like to see the first lady of the castle dead, including her brother, Salvadore, her lover, Giovanni, her lover's wife, Angelica, the Signora's husband, a rival cooking school owner, and her sister-in-law, who happens to be the resident chef at the cooking school.

A dead judge, a college porn queen, and a castle in Kansas. Clearing her husband’s name is just part of the honeymoon. When the county judge is murdered and Kat’s district attorney husband of far less than six months is not only a suspect, but now the lead attorney in another murder case, Kat has to find the killer to clear his name. Sometimes a guard dog is just as important as a former Green Beret, and Kat was grateful to both of them when they saved her life!

Nicole was from New Orleans. When she found voodoo dolls in her gym locker, work desk, and on her front porch, she was scared. She knew what they meant. She was right. A few days later, she was murdered. A voodoo doll was next to her body. Can voodoo dolls kill? Liz, an amateur sleuth, is determined to find out and catch the killer. On a trip to New Orleans to attend a Cajun Creole cooking school, she meets with a gris-gris doctor who specializes in voodoo, hexes, spells, and superstitions.

Al De Duco is a man with a not so pleasant past. A Chicago past that included being a very high-profile figure in the mob. But he left that all behind when his boss, a mob leader, was murdered. Now he has a new life in Seattle that includes an adoring wife and being on the right side of the law as a private investigator. Even if his methods for solving cases can be somewhat unorthodox at times, he’s the happiest he’s ever been, and then the call comes. A friend from his mob days needs his help. And will it cost him the new life he’s made? Tough choice.

DeeDee and Jake wish they’d never left Seattle to accept a case in the village of Finchingfield, England. What started out as a wonderful excuse to spend some time in Europe quickly becomes a nightmare. Staying in a manor that has over one hundred rooms and a lot of secrets doesn’t make for pleasant dreams.

The day after Mike finds out Aunt Agnes has made him the sole beneficiary of her large estate, including the Robertson Ranch and the beautiful Queen Anne house on it, she’s murdered. Aunt Agnes was revered by many of the town residents, but she had her enemies, as well. Join Kelly, Mike, and their dogs Rebel and Lady, as they work to clear Mike’s name and bring the murderer to justice.

Kat only wanted to be part of the convention on how to write successful books, not solve a murder that took place there - the murder of a beloved “tell-all” author. Was that the motive? Greed, revenge, and hatred are also reasons to murder, at least to people who live on the slippery edge of sanity. Parsons who gamble, women who blackmail, and a number of people with outsized egos make for most interesting characters.

Kelly, the owner of Kelly’s Koffee Shop, has reluctantly agreed to cater a dinner party for her friend Sophie Marchant in Portland’s popular Pearl District. The guest of honor, Donatella DeLuca, is a famous chef and owner of the highly acclaimed restaurant Mangia! Mangia!

Food porn can be addictive, but is it worth murder? When her food photographer is murdered, the police ask Cassie's husband, ex-Mafia man, Al, to help. Al’s ways of solving murder doesn't always follow police procedurals. Murder and Food Porn is cozy mystery that leaves you with a smile on your face! As always, there are plenty of dogs, mouth-watering food, and recipes. This is the eighth book in the popular Northwest Cozy Mystery Series by two-time USA Today best-selling author Dianne Harman.