by Barb, who’s in Key West where it’s a chilly 63 degrees. The natives are in down vests and (even more shocking) sox!

December was busy with the holidays and the release of Steamed Open on December 18. Now I’m happy to announce two new books for the new year. Both are available for pre-order now.

Jane Darrowfield, Professional Busybody. Jane Darrowfield is a non-Clambake series book. It’s exclusive in paper from Barnes & Noble for the first year, then widely available in all formats after that. It’s a part of an experiment by B&N and Kensington. I realize this is not a boon to Mainers, since we only have one B&N (in Augusta–there’s one in Newington, NH, too.) But it is available from B&N online.

Jane Darrowfield, Professional Busybody

Jane Darrowfield is a year into her retirement, and she’s already traveled and planted a garden. She’s organized her photos, her recipes, and her spices.  The statistics suggest she has at least a few more decades ahead of her, so she better find something to do . . .

After Jane helps a friend with a sticky personal problem, word starts to spread around her bridge club—and then around all of West Cambridge, Massachusetts—that she’s the go-to person for situations that need discreet fixing. Soon she has her first paid assignment—the director of a 55-and-over condo community needs her to de-escalate hostilities among the residents. As Jane discovers after moving in for her undercover assignment, the mature set can be as immature as any high schoolers, and war is breaking out between cliques.

It seems she might make some progress—until one of the aging “popular kids” is bludgeoned to death with a golf club. And though the automatic sprinklers have washed away much of the evidence, Jane’s on course to find out whodunit.

It releases June 25, 2019 and is available for pre-order here.

Haunted House Murder: I’m also excited about Haunted House Murder, the new novella collection by Leslie Meier, Lee Hollis and me. I love writing these holiday-themed novellas, all set in Maine, and I hope you enjoy reading them. This one is about Julia Snowden, her family and friends.

Haunted House Murder

Tricks and treats keep the Halloween spirit alive in coastal Maine. But this year the haunted house theme is getting carried a little too far . . .

HAUNTED HOUSE MURDER by LESLIE MEIER
Newcomers to Tinker’s Cove, Ty and Heather Moon have moved into a dilapidated house reputed to be a haven for ghosts. Now strange noises and flickering lights erupt from the house at all hours and neighborly relations are on edge. And when a local boy goes missing near the house, it’s up to Lucy Stone to unravel the mystery of the eccentric couple and their increasingly frightful behavior.

DEATH BY HAUNTED HOUSE by LEE HOLLIS
For the past two years, the house next door to Hayley Powell has sat abandoned after the owner died under mysterious circumstances. The Salinger family has recently taken possession of the property, but the realtor behind the deal has vanished—after a very public and angry argument with Damien Salinger. If Bar Harbor’s newest neighbors are murderers, Hayley will haunt them until they confess.

HALLOWED OUT by BARBARA ROSS
With its history of hauntings and ghost sightings, Busman’s Harbor is the perfect setting for Halloween festivities. But when a reenactment of a Prohibition-era gangster’s murder ends with a literal bang and a dead actor from New Jersey, Julia Snowden must identify a killer before she ends up sleeping with the fishes.

There’s nothing like home sweet home in this trio of Halloween tales . . .

This book is currently available for pre-order from all major retailers in hardcover and ebook formats. There will also be an audiobook version. Amazon*Barnes & Noble

I’m excited about these new books and can’t wait to share them with all of you.