Elizabeth Spann Craig
ABOUT ME
ABOUT ME
STORY BY Elizabeth Spann Craig
Death at a Diner
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Diners can prove hazardous to your health. Although Palmer Baxter hasn’t lived in the small town of Bradley long, she’s already become a force to be reckoned with. She’s joined all the clubs in town and has effected a takeover of many of them. Palmer is married to a handsome banker, is perfectly coiffed and outfitted, and volunteers for groups that serve the needy. Needless to say, Palmer is extremely unpopular in her new hometown. Unpopularity doesn’t ordinarily equate to murder, but it does in this instance. When octogenarian sleuth Myrtle and her senior sidekick Miles venture out for an early breakfast at the local diner, they make the startling discovery of Palmer’s demise. Will Myrtle and Miles find the killer before disaster strikes again?
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A Novel Idea
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Sometimes a novel idea can turn out to be a bad one. Sally Simmons was rather misunderstood in the small town of Whitby, North Carolina. An awkward woman with a sly countenance, she became a regular at the library, spending a good deal of time scribbling in a notebook and staring vacantly off into space.It turned out, to everyone's surprise, that Sally had been industriously penning a novel. To their greater surprise, it became something of a sensation, even landing itself on the bestseller lists.Since much of the novel had been written within the hallowed walls of the Whitby Library, reference librarian Ann and other staff members decide to hold an event to celebrate Sally's accomplishment and learn more about her book.Sadly, it soon becomes evident that Sally's book was inspired by actual residents of Whitby—and that she concealed their identities poorly.When Sally meets an unfortunate demise, it's up to Ann to figure out the killer so the police can throw the book at him.
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A Myrtle Clover Cozy Mystery
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Someone will be getting coal in his stocking . . . It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in the small town of Bradley, North Carolina. Wreaths adorn doors, halls are decked, and candles cheerfully glow in windows. Adding to the Christmas excitement, there's also a lovely local wedding with many guests to wish the couple well. The wedding becomes a bit too exciting, however, when octogenarian sleuth Myrtle discovers the bride's rather outspoken aunt, mysteriously murdered. Myrtle and her senior sidekick must find the killer before someone else doesn't make it home for Christmas.
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Murder at a Yard Sale
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You never know what you’ll find at yard sales. Myrtle’s friend Georgia finally reached a breaking point with the knick-knacks and collectibles in her cluttered home. When book club hosted a collective yard sale to benefit the local library, Georgia decided the time had come to pare down her possessions at long last. Most discouragingly, one of her yard sale customers had the poor manners to be murdered on her property. This alarming development was witnessed by both Myrtle and Miles, who’d come by the yard sale to take a closer look at Georgia’s uncommon memorabilia. Upon investigation, the victim seemed to have a fair number of enemies in Bradley. But which one was responsible for his demise? Myrtle and Miles must figure it out to clear Georgia’s name . . . and before anyone else before anyone else gets a final bill of sale.
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Murder on Opening Night
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When Myrtle Clover and her friend Miles attend a play in their small town, there’s a full house on opening night. It’s clear to Myrtle that one of the actresses is a stage hog who loves stealing the spotlight. Nandina Marshall certainly does upstage everyone—when her murder forces an unexpected intermission. Can Myrtle and Miles discover who was behind her final curtain call….before murder makes an encore?
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A Body at Bunco
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Playing Bunco may be fun…but murder proves a game-changer. Octogenarian sleuth Myrtle Clover has never heard of the dice game Bunco. Regardless, she steps in as her daughter-in-law’s sub and reluctantly puts her game face on. Bunco turns out to be child’s play. But when a body is discovered, Myrtle realizes another game is afoot. Before long, she’s playing cat and mouse with the killer. Can she track down the murderer before the game is up? Or, with the killer playing hard to get, will it end up being “no dice?”
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Spine-Tingling
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Unintended snooping can mean getting into someone's bad books. The Whitby Library has been a busy place lately, between book clubs, children’s storytimes, and students working on research projects. Ann has been busy, too, which is why she’s so glad to see some new volunteers to help the staff out. One of the volunteers is worried, though, and comes to Ann with a problem. She’s seen something odd . . . maybe even suspicious. Ann tries advising her, but the volunteer still seems troubled. The next day, the woman meets her own suspicious end. Can Ann, with the help of her friends, help solve the mystery before someone else is permanently checked out?
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Frictional Characters
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Small towns + gossip = friction No one in the town of Whitby, North Carolina was excited when Jonas Merchant returned to town. Jonas was an effective muckraker; an expert at uncovering secrets, rumors, and undercurrents. Even worse, he’d fallen on hard times and was desperate for easy cash. It was a decidedly dangerous combination. It was perhaps not the biggest surprise when Jonas was discovered dead one day. More shocking, at least to local librarian Ann Beckett, was the fact that her straight-arrow director Wilson was one of the suspects in Jonas’s death. Will Ann be able to track down the killer and clear Wilson’s name before he strikes again?
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A Dash of Murder
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Food for thought: seasoning with these berries results in a dash of murder. It's been a quiet autumn so far in the small town of Bradley, North Carolina. Or, as Myrtle would put it, a boring one. The slow pace and lingering post-summer heat are making life in Bradley very slow-paced, indeed. That all changes when a local resident is poisoned by what looks like a scrumptious pie. The victim is a boorish man who has plenty of enemies in Bradley. Despite this, suspicion falls heavily on Myrtle and Miles's friend—a botanist who grows the deadly nightshade the man was poisoned with. Can Myrtle and Miles solve the case and help their friend before the killer strikes again?
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Death of a Suitor
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The course of true love never did run smooth. According to Myrtle, Eloise Crane set her cap for Miles long ago. Although Miles is now dating Eloise, he doesn’t seem overly enthusiastic about it. Myrtle figures he’s simply given in after running out of plausible excuses. Eloise drives Myrtle batty, so she’s intent on avoiding her as much as possible. This isn’t easy since Eloise is determined to join in whenever Miles and Myrtle are together. When Myrtle spots Eloise at a restaurant canoodling with a different gentleman, she likes Eloise even less. And she decides that Eloise has caused no end of problems when her other suitor is found dead. With Miles a suspect, Myrtle must jump into gear to clear his name and find the killer before he strikes again.
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