Books published by publisher Poisoned Pen Press

There's something fishy just below the surface of Scumble River...School psychologist Skye Denison-Boyd is getting ready to return to work from her maternity leave and hoping for a peaceful year in her job as a school psychologist. But when an elderly woman disappears on her first day back and a disgruntled parent threatens to sue the school, Skye realizes that her return will be anything but quiet. When the parent suing Skye's school is found dead and with the missing woman's case is still unsolved, Skye suspects the crimes are somehow linked. With her chief of police husband, Wally, at her side, Skye dives into the investigations. But as tensions rise and Skye and Wally's suspect list lengthens, they start to wonder whether a member of their own tight-knit community could be behind it all...

There's something fishy just below the surface of Scumble River...School psychologist Skye Denison-Boyd is getting ready to return to work from her maternity leave and hoping for a peaceful year in her job as a school psychologist. But when an elderly woman disappears on her first day back and a disgruntled parent threatens to sue the school, Skye realizes that her return will be anything but quiet. When the parent suing Skye's school is found dead and with the missing woman's case is still unsolved, Skye suspects the crimes are somehow linked. With her chief of police husband, Wally, at her side, Skye dives into the investigations. But as tensions rise and Skye and Wally's suspect list lengthens, they start to wonder whether a member of their own tight-knit community could be behind it all...

The first book in a delightful new beachside cozy mystery series!Trouble is brewing in Everly's new café. Can she bag the culprit?Life hasn't been so sweet for Everly Swan over the past couple of years, but now that she is back in her seaside hometown and the proud owner of a little iced tea shop and café right on the beach, things are finally starting to look up―until a curmudgeonly customer turns up dead on the boardwalk. With one of her hallmark glass tea jars lying right next to him and an autopsy that reports poison in his system, it doesn't look good for Everly or her brand new business.As the townspeople of Charm, formerly so welcoming and homey, turn their back on Everly, she fights to dig up clues about who could have had it in for the former town councilman. With a maddeningly handsome detective discouraging her from uncovering leads and a series of anonymous attacks on Everly and her business, it will take everything she's got to keep this mystery from boiling over.

The first book in a classic Golden Age mystery series perfect for fans of Agatha Christie's Hercule PoirotWhen Mordecai Tremaine arrives at the country retreat of one Benedict Grame on Christmas Eve, he discovers that the revelries are in full swing in the sleepy village of Sherbroome—but so too are tensions amongst the assortment of guests.When midnight strikes, the partygoers discover that presents aren't the only things nestled under the tree...there's a dead body too. A dead body that bears a striking resemblance to Father Christmas. With the snow falling and suspicions flying, it's up to Mordecai to sniff out the culprit—and prevent anyone else from getting murder for Christmas.Murder for Christmas is a festive mystery for the holiday season: mulled wine, mince pies... and murder.

The first book in a delightful new beachside cozy mystery series!Trouble is brewing in Everly's new café. Can she bag the culprit?Life hasn't been so sweet for Everly Swan over the past couple of years, but now that she is back in her seaside hometown and the proud owner of a little iced tea shop and café right on the beach, things are finally starting to look up—until a curmudgeonly customer turns up dead on the boardwalk. With one of her hallmark glass tea jars lying right next to him and an autopsy that reports poison in his system, it doesn't look good for Everly or her brand new business.As the townspeople of Charm, formerly so welcoming and homey, turn their back on Everly, she fights to dig up clues about who could have had it in for the former town councilman. With a maddeningly handsome detective discouraging her from uncovering leads and a series of anonymous attacks on Everly and her business, it will take everything she's got to keep this mystery from boiling over.

No One Escapes the StillnessClare remembers the cold. She remembers abandoned cars and children's toys littered across the road. She remembers dark shapes in the snow and a terror she can't explain. And then...nothing. When she wakes, aching and afraid in a stranger's gothic home, he tells her she was in an accident. He claims he saved her. Clare wants to leave, but a vicious snowstorm has blanketed the world in white, trapping them together, and there's nothing she can do but wait.At least the stranger seems kind...but Clare doesn't know if she can trust him. He promised they were alone here, but she sees and hears things that convince her something else is creeping about the surrounding woods, watching. Waiting. Between the claustrophobic storm and the inescapable sense of being hunted, Clare is on edge...and increasingly certain of one thing:Her car crash wasn't an accident. Something is waiting for her to step outside the fragile safety of the house... something monstrous, something unfeeling.Something desperately hungry.Also By Darcy Coates: The Haunting of Ashburn House The Haunting of Blackwood House Craven Manor The House Next Door

The first book in a classic Golden Age mystery series perfect for fans of Agatha Christie's Hercule PoirotWhen Mordecai Tremaine arrives at the country retreat of one Benedict Grame on Christmas Eve, he discovers that the revelries are in full swing in the sleepy village of Sherbroome―but so too are tensions amongst the assortment of guests.When midnight strikes, the partygoers discover that presents aren't the only things nestled under the tree...there's a dead body too. A dead body that bears a striking resemblance to Father Christmas. With the snow falling and suspicions flying, it's up to Mordecai to sniff out the culprit―and prevent anyone else from getting murder for Christmas.Murder for Christmas is a festive mystery for the holiday season: mulled wine, mince pies... and murder.

The first book in a brand new series featuring New York Times bestselling author Denise Swanson's beloved Scumble River setting and characters, Dead in the Water is a gripping mystery that won't let you go until you've turned the last page. A twister, a kidnapping, and a murder—oh my! Scumble River may never be the same.For school psychologist Skye Denison, there's certainly no place like home. When a violent tornado devastates her small hometown of Scumble River, she can't see how the community will ever recover—especially since town councilman Zeke Lyons appears to have perished in the twister.But things get even worse for Skye when her police chief husband, Wally, disappears in the midst of investigating Zeke's death, and evidence arises pointing to foul play. Did Zeke really die in the storm, or was he murdered? And could Wally be next on the criminal's hit list?

Autumn, 1282As Edward I wages a bloody conflict with Wales, Prioress Eleanor escorts her younger brother, Robert, and his wife, who is in labor, from their Marcher lands to greater safety at a Wynethorpe manor in a village just inside the English border. They are joined by Brother Thomas, the Prioress's trusted friend, and Sister Anne, who helps navigate the difficult birth and delivers a baby girl.Mother and child may be healthy, but Death never wanders far from this beloved Prioress—whether she's home at Tyndal in Norfolk or traveling the realm. The local abbot begs her help—the village priest has been found dead and standing over him is, a reliable witness says, the ghost of Hywel, the village stonemason who was recently hanged for slaying some sleeping English soldiers.Bone tired, Brother Thomas questions the village hangman, who assures him that Hywel was hanged once and then, when the weight of the fat felon strung up alongside him broke the beam of the gallows, was hanged again. The experienced executioner checked all the bodily signs—Hywel was dead. But where is his grave? And what secrets are the mysterious locals keeping from the outsiders visiting their troubled home?

There's something wrong with Ashburn House...Everyone knows about Ashburn House. They whisper its old owner went mad, and restless ghosts still walk the halls. But when Adrienne―desperate and in need of a place to stay―inherits the crumbling old mansion, she only sees it as a lifeline...until darkness falls.Strange messages are etched into the walls. Furniture moves when she leaves the room. And a grave hidden in the depths of the forest hints at a terrible, unforgivable secret. Something twisted lives in her house, its hungry eyes ever-watchful. Chasing the threads of a decades-old mystery, it isn't long before she realizes she's become prey to something deeply unnatural and intensely resentful.She has no idea how to escape. She has no idea how to survive. Only one thing is certain: Ashburn's dead are not at rest.Also By Darcy Coates:The Haunting of Ashburn HouseThe Haunting of Blackwood HouseCraven ManorThe House Next DoorVoices in the Snow

Her disappearance wasn't an accident.Her rescue will be a mistake.Five days after twenty-two-year-old Eileen Hershberger went missing on a hike through the remote Ashlough Forest, her camera was discovered washed downriver, containing bizarre photos taken hours after her disappearance. But with no body and no additional clues, finding Eileen in the dark and winding woods seems next to impossible.Chris wants to believe his sister is still alive. When the police search is abandoned, he and four of his friends vow to scour the mountain range until they find Eileen and bring her home. But as the small group strays further from the trails and the unsettling discoveries mount, they begin to realize they're not alone...and Eileen's disappearance was no accident.But by then, it's already too late.Also By Darcy Coates:Voices in the SnowSecrets in the DarkThe Carrow HauntCraven ManorThe Haunting of Ashburn HouseThe Haunting of Blackwood HouseThe Haunting of Rookward HouseThe House Next DoorThe Folcroft GhostsHouse of ShadowsHouse of Secrets

The chips are down in Scumble RiverSchool psychologist Skye Denison-Boyd had hoped that her maternity leave would be at least a little relaxing, but when she and her husband, Wally, meet with the priest to discuss their newborn twins' christening, an explosion at the nearby bowling alley rocks the rectory. And although the business was closed at the time of the blast, there's a body inside.As police chief, Wally is inevitably drawn into the investigation, which seems to indicate that foul play is afoot again in Scumble River, and Skye can't help but do a bit of her own sleuthing. But the clues come fast and furious, ranging from an odd new stranger in town to animosity toward the gambling machines that had recently been installed at the bowling alley, and Skye finds herself wondering if this could be the puzzle that stumps her for good.New York Times bestselling author Denise Swanson has penned another hit for cozy fans with Die Me a River, the latest installment in her beloved Welcome Back to Scumble River mystery series.