Books in Dead-End Job Mysteries series

PI Helen Hawthorne goes undercover at a local library to find a painting and solve a murder in the national bestselling mystery series.Wealthy socialite Elizabeth Cateman Kingsley has hired Helen to find a missing John Singer Sargent painting, owned by her late father. After his death, many of Davis Kingsley’s books were donated to the Flora Park Library, and his daughter suspects the small watercolor—worth a million dollars—was tucked away inside one of those dusty tomes. To search the stacks, Helen applies for a job as a library volunteer and discovers the library has a catalog of complaints—from a mischievous calico cat to the mysterious disappearance of various items that some of the staff are attributing to a ghost. Things only get worse when a dead body turns up in a parking lot. Now Helen is bound and determined to find the killer as well as the painting—before she’s taken out of circulation herself.

From the national bestselling author of Checked Out, Helen Hawthorne must pose as a painter to catch an artful killer . . .The art world is a happening place—but a brush with death shouldn’t be in the picture. Unfortunately, that’s just what happens to Helen Hawthorne and her friend Margery. While touring gorgeous Bonnet House, a mansion turned museum, they note an up-and-coming artist in a painting class. When they later see her deadly end, Helen is hired to canvas the crime scene—undercover, of course.Sketchy suspects lurk in the victim’s past. Was the promising painter killed by her jealous husband? Her best friend? A rival using her artful wiles? With her husband, Phil, busy setting a trap for a gold thief, it’s up to Helen to paint this killer into a corner...

Once on the fast track to success, Helen Hawthorne is now going nowhere fast. She traded in her chic life for a shabby one. And now she's on the fun, jumping from city to city and dead-end job to dead-end job, trying to stay one step ahead of her past...After two weeks as the new salesclerk at Juliana's, Fort Lauderdale's ultra-exclusive clothing boutique, Helen still feels out of fashion. And since the only crime likely to be committed around here is being old-or worse, looking old-Helen figures she is safe. Until she discovers the manager has been embezzling money and selling designer drugs along with the designer clothes. Add murder to the mix-and Helen's dead-end job is downright deadly.

The fur is really flying in this Dead-End Job Mystery from the national bestselling author of Checked Out.No more pussyfooting around! Husband-and-wife PI team Helen Hawthorne and Phil Sagemont have barely scratched the surface of the world of show cats when a cornered kitty kidnapper’s claws come out.... The one thing celebrity Trish Barrymore and her no-account accountant husband, Mort, can agree on in their bitter divorce is shared cat custody. But when Mort is found brained by a mahogany cat tower and their pedigreed Chartreux show cat goes missing, Trish calls on Helen and Phil to find the feline filcher and let the cat out of the bag.Discovering that Mort had some shady dealings within cat show circles, Helen goes undercover as an assistant for a woman who shows prizewinning Persians. As Phil and she get deeper into a high-pressure world of primping, posing, and purring to collar a killer, they get caught up in a cat-and-mouse game where the stakes are literally life and death....

Husband and wife PI team Helen Hawthorne and Phil Sagemont are about to find out murder is no day at the beach….There’s a dark cloud over Sunny Jim’s Stand-Up Paddleboard Rental business on Florida’s Riggs Beach—especially after one of his clients is killed in a tragic paddleboarding mishap. Sunny Jim is sure it was no accident, and he hires Helen and Phil to find the murderer.Between competitors poaching his territory, the city threatening to revoke his license, and a wrongful death suit filed by the victim’s husband, Sunny Jim may soon be up the creek without a paddle. Luckily, he has Helen and Phil on his side. As the couple investigates, they discover dark undercurrents of corruption behind the cheerful facades of the beachfront businesses. But the sands of time are running out, and if they don’t catch the killer soon, Sunny Jim won’t be the only one to go under….

From the national bestselling author of Checked Out, Helen Hawthorne must pose as a painter at Fort Lauderdale’s famous Bonnet House Museum to catch an artful killer . . .The art world is a happening place—but a brush with death shouldn’t be in the picture. Unfortunately that’s just what happens to Helen Hawthorne and her friend Margery. While touring gorgeous Bonnet House, a mansion-turned-museum, they observe a painting class and note an up-and-coming artist. When they later see her deadly end, Helen is hired to canvas the crime scene—undercover, of course. Sketchy suspects lurk in the victim’s bohemian past. Was the promising painter killed by her jealous husband? Her best friend? A rival using her artful wiles? With her husband Phil busy setting a trap for a gold thief, it’s up to Helen to paint this killer into a corner . . .

No more pussyfooting around! Husband and wife PI team Helen Hawthorne and Phil Sagemont have barely scratched the surface of the world of show cats when a cornered kitty kidnapper’s claws come out.... This show cat is a no-show.... The one thing celebrity Trish Barrymore and her no-account accountant husband, Mort, can agree on in their bitter divorce is shared cat custody. But when Mort is found brained by a mahogany cat tower, and Justine, their pedigreed Chartreux show cat, goes missing, Trish calls on Helen and Phil. Despite a ransom note from the catnapper, Trish is still the prime murder suspect in the eyes of the police. As they await the post-Mort-em, it’s up to Helen and Phil to find the feline filcher and let the cat out of the bag.Discovering that Mort had some shady dealings within cat show circles, Helen goes undercover as an assistant for a woman who shows prizewinning Persians. But Phil is not buying Trish’s cat-that-swallowed-a-canary act—he thinks she might be staging the whole catnapping.As Helen and Phil get deeper into a high-pressure world of primping, posing, and purring to collar a killer, they get caught up in a cat-and-mouse game where the stakes are literally life and death....

Back in Miami after a relaxing honeymoon, Helen Hawthorne and her new hubby Phil are opening their own PI agency—specializing in families with private problems. But even with a new business, Helen can’t seem to get away from those dead-end jobs. Helen and Phil’s very first client is Shelby, a woman who wants them to spy on her husband, Bryan. Six months ago, he bought a gym membership—and now Shelby suspects he’s developing a killer body for another woman. Suddenly Helen finds herself back in a dead-end job at Fantastic Fitness, working as a receptionist to keep track of Bryan. The only catch is that to work at the gym, Helen has to stay fit and pump some iron herself. To make matters worse, when their budding agency takes on another case involving a decades-old murder, Helen has to move her workouts to the wee hours of the morning just to keep up. With so much weight on her aching shoulders, will Helen catch a killer and get a body to die for—or just drop dead from exhaustion?

Shhh...in the newest hardcover in the national bestselling Dead-End Job Mystery series, Helen Hawthorne quietly goes undercover at a local library to search for a missing masterpiece.Wealthy socialite Elizabeth Cateman Kingsley has hired Helen to find a missing John Singer Sargent painting, owned by her late father. After his death, many of Davis Cateman’s books were donated to the Flora Park library, and his daughter suspects the small watercolor—worth millions—was tucked away inside one of those dusty tomes.To search the stacks, Helen applies for a position as a library volunteer and discovers the library director has a catalog of complaints—from a mischievous calico cat named Paris to the mysterious disappearance of various items that some of the more imaginative staff are attributing to a ghost haunting the building.While her husband Phil sticks his neck out to find a missing necklace, Helen is on her own with no one to lend her a hand. When a dead body turns up in a parking lot, it appears someone is willing to go to any lengths to keep the treasure in the library quiet. Now Helen is bound and determined to find the killer as well as the painting—before she’s taken out of circulation herself.

Husband and wife PI team Helen Hawthorne and Phil Sagemont won’t be sparing the sunscreen on their latest assignment, but they’re about to find out murder is no day at the beach…. Will the Real Paddleboard Killer Please Stand Up? There’s a dark cloud over Sunny Jim’s Safety First Parasailing and Stand-Up Paddleboarding business on Florida’s Riggs Beach—especially after one of his clients is killed in a tragic paddleboarding mishap. Sunny Jim is sure it was no accident, and he hires Helen and Phil to find the murderer. Between cutthroat competitors poaching his territory, the city threatening to revoke his license, a restaurant owner wanting his beach spot for a parking lot, and a wrongful death suit filed by the victim’s husband, Sunny Jim may soon be up the creek without a paddle. But he does have Helen and Phil on his side, and as the couple start to investigate, they discover dark undercurrents of corruption behind the cheerful facades of the beachfront businesses, as well as domestic secrets. But the sands of time are running out, and if they don’t catch the killer soon, Sunny Jim won’t be the only one to go under….