Showing results by author "ACF Bookens" in All Categories

When Harvey Beckett stumbles upon the body of the community's most reviled dairy farmer, she, her friends, and her parents are launched into an investigation that reveals a family secret that wasn't really that secret after all. Soon, Harvey's curiosity lands her and her mother in a heap of danger that may mark the end of her sleuthing

In the perfect days of early May, bookshop owner Harvey Beckett is looking forward to evenings of walking Mayhem, reading in the before bed, and maybe even enjoying a snuggle with her favorite mechanic. But a meandering dog walk pushes pause on those plans when she and Mayhem stumble upon the body of the much-detested local bank manager. Harvey and her friends discover that there’s a lot going on behind the scenes in quiet St. Marin’s, a lot that people are hiding.

It's Autumn, bookstore owner Harvey Beckett’s favorite time of year, and she's most excited about two things–her bookshop's float in the annual Harvest Parade and pumpkin everything. But when her best friend Mart finds the body of her running coach and high school gym teacher behind the bleachers one fall morning, Harvey becomes enthralled in a mystery that uncovers their quaint town's darkest secrets.

Some books hold history. Others hold deadly secrets. Traveling to Syria isn’t always the safest choice, but for Poe Baxter, the real danger isn’t political—it’s tied to her latest book acquisition. When she hears of a rare 1st-century codex hitting the market in Damascus, Poe and her...

Harvey Beckett has just finished a quiet meal after shoveling the sidewalks around Main Street when the body of the new bartender in town is discovered behind the bar. When Harvey begins to look into the victim's pseudonym, she finds out far more than she bargained, enough to put her in real danger.

The streets of St. Marin’s are decorated for Christmas, and Harvey Beckett has decided that she’ll host Santa Claus at her bookstore, reviving a town’s long-standing tradition. But on the first day of the holiday season, a man stumbles into Santa’s lap and dies, threatening the holiday spirit . . . and bringing a slew of questions that Harvey can’t resist trying to answer.

When the local librarian is found dead among the stacks, the rumors about her reputation reach a fever pitch, but Harvey Beckett can’t let a fellow book-lover’s name be sullied. But when she drags her friends and her dogs into the investigation, she finds that it’s more than just rumors she has to contend with.

Harvey Beckett had heard tale of how the postmistress steams open people’s mail to feed her gossip-hungry customers, but when the postmistress is murdered, Harvey learns that the mail carrier might have been doing more than passing along juicy details. Soon, Harvey and her father find themselves embroiled in hunt to find a killer, a quest that might stop her dad’s heart.

Nail guns have always terrified Harvey Beckett, and now she knows why. Harvey loves sharing the parking lot of her bookstore with the hardware store across the way, but when an unruly customer is killed in the lot one night, she begins to wonder if the men who own the store are responsible. A few inquiries and a bit of spying later, and Harvey and her best friend find themselves with nowhere to run.

A 300-year-old house should be full of metaphorical skeletons, not real ones. But when Paisley Sutton is invited in to salvage the valuables from the attic of an old plantation house, she finds more than she expected amongst the Christmas decorations and trunks of old letters. As she begins to research, she discovers the story of this house has ties to almost everyone she knows, including her own family.

Sometimes the demons of stories take on human faces. When Poe Baxter and her friend Beattie travel to Lima, Peru, to hunt down a rare collection of Peruvian folktales, the two women find themselves mixed up in a game of deceit that echoes the legend of the Chullachaqui. Soon, they're having...

When salvage expert and historian Paisley Sutton crawls into an abandoned store with a house attached, she certainly isn’t expecting to find a body on site. But soon, her discovery sends Paisley on an expedition through history that links this murder to the one that led the previous owners to abandon the building in the first place. And someone doesn’t want her to salvage this story from the wreckage.

When Poe Baxter fled her job as an English professor, she was thrilled to be launching into her career as an antiquarian book dealer with a trip to Edinburgh. But she soon finds that her queries into a particular book’s provenance are drawing some less than desirable attention to her....

On the day when Paisley Sutton goes to salvage barn board from an old chicken coop on her neighbor’s land, she thinks the worst thing she may find is rotten eggs. Little does she know...she’s about to unearth a mystery that has lingered for decades. She can’t help but research the story, but when she does, she finds far more than she hoped.

Paisley Sutton hates to see an old barn falling down, so when she has a chance to take in a crew of friends to salvage timbers, she goes in with gusto. But when they find the bones from a decades-old murder, Paisley begins to wonder if maybe some things should just be let go to ruins. Maybe some secrets need to stay buried. If Paisley decides to salvage more than just wood and reveal the murderer, will she be the next body buried in a barn?

When salvage expert and historian Paisley Sutton heard that a 19th-century printing press was still in the old warehouse that was scheduled for demolition, she knew she had to get in there. But when her dreams of a salvage windfall lead her on the genealogical hunt for the owners of the press and their descendants, she uncovers a story that promises to stay with her far longer than the income from her salvage operations.

Paisley Sutton always expects the unexpected when she goes into a house to salvage the architectural prizes before its torn down. She evens knows she might encounter a rodent or two. But she really isn’t expecting to find a dead body, not again. And when it turns out the young man she found slumped in the house’s basement was killed, Paisley discovers that it’s not only the house that was abandoned.

It’s not every day you get to sit on pristine blue water holding a beautiful, first edition Nadine Gordimer novel and wonder if you’ll survive the day. Poe Baxter has always wanted to visit Cape Town, and when she hears that a rare book by a famous South African novelist has come on the market, she jumps at the chance. But as she and her best friend Beattie begin tracking down the literary treasure, they stumble into a far more dangerous mystery—one that puts them directly in harm’s way.

Business has been good for historian Paisley Sutton, but when she goes into her own church parish house to salvage some of the early 20th century fixtures before the building is demolished, she uncovers far more than vintage cabinets. Once the women from church hear about the secrets Paisley is uncovering, they are bound and determined to reveal the truth and unmask a murderer in the process.

Poe Baxter has always wanted to go to Capetown, and when she hears that a rare book by a famous South African novelist has come on the market, she takes the opportunity to fly to the city. But as soon as she and her best friend Beattie begin researching the whereabouts of this supposed literary treasure, they come upon another mystery that takes their attention and puts them in peril.