Showing results by publisher "Zondervan" in Amateur Sleuths

Wade and Thelma Owens run a halfway house on the small island of Cape Refuge that caters to wayward souls just out of prison. So when Wade and Thelma turn up brutally murdered, the town goes into shock, concerned that one of the Hanover House residents is a murderer who could strike again. Shattered by her parents’ deaths, Morgan Cleary struggles to keep Hanover House running while her husband, Jonathan, has been arrested for the murder. As the killer runs free, a lethal race against time ensues, with far more than the halfway house at stake.

Emily Covington has turned her life around after a drug addiction, but her family still has trouble trusting her. Though Emily has committed herself to a year-long treatment program and has been sober for almost a year beyond that, even her mother walks on eggshells around her, fearing she’ll relapse. After her behavior during her drug years, Emily realizes she has a lot to prove. When police discover a homemade bomb under Emily’s car, and she then learns the wife of one of her friends was murdered that same morning, she knows things are deadly serious.

A small-town scandal quickly turns into a national media event. Is the murderer one of the obvious suspects...or someone they have no reason to doubt? Ben Jackson is going head to head with Jonathan Cleary in Cape Refuge’s mayoral race - and he’s even expected to win - when his wife Lisa turns up missing the day before the major debate. Suddenly the town is in turmoil as proof of an alleged affair surfaces, indicating that Ben Jackson might have had motive to kill his wife. Meanwhile, newspaper owner Blair Owens has other suspicions - and so does Police Chief Cade.

No one knows who the victim was, where he came from, or why he staggered out in front of Chief Cade’s car. Guilt overwhelms him that he killed the mysterious stranger, until Cade learns that the man had been shot at close-range before he was struck. Determining his identity and finding the shooter becomes Cade’s top priority. But then Cade vanishes off of the island of Cape Refuge. Rumors spread like wildfire that Cade was involved with the dead man’s wife and that the death was not accidental. Did Cade run to escape murder charges, or has something sinister happened to him?

Even before she heard of Owen Esch’s death, Hannah Troyer knew something wasn’t right. The yarn store has been closing at odd times, the ever-dependable Mary isn’t always at her post...and an Englisch man has been loitering around back. Now, as leaves of brown, gold, and orange blanket Middlebury, Indiana, Owen lies dead on the Pumpkinvine Trail. The only clues to the murderer’s identity point in two very different directions - one of them leading right to The Cat’s Meow.