Bayous

Sinful Science

Sinful Science

"Anubis, the ancient Egyptian god of the underworld, was a man with a wolf's head. The Navajo skin walkers could turn into any animal they pleased. And of course there's the Hồ tinh, Hanoi's nine-tailed fox. I was thinking I might write a story about the Hồ tinh."

"Gertie, that's a great idea," Ally said. "Are you going to write children's books?"

"Oh, my goodness, no. There's no money in children's books. I'm thinking erotica."

A graduate student from Hawaii visits the tiny bayou town of Sinful, Louisiana to investigate the effects of the oil spill on the local wildlife. Sinful resident Fortune Redding, who happens to be a CIA operative hiding out from a ruthless arms dealer, worries that the nosy newcomer might blow her cover. But when he makes a gruesome discovery, he unleashes forces that will go to any lengths to protect Sinful's darkest secret.

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The Lost Weekend

The Lost Weekend

Mary-Alice Arceneaux has started a new career at age 70 as the newest member of the Sinful Ladies' Detective Agency. She is happily learning the principles of detection from Ida Belle, Gertie, and Fortune--and of course, picking up tips from her beloved mystery novels. But Mary-Alice finds herself on the wrong side of the interrogation table when her cousin Celia accuses her of a shocking crime.Unfortunately, Celia's story looks plausible--at least to a sheriff under intense pressure to make a quick arrest. Now Mary-Alice and the Sinful Ladies have to find out what Celia's hiding, and find it fast...or Mary-Alice will pay with her freedom.

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Once Upon a Murder

Once Upon a Murder

It's been crazy," the desk clerk said. "We just had another big group stay here right before you guys, and they completely trashed the place. Shot out the security cameras with BB guns, pitched a couch off a seventeenth-floor balcony, and one room tried to flush a pillow down the toilet."

"What kind of group was that?" I asked.

"Doll collectors' convention."

Gertie drags her best friends Fortune and Ida Belle to a romance convention in New Orleans. Gertie wants to advance her budding new career as a romance author; Fortune needs a break from her complicated personal life; and Ida Belle doesn't think the other two should go out unsupervised. But when Ida Belle runs into someone from her past, it becomes clear that not everyone at the American Romance and Erotica Authors' Conference will live happily ever after.

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Tabasco Fiasco

Tabasco Fiasco

I found cooking to be something of a mystery. Fortunately, I had a strong stomach and what a fellow agent once enviously described as "taste buds of steel."

Deputy Sheriff Carter LeBlanc has been seen around Sinful with a beautiful, blonde stranger. But Fortune is fine with it, really. It's not like she and Carter had a future together or anything. To show there are no hard feelings, Fortune hosts a dinner party for Carter and his new associate, and even volunteers to cook. But when she tries her hand at a spicy gumbo, things start to heat up for real. As bodies pile up, Fortune suspects that she's the real target--and only Swamp Team Three can save the day.

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Schooled

Schooled

"What's Celia complaining about this time? Did I wash my car on a Tuesday? Wear off-white before Labor Day?"
Sheriff Lee fidgeted and cleared his throat.
"Celia Arceneaux is dead, Fortune."

CIA operative Fortune Redding signs up for night classes, hoping to ease the boredom of her undercover assignment and update her computer skills. But an unfortunately-timed murder on the campus of Mudbug Technical College sends shock waves through the town of Sinful. And Fortune's life is turned upside down when she discovers who the prime suspect is. Now Fortune has to choose between lying low to avoid the ruthless arms dealer who's put a price on her head, and doing everything in her power to save someone she can't bear to lose.

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Mary-Alice Moves In

Mary-Alice Moves In

Mary-Alice Arceneaux has decided to make her home in Sinful! Mayor Celia's sweet-natured and curious cousin is eager to settle into small-town life after moving from the big city (Mudbug, Louisiana). But before Mary-Alice can even unpack her bags, a man of the cloth dies under mysterious circumstances, a device with strange powers turns up in the glove box of her Oldsmobile 88, and her new friends, Ida Belle, Gertie, and young Fortune, are behaving oddly…even for Baptists.

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The No-Tell Motel

The No-Tell Motel

When a young woman vanishes from a roadside motel, Mary-Alice and the gang leave Sinful and head across the border to find her. They soon find that the unprepossessing McCully Inn holds some Texas-sized secrets, which the influential McCully family would prefer to keep hidden.

But with the missing woman's life at stake, the ladies decide to keep poking around the McCully family closet and let the skeletons fall where they may. And with their technical know-how, decades of experience, and relaxed attitude about rules and procedures, they might just get to the truth.

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The Pajama Murder

The Pajama Murder

Local businessman Buford Fontleroy Deale III is found shot dead in front of Harriet's Books in downtown Sinful. A blood-soaked pajama top is tied around his chest. And he's wearing only one shoe.

The sheriff wants to talk to Harriet. Sinful's beloved bookseller was one of the last people to see Deale alive. Fortune, Ida Belle, Gertie, and Mary-Alice need to get to Harriet before the sheriff does. They want to clear Harriet's name, and stop whoever was behind the bizarre murder.

Except no one can find Harriet...

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The Vanishing Victim

The Vanishing Victim

Sinful's newest resident, Mary-Alice Arceneaux, is starting to catch on to the fact that the Sinful Ladies' Society does more than brew 100-proof cough syrup to sell at the church bazaar. So when Ida Belle gets into serious trouble, Mary-Alice wants to help the SLS in their quest for justice. But this means that the sweet-natured Mary-Alice will have to endure a visit to the Swamp Bar (where decent ladies don't go) and go up against her vindictive cousin, Mayor Celia Arceneaux. Will Mary-Alice's sweet nature and unshakable faith in humanity endure?
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The Two-Body Problem

The Two-Body Problem

Professor Gwendolyn Jackson's husband sends her a voice mail from the road, telling her he'll be home soon. Just one problem...by the time the message was sent, he was already dead.

When the police dismiss her concerns, Professor Jackson turns to her former student, Fortune Morrow, for help.

Naturally, Fortune, Mary-Alice, and the rest of the Sinful gang are eager to solve the mystery surrounding the death of Professor Jackson's husband, who owned the French Quarter's premier joke and novelty shop, Jape & Jest. But the ladies soon find that nothing is as it seems in this case, and an unseen killer might have the last laugh.

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