Karen Cantwell

Film lover Barbara Marr is a typical suburban mom living the typical suburban life in her sleepy little town of Rustic Woods, Virginia. Typical, that is until she sets out to find the missing link between a bizarre monkey sighting in her yard and the bone chilling middle-of-the-night fright fest at the strangely vacant house next door. When Barb talks her two friends into some seemingly innocent Charlie's Angels-like sleuthing, they stumble upon way more than they bargained for and uncover a piece of neighborhood history that certain people would kill to keep on the cutting room floor. Enter sexy PI Colt Baron, Barb's ex-boyfriend who would love to be cast as new leading man, filling the role just vacated by her recently estranged husband, Howard. When Colt flies in from out of town to help Barb, events careen out of control and suddenly this mini-van driving mother of three becomes a major player in a treacherous and potentially deadly FBI undercover operation. It's up to her now. With little time to spare, she and she alone, must summon the inner strength necessary to become a true action heroine and save the lives of those she loves. The question is can she get them out alive before the credits roll?

A Barbara Marr Murder Mystery

Take the Monkeys and Run

Ghosts. Do you Believe? Sophie Rhodes doesn't have a choice. She's surrounded by them. Desperate to pay the bills, 29-year-old Sophie ignores the advice of her stuffy spirit-friend, Marmaduke Dodsworth, and takes a job with the handsome Dr. Callahan, an optometrist with a desperate situation of his own. The good doctor's problem? He has a spirit-friend as well: one with a fiery crush and a vicious jealous streak. When chemistry starts to brew between Sophie and Dr. Callahan, his green-eyed ghost wreaks some bad-tempered havoc, scaring away his patients and putting Sophie on edge. Will Sophie give up the ghost and quit the new job, or buck up and find a way to rid Dr. Callahan of his pesky specter, freeing their romance to find a life of its own?

Keep Me Ghosted

If you think PTA meetings are boring, then you haven't attended one in Barbara Marr's neighborhood, where MURDER is on the agenda. Always one to stumble into trouble, Barb learns the hard way that a seemingly innocent yearbook scandal is actually part of a seriously sinister and deadly plot. Join soccer mom and movie lover Barbara Marr in this second laugh-out-loud, chaotic mystery, where high-profile crime and suburban living collide in an unexpected fashion.

Citizen Insane

Four funny and touching short stories featuring soccer mom and movie lover, Barbara Marr, who made her debut appearance in the hilarious murder mystery, Take the Monkeys and Run. Includes the laugh-out-loud mystery short story, "Missing Impossible." When Barb decides to tag along on a PI job with Colt, things don't go quite as planned, and she finds herself in yet another sticky situation. (A between-the-novels short) Other short stories: "Taming the Hulk," "Top Lawn," and "The Road to Shangri-La." Also, just for fun, the author has added two BONUS shorts with different themes. All-in-all - a collection sure to entertain.

Short Stories Starring Barbara Marr

The Chronicles of Marr-Nia

Book 3 in the bestselling Barbara Marr Series. Book 1, Take the Monkeys and Run, is currently Free. What’s more chaotic than a house with a canary, two hungry cats, and a yappy poodle with elimination issues? Answer: Barbara Marr on a murder investigation. That’s right, when Barb attends her first movie review screening, film director Kurt Baugh dies within twenty minutes of meeting her. If that isn’t bad enough, her friend, ex-Mafioso, Frankie Romano, is arrested for the murder. In usual Barbara Marr fashion, a whole load of trouble ensues when she seeks to vindicate Frankie of the crime. More laughs, more fun, more Barbara Marr! This third book in the popular Barbara Marr Murder Mystery Series brings Barb out of the suburbs and into the slimy, urban world of bright lights, nightly news, and drive-by shootings. Luckily, she never loses her sense of humor or her ability to befriend some decidedly quirky characters. Books in the series: Take the Monkeys and Run (#1), Citizen Insane (#2), Silenced by the Yams (#3), Saturday Night Cleaver (#4), and Dead Man Stalking (#5)

Silenced by the Yams

Foxy's Tale

5th book in the bestselling Barbara Marr Murder Mystery Series; Book #1, Take the Monkeys and Run is Free. When Howard and the girls leave town, Barb thinks she'll have some quiet, peaceful alone time. Of course, this is calamity-prone Barbara Marr. Her life doesn't know quiet or peaceful. And forget alone. With her air conditioning on the fritz, Barb accepts an invitation from a famous thriller writer to spend a few days in a cool and comfortable lakeside house. There is just one problem: the house has a few odd characters lurking about. They aren't after Barb, but that doesn't stop her from becoming outrageously tangled in the lunacy and danger than ensues. In this fifth installment of the Barbara Marr Murder Mystery Series, Barb finds herself fumbling through another laugh-out-loud caper while making some new and interesting friends along the way. Other books in this series: Take the Monkeys and Run (#1), Citizen Insane (#2), Silenced by the Yams (#3), and Saturday Night Cleaver (#4).

Dead Man Stalking

Tate Kilbourn was Bunny Bergen's long-forgotten, secret high school crush. But that was twenty-four years ago, and a lot has happened since. Devastated by a nasty divorce, trying to juggle kids, bills and her new job - not to mention a boatload of insecurities - the last thing Bunny needs is to fall for Tate again. But then she finds herself working with him, and gee, he sure did grow sexier with age... Quiet and deeply private, Tate barely knew that Bunny was alive in high school. And now that he's back in Rustic Woods, he has a million reasons to fight his growing attraction for this gorgeous woman with the less-than-stellar reputation. The last thing he needs in his life is a woman, much less a woman like Bunny Bergen. On the surface, Tate and Bunny appear to be an unlikely match. But, as Bunny knows all too well, appearances can be deceiving. Kiss Me, Tate is the first book in the new Love in Rustic Woods Series, a romantic spin-off from Karen Cantwell's Barbara Marr Murder Mysteries. If you are a fan of Cantwell's zany, problem-prone protagonist, Barbara Marr, you'll remember lovable Bunny Bergen from the fun and hilarious mystery, Citizen Insane.

Kiss Me, Tate

Dunder-Bull - the perfect little town bordering Barbara Marr's not-so-polished Rustic Woods. Everything in Dunder-Bull is five-star rated, including the wives. As Barb puts it, "Dunder-Bull Wives make Stepford Wives look like couch potatoes." Succumbing to the need to "measure-up," Barb decides to prepare a grand and luscious Christmas feast for a party of twenty. The problem? Barb can't cook her way out of a turkey-roaster bag. In usual Barbara Marr fashion, chaos ensues. Will she survive? Will her family fall victim to salmonella food poisoning? Will Martha Stewart ridicule her publicly?

A Barbara Marr Holiday Tale

It's a Dunder-bull Wife

Poor Barb. She just can't stay out of trouble, no matter how hard she tries. But this time she has a good reason: family friend Colt Baron has gone missing. When soccer mom, Barbara Marr, and her ex-FBI husband, Howard, begin following clues in a search for their treasured pal, they find themselves crashing a rather racy sort of party – a soiree for swinging couples. Awkward. What they learn there is...interesting. But the question is, does the information lead them to Colt? This fourth book in the Barbara Marr Murder Mystery Series teams Barb with her handsome husband Howard in yet another rollicking and hilarious suburban fiasco. Other books in this series: Take the Monkeys and Run (#1), Citizen Insane (#2), Silenced by the Yams (#3), Saturday Night Cleaver (#4), and Dead Man Stalking (#5)

Saturday Night Cleaver

Margaret Lucke

Anne Louise Bannon

M. E. Browning

The Malice Domestic anthology series returns with a new take on mysteries in the Agatha Christie tradition—original tales with a theatrical bent! Included are: Preface, by Ellen Hart The Rock Star, by Frances Aylor Perfectly Awry, by Anne Louise Bannon The Ghost in Balcony B, by Michele Bazan Reed Drama-Rama Flip Flop, by Cindy Brown It’s Not O.K. Corral, by M. E. Browning Mary-Alice Imagines Her Life as a Movie, by Karen Cantwell The Ghost of Hamnet, by R. M. Chastleton When the Wind is Southerly, by Leone Ciporin Raising Cain, by Carla Coupe Death of Another Hero, by Susan Daly The Stars Are Fire, by Phillip DePoy Death Plays the Palace, by Margaret Dumas The Homicidal Understudy, by Elizabeth Elwood No Final Act, by Daryl Wood Gerber Deus Ex Machina, by B. J. Graf The Nine Deaths in Hamlet?, by A. P. Jamison Heat Wave, by Maureen Jennings Thus With a Kiss, by Margaret Lucke Such Tricks As These, by Jaquelyn Lyman-Thomas Final Curtain, by Sharon Lynn The Mask, by Cheryl Marceau The Ultimate Tie-Breaker, by Deborah Maxey True Crime, by Adam Meyer A Star Goes Dark, by Raquel V. Reyes Not Your Lolita, by Merrilee Robson A Death in Shubert Alley, by Lee Sauer Dance on Fire, by Shawn Reilly Simmons Missed Cue, by Lynn Slaughter You Know How Actresses Are, by C. M. Surrisi Five Words, by Elaine Togneri Ask Fred the Usher, by Arthur Vidro Death Takes a Bow, by Mo Walsh Deal With the Devil, by James Lincoln Warren Method for Murder, by Carol L. Wright

Karen Cantwell

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