Lori Avocato

This completely delightful and funny debut of a promising new mass market mystery series features a sassy 30–something ex–nurse turned medical insurance fraud investigator. Nurse Pauline Sokol has overdosed on sneezing, coughing, and chasing around little munchkins with tongue depressors. To salvage her sanity, Pauline must find a new line of work䠮d fast! Unfortunately, there's no time to find her true calling since rent is due, so she follows a hot job tip. Soon she is interviewing with the smarmy head of a medical insurance fraud investigation firm. Hired on the spot, with no qualifications except for her ability to impress the boss with her inspiring legs, she is thrown in headfirst with no clue about the biz. Pauline soon realizes that she can use her nursing skills to solve her first case, and with the help of hunky and mysterious fellow investigator Jagger, she learns the ropes––and the fact that this job is more dangerous than she ever imagined! But with the help of Goldie (the 6 foot tall transvestite with a heart of gold), Jagger, and her completely whacky, but totally loveable Polish family, Pauline discovers the tricks of the trade. And as she hits just about every bump in the road along the way, laughs and chaos ensue even as the investigation leads straight to murder!

A Dose of Murder

Kerrelyn Sparks

Cait London

Suzanne Macpherson

Mary Daheim

Dana Cameron

Sugarplums and Scandal

SUGARPLUMS AND SCANDAL brings together the best of romance and mystery in one delightful collection of Christmas tales. In the expert hands of six of Avon's best storytellers, the holiday season takes on an air of love and scandalous surprises! Filled with Christmas miracles, romance, and suspense, this will make the perfect gift for both romance and mystery fans. Each author brings their own unique voice and characters to the collection, as well as their fan followings. All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth – Lori Avocato The Lords of Misrule – Dana Cameron The Ghost of Christmas Passed – Mary Daheim Partners in Crime – Cait London Holly Go Lightly – Suzanne Macpherson A Very Vampy Christmas – Kerrelyn Sparks

When Pauline Sokol goes undercover to investigate fraud at a weight loss clinic, resisting chocolate is her biggest dilemma . . . until she encounters a murder. Pauline Sokol, ex-RN turned medical insurance–fraud investigator, finds herself embroiled in a scam at a weight loss clinic in the scenic New Mexico desert. As if going undercover in a heavyweight body suit isn’t bad enough, she’s not allowed to eat chocolate . . . and her roommate turns out to be a mysterious—and very hot—guy. It seems to be an open-and-shut case, but Pauline isn’t the only undercover investigator on the scene. And when a reporter turns up dead, it’s up to Pauline to solve the case—with a little help from her handsome, but incorrigible, colleague, Jagger. Pauline knows the clock is ticking—and it’s not just counting down the minutes until she can eat chocolate again.

Dead Weight

This funny and charming second book in our promising new mass market mystery series features Pauline Sokol, a sassy 30–something ex–nurse turned medical insurance fraud investigator. Pauline Sokol has just escaped serious bodily harm during her first investigation, when her second case file is literally thrown into her lap. And this one seems to be a doozie––with one suspect already dead! Pauline's sleuthing leads her to the Senior Citizen's Clinic, where she realizes that her deceased suspect was part of an illegal Viagra ring! Pauline is soon going undercover as a senior hot mama and chasing down leads at the local bingo parlor. Between fending off some wrinkled "over–70" admirers, and helping the sexy investigator Jagger with his own case at the Senior Clinic, Pauline is again faced with a murderer on the loose! Adding to her panic is the reality that her attraction to Jagger is intensifying, despite the fact that the handsome and reliable Nick is courting her. With the help of her hilarious family and friends, Pauline must juggle an undercover nursing gig, two sexy leading men, a senior alter–ego, and a gaggle of geriatric suspects––all before she becomes the next victim!

A Pauline Sokol Mystery

The Stiff and the Dead

When Pauline Sokol goes undercover to investigate brokers who match psychiatric patients with treatment facilities for high dollar bounties, she suddenly finds herself confined against her will in a mental hospital run by nuns! Of course, convincing the staff that she's not crazy is like convincing a jailer that she's innocent, so Pauline decides to use the time to her advantage and continues with her investigation. Just as she starts to immerse herself in this strange world and make some headway, her hunky cohort Jagger shows up. When Jagger won't help her escape, Pauline knows that she's in deeper than she ever imagined and her only hope is the help of her colorful and "off kilter" new friends – her fellow patients. But when a crooked cross dressing nun winds up dead, Pauline knows that only her wits can save her from a killer that's committed to silencing her...permanently.

One Dead Under the Cuckoo's Nest

Pauline Walks the Plank . . . A confirmed landlubber, insurance fraud p.i. Pauline Sokol's never heard the call of the sea - or if she has, she didn't pay attention. But now the former RN is donning her nurse's whites once more to go undercover as part of the medical team of the Golden Dolphin - a lavish luxury liner that's setting sail for Bermuda. There's something fishy going on aboard the super-deluxe dinghy, and it's Pauline's job to be the ship's designated secret snoop - if she doesn't get too distracted by the motley crew of friends and relatives who've decided to sail along with her . . . and by her sexy supervising fellow investigator, Jagger. But when a dead body turns up - in Pauline's cabin, no less! - and another nurse goes missing, Pauline realizes she may be over her head in shark-infested waters. And getting safely onto dry land may be a long swim back!

Deep Sea Dead

Ex-nurse-turned-insurance fraud investigator Pauline Sokol's willing to risk anything to put a bad doc out of business—even her best friend Goldie's near-perfect proboscis! Her cross-dressing compadre has agreed to get his shnozz bobbed so Pauline can pose as his private nurse and gain entry into Highcliff Manor—a posh plastic surgery "spa" making an illegal killing with their repeat clientele. But when a super-rich "frequent flier" is unexpectedly widowed—and a receptionist who knows too much is given the boot . . . off a nearby cliff!—Pauline realizes she's stuck her own nose into something really nasty. Despite the pleasant distraction of the hunky Dr. Neal—and the unexpected appearance of her sexy cohort, Jagger—Pauline can't shake the feeling she's being closely watched. And if she's not careful, she'll be the next one who goes under the knife!

Nip, Tuck, Dead

In spite of her fear of flying, fraud investigator Pauline Sokol finds herself taking on a new undercover assignment at a land-and-air ambulance company, only to have her case complicated by the murder of one of the company's owners.

Dead on Arrival

Richard Devin

Heather Graham

Michael A. Stackpole

Tim Waggoner

Matthew Costello

C. L. Wilson

Jennifer St. Giles

Rebecca Paisley

Patrick Freivald

Jaime Rush

Tori Eldridge

Lisa Mannetti

Edward DeAngelis

Lance Taubold

Jeff DePew

Lee Lawless

Hal Bodner

Michael M. Hughes

Tara Nina

C.M.C. Dobbs

Linda J. Parisi

Jason Pozzessere

Crystal Perkins

Aidan Russell

Mathew Kaufman

Jayne Belmont

Janice M. Jones

We asked twenty-six authors to write stories based on the Tarot, with the cards determining which stories the authors would write. Over the course of several months we reached out to some of the best genre authors and proposed our idea. Once we had our authors, we took a tarot deck and a list of all twenty-six names. We would read the author’s name, shuffle the deck, and draw a card. That tarot card and its traits were all the authors had to go on. The card was removed, the deck was reshuffled, and the next name was read off. This anthology contains twenty-six stories based on the twenty-two cards of the Major Arcana and the four cards of the Minor Arcana. Award-winning and New York Times bestselling authors combine their talents to deal out twenty-six dark tales influenced by the Tarot.

Do You Really Want To Know?

Never Fear - The Tarot

Greta Lipinski's biological clock is about to run out of batteries. She’s always wanted children, and the fact that she isn’t married isn’t about to stop her. Her track record for dating losers is just further proof that she doesn’t need a man to have a baby. Seeking out the help of Dr. Alec Thurston, a renowned New England fertility expert, Greta initiates the fertility process. Alec, the privileged son of wealthy but distant parents, grew up barely knowing the meaning of the word “family." He loves his job, and is happy to help Greta fulfill her dreams, but fatherhood is not for him. Until a lab error throws the unlikely Greta and Alex into a major…oops moment.

Oops!

Annie Hamilton and Major David Grainger have a conflicted past as mis-matched spouses and now as separated parents. He saw the problem as her drive to be a successful inventor and her not fitting into the mold of an Air Force officer’s wife. Annie blamed their breakup on his unfortunate habit of bringing his dictatorial nature into their relationship as if she were in his squadron. Can they each learn to accept the other as they are? Will Annie let stubborn pride cause her to lose the only man she has ever loved? The real question for Annie is: does she take this man…again?

Do You Take This Man...Again?

Mason Dupre has resigned himself to never being loved. Silver Whitney has fallen under a spell—the spell of graceful, ante-bellum Rosewood Plantation. But it is the spell cast long ago over Mason Dupre that prevents Silver from writing the family's history book she has traveled hundreds of miles to complete. Mardi Gras, the interference of a ghost, and the heavy New Orleans air swirl around Silver and Mason as they struggle to solve and understand the mystery that keeps them both bound to the plantation and a vengeful curse. Since the day of his birth, time remains suspended on the ornate pocket watch Mason has inherited—until a woman's love can break the spell—and move the hands of time.

Lori Avocato

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