Jane Stuart & Winky Mystery

Jane Stuart is a widowed young mother and literary agent with a knack for solving mysteries. Winky, her tortoiseshell cat, has a nose for trouble. In Missing Marlene, they team up to solve the mystery of a missing nanny who may have met with foul play. The last thing a working mom like Jane needs is a call from her young son's school saying his nanny never arrived to pick him up. Now Jane's wondering wheat happened to pretty, blonde Marlene, the daughter of an old friend she recently hired on a trial basis. It looks as if the nineteen-year-old has left without giving notice, and no one seems to know where she's gone. Her mother can't track her down. The police figure she's run away. Jane thinks she'd better start snooping around. Juggling book deals, rival agents, and a rocky romance with a handsome author, Jane begins to uncover Marlene's shocking secret life. Her amateur sleuthing reveals a boyfriend with violent tendencies-and a police record-and a flirtation with a mystery man. As Jane discovers that Marlene's innocence ended long ago, Winky has a critical clue that could reveal if the killer came in on little cat feet . . . and if that same killer is getting ready to strike again.

After Jane's last brush with a murderer landed her with a feature in People magazine, she is eager to get back to her literary life as a book agent-reading book proposals, making deals, talking to authors. She's glad to put fame aside and now that her beloved son Nick's birthday is coming up, she's busy planning a birthday party for him. She selects one of her favorite spots, a local inn, but before anyone can sing Happy Birthday and say "make a wish," the body of a young woman is found hanging from a tree in the woods back behind the inn. No one seems to know who she is, but she has been murdered. Found near the body is a clipping of the People magazine article about Jane, the only clue. Why did this woman have it? What does it have to do with her murder? And why was she so interested in Jane and her neighbors? The mystery deepens as more people start to die in Shady Hills while Jane and her detective friend hunt as fast as they can for clues as to the identity of the mystery women-and of the killer on the loose.

Book agent extraordinaire Jane Stuart finally crawls out from under a stack of unread manuscripts. She starts a much-needed vacation, when her late husband's cousin, Stephanie, calls. She's about to start a new job in Shady Hills and wants to stay with Jane for a few days. Stephanie's new job as book editor is at the hot new publishing house in house. Run by Shady Hills' very own jet-setter, Faith Carson, and her dashing businessman husband, Gavin Hart, it specializes in celebrity bios. No sooner does Stephanie unpack her file folders at the publisher than it's obvious something fishy is going on. No one seems to be doing their job and they spend most of their time slamming doors. When Stephanie's body is found in a Dumpster with a knife in her back, Jane goes undercover at the publisher to find the killer who doesn't care much for the finer points of punctuation. Jane tries hard to keep her mouth shut so she can fit in among the beautiful blue bloods and literary snobs on staff. Someone there is a killer with an eye for more than just making the New York Times bestseller list. This polished murderer wants to turn Jane and her trusted tortie Winky into the next true-crime bestseller.

Jane Stuart and Ivy Benson were once best friends. Ever since Ivy's daughter Marlene was murdered, things have been rocky. To patch up their friendship, Jane invites Ivy to the writer's retreat Jane organized. Off-season Mt. Munsee Lodge is a mountain-top hotel which is perfect for relaxing and having fun. But Ivy brings Johnny, her new man, who turns out to be on the run. To Ivy's displeasure, Johnny swoons over one of Jane's students, Carla, a waitress with little promise as a writer but potential as a home wrecker. And when an unexpected blizzard leaves everyone marooned in the snow, there's no chance for escape. Out for a walk the next day, Jane finds her old friend Ivy on the snowy trail-dead. Ivy has been stabbed with an ice pick. Johnny's the likeliest suspect, but he's vanished. The killer is someone who knows a lot more about murder than writing. But who? The snow melts, giving up clue after clue. Jane and her trusted tortie Winky investigate every lead and soon uncover Ivy's dark secrets. Writing can be murder, every writer knows that! Before this killer strikes again, Jane and Winky must find the one who may not know much about plot structure, but sure knows murder-cold.

Schemer Tina Vale, publisher of Corsair Books, slept her way to the top, making many enemies on the way. Now she's going after an old enemy, single mom and literary agent Jane Stuart. Nearly twenty years ago, Tina lost out to Jane when Jane married Kenneth, someone Tina wanted. Now Tina makes Jane pay for it. She cancels Jane's multi-million-dollar publishing contract with Corsair. Jane is damaged financially, but by having the past stirred up, Jane finds new heartache as she recalls her cherished memories of Kenneth who died a few years ago. Tina and Joan are both at the annual RAT Convention (Romance Authors Together), where the hotel venue is struggling to handle all the romance authors as well as this year's featured cat show. But soon Jane has more serious matters to worry about. After Tina fails to make her grand entrance at the award ceremonies, her body is discovered in the bathtub, along with one of her prized collectible vintage toasters. Tina was always the lavish spender when it came to herself, with some of her collection being worth a pretty penny, and this one sure sizzled! It was still plugged in. Who put the toaster in the bath? This time, Jane herself is a suspect.

Literary agent Jane Stuart lives a page-turner when a murderer gives new meaning to the phrase buried in books and girls begin to disappear. Jane couldn't turn down her nanny's sister when she needed a place to stay. Crystal Ryerson turns out to be more than a handful. In two short weeks as the new assistant director of the Shady Hills Public Library, Crystal proves herself to be trouble no matter how you spell it. A pain. Yes. Popular. No. SMASHING Still, it's a shock when at the next meeting of Jane's book club at The Shady Hills Public Library, book shelves come crashing down and topple on poor Crystal. Who knew reading could be fatal? Detective Stanley Greenberg makes a grim discovery: the bolts on the bookcase had been deliberately removed-by someone who was at the meeting. Prime suspects line up: Crystal's Realtors, Myrtle Lovesey and Dick Stanton, the recently fired school librarian, and more. It's not as clear cut as that, thinks Jane, who suspects something else is going on. Then the body of a beautiful teenager is found in the woods behind the railroad tracks. She worked at the Library. And then two other girls go missing . . .