Bøger af Richard Audry

Join King Harald and Andy Skyberg on their second adventure! As the leaves begin to change color in New Bergen, Andy Skyberg wants to turn his full attention to his sister's new café and art gallery-and to the beautiful Finnish architect who is managing the project. But the good-natured, go-to guy can't seem to catch a moment's peace. His next-door neighbors-two elderly sisters-want him to fend off a pushy historian who thinks they had a scandalous past. His parents enlist him to entertain a narcissistic, boring couple they would like to ditch. And his ever-scheming Aunt Bev tricks Andy into seeking an improbable new gig that could land him in the hot seat. Even Andy's big ol' mutt King Harald has a kennel full of trouble in store for him, beginning with a pilfered thousand-dollar bill and a naughty garden gnome. Before long, New Bergen's favorite crime-sniffing pooch finds even more deep doo-doo to toss his boss into. Havoc and hilarity ensue, as Andy and his happy hound get to the bottom of King Harald's Heist.

The year is 1901 and Mary MacDougall has a rather improbable ambition-to become a consulting detective. With her nose in mystery novels and crime memoirs, Mary MacDougall dreams of bringing villains to justice-despite the disapproval of her wealthy father and almost everyone she knows. A Mary MacDougall Duet features the two cases that establish her as a force to be reckoned with. In the first novella, A Pretty Little Plot, Mary's painting instructor is charged with kidnapping two of his students. She not only uncovers the hidden facts of the case, she discovers secrets deep in her own heart. Mary MacDougall is not as immune to the laws of attraction as she had thought. Her imprisoned teacher has awakened a longing within her. Will she help to exonerate him? Or condemn him to prison? The second novella, The Stolen Star, follows Mary as she unpeels layers of deceit and duplicity in her hometown of Duluth. It's the holiday season and Mary is volunteering for the 1901 Gala Christmas Musicale, starring the opera diva Josie Borrell. But when the Star of the North sapphire that Josie wears onstage goes missing, all eyes turn to the singer and her retinue.

When springtime arrives in picturesque New Bergen, so do the tourists and antiquers. This year, though, there are some unwelcome visitors. Extortion. Arson. And murder. After his business tanks and his wife leaves him for a Pilates coach, Andy Skyberg flees the big city for the peace and quiet of his hometown. All he wants is a decent job, a steady girlfriend, a plasma screen TV with a hundred-plus channels, and one loyal dog. But fate has something else in store for Andy, when his big mutt King Harald starts sniffing out crime. It's clear that someone has it in for the town's New Age retailer, Trudi Bock. And it's also clear that Trudi wants to rekindle the steamy romance she and Andy enjoyed back in college. Andy has to fend her off, while placating his fiery girlfriend, Deputy Sheriff Cass Conlin. Meanwhile, Harald keeps digging up more mayhem. And it falls to Andy to channel his inner sleuth and make sense of it all. Throw into this mix one legendary (but lost) ebelskiver recipe...a gimlet-eyed church lady...a van full of federal agents...a crusty socialist...a beloved iguana...and an overabundance of rosemaling... And you have all the makings for The Karma of King Harald.

It's early December and Andy Skyberg is itching to blow town for a weekend of holiday cheer with old friends-including a date with an attractive divorcée who thinks he's hot. But first, Aunt Bev needs a teensy bit of help. She's managing the Girls' Weekend Out event at the Beaver Tail Resort and could use some extra muscle. Andy figures he can spare a few hours before hitting the road. Mother Nature, though, has other plans. A giant blizzard makes an unexpected turn. Andy and his pooch King Harald find themselves snowbound-in a hotel full of hard-partying women, stranded travelers, a hockey team, a man-eating novelist, a belligerent blogger, and one violent, devious jewel thief. Before you know it, man and mutt are up to their noses in another case. It's a winter wonderland of fast-paced fun and merry madness, as the sleuthing duo dig out from King Harald's Snow Job.

Mary MacDougall's first case of 1902 seems simple enough. Just before the 19-year-old heiress leaves for a summer holiday on Mackinac Island with her Aunt Christena, she's hired to stop in a little town along the way and make inquiries. Did Agnes Olcott really die there of cholera? Or were there darker doings in Dillmont? Mary's mentor, Detective Sauer, thinks it's merely a case of bad luck for the dead woman. But Mrs. Olcott's daughter suspects her detested stepfather played a hand in her mother's untimely death. With the reluctant help of her aunt and her dear friend Edmond Roy, the young detective struggles to reveal the true fate of Agnes Olcott. As she digs ever deeper, the enemy Mary provokes could spell disaster for her and the people she loves. But in the end, it's the only way to banish a daughter's doubt.

It's September 1902, and Mary MacDougall has fulfilled her greatest dream-opening her own detective agency. But the achievement doesn't come without complication. Mary's father insists that an older cousin come to work with her-as both secretary and minder. Jeanette Harrison pledges to keep the plucky sleuth away from danger, as well as from her unsuitable suitor Edmond Roy. This arrangement, embarrassingly, makes Mary the only detective in the state with a chaperone. The new agency's first cases hardly seem to portend danger or significance. There's the affair of the nicked napkin rings...the problem of the purloined pocket watch...and the matter of the four filched felines. Mary and Jeanette have not the slightest notion that one of these modest little matters will blow up into the most consequential and perilous case of the heiress-sleuth's budding career. What begins in triviality mushrooms into disappearance, betrayal, international intrigue, and murder. As she learns more and more, Mary's prospects for making the acquaintance of an assassin's blade improve exponentially. Witty, fast-paced, and enthralling, A FATAL FONDNESS-the fourth tale in the series-delves deeply into Mary's world and paints the portrait of an unconventional young woman ever-ready to defy propriety for the sake of justice. "I love great historical fiction and [Mary MacDougall] delivers." -I Read What You Write"In the spirit of Nancy Drew and the Corner House Girls... [Audry] captures the turn-of-the-century period perfectly, when young women like Mary were trying to burst out of Victorian expectations to become their own person." -Mary Ann Grossmann, St. Paul Pioneer Press