Thursday, July 10, 2014

It's
THROWBACK THURSDAY!
Ready to learn about a new old series?

Today I am featuring an author 
I'm sure most of you have heard of.
Hanna Reed author of the 
Queen Bee Mysteries and coming in October the 
Scottish Highland Mystery series. 

But for today's TBT I'm posting about 
Hannah's work under the name, Deb Baker and her
A Dolls To Die For Mystery series 
a.k.a The Gretchen Birch Mystery series.

This series contains 4 books.


For Gretchen Birch, her mother Caroline, and her aunt Nina, doll collecting is a family affair. They may disagree on other things, but when it comes to dolls, they share a passion for the most 
exquisite (and expensive) creations in history. But they have never imagined that doll collecting could inspire foul play.

"Caroline Birch. Put her away." The message was clutched in the fist of a destitute former doll collector found dead at the bottom of a cliff with a valuable French doll’s parasol in her pocket. And the person seen fleeing the crime scene fits Caroline’s description. But Gretchen Birch knows her mother is innocent. The problem is, Caroline has disappeared – and she’s left an urgent warning that Gretchen is in danger, too.


Gretchen Birch is at her first major doll show (and only her flighty Aunt Nina there to “help”), praying she doesn’t botch any repair job. But glue-gun glitches turn out to be the least of her worries when a sleazy reporter is found dead with Gretchen’s craft knife stuck in his back. Then someone begins sending her boxes of Kewpie dolls with cryptic, threatening messages hidden inside. Now she must watch her step, or else she’ll end up needing more than a few repairs. 


When Gretchen Birch finds Charlie Maize, owner of a dollhouse shop, on the floor – dead and covered with toppled miniature room boxes – she fears that Charlie’s death wasn’t an accident. One of the room boxes (displays that depict real-life scenes with furniture and miniature dolls) is the set for a murder, complete with a tiny bloody axe and red splatters on its tiny walls. 

Renamed - Guise and Dolls

All's well in Phoenix -- doll restorer Gretchen Birch's business is thriving, she's dating a gorgeous detective, and an anonymous donor has given the Phoenix Dollers a historic house to turn into a museum. But as the doll-club members rehearse their fund-raiser play, Gretchen's kooky "psychic" Aunt Nina becomes convinced the house is haunted. Strange, creepy things do seem to be happening. Gretchen scoffs -- until a woman with ties to her mother is found lying dead atop a grave in a cemetery. Gretchen better get to the bottom of it, or it’ll be her who is history.


This series is of print in paperback. 
I recommend checking with your local used book dealer or any number of online second hand book dealers.

They are available for Kindle and Nook!



Remember to check back every Thursday 
for more great Throwback cozy titles!

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Answer to Whodunit Wednesday

The Missing Monet - Solution

   "All three suspects had receptacles that could hold a rolled-up painting," Sherman was doing his best to make his Alabama-born accent sound British. "The messenger had a document tube, old boy. The uncle had a cane. The woman had an umbrella. And while it's tempting to accuse the last person to walk through the reception area, that wouldn't be cricket. The painting could have been cut out of it's frame at any time and no one may have noticed."

   Wilson snickered. "So it could be any of them." 

   "And it could be an employee who found someplace clever to hide the painting. But only one suspect arrived limping on one leg and departed limping on the other. I think of you examine the older gentleman's cane, you'll find that it's hollow."

 Did you catch how Sherman knew how the uncle was limping on the wrong leg when you read the story?

Taking his place in the elevator was an elegantly attired man, an older gentleman, using a cane as he limped heavily on his left leg. 

   The gentleman reappeared in the lobby ten minutes later. On his exit from the elevator he nearly collided with a woman in a Gucci suit. The umbrella in her left hand became momentarily entangled with the cane in his right.

If the uncle was limping heavily on his left leg, the cane would have been in his left hand. 
It was in his right hand when he left.

So, did you guess Whodunit?




2 comments:

  1. I was thinking about which hand holds the cane, but if your left foot is injured you would hold the cane in your right hand, not your left.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Diana, I thought about that as well. But many people do hold the cane on their injured side so it acts like a support for thier injured limb. My friend does this.

    ReplyDelete