Join art sleuth Carmen De Luca as she tracks down stolen goods across Europe in this new amateur sleuth cozy mystery series!
Book 1: Collecting Can Be Murder
Coming out of retirement can be deadly…
After tragedy struck three years earlier, art sleuth Carmen De Luca vowed to never work in the field again. But fifty is too young to fill her days with water aerobics and bingo, so when her former partner calls and begs for her help, Carmen gladly agrees.
Yet after their first assignment – the recovery of a rare medieval prayer book from an eccentric collector living in rural France – goes horribly wrong, Carmen ends up in the crosshairs of both the local police and a murderer!
With her target dead and the stolen book missing, she and her partner will have to pull out all of the stops to sleuth out the true killer’s identity – before their stay in France becomes permanent.
Introducing Carmen De Luca, an art sleuth with a nose for mystery and the job of locating valuable artwork stolen from museums around the world. If you love strong and resourceful heroines, puzzling mysteries, and a dash of art history, pick up Collecting Can Be Murder now!
Available via Amazon as paperback, LARGE print edition, eBook, and in Kindle Unlimited. Or buy the paperback from Waterstones, Barnes & Noble, or Bookshop.org.
Book 2: A Statue To Die For
Carmen De Luca is having the time of her life recovering stolen artwork from nefarious European collectors for her employer, the Rosewood Agency…until her partner, Baroness Sophie Rutherford, is injured during a mission gone wrong.
Their boss wants to ground them, but Carmen’s not ready to give up on her newly revitalized career without a fight. So she begs her best friend, Rhonda Rhodes, an antiques expert and the host of a popular television show, to fly over and take the Baroness’s place. Carmen isn’t rich or interesting enough to get on the guest list of the exclusive parties she uses to access her targets’ homes—but Rhonda is.
Carmen’s boss agrees to her unorthodox plan, but with one caveat—she can’t disclose to Rhonda that she’s actually an art sleuth currently on assignment.
With no alternative other than to pack up and fly home, Carmen agrees to deceive her friend. She picks Rhonda up at the airport, thinking they can see some of Europe’s most famous sights before her next assignment, only to discover that her friend’s already made other plans. On the flight over, Rhonda’s seatmate invited her to attend an exclusive party being held on a pirate ship and hosted by a Hollywood director. How can they resist?
What begins as a fun night partying with an eclectic group of film directors, actors, and producers turns into a deadly game of whodunnit when their host is murdered with his own copy of the Maltese Falcon statue.
Now Carmen must use her wits and expertise to sift through the many motives and uncover the killer’s true identity, if she and Rhonda are to get off the ship alive.
Movie moguls, priceless props, and long-buried secrets make for a deadly combination in this delightful mystery that is sure to appeal to fans of cozy crime and amateur sleuth mysteries.