Todhunter Ballard
Trouble on the Massacre

The sun glinted down on the dusty town square as Sanderson waited just inside the courthouse door. Sanderson was big and tough. He had to be to stay alive in Massacre. But even Sanderson wasn't tough or fast enough for a shootout with the hired killers from the Box P spread. And now the Box P gunslicks were fanned out in a semicircle outside, just waiting for him to show...

M.C. Beaton
Death of a Dreamer

The rugged landscape of Scotland attracts dreamers who move north, wrapped in fantasies of enjoying the simple life. They usually don't last, but it looks as if Effie Garrard has come to stay. When Constable Hamish Macbeth calls on her, he's amazed that she weathered the difficult winter. But Effie is quite delusional, imagining that she's engaged to local artist Jock Fleming. Later, Effie is found in the mountains, poisoned by hemlock.

Sir Edmund Leggett has a stalker, a young lady whose attentions have turned from puppy love to obsession. Sir Edmund is somewhat flattered until his engagement party, when someone murders him in cold blood. Although the police figure it to be the stalker's handiwork, Inspector Witherspoon has some other ideas. But first he'll have to consult his housekeeper, Mrs. Jeffries, who always gets to the heart of the matter.