Amateur Detectives

Amateur Detectives
Author: Elaine Raco Chase
Publisher: Writer's Digest Books
Total Pages: 232
Release: 1996
Genre: Reference
ISBN: 9780898797251

Let Amateur Detectives help you write an exciting chase. Here you'll find the information you need to keep your amateur-crime-solver novels and stories factually accurate, completely convincing. Open this book and investigate why high-tech policing hasn't run off the low-tech amateur; jobs that fit neatly with amateur sleuthing; intuition, gossip and other information-gathering methods; how to find out all about anyone; how the Internet can speed your sleuth to answers; how today's technological wonders can help your detective; the law as it applies to amateur detectives; gun laws, state by state; citizens' arrest powers, state by state; the Freedom of Information Act; and how real amateurs solved real crimes.

The Skeleton Crew

The Skeleton Crew
Author: Deborah Halber
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2015-07-28
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 1451657595

In America today, upwards of forty thousand people are dead and unaccounted for. These murder, suicide, and accident victims, separated from their names, are being adopted by the bizarre online world of amateur sleuths. It's DIY CSI. The web sleuths pore over facial reconstructions (a sort of Facebook for the dead) and other online clues as they vie to solve cold cases and tally up personal scorecards of dead bodies. The Skeleton Crew delves into the macabre underside of the Internet, the fleeting nature of identity, and how even the most ordinary citizen with a laptop and a knack for puzzles can reinvent herself as a web sleuth.

The Amateurs

The Amateurs
Author: Sara Shepard
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Total Pages: 466
Release: 2016-11-04
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 1484747356

Five years ago, high school senior Helena Kelly disappeared from her backyard in Dexby, Connecticut, never to be heard from again. Her family was left without any answers -- without any idea who killed Helena, or why. So when eighteen-year-old Seneca Frazier sees a desperate post on the Case Not Closed message board, she knows it's time to change that. Helena's high-profile disappearance is the one that originally got Seneca addicted to true crime. It's the reason she's a member of the site in the first place. Determined to get to the bottom of the mystery, she agrees to spend spring break in Connecticut working on the case with Maddy Wright, her friend from Case Not Closed. However, the moment she steps off the train, things start to go wrong. Maddy's nothing like she expected, and Helena's sister, Aerin, doesn't seem to want any help after all. Plus, Seneca has a secret of her own, one that could derail the investigation if she's not careful. Alongside Brett, another super-user from the site, they slowly begin to unravel the secrets Helena kept in the weeks before her disappearance. But the killer is watching . . . and determined to make sure the case stays cold. #1 New York Times best-selling author Sara Shepard is back with The Amateurs, first in a gripping new series packed with scandalous twists, shocking betrayals, and sizzling romance. "Shepard . . . unravels the truth, the author lulls readers into a false sense of security before expertly pulling the rug out from underneath them. This is a delicious start to the Amateurs series." -Publishers Weekly, starred review "A twisty and ultimately satisfying romantic whodunit." -Kirkus Reviews "[L]ikely to reach best-seller status." -Booklist "A delicious and suspenseful page-turner. I want more!" -I. Marlene King, Executive Producer, Pretty Little Liars "Chilling and romantic and full of surprises." -Cecily von Ziegesar, New York Times best-selling author of the Gossip Girl series "Long live the queen of secrets! The Amateurs is a dark and twisty thriller which might just fill the Pretty Little Liars shaped hole in my heart!" -Danielle Paige, New York Times best-selling author of Dorothy Must Die "Deceitful and delicious!" -- Kami Garcia, #1 New York Times best-selling coauthor of Beautiful Creatures and author of The Lovely Reckless "It's clear that Sara Shepard is no amateur; her devious and thrilling twists will leave you frantically turning pages until the very last moment." -- Kass Morgan, New York Times best-selling author of The 100 series

The Vanished Bride

The Vanished Bride
Author: Bella Ellis
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2020-07-07
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0593099141

Before they became legendary writers, Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, and Anne Brontë were detectors in this charming historical mystery... Yorkshire, 1845. A young wife and mother has gone missing from her home, leaving behind two small children and a large pool of blood. Just a few miles away, a humble parson’s daughters—the Brontë sisters—learn of the crime. Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë are horrified and intrigued by the mysterious disappearance. These three creative, energetic, and resourceful women quickly realize that they have all the skills required to make for excellent “lady detectors.” Not yet published novelists, they have well-honed imaginations and are expert readers. And, as Charlotte remarks, “detecting is reading between the lines—it’s seeing what is not there.” As they investigate, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne are confronted with a society that believes a woman’s place is in the home, not scouring the countryside looking for clues. But nothing will stop the sisters from discovering what happened to the vanished bride, even as they find their own lives are in great peril...

Warrior's Revenge

Warrior's Revenge
Author: Sherry Roberts
Publisher: Osmyrrah Pub
Total Pages: 266
Release: 2016-04-20
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780963888082

Threatening messages from a dead man send yoga teacher Maya Skye and reporter Peter Jorn down a trail of betrayal, revenge, and grief that ultimately will test Maya's own depths of forgiveness as she and Jorn face an opponent not only bent on revenge-but murder.

The Frangipani Tree Mystery

The Frangipani Tree Mystery
Author: Ovidia Yu
Publisher: Constable
Total Pages: 249
Release: 2017-06-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1472125215

First in a delightfully charming crime series set in 1930s Singapore, introducing amateur sleuth Su Lin, a local girl stepping in as governess for the Acting Governor of Singapore. 1936 in the Crown Colony of Singapore, and the British abdication crisis and rising Japanese threat seem very far away. When the Irish nanny looking after Acting Governor Palin's daughter dies suddenly - and in mysterious circumstances - mission school-educated local girl Su Lin - an aspiring journalist trying to escape an arranged marriage - is invited to take her place. But then another murder at the residence occurs and it seems very likely that a killer is stalking the corridors of Government House. It now takes all Su Lin's traditional skills and intelligence to help British-born Chief Inspector Thomas LeFroy solve the murders - and escape with her own life. 'Simply glorious. Every nook and cranny of 1930s Singapore is brought richly to life, without ever getting in the way of a classic puzzle plot. But what's a setting without a jewel? Chen Su Lin is a true gem. Her slyly witty voice and her admirable, sometimes heartbreaking, practicality make her the most beguiling narrator heroine I've met in a long while.' Catriona McPherson 'Charming and fascinating with great authentic feel. Ovidia Yu's teenage Chinese sleuth gives us an insight into a very different culture and time. This book is exactly why I love historical novels.' Rhys Bowen

Down Dog Diary

Down Dog Diary
Author: Sherry Roberts
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2015
Genre: Minnesota
ISBN:

Yoga teacher Maya Skye faces the same challenge every day: balance her search for inner peace with her fascination with mayhem. When she inherits a book of secrets, the Down Dog Diary, she sets out to find the killer of the book's former owner, a shaman named James Tumblethorne. When the mystical journal is stolen, Maya learns just how elusive inner peace can be at the point of a gun.

Hollywood Homicide

Hollywood Homicide
Author: Kellye Garrett
Publisher: Llewellyn Worldwide
Total Pages: 263
Release: 2017-08-08
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0738753009

Winner of the 2018 Anthony Award for Best First Novel Winner of the 2017 Agatha Award for Best First Novel Also a Lefty Award Winner and a Barry Award-Nominated Title The Surprise Hit of the Season! Actress Dayna Anderson's Deadly New Role: Homicide Detective Dayna Anderson doesn't set out to solve a murder. All the semifamous, mega-broke actress wants is to help her parents keep their house. So after witnessing a deadly hit-and-run, she pursues the fifteen grand reward. But Dayna soon finds herself doing a full-on investigation, wanting more than just money—she wants justice for the victim. She chases down leads at paparazzi hot spots, celeb homes, and movie premieres, loving every second of it—until someone tries to kill her. And there are no second takes in real life. Praise: "[A] winning first novel and series launch...Garrett writes with humor and insight about the Hollywood scene. Readers will look forward to Day's further adventures."—Publishers Weekly (starred review) "A smart, sassy debut, introducing an appealing protagonist with amusing friends."—Library Journal (starred review) and Debut of the Month "Veteran TV writer Garrett uses her Cold Case experience to inform her debut, which sets up more than one charming character and isn't afraid to go cynical on all things LA."—Kirkus Reviews "Funny, lively characters populate this new Detective by Day series...this will be an entertaining entry into the amateur sleuth genre."—RT Book Reviews "Fun, smart, endearingly flawed, and impressively determined, Dayna Anderson is a heroine readers will fall in love with...I relished every unexpected twist and turn of this highly entertaining mystery!"—Kyra Davis, New York Times bestselling author

Fool Her Once

Fool Her Once
Author: Joanna Elm
Publisher: CamCat Publishing, LLC
Total Pages: 375
Release: 2022-03-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0744304814

Some killers are born. Others are made. As a rookie tabloid reporter, Jenna Sinclair made a tragic mistake when she outed Denny Dennison, the illegitimate son of an executed serial killer. So she hid behind her marriage and motherhood. Now, decades later, betrayed by her husband and resented by her teenage daughter, Jenna decides to resurrect her career—and returns to the city she loves. When her former lover is brutally assaulted outside Jenna’s NYC apartment building, Jenna suspects that Denny has inherited his father’s psychopath gene and is out for revenge. She knows she must track him down before he can harm his next target, her daughter. Meanwhile, her estranged husband, Zack, fears that her investigative reporting skills will unearth his own devastating secret he’d kept buried in the past. From New York City to the remote North Fork of Long Island and the murky waters surrounding it, Jenna rushes to uncover the terrible truth about a psychopath and realizes her own investigation may save or destroy her family.

Amateurs

Amateurs
Author: Norman Reed Paterson
Publisher: FriesenPress
Total Pages: 139
Release: 2021-06-16
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1039103863

In this, his third mystery novel, Norman Paterson’s talent is in full sail, taking us into a harbour that should be safe, a luxurious retirement community in Sothern Georgian Bay. But it is 2020. Ted, a resident of long, worldly experience, discovers a murdered body along a walking trail. With his friend Beth, these amateur detectives travel the shores of Georgian Bay and nearby Michigan, discovering international drug smuggling and love in old age. Then the sudden lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is real life story telling, full of heart, humour, danger and universal consequences.