Death at a Castle Christmas

Book 3 now available!

In the winter darkness, on the cold and windy grounds of Castle Dark, a murderer lurks, creeping ever closer to the residents of the holly-bedecked manor . . .

Nora Blake, now a veteran member of the Castle Dark acting troupe, is thrilled to contemplate a December full of Christmas-themed performances, and she’s hoping for a picturesque snowfall to enhance the holiday aesthetic. What the residents of the castle get instead is an exhausting schedule compounded by several local mysteries: an attempted break-in at the castle, a missing man, two mysterious children, an unidentified body, and Nora’s hunch that they are somehow all related.

Her boyfriend, Detective John Dashiell of the Wood Glen Police, tries to solve a confusing puzzle and calls upon residents of the castle to help the police with their inquiries. As they all hunt for the truth, the level of danger grows, yet the perpetrator remains determinedly out of sight. Nora and her companions (including the Brontes, her three gray cats, and Hamlet, the castle dog) must come together to catch a killer before he—or she—can strike again.

And they must resolve their mysteries before Christmas, which Nora is determined to make a happy one for all the people she loves.

Castle Deadly, Castle Deep

Book 2

After a man dies during a performance at Castle Dark, Nora Blake learns just how hard it is to catch a killer, especially if every suspect is a trained actor, in this exciting new Dinner and a Murder Mystery.

Autumn has arrived at Castle Dark, and Nora Blake has settled into her role as an actor in Derek Corby’s castle murder-mystery troupe. She is troubled, however, by the setting of Derek’s fall mystery: the catacombs in the depths of the castle. Yes, these catacombs are part of a set, the skeletons and cobwebs mere props, but Nora feels uneasy in the shadowy passages beneath Castle Dark. When a man is killed during one of their first shows, the eerie catacombs become a place of terror.

Joined by her castle companions, Nora attempts to find the motive for killing a seemingly innocent victim. Some of those answers appear to lie with the local community theater, the members of which Nora has come to know because she has joined Derek’s latest town production. As Nora practices her lines at Wood Glen’s Blue Curtain Theater, she realizes that everyone around her is an actor, and all of her suspects are perfectly capable of convincing others of their innocence. Nora soon discovers that someone else is in danger and that she may also be in the sights of the killer. With the help of her handsome boyfriend, Detective John Dashiell, Nora will have to go off-script to prevent a murderous encore…

Death in Castle Dark

Book 1

Actor Nora Blake finds her dream job when she is cast in a murder-mystery troupe that performs in an imposing but captivating old castle. When she stumbles upon a real murder, things take a nightmarish turn in this first book in an exciting new series.

Maybe it was too good to be true, but when Nora Blake accepted the job from Derek Corby, proprietor of Castle Dark, she could not see any downsides. She would sink her acting chops into the troupe’s intricately staged murder-mystery shows, earn free room and board in the fairy tale-like castle, and make friends with her new roommates, which include some seriously adorable kittens.

But something sinister lurks behind the walls of Castle Dark. During Nora’s second performance, one of her castmates plays the part of the victim a little too well. So well, in fact, that no one can revive him. He has been murdered. Not ready to give up her dream gig—or to be the next victim—Nora sets out to see which one of her fellow actors has taken the role of a murderous real-life villain.