Jane Tesh Books In Order

Madeline Maclin Books In Order

  1. Case of Imagination (2006)
  2. A Hard Bargain (2007)
  3. A Little Learning (2009)
  4. Bad Reputation (2014)
  5. Evil Turns (2016)
  6. A Wild Ride (2021)

Grace Street Mystery Books In Order

  1. Stolen Hearts (2011)
  2. Mixed Signals (2012)
  3. Now You See It (2013)
  4. Just You Wait (2015)
  5. Baby, Take A Bow (2017)
  6. Death by Dragonfly (2018)
  7. Gone Daddy Blues (2020)
  8. Fatal Fantasy (2022)

Novels

  1. Butterfly Waltz (2015)
  2. A Small Holiday (2016)
  3. The Monsters of Spiders’ Rest (2017)
  4. Over the Edge (2018)
  5. Too Much Magic (2020)

Madeline Maclin Book Covers

Grace Street Mystery Book Covers

Novels Book Covers

Jane Tesh Books Overview

Case of Imagination

‘On this nice July morning in Parkland, North Carolina, the office of Madeline Maclin Investigations might as well have been an Egyptian tomb: hot, dusty, and dead.’ It doesn t help that her landlord Reid Kent, does a brisk business…
and briskly hits on Mac to rejoin his agency. He maintains no one will hire a former Miss Parkland as a serious PI.

Mac has been friends forever with Jerry Fairweather. Jerry claims to be psychic and is, unlike his two brothers, somewhat screwy. And he refuses to claim a share in the Fairweather fortune. But he shares some good news with Mac his Uncle Val has died and left him a house. The two friends drive out to Celosia, a half hour away, where they discover a local beauty pageant in trouble and a house just perfect for setting up shop. A Psychic Shop. The arrival of lawyer Olivia, Jerry’s shark like girlfriend, rouses both Mac’s interest in the mystery at the pageant and the one in her own heart. And then comes the first murder…
.

A Case of Imagination is Jane Tesh’s playful first mystery, the start of a series by an author who admires Terry Pratchett, Martha Grimes, Carl Hiaasen, and P.G. Wodehouse.

A Hard Bargain

After solving her first big murder case in the small town of Celosia, North Carolina, Madeline Maclin hopes at last to be taken seriously as a private investigator. She’s opened an office in the home of her best friend Jerry Fairweather, a man haunted by his past who enjoys running harmless scams.
Jerry doesn’t feel worthy of anyone’s love bad news for Madeline although she thinks Jerry’s sister Harriet knows more about the accident that killed their parents than she’ll say.
Madeline is hired to find Kirby Willet, an eccentric inventor who left boxes of his belongings, including one filled with money, at Frannie Thomas house. Meanwhile Voltage Films director, Josh Gaskins, is in town and thinks Jerry’s old house will be perfect for his horror film, ‘Curse of the Mantis Man,’ about Celosia’s mythical beast. Is this monster actually real?
Celosia is also hopping with the Pageantoids, rabid fans from Madeline’s days as a beauty queen, who have come to Celosia to produce more pageants. And then there’s Rick Rialto, one of Jerry’s shady con artist friends.
When Gaskins is murdered, Madeline uncovers several suspects and is forced to make and investigate some hard bargains. At least one of which is with Jerry.

A Little Learning

Former beauty queen and fledgling private investigator, Madeline Maclin, has married her best friend, Jerry Fairweather, and settled into his old house in the small town of Celosia, North Carolina. Lately, she’s been concerned that quiet small town life isn t enough for Jerry, who says he s given up his cons and schemes but not his phony s ances.
Madeline becomes involved in the mysterious death of Amelia Lever, an unpopular teacher at Celosia Elementary School. Her cigarette break turned out to be fatal. But Maddy isn’t convinced it was a natural death. Grumpy, uncooperative Amelia Lever was despised by the faculty, mainly for voting against grant proposals.
And then there’s her latest case. Nathan Fenton has hired Madeline to help solve a riddle left to him by his Uncle Elijah, a man who loved to play games. The riddle says: From west to east the river flows, from ancient times the sparrow flies. Trust animals that live in packs, and listen where the portrait lies. Are the teacher’s death and this mysterious riddle somehow related?

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