Central Kansas Library System

Susan Wittig Albert’s exciting mysteries have been praised as “unique” (Seattle Post-Intelligencer) and “fascinating” (Booklist). Now, a dead man’s bones are uncovered—and Texas ex-lawyer and herbalist China Bayles must dig into a pair of murders separated by time but connected by motive…

When China’s teenage son finds some skeletal remains during a local cave dig—remains

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China Bayles is fit to spit when her husband's troubled ex-wife, Sally, shows up at her herb shop, claiming to be broke with nowhere else to turn. When she invites Sally to stay, China starts receiving menacing calls from an "ex" of Sally's, who seems to have a connection to the murder of her parents nearly a decade ago.

After a woman is killed in an arson-homicide, Jessica Nelson, an intern-reporter at the local paper, is assigned to cover the story. When Jessica disappears, China Bayles is determined to find her, before she becomes a headline herself.

"The eleven o'clock lady has always been one of garden club president Liz Lacy's favorite spring wildflowers. The plant is so named because the white blossoms don't open until the sun shines directly on them and wakes them up. But another Eleven O'Clock Lady is never going to wake up again. Rona Jean Hancock--a telephone switchboard operator who earned her nickname because her shift ended at eleven, when her nightlife was just beginning--has been...

While helping Ruby Wilcox clean up the loft above their shops, China comes upon a box of antique handcrafted lace and old photographs. Following the discovery, she hears a woman humming an old Scottish ballad and smells the delicate scent of lavender... Soon, strange happenings start to occur in Thyme and Seasons: misplaced items, a ringing bell, and the appearance of lavender sprigs in odd places. When a customer sees a mysterious woman picking flowers...

"3 novellas featuring Ruby Wilcox, from the China Bayles series: NoBODY, SomeBODY Else, and Out of BODY. This book is part of the Thorndike Press Large Print Mystery list"--

"The Pecan Springs Enterprise Trilogy: Deadlines, Fault Lines, Firelines. If you're a fan of China Bayles, Ruby Wilcox, and Pecan Springs, Texas, you'll love Susan Wittig Albert's three new novellas, together in a single edition! Prime crime on deadline. DEADLINES: When Pecan Springs Enterprise crime reporter Jessica Nelson gets an anonymous tip about a year-old death that might be murder, she's already facing too many deadlines, so the story is low...