Liffey Rivers is en route to Amsterdam, when, relieved that her harrowing experiences in South Africa are finally over, she notices that a man on the plane is wearing the same expensive Italian leather shoes worn by a deliveryman who had left a black mamba snake in a picnic basket addressed to her at the Johannesburg Feis. Trapped miles above the earth, she must once again employ her Irish dance training to save her life. She eventually manages to get back to Wisconsin by hiding in a group of pilgrims headed to Lourdes from South Africa. When months later, she takes a much needed idyllic Alaskan cruise with her family and best friend, Sinead McGowan, her cruise itinerary includes, in addition to exciting shore excursions, a boyfriend and an Irish dance competition in Anchorage. Liffey Rivers sets sail straight into the arms of contentment and instead confronts her worst enemy on the shores of the Arctic Ocean.

This is the first collection of short stories in the Liffey Rivers Irish Dancer Mystery Series which were originally published as serialized monthly installments in Irish Dancing and Culture Magazine. In "The Mystery of the Missing Novice," Liffey notices that there are two unrelated young dancers at an Irish dance competition (feis) who look like identical twins. When one of them goes missing, Liffey's intuition and attention to detail bring about the safe return of the missing novice. In "The Case of the Clumsy Clowns," Liffey suspects that a group of klutzy clowns performing at a local church, billing themselves as 'The Joyful Jesters, might be up to something more than entertaining their audience. "The Mystery of the Temporary Trophy," finds Liffey at a feis in New York with her flaky Aunt Jean who is suffering from Post Traumatic Bling Syndrome. Liffey observes that one of the perpetual trophies to be awarded at this feis looks suspiciously like the ancient Derrynaflan Chalice she has seen before in a Dublin museum. In "The Werewolves of Ossory," Liffey rescues a dancer from Ireland who has traveled alone to the Seattle Halloween Feis burdened with a centuries old family curse.

13-year-old Irish dancer Liffey Rivers is on safari in South Africa with her eccentric Aunt Jean, en route to an Irish dance competition in Johannesburg. After dodging a charging rhino, fending off a pride of lions and re-routing an enraged mother elephant, Liffey's problems have just begun. When Liffey is confronted by a deadly Black Mamba snake in the tall savanna grasses, she must rely on instinct and her Irish dancing ability to survive. At the Johannesburg Feis, Liffey's troubles continue and she again finds herself, this time with a little boy in a wheelchair, in the shadow of the serpent.

The ancient Irish believed that people were affected by the cycles of the moon and that the moon can be linked to intuition and has real power over the deeds of men. They called the moon in September their Blood Moon. It was the time when animals were butchered and prepared for the long, dark winter ahead. Their daily prayer to the Celtic moon goddess was: Leave us sound and whole. The month of the Blood Moon is also the time when 13-year-old Irish dancer Liffey Rivers finds herself drawn back to Ireland searching for a mysterious woman who wears a diamond M, seeking answers on the Mountain of the Moon, before her own blood is spilled.

There is more intrigue at the National Portrait Gallery in London than 13-year-old Irish dancer Liffey Rivers could have ever imagined How will she tell the smug-looking security guard in the museum she has discovered that there is something WRONG with the Coronation Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I hanging in the Tudor Gallery? And how can she even pretend she is ready to dance next week at an Irish dance competition (feis) in County Sligo, Ireland? And WHY is the Judge at the Beltra Feis winking at everyone? Liffey has seen those eyes before...

13-year-old Irish dancer Liffey Rivers is power-walking in the hotel lobby at the Celtic Arch Feis in St. Louis when she sees a suspicious looking man carrying a beautiful porcelain Irish dancer doll peeking out of a plastic shopping bag. A sparkling diamond tiara is perched on top of the doll's curly brown wig but the doll is wearing a traditional Irish dance school dress. Intuitively, Liffey realizes that whoever put the dress on the doll did NOT place the diamond crown on its head. When Liffey cannot resist investigating further, she finds herself not only trying to win a 1st place medal to qualify for her first Irish dance solo dress, but also dodging dangerous criminals when she takes decisive action to thwart their plans. After a series of suspenseful cat and mouse chases, Liffey Rivers unravels the mystery of the sparkling solo dress crown.