Medium's assistant - and reluctant sleuth - Maddie Pastore is shocked when her long-lost sister is accused of murder, in this twisty, atmospheric mystery set in 1920s Chicago. Summer, 1924. Young widow Maddie Pastore has been working for fraudulent spiritual medium Madame Carlotta for nearly a year - if 'work' you could call it. Investigating Carlotta's clients, and attending seances as her shill, keeps Maddie and her young son Tommy fed and clothed, and she's grown to love the kind, well-meaning spiritualist like family. Still, Maddie - estranged from her abusive parents for over a decade - can't help but wonder what fates befell her brothers and sisters. So when she lucks into two free tickets to a glamorous Chicago speakeasy and recognizes the star performer as her pretty little sister Sophie, she's beyond delighted. But before Maddie can meet with Sophie again, the telephone rings. It's Sophie's husband, calling in a panic to tell her that his wife is locked in the Cook County jail, charged with first-degree murder . . . Enter a dark and deadly world of seances and speakeasies, populated by fake mediums, sultry singers and dangerous mobsters! An ideal pick for readers who enjoy glitzy Jazz Age mysteries with feisty female sleuths.

Deadly drinks, vicious gangsters, missing money . . . Reluctant sleuth Maddie Pastore is back with a bang, in the second Mystic's Accomplice historical mystery set in 1920s Chicago. "Miley's storytelling skills do justice to her clever, gutsy, and endearing protagonist. This is a real treat for readers who love stories set in the Roaring '20s"- Publishers Weekly Starred Review December, 1924. Young widow Maddie Pastore feels fortunate to be employed by the well-meaning but fraudulent medium Carlotta Romany. Investigating Carlotta's clients isn't work she's proud of, but she's proud of how well she does it. Maddie's talents, however, draw them unwelcome attention: sharp-eyed Officer O'Rourke from the Chicago Police. He doesn't believe in spiritualism - but in a city packed with mobsters, con artists and criminals, he'll take any help he can get. It's not long before Maddie has a case to bring him. Why did teetotal banker Herman Quillen die of alcohol poisoning? And who is the gold-toothed man claiming to be his brother, and demanding the spirits reveal where Herman hid his money? All Maddie wants is to uncover the truth - but to her horror, she's soon mixed up in a tangled web of secrets and deception that leads to the heart of Chicago's violent gangs . . . and she'll need all her wits about her if she, and her loved ones, are going to make it out again alive. Spirits and Smoke, the sequel to The Mystic's Accomplice, is an ideal pick for readers who enjoy Jazz Age mysteries with feisty female sleuths, sparkling historical detail and Prohibition high-jinks.

The first historical mystery in award-winning author Mary Miley's 1920s Chicago-set series introduces reluctant sleuth Maddie Pastore and takes readers into a dark and dangerous world of mobsters, speakeasies and seances. It's 1924, and Maddie Pastore has it made. A nice house, a loving husband with a steady job - even if it is connected to Chicago's violent Torrio-Capone gang - and a baby on the way. But then Tommy is shot dead, and she learns her husband had a secret that turns her life upside down. Penniless and grieving, Maddie is sure of only two things: that she will survive for the sake of her baby, and that she'll never turn to the mob for help. So when she's invited to assist a well-meaning but fraudulent medium, she seizes the chance. She's not proud of her work investigating Madam Carlotta's clients, but she's proud of how well she does it. When Maddie unearths potential evidence of a dark crime, however, she faces a terrible dilemma: keep quiet and let a murderer go unpunished, or follow the trail and put herself and her baby in mortal danger . . . With its Prohibition-era setting, lively characters and enthralling historical detail, The Mystic's Accomplice is an ideal pick for readers who enjoy 1920s-set mysteries.

Deadly drinks, vicious gangsters, missing money . . . Reluctant sleuth Maddie Pastore is back with a bang, in the second Mystic's Accomplice historical mystery set in 1920s Chicago. "Miley's storytelling skills do justice to her clever, gutsy, and endearing protagonist. This is a real treat for readers who love stories set in the Roaring '20s"- Publishers Weekly Starred Review December, 1924. Young widow Maddie Pastore feels fortunate to be employed by the well-meaning but fraudulent medium Carlotta Romany. Investigating Carlotta's clients isn't work she's proud of, but she's proud of how well she does it. Maddie's talents, however, draw them unwelcome attention: sharp-eyed Officer O'Rourke from the Chicago Police. He doesn't believe in spiritualism - but in a city packed with mobsters, con artists and criminals, he'll take any help he can get. It's not long before Maddie has a case to bring him. Why did teetotal banker Herman Quillen die of alcohol poisoning? And who is the gold-toothed man claiming to be his brother, and demanding the spirits reveal where Herman hid his money? All Maddie wants is to uncover the truth - but to her horror, she's soon mixed up in a tangled web of secrets and deception that leads to the heart of Chicago's violent gangs . . . and she'll need all her wits about her if she, and her loved ones, are going to make it out again alive. Spirits and Smoke, the sequel to The Mystic's Accomplice, is an ideal pick for readers who enjoy Jazz Age mysteries with feisty female sleuths, sparkling historical detail and Prohibition high-jinks.

The first historical mystery in award-winning author Mary Miley's 1920s Chicago-set series introduces reluctant sleuth Maddie Pastore and takes readers into a dark and dangerous world of mobsters, speakeasies and seances. It's 1924, and Maddie Pastore has it made. A nice house, a loving husband with a steady job - even if it is connected to Chicago's violent Torrio-Capone gang - and a baby on the way. But then Tommy is shot dead, and she learns her husband had a secret that turns her life upside down. Penniless and grieving, Maddie is sure of only two things: that she will survive for the sake of her baby, and that she'll never turn to the mob for help. So when she's invited to assist a well-meaning but fraudulent medium, she seizes the chance. She's not proud of her work investigating Madam Carlotta's clients, but she's proud of how well she does it. When Maddie unearths potential evidence of a dark crime, however, she faces a terrible dilemma: keep quiet and let a murderer go unpunished, or follow the trail and put herself and her baby in mortal danger . . .

Medium's assistant - and reluctant sleuth - Maddie Pastore is shocked when her long-lost sister is accused of murder, in this twisty, atmospheric mystery set in 1920s Chicago. Summer, 1924. Young widow Maddie Pastore has been working for fraudulent spiritual medium Madame Carlotta for nearly a year - if 'work' you could call it. Investigating Carlotta's clients, and attending seances as her shill, keeps Maddie and her young son Tommy fed and clothed, and she's grown to love the kind, well-meaning spiritualist like family. Still, Maddie - estranged from her abusive parents for over a decade - can't help but wonder what fates befell her brothers and sisters. So when she lucks into two free tickets to a glamorous Chicago speakeasy and recognizes the star performer as her pretty little sister Sophie, she's beyond delighted. But before Maddie can meet with Sophie again, the telephone rings. It's Sophie's husband, calling in a panic to tell her that his wife is locked in the Cook County jail, charged with first-degree murder . . . Enter a dark and deadly world of seances and speakeasies, populated by fake mediums, sultry singers and dangerous mobsters! An ideal pick for readers who enjoy glitzy Jazz Age mysteries with feisty female sleuths.

Deadly drinks, vicious gangsters, missing money . . . Reluctant sleuth Maddie Pastore is back with a bang, in the second Mystic's Accomplice historical mystery set in 1920s Chicago. "Miley's storytelling skills do justice to her clever, gutsy, and endearing protagonist. This is a real treat for readers who love stories set in the Roaring '20s"- Publishers Weekly Starred Review December, 1924. Young widow Maddie Pastore feels fortunate to be employed by the well-meaning but fraudulent medium Carlotta Romany. Investigating Carlotta's clients isn't work she's proud of, but she's proud of how well she does it. Maddie's talents, however, draw them unwelcome attention: sharp-eyed Officer O'Rourke from the Chicago Police. He doesn't believe in spiritualism - but in a city packed with mobsters, con artists and criminals, he'll take any help he can get. It's not long before Maddie has a case to bring him. Why did teetotal banker Herman Quillen die of alcohol poisoning? And who is the gold-toothed man claiming to be his brother, and demanding the spirits reveal where Herman hid his money? All Maddie wants is to uncover the truth - but to her horror, she's soon mixed up in a tangled web of secrets and deception that leads to the heart of Chicago's violent gangs . . . and she'll need all her wits about her if she, and her loved ones, are going to make it out again alive. Spirits and Smoke, the sequel to The Mystic's Accomplice, is an ideal pick for readers who enjoy Jazz Age mysteries with feisty female sleuths, sparkling historical detail and Prohibition high-jinks.

1920s script girl Jessie Beckett investigates the murder of a movie projectionist in this absorbing historical mystery. "Joe Petrovitch was gunned down on a sunny Saturday afternoon in early October, during the ninth reel of Charlie Chaplin's Gold Rush." Employed by Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, Jessie Beckett has a busy time as Script Girl for Pickford-Fairbanks studios. Yet she also has a reputation as a skilled amateur sleuth. So when a projectionist is shot dead and his grieving widow asks Jessie if she can find out who killed him, Jessie is determined to find the killer and his motive. But who was the mysterious man in the red coat who fired three shots at Joe Petrovitch? And how could he enter and leave a crowded theatre without being noticed? To find the answers, Jessie must delve into the dead man's past and uncover dark secrets from another continent and another era. As she is to discover, the past has a long reach...

Can 1920's script girl Jessie do Mary Pickford's bidding and uncover a real killer? When Jessie is asked by her idol, the famous actress Mary Pickford, if she can do some private investigating for her, Jessie reluctantly accepts. A girl was found stabbed in her bedroom with another woman lying unconscious on the floor next to her, a bloody knife in her hand. With no police investigation into the murder, it's up to Jessie to hone her amateur detective skills and prove the girls innocence before she hangs for murder. But as Jessie travels through the roaring twenties world of Hollywood and movies, surreptitiously interviewing fellow travelling performers, she struggles to find the connection she needs. And with her love interest David seemingly involved in seedy dealings, can she uncover the killer's identity before she too is endangered?

The first historical mystery in Mary Miley's 1920s Chicago-set series introduces reluctant sleuth Maddie Pastore and takes readers into a dark and dangerous world of mobsters, speakeasies and seances. It's 1924, and Maddie Pastore has it made. A nice house, a loving husband with a steady job - even if it is connected to Chicago's violent Torrio-Capone gang - and a baby on the way. But then Tommy is shot dead, and she learns her husband had a secret that turns her life upside down. Penniless and grieving, Maddie is sure of only two things: that she will survive for the sake of her baby, and that she'll never turn to the mob for help. So when she's invited to assist a well-meaning but fraudulent medium, she seizes the chance. She's not proud of her work investigating Madam Carlotta's clients, but she's proud of how well she does it. When Maddie unearths potential evidence of a dark crime, however, she faces a terrible dilemma: keep quiet and let a murderer go unpunished, or follow the trail and put herself and her baby in mortal danger . . . With its Prohibition-era setting, lively characters and enthralling historical detail, The Mystic's Accomplice is an ideal pick for readers who enjoy 1920s-set mysteries.

1920s script girl Jessie Beckett investigates the murder of a movie projectionist in this absorbing historical mystery. "Joe Petrovitch was gunned down on a sunny Saturday afternoon in early October, during the ninth reel of Charlie Chaplin's Gold Rush." Employed by Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, Jessie Beckett has a busy time as Script Girl for Pickford-Fairbanks studios. Yet she also has a reputation as a skilled amateur sleuth. So when a projectionist is shot dead and his grieving widow asks Jessie if she can find out who killed him, Jessie is determined to find the killer and his motive. But who was the mysterious man in the red coat who fired three shots at Joe Petrovitch? And how could he enter and leave a crowded theatre without being noticed? To find the answers, Jessie must delve into the dead man's past and uncover dark secrets from another continent and another era. As she is to discover, the past has a long reach...

Contains a wealth of easy-to-understand, practical information on canary selection, feeding, housing, health, breeding, and more, The Practical Canary Handbook is an invaluable guide to breeding and keeping canaries.

Offering expert advice for every phase of museum store management, this volume is essential reading for anyone planning to open or manage a museum store. Theobald takes the guesswork out of planning and managing the museum store, informing the manager on all relevant topics such as sales tables, profits, licensing, training, product promotion, publications, inventory, merchandise, and trademarks, just to name a few. The Second Edition contains an additional chapter on merchandising, updated statistics, POS information, more illustrations and examples, additional advice on Related/Unrelated products ('Tax Status and the IRS'), and Internet information on vendors and other resources.

In 1924 a young vaudeville actress takes on the role of a lifetime when she impersonates a missing heiress in this 2012 MB/MWA First Novel Competition winner.

In 1917 Jessie Carr, fourteen years old and sole heiress to her family s vast fortune, disappeared without a trace. Now, years later, her uncle Oliver Beckett thinks he s found her: a young actress in a vaudeville playhouse is a dead ringer for his missing niece. But when Oliver confronts the girl, he learns he s wrong. Orphaned young, Leah s been acting since she was a toddler.

Oliver, never one to miss an opportunity, makes a proposition with his coaching, Leah can impersonate Jessie, claim the fortune, and split it with him. The role of a lifetime, he says. A one-way ticket to Sing Sing, she hears. But when she s let go from her job, Oliver s offer suddenly looks a lot more appealing. Leah agrees to the con but secretly promises herself to try and find out what happened to the real Jessie. There s only one problem: Leah s act won t fool the one person who knows the truth about Jessie s disappearance.

Set against a Prohibition-era backdrop of speakeasies and vaudeville houses, Mary Miley s "The Impersonator" will delight readers with its elaborate mystery and lively prose.