Theodora Bentley mysteries

2009 Winner of the Arizona Book Award for Mystery/Suspense If Lucy, the pregnant Giant Anteater from Belize, didn't kill the man found dead in her enclosure at California's Gunn Zoo, who did? Zookeeper Teddy Bentley must find the real murderer before her furry friend is shipped off to another zoo in disgrace. Then another human bites the dust, the monkeys riot, and the wolves go nuts. Things get worse when the snooty folks at Gunn Landing Harbor...

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. Jerry seems to have given up his cons and schemes but not his phony séances. Then Amelia Lever, an unpopular teacher at Celosia Elementary School, dies mysteriously. Convinced hers is not a natural death, Maddy starts to investigate. And then comes Maddy's...

When a county employee is found shot to death in broad daylight while sitting in his county road grader, Undersheriff Bill Gastner is faced with puzzling questions. The simplest explanation - that an errant bullet from a careless target shooter's rifle blew out Larry Zipoli's brains - is soon discarded. The fatal bullet shows no rifling marks, and investigation reveals that the shooter walked directly toward the road grader, in full view of the victim...