BOOKS – Laura DiNunno

MYSTERIES (cozy, historical)

A FAMILY MATTER : a Lacey Stocking mystery

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Pittsburgh, 1948

Someone wants Edwin McMasters dead. He’s old. He’s loaded. He’s a ruthless businessman. And he has three greedy adult children who stand to inherit a fortune, and the family business, when he’s gone. Is it one of them or one of his business rivals?

After a brief phone call with the cranky millionaire, Lacey Stocking, one half of the Hardley A. Witt Detective Agency, reluctantly takes the case. Lacey and Hardley expect a quick meeting with their client to discuss details. Instead, they’re hauled off at gunpoint to the McMasters’ family estate to uncover who wants the old man dead. With a shadowy figure lurking about, death threats, and a missing daughter will Lacey and Hardley stop the killer before it’s too late?

ROAD KILL : a Lacey Stocking mystery

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After working on the McMasters’ case, where toxic family dynamics were on full display, Lacey is ready to make amends with her estranged brothers, so she boards a bus to Chicago, with Hardley in tow, to pay them a visit.

A wicked rainstorm moves in, causing Lacey to have second thoughts about the trip. Her fellow passengers are just as much on edge as she is, but for some, it has nothing to do with the weather. Poor visibility, flooded roads, they take shelter at a mountain lodge to wait for the storm to pass. Tensions rise. Someone dies. And now Lacey’s trip back home turns into a mystery to solve.

DEAD JOHN : a Lacey Stocking mystery

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Unassuming insurance man, Tom Harper, suspects his wife, Stella, is cheating on him so he hires Lacey to trail her. But when she catches Stella in the act of committing a crime, Lacey quickly learns there’s more to sweet, innocent Stella than meets the eye. As Lacey and Hardley get deeper into their investigation, they can’t shake the feeling that this case feels like a game someone is playing and they’re the pawns.

CHECKED OUT : a Ricki Rydell mystery

When bored and burnt-out romance writer, Ricki Rydell, stumbles upon a woman’s body in the bathroom at her local library, she’s in for the ride of her life. Because solving a murder is infinitely better than writing another book, isn’t it?

As she digs into the victim’s life, Ricki uncovers secrets about people she thought she knew and learns there’s a seedier side to her community that can make even a seasoned romance writer like herself blush.

In over her head and longing for her boring old life as a reclusive writer, Ricki is on the trail of a killer and finding herself in more and more danger. Will Ricki solve this mystery before she becomes the next victim?

WAKE UP TO MURDER : a Ricki Rydell mystery

When Ricki is invited to appear on a new talk show to promote her latest book, she declines, of course. After coming face-to-face with a killer while working on her first case, all she wants is to go back to living a normal life, and that doesn’t include public appearances. But her agent insists that she does the interview.

On the day of the show, the host turns up missing and Ricki was the last person to see her alive. Once again, Ricki finds herself investigating a murder. This time, things are personal. Old friends and lovers come back into her life. A saboteur lurks in shadow, wreaking havoc on Ricki’s career. Things look bad for Ricki unless she can find the real murderer before she’s accused of a crime she didn’t commit.
Available in e-book and paperback.
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YOUNG ADULT & MIDDLE GRADE

THE GOOD DAUGHTER

At seventeen, Christa Pierce has the perfect life. She’s rich, pretty, the smartest in her senior class, and a star of the high school cross-country team. She has everything. She is everything. A winner.

But it’s all a lie.

The pretty face is a mask she wears to hide family secrets that shine like bruises. A disguise to cover what her father’s cruelty has stolen from her, including the mother she never knew.

THE VOICES UPSTAIRS

Fourteen-year-old Jason Myers thinks he’s a hero for taking down the school bully. So he got suspended. What’s the big deal? It’s a week off from school, right? But Jason’s little vacation quickly turns into a week-long stay with his grandmother to keep him out of trouble. With no freedom, no cell phone, no video games, and a house that reeks of cat pee, life can’t get any worse for Jason.

…until the dead start talking.

Now Jason has bigger things to worry about. What do the ghostly voices coming from upstairs in his grandmother’s house want with him? As Jason searches for answers, he learns the house holds a dark family secret and that some will do anything to keep that secret buried in the past.
Available in e-book and paperback.
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NOVELLAS

DEAD, STILL BREATHING

Owen Stanford isn’t a man who does things on a whim, so when the notion strikes him to drive over 200 miles to a place he’s never been before, he wonders if madness isn’t far off. The minute he steps foot in the small community, he knows he’s not welcome. The mountains don’t want him there. Their secrets want to remain untouched and buried. The people don’t want him there. Bloodlines run deep and outsiders aren’t to be trusted, especially when they start asking too many questions that only the dead will answer.
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DOLL PARTS : a slightly demented and somewhat humorous short story

Lonely Thomas Wharton is searching for the perfect girl. Except she doesn’t exist. Yet. But with a collection of dolls and a satanic ritual, he’s about to change all that. What could possibly go wrong? Well, it turns out, everything.
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POETRY

THERE I AM IN PIECES AGAIN

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THE LIFE CYCLE OF A STAR

The Life Cycle of a Star is a collection of poetry about taking your life back after leaving an oppressive belief system, raising your voice when the past wants to silence you, finding your self-worth when destructive thoughts hold you back, and hoping for the magic of love when wishing on a dying star.
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