Kate Collins

The dazzling debut novel from Kate Collins--a feminist gothic mystery spanning decades, in the vein of Mexican Gothic and The Essex Serpent. Once upon a time Orla was: a woman, a painter, a lover. Now she is a mother and a wife, and when her husband Nick suggests that their city apartment has grown too small for their lives, she agrees, in part because she does agree, and in part because she is too tired to think about what she really does want. She agrees again when Nick announces with pride that he has found an antiquated Georgian house on the Dorset cliffs--a good house for children, he says, tons of space and gorgeous grounds. But as the family settles into the mansion--Nick absent all week, commuting to the city for work--Orla finds herself unsettled. She hears voices when no one is around; doors open and close on their own; and her son Sam, who has not spoken in six months, seems to have made an imaginary friend whose motives Orla does not trust. Four decades earlier, Lydia moves into the same house as a live-in nanny to a grieving family. Lydia, too, becomes aware of intangible presences in the large house, and she, like Orla four decades later, becomes increasingly fearful for the safety of the children in her care. But no one in either woman's life believes her: the stories seem fanciful, the stuff of magic and mayhem, sprung from the imaginations of hysterical women who spend too much time in the company of children. Are both families careening towards tragedy? Are Orla and Lydia seeing things that aren't there? What secrets is the house hiding? A feminist gothic tale perfectly suited for the current moment, A Good House for Children combines an atmospheric mystery with resonant themes of motherhood, madness, and the value of a woman's work.

A Good House for Children

When her vintage Corvette falls victim to a hit-and-run, flower shop owner Abby Knight, crusader for all things good, joins forces with gorgeous cop Marco Salvare to catch the culprit, an investigation that becomes filled with deadly twists and turns. Original.

Mum's the Word

Flower shop owner Abby Knight, forced to deliver a black rose to her old law school nemesis, finds herself the prime suspect in a murder case when a professor who recently had her arrested at an animal rights protest is found dead with a black rose next to his body. Original.

A Flower Shop Mystery

Snipped in the Bud

When her bride-to-be cousin's wedding party begins to disappear, resulting in murder, floral designer, bridesmaid, and occasional sleuth Abby Knight teams up with her family, a sexy bar owner, and her assistant to find the truth and to give her cousin the wedding day she deserves. Original.

Slay It with Flowers

Wearing a hideous floral-print bridesmaid dress to please her cousin Jillian, Abby Knight, owner of Bloomers Flower Shop, stumbles upon the body of Jack Snyder, a wedding guest, while searching for the groom's missing ninety-year-old grandmother. Original.

Dearly Depotted

During the Midwestern Funeral Directors Association's regional convention, the event organizer is found dead in a casket, and flower shop owner Abby Knight launches her own investigation when her friend Delilah becomes a suspect.

A Rose from the Dead

In this delightful new series by the New York Times bestselling author of the Flower Shop Mysteries, Athena Spencer comes back home to work with her crazy big Greek family at their garden center. But she never expected a return to her roots would mean protecting her family from murder . . . After her divorce, Athena has returned to coastal Michigan to work in her family's garden center and raise her son, while also caring for a mischievous wild raccoon and fending off her family's annoying talent for nagging. Working alone at the garden center one night, Athena is startled by a handsome stranger who claims to be the rightful owner of a valuable statue her grandfather purchased at a recent estate sale. But she has even bigger problems on her plate. The powerful Talbot family from whom her pappoús bought the statue is threatening to raze the shops on Greene Street's "Little Greece" to make way for a condo. The recent death of the family's patriarch already seemed suspicious, but now it's clear that a murderer is in their midst. Athena will have to live up to her warrior goddess namesake to protect her family from a killer and save their community from ruin . . . "Kate Collins delivers an entertaining, amusing, and deliciously suspenseful mystery." --Cleo Coyle, New York Times bestselling author

Statue of Limitations

Big Fat Greek Murder

Abby Knight's marriage may be in full bloom, but house hunting is no bed of roses in latest novel in the "New York Times" bestselling Flower Shop Mystery series... Now that they've tied the knot, flower shop owner Abby Knight and her husband, Marco, want to put down roots. When it comes to picking a house, Marco can't wait to get his hands dirty, while Abby isn't ready for a fixer-upper. But conflict really sprouts when they're checking out a dilapidated Victorian and watch a construction worker take a life-threatening tumble. Since witnesses claim the man shouted for help, suggesting that the fall was no accident, the victim's flamboyant wife hires Marco to find the person responsible. Meanwhile, Abby keeps secret from Marco her own investigation into the home's inhabitants, a family whose off-kilter behavior has aroused her suspicions. If only Abby's very pregnant cousin, Jillian, will stop distracting Abby with false labor pains, she can conclude her own inquiries before Marco finds out...and her case blossoms into a disaster.

A Root Awakening

As the Pickle Fest fast approaches, flower shop owner Abby Knight must dig up clues surrounding the murder of Snuggles the Clown when her new, but mysterious, boyfriend is accused of the crime. Original.

Acts of Violets

Imitation is not the sincerest form of flattery in this mystery that finds Abby Knight accused of murder when Elizabeth Blume, a woman intent on making her life miserable by taking over her life, is found dead. Original.

Shoots to Kill

When an attempt is made on her life after she protests Uniworld Food's harmful farming practices, florist Abby Knight calls in her ex-Army Ranger boyfriend Marco to protect her and help her discover the guilty party.

Sleeping with Anemone

When "sue happy" singer Cody Verse's lawyer, Ken "the Lip" Lipinski, is found murdered, and her old boss Dave Hammond is accused of the crime, florist Abby Knight digs through the clues to weed out the real killer. Original.

Dirty Rotten Tendrils

Flower shop owner Abby Knight, while hobbling around on crutches, agrees to help her fiance, Marco, clear the name of his old army buddy Vlad Serban, who everyone thinks is a vampire--and responsible for the death of local nursing director Lori Willis. Original. 25,000 first printing.

Night of the Living Dandelion

Flower shop owner Abby Knight, while dealing with her future mother-in-law, works to clear her assistant, Grace Bingham, of a murder charge when she is accused of killing a wealthy dowager who has left her a large sum of money.

To Catch a Leaf

When her ex-fiancâe Pryce Osborne is accused of murdering his new fiancâee, flower shop owner and bride-to-be Abby Knight tries to catch the real killer, while dealing with her own wedding preparations.

Nightshade on Elm Street

As her wedding fast approaches, Abby Knight must find the true killer of the head of her favorite animal-rights charity--and finally vindicate her mother from suspicion. Original. 25,000 first printing.

Seed No Evil

When her new husband Marco finds a skeleton buried in the basement of his bar, flower shop owner Abby Knight helps Marco investigate a cold case involving a carpenter who went missing in the 1970s.

Throw in the Trowel

When her roommate Nikki's speed dating choice, Jonas Treat--aka "Treat the Cheat"--is murdered, Abby Knight enlists the help of her boyfriend Marco, an ex-Army Ranger, but when Marco's family arrives, things get even messier.

Evil in Carnations

'In her beautifully written debut, Kate Collins gives the haunted house novel a refreshing renovation, while retaining a deliciously chilling atmosphere that fans of Shirley Jackson will love. I was entranced' Francine Toon, author of Pine The perfect place to destroy a family... The Reeve stands on the edge of the Dorset cliffs, awaiting its next inhabitants. Despite Orla's misgivings, her husband insists this house will be the perfect place to raise their two children. In 1976, Lydia moves to Dorset as a nanny for a family grieving their patriarch. She soon starts to hear and feel things that cannot be real, but her bereaved employer does not listen when Lydia tells her something is wrong. Separated by forty years, both Lydia and Orla realise that the longer they stay at the Reeve, the more deadly certain their need to keep the children safe from whatever lurks inside it... Nothing is quite what it seems at the Reeve, and with its pervasive atmosphere of claustrophobia and dread, Kate Collins' gothic creation will chill you to the core.

Kate Collins

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