The annual chili cook-off sounds like a nice respite from the stress, so China Bayles gladly accoumpanies her wheelchair-bound sweetheart to the event. But tragedy strikes when cook-off judge Jerry Jeff Cody dies of a severe allergic reactionto a peanut. Everyone knows that peanuts don't belong in a bowl of Texas chili...and China knows something suspicious is afoot. China Bayles (Rueful Death, LJ 10/1/96) contends with the paralysis of her new husband,...

Best-selling author Susan Wittig Albert sets this cozy mystery in the small West Texas town of Pecan Springs. As the Christmas decorating season approaches, Thyme & Seasons proprietor China Bayles feels overwhelmed. While she tries to balance her new roles of wife and step-mom with the demands of her thriving herbal shop, her business partner-and best friend-Ruby mysteriously disappears. Soon China's cantankerous mistletoe supplier Carl turns up dead....

National best-selling author and resident of Texas, Susan Wittig Albert pens a quirky, but chilling mystery. When Casey Ford threatens to sell his property to a strip mining company, the townsfolk fear that Indigo will be lost forever. Protecting the town is important-so important that someone is willing to kill Casey to keep their home from being ruined. Now, in addition to running the town's cultural crusade, China Bayles must find Casey's murderer....

New York Times best-selling author of A Dilly of a Death, Susan Wittig Albert adds Dead Man's Bones to her widely acclaimed China Bayles mystery series. Publishers Weekly says China is "in a class with lady sleuths V. I. Warshawski and Stephanie Plum." Deep in Texas hill country, ex-lawyer China thinks life is hectic enough already, and then her teenage son unearths human remains while digging in a nearby cave.

Between the herb shop, the catering business, and a weekend paper-making class, China Bayles has her work cut out for her. And now China's half-brother is opening up old wounds, trying to investigate their father's supposedly accidental death, and her husband is taking on the case-meaning she's just bound to get involved.

While getting some much needed rest and assisting with some herbal workshops, China Bayles stumbles over old secrets in a Kentucky Shaker village after a shocking death occurs during her stay.

After a woman is killed in an arson-homicide, Jessica Nelson, an intern-reporter at the local paper, is assigned to cover the story. When Jessica disappears, China Bayles is determined to find her, before she becomes a headline herself.

Herbalist ex-lawyer China Bales investigates the murder of a teller at the Pecan Springs bank and follows the clues to a haunted bed and breakfast.

"It's Thanksgiving, and China Bayles is planning to visit her mother, Leatha, and her mother's husband, Sam, who are turning their ranch into a birder's retreat. She's also looking forward to seeing game warden Mack Chambers. Then Sam has a heart attack. How will Leatha manage if Sam can't work? She does have a helper, Sue Ellen Krause. But China discovers that Sue Ellen, who is leaving her marriage, is in trouble. Before Sue Ellen can tell China...

"China Bayles fears for her husband's life as an escaped convict targets him ... Max Mantel, the killer McQuaid put away years ago, has busted out of Huntsville Prison and appears to be headed for Pecan Springs. McQuaid knows there's only one way to stop the vengeful convict--set a trap with himself as bait. China wants to stay by her husband's side and keep him from harm. But McQuaid insists that she get out of town and go to the Last Chance Olive...