When the neighborhood Scrooge, former child star Scotty Parker, is murdered, freelance writer Jaine Austen, who was helping him stage a comeback, finds herself on the list of suspects and must find the real killer.

Without a job or a date in sight, freelance writer Jaine Austen is equally out of luck in finance and romance. So when her friend Lance offers to treat her to brunch at the Four Seasons, Jaine leaps at the invite. They've barely made it through the menu when Lance spots his friend Bunny, who is the new trophy wife of mattress maven Marvin Cooper. When Bunny generously offers Jaine a gig writing Marv's new advertising campaign, Jaine accepts the job,...

"When she is hired to write lyrics for a contestant in the talent competition for the Miss Teen Queen America pageant, freelance writer Jaine Austen is plunged into a glittering nightmare of vicious stage moms, exacting judges and trash-talking teens after a catfight turns deadly"--

If clothes make the man, then what do Jaine Austen's elastic-waist pants and T-shirts make her? A fashion nightmare, according to her neighbor, Lance. She doesn't expect Lance-who works in the designer shoe department at Nieman Marcus-to understand... which is how she ends up visiting his favorite boutique, Passions. While the couture is definitely not for Jaine, the staff's gossip is. Tiny orange-haired clerk Becky starts complaining about her coworker...

The future is looking bright for freelance writer Jaine Austen. She's signed up for a new job, she's looking forward to a tropical vacation, and her cat Prozac is slated to star in a major commercial. But when the claws come out behind the scenes, Jaine worries that murder might be the only thing to meow about. . . .

Freelance writer Jaine Austen and her cat Prozac investigate the murder of a demanding actress set to star in a play based on a short-lived zombie sitcom.

Jaine's life has been a royal pain since she started penning dialogue for Some Day My Prince Will Come - a cheesy dating show that features bachelorettes competing for the heart of Spencer Dalworth VII, a very distant heir to the British throne. As if fending off golf ball-sized bugs on a sweltering island wasn't tough enough, Jaine must test her patience against an irritable production crew and fierce contestants who will do anything to get their...

"Uber-stylist Bebe Braddock plans to juice up her Instagram feed, and thinks Jaine would make a perfect "Before & After" model. At Lance's insistence Jaine is ushered into Bebe's sprawling Brentwood spread to await her transformation. Yet, while the surroundings are glamorous, the atmosphere is toxic as Bebe bullies her team of assistants, and even her husband, into obeying her every whim. Having earned the wrath of everyone in her orbit, few are...

Three mystery writers contribute candy cane-themed stories. In "Candy Cane Murder", a trail of candy canes leads to a corpse outfitted in a Santa suit, and Hannah Swensen sets out to discover who killed Kris Kringle. In "The Dangers of Candy Canes", a wealthy suburbanite takes a lethal tumble off his roof while installing a giant candy cane. Now it's up to Jaine Austen to sift through a long list of scheming neighbors with dirty secrets in their stockings...