Bay Tanner Mystery
8 primary works • 11 total works
Book 3
From the ashes of the past, a voice cries out for justice... Still recovering both physically and emotionally from the brutal murder of her husband, financial consultant Bay Tanner finds herself enmeshed in crime when a shirttail cousin Mercer Mary Prescott drops disastrously into her life. Jailed for vagrancy, Mercer appeals to Bay's father, a wheelchair-bound retired judge. Vulnerable one moment, sly and secretive the next, the scruffy young woman seems obsessed with the history of Bay's aristocratic family. Her prying is interrupted, however, when she is hauled from the Judge's antebellum mansion and charged with trespassing at a nearby nuclear facility. Bay's relief at the departure of her meddlesome cousin is short-lived as a procession of dangerous characters come gunning for Mercer, now on the run after escaping from her police escort. When Bay's housekeeper is viciously attacked, she launches her own search, enlisting the aid of computer wizard Erik Whiteside and her brother-in-law, sheriff's deputy Red Tanner. As the body count rises and Bay finds herself confronted by a group of ruthless anti-nuke fanatics, only Mercer can explain the connection between the terrors of the present and the long-buried secrets of "Perditon House." Like the two previous Bay Tanner novels, "Perdition House" is an original and complex mystery filled with the breathtaking beauty of the South Carolina Lowcountry and the unique social customs of a Southern aristocracy still clinging tenaciously to its traditions.
Book 4
Bay Tanner's agency gets started when she, the Judge, and Erik look into the death of Erik's old friend. Before he was murdered, Gray contacted Erik to tell him that he had found the body of a recently killed man while working as an archaeologist on the islands off of South Carolina. The next day, Gray's body is found underwater, tied to his boat, his face mutilated by the boat's propeller. As Bay and Erik get closer to the truth, they find themselves uncovering secrets that have long been buried
Book 5
In the South, the past can never be forgotten . . . or forgiven. When Alain Darnay suddenly reappears on Hilton Head, Bay Tanner believes she and her former lover can finally settle into something resembling a normal life. But her tenuous peace is shattered by an innocent-looking boy with cold blue eyes who will force her to relive the nightmare of her husband's murder, to face that terrifying summer of treachery, deceit, and death. Cart Anderson, a recently orphaned teenager burning with resentment, wants to know how and why his father, Geoffrey, died, and he's convinced Bay has the answers. But shortly after a confrontation with her in the parking lot of a glitzy resort hotel, the boy disappears. His empty car is found splattered with blood at an abandoned fort on nearby St. Helena Island, and suddenly Bay and her lover find themselves the chief suspects. When retired New York homicide detective Ben Wyler enters the case, the web of circumstantial evidence against them begins to pile up. But what does the ancient black woman, whose ramshackle cottage sits next to the old fort, know about the boy's disappearance? And why is the entire county so willing to believe Bay is guilty? Enlisting the aid of her former partner, Erik Whiteside, and an ambitious local reporter, Bay begins to unravel a plot so intricate, so devious, it could shatter not only her own life but those of everyone she holds dear. From the gated enclaves of the Southern aristocracy to the dusty, echoing passageways of an abandoned fort, from the secret vaults of an offshore bank to the twisted mind of a vengeful child, "Resurrection Road "speeds to a deadly confrontation that will alter Bay Tanner's world forever.
Book 6
With the tragedy of her husband's murder finally resolved, Bay is hoping for a little tranquility ... but that is shattered when a call girl swears she has been viciously attacked, and a corpse is found on Hilton Head beach.
Book 7
A freak summer storm has Bay Tanner, sometime private investigator, cooped up with her ailing father at his antebellum mansion near Hilton Head. Desperate for a distraction, Bay recovers a cooler bobbing along on the incoming tide, never imagining the misery she will unleash when she discovers what's inside. Meanwhile, her investigation into the simple case of a runaway wife turns lethal. While the sheriff is eager to nail the wealthy, prominent husband for murder, Bay's instincts tell her there's more to the story. Time and again, every trail leads back to a mystical commune in the tangled backwoods of Beaufort County and to one of its leaders, a charismatic woman who believes in the real and malevolent power of curses. To find a killer, Bay must travel to the heart of this woman 's world - and not everyone will escape unscathed from Sanctuary Hill.
Book 8
Things are heating up between young widow Bay Tanner, sometime private investigator, and Red, local sheriff's sergeant and her late husband's brother. But a new case that strikes too close to home endangers more than just her love life. An unexpected call from her housekeeper's son hints that a recent hit-and-run may have been more than an accident. Roberto fears the victim, a local crusader for the rights of illegal immigrants, may have been silenced. But almost immediately it becomes clear that the dead girl was not the intended victim, and before Bay has a chance to launch an investigation, Roberto himself disappears.Meanwhile, Red and the rest of the sheriff's deputies are working overtime to solve a string of hold ups terrorizing local businesses and banks. When Lavinia Smalls, long time companion to Bay's crippled father, is caught up in one of these robberies, Bay finds herself enmeshed in yet another mystery. What does Lavinia know about this gang of thieves, and why is she so reluctant to share her secret? What clues does her friend, the ancient black man with the intricately carved walking stick, carry in his muddled memory?
Then the strange phone calls begin, and Bay realizes someone desperately wants her off the case - but which one? Determined to protect those she regards as family, Bay struggles against the fear that she may be endangering the very people she's come to love in order to bring a killer to justice. Almost too late, she discovers that tempers run hot and prejudices deep when it comes to the growing immigrant population of the sultry South Carolina Lowcountry.
Then the strange phone calls begin, and Bay realizes someone desperately wants her off the case - but which one? Determined to protect those she regards as family, Bay struggles against the fear that she may be endangering the very people she's come to love in order to bring a killer to justice. Almost too late, she discovers that tempers run hot and prejudices deep when it comes to the growing immigrant population of the sultry South Carolina Lowcountry.
Book 9
Private Investigator Bay Tanner is hired by a young mother desperate to locate her estranged family. Joline Eastman's daughter is dying of leukemia, and all other sources for a bone-marrow transplant have been exhausted. A yellowing photograph and a handful of wartime letters are the only clues she has to offer. But it's what she's not willing to share that may hold the ultimate solution to saving her daughter's life. Meanwhile, Bay has her own family to worry about. A phone call from Lavinia Smalls, her aging father's companion and caretaker, sends her rushing to the hospital. A few, whispered words, uttered in a moment of semi-conscious confusion, shatter her world and launch Bay on a quest that will redefine everything she thought she knew about herself. Batting time, Bay and her late husband's brother, sheriff's sergeant Red Tanner, search desperately for Joline's missing family, only to discover that an old murder and a haunted woman from Bay's past may hold the key to everything.
Book 10
When bank employee Cecelia Dobbs approaches Bay Tanner's inquiry agency, Bay has no idea her association with the awkward young woman will lead to murder. Concerned that one of her colleagues may be running a scam on the elderly and very wealthy Castlemains of Hilton Head Island, Cecelia is seeking proof she can take to the authorities. The other object of her suspicion is the couple's caretaker, flamboyant Kendra Blaine, whose interest in teller Dalton Chambers may be more than just as partners-in crime. When Mrs. Castlemain dies suddenly of an apparent heart attack, less than twenty-four hours after she accepts the case, Bay is stunned. Still mourning the loss of her father, Bay is also trying to adjust to her recent marriage. Since joining Bay's staff, Red has been chafing under the constraints of working for his wife, and Bay finds herself wondering if something deeper is amiss with their relationship. Then Cecelia disappears, and the Castlemains' grandson, Washington lobbyist Nicholas Potter, tries to hire the agency to investigate Kendra. He, too, believes she could be dangerous - or so he claims.
Torn between her unwilling attraction to the charismatic Nick and her growing fears about Cecelia, Bay discovers that divided loyalties can be painful - and sometimes fatal.
Torn between her unwilling attraction to the charismatic Nick and her growing fears about Cecelia, Bay discovers that divided loyalties can be painful - and sometimes fatal.
P.I. Bay Tanner is in the midst of restoring her Hilton Head home after a hurricane when Winston Wolfe, a bestselling true crime writer, approaches her with a most unusual missing person's case. The seemingly simultaneous disappearance of Morgan Tyler Bell and his personal assistant from his private island as well as the suicide of his housekeeper has never been completely put to rest. And Bell's sizable estate has been held up in court and will remain so until he's declared legally dead. Wolfe says he wants to help his old friend's family. Yet, this is exactly the kind of story that has made him wealthy, so as deep as his loyalties run his true motives may run deeper still. "Jericho Cay" is packed with southern charm, and local colour making it a terrific addition to one of the most absorbing mystery series in bookstores today.