China Bayles Mystery series 1-21 by Susan Wittig Albert

China Bayles - An Unthymely Death and Other Garden Mysteries - Susan Wittig Albert (epub)



A delightful new collection of ten mysteries featuring lawyer-turned-herbalist China Bayles——along with a selection of her best recipes, craft ideas, and gardening lore...



China Bayles has settled into the quaint Texas town of Pecan Springs, fallen in love with former homicide detective Mike McQuaid, and opened her beloved Thyme and Seasons herb shop——all while solving more than her share of mysteries. Now you can join China in ten puzzling cases——and get a taste of her world...



This delightful collection also serves to please with loads of wonderful herbal tidbits on everything from rosemary to feverfew to catnip. You'll find such to-die-for dishes as a Deadly Chocolate Valentine, Ruby's Applesauce-Mint Bread, China's Five-Spice Chicken and Veggie Stir-Fry, and McQuaid's Tex-Mex——and a host of creative ideas for your garden and home. It's a one-of-a-kind collection featuring a one-of-a-kind sleuth——who's worth spending some "quality thyme" with!



China Bayles - China Bayles' Book of Days - Susan Wittig Albert (epub)



Readers of the China Bayles mystery novels are familiar with the usefulness and wonder of the many herbs the amateur sleuth sells in her beloved Thyme and Seasons shop. Compiled by national bestselling author Susan Wittig Albert at the request of her fans, China Bayles' Book of Days gathers together tidbits and treasures about plants and reveals ways you can put more green into your daily life. Featuring 365 days of recipes, crafts, gardening tips, remedies, and more, this special volume is a personal calendar of the legends and lore of herbs and also features brand-new essays from the author, clues from China's mysteries, and some special contributions by the irrepressible members of the Myra Merryweather Herb Guild, Pecan Springs's oldest civic organization.



China Bayles 1 - Thyme of Death - Susan Wittig Albert (epub)



China Bayles has it all - a prestigious Houston law practice, money, power - but it's not enough. She's smart, she's tough, she's confident, and she knows she wants something more out of life than the fast track offers. Something like the Thyme and Seasons herb shop in Pecan Springs, Texas. Realizing that her career is turning her into somebody she doesn't like, China does what many people only dream of doing: She relocates to a small town to begin a new and, she hopes, a gentler, more fulfilling life. But even in Pecan Springs, evil can occur among ordinary people living everyday lives. China soon learns that while she can move from the city, she can't escape the world of moral choice. When China's good friend, Jo Gilbert, apparently commits suicide, China is more than puzzled. Jo had been suffering from a terminal disease, but wasn't the type to take her own life. And, to a lawyer like China, some revealing letters that Jo leaves behind shout blackmail and murder, not suicide. But why would anybody want to kill a woman who will die soon anyway? And what about the scent of perfume in Jo's house? When another mysterious death occurs, China is sure she's dealing with homicide. Helped by her best friend, New-Ager Ruby Wilcox, and with support from lover Mike McQuaid, a former-cop-turned-professor, China follows a trail of greed and fear to discover some unsettling answers. Thyme of Death marks the memorable debut of one of the most original and appealing new female sleuths to come along in years. Readers will identify with China Bayles as she makes the kind of tough decisions that confront us all.



China Bayles 2 - Witches Bane - Susan Wittig Albert (v2.0) (epub, rtf)



READABLE COPY



The second China Bayles mystery. Herb shop owner China is shocked when Halloween hijinks take a gruesome turn in Pecan Springs, ending in a brutal murder. And China is even more shocked when her friend Ruby, a New Age expert in tarot and astrology, becomes the prime suspect after a minister accuses her of witchcraft.



China Bayles 3 - Hangman's Root - Susan Wittig Albert (UC) (epub)



PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS AN UNCORRECTED COPY



Fur is flying in Pecan Springs, Texas, as lawyer-turned-herbalist China Bayles finds herself snarled in a deadly animal rights dispute. Dottie Riddle, biology professor at Central Texas State University and the notorious Cat Lady of Pecan Springs, runs the ritziest cat rescue operation in Texas. But Dottie's generous concern for strays has earned her the hatred of neighbor and fellow biology professor Miles Harwick, and her active opposition to the biology department's animal experimentation program has brought her more academic enemies than she can count. So when Harwick is found dead with his neck in a noose, police chief Bubba Harris charges Dottie with murder. Dottie assures her good friend China Bayles that, although she hated the man, she is not a killer. As China begins to unravel the knotted threads of the dead man's life, she discovers that Dottie isn't the only one who may have wanted him dead. There's the lab assistant who knows that animals weren't the dead man's only victims. There's the student animal rights activist who pulls China's best friend, Ruby Wilcox, into the turmoil. And there's the biology chairman who shared with the dead man a festering secret that threatens the entire department. Which of them fastened the noose around the dead man's neck? Or was it, in fact, a vengeful suicide? Ably assisted by tall, flaming-haired Ruby Wilcox, law school nemesis Justine Wyzinski ("The Whiz"), and stunning Sheila ("Smart Cookie") Dawson, Chief of Security at CTSU, China digs for the root of evil deep in the hearts of people who had a motive for murder. But meanwhile she must also dig deep into her own heart to discover how she feels about sexy ex-cop Mike McQuaid, who gives her a final ultimatum about their relationship.



China Bayles 4 - Rosemary Remembered - Susan Wittig Albert (epub)



READABLE COPY



China confronts her most intriguing case yet when she finds Rosemary Robbins, a woman with an unsettling resemblance to her, murdered in a pick-up truck. The local police discover that Rosemary's fiance is on the lam in Mexico City and focus on him as the main suspect. Meanwhile, China takes the advice of a psychic and finds the killer close to home.



China Bayles 5 - Rueful Death - Susan Wittig Albert (epub)



In search of respite, China takes off to St. Theresa's Monastery with her friend Maggie, a former nun. The goal is a brief, tranquil retreat - but there's a conflict at the convent. The mother superior has recently died, and a battle over the future of St. Theresa's suggests that her sudden demise might not have been accidental. Now, China's quest for a replenished spirit takes second place to a more earthbound pursuit: catching a killer...



China Bayles 6 - Love Lies Bleeding by Susan Wittig Albert (pdf)



As a Texas Ranger, Roy Adcock outwitted plenty of dangerous characters. But now the retired Ranger has been shot dead - with his wife's gun. The case hits close to home for China, since Dolores Adcock had been at the herb shop just that morning. But what hits even closer to home is when China's longtime boyfriend starts behaving strangely after hearing the news - and China overhears a secret phone conversation between him and another woman. Now, as clues mount and accusations fly, China must question both the Adcock marriage and her own relationship - and avoid getting caught in a deadly maze of suspicion and betrayal.



China Bayles 7 - Chile Death by Susan Wittig Albert (pdf)



Ex-lawyer turned herbalist and amateur sleuth China Bayles attends a chili cookoff where a womanizing judge dies of an allergic reaction to peanuts. And since everyone knows peanuts don't belong in a bowl of Texas chili, China knows something suspicious is afoot...



China Bayles 8 - Lavender Lies - Susan Wittig Albert (epub)



Now China must put her upcoming nuptials on the back burner when a murder investigation entangles her friends and neighbors...



"Good riddance" is the response of every Pecan Springs resident to the murder of Edgar Coleman, a local real estate shark found shot to death in his garage. With the small-town gossip mill running full tilt, it doesn't take long for China to learn that Coleman was having numerous affairs and was blackmailing City Council members for their votes on a bad land development deal.



With her fiance, interim police chief Mike McQuaid immersed in the murder investigation--and the suspect list growing longer by the minute--China can forget about a honeymoon, unless she can find the killer. As China investigates, she starts digging up dirt on people she knows--and unearthing secrets best left six feet under...



China Bayles 9 - Mistletoe Man - Susan Wittig Albert (epub)



Former big-city lawyer China Bayles worked hard to make her Texas herb shop, Thyme and Seasons, a success. Now business is booming at her charming new tea room, Thyme for Tea—but China is too distracted to revel in her latest entrepreneurial triumph. When she’s not trying to spend more time with her new husband and stepson, she’s worrying about her best friend, Ruby, who just hasn’t been herself lately. To further complicate matters, China has to round up a supply of mistletoe, the season’s most popular herb. It seems an easy enough task—until her chief supplier turns up dead…



China Bayles 10 - Bloodroot by Susan Wittig Albert (pdf)



Lawyer-turned-herbalist China Bayles returns to the Deep South, where her family’s legacy of silence is at last broken—and the past finally, unforgettably, speaks the truth…



A frantic phone call from her mother brings China back to her family’s Mississippi plantation—a place she’d forsaken long ago. But the late-spring air is thick with fear—and from the moment of her arrival, China knows that something has gone desperately wrong at Jordan’s Crossing. An ancient property deed has surfaced—and the man who uncovered it has mysteriously vanished. And as the fates and fortunes of two very different families collide in frightening, unpredictable ways, China must face disturbing new questions about her family’s past—and her own future…



China Bayles 11 - Indigo Dying by Susan Wittig Albert (v5.0) (pdf)



Times have been tough on Indigo, Texas. But now, as artists flock to the countryside in growing numbers, Indigo is experiencing a revival. In town to teach a workshop, herbalist China Bayles, like so many others, is committed to bringing Indigo back to life. Only one person stands in their way: longtime resident Casey Ford, who has decided to sell his profitable mining rights. Once the deal is done, Indigo will be dead and buried. But when Ford winds up dead himself, China, along with her best friend Ruby, quietly begin their own investigation to discover who is behind the murder. Before long, it becomes chillingly clear that this is a town with its share of dark secrets-secrets that someone thinks are worth killing to keep.



China Bayles 12 - A Dilly of a Death by Susan Wittig Albert (v5.0) (pdf)



China Bayles is in a pickle. The daughter of her best friend, Ruby, has turned up on her doorstep, pregnant and in need of a place to live. And her otherwise sensible husband has announced that he's bored with teaching and ready for a career change." "Say "hello" to P.I. Mike McQuaid and Associates. There aren't actually any "associates" - unless you count Ruby and China, of course. But the title does have a nice, official ring to it. His first client is Phoebe the Pickle Queen, owner of the biggest little pickle business in Texas. According to Phoebe, her plant manager is embezzling, and she wants McQuaid to follow the money." Meanwhile, Pecan Springs is hosting the annual Picklefest - and this year, China and Ruby are on the planning committee, along with Phoebe. But just days before the festival starts, the Pickle Queen disappears. Some say she sold her business and split; others think the answer may lie with her missing boyfriend. It's up to McQuaid and China to search for the Pickle Queen - and for clues in a case that promises to leave a very sour taste.



China Bayles 13 - Dead Man's Bones - Susan Wittig Albert (retail) (epub)



When China’s teenage son finds some skeletal remains during a local cave dig—remains that show a not-so-accidental death—it’s a disturbing development. But China doesn’t let it distract her from the opening of the new community theater donated by the elderly Obermann sisters. Unfortunately, the haughty, bullying Jane Obermann—and her frail, frightened younger sister—made the donation with a condition: that the first production be a play written by Jane about their aristocratic family history.



The premiere party ends with a bang when a ne’er-do-well local handyman is shot dead by Jane while breaking into the Obermann estate. It seems like a clear-cut case of self-defense. But China senses something else going on behind the scenes. Now, the key to catching a killer might be the mysterious bones in the cave—a clue from the past that could help China solve a mystery in the present…



China Bayles 14 - Bleeding Hearts by Susan Wittig Albert (pdf)



High school football coach Tim Duffy is handsome, charming, and married into a wealthy local family. But now, an anonymous accuser has made shocking allegations of improper behavior-and China Bayles is asked to conduct a discreet investigation.



What she uncovers is a perplexing story of forbidden desire, deception, and questionable circumstances surrounding a young woman's death. And the deeper China digs, the more she fears that the town's beloved coach may be more dangerous than anyone knows.



China Bayles 15 - Spanish Dagger by Susan Wittig Albert (pdf)



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.



To put the unsavory business out of her mind, she's gathering supplies for making paper. But in a patch of yucca plants, she finds a body-cause of death unknown. Many residents of Pecan Springs live seemingly simple lives that hide complex and dangerous pasts, and it appears the victim was one of them. Now, while unraveling secrets that hit close to home, China must set the record straight-and find a killer.



China Bayles 16 - Nightshade by Susan Wittig Albert (pdf)



China's herb shop and catering business may be thriving, but she's still reeling from her father's death, and not even remotely interested in her half-brother Miles's investigation into that event. China's husband, on the other hand, has no such qualms. And when fate forces her to get involved as well, China realizes it's time to bring the past to light-or else it will haunt her the rest of her life.



But China and McQuaid discover that Miles may have been keeping as many secrets as he seemed determined to uncover. How deep do the layers of secrecy go? And who has a stake in concealing the truth after sixteen years?



China Bayles 17 - Wormwood by Susan Wittig Albert (pdf)

China Bayles 18 - Holly Blues - Susan Wittig Albert (epub)

China Bayles 19 - Mourning Gloria - Susan Wittig Albert (epub)

China Bayles 20 - Cat's Claw - Susan Wittig Albert (epub)

China Bayles 21 - Widow's Tears - Susan Wittig Albert (epub)