Zowie! Make time to hang with Sparky, amateur detective of Bunker Hill. You’ll be glad you did! —Diane Vallere, national bestselling author of the Madison Night Mystery Series
Follow the zany crime-solving misadventures of 11-year-old street punk Sparky, the most unlikely amateur sleuth in 1932 Los Angeles. Mobsters, movie stars, murder!
Award-winning, Amazon bestselling cozy noir historical mystery series that’s fun for tweens to grown-up mystery readers!
Watch the book trailer:
The Cold Kid Case: A Sparky of Bunker Hill Mystery
Amazon US, Apple, BAM! Books-A-Million, Barnes & Noble, Barnes & Noble Nook, Bookshop.org, Kobo US, Magers & Quinn MN, Murder by the Book, Vroman’s Pasadena, Watermark Books KS
Amazon AU, Amazon CA, Amazon DE, Amazon UK, bol. BE NL, Foyles UK, Indigo CA, Kobo CA, Kobo Worldwide, Thalia DE
Ask you Librarian to order through OverDrive
The Cannibal Caper: A Sparky of Bunker Hill Mystery
Amazon US, Apple, BAM! Books-A-Million, Barnes & Noble, Barnes & Noble Nook, Bookshop.org, Kobo US, Magers & Quinn Booksellers MN, Murder by the Book, Vroman’s Pasadena, Watermark Books KS
Amazon AU, Amazon CA, Amazon DE, Amazon UK, bol. BE NL, Foyles UK, Indigo CA, Kobo CA, Kobo Worldwide, The Nile AU, Thalia DE
Ask you Librarian to order through OverDrive
The Monkey Island Murder: A Sparky of Bunker Hill Mystery
Amazon US, Apple, BAM! Books-A-Million, Barnes & Noble, Barnes & Noble Nook, Bookshop.org, Kobo US, Magers & Quinn Booksellers MN, Murder by the Book, Vroman’s Pasadena, Watermark Books KS
Amazon AU, Amazon CA, Amazon DE, Amazon UK, bol. BE NL, Foyles UK, Indigo CA, Kobo CA, Kobo Worldwide, The Nile AU, Thalia DE
Ask you Librarian to order through OverDrive
The South Seas Shenanigans: A Sparky of Bunker Hill Mystery
Amazon US, Apple, BAM! Books-A-Million, Barnes & Noble, Barnes & Noble Nook, Bookshop.org, Kobo US, Magers & Quinn Booksellers MN, Murder by the Book TX, Vroman’s Pasadena, Watermark Books KS
Amazon AU, Amazon CA, Amazon DE, Amazon UK, bol. BE NL, Foyles UK, Indigo CA, Kobo CA, Kobo Worldwide, The Nile AU, Thalia DE
Ask you Librarian to order through OverDrive
The Catalina Cahoots: A Sparky of Bunker Hill Mystery
Coming soon on May 2, 2025!
Pre-order the eBook for the May 2025 release!
Amazon US, Amazon AU, Amazon CA, Amazon DE, Amazon UK
It’s 1930s Los Angeles, and 11-year-old Sparky is a girl on the run, framed for murder in this zany cozy noir mystery.
#1 Amazon New Release, Firebird Book Award 1st Place Cozy Mystery Winner, Literary Titan Gold Book Award Winner, Author Academy Top 10 Mystery Winner, Critters Readers Poll Top 10 Finisher for both Best Mystery and Best Young Adult Book.
Depression-era downtown Los Angeles comes alive when an eleven-year-old back-alley gamin becomes fugitive suspect number-one in a Bunker Hill murder. —Jim Dawson, author of Los Angeles’s Bunker Hill: Pulp Fiction’s Mean Streets and Film Noir’s Ground Zero
I started it late Friday afternoon and found myself reading it until I had finished at about 3 in the morning. . . . I certainly give this ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ out of ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. – Jackie’s Reading Corner
Little Sparky is one unique heroine . . . (she) is a feisty, nearly fearless individual, braver even than a lot of boys she knows. — Mallory A. Haws, Mallory Heart’s Cozies and The Haunted Reading Room Reviews
I am happy to award Sparky of Bunker Hill and the Cold Kid Case a full 5 out of 5 stars. In my opinion, middle graders and older will fall in love with Sparky and her crazy cast of characters. I know I did. — My Bookish Bliss
What a fun, exciting adventure book! . . . The book has a vivid sense of time and place, with a backdrop of Hollywood just coming into the “talkies.” The story races at a fast clip from one amazing scene to another, making it a winner for kids. The squeaky clean story that somehow also reveals the corruption, brutality, and sleaze of the era, will appeal to adult readers as well. You just can’t help loving Sparky and her way of thinking and talking.
— Jackie Houchin, Here’s How It Happened
The Cannibal Caper is the 2nd Sparky of Bunker Hill Mystery
It’s end of summer 1932 in downtown Los Angeles. A gourmet cannibal is on the loose, plus missing jewels, and tommy gun trouble! The rub: it may all be Sparky’s fault.
1st Place Winner Best Young Adult Book and Top 10 Finisher for Best Mystery Novel in the Annual Critters Readers Poll.
The Cannibal Caper reached Amazon #1 New Release in pre-order! Wow! It’s all thanks to Readers like you!
“A rollicking, layered, smart mystery that’s tons of fun!” “
— Sal Nudo, award-winning journalist and author of The Newspaperman
“The author’s gift is her ability to wedge herself deeply into the mind of an 11-year-old streetwise firecracker named Sparky in this intricately woven, beautifully crafted tale.”
— Craig Leener, author of the Zeke Archer Basketball Trilogy
Cannibal Caper includes a sneak peek at the next in the series coming in 2024, The Monkey Island Murder, when things get even crazier!
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Strangely Funny X released!
Strangely Funny X, the 10th is . . . the 11th in the Strangely Funny humorous horror short story series. It is now loose in the world and takes insanity to the next level!
Strangely Funny X includes my short story, “Friends Indeed,” where cypto-creature content competition gets comically out of control.
Take your funny bone on a wild ride with any of the Strangely Funny books, or go all-in with the complete collection!
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Mardi Gras Mysteries and Mardi Gras Murder!
It’s Mardi Gras all year with these two collections of Mardi Gras-themed short mystery stories.
My stories in these anthologies explore the crime solving(?) misadventures of Josh the Actor as he plunges head on into Mardi Gras investigating!
