Barbara Allan

Brandy Borne's new life in the small Mississippi River town of Serenity is anything but serene. Moving back in with her bipolar mom, Vivian--an antique herself, who treats Brandy like a perpetual five-year old--is challenging enough, but stocking and running their antiques holiday booth at the mall together is positively daunting. And as the big Christmas season gets into full swing, they find themselves in the midst of small-town mayhem when an

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Brandy Borne finds her return home met with mayhem and murder when her mother, a larger-than-life actress and gossip, is swindled out of some priceless antiques by Clint Carson who then winds up dead, making Brandy the prime suspect in the murder investigation. Reprint.

Brandy Borne's exceedingly eccentric mother, Vivian, has been invited to perform her one-woman interpretation of "the Scottish play" (sometimes called Macbeth)--with different hats for different characters--at the neighboring town of Old York's annual fête. The weekend festival celebrates the quaint village's English flavor. Brandy, sensing a possible theatrical disaster, and savvy shih tzu Sushi, sensing possible doggy treats, tag along with the...

Brandy Borne knows the outcome of her mother Vivian's plan, however, is more likely to lean toward bizarre, especially when she hears Mother wheedle a reclusive Russian heiress into donating a truly rare item: the last Faberge egg ever created! As private bidders and representatives from Christie's and Sotheby's go at each other, and local-theatre diva Vivian barks her way into auctioneering infamy, Brandy tries her best to stay calm - all this craziness...

"The votes are in! Eccentric seventy-something Vivian Borne has (somehow) been elected county sheriff, and she's lurched into action, namingdaughter Brandy a reluctantdeputy and recruiting their spunky shih tzu Sushi as a one-doggie K-9 unit. As the dauntless duo snoops into creepy crimes plaguing an ill-fated Edgar Allan Poe festival, an eerie series of mournful murders puts them on a rocky road to dispensing Poe-etic justice. Small-town Antiqua,...

When her initial successes with her hit reality series are jeopardized by a rival show starring her police chief boyfriend's ex, Brandy finds herself framed for murder while her kooky mom sorts through a rogue's gallery of suspects.

"When popular podcaster Nicole Chatterton wants an interview for Killers Caught, true-crime author Vivian Borne is overjoyed. Finally, some recognition for the sleuthing skills the septuagenarian antiques dealer and her daughter Brandy have demonstrated, solving countless crimes in their small hometown of Serenity, Iowa! Dolled up and dressed to the nines, Vivian figures the interview is going swimmingly . . . until Nicole turns the tables, accusing...

"Vivian Borne - true-crime author, antiques dealer and ex-sheriff of Serenity, Iowa - is looking forward to meeting her new editor in London. Flying first class, rooms at the Savoy . . . Her long-suffering co-author, daughter Brandy, worries the trip will bankrupt them both, but the alternative - Mother travelling alone - is unthinkable. Brandy's almost tempted to make her fiance, Tony - Serenity's Chief of Police - call Scotland Yard and warn them...

A special holiday short story in the series starring "a hilarious team of snoops" (Joan Hess).

Hey Santa, get a clue . . .

Baby, it's cold outside at the small town of Serenity's annual Holiday Stroll festivities. But that doesn't stop Brandy Borne and her theatrical mother, Vivian, from making merry. That is, until the two find something frosty in Santa's workshop—the jolly man in red, dead as...

"Two o'clock in the morning is the perfect time to be asleep. So when long-suffering Brandy Borne is rudely awoken by her eccentric mother, Vivian, and invited on a surreptitious shopping trip, the idea is less than tempting. But if Vivian - Serenity's true-crime writing, septuagenarian super-sleuth - has a nose for sniffing out antiques, Brandy's sense of smell is just as good ... and trouble's on the wind. A little light blackmail and one run-in...