Mimi Goldman Chautauqua Mysteries Series

Where's the Beef is the second book, and only novelette, in Deb Pines' traditional whodunit Chautauqua Mysteries featuring the wise and witty reporter sleuth of a certain age Mimi Goldman. "An Agatha Christie for the text-message age," IndieReader calls the series. After solving multiple murders in her splashy 2013 debut, Mimi Goldman, the lovable New York City expat/single mom/Chautauquan Daily reporter, is back! This time, she faces a more lighthearted challenge: Where's the beef? Or, really: What's become of meat deliveries that keep disappearing from a locked kitchen in the Rosebriar, a rooming-house in the historic Chautauqua Institution? Instantly, Mimi finds multiple suspects including a bitter Rosebriar guest, a prankster delivery kid and a shadowy employee. She even finds a little romance, in Walt Dellaria, a sexy engineer and ruthless Scrabble match. But the central question, Where's the Beef?, is a tough-to-solve puzzle. A twist at the end makes this whodunit also a memorable howdunit and unputdownable quick read. Fans of Agatha Christie and Louise Penny and "Only Murders in the Building" will enjoy this twist-filled tale that one reviewer called "a locked-room mystery that kept me guessing until the end."

Vengeance is Mine is the fifth book in Deb Pines' traditional whodunit Chautauqua Mysteries featuring the wise and witty reporter sleuth of a certain age Mimi Goldman. "An Agatha Christie for the text-message age," IndieReader calls the series. It's the Fourth of July in 2017 when this mystery starts with a bang. Maureen Donahue, a Black Lives Matter filmmaker and speaker at the historic Chautauqua Institution, is killed at a raucous holiday concert -- amid the orchestra's roar and audience's popping paper bags, to simulate cannon fire at the end of Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture." A stalker who followed Donahue to Chautauqua, a peaceful, leafy, cottage-filled, lakeside summer arts community, is quickly arrested. The stalker's brother asks Mimi to help clear him. She's skeptical. She has her own wedding to plan. But, of course, the Chautauquan Daily reporter and relentless snoop, can't resist. With help from her computer-savvy son Jake, Mimi sifts through layers of secrets -- of a shadowy piano teacher, a racist personal trainer and chatty chime-master, among others -- and realizes: she's been asking all the wrong questions. The right ones unearth an ugly secret that puts Mimi close, maybe too close, to the real killer. Fans of Agatha Christie and Louise Penny and "Only Murders in the Building" will enjoy this twist-filled mystery Kirkus Reviews calls, "An engaging mystery with a late twist and an especially satisfying ending."   

The Fruit of Lies is the sixth book in Deb Pines' traditional whodunit Chautauqua Mysteries featuring the wise and witty reporter sleuth of a certain age Mimi Goldman. "An Agatha Christie for the text-message age," IndieReader calls the series. When tyrannical billionaire Thomas C. Whistler drowns in a Japanese soaking tub in his Chautauqua McMansion in July 2018, was it an accident? The police aren't sure. A note from the dead energy-bar magnate and phony TED Talk speaker says, "Don't let my killer get away with it." So reporter and relentless snoop Mimi Goldman digs in. She questions Whistler's guilty-looking heirs, his seven glib and greedy kids, including: an ambitious actor, a building contractor, a Shakespearean scholar, a socialite and daughter with Down syndrome. Assisted by her computer-savvy son Jake and her 92-year-old sidekick (and wheelman) Sylvia Pritchard, Mimi even leaves Chautauqua this time to poke around nearby pawnshops and Lily Dale, a spooky spiritualist community. Mimi feels like she's getting nowhere -- until someone runs Sylvia's car off the road, landing the pair of persistent gumshoes in a ditch. Battered but hopeful, Mimi reexamines old clues and lies until she realizes the sad truth of this case -- in time to say "I do" to her devoted beau Walt. Fans of Agatha Christie, Louise Penny, Elly Griffiths and "Only Murders in the Building" will enjoy this twist-filled mystery Kirkus Reviews calls, "A breezy distraction that will keep readers guessing."   

Crooked Paths is the seventh book in Deb Pines' traditional whodunit Chautauqua Mysteries featuring the wise and witty reporter sleuth of a certain age Mimi Goldman.   "An Agatha Christie for the text-message age," IndieReader calls the series.   When thrice-married socialite Connie dePalma sashays into Chautauqua in 2019, a neighbor says, "Here comes trouble." And, boy, was he right.   In less than a week Connie is found dead in a nearby gorge.   Many stand to benefit from Connie's demise. But that doesn't mean there was foul play, say the police.   So reporter and relentless snoop Mimi Goldman, with help from her computer-savvy son Jake and 94-year-old sidekick (and wheelman) Sylvia Pritchard, digs in -- following clues to more clues to dead ends and a threat on Mimi's life.   Recovering, Mimi re-questions everything and everyone including Connie's new husband, her apparently saintly sister, a boy-toy assistant, Connie's daughter and new beau, plus the nudists and homeless she finds at the gorge.   In the end, Mimi tries a long-shot hunch, hoping it reveals the killer lurking among Chautauqua's charming cottages, leafy streets and high-minded events -- in time for her to enjoy a visit from her new grandson.   Fans of Agatha Christie and Louise Penny and "Only Murders in the Building" will enjoy this twist-filled mystery Kirkus Reviews calls, "An entertaining addition to a reliable beach-read series." 

Wicked Schemes is the ninth book in Deb Pines' traditional whodunit Chautauqua Mysteries featuring the wise and witty reporter/grandma sleuth Mimi Goldman. "An Agatha Christie for the text-message age," IndieReader calls the top-selling series set in Chautauqua, New York.   When a local online message-board post says, "A Murder is Announced," all are welcome, on July 18, 2021, at 9:15 p.m. at Merrill Manor, Chautauqua is abuzz.   Many show up expecting a harmless murder-mystery game.   But then the lights go out. An intruder yells, "Stick 'em up." Three shots are fired. And, by the door, lies . . . the body of the intruder, in costume.   Was it a botched robbery? Or something else?   In this page-turning riff on an Agatha Christie classic, the police, of course, are no help. So reporter and relentless snoop Mimi Goldman (aka Chautauqua's Miss Marple) and her fearless 90-year-old sidekick Sylvia tackle their ninth and trickiest whodunit yet.   Fans of Agatha Christie and Louise Penny and "Only Murders in the Building" will enjoy this intricately plotted whodunit that's been called a "rollicking homage to the Queen of Mystery."

A Plague Among Us is the eighth book in Deb Pines' traditional whodunit Chautauqua Mysteries featuring the wise and witty reporter/grandma sleuth Mimi Goldman. "An Agatha Christie for the text-message age," Indie Reader says. It's August 2020 when Al Martin, the editor of a satiric Chautauqua newspaper, dies and is declared the summer arts community's first coronavirus death. The local consensus is: good riddance. Shannon Martin, a sister, arrives with questions like why was Al cremated in such a hurry and who was pranking him (with near-Biblical plagues) near the end. The police stay out of it. Reporter and relentless snoop Mimi Goldman agrees to help. But when she and Shannon unearth some ugly secrets lurking among Chautauqua's charming cottages, leafy streets and masked-for-COVID residents, Shannon flees. So it takes Mimi, with help from her usual sidekick, 95-year-old Sylvia Pritchard, to find which of Al's many haters -- including an estranged wife, three bitter siblings, a secretive caregiver, old enemies and numerous targets of his poison-pen sarcasm -- might be a ruthless killer. Fans of Agatha Christie and Louise Penny and "Only Murders in the Building" will enjoy this twist-filled mystery Kirkus Reviews calls "An intriguing and engaging crime tale with some levity to lighten the pandemic element."