Author

Ann Charles

Ann Charles
  • Deadwood, late 1876. A rowdy and reckless undertaker’s delight. What better place for a killer to blend in?

    Enter undertaker Clementine Johanssen, tall and deadly with a hot temper and short fuse, hired to clean up Deadwood’s dead … and the “other” problem. She’s hell-bent on poking, sticking, or stabbing anyone that steps out of line.

    But when a couple Santa Fe sidewinders ride into town searching for their missing uncle, they land neck deep in lethal gunplay, nasty cutthroats, and endless stinkin’ snow. Their search leads them to throw in with Clementine to hunt for a common enemy.

    What they find chills them all to the bone and sends them on an adventure they’ll never forget.

    From the bestselling, multiple award–winning, humorous Deadwood Mystery series comes a new herd of tales set in the same Deadwood stomping grounds, only back in the days when the Old West town was young.

  • “There’s gold in them there hills!” … and something deadly, too.

    Danger the likes Boone McCreery has never seen is brewing in the Black Hills. Fresh in from Santa Fe, he’s returned to Deadwood to seek justice for his uncle—and maybe to see about a girl. Little did he know his search for justice would have him stumbling into a hornets’ nest beyond his worst nightmare. One thing is for certain: the trouble he and his compadres chance upon deep in the trees is a long way from ordinary.

    Kick up your spurs and enjoy another rip-roaring, wild ride with Boone, Rabbit, Clementine, and Hank in the second book in the Deadwood Undertaker series.

  • “Hell is empty and all the devils are here.”—William Shakespeare

    Violet Parker knows better than to play with devils. They always cheat, especially when lives are at stake. Deadwood’s charming, troublemaking, and soul-sucking devils are no different, and they’re biting at her heels.

    But the clock is ticking and Violet has no choice—she must risk her life to save her treasured Aunt Zoe. With any luck, she might be able to trick the devils and beat the old terrors at their own game. If not, Deadwood could end up short one Executioner.

    “Executioners don’t duck, they swing.”—Violet Parker

  • It’s Christmas Eve, and Violet Parker has one request on her list for Santa—to make it home to her kids. Unfortunately, “home” is also the lair of her lifelong nemesis, her sister Susan, a.k.a. the devil’s concubine.

    Standing in Violet’s way is Old Man Winter, who slammed the Black Hills with a show-stopping blizzard. However, a little snow isn’t going to ground her sleigh, not with family counting on her to deliver Santa’s goods.

    Trying to keep Christmas from turning into a candy cane calamity, Violet battles her demons and struggles through the chaos storming around her. Can she make it through the holiday without cracking anyone’s nut?

    “Keep your fingers crossed this whole holiday doesn’t blow up in our faces.” —Violet Parker

  • “Trespassers will be gutted and hung!”—Slagton’s unofficial town motto

    Normally, not even drunk on a bet would Violet Parker go to Slagton, a creepy ghost town inhabited by those too stubborn—or deranged—to leave. But a certain bullheaded Deadwood detective has a problem—his informant from Slagton has gone missing. When Violet is shanghaied into taking a hunting trip to the ghost town to search for the missing snitch, she stumbles into trouble that will take more than a double-barreled shotgun to escape.

    Will Violet survive this new hell that haunts her, or will she end up on Slagton’s growing list of those “gutted and hung”?

  • A scrappy, hot-blooded woman can only take so much! Violet Parker is on fire … or rather under fire yet again. New evidence has fanned the embers of a cold murder case, and her alibi is smoldering at the corners. While battling a dogged detective determined to pin the murder on her, Violet scrambles to find the real killer. Will she escape “the heat” with singed tail feathers? Or will Violet go down in flames?

  • Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned … especially a dead one holding a grudge.

    Back on Deadwood’s list of usual suspects, Violet Parker is hip deep in wild frights and fired-up females. After juggling bitter threats, haunted buildings, and vengeful ghosts, the last thing she needs is a pair of bullheaded detectives trying to pin another murder on her tail.

    Can Violet find the real killer before she ends up behind bars? Or worse, on a slab at the morgue.

  • Meanwhile, back in Deadwood … the mystery and mayhem continue.

    Between the butchered body parts, creepy killers, dogged detectives, ghoulish ghosts, and ever-present television cameras, Violet Parker’s purple boots are itching to skedaddle.

    But there is no escaping another murder investigation or her new deadly reputation—even if both risk the lives of those she loves most.

  • Something has gone foul in the Black Hills, something gravely unnatural. Leave it to Violet Parker to stumble into the middle of it.

    A creepy phone call, a dead body, two meddling detectives, and a glut of troublemaking ex-partners—can things get any worse?

    Violet swears to keep her nose out of police business this time. But when her son is linked to the victim, she returns to the scene of the crime. More than just a mystery to solve, now her son might be in mortal danger.

  • Get ready for more laughs, sizzle, and sleuthing in this fourth Deadwood mystery from author Ann Charles!

    One dead body, one century-old haunted opera house, one zombie musical … one pissed-off detective—will Violet "Spooky" Parker keep her tail out of trouble, or will she end up as one of Deadwood's walking dead?

  • "Nothing good ever happens at the butt-crack of dawn. No doubt, the headless corpse on the autopsy table in front of me would agree."—Violet Parker

    Real estate agent Violet "Spooky" Parker stumbles upon a body-part theft ring at the local funeral parlor and suspects her caustic coworker has a hand in it—or maybe a foot. Can Violet discover what's in the crates that the crooks are sneaking out of the mortuary in the dark of night? Or will she end up in one of them herself—in pieces?

  • Someone is spreading rumors around Deadwood that Violet Parker likes to chat with dead folks.

    With her reputation endangered, her bank account on the verge of extinction, and her career at risk of going up in flames, Violet is desperate. When the opportunity to sell another vintage home materializes, she grabs it, even though this "haunted" house was recently the stage for a two-act murder-suicide tragedy.

    Ghost or no ghost, Violet knows this can't be as bad as the last house of horrors she tried to sell, but sexy Doc Nyce has serious doubts. Her only hope of hanging on to her job is to prove that the so-called ghostly sightings are merely the eccentric owner's optical delusions.

    But someone—or something—in the house wants Violet stopped … dead.

  • Little girls are vanishing from Deadwood, South Dakota. Fearing her daughter might be next, single mom Violet Parker is desperate to find the monster behind the abductions.

    With her savings dwindling and just three weeks left to sell her first house or lose her realtor job, Violet is ecstatic when a handsome jeweler hires her to sell his century-old Victorian masterpiece—until she sees the dilapidated dwelling. Now if she could just convince her only buyer to stop rejecting vintage homes as if they're haunted.

    Short on time and long on worry, Violet refuses to give up her dream of a fresh start in Deadwood. But with a malicious coworker trying to get her fired, a secret admirer sending her creepy messages, and a sexy stranger hiding skeletons in his closet, will Violet end up as one of Deadwood's dearly departed?