An Aurora Teagarden Mystery

Is librarian Roe the best sleuth in Real Murders Club? When Jane, a member of the club dies, Roe inherits her house, a skull hidden inside, and a mystery to solve.

A librarian who hosts a murder mystery book club at work finds people connected to the group are being killed off one by one like crimes in some of the books they read, based on real murders.

When Aurora pitches in to help her busy real estate mother, Aida, she quickly realizes she has again walked into a life or death situation. When a body is discovered at her first house showing and a second body is found in another house for sale, it becomes obvious that there is a very cool killer at large.

Aurora Teagarden is a beautiful young librarian with a passion for solving murders. After an exhaustive search for the perfect home, Aurora finally purchases her dream house, unaware of its murky history. As she prepares to move in, Aurora discovers that the family who once lived there mysteriously disappeared without a trace.

Librarian and real crime buff Aurora Roe Teagarden never liked Detective Sergeant Jack Burns. She also never wanted to see him dead, but when he winds up murdered, she can't help but get involved.

Aurora "Ro" Teagarden, a Lawrenceton, Washington librarian, belongs to a real murder discussion club, its members including her best friend reporter Sally Allison, Ro's mother Aida Teagarden's boyfriend John Queensland, the town's mayor Terry Sternholz, and ex-juvvie Perry Dell. Ro and her boyfriend, ex-CIA agent Martin Bartell, receive a surprise visit from his long lost niece Regina Walker and her newborn Hayden. Martin didn't know she was married let alone a mother. Regina further mentions that she and her husband Craig Walker have been living in nearby Corinth, Washington for four months. Needing to head out to John's birthday party at Aida's house leaving Regina and Hayden alone at Ro's, Ro and Martin arrive home to find Regina and her car gone, Regina's bag still there, and a dead man on Ro's front porch, he who eventually is identified as Craig Walker. This murder case is the first as lead for Detective Arthur Smith, and the first for him working under his wife, Captain Lynn Smith. During or subsequent to Arthur and Lynn's initial visit to Ro's house to investigate, two additional people are discovered safe and alive in the house: baby Hayden, hidden in the bathroom bathtub; and Rory Brown, an apparent friend of Regina and Craig's who was hiding. What information Rory is willing to divulge is that he and Craig have a rap sheet of minor crimes, the latest, for which they were just released from a two-day stint in jail, being check fraud. Martin and Ro, often with the assistance of her murder club friends, decide to investigate on their own in their primary goal to find a still alive Regina, often not informing Arthur and Lynn of what they are doing. In the process, Ro wonders if the baby truly is Regina's. Two other issues arise during the investigation: whether Arthur and Lynn can maintain a happy marriage and professional relationship in their current positions; and if Ro and Martin, if they ever do decide to get married, are ready to be parents.

When a Hollywood film crew comes to shoot in Lawrenceton, and the film's star is found poisoned and bludgeoned in her dressing room, crime-solving librarian Aurora Teagarden enlists members of the Real Murders Club to help her pare down a long list of suspects and prove the innocence of mystery writer Robin Daniels, a man she once dated.

Librarian and member of Lawrenceton's Real Murders discussion club Aurora Teagarden - "Ro" to her friends and family - has acted as big sister to her cousin Phillip Pifer ever since he started attending Lawrenceton College. Her time with him is somewhat to take her mind off missing who was her serious boyfriend Martin Bartell, the two who broke up after he moved away to rejoin the CIA. Although Ro states she isn't ready to date again yet, her best friend, newspaper reporter Sally Allison, and her mother, realtor Aida Teagarden, believe otherwise. For Phillip's birthday, Ro and Aida invite him out to dinner along with his dorm roommate Josh Farrell and Josh's girlfriend Tammy Driscoll. When Ro goes looking for them after they miss dinner on what ended up being a lie told by Phillip, she discovers Tammy's dead body in the back alley behind the salon where she had a hair appointment, her death in a seeming hit and run. The police investigation is led by Detective Arthur Smith, once a Real Murders club member himself. With Phillip and Josh having gone missing, they become the initial suspects in Tammy's death, especially since colleagues report that Josh and Tammy were always arguing about Josh's possessiveness toward her. To protect family, Ro, along with fellow Real Murders members Sally and Jason Dell, try to find out what happened, much to Arthur's chagrin who just wants them to stay out of his way unless he needs them. Included among the amateur sleuths is Nick Miller, Tammy's Psychology professor and Ro's new neighbor, he who Aida and Sally see as Ro's potential first suitor post-Martin. Complicating the investigation is when Clayton Harrison also goes missing, he the son of Aida's longtime friends, wealthy Dan and Carolyn Harrison. Also a student at the college and someone Phillip used to associate with when they were kids whenever he came to town, Clayton is largely seen as a privileged and entitled rich kid. Clayton has gotten into one scrape after another, the latest being caught defacing a monument on campus donated by local businessman, Dale Murphy. Could Phillip, Josh and Clayton's disappearance be them running from the police for committing the crime of killing Tammy, or could they just be caught in the crossfire of who actually killed her?

A taunting clue left for Aurora at a meeting begins a cat-and-mouse game between her and a mysterious criminal who commits increasingly serious crimes that leave the town rattled.

Aurora's a librarian, sleuth and bridesmaid at Lizzie's wedding, where Lizzie's rich aunt dies from poisoning. The will is a bad surprise for the son. Aurora and Real Murders Club investigate.

At the eleventh hour, Lawrenceton librarian and President of the town's Real Murders Discussion Club Aurora Teagarden - Ro to her friends - is asked to make a presentation and be on a discussion panel at "From Motive to Murder", an annual true crime and mystery conference always held at the same mountain resort. What Ro was unaware of when she agreed was that the other panelist in her session is Lawrenceton Police Chief Lynn Smith, who has always resented Ro and the other club members inserting themselves into murder investigations. In addition to some of the other club members, a few others from Lawrenceton, who would normally not be caught dead at such an event, end up out of circumstances attending, such as Ro's mother, realtor Aida Teagarden. The event organizer Linda Bennett traditionally has written and staged a murder mystery play with the guest speakers asked to assume some of the roles for the one performance during the event. It is during this special performance that someone associated with the play and conference is murdered on-stage during what was a well-timed blackout. Especially as one of their own is the lead suspect in the minds of the local police solely on circumstantial evidence with no real motive to speak of, Ro and the other Real Murders members start to investigate on their own to exonerate their friend, who they know is innocent. The difference this time from any murder which they've investigated back in Lawrenceton is that Lynn and her husband, Detective Arthur Smith who is also a Real Murders club member, are on the outside looking in and thus are forced to work with Ro and her colleagues. The lead suspects in their minds are: Linda Bennett herself, she who is struggling financially with the event and the theater being under threat; developer Boyd Stauberg, the person who usually gets what he wants be wielding his power, he wanting the theater for a condo development; Boyd's son Brett Stauberg who was in an on-again/off again relationship with the victim, they who were apparently off-again; librarian Andrew Wakefield, who lied to the police regarding his whereabouts during the actual time of the murder; and author Robert Brown, the conference's keynote speaker who may have wanted to test theories as to the true crime about which he writes.

Ro, Sally and Arthur are attending their 20 year high school reunion held at a hotel in town. As with all high school reunions, there is a diverse mix of classmates: who want to retain their old high school glory; that used to date - many first loves - and that moved on to other life partners/spouses, which includes Ro with her first boyfriend, Parker Stevens, in attendance, and some who may want that first love rekindled; who surprisingly built friendships in the intervening time having not been friends in high school; and with a pending lawsuit of one against another thrown in for good measure. With all these behind the scenes issues, Ro, Nick and Arthur discover a dead body in the hotel pool during the reunion proceedings, the victim one of Ro and Arthur's former classmates who they discovered was murdered, specifically stabbed with a knife which is nowhere to be found. While Arthur leads the investigation for the Lawrenceton PD, Ro, Nick, Sally, Phillip, all at the proceedings, and their other Real Murders club members can't help but get involved, Ro and Sally who feel invested in the victim and suspects being people they've known all their lives, and Nick feeling invested in Parker being one of the suspects placing Ro at further risk in that connection to Parker.

With the big event now only two months away, Ro and Nick are making the final decisions for their wedding. As they each quietly begin to question some fundamental aspects, they are sidetracked upon Aida's joint discovery of a dead body, the murder victim a wealthy current client of hers. Beyond it being a murder, the Real Murders Discussion Club can't help but get involved as what appears to be a key aspect mirrors the latest presentation made at the club. The sale of the house was held up at the last minute when Aida was informed of two issues, one being a lien placed against the house by a former contractor who the victim refused to pay for what the victim believed was work uncompleted. And two is an outstanding loan against the house by an unknown person, the loan, which was systematically being paid off supposedly by that unknown person, of which neither of the homeowners claimed to be aware. If this loan does match that presentation, it is part of a pyramid scheme. With the contractor, business associates as well as all family members considered suspects by the police, Ro and the club believe they have to get to the bottom of the person or people behind that mysterious loan to discover the murderer.