Samantha Sweet

For John Carver, a simple Celtic wood worker, life is a struggle to feed his family. Then one summer day, as he walks past a near-dead alder tree, lightning strikes. With the shattered tree lying all around him, Carver pulls himself up and decides to make the best of it-he takes the usable pieces to his workshop. From the shards of that dead tree John creates three boxes. Then the unexplained happens-shortly after handling one of them, John's touch brings his young son back from the brink of death. When the second box demonstrates an opposite tendency, toward the dark side, Carver is terrified that witch-hunters will learn of the boxes and their mystical powers. Eager to rid himself of the artifacts and desperate for money, he sells the three boxes. As they are taken by three very different buyers-a common Englishman, a worldly merchant and a bishop-John feels a foreboding about the future. From the 13th century, the boxes travel the world, eventually drawing the attention of two rival organizations, each with very different motives and methods for gaining what they want. Reminiscent of The Red Violin in scope, this historical novel follows the three boxes to the 21st century and confrontation between the two factions. The Woodcarver's Secret is the prequel and companion novel to Connie Shelton's Samantha Sweet paranormal mystery series.

Samantha Sweet breaks into houses for a living--all perfectly legal as a caretaker for the USDA. But her real dream is to open her own pastry shop, Sweet's Sweets. Life is a little crazy for Sam right now. At one of her break-in properties a dying woman insists that she take a small wooden box. Sam doesn't realize that the old woman was known locally as a bruja, a witch, until she begins to feel some strange effects from the box, herself. Meanwhile, at another property, she finds an unmarked grave and the authorities come to investigate. The property owner disappeared a few months earlier and Sam wonders--who is the body in the grave? A small mural in the house leads to a connection with a famous artist; a bogus will points to possible fraud; and the handsome deputy investigating the case seems completely enchanted with Sam. While Sam scrambles to fill bakery orders and keep her properties in order, she's equally intrigued with the idea of a new romance. It all makes for a delightful romantic mystery with elements of the paranormal.

Sam is working hard to get her new pastry shop, Sweet's Sweets, open for business. Just when she's really got her hands full with that, she's assigned a new property to take care of as part of her contract with the USDA. The place is a hoarder's delight and Sam is feeling more than a little bit overwhelmed as she begins cleaning with a vengeance. When a blood-soaked garment turns up among some things Sam has dropped off at the thrift shop, Sam recommends that they call the Sheriff's office. Deputy Beau Cardwell is a bit under pressure himself, as the Sheriff is so busy running for reelection that the office is understaffed. Together, Sam and Beau sift through the evidence and discover that the bloody coat leads to a far more complicated situation than a simple case of murder. Once again Sam calls upon the powers of the magical wooden box that came into her possession a few months earlier to help unwind the tangled threads of the case.

It's Christmas and a chocolatier shows up at Sweet's Sweets, offering to create a special line of hand-dipped chocolates for Sam's customers. He says he will work for no pay, just to prove himself. But she learns that he has connections to the wooden box that seems to give Sam her mystical powers, and discovers that certain evil people will do just about anything to take it away from her. With the same combination of mystery, romance and the paranormal as the other books in this series, Sweet Holidays brings a bit of magic to the season.

Things are crazy at the bakery, as Sam tries to replicate the magical chocolates that the quirky Romanian chocolatier introduced at Christmas-time. Meanwhile, there are lots of weddings, in addition to her own, and other pastry shop demands during this romantic holiday week. While Sam tries to keep up with it all, another mystery comes her way. Marla Fresques needs to find her missing son. The woman is dying and wants her son home to raise the daughter he left behind. When Sam learns that the authorities dropped the case years ago, she feels she must help. Can she find the missing man? Or will she resort to using her uncanny healing powers to cure Marla's illness? Through all this, Sam's life becomes further complicated by the fact that an ex-girlfriend of Beau's shows up in town, determined to win him back.

Is there a serial killer in Taos? It's the height of the wedding season at Sweet's Sweets and Sam has all she can do to stay ahead of the rush of bakery orders. Plus, her side job-breaking into houses-isn't allowing much summer time off either. Not to mention that her mother is pressuring Sam and Beau to set a wedding date. When Sam encounters two older women who then die suddenly, it appears that there may be a serial killer on the loose. Sam and Beau are shocked to consider that Beau's own mother may have been an earlier victim of someone who operates by preying on the women's trusting natures. As they begin to investigate, a number of suspects emerge and it looks like someone is desperate to keep Sam quiet.

Samantha Sweet and Beau Cardwell are getting ready for their September wedding, with the whole Sweet clan about to show up for the celebration. Dealing with her mother may turn out to be the least of Sam's problems when an unwelcome visitor walks into her pastry shop-Sam's old heart-throb, the charmer, Jake Calendar. Jake wants money for a Hollywood get-rich-quick scheme and he wants Sam to finance the deal. Can Sam convince him that the answer is 'no' or will he sabotage the plans for her wedding?

In this seventh book in Connie Shelton's bestselling mystery series, Samantha Sweet learns that an Irish great-uncle left her an inheritance, so she and Beau change their honeymoon plans and go to the Emerald Isle. Will the gift be something lavish and wonderful, or is there no pot of gold waiting for Sam? Meanwhile, before Sam fully has the answers to her questions, a new mystery presents itself when a local charter boat is found adrift near the rocky Irish coast, its occupants missing. The family of the captain wants answers and when it looks like a group of Americans might be implicated, the Galway homicide detective in charge of the case enlists Beau's help. With all the extra excitement, the honeymooners begin to wonder if they will ever find some romantic time alone.

Revenge is often a cold dish, but in the tiny northern New Mexico town of Sembramos emotions are running decidedly hot. When Lee Rodarte and Jessie Starkey, convicted of murdering a local girl, are released from prison after serving only a few years, their convictions overturned, the town's old pain rises to the surface and tempers flare. Samantha Sweet has her hands full with Easter at her pastry shop, Sweet's Sweets, while her husband, Taos County Sheriff Beau Cardwell, is charged with keeping order among the two hundred residents of Sembramos. Topping it off, as part of her sideline job, Sam is assigned another house to break into and must drive to the huge abandoned mansion daily, right through the small war zone where payback seems to be on everyone's mind.

Two things are weighing on Samantha Sweet's mind this summer - organizing the Sweet Somethings chocolate festival and tracking down information on the mystical carved wooden box that came into her life nearly two years ago, changing her forever. At last she believes she has located the person who can give the answers. The festival is behind schedule, committee members are at each other's throats, competitors are after the big prize money, and hungry crowds will soon be gathering at the gates. A slew of conflicting personalities are going at each other, and Sam is holding her breath, certain that this will not turn out well. When someone does indeed turn up dead, the trick is to find out who among the many parties committed the dirty deed. Meanwhile Sheriff Beau has his own set of problems trying to keep order at an encampment of free-spirited hippies who have moved into the area, so Sam is mostly on her own to keep the festival on track and find a killer. And the magic box? What Sam learns is that its powers are greater than she ever imagined, its history much more convoluted.

When a woman walks into Samantha Sweet's pastry shop, claiming to have amnesia, it's a puzzle that seems to have nothing to do with Sam's new commission for a fantastic one-of-a-kind order of chocolates, although "Jane Doe" seems to know a lot about that. Sam calls Sheriff Beau to solve the mystery of who this stranger is and where she belongs. But Beau's attention is occupied by other things: nearly his entire force is out sick with some kind of flu bug, and now a murder far from Taos requires his full attention. Nothing is fitting together, until suddenly it does. "Jane's" forgotten memories become vitally important as Beau and Sam work to piece the puzzle together.

It’s Halloween, one of the busiest seasons of the year for Samantha Sweet and the crew at her pastry shop, Sweet’s Sweets. After baking a zillion pumpkin cookies, ghostly cupcakes, and an all-black cake for a young witch’s wedding, the gang is looking forward to a gala costume party at the neighborhood bookshop. But when one of the guests is murdered and a rare book vanishes—practically in front of their eyes—the evening takes a whole different turn and Sam finds herself in the midst of another mystery.

Now that Samantha Sweet has a contract to provide her special handmade chocolates for the wealthy jet-set clients of Book It Travel, Sweet's Sweets bakery is taking on a whole new dimension. Only problem, Sam isn't ready. It's almost Halloween, her pastry shop is bursting at the seams and she needs extra employees but there is no place to put them. Right before the witching day, she comes upon a large Victorian house she can adapt for the business, and it seems her problem is solved. But is it? The mysterious, spooky noises at night are way more than the normal creaks and groans of an old building. Something else is going on and Sam suspects it may be related to her husband's newest case, investigating where an abandoned duffle bag crammed full of cash came from. Beau is dealing with a greedy reward-seeker, a robbery with no leads, and a waif who appears and vanishes. Sam's mystery has her watching for ghosts and working almost around the clock. Is she relying on magic?-well, occasionally.

It's a freezing January day when Samantha Sweet finds herself facing the unpleasant task of going back to her old job of breaking into houses. Meanwhile, a customer who's just a little bit too nice seems to be worming her way into Jen's confidence. Sheriff Beau, on the other hand, is dealing with a car-crash-turned-murder, and somehow it all seems to tie together in a great big sticky situation.

Samantha Sweet's life is a little crazy right now, beginning with her daughter's wedding, which coincides with Sam's receiving a huge new contract for her chocolate factory. The day after the wedding someone takes a shot at Sam and she discovers the bad guys are back. OSM's henchman, Marcus Fitch, who showed up in Taos once before, is more determined than ever to get his hands on the carved box that gives Sam her unusual powers. But as the sheriff's department investigates the shooting, it seems Fitch has an airtight alibi. Meanwhile, Sam's daughter is honeymooning in England where she and her new husband discover some interesting clues that connect to home. As Kelly learns of her mother's secrets, she is pulled into the world of the magical artifacts in ways no one could have foreseen. And Sam discovers that her own world is about to change-forever.

Samantha Sweet is back at Sweet's Sweets, her bakery with a magical flair, while husband Beau is now a full-time rancher. When he hires a young cowboy to help out, no one suspects that Danny Flores comes with a lot of baggage until Lila, the girl he left behind, shows up. She says she has romance on her mind, but Danny finds her manipulative and domineering. He changed his number and moved out of state, but she has managed to track him down. Beau and Sam wish Danny all the best, but there isn't a lot they can do. But then Lila is murdered and the most damning clue, the words Sweet Dreams, point to Danny. Sam doesn't want a mystery to solve - she's ready for cozy time with her young granddaughter. Plus, she and Kelly have been cooking up some new mischief, discovering that the strange book with the rune-like writing actually contains something magical. As Danny's situation gets worse, Sam realizes no one else, except maybe Eliza the calico cat, is going to help her solve the murder. Plus, Sam is more than a little involved, since it might have been a potion she and Kelly brewed up from the magic book that got Danny into this jam in the first place.

Samantha Sweet is back at Sweet's Sweets, turning out her amazing cakes and pastries for the busy holiday season, when Emily Plankhurst, the new young librarian in town, stops in. Emily tells Sam a strange story involving a hidden niche in the library revealed to her in a vision, supposedly, by her dead grandmother. Would anyone believe this farfetched story? Possibly not anyone but Sam, who has had more than a few unexplained occurrences in her own life. It turns out the hidden space contains a rare painting, The Ghost of Christmas, which was believed to have been destroyed in a fire twenty-five years ago at the luxury home of a hedge fund billionaire. A young man died in the fire and the insurance company paid the claim for the valuable painting. But now that the painting has turned up, how can Emily prove that her own grandfather wasn't the one behind the arson? It's a sticky situation when she approaches Sam with the case. If she turns the painting over to the authorities, they will almost certainly believe that her grandfather was involved in the theft of the piece and most likely complicit in insurance fraud as well. Would the police actually take him out of the Alzheimer care facility where he now resides and throw him in jail? Emily's only chance of saving her grandfather's life, and the reputation of the family-founded library, is to investigate the old crime and find out who really stole The Ghost of Christmas. And Samantha is the only person she can trust to help her, one of the few who remembers when the fire started and the insurance claim was paid. It's a Christmas mystery with a lot of twists and turns

It's Spring Break and a trio of California college kids head out, not to the beach but to the mountains of New Mexico, where they plan on a week of snowboarding, beer, and fun. But the instructions to reach their vacation rental are less than precise and it's late and snowy when they arrive at Taos Ski Valley. They're surprised to find an older couple in the cabin they believed to be theirs but hey, Casey Hardwick, the ringleader of the group, is not known for reading directions or getting all the facts. Maybe the place is actually a B&B. They troop inside and are shown to a bedroom. Days later, Casey's sister is calling the only friend she knows in Taos-Kelly Sweet-hoping to get word to her brother that their mother's condition has worsened and she doesn't have long to live. No one has heard from Casey, and she urgently needs to reach him. Samantha and Kelly are together when the call comes, and the mystery only deepens once they talk to Sheriff Evan Richards. Yes, the family reported the missing boys and he investigated. He found no evidence that they'd ever arrived. His theory is that the boys changed their plans at the last minute and are living it up somewhere else. But Sam has a bad feeling about it. Without the help of law enforcement, will she and Kelly figure out how the boys disappeared? And can they find the boys and get Casey home before it's too late to see his mother again? Their only clues seem to come from the mysterious book of runes.