When China's friend Jo dies of an apparent suicide, China looks behind the quaint facade of Pecan Springs and takes a suspicious look at everyone.

When a prominent animal researcher is found hanged in the midst of angry protests against his experiments, suspicion falls on biology professor Dottie Riddle. Known as the Cat Lady of Pecan Springs, Dottie's sympathy for strays-and the victim's distaste for them-gives the police reason to think she may be capable of murder. But China Bayles doesn't think so. She hires a lawyer for Dottie and starts looking around for clues. But she soon discovers...

In search of respite, China takes off to St. Theresa's Monastery with her friend Maggie, a former nun. The goal is a brief, tranquil retreat-but there's a conflict at the convent. The Mother Superior has recently died, and a battle over the future of St. Theresa's suggests that her sudden demise might not have been accidental. Now, China's quest for a replenished spirit takes second place to a more earthbound pursuit: catching a killer.

An annual chili cookoff, a womanizing judge, and a crisis in China Bayle's personal life add up to a novel that will delight fans of this fast-rising author, a nominee for both the Anthony and Agatha Awards.

Compelling, suspenseful, and wholly original, Mistletoe Man tells the story of China's search for justice--and of her struggle to reconcile the demads of her business with the desires of her heart.

In the small town of Indigo, Texas, to teach a workshop, herbalist China Bayles and her best friend Ruby help investigate the murder of resident Casey Ford, whose plans to sell his mining rights would have destroyed the town forever.

China Bayles and her husband, Mike McQuaid, become involved in the tangled affaire of Phoebe the Pickle Queen, owner of the largest pickle business in Texas, but things take a dangerous turn when Phoebe mysteriously vanishes.

When an anonymous source makes shocking allegations of improper behavior on the part of local high school football coach Tim Duffy, China Bayles is called in to conduct a discreet investigation into the charges, but her probe uncovers more than she had ever expected about a case involving betrayal, forbidden desire, and the mystery surrounding a young woman's death.

China's herb shop and catering business may be thriving, but she's still reeling from her father's death, and not even remotely interested in her half-brother Miles's investigation into that event. China's husband, on the other hand, has no such qualms. And when fate forces her to get involved as well, China realizes it's time to bring the past to light-or else it will haunt her the rest of her life. But China and McQuaid discover that Miles may have...

China Bayles is fit to spit when her husband's troubled ex-wife, Sally, shows up at her herb shop, claiming to be broke with nowhere else to turn. When she invites Sally to stay, China starts receiving menacing calls from an "ex" of Sally's, who seems to have a connection to the murder of her parents nearly a decade ago