"An effortlessly narrated, meticulously crafted cozy mystery." — The Big Thrill An adjunct professor worries she's made a grave mistake returning to her hometown when she's drawn into a decades-old murder mystery...by the victim's skeleton! Georgia Thackery isn't exactly thrilled to be moving back to her childhood home, not that she has much choice. As a struggling adjunct English professor and single mom to a teenage daughter, Georgia takes jobs wherever she can find them. At least with this new teaching gig in Pennycross, Massachusetts, she has a rent-free place to live. Besides, there's a major upside to Georgia's homecoming: Sid! Every family has secrets, but the skeleton in Georgia's closet isn't just real, he's a living (kinda), breathing (sorta), cringey-joke-making part of the family–who happens to be her best friend! No one quite knows the origins of Sid's remains, and he can't recall anything from before meeting Georgia and taking up residence in the Thackery attic. But all that changes during an outing to the local college campus, when Sid recognizes a face from his literal past life...and it chills him to the bone. Now, Sid has questions about the circumstances of his death and Georgia will do whatever it takes to help him dig up the truth. But when all signs point to murder, is Georgia in danger of becoming the next family skeleton? Fans of Charlaine Harris and Sofie Kelly will adore this charming supernatural cozy mystery—the first in the beloved Family Skeleton series—by Agatha Award-winning author, Toni L. P. Kelner, writing as Leigh Perry. Praise for A Skeleton in the Family: "A very touching and entertaining whodunit. The mystery is intelligent and nicely done with fun insights into academia and anthropology." — RT Book Reviews "You'll love the adventures of this unexpected mystery-solving duo." — Charlaine Harris, New York Times bestselling author "A charming debut ... Amateur sleuth Georgia, and her sidekick, Sid, are just plain fun!" — Sofie Kelly, New York Times bestselling author of Cat Trick

Charlaine Harris' #1 New York Times bestselling Sookie Stackhouse novels are a cultural phenomenon, spawning a blockbuster TV show and enthralling millions of devoted fans around the world. Here, Harris and co-editor Toni L.P. Kelner invite a cadre of authors to delve deeper into the shadows of Bon Temps with fifteen short stories set in the world of Sookie Stackhouse ranging from the dramatic to the delightful. Just some of the stories you'll experience within include... Purely platonic police officers Kevin Pryor and Kenya Jones find themselves out of their jurisdiction and out of luck when their pursuit of a blood-poisoned killer vampire leads them into the realm of the undead criminal underworld in Rachel Caine's "Nobody's Business." In Leigh Evans' hilarious "Extreme Makeover Vamp Edition," uber-fashionable reality TV hosts Todd Seabrook and Bev Leveto are recruited by Eric Northman to do the impossible: bestow a whole new look upon his very old, very unwilling, and very cranky vampiric bride-to-be... Vampire Bubba may not be King of Rock 'n Roll anymore, but he knows enough to know he isn't exactly the brightest bulb on the bayou. Unfortunately, he proves himself all too right when, in the middle of an important rescue mission, he gets sidetracked in Bill Crider's "Don't Be Cruel." At Christmas-time, fast-talking half-demon Diantha is tasked by her Uncle Desmond to look into why his favored mortal, Sookie, isn't decking the halls—and soon discovers that someone is trying to make the holidays a big humbug in "The Real Santa Claus" by Leigh Perry. Full of magic, fierce creatures, and insatiable desires, this collection of short stories set in the world of Sookie Stackhouse will have fans clamoring for more.

And the best performance as a skull goes to… After years of hiding in the Thackery family house, Sid the skeleton is delighted to finally have his moment in the spotlight. He’s starring in a high school production of Hamlet. Well, not so much starring in as being a prop. At least part of him has a part—he’s using his head to play Yorick of “Alas, poor Yorick” fame. Every day, Georgia Thackery’s daughter, Madison, who’s also in the play, brings in his skull, and every night, she takes him home... Until one night when he’s accidentally left at school—and hears the sounds of someone being murdered. But the next day, there’s no body and no one seems to be missing. Sid is not a numbskull—he knows what he heard. Georgia thinks he imagined it—until a week later when a body is found. Now Georgia and Sid will both need to keep their heads as they stick their necks out and play sleuth to catch the conscience of a killer…

No bones about it, this death is suspicious... "Amateur sleuth Georgia, and her sidekick, Sid, are just plain fun!"—Sofie Kelly, New York Times-bestselling author of the Magical Cats Mysteries Georgia Thackery, adjunct English professor, has a new job teaching at Falstone College of Art and Design, known as FAD to its students and faculty. Living in a borrowed bungalow during winter in the snowiest part of Massachusetts, Georgia feels her isolation weighing as heavily as the weather. Then she receives a package containing her best friend, Sid, a walking, talking skeleton who has lived with the Thackery family since Georgia was six. With Georgia working out of town, Sid was lonely too. The two of them make plans for a cozy semester together, and it might have worked out that way if Sid hadn't snuck out in the middle of the night to play in the snow and spotted a crashed car. When he drags Georgia out to investigate, they find the driver behind the wheel, apparently dead from the collision. Initially, police think it's an accident, so Georgia and Sid think that's the end of it—until Georgia finds out the body hits closer to home than she'd realized... "Dr. Georgia Thackery is smart, resourceful, and determined to be a great single mom to her teenager. Georgia is normal in every respect—except that her best friend happens to be a skeleton named Sid. You'll love the adventures of this unexpected mystery-solving duo." —Charlaine Harris, #1 New York Times bestselling author "A very touching and entertaining whodunit. The mystery is intelligent and nicely done with fun insights into academia and anthropology." — RT Book Reviews on A Skeleton in the Family

"What holiday could bring more warmth to a skeleton's chest cavity than Halloween? And when you're a living skeleton who's not supposed to be seen outside the house, it's a welcome chance to get some fresh air and rub bony elbows with people. That's why Sid doesn't mind wearing a full-body dog suit and going as Scooby-Doo along with Georgia Thackery's Velma to the Halloween Howl"--Page 4 of cover.

“Whodunits don’t come much funnier… Fans of offbeat comic mysteries will be richly rewarded.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) Georgia Thackery is feeling pretty good about her summer job teaching at prestigious Overfeld College, and she’s renting a rustic cabin right by a lake for herself, her daughter, Madison, and her best friend, Sid the Skeleton. Together again, the trio are enjoying the quiet when a teenager named Jen shows up looking for her friend. Georgia doesn’t recognize the name, but she learns that the person Jen was looking for is actually Sid. Sid reveals that he and Jen are part of a regular online gaming group that formed locally, and one of their members has gone missing. Sid admits that he might have bragged about his investigative prowess, enough so that Jen wants him to find their missing player. Given that Sid doesn’t have many friends offline—none, really, unless you count the Thackery family—Georgia agrees to help. They manage to discreetly enlist Jen, who lives in town, and follow the clues to... a dead buddy. Now they've got a killer on their hands. Probing the life of Sid's friend, they realize a lot is wrong both on campus and in the seemingly quaint town, and someone doesn't want them looking deeper… “You'll love the adventures of this unexpected mystery-solving duo.”—Charlaine Harris, #1 New York Times bestselling author

" Mirth and murder blend beautifully" in this tale of an amateur sleuth and her bony best friend ( Publishers Weekly, starred review). Dr. Georgia Thackery is back home with her parents after finding a new adjunct position at Bostock College. Everyone is excited for their first family Christmas with nothing to hide. Why? Because Georgia's daughter Madison is now in the know about Sid, their walking, talking family skeleton. But their Christmas cheer is interrupted when the Thackerys' dog Byron goes missing on a cold December night. When he's finally found, he has a femur clutched between his jaws—and Georgia and Madison race to apologize to Sid for letting the dog gnaw on him yet again. Except that all of Sid's bones are present and accounted for... This bone is from somebody else, and when they trace Byron's trail to an overgrown lot nearby, they find the rest of the skeleton. It's the normal kind, not moving or telling jokes, and when the police come to take charge, they're sure it was murder, and one of Georgia's adjunct friends could be implicated. With tensions stirring at the college and everyone hiding a secret or two, Sid and Georgia must uncover the truth before the ghost of a Christmas past strikes again. "Amateur sleuth Georgia, and her sidekick, Sid, are just plain fun!"—Sofie Kelly, New York Times-bestselling author of the Magical Cats Mysteries

A blockbuster anthology of original, blood-curdling vampire fiction from New York Times bestselling and award-winning authors, including Charlaine Harris, whose novels were adapted into HBO’s hit show True Blood, and Scott Smith, publishing his first work since The Ruins. Before being transformed into romantic heroes and soft, emotional antiheroes, vampires were figures of overwhelming terror. Now, from some of the biggest names in horror and dark fiction, comes this stellar collection of short stories that make vampires frightening once again. Edited by New York Times bestselling author Christopher Golden and featuring all-new stories from such contributors as Charlaine Harris, John Ajvide Lindqvist, Scott Smith, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Michael Kortya, Kelley Armstrong, Brian Keene, David Wellington, Seanan McGuire, and Tim Lebbon, Seize the Night is old-school vampire fiction at its finest.