Susan Wittig Albert has 31 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 10 narrators, with an average listener rating of 4.7★ across 9 ratings. The most-rated is The Darling Dahlias and the Poinsettia Puzzle.
The Darling Dahlias and the Silver Dollar Bush
Summary
National best-selling author Susan Wittig Albert takes listeners back in time to small-town Darling, Alabama, in the 1930s - where the Darling Savings and Trust has just closed and the women of the Darling Dahlias' garden club are betting their bottom dollar there's going to be trouble. It's the spring of 1933 and times are tough all over. The only businessman not struggling is moonshiner Mickey LeDoux, though he still has to steer clear of federal agents. But banks are closing all over the country, and the small town of Darling is no exception. Folks are suddenly caught short on cash and everyone is in a panic. Desperate to avoid disaster, several town leaders - including Alvin Duffy, the bank's new vice president - hatch a plan to print Darling Dollars on newspaperman Charlie Dickens’ printing press. The "funny money" can serve as temporary currency so the town can function. But when the first printing of the scrip disappears, the Darling Dahlias set out to discover who made an unauthorized withdrawal. Meanwhile County Treasurer Verna Tidwell questions whether she can trust Alvin Duffy - and the feelings he stirs up inside her. And Liz Lacy learns her longtime beau may be forced into a shotgun wedding. Seems other troubles don’t just go away when there’s a crisis. There'll be no pennies from heaven, but if anyone can balance things out, folks can bank on the Darling Dahlias.
©2014 Susan Wittig Albert (P)2014 Recorded Books
Holly Blues
Summary
Author Susan Wittig Albert turns up the suspense in her 18th China Bayles mystery. Just as the holiday season begins, so does the drama, when China's husband’s ex-wife, Sally, appears, begging for help and a place to stay. ’Tis the season of giving, so China opens her home to Sally. But when troubling phone calls start, China knows she’ll need to dig up the truth before Christmas turns deadly.
©2010 Susan Wittig Albert (P)2010 Recorded Books, LLC
Death at Bishop's Keep
Summary
Kate Ardleigh is everything the Victorian English gentlewoman is not - outspoken, free-thinking, American...and a writer of the frowned upon penny dreadfuls. Soon after her arrival in Essex, England, a body is unearthed in a nearby archeological dig - and Kate has the chance to not only research her latest story but to begin her first case with amateur detective Sir Charles Sheridan.
©1998 Robin Paige (P)2020 Dreamscape Media, LLC
The Darling Dahlias and the Poinsettia Puzzle
Summary
Mildred Kilgore and Earlynne Biddle are planning to open a bakery on the square - if they can come up with the right recipes. Charlie Dickens faces two of the biggest puzzles of his career as an investigative reporter, and one of them involves his wife. Cute little Cupcake's talent as a singer and dancer makes her a tempting target for an unscrupulous exploiter. Lizzy must enlist the Dahlias to protect her while she herself is confronted by a romantic puzzle. And Sheriff Norris is forced to reopen a puzzling mystery that the town thought was solved. Once again, New York Times best-selling author Susan Wittig Albert takes us to a place where real people have courage, respect their neighbors, and dream of doing their best, even when they're not sure what that is. She reminds us that Christmas is a celebration of friendship, community, and what's right with the world. There's nothing puzzling about that. Reading group questions, recipes, and Depression-era background are available at DarlingDahlias.com.
©2018 Dreamscape Media, LLC (P)2018 Dreamscape Media, LLC
Dead Man's Bones (China Bayles #13)
Summary
When her teenage son discovers some skeletal remains of the suspicious kind, lawyer-turned-herbalist China Bayles finds herself hunting a killer from the past, who is about to strike in the present.
©2005 Susan Wittig Albert (P)2006 Recorded Books
The Darling Dahlias and the Cucumber Tree
Summary
Nominated for both the Agatha and Anthony awards, national best-selling author Susan Wittig Albert introduces a garden club of lady sleuths in Depression-era Alabama. The Darling Dahlias have just inherited a new clubhouse and garden, complete with two beautiful cucumber trees. But before long, these genteel ladies must unravel the mystery about what’s buried beneath one of these trees and the enigma of the dead body that soon turns up.
©2010 Susan Wittig Albert (P)2011 Recorded Books, LLC
NoBODY
Summary
Ruby Wilcox, owner of the Crystal Cave, Pecan Springs’ only New Age shop, has always tried to downplay her psychic gift - until she experiences a horrifying nightmare that just won’t stop. Again and again, she dreams that a woman is abducted on the hike-and-bike trail and knows that the victim is in deadly danger. Prodded by her friend and partner, China Bayles, Ruby goes to the police - only to find that her dream has already become far too real. Police chief Sheila Dawson puts Detective Ethan Connors in charge of this no-body case. But Connors is a skeptic who is convinced that all psychics are frauds. And Ruby herself still has plenty of doubts. What will she have to do to prove to Detective Connors - and to herself - that her gift can be trusted?
©2019 Dreamscape Media, LLC (P)2019 Dreamscape Media, LLC
A Wilder Rose
Summary
The Little House books, which chronicled the pioneer adventures of Laura Ingalls Wilder, are among the most beloved books in the American literary canon. Lesser known is the secret, concealed for decades, of how they came to be. Now, best-selling author Susan Wittig Albert reimagines the fascinating story of Laura's daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, an intrepid world traveler and writer who returned to her parents' Ozark farm, Rocky Ridge, in 1928. There she began a collaboration with her mother on the pioneer stories that would captivate generations of readers around the world. Despite the books' success, Rose's involvement would remain a secret long after both women died. A vivid account of a great literary deception, A Wilder Rose is a spellbinding tale of a complicated mother-daughter relationship set against the brutal backdrop of the Great Depression.
©2015 Susan Wittig Albert (P)2014 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.
Wormwood
Summary
Susan Wittig Albert has won critical acclaim anda devoted following for her China Bayles mysteries featuring beloved herb shop and tearoom owner China. In Wormwood, the death of a woman in a pool - where a Shaker woman drowned in 1912 - sets the stage for a perplexing whodunit.China's friends and family are urging her to get some rest - and a Kentucky Shaker village seems the ideal place for it. At Mount Zion, China can assist with some herbal workshops while absorbing all things Shaker, from their furniture to their peaceful ways. But the restored modern version of the village, striving to become a popular tourist attraction, is plagued with misfortune and strife - some of it the likely result of sabotage. China and her friend Martha are hoping to get to the bottom of it.However, much like Shaker history itself, the case appears simpler at first than it is. There is tension behind the serene exterior. And after a shocking death occurs during her stay, China will plunge into the archives of another time to connect the sins of the past with a modern-day murder.
©2009 Susan Wittig Albert (P)2009 Recorded Books, LLC
A Dilly of a Death
Summary
Popular author Susan Wittig Albert and her China Bayles Herbal Mysteries have been hailed for their intelligent plots and quirky characters. China is a member of the Pecan Springs, Texas Picklefest planning committee. When the Pickle Queen disappears just days before the festival, China and her husband P.I. Mike McQuaid relish searching for the clues in this dilly of a case. This exciting whodunit is packed with plenty of pickle jokes, folklore, and homespun recipes.
©2004 Susan Wittig Albert (P)2005 Recorded Books, LLC
Bleeding Hearts
Summary
National best-selling author Susan Wittig Albert's poetic beauty and West Texas flavor permeate her China Bayles mysteries. The high-school principal asks China to secretly investigate the popular football coach who led the Panthers to six state championships. Soon after China confirms the coach's predilection for teenage girls, one of his victims turns up dead, and suspicion falls upon the lecherous coach.
©2006 Susan Wittig Albert (P)2006 Recorded Books
SomeBODY Else
Summary
In this gripping second novella in the Crystal Cave series, best-selling author Susan Wittig Albert tells an intriguing tale of murder in the Texas Hill Country. Ruby has a rare gift for seeing things that others can’t.... Ruby Wilcox (owner of the Crystal Cave, Pecan Springs’ only new-age shop) is looking forward to an entertaining and profitable weekend as a vendor at the annual Mystic Creek Harvest Festival, held at a Hill Country ranch. Her booth is full of all kinds of magical, mystical wares: crystals and cards, rune stones, pendulums, dream catchers, wind chimes, and wands. The festival - famous for its artists, crafters, and fabulous folk musicians - attracts all sorts of Texans from all across the state. Still, Ruby is surprised when Detective Ethan Connors shows up. What prompts him to come? A love of folk art and music? Attraction to Ruby? Or a cop’s skeptical curiosity about her psychic gift? But the festival’s fun comes to a bloody end when a Wiccan ritual knife is stolen from the Crystal Cave’s booth and used to end a man’s life. Ruby is an immediate suspect, of course, as the local sheriff - an old friend of Ethan Connors’ - attempts to discover who did it and why. What was the motive? When Ruby begins to suspect that she knows more than she’s meant to know about the murder, she has to decide how to use this dangerous knowledge - and what to do when she realizes that she is dead wrong - again. Now, she must learn to listen to music that only she can hear. Ruby Wilcox has a rare gift for seeing things that others can’t, but it’s unreliable. Her gift failed her once, when she lost her friend Sarah. Can she trust her talent to be there when she needs it - and to lead her in the right direction?
©2019 Dreamscape Media, LLC (P)2019 Dreamscape Media, LLC
Indigo Dying
Summary
National best-selling author and resident of Texas, Susan Wittig Albert pens a quirky, but chilling mystery. When Casey Ford threatens to sell his property to a strip mining company, the townsfolk fear that Indigo will be lost forever. Protecting the town is important - so important that someone is willing to kill Casey to keep their home from being ruined. Now, in addition to running the town's cultural crusade, China Bayles must find Casey's murderer.
©2003 Susan Wittig Albert (P)2003 Recorded Books
The Darling Dahlias and the Unlucky Clover
Summary
It looks like the music has ended for Darling's favorite barbershop quartet, the Lucky Four Clovers, just days before the Dixie Regional Barbershop Competition. Another unlucky break comes when there's a serious foul-up in Darling's telephone system - and not a penny for repairs. And while liquor is legal again, moonshine isn't. Sheriff Buddy Norris needs a little luck when he goes into Briar Swamp to confront Cypress County's most notorious bootlegger - and what he finds upends his sense of justice. In the seventh book of this popular series, Susan Wittig Albert once again tells a charming story filled with richly human characters who face the Great Depression with courage and grace. She reminds us that friends offer the best of themselves to each other, that community is what holds us together, and that luck is what you make of it.
©2018 Susan Wittig Albert (P)2018 Dreamscape Media, LLC
Mistletoe Man
Summary
As the Christmas decorating season approaches, Thyme & Seasons proprietor China Bayles feels overwhelmed. While she tries to balance her new roles of wife and step-mom with the demands of her thriving herbal shop, her business partner and best friend, Ruby, mysteriously disappears. Soon China's cantankerous mistletoe supplier Carl turns up dead. With Ruby missing and friends suspected of murder, China must investigate before tragedy strikes again.
©2000 Susan Wittig Albert (P)2005 Recorded Books
Out of BODY
Summary
It’s Halloween, and Ruby is looking forward to a party at China Bayles’ house and a busy holiday weekend at her New Age shop, the Crystal Cave. But her holiday plans are interrupted when Jessica Nelson, a crime reporter at the Pecan Springs Enterprise, shows up with a hard-to-believe story about a serial killer who is targeting the terminally ill. Jessica claims that the killer’s calling card - a card picturing Azrael, the Angel of Death - comes from a deck Ruby once carried in her shop. But Jessica’s story turns out to be true, and Ruby has to use her psychic ability to discover the killer’s identity before he chooses another victim. When Detective Ethan Connors gets involved in the mystery, and when Jessica herself is threatened, Ruby’s psychic abilities are put to the test in ways she could never have predicted. And at the same time, she finds herself falling in love with a detective who seems to know her better than she knows herself.
©2019 Dreamscape Media, LLC (P)2019 Dreamscape Media, LLC
Mourning Gloria
Summary
This 19th mystery in the China Bales series is a cozy herbal treat from national best-selling author Susan Wittig Albert. While Pecan Springs bustles back to life in the warmth of spring, one woman’s life is tragically brought to an end. Assigned to cover the story, an intern from the local paper gets too deeply involved. When she disappears, China is determined to find her—before the young journalist becomes headlines herself.
©2011 Susan Wittig Albert (P)2011 Recorded Books, LLC
Blood Orange
Summary
In the newest China Bayles Mystery in the New York Times best-selling series, China comes to the aid of a nurse who ends up in the hospital.... It's mid-April in Pecan Springs, and China is renting her guest cottage to Kelly Kaufman, who needs a temporary place to live as she contends with a very acrimonious divorce from her husband, Rich. One nasty point of dispute is her part ownership of the Comanche Creek Brewing Company, which she is refusing to sell. At the same time, as a nurse employed by a local hospice, Kelly has discovered instances of suspicious practices. Even more disturbing, she suspects that a patient was murdered. Kelly's knowledge could be dangerous, and she wants to get guidance from China on what to do. But on her way to China's house, Kelly is forced off the road and critically injured, putting her in a medically induced coma. Now it's up to China to determine who wanted her out of the picture. Was it her soon-to-be ex? His new lover, who happens to be the sister of China's friend Ruby? Or someone connected with the corruption at the hospice? China owes it to her friend to uncover the truth - but she may be putting her own life at risk....
©2016 Susan Wittig Albert (P)2016 Recorded Books
Cat's Claw
Summary
New York Times best-selling author Susan Wittig Albert is widely acclaimed for her cozy China Bayles mystery series. In Cat’s Claw, China’s friend Police Chief Sheila Dawson takes center stage. When local computer guru Larry Kirk is found dead, many are convinced it was suicide over his recent divorce. But Sheila has a hunch there’s more to this case than meets the eye - especially when evidence surfaces that Larry was being stalked.
©2011 Susan Wittig Albert (P)2012 Recorded Books, LLC
Nightshade
Summary
In this 16th entry in Susan Wittig Albert’s long-running mystery series, China is finally on the verge of finding out the truth about her father’s death. But her reservations about letting her half-brother, Miles, hire her husband prove all too accurate when she discovers Miles has a hidden agenda.
©2008 Susan Wittig Albert (P)2010 Recorded Books, LLC