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Hannah Ives Mystery book cover 1
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Hannah Ives Mystery
Series · 17
books · 1999-2019

Books in series

Sing It To Her Bones book cover
#1

Sing It To Her Bones

1999

She lost her job. She almost lost her life. Now Hannah Ives is taking her first brave steps back into the world, wearing a wig and her heart on her sleeve after a frightening bout with breast cancer. But in the small Chesapeake Bay town where she came for a vacation, she does not find the relaxation she deserves. Instead, Hannah finds a body —- of a girl who disappeared eight years before. Suddenly Hannah is asking hard questions of the good and solid citizens of Pearson's Corner, peering behind the facade of the perfect small town and piecing together the last days of a girl who died on her high school homecoming night —- a girl about the same age as Hannah's own daughter. Uncovering some dangerous secrets, Hannah can feel her own spirit and body surging back to life. After all, she beat death once. Now, with a killer on the loose, she has to face an even deadlier foe ...
Unbreathed Memories book cover
#2

Unbreathed Memories

2000

Is the key to a therapist's murder hidden away...in a patient's mind? Is a shrink's death fall a Freudian slip? Hannah Ives has every reason to mind her own business. Having survived a recent bout with breast cancer, she's opting for reconstructive surgery and a fresh start. Her Annapolis home is decorated for better feng shui. Her parents are living close by. And her sister, Georgina, is finally getting help for recurring depression. Everything is coming up roses-until her sister's therapist takes a nosedive off a balcony. Now, with Georgina a prime suspect in the murder, Hannah needs to do some analysis of her own. A few pages torn from an appointment book may hold a crucial clue. And some bizarre memories from her sister's past may point to a motive...if Hannah can keep a clear head and dare to enter the darkness of a killer's twisted mind....
Occasion of Revenge book cover
#3

Occasion of Revenge

2001

The bride thought they’d live happily ever after—until a murderer struck.... The guests were off the wall. The would-be groom was off the wagon. And the bride certainly wasn’t blushing. Aside from that, it was the perfect occasion: a party for Hannah Ives’s widowed father and the younger woman he had suddenly decided to marry. Then the evening takes a strange turn, with a sudden death and disappearance. For Hannah, the stunning turn of events came after a Christmas season slide into anger and confusion. First her father had found a floozy who had already buried three husbands. Then her late mother’s jewelry started showing up around the gold digger’s neck. Now Hannah, who has just put her life together after a bout with cancer, is desperately searching for her missing father. Because this poor man has either made a terrible mistake, committed a terrible crime, or fallen victim to a killer who seized the moment for murder....
In Death's Shadow book cover
#4

In Death's Shadow

2004

Hannah Ives struggled through the darkness of illness and uncertainty, and fellow patient Valerie Stone was at her side. As cancer survivors they have a lot to celebrate when they meet again at The Race for the Cure®. Valerie seems to have it all—health, new-found wealth and a husband and daughter who adore her. But their reunion is short-lived. Valerie is dead and a suspicious Hannah runs a marathon of another sort, threading her way through a maze of clues trying to uncover the cause of her friend’s untimely death. Fearing she had only months to live, Valerie had taken a viatical settlement, selling her life insurance policy through a broker. But an experimental drug had put Valerie’s cancer into remission. Had an investor been unwilling to wait for his investment to ‘mature’? Soon residents start dying in an upscale retirement community, residents who had taken senior settlements, selling their life insurance policies, like Valerie had, for cash. Was there a connection? With the help of her eighty-something friend, L.K. Bromley, Hannah plunges into the investigation, taking her father’s advice to ‘follow the money.’ But the deeper Hannah digs the more horrifying the mystery becomes. There are those in the big business of living and dying who think she’s becoming too curious . . . and it’s high time her questions were silenced. Hannah Ives knows what it means to be a survivor. Now she’s caught in an ever-tightening web of greed, fraud and corruption, and she’s about to discover what it means to be a target.
This Enemy Town book cover
#5

This Enemy Town

2005

Hannah Ives is always ready to support others like herself who have been through the gauntlet of fear and uncertainty that a diagnosis of cancer often brings. So when friend and fellow survivor Dorothy Hart asks for help building sets for the Naval Academy's upcoming production of Sweeney Todd, Hannah readily agrees. But it means associating with an old foe—a vindictive officer whose accusations once nearly destroyed Hannah's home life. And when one corpse too many appears during a dress rehearsal of the dark and bloody musical, Hannah finds herself accused of murder—and enmeshed in a web of treachery and deception that rivals the one that damned the "Demon Barber." Caught up in a drama as sinister as any that has ever unfolded on stage, Hannah stands to lose everything unless she unmasks a killer before the final curtain falls ...
Through the Darkness book cover
#6

Through the Darkness

2006

Cancer survivor Hannah Ives looked Death in the eye . . . and walked away victorious. But the terror she once felt in its shadow pales before the ice-cold fear that now grips her heart in the wake of an unthinkable the kidnapping of Hannah's innocent grandson. One-year-old Tim vanished from the day care center at the luxurious upscale spa his parents recently opened, and the lack of a ransom note suggests the innocent child may have fallen into the hands of the worst sort of fiend. Hannah will find no peace until the boy is found and his abductor punished—not even taking comfort in the caring words of a dear friend and spiritual advisor whose own life and marriage may be haunted by something dark and sinister. But the hunt may be leading Hannah to places she never dreamed she'd have to go . . .
Dead Man Dancing book cover
#7

Dead Man Dancing

2008

The new Hannah Ives mystery - Driving a wedge between Ruth and her fianc, Hutch, is not what Hannah intends when she recommends J & K Dance Studios to her sister. Ruth is determined to shine on her wedding day, but when stunning dance teacher Kay Giannotti greets Hutch with a kiss, its clear this isnt the first time theyve met. Talked into auditioning for Shall We Dance?, a TV talent show, the auditions end in tragedy. Accident or murder? Hannah is on the case . . .
Without a Grave book cover
#8

Without a Grave

2009

This book presents the new Hannah Ives mystery. Hannah's in paradise, enjoying the active, back-to-basics rhythms of Bahamian island life. When controversy arises over the construction of a luxury resort that could devastate the coral reef, Hannah dives in. Acts of vandalism, a deadly wildfire, a missing scientist - Hannah suspects a connection, but her investigation stalls when Hurricane Helen slams into the island. Before the skies clear, a dynasty is threatened by a venomous sibling rivalry, environmentalists face-off against progressive island fathers, and somebody else will die. Gin-clear waters, sand so white you're blinded by the glare, palms rustling in a tropical breeze. Paradise? Sometimes it's just an illusion...
All Things Undying book cover
#9

All Things Undying

2010

Hannah is stunned when a stranger stops her on the street to deliver a message from her long-dead mother. Susan Parker, Hannah learns, is a popular television medium whose accurate predictions leave fans and critics alike puzzled and intrigued. In spite of her scepticism, Hannah schedules a private reading. But on the morning they are to meet, Susan is struck by a hit-and-run driver. An accident? Hannah doesn’t think so – especially when she discovers that more than one person had good reason to want Susan dead . . .
A Quiet Death book cover
#10

A Quiet Death

2011

The new Hannah Ives mystery - Hannah is returning from a charity luncheon in Washington, DC, when her train is involved in a horrific crash. Although her arm is broken, she remains at the side of her critically injured seatmate until help arrives – but when she is later discharged from hospital, she finds herself in possession of the man’s distinctive bag, and her efforts to return it soon set in motion a chain of events that put her life in grave danger.
The Last Refuge book cover
#11

The Last Refuge

2012

Lights, camera, murder . . . who wrote dying into Hannah Ives’ script?- It doesn't take much arm-twisting to persuade Hannah Ives to join the twelve-strong cast of Patriot House, 1774, a reality show recreating eighteen-century colonial life during the turbulent days leading up to the American Revolution. But when Hannah befriends Amy Cornell, a maid on set and the young widow of a Navy SEAL off it, and the crew’s dance master is found murdered, events away from the camera become just as dramatic as those on it . . .
Dark Passage book cover
#12

Dark Passage

2013

Hannah, her sisters and fourteen-year-old niece Julie set sail from Baltimore on a bonding cruise, and have a dramatic first night when Pia Fanucci, a bubbly bartender magician’s assistant whom Hannah befriends, narrowly escapes injury during an illusion. But while Pia may make light of the incident, it’s no laughing matter when Julie suddenly disappears. Has she gone overboard, or is she injured somewhere on the enormous ship? To make matters worse, Hannah meets David Warren, a grieving father whose twenty-two-year-old daughter vanished without trace from an earlier cruise. With claims of a proper investigation proving to be an illusion too far, Hannah teams up with David and Pia in desperation. Can they see through the ship’s smoke and mirrors to reveal the identity of a dangerous sea-faring predator?
Tomorrow's Vengeance book cover
#13

Tomorrow's Vengeance

2014

A brutal murder draws Hannah Ives into a mystery where to understand the present, she must uncover a dark past. While at Calvert Colony, a life care community centre in Maryland, and at lunch with her friend, retired mystery author and amateur painter L.K. 'Naddie' Bromley and her neighbour Sophia Milanesi, who survived the closing years of the Second World War in a convent in Italy, Hannah meets Filomena Buccho, a personable young Argentine server. Her brother, Raniero, also works at the Colony as chef. But when Masud Abaza and his wife, Safa, move into the community and Masud is found murdered, his head bashed in by a croquet mallet, suspicion falls on Raniero, who has made no secret of his neo-Fascist sentiments. Hannah and Naddie agree to investigate, uncovering old crimes and reigniting ancient quarrels that know no boundaries of place or time.
Daughter of Ashes book cover
#14

Daughter of Ashes

2014

Is a tragic discovery from the past triggering a number of shocking present-day events? When Hannah loses out on the cottage of her dreams because of an unscrupulous real estate agent, she and her husband, Paul, buy a fixer-upper instead. But contractors restoring the chimney soon make a tragic the mummified body of an infant. Hannah, already researching the history of her home in the county archives, is searching for clues to the dead infant’s identity when more shocking events occur. Suddenly, her access to the courthouse is denied and the records she has been examining are slated for destruction. Someone with money, influence or both is trying to make sure incriminating information stays buried. Can Hannah solve the crimes before the evidence and over one hundred years of county history go up in smoke?
Footprints to Murder book cover
#15

Footprints to Murder

2016

When a man is murdered in the woods and the main suspect appears to be a giant ape, Hannah steps in to solve the mystery. Does Bigfoot really exist? Hannah is delighted to reconnect with her former roommate, Susan Lockley, owner of Scarborough Fairs, at a college reunion, and agrees to step in when Susan's assistant drops out of managing the Sasquatch Sesquicentennial in Granite Falls, Oregon. But when Martin Radcliffe, a professional debunker, is found murdered, surrounded by gigantic footprints, the culprit appears, or was meant to appear, obvious: Bigfoot. Fantasy or fact? As the conference disintegrates into a chaos of finger pointing, mistrust and fear, it falls to Hannah to restore order. Working closely with Jake, a retired policeman and his K-9, Harley, Hannah hastens to stave off the vigilantes and solve the crime before Bigfoot, if he exists, comes one step closer to extinction.
Mile High Murder book cover
#16

Mile High Murder

2018

Hannah Ives embarks on a trip to the Mile High City on a fact-finding mission. But is she about to get ‘high’ on murder? It’s a well-known fact that some of the Reach for Recovery cancer support group survivors Hannah Ives works with take marijuana. Recreational use of the drug may be illegal, but a few, like Maryland State Senator Claire Thompson, are prescribed it on medical grounds. Claire has co-sponsored a Cannabis Legalisation Bill and wants Hannah to be part of a fact-finding task force that testifies before the Maryland State Senate. Before long, Hannah is in Denver, Colorado – the Mile High City – staying at a B&B with a group of pot pilgrims and medical refugees – some of whom, like her, are on a mission for information. But when one of the group is found dead, and a closer inspection of the body reveals they may not be who they seem, Hannah is plunged into a dangerous cocktail of drugs and death.
Tangled Roots book cover
#17

Tangled Roots

2019

Can Hannah Ives untangle the roots of her ancestry to solve murders from the past and present? Hannah Ives' sister, Georgina, has some astonishing news. A DNA test has revealed she is part Native American, and Hannah's test has similar results. The link seems to come from their late mother. But how? As Hannah dives into constructing her family tree, she uncovers a heart-breaking love story and a mysterious death, while DNA matching turns up two second cousins, Mai and Nicholas. Hannah and her niece, Julie, are eager to embrace their new relatives and learn about their surprising ancestry, but Georgina's husband, Scott, isn't so keen. Are there more shocking revelations to come? And can Hannah untangle her family roots to uncover the truth behind a devastating tragedy?

Author

Marcia Talley
Marcia Talley
Author · 21 books

Marcia Talley is the Agatha and Anthony award-winning author of DEAD MAN DANCING and six previous mysteries featuring amateur sleuth, Hannah Ives who, like the author, is a breast cancer survivor. Marcia is author/editor of two star-studded collaborative novels, NAKED CAME THE PHOENIX and ID KILL FOR THAT set in a fashionable health spa and an exclusive gated community, respectively. Her short stories appear in more than a dozen collections including With Love, Marjorie Ann and Safety First, both Agatha award nominees, and the multi-award-winning Too Many Cooks, a humorous retelling of Shakespeares Macbeth from the viewpoint of the three witches. A recent story, Driven to Distraction won the Agatha Award, was nominated for an Anthony, and was reprinted in THE DANGEROUS BRIDE AND 21 OF THE YEARS FINEST CRIME AND MYSTERY STORIES. Marcia is immediate past president of the Chesapeake Chapter of Sisters in Crime, serves as Secretary for Sisters in Crime National, and is on the board of the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America. She divides her time between Annapolis, Maryland and an antique sailboat in the Bahamas. "

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