On a sweltering summer day, reporter Olivia Kerr and her husband Jerry invite Olivia's colleague Dale Colby and his family to the beach. Accompanying them is a very pregnant Maggie Ryan, Jerry's sister, and her family. Dale's last-minute decision to remain at home to follow up on an important story results in a tragic discovery when the beach-goers return: Dale’s body in a pool of blood inside his locked office. Vietnam veteran turned police officer Holly Schreiner leads the investigation, battling Maggie—and demons of her own. This Mystery Company edition restores to print the sixth novel in the Maggie Ryan series, a 1992 Edgar Award nominee. “An ingeniously plotted, fair-play, locked-room mystery, one of the best we’ve encountered.” – Tom & Enid Schantz in The Denver Post

Steve Bradford has a good job, a loving wife and a precious daughter, but he dreams of life in Venezuela with another woman. Actor Nick O’Connor allows himself the luxury of a little hope, cast in a production with the famous Ramona Ricci. But there are new responsibilities too, as he and his wife, statistician Maggie Ryan, are adjusting to life with a baby daughter of their own. Then Ramona is shot, and Steve puts Maggie at the heart of a dangerous deception. This Mystery Company edition restores to print the fifth novel in the Maggie Ryan series.

The exploding wastebasket is a prank, but slaughtered lab rats have graduate students Maggie Ryan, Monica Bauer and the rest of the lab on edge. When the custodian is murdered, actor Nick O’Connor goes undercover to investigate, a protective gesture Maggie does not appreciate. While Maggie and Nick search for the killer, Monica struggles to connect with a young man shot in the head in Vietnam.

Realtor Len Trager is anxious to sell the brownstone in Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood, but prospective buyers don’t want to deal with Julia Northrup, who rents the basement apartment. Maggie Ryan and her husband Nick O'Connor love the property. They see though Julia’s act, and they’re not scared off by the corpse on the top floor.

In the spring semester of 1968, brutal attacks draws campus women together to study self-defense and the psychology of rape. Mary Beth Nelson struggles to keep the Lords of Death at bay by immersing herself in researching Mayan languages. Her new housemate, Maggie Ryan, has her own secrets. When murder strikes close to home, Maggie investigates with a little help from her friends.

Statistician Maggie Ryan returns to her alma mater to consult for Professor Charlie Fielding, who is conducting experiments on how skilled readers read. She is invited to a celebratory luncheon with retired professor Tal Chandler. But Chandler is found dead before he gets to the restaurant. The police say suicide, but Maggie offers a different reading of the crime scene, casting suspicion on Fielding, others in the psychology department and the dead man's grieving widow.This Mystery Company edition restores to print the seventh novel in the Maggie Ryan series."A tasty blend of irreverence (Carlson enjoys jokes at the expense of academics) and sincerity (her portrayal of the murder victim's wife is touching). Maggie is an engaging everywoman – wife, mother, professional – who conducts her crime-busting with panache."– Margot Mifflin in Entertainment Weekly

Nick and Lisette O’Connor need a change. They leave New York City for a semester as artists-in-residence at a college upstate, professional leads in a campus production of Hamlet. Threats and accidents follow Lisette, and Nick worries it might be more than just petty jealousy. Maggie Ryan, a student running lights for the show, helps investigate a mystery steeped in the turmoil of 1967 America.