It’s not every day you meet an amateur sleuth with fangs.
If you like fantastical mysteries that mix laughs in with murderous mayhem and mythical beasts, you’ll love The Circus of Unusual Creatures series.
Like any traveling circus, Zin’s has hair-raising acts and fried food on sticks.
But it’s also got an aura-spotting centaur, a chain-smoking unicorn, and an omelet-addicted dragon.
Oh, and a body in the center ring.
What readers (who I only had to bribe a little) have to say about the series so far…
“Light and fanciful with a darn good mystery woven in. What fun!” (Hoard It All Before)
“…a charming tale of dragons, deception, and dastardly deeds, and I loved every minute of it.” (Tipping the Scales)
“…an excellent read, very funny – I was kept on the edge of my seat not knowing what was going to happen next. Well worth reading…this hilarious series” (Tipping the Scales)
“Once I started reading it, I couldn’t put it down…it was that good!” (Hoard It All Before)
Hoard It All Before (#1)
Duncan — aka “Brutus Fangwrath, Deadliest Dragon in the West” — wakes one morning to find his best friend isn’t just sleeping off a hangover. He’s been murdered.
Suspicion for the crime quickly turns to the circus’s new hire, Cordelia Quinn. After all, she’s got motive, she got means, and she’s got loads of circumstantial evidence stacked against her.
When it looks like no one else is going to step in to help Cordelia, it’s up to Duncan to unravel the case, prove Cordelia’s innocence, and uncover a troubling secret along the way.
As soon as he’s done with his omelet, that is.
Set in a 1930s that’s just a tad different than what you’re used to, Hoard it all Before is the start of a delightfully humorous mystery series with plenty of tantalizing twists, a troupe of quirky characters, and death-defying feats both in and beyond the big top.
Tipping the Scales (#2)
When his circus arrives in Salem, the satyr Zin has his hooves crossed that all will go off without a hitch. Finances are tight, but when the vivacious Ella Penn shows up looking for work, well, you can’t say no to vivaciousness, can you?
Ella quickly puts up the hackles of the Dumble Dwarves, the Flying Flynns, and even the peace-loving centaur Flora. So when Ella’s pet iguana turns up dead, it’s assumed the murder was an act of revenge.
Eager to try his claws at investigating again, Duncan, self-appointed detecting dragon, is on the case faster than you can say ‘omelet’.
Trouble is, everyone has an alibi. Everyone, that is, except Ella’s ex-boyfriend, who seems to have the perfect motive…a broken heart. And it isn’t long after he arrives that the body count climbs and Duncan finds himself with more clues than he can handle.
In this second installment of the humorous mystery series that mixes in mythical beasts with the murderous mayhem, tempers are sizzling, the clues are confounding, and the twists have nothing do with the Flying Flynns’ trapeze act.
LATEST RELEASE!!
Fangs a Million (#3)
Hey everyone, Cordelia here.
Duncan (aka “Deadliest Dragon in the West”) has finally finished typing up the third sleuthing adventure he got us tangled up in. It’s the one that involves booze smuggling, dragon matchmaking, too much lemonade, and a unicorn having a very bad hair day.
I’m not sure about Duncan calling it a “masterpiece of mystery,” but trust me, it’s a good one. Especially when that unicorn has a wardrobe malfunction and Duncan becomes a victim of his own matchmaking.
Of course, things aren’t all fun and games at Zin’s Circus of Unusual Creatures. We’ve got some pesky trainees driving us all batty, a police raid that threatens to shut the show down permanently, and of course, a couple of confounding murders to solve.
The Circus of Unusual Creatures is an ongoing series and more of Duncan’s adventures will be coming soon!
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