Books by Karen

THE CASEY STENGEL MYSTERY SERIES:

1.  Murder Among The Orchids

Among his beloved orchids, Mr. Popelmayer lay as if he'd gone down swinging.

 Casey and her detective friend, Max, discover more than one bizarre and exotic turn to the mystery of Mr. Pop's death. 

Did his daughter, Cattelya, or his son, Garo, want an early inheritance? Or perhaps his first wife has had her revenge. The answer lies in the Costa Rican Forest of Orchids.

2. Death Among The Deckchairs

A cruise. A bikini clad body. What next? 

All Casey wanted was a relaxing cruise where she could visit with her daughter, the cruise director, but suddenly she finds herself in the middle of a murder at sea. Who would have guessed the  beautiful young woman dead in the deckchair next to her had an enemy who would use her love of the sun to end her life? 

When Max joins Casey, what she thought would be a romantic ending to her cruise becomes an intense search for evidence. Somewhere among all the dermatologists holding a conference on board ship is a killer. Is it the victim’s doctor husband? Or one of his co-workers? And how does the shark expert fit into the puzzle?

3. Secrets Among The Shamrocks

Ireland’s green landscape greets Casey as she embarks on a new adventure. She has volunteered to help her daughter Evelyn and her husband, Charles, open a Bed & Breakfast at the Castle Shamrock. Max Dugan, retired homicide cop and special friend to Casey has agreed to come along as well and help out as a handy man. What they didn’t expect were the secrets the castle would hold.

Casey has a history of finding dead bodies but this time it is the youngest member of the household, Allie, their border collie, who sniffs out the body under the collapsed wall of the castle. Is this the person who has been digging holes all over the castle grounds? What could he have been hoping to find?

Finn and Millie who grew up in the town of Dingle where the castle sits on a slight hill above the Dingle Harbor share the story of the theft of the Irish Crown Jewels and the rumors that arose about the connection of the suspected thieves to Castle Shamrock.

Professor Thornbury who claims to be an expert in Irish history and folklore is the first guest of the Bed & Breakfast. He’s a strange fellow who seems to be more interested in what might lie between the pages of the books in the lodge’s library than what is on their pages.

There are secrets to be discovered at the lodge and the castle and the mystery of an unsolved murder. Is there a connection to the Crown Jewels and the thieves? Can Casey and Max figure out the puzzling clues and discover the secrets the Castle Shamrock holds?

4. Abandoned Among The Apple Trees 

Casey's sweet Aunt Kitty dies under suspicious circumstances and, as the nearest relative, she is named executor of the will. It would involve traveling to Ohio which means Casey would have to leave Ireland and her daughter who is pregnant with her first grandchild. Convinced by those around her that they can handle all her chores at the Bed and Breakfast in her absence, she agrees to go and hopes to return quickly before her grandchild's arrival.

Max Dugan, Casey's special friend and ex-cop turned private investigator meets her in Ohio and the two of them find themselves embroiled in an investigation into Aunt Kitty's death.

Johnny, a man with quite a tragic history, becomes the center of concern in the murder investigation. For several years he has been a foreman on Aunt Kitty's apple farm and helped with her ministry to new immigrants to the country.

There are secrets to be discovered about Johnny and of Aunt Kitty's past. But the greatest question to be answered is who would kill such a sweet kind woman like Aunt Kitty and why?

5. Perjury Among The Pickleballs

Pickleball? Casey has doubts about learning a new sport with such a strange name but Max Dugan, her friend and now fellow private investigator, thinks she is up to the challenge. Actually the Pickleball is all part of a new investigation centered around a murder that has taken place at the new RU1or2 Pickleball facility.

Teddy Richfield was found murdered in the office of RU1or2. It appears a possible murder/robbery but money was not taken from the open safe. What could possibly be the motive? And who was the killer?


Stan Zurkowski's eyewitness account places RIchfield's partner in the business, Adam Hatcher, at the scene the time of the murder. He also testifies at Hatcher's trial that he heard them arguing. Hatcher claims he was home but can't find a way to prove it. What would cause Zurkowski, the Pickleball instructor, to perjure himself? Could it be his interest in Melanie Hatcher, Adam's wife? Is there a romantic connection between the two?

As Casey juggles her time between being household manager for the Drs. Connely and her investigative job for Max, she finds all sorts of connections between the people she meets and the new sport of Pickleball she learns to like. But will all of these connections lead her and Max to the truth?

6. Whistler Among The Windmills

It's tulip time in the Netherlands! Casey is thrilled to be able to accompany Evelyn and Charles and her granddaughter, Haisley, on their business/pleasure trip to the country of tulips. The pleasure part of the trip is a visit to the famous Keukenhof Garden. At the garden while sitting with a sleeping Haisley, she hears a weird whistling coming from a man as he passes by. No tune or melody. Just strange bursts of eerie whistling.

The visit is followed by a business trip to scout out a new bed and breakfast possibility for the company her daughter and son-in-law work for. The Van der Molen farm sits out in the countryside with a lovely farmhouse as well as three windmills next to a stream. Jacob and Anna welcome them into their home and discussions begin about converting it into a bed and breakfast to include rental space in at least one of the windmills Jacob hopes to have renovated.

While exploring the grounds near the windmills, Casey hears the same eerie whistling she heard at Keukenhof. She recognizes the man as he chases a dog who is eager to greet her and Haisley. Casey learns the dog is named Max which reminds her of Max Dugan, her friend and now employer in his private investigation firm. The dog's owner is Jorin Meijer who is there to help with the windmill restoration.

An email from Max, the man not the dog, sets Casey off into researching the death of his father. Was it truly suicide or did someone murder him? Max is trying to locate his father's partner Gavin who disappeared right after his father's death. The trail has grown cold in England and he decides to join Casey in the Netherlands. He arrives just in time to find Casey upset with the discovery of a body.

Is the mystery surrounding the death of Max's father linked somehow to Casey's newly discovered body? And does it all relate to events now and in the past in the city of Chicago involving the mob and an ambitious politician whose goal is President of the United States. 

Hidden In Harper Valley

Suzanne Brown and her daughter, Dominique have begun a new life in the pretty little town of Harper Valley. Suzanne and Dominique struggle a bit with their new identities and the backstory they have created to fit their new circumstances. Although Suzanne does not need to work, she finds a job as a bookkeeper at the fabric mill in town so people will not suspect she secretly has a net worth of millions.

While Dominique who is about to turn thirteen tries to adjust to attending a public school and a church teen group, she desperately misses her BFF back in California but she has been warned not to communicate with her. How can she survive with no friend to share things with, especially her love of photography. Scott Frazier, youth pastor at Valley Christian Church, grows closer to Suzanne and Dominique as he seeks to help Dominique fit into the church youth group. At the same time, he finds that Suzanne is a woman he would like to get to know better. Little does he know what danger that may put him in.Although Suzanne’s brother Michael, a US Marshall who has arranged for them to be hidden in Harper Valley, assures her that her past will not find her, she soon realizes all the precautions they have taken have failed. She is being stalked. Their hiding place has been discovered. Will her ex-husband follow through on his promise? 

The Christmas Prodigal

As a young child, Tammy was adopted by the Callahan family but as she grew into her late teens, she became restless, wondering about her roots and the parents who had given her up to be adopted. Seeking the answers puts her on a slippery downward slope that leads to a dark time in her life.

Allan and Emily Callahan couldn’t have loved Tammy more if she had been their biological child. When Tammy left school and disappeared from their lives they were devastated. Wanting to be reassured that she was alive and well, they hire Mark Long, an ex-cop turned law student and private investigator to find her.

While Mark Long is successful in his search, he is not certain he can convince Tammy to reunite with her adoptive parents. What is holding her back? Can he break through the barriers that keep her from a family that loves her?

Letters From Santa

Chrissie has received a personal letter from Santa every year since she was five years old and lost her first responder father. Though they stopped coming when she turned eighteen, the encouraging letters touch her heart each year as she takes them from her memory box and rereads them. Now as a reporter for a Florida news magazine, she has decided to search out her letter writing Santa but unknown to Chrissie, a romance and a second family await her in Santaland, Minnesota.


Jack Hart meets Chrissie as they board a plane for Minnesota. He hates the idea of going home each year for Christmas because it usually means tension between himself and his father. This trip home though surprises him as he finds Chrissie is a guest at his parents’ farm, a B & B and camp for kids. Christmas becomes a more pleasant time as he grows fond of Chrissie and she helps him to reevaluate his parents’ mission of helping children of first responders.

Available at Amazon

Fort Lonesome

Ginnie Scott looked forward to the beginning of a new life in Fort Lonesome. She felt a new sense of freedom leaving behind the parents she had so deeply disappointed. She was starting fresh as a preschool teacher where no one knew her past. Little did she expect that the past would catch up with her.

Grant Richards’ life had been through some deep valleys. Just as he thought his heart might mend from the loss of his wife, Becca, he had to cope with his daughter’s perilous brain tumor. Then Bonnie’s new preschool teacher arrived to throw his life into more turmoil. Was she Becca’s ghost? The resemblance was uncanny.

Martin Westfall ruined Ginnie’s life with his rash promises and failures to fulfil them. He’s found her again and this time he won’t let anything come between them, not even a little girl and her cowboy father.

Fort Lonesome, Florida, is classified as a ghost town but the only ghosts in town are the ghosts of the past that come into Grant and Ginnie’s lives. Will those ghosts bring the two together? Possibly, but only if they can overcome their fears and find the hope they need for the future.

Available at Amazon

A Pocketful of Christmas

When you give the miracle of love will you get double back? A small Pennsylvania town will soon discover if that is true.

In Hollitown, Joseph is not looking forward to his first Christmas without his wife. When he discovers that eight year old Keri is hurting as well from missing her father, Joseph find that a pocketful of Christmas can bring joy again into their lives.

Available at Amazon

Pickle Dilly
An Annie Pickels Story, Book 2

   Annie Pickels, a widowed pickle entrepreneur, and her best friend Elma are off to London for a little holiday. While in London things are happening back home that threaten to cause the loss of Annie’s farm property. Once again she will rely on Arnie, her friend who is a lawyer but who wants to be so much more in her life, to help her out of trouble.

   A trip to Alaska and a meeting with her deceased husband’s family solves some of her problems but there are still questions to be answered. How far will the people who want her property go to get it? And, is there room in her heart for Arnie, the one Elma keeps telling her is the “man of her dreams”?

   It’s a dilly of a pickle Annie finds herself in but with friends, family and faith the answers become clear.

Available now at Amazon

RUBY, A Novel

   A love grown quietly over the years. A war calls and decisions must be made in haste. What secrets will need to be kept and how will they affect generations to come?

   Hope Morgan has always had difficulty understanding her mother, Ruby. Now as illness threatens to take her mother’s life she discovers that her family history is not what she thought. Ruby begins to reveal secrets that have been kept for generations.    

   Who was Edward Fields in her mother’s life, Hope wonders, and why has she kept his letters for so many years? What was the butterfly love story they shared? And did Hope’s father, George know about it? 

   While Ruby weathered the Great Depression as a child and the sorrows of World War II as a young bride, her faith grew and the promises Edward shared with her gave her strength to see her through. Will she have the strength to finally reveal the last secret she holds?

.Available at Amazon.com

In A Pickle 
An Annie Pickels Story, Book 1

Annie Pickels, a 65 year old widowed pickle entrepreneur is in real trouble. One of her city farmers is growing marijuana on his rented plot of land. Annie, thinking it is marjoram, uses it as a secret ingredient in her pickles. Insisting Tommy is a nice young man, Annie discovers his beloved Mary Jane is not the name of his girlfriend after Annie is arrested for cultivation and sale of marijuana. But Annie knows God always takes care of her. On a cruise aboard the Queen Mary 2, Annie meets the man who might solve her impending legal dilemma, Arnie. Elma, Annie’s best friend, knows that Arnie is just what Annie needs in her life. But is he? Annie’s niece thinks Arnie is out to fleece her aunt. Is she right? Or is Arnie the one who can get Annie out of the pickle she’s in?

Available at Amazon.com


Revised and Reissued! Divide The Child

A mother's worst nightmare. Her child is snatched.

The kidnapper is Sebrena Warner, the child's real mother. Or is she? It has been six years since their rescue of a baby girl who was born alive after a botched abortion and Julie and Rick Sierra had begun to relax. No one questioned the adoption papers and their move out of the area to avoid being discovered. Now they are about to become embroiled in a custody battle only the wisdom of Solomon could decide.

Sebrena vows to use all the power her politically aspiring husband, Wynne, will bring her. But Wynne's life is complicated further by a reporter, Michael Boston, who threatens to expose Sebrena's past.

Judge Helen Belmonte must decide Kathy's future. She turns to the only place she knows she will find true wisdom, her Bible.

Purchase at: Amazon

A Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts

Is your December cluttered? Does Christmas leave you fretting instead of singing Joy to the World? In A Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts, discover how to bring harmony to this busy month. Tips for family traditions, connecting generations, children, gift giving, how to grow myrrh and much more. Try the scrumptious Cookie Canister recipes. Read about families who experienced Christmas firsts. This is a book to help you un-complicate Christmas, rediscover the real source of joy and usher in the celebration of

faith, family and a Savior. This book is written by six well-known

authors: Cathy Messecar, Trish Berg, Terra Hangen, Brenda Nixon, Karen Robbins and Leslie Wilson.

A Scrapbook of Motherhood Firsts

A SCRAPBOOK OF MOTHERHOOD FIRSTS celebrates motherhood milestones in a collection of topics from conception to school days, and recipes to family fun days. With nearly 150 years of collective mothering, Leslie, Trish, Terra, Cathy, and Karen combine common sense, heartfelt advice, and humor to encourage young women in their journey through motherhood. Through tips, stories, recipes, and memories, these women bring faith-filled words of wisdom and insight.



Chicken soup for the Soul, Here Comes The Bride


The wedding day, and each day leading up to it, is a special and exciting time. In this collection of 101 heartwarming and hilarious stories, brides and grooms, families and friends share their memories of the big day. With stories about everything from the proposal, to the planning, to actual wedding day events, the honeymoon, and all the joys and frustrations in between, this book will delight and encourage any bride or newlywed.




Chicken Soup for the Soul, Married Life!

Marriage is a wonderful institution, and in this fresh collection of stories, husbands and wives share their personal, funny, and quirky stories from the trenches. Whether newly married or married for years and years, readers will find laughter and inspiration in these 101 stories of love, romance, fun, and making it work.

Chicken Soup for the Soul, The Magic of Mothers & Daughters

Mothers and daughters. They are, at the same time, very similar and completely unique. This relationship - through birth, childhood, teen years, adulthood, grandchildren, aging, and every step in between - can be the best, the hardest, and the sweetest. Mothers and daughters will laugh, cry, and find inspiration in this collection of stories that remind them of their shared love, appreciation and special bond.

The Bad Hair Day Book

When life deals you split ends, tangles, limp bangs, and the absolute wrong shade of color, one quick spritz of humor and a comb-through of wisdom from The Bad Hair Day Book will have you smiling again! The wisest man in the world said "a cheerful heart is good medicine," and this book is just what the doctor prescribes. Readers will be encouraged and cheered up with this delightful collection of true life stories, cartoons, poems, Scripture, simple ideas and advice on simplifying and reorganizing life, and other expressions of hope and humor.

Ho! Ho! Ho!
 
Christmas is the season to celebrate a marvelous time of parties, gift-giving, children's pageants, joyful music, family movies, and family reunions-which all combine to create lots of fun and laughter.
Ho! Ho! Ho! stands apart from traditional Christmas gift books as a light-hearted, whimsical-and laugh-aloud-collection of personal stories, poems, humorous anecdotes, top-10 lists (from silly songs, to movies, to strange traditions), cartoons, quotes, and other writings to brighten the busyness and activities of the season.