For those of you not familiar with the award-winning Alvarez Family Murder Mysteries, let me welcome you to the Family. You’re one of us now! And when the Alvarez clan is not solving murders, they run Discretionary Inquiries, a successful Silicon Valley agency that normally deals with the theft of intellectual property and computer software. Amid the backdrop of today’s gorgeous Bay Area, this fast-paced series sparkles with suspense, humor, and love.
If you go to the page for each book, you can read reviews, watch the trailer, or read the complete first chapter. Or to get a taste of a shorter, complete story, read the Lee Alvarez Novellas.
Murder is a Family Business, A Wedding to Die For, Death Runs in the Family, Dead, If Only, The CEO Came DOA, The Culinary Art of Murder, and the soon to come, Casting Call For A Corpse in late spring, early summer of 2020, are part of the fun, detective cozies revolving around Lee Alvarez, a combination of Sue Graftonʼs Kinsey Millhone and Janet Evanovitchʼs Stephanie Plum. Completing the Alvarez Family is Leeʼs Never-Had-A-Bad-Hair-Day aristocratic mother, Lila; computer genius brother, Richard; beloved uncle “Tio;” and her energetic orange and white cat, Tugger. While ferreting out the bad guys or catching a killer or two, these whodunit novels explore familial love—the good, the bad and the annoying.
Book I
Murder is a Family Business
Just because a man cheats on his wife and makes Danny DeVito look tall, dark and handsome, is that any reason to kill him? The reluctant and quirky PI, Lee Alvarez, doesn’t think so. The 34-year old half Latina, half WASP and 100% detective has her work cut out for her when the man is murdered on her watch. Of all the nerve…Read more or get the book.
Book II
A Wedding to Die For
A groom arrested for murder can put a crimp in anybody’s wedding. So when the nuptials of Lee’s best friend are threatened, thirty-four-year old Lee Alvarez—a combination of Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone and Janet Evanovitch’s Stephanie Plum—heads to Mexico in search of the real killer…read more or get the book.
Book III
Death Runs in the Family
Lee Alvarez’ ex-husband, Nick—a man she divorced with joy in her heart and a gun in her hand—sprints back in her life only to disappear again. She’d love to leave it at that, but could he be responsible for the recent death of her cousin, who keeled over at the finish line of a half-marathon in front of hundreds of spectators? …read more or get the book at Amazon, Barnes and Noble.
Book IV
Dead…If Only
A man who should be dead isn’t and Lee Alvarez’s very pregnant sister-in-law, Vicki, is about to be charged with a murder he recently committed in the Big Easy. Aided by the rest of the Alvarez Family, Palo Alto’s favorite P.I. kicks the Voodoo in the Who Do throughout New Orleans. With only three days to clear Vicki’s name, a child is kidnapped, two more people wind up dead, a hurricane hits, and the clock never stops ticking…read more or get the book.
Book V
The CEO Came DOA
Lee Alvarez takes a job ferreting out the saboteur of a start-up company’s Initial Public Offering in the heart of Silicon Valley. Little does she know early one morning she will find the CEO hanging by the neck in the boardroom wearing nothing but his baby blue boxer shorts. Was it suicide? Or was it one of the many people who loathed the man on sight, including his famous rock singer ex? The bodies start piling up all the while she’s planning her very own Christmas wedding…read more or get the book.
Book VI
The Culinary Art of Murder
Lee Alvarez’s Uncle “Tío” is smitten with a visiting chef at a Silicon Valley culinary arts institute. When the lady is arrested for the murder of a fellow chef and the dishwasher, Discretionary Inquiries, Inc.—the Alvarez family-owned detective agency—agrees to help find the real killer. But undercover work at the institute proves to be more difficult than whipping up a chocolate soufflé. The killer tries to get Lee out of the way and permanently. But just who is it? The lady chef? One of her two sons? Or one of the other inmates from a cooking school with secrets as plentiful as sauces? Can Lee find the real killer before her own goose is cooked? And if it turns out to be the ambitious southern belle chef, will Tío ever forgive Lee for sending his new lady love to jail? … Read more or get the book.
Book VII
Casting Call for a Corpse
Super sleuth, Lee Alvarez, finds a dead man wearing a tuxedo in her actress friend’s bathtub during a posh party for San Francisco’s VIPs. With a theater full of suspects, can Lee and the rest of the family save her friend from going to prison for a murder she didn’t commit? This is Showbiz? … Read more or get the book.
Book VII
The Drop Dead Temple of Doom
When cousin JJ’s husband goes missing on an archaeological dig in the middle of ancient Mayan ruins, the Alvarez Family springs into action and heads for Guatemala’s El Mirador Basin. Even though ace detective Lee Alvarez tries not to go anywhere she can’t plug in her hot rollers, she can’t help but follow the clues in a foreign land filled with earthquakes, wild animals, deadly gods, stolen artifacts, villains, and yuk! snakes. But can she find the missing man? Or will she, too, become another casualty of this alien world, beautiful but deadly? … Read more or Get The Book.
A Lee Alvarez Novella:
“Honeymoons Can Be Murder“
Lee Alvarez goes to Hawaii, and mystery awaits.
Buy The Alvarez Family Murder Mysteries Online, from Local Booksellers
Through Indiebound you can search your local bookstore and buy online. Select the book you want, and then click the red “Buy Here” button in the right-hand column.
Heather Haven stories at Indiebound.
Praise for the Series
“Heather Haven makes a stellar debut in Murder is a Family Business. With an engaging protagonist and a colorful cast, Haven provides a fresh voice in a crowded genre. We will be hearing more from this talented newcomer. Highly recommended.”
Sheldon Siegel New York Times Best-Selling Author of Perfect Alibi
Heather Haven’s writing is AWESOME! Yep. Awesome! She blends lots of mystery and suspense with humor and greatastic characters. It’s quirky and it’s twisty, and it’s one that I am so happy to have had the chance to review. I highly recommend this book with 4 star praises. It’s the start of a series that is SURE to be a hit selling one, and a series that I can’t wait to collect and read more about this Latino WASP investigator! Well done, Heather!
Molly
Reviews by Molly
“I fell in love with this book within the first few pages. Family plays a huge part in the plot, and what a family it is. Maybe that’s why I liked it so much – the characters are very reminiscent of my own family, at least personality wise. For me, this was a great book. The writing was clever and I couldn’t stop laughing. This is the perfect beach book. And I’m actually pretty excited that the second book in the series comes out just as I’m planning to head to the beach in May. I can’t wait to see the antics of the Alvarez family continue.”
Laura
The 100 Romances Project
“I got a real kick out of this thriller set in San Francisco and Silicon Valley….Reading about an intellectual property detective agency in a world where intellectual property theft is a big issue is new twist for a detective thriller. I enjoyed my trip into that world.”
Catherine Evans Latta
author of Beirut Summer
Kindle Set of First Six Books
Ready to dive in? You can get all six books on Kindle for only $9.99 if you get this box set.
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