The Jolie Gentil cozy mystery series debuted in 2011 with Appraisal for Murder, and continues. Book 14, Phoning in a Murder, appeared in 2024. Jolie returns to Ocean Alley, a Jersey shore beach town, and it’s not long before she’s found the body of a former classmate’s mother, danced with a skeleton, and been talked into running the local food pantry. To think she moved into Aunt Madge’s B&B to have a quieter life...
APPRAISAL FOR MURDER (1)
Jolie balances her fear of Pedone and sometimes uneasy friendship with long-ago friend Scoobie, but someone would rather see her dead.
The first book of the series is always 99 cents as an ebook. The e-book is available from Amazon, Nook, itunes, and Google Play Kobo. Paperback at Amazon and BN Large Print
REKINDLING MOTIVES (2)
Jolie
Gentil is appraising the vacant Tillotson-Fisher house and finds the skeleton
of Richard Tillotson hidden in an antique attic wardrobe. He vanished just
after his sister married his business partner in 1929. Jolie sees a link to the
Fisher family's Prohibition era business and works with friends Scoobie and
Ramona to gather clues from old photo albums and ledgers. The present day
murder of Richard's former girlfriend, Mary Doris, tells them they're on the
right track. Did the secret she kept all these years finally kill her?
Working
with Scoobie and the artistic Ramona, Jolie tries to ignore her painful
tailbone, courtesy of a fall from the attic when she finds her "friend
Richard," as Scoobie calls him. Ignoring the pain is hard to do when
the local reporter makes your buns as much of the story as the skeleton itself,
and you have to watch out for chipmunks in the laundry basket, courtesy of Aunt
Madge's dogs.
Between running the food pantry at
Christmas time and escaping a burning buildIng, Jolie hopes to figure out who
the modern killer is before someone else gets hurt. And she really
doesn't want that someone to be her.
WHEN THE CARNY COMES TO TOWN (3)
Jolie never wanted to sit on the plank above the dunk tank for the food pantry's carnival fundraiser. Even so, she never dreamed what Scoobie saw that day would
leave him battling for his life. Scoobie's ex-con mother shows up and there's a
murder to add to the mix. Soon Jolie is doing a lot more than appraising real
estate, though even that is complicated by home burglars. Jolie reluctantly
seeks help from her nemesis--reporter George Winters--and tries to stay a step
ahead of a kidnapper and murderer so she can take charge of her world again.
The police wish she'd butt out and
Aunt Madge is furious that Jolie insists on talking to a couple shady
characters on her own. Soon even the guests at Aunt Madge's Cozy Corner B and B
are in the way. And what about some of the homeless folks who come to the food pantry? What have they seen on the boardwalk? Can Jolie keep her friends safe, and will Scoobie recover
enough to say what happened to him and plan another silly fundraiser?
Ebooks available
from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, itunes, Google Play, Smashwords Kobo. Paperback at BN and Amazon. Audio from Amazon, Audible, and itunes. Large Print
Any Port in a Storm (4)
Jolie Gentil works on the Talk Like a Pirate Day fundraiser for the 
food pantry and tries to figure out who's breaking into the houses she appraises. A new face in town is leading high school kids into trouble in those houses. Jolie's mad and lets Hayden know it. Lots of people hear her give him what for. When a corpse turn up under the makeshift pirate ship the next day, Jolie's looking like a suspect.
Soon she's getting less work. Who wants a murder suspect appraising their house? Scoobie's pirate limericks can't solve a crime, so Jolie and local reporter George Winters look for the murderer and try to figure out who's trying to frame Jolie. They need to stay ahead of whoever's mad at her and off the radar of the local police who tell Jolie -- for the hundredth time -- to butt out. All this and Jolie has to put up with Scoobie's pirate limericks and Aunt Madge's blossoming love life. And what about her own?
Soon she's getting less work. Who wants a murder suspect appraising their house? Scoobie's pirate limericks can't solve a crime, so Jolie and local reporter George Winters look for the murderer and try to figure out who's trying to frame Jolie. They need to stay ahead of whoever's mad at her and off the radar of the local police who tell Jolie -- for the hundredth time -- to butt out. All this and Jolie has to put up with Scoobie's pirate limericks and Aunt Madge's blossoming love life. And what about her own?
Ebooks at Amazon, BN, Smashwords, itunes, Google Play Kobo. Paperback at Barnes and Noble, or Amazon.
Large Print. Audio at Audible, Amazon, itunes
Trouble on the Doorstep (5)
From Hurricane Sandy to Cozy Corner B and B repairs to Aunt Madge's wedding in three weeks. If Jolie can handle that surely she can deal with a sobbing woman, Pooki, who shows up at midnight playing a scary message on a cell phone. A shady deal for storm repairs at the Ocean Alley Senior Complex seems
to be at the root of Steve Oliver's hit-and-run death and his missing business partner, Pooki’s husband Eric. When the partner ends up dead at the B&B, Jolie's digging for clues in between burning muffins and appraising houses. But when she doesn't share all that she learns with her sometimes-boyfriend, reporter George Winters, he's grouchy. Jolie is convinced she needs to find the murderer and expose fraudulent repair bids. Not everyone shares her views--not the police, her friend Scoobie, and certainly not the murderer.
Trouble on the Doorstep is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble Google Play, itunes, Kobo, Smashwords
Paperback Large print Audio at Amazon, itunes, Audible.
BEHIND THE WALLS (6)
But the guy she's most worried about is the one who left an elderly auctioneer dead on her porch swing. In between appraising houses and planning a fundraiser for the food pantry (can you say liquid string contest?), Jolie tries to figure out if there is more stolen bounty around town. Is the feared killer the same person who burned some vacant houses, or the as-yet unmasked Peeping Tom? And are they willing to kill again to get to the hidden riches?
Her friends and local police warn her to butt out, but that's just encouragement for a woman who likes to get to the bottom of things. Jolie wrestles with fear as she tries to get her cat, Jazz, to feel at home in the new house. Maybe an unexpected visitor can be a substitute for Aunt Madge's golden retrievers.
And then there's her love life. Jolie also needs to decide if she really wants to get back with her former boyfriend, Ocean Alley Press reporter George Winters. Or are feelings for someone else trying to get her attention? Amazon BN itunes Google Play, Kobo, Smashwords. Audio Paperback
VAGUE IMAGES (7)
GROUND TO A HALT (8)
In Underground in Ocean Alley, Aunt Madge ran for mayor to try to keep the character of Ocean Alley intact. In this long short story, told from Madge's point of view, readers see her in action.
Generally, parents don't find bodies in their kids' daycare center. Leave it to Jolie to be the exception. Murder
isn't funny, but the adults and 4-year-old twins bring chuckles as Jolie gets help from Scoobie and friends George and Ramona as she tries to figure out what's going on. https://amzn.to/3pfUDzS
People don't usually keel over in the Java Jolt Coffee Shop, and Jolie does not (often) find bodies in vacant houses. But it is Ocean Alley, and New Lease on Death proves either of those things can happen. 
BEHIND THE WALLS (6)
There's something hidden behind the walls of the hurricane damaged house Jolie bought in her New Jersey beach town. Something someone seems willing to kill for. After Jolie and Scoobie find a small sack of jewelry as they do a mold attack on her bungalow, Jolie is pursued by a purse thief and a burglar.
Her friends and local police warn her to butt out, but that's just encouragement for a woman who likes to get to the bottom of things. Jolie wrestles with fear as she tries to get her cat, Jazz, to feel at home in the new house. Maybe an unexpected visitor can be a substitute for Aunt Madge's golden retrievers.
And then there's her love life. Jolie also needs to decide if she really wants to get back with her former boyfriend, Ocean Alley Press reporter George Winters. Or are feelings for someone else trying to get her attention? Amazon BN itunes Google Play, Kobo, Smashwords. Audio Paperback
VAGUE IMAGES (7)
Jolie manages to avoid hitting a deer only to end up in the Ocean Alley Emergency Room with a badly sprained ankle. Even worse, she soon finds a dead woman in the hospital restroom.
As the chief budget cutter at the hospital, Tanya Weiss was unpopular, especially in the Radiology Department, where Jolie's best bud, Scoobie, works. 
While she appraises houses and feeds her pet skunk, Jolie’s on the lookout for a runaway teenager and whoever planted the dead woman in her path. Thanks to Scoobie, she’s also planning another crazy fundraiser for the food pantry—this one a Corn Hole Contest. It’s sort of a bean bag game for grown-ups, and the polite term is Corn Toss Contest. So of course, Scoobie prepares to name winners in the Harvest for All Corn Hole Contest.
Just when Jolie’s ready to leave the murder investigation to the police, she gets a surprise—and it’s not a good one. Will her need to know see her hurt—or worse?
While she appraises houses and feeds her pet skunk, Jolie’s on the lookout for a runaway teenager and whoever planted the dead woman in her path. Thanks to Scoobie, she’s also planning another crazy fundraiser for the food pantry—this one a Corn Hole Contest. It’s sort of a bean bag game for grown-ups, and the polite term is Corn Toss Contest. So of course, Scoobie prepares to name winners in the Harvest for All Corn Hole Contest.
Just when Jolie’s ready to leave the murder investigation to the police, she gets a surprise—and it’s not a good one. Will her need to know see her hurt—or worse?
Available in ebook from Amazon, BN, Smashwords, Google Play Kobo, itunes. In paperback at most online sites,
GROUND TO A HALT (8)
When Jolie Gentil goes to buy a cup of coffee the morning after a storm knocks out power at her house in Ocean Alley, she finds Java Jolt unlocked and minus its owner. A bigger surprise is seeing proprietor Joe Regan a few minutes later, badly injured.
It seems a potential killer thinks Jolie has something Joe was hiding.
The routine of appraising houses and volunteering at the Harvest for All food pantry is interrupted by an SUV that
nearly smashes Jolie, a break-in at the home Jolie and Scoobie share, and a terrifying kidnapping. Jolie needs to figure out who's telling the truth and how far the thugs will go to to find what they want.
Only solving the puzzle wiill keep Jolie safe, protect a vulnerableIraq War vet, and make sure everyone stays alive. But if Jolie keeps searching, her budding romance with Scoobie may grind to a halt.
Ebooks at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, itunes, Kobo, Google Play, Smashwords, and Amazon International Sites. Paperbacks at most sites, including Amazon. Audio
HOLIDAYS IN OCEAN ALLEY (9)
It seems a potential killer thinks Jolie has something Joe was hiding.
The routine of appraising houses and volunteering at the Harvest for All food pantry is interrupted by an SUV that
Only solving the puzzle wiill keep Jolie safe, protect a vulnerableIraq War vet, and make sure everyone stays alive. But if Jolie keeps searching, her budding romance with Scoobie may grind to a halt.
Ebooks at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, itunes, Kobo, Google Play, Smashwords, and Amazon International Sites. Paperbacks at most sites, including Amazon. Audio
HOLIDAYS IN OCEAN ALLEY (9)
Opening your apartment door to see a woman sliding down it is distressing. Especially when that woman has a knife in her chest. How could a murderer be roaming the halls in the middle of the night? After all the times she has encouraged Jolie to mind her own business, Aunt Madge has had a change of heart. And it's Scoobie she turns to for help.
Unlike all the other Jolie Gentil books, this one is told from the points of view of two favorite characters, Aunt Madge and Scoobie.
Large Print Audio at Amazon and itunes
THE UNEXPECTED RESOLUTION (10)
Part murder mystery, part family mystery. Both intriguing. Scoobie never knew much about his family -- and after the way he grew up, who could blame him for liking it that way?
A 9-1-1 call during their New Year's Eve wedding changes everything.
THE UNEXPECTED RESOLUTION (10)
Part murder mystery, part family mystery. Both intriguing. Scoobie never knew much about his family -- and after the way he grew up, who could blame him for liking it that way?
A 9-1-1 call during their New Year's Eve wedding changes everything.
Suddenly Jolie has to help Scoobie figure
out what he wants to know and determine who seems to want someone in
his family dead. Knowing more about Scoobie's past could change their
future together. But a special wedding arrival may cause even more
complications. The past arrives with a twist that will grab your heartstrings.
Amazon US Kobo Amazon International BN itunes Smashwords. In paperback, Large print Audio at itunes Amazon
The Twain Does Meet is a between-the-numbers book in the Jolie Gentil cozy mystery series. (Between Books 10 and 11.) In fact, it's called a Jolie and Scoobie novella, and while there are important things to discover, it's not a true mystery. The author promised readers the story of the twins' birth, but she didn't want to frame it around a corpse. So join the Ocean Alley crew for some poignant moments, funny scenes, and a good story.
What do a dead nurse, missing teen, and unpopular planned resort have to do with each other? In Ocean Alley -- a lot. 
Amazon US Kobo Amazon International BN itunes Smashwords. In paperback, Large print Audio at itunes Amazon
THE TWAIN DOES MEET (Novella)
The Twain Does Meet is a between-the-numbers book in the Jolie Gentil cozy mystery series. (Between Books 10 and 11.) In fact, it's called a Jolie and Scoobie novella, and while there are important things to discover, it's not a true mystery. The author promised readers the story of the twins' birth, but she didn't want to frame it around a corpse. So join the Ocean Alley crew for some poignant moments, funny scenes, and a good story.UNDERGROUND IN OCEAN ALLEY (11)
Jolie Gentil is happily married with three-year old twins. Nothing could drag her back into sleuthing. And then a request for help comes from the most unlikely source. With help from the annoying Lester, Jolie hunts for a killer and a kid. All this while Aunt Madge runs for mayor.
Amazon Ebook Amazon Paperback
Amazon Ebook Amazon Paperback
AUNT MADGE AND THE CIVIL ELECTION (STORY)
Her campaign is in full swing as Jolie helps run the B&B, Scoobie has fun as a daddy, and something's going on with George and Ramona. Amazon ebook, BN ibooks Kobo Google Smashwords
Paperback at Amazon
STICKY FINGERED BOOKS (12)
Smashwords https://bit.ly/30yLYhL
ibooks https://apple.co/3jfYkll
Nook https://bit.ly/3vnTI1v Google https://bit.ly/3DEnVg2
NEW LEASE ON DEATH (13)
Amz https://bit.ly/3K6FN97 Nook http://bit.ly/42FEQeZ
Ibooks http://bit.ly/3FPR5ft Goog https://bit.ly/3BGRu10
The band director hates cell phones in class or on the football field. But is that a good reason to kill him?
Amazon https://bit.ly/3xIh2MA Google https://bit.ly/4caGr0u
Nook https://bit.ly/4aKTN3d ibooks https://bit.ly/4b8lGC1
Keep up to date with Jolie and friends via Elaine's newsletter.
