Books – Marcia Talley

For autographed copies of Marcia’s books, contact Mystery Loves Company.

The Hannah Ives mystery series:

Sing It To Her Bones by Marcia Talley — U.S. Cover

Sing It To Her Bones, Dell, 1999, ISBN 0-440-23517-0
Winner, Malice Domestic grant, Best Unpublished Novel
Agatha award nominee, Best First Novel

She lost her job. She almost lost her life. Now Hannah Ives is taking her first brave steps back into the world, wearing a wig and her heart on her sleeve after a frightening bout with breast cancer. But in the small Chesapeake Bay town where she came for a vacation, she does not find the relaxation she deserves. Instead Hannah finds a body—of a girl who disappeared eight years before.

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Unbreathed Memories by Marcia Talley — U.S. Cover

Unbreathed Memories, Dell, 2000, ISBN 0-440-23518-9
Winner, Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award, Best Contemporary Mystery

Hannah Ives has every reason to mind her own business. Having survived a recent bout with breast cancer, she’s opting for reconstructive surgery and a fresh start. Her Annapolis home is decorated for better feng shui. Her parents are living close by. And her sister, Georgina, is finally getting help for recurring depression. Everything is coming up roses—until her sister’s therapist takes a nosedive off a balcony. Now, with Georgina a prime suspect in the murder, Hannah needs to do some analysis of her own. A few pages torn from an appointment book may hold a crucial clue. And some bizarre memories from her sister’s past may point to a motive… if Hannah can keep a clear head and dare to enter the darkness of a killer’s twisted mind.

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Occasion of Revenge by Marcia Talley — U.K. Cover

Occasion of Revenge, Dell, 2001, ISBN 0-440-23520-0
Top Ten Pick, Poisoned Pen

The guests were off the wall. The would-be groom was off the wagon. And the bride certainly wasn’t blushing.

Aside from that, it was the perfect occasion: a party for Hannah Ives’s widowed father and the younger woman he had suddenly decided to marry. Then the evening takes a strange turn, with a sudden death and disappearance.

For Hannah, the stunning turn of events came after a Christmas season slide into anger and confusion. First her father had found a floozy who had already buried three husbands. Then her late mother’s jewelry started showing up around the gold digger’s neck.

Now Hannah, who has just put her life together after a bout with cancer, is desperately searching for her missing father. Because this poor man has either made a terrible mistake, committed a terrible crime, or fallen victim to a killer who seized the moment for murder…

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In Death's Shadow by Marcia Talley — U.S. Cover

In Death’s Shadow, Avon, 2004, ISBN 0-060-58738-5
An IMBA bestseller

Hannah Ives struggled bravely through the ravages of illness, and fellow patient Valerie Stone was at her side. As cancer survivors they have a lot to celebrate when they meet again, but their reunion is short-lived. Soon Valerie is dead, and a suspicious Hannah must sift through a mountain of clues trying to uncover the cause of her friend’s untimely death. But there are those in the big business of living and dying who think she’s becoming too curious… and it’s high time her questions were silenced.

Hannah Ives knows what it means to be a survivor. Now she’s about to discover what it means to be a target.

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This Enemy Town by Marcia Talley — U.K. Cover

This Enemy Town, Avon, 2005, ISBN 0-060-58739-3
An IMBA #1 bestseller

Hannah Ives is always ready to support others like herself who have been through the gauntlet of fear and uncertainty that a diagnosis of cancer often brings. So when friend and fellow survivor Dorothy Hart asks for help building sets for the Naval Academy’s upcoming production of Sweeney Todd, Hannah readily agrees.

But it means associating with an old foe—a vindictive officer whose accusations once nearly destroyed Hannah’s home life. And when one corpse too many appears during a dress rehearsal of the dark and bloody musical, Hannah finds herself accused of murder—and enmeshed in a web of treachery and deception that rivals the one that damned the “Demon Barber.”

Caught up in a drama as sinister as any that has ever unfolded on stage, Hannah stands to lose everything unless she unmasks a killer before the final curtain falls …

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Through the Darkness by Marcia Talley — U.K. Cover

Through the Darkness, Avon, 2006, ISBN 0-060-58741-5
An IMBA bestseller

Cancer survivor Hannah Ives looked Death in the eye… and walked away victorious. But the terror she once felt in its shadow pales before the ice-cold fear that now grips her heart in the wake of an unthinkable crime: the kidnapping of Hannah’s innocent grandson.

One-year-old Tim vanished from the day care center at the luxurious upscale spa his parents recently opened, and the lack of a ransom note suggests the innocent child may have fallen into the hands of the worst sort of fiend. Hannah will find no peace until the boy is found and his abductor punished—not even taking comfort in the caring words of a dear friend and spiritual advisor whose own life and marriage may be haunted by something dark and sinister. But the hunt may be leading Hannah to places she never dreamed she’d have to go.

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Dead Man Dancing, Severn House, 2008, ISBN 978-0-7278-6670-7 (Hardcover); ISBN 978-1-8475-1086-0 (Trade paper)

Driving a wedge between Ruth and her fiance, Hutch, is not what Hannah intends when she recommends J & K Dance Studios to her sister. Ruth is determined to shine on her wedding day, but when stunning dance teacher Kay Giannotti greets Hutch with a kiss, its clear this isn’t the first time they’ve met. Talked into auditioning for “Shall We Dance?,” a TV talent show, the auditions end in tragedy. Accident or murder? Hannah is on the case…

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Without a Grave, Severn House, 2009, ISBN 978-0-7278-6760-5 (Hardcover); ISBN 978-1-8475-1145-4 (Trade paper)

Hannah’s in paradise, enjoying the active, back-to-basics rhythms of Bahamian island life. When controversy arises over the construction of a luxury resort that could devastate the coral reef, Hannah dives in. Acts of vandalism, a deadly wildfire, a missing scientist – Hannah suspects a connection, but her investigation stalls when Hurricane Helen slams into the island. Before the skies clear, a dynasty is threatened by a venomous sibling rivalry, environmentalists face-off against progressive island fathers, and somebody else will die. Gin-clear waters, sand so white you’re blinded by the glare, palms rustling in a tropical breeze. Paradise? Sometimes it’s just an illusion…

All Things Undying, Severn House, 2010, ISBN 978-0-7278-6879-4 (Hardcover); 978-1-8475-1263-5 (Trade paper)

Hannah is stunned when a stranger stops her on the street to deliver a message from her long-dead mother. Susan Parker, Hannah learns, is a popular television medium whose accurate predictions leave fans and critics alike puzzled and intrigued. In spite of her skepticism, Hannah schedules a private reading. But on the morning they are to meet, Susan is struck by a hit-and-run driver. An accident? Hannah doesn’t think so—especially when she discovers that more than one person had good reason to want Susan dead…

A Quiet Death, Severn House, 2011, 978-0-7278-8041-3 (Hardcover); 978-1-84751-350-2 (Trade paper)

Hannah is returning from a charity luncheon in Washington, DC, when her train is involved in a horrific crash. Although her arm is broken, she remains at the side of her critically injured seatmate until help arrives—but when she is later discharged from hospital, she finds herself in possession of the man’s distinctive bag, and her efforts to return it soon set in motion a chain of events that put her life in grave danger.

The Last Refuge, Severn House, 2012, 978-0-7278-8153-3 (Hardcover); 978-1-84751-418-9 (Trade paper)

It doesn’t take much arm-twisting to persuade Hannah Ives to join the twelve-strong cast of “Patriot House, 1774,” a reality show recreating eighteen-century colonial life during the turbulent days leading up to the American Revolution. But when Hannah befriends Amy Cornell, a maid on set and the young widow of a Navy SEAL off it, and the crew’s dance master is found murdered, events away from the camera become just as dramatic as those on it.

Dark Passage, Severn House, 2013, 978-0727882783 (Hardcover)

Hannah, her sisters and fourteen-year-old niece Julie set sail from Baltimore on a bonding cruise, and have a dramatic first night when Pia Fanucci, a bubbly bartender magician’s assistant whom Hannah befriends, narrowly escapes injury during an illusion. But while Pia may make light of the incident, it’s no laughing matter when Julie suddenly disappears. Has she gone overboard, or is she injured somewhere on the enormous ship?

To make matters worse, Hannah meets David Warren, a grieving father whose twenty-two-year-old daughter vanished without trace from an earlier cruise. With claims of a proper investigation proving to be an illusion too far, Hannah teams up with David and Pia in desperation. Can they see through the ship’s smoke and mirrors to reveal the identity of a dangerous sea-faring predator?

Tomorrow’s Vengeance, Severn House, 2014, ISBN 978-0-7278-8364-3 (Hardcover)

While at Calvert Colony, a life care community center in Maryland, and at lunch with her friend, retired mystery author and amateur painter L.K. “Naddie” Bromley and her neighbor Sophia Milanesi, who survived the closing years of the Second World War in a convent in Italy, Hannah meets Filomena Buccho, a personable young Argentine server. Her brother, Raniero, also works at the Colony as chef. But when Masud Abaza and his wife, Safa, move into the community and Masud is found murdered, his head bashed in by a croquet mallet, suspicion falls on Raniero, who has made no secret of his neo-Fascist sentiments. Hannah and Naddie agree to investigate, uncovering old crimes and reigniting ancient quarrels that know no boundaries of place or time.

Daughter of Ashes, Severn House, 2015, ISBN 978-0-7278-8493-0 (Hardcover)

When Hannah loses out on the cottage of her dreams because of an unscrupulous real estate agent, she and her husband, Paul, buy a fixer-upper instead. But contractors restoring the chimney soon make a tragic discovery: the mummified body of an infant.

Hannah, already researching the history of her home in the county archives, is searching for clues to the dead infant’s identity when more shocking events occur. Suddenly, her access to the courthouse is denied and the records she has been examining are slated for destruction. Someone with money, influence or both is trying to make sure incriminating information stays buried. Can Hannah solve the crimes before the evidence and over one hundred years of county history go up in smoke?

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Footprints to Murder, Severn House, 2016, ISBN 978-0727886460 (Hardcover)

Hannah is delighted to reconnect with her former roommate, Susan Lockley, owner of Scarborough Fairs, at a college reunion, and agrees to step in when Susan’s assistant drops out of managing the Sasquatch Sesquicentennial conference in Flat Rock, Oregon. But when one of the conference guests is found murdered, and gigantic footprints are discovered not far from the body, the culprit appears, or was meant to appear, obvious: Bigfoot.

Fantasy or fact? As the conference disintegrates into chaos, it falls to Hannah to restore order. Working closely with Jake, a retired policeman and his K-9, Harley, Hannah soon realizes that, Bigfoot or no Bigfoot, there are a surprising number of conference attendees with motives to kill…

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Mile High Murder, Severn House, 2017, ISBN 978-0727887689 (Hardcover)

It’s a fact that some of the cancer support group survivors Hannah Ives works with take marijuana. Recreational use of the drug may be illegal in Maryland, but a few patients, like Maryland State Senator Claire Thompson, are prescribed it on medical grounds.

Claire has co-sponsored a Cannabis Legalisation Bill and invites Hannah to be part of a fact-finding task force that testifies before the Maryland State Senate.

Before long, Hannah is in Denver, Colorado—the Mile High City—staying at a B&B with a group of pot pilgrims and medical refugees. But when one of the group is found dead, and a closer inspection of the body reveals the victim had been traveling under a false identity, Hannah is plunged into a dangerous cocktail of deception, drugs and death.

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Tangled Roots, Severn House, 2019, ISBN 978-0727888822 (Hardcover)

Hannah Ives’s sister, Georgina, has some astonishing news. A DNA test has revealed she is part Native American, and Hannah’s test has similar results. The link seems to come from their late mother. But how?

As Hannah dives into constructing her family tree, she uncovers a heart-breaking love story and a mysterious death, while DNA matching turns up two second cousins, Mai and Nicholas. Hannah and her niece, Julie, are eager to embrace their new relatives and learn about their surprising ancestry, but Georgina’s husband, Scott, isn’t so keen… Are more revelations about to come to light? And can Hannah untangle her family roots to unearth the truth behind a devastating tragedy?

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Done Gone, Severn House, 2021, ISBN 978-0727890221 (Hardcover)

Hannah Ives is worried when her friends and long-time neighbours, Peter and Trish Young, are a surprising no-show at her Italian night. The couple seem to have vanished without a trace. Have they made a quick getaway and ‘done gone’?

As she struggles to make sense of the Youngs’ disappearance, Hannah gets a call from Trish. But when she meets up with her heavily disguised friend, their reunion takes a devastating twist. Keen to help Trish, Hannah’s investigations lead her to a series of dark discoveries and secrets involving powerful political figures. With stakes getting higher and her own life on the line, can Hannah survive her journey into Trish’s past long enough to find out who wants to keep Trish quiet, and why?

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Disco Dead, Severn House, 2022, ISBN: 978-1448307951 (Hardcover)

Hannah Ives enjoys her expeditions to local cemeteries to help people find their ancestors. On one such visit, Hannah is surprised when she encounters Isabel ‘Izzy’ Randall laying flowers on the grave of Amy Madison, a college senior who was killed in 1978. Amy was last seen in a popular Annapolis disco bar, and her murder remains unsolved.

Hannah’s interest in the case leads her to join Silent Sleuths, a small group of ‘citizen detectives’ dedicated to solving cases like Amy’s, and their research soon suggests that Amy may have been the first of several victims targeted by a serial killer. DNA from the scene of Amy’s murder reveals surprising results, which steers the group’s investigation in an unexpected direction. Is Amy’s killer still alive, or gone beyond the reach of justice?

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Editor/Author:

Naked Came the Phoenix, St. Martin’s Press, 2001. Chapters by: Nevada Barr, Nora Roberts, Nancy Pickard, Lisa Scottoline, Perri O’Shaughnessy, J.A. Jance, Faye Kellerman, Mary Jane Clark, Marcia Talley, Anne Perry, Diana Gabaldon, Val McDermid and Laurie King.
ISBN 0-312-25194-7 (Hardcover); ISBN 0-312-98019-1 (Paperback)
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I’d Kill for That, St. Martin’s Press, 2004. Chapters by: Gayle Lynds, Rita Mae Brown, Marcia Talley, Lisa Gardner, Linda Fairstein, Kay Hooper, Kathy Reichs, Julie Smith, Heather Graham, Jennifer Crusie, Tina Wainscott, Anne Perry and Katherine Neville.
ISBN 0-312-29057-8 (Hardcover); ISBN 0-312-93696-6 (Paperback)
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Short stories:

“With Love, Marjorie Ann,” Murderous Intent Mystery Magazine, Fall 1999
Agatha award nominee, Best Short Story
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“For Sale by Owner,” Murderous Intent Mystery Magazine, Winter 2000
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“Conventional Wisdom,” Malice Domestic 9 (Avon, 2000); ISBN: 0-380-80483-2
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“To Catch a Fish,” Death by Horoscope (Carroll & Graf, 2001); ISBN: 0-786-70845-X (Hardcover); ISBN: 0-786-71153-1 (Trade paper)
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“Too Many Cooks,” Much Ado About Murder (Berkley, 2002); ISBN: 0-425-18650-4; ISBN 0425192954 (Paperback)
Winner, Agatha award, Best Short Story
Winner, Anthony award, Best Short Story
Macavity award nominee, Best Short Story
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“Safety First,” Blood on Their Hands (Carroll & Graf, 2003); ISBN: 0-425-19035-8 (Hardcover); ISBN 042519924X (Berkley paperback)
Agatha award nominee, Best Short Story
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“Vital Signs,” Chesapeake Crimes (Quiet Storm Publishing, 2004); ISBN 0-425-18650-4 (Hardcover)
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“Miss Havisham Regrets,” Death by Dickens (Berkley Prime Crime, 2004); ISBN: 0-425-19420-5 (Hardcover); ISBN 0425199479 (Paperback)
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“Driven to Distraction,” Chesapeake Crimes II (Tidewater Publishing, December 2006); ISBN 978-0870335822 (Trade paper)
Winner, Agatha award, Best Short Story
Anthony award nominee, Best Short Story
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“The Queen is Dead, Long Live the Queen,” Thou Shalt Not Kill (Carrol and Graf, December 2005); ISBN 0-7867-1575-8 (Trade paper)
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“Home Movies,” Baltimore Noir (Akashic Books, May 2006); ISBN 1-888451-96-3 (Trade paper)
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“Two Sisters,” Chesapeake Crimes 3 (Wildside Press, 2008); ISBN 978-1434402349 (Trade paper)
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“Can You Hear Me Now?,” Two of the Deadliest: New Tales of Lust, Greed, and Murder from Outstanding Women of Mystery, HarperCollins, 2009; ISBN 978-0061350337 (Hardback); ISBN 978-0061350344 (Trade paper)
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“Chapter 16,” No Rest for the Dead: a novel (Simon and Schuster, 2011); ISBN 978-1-4516-0737-6 (Trade paper)

“Conventional Wisdom,” Murder Most Conventional (Malice Domestic 11) (Wildside Press, 2016); ISBN 978-1-4794-2036-0 (Trade paper)
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“Night and Fog,” Murder Most Historical (Malice Domestic 12) (Wildside Press, 2017); ISBN 978-1-4794-2603-4 (Trade paper)
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“Behind the Magic 8-Ball,” Chesapeake Crimes: Magic is Murder (Wildside Press, 2022); ISBN 978-1-4794-7171-3 (Trade paper)
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“The Island Boy Detective Agency,” School of Hard Knox (Crippen & Landru, 2023); ISBN 978-1-9363-6378-0 (Trade paper)
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“A Fine New York Whine,:” Agatha and Derringer Get Cozy (Down & Out Books), November 11, 2024.

“Grandpa Minds the Baby,” Shamus and Anthony Commit Capers (Level Best Books), September 17, 2024.

“Everybody Ought to Have a Maid,” Every Day a Little Death: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Stephen Sondheim, edited by Josh Pachter. (Level Best Books), March 25, 2025.

“Dead Man’s Chest,” Hooked on Urban Legends–And Murdert! edited by Andrews, Goffman and Talley. (Wildside Press), April, 2026.

Other works:

A Second Helping of Murder: More Diabolically Delicious Recipes from Contemporary Mystery Writers, by Jo Grossman and Robert Weibezahl (Poisoned Pen Press, 2003); ISBN: 1-59058-077-X (Hardcover)

“Detectives Have Weaknesses, Too,” Now Write! Mysteries, by Sherry Ellis and Laurie Lamson (Tarcher/Penguin, 2011); ISBN: 978-1585429035 (Trade paper)

Photo in banner: “Annapolis State House” by Phil Belanger.