Liar, liar, pants on fire . . .

Theatre manager Kate Carpenter had imagined a relaxing summer sitting in the sun with her friends. Instead, as the city heats up and emotions soar, an arsonist is adding fuel to the fire, torching buildings and leaving a trail of charred bodies.

After one fire brings the arsonist closer to home, Kate is frantic to find the guilty party. Who is the mysterious man following her and leaving cryptic telephone messages? Why does the new theatre maintenance worker always seem to be in the wrong place at the wrong time? Is the beautiful television reporter, who seems to turn up first at the fires, willing to get her story at any price? Kate also worries that her assistant Graham, going through emotional difficulties, might be involved.

And just when she is certain she has found the truth, her father turns up for a surprise visit and becomes a suspect himself. In a race against time, Kate fears that she may not be able to find the answers quickly enough to save her loved ones, or herself, from the flames.

Kate Carpenter was hoping for a peaceful start to her summer, but a serial killer is stalking her neighbourhood. The Bishop leaves distinctive clues on each of his victims: a game piece, rearranged clothing and a missing body part. Kate and her friends are working the first festival of the summer, but the cheerful atmosphere, amidst the clowns, bands and face-painters, is spoilt after yet another body is found — leaving the streets of Calgary deserted at night and a wake of fear rippling across the city.

After Kate has a huge fight with her boyfriend, she is plagued by a member of the festival's staff she is supervising, and is terrified that one of the volunteers could be the serial killer. And she starts to forget how much she is missing her boyfriend, Cam . . .

A lost child, a kidnapped woman and a dead body all convince Kate that her life is on the line. Surrounded by strangers, and not knowing who to believe, will Kate solve the mystery and find out who she can really trust before it is too late?

The third Kate Carpenter mystery.

It's strange how something as simple as a knock on the door can change your life completely — and not necessarily for the better. Kate Carpenter has had a busy year, what with moving in with her boyfriend, Cam, dealing with visits from ex-boyfriends — not to mention job stress, as she keeps finding dead bodies all over the theatre she manages.

And then comes the knock on her door and a visit from Cam's cousin, just escaped from an abusive marriage with nowhere else to turn. As Kate and Cam get nowhere trying to navigate Carrie through the frustrating bureaucracy of lawyers and police, they finally decide to take matters into their own hands. Tragedy strikes as a gun turns up and a policeman goes down and, although the police arrest someone, Kate just doesn't think things add up and is determined to get to the truth.

Although her motives are entirely altruistic, Kate finds herself being hassled by the police and threatened by the most dangerous creature of all: a mother. Something that Kate finds even more difficult to deal with as she struggles with a personal tragedy of her own.

Kate Carpenter, the front-of-house manager of Calgary's largest theatre company, has just returned from a well-earned vacation after the murder of a patron in her theatre's lobby and the mayhem of the ensuing investigation left her more than a little stressed. She had been looking forward to a return to normality — working at the theatre, adjusting to her new life with her boyfriend, Cam, and planning a surprise birthday party for her chief usher, Graham. Nothing more exciting than that.

Instead, what she gets is a flooded concert hall that results in a huge piano competition being moved to her theatre. From there, the appearance of her old college boyfriend — along with his wife and daughter — followed by a surprise visit from her mother and a dead body hanging from the second balcony of her theatre can only mean more problems for Kate.

Trying to juggle friends and family, past and present, Kate unwittingly embarks on another murder investigation, which leaves her with a clearer picture of her future — and of who is most important to her now.

The first in the new series of Kate Carpenter Mysteries

As the front-of-house manager of a large theatre complex in Calgary, Kate Carpenter is used to several things. She is used to the late nights and the demanding customers. She is used to improvising when things don't go to plan. And she is used to a quiet life in her perfect apartment with her twin addictions of caffeine and good books.

She is not used to finding dead people in her theatre, but that all changes when Kate and her young assistant, Graham, find a dead man in the theatre's public toilets — and the murder weapon was a nail gun belonging to the theatre.

Despite warnings from virtually everyone, Kate is determined to investigate the murder — even when it leads her into serious danger. She is convinced she can be of more use than the detective assigned to the case, and if the murderer is somebody connected with the theatre then she is even keener to get involved. Two brutal attacks later and Kate still has no answers, but will that be enough to persuade her to stay out of the investigation?

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