Last updated on 06/04/2026
With green streaks in her hair and “Rock the Shamrock” polish on her nails, Venus Bixby is ready to trade dance recitals for airplane tickets.
After selling her dance studio, she has a brand-new travel the world and recover stolen art. But life deals Venus an unexpected card. When she pulls back a curtain in the studio and finds the new owner dead on the couch, her next adventure becomes a very public nightmare.
With Chatham Crossing’s whisper mill in overdrive, Venus is now a prime suspect (because of course she is). In the process of clearing her name, she discovers her late husband secretly bought an emerald ring—and now it’s missing.
As burglaries ripple through this charming town, Venus wonders if the studio owner’s death and the missing emerald are part of the same glittering crime spree.
Between gossiping neighbors, buried secrets, and one very inconvenient corpse, Venus will need sharp instincts—and maybe a touch of Irish luck—to solve the case before her passport dreams are grounded for good.
A Jewel of a Crime is book three in the Venus Bixby Mystery series. Expect cozy clues, small-town charm, amateur sleuthing, cats, and a mystery that keeps sparkling with surprises.
Includes cookie recipes and an oldies playlist!
About the author:
Valerie Taylor lives in Connecticut and considers herself a typical “average Jane.” She might remind you of the reclusive neighbor who fancies herself a novelist. Unlike many of her peers whom she admires, she does NOT have a degree in literature.
But she is the award-winning author of the romantic comedy trilogy: WHAT’S NOT SAID, WHAT’S NOT TRUE, and WHAT’S NOT LOST. The roots of those three novels, as well as the books in the Venus Bixby Mystery series—A WHALE OF A MURDER and SWITCHED AT DEATH and A JEWEL OF A CRIME—most likely took hold during her early years watching Carol Burnett, Jack Benny, Red Skelton, and The Twilight Zone. Her love of oldies music stems from hours listening and dancing to Elvis Presley and The Beatles, and being in the Bobby Darin fan club.
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