Accidental Detective Book

Something Prowling in Paradise Park:
A Kate Tessler Amateur Sleuth Mystery
(The Accidental Detective Book)
by Kris Bock

About Something Prowling in Paradise Park

Something Prowling in Paradise Park:
A Kate Tessler Amateur Sleuth Mystery (The Accidental Detective Book)
Humorous Mystery
7th in Series
Setting – Arizona
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Tule Publishing
Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 2, 2026
Print length ‏ : ‎ 192 pages
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1969218965
ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0G32HDV59

Three cases. One body. Zero chance of staying out of trouble.

Kate Tessler may have thought her days of chasing danger were over. But the former war correspondent’s “retirement” in sunny Paradise, Arizona, is anything but quiet. With her eccentric circle of friends and colleagues, Kate has built a new life—full of mysteries, mayhem, and the occasional stakeout—as she works towards earning her PI license.

After wrapping her last case, Kate wonders what’s next when three cases—all brought by friends—fall into her lap. Squatters in a snowbird’s house, local pedigree dogs disappearing, and smash and grab burglaries at local pot shops. Kate juggles the cases with help from her usual cast of amateur crime solvers, including the teen sons of Paradise’s mayor. As she digs, Kate suspects at least two cases are connected.

But things turn deadly when a late-night stakeout leads Kate and one teen sidekick, interested in investigative work, straight to a body. Was it a gruesome accident—or something far more sinister?

With humor and high stakes, The Accidental Detective mysteries prove that danger and friendship don’t retire quietly.

Recipes in Mysteries

Many cozy mysteries include recipes or craft instructions. That makes sense when your main character is a baker or owns a craft store. My amateur detective is a war correspondent forced to move back to her parents’ house in Arizona after an injury. People come with to her with problems because of her background, which makes it easy to come up with cases for her to work. She is not, however, much of a cook or baker.

On the other hand, she collects a number of helpers, including her father’s friends, Marty and Joe Washington. Marty likes to bring the blender and ingredients for margaritas to their planning meetings. Joe has gotten into baking in his retirement, so he might bring muffins, cupcakes, or cookies.

Quick Peek:

“But the really important question is, did Joe bring cookies or something?”
“Yeah, and we’d better claim ours while there are any left.”
We grabbed a couple of oatmeal raisin cookies, which might sound basic but anything Joe baked was sure to be good. I both appreciated his retirement baking experiments and bemoaned the amount of discipline required to keep me from eating way too much sugar. Good thing we had so many people to deplete the resource, including active teenagers.
Then we planned our sting operation. Yes, we were really doing one of those again, dog help us. After all, they’d worked out so well before—like the time Jen and I had nearly gotten shot. Or the time Dad had to barricade himself against a killer. Or the time Dad, Jen, and I had all nearly gotten shot. But we’d always survived! Some might say that’s a low bar for success, but I figured if everyone was still able to enjoy the margarita party, I’d call it a win.

In honor of Joe, here’s a quick and tasty cookie recipe. Enjoy these with a good book.

Joe’s Oatmeal Raisin (or Chocolate Chip) Cookies

1 cup (two sticks) butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk or water
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups oats
about 2 cups of raisins, other dried fruit, nuts, and/or chocolate chips

Heat oven to 325°F.
Beat butter and both sugars until creamy. Add eggs, milk or water, and vanilla. Beat well.
Add flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix well.
Blend in oats and raisins, chocolate chips, nuts, etc. You can add more or less of the raisin/nuts/chocolate chips depending on how well you like your cookies packed with these goodies. You can also use a combination of these items.
Drop spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet. For a chewy cookie, bake 8 to 10 minutes. Pull from the oven when they are still looking a bit gooey in the middle and let them cool on the pan for 5 to 10 minutes. Store the cookies in an airtight container, or immediately share them with your crime-fighting gang.

Find The Accidental Detective Series:
Tule Publishing
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About Kris Bock

Kris Bock writes mystery, suspense, and romance, often with smart, snarky heroines finding adventure (sometimes against their will) in the Southwest. She lives in New Mexico, where she enjoys hiking with her spouse and playing with their ferrets.

In the Reluctant Psychic Mystery series, a quirky loner who can read the history of any object with her touch gets drawn into mysteries at the museum of oddities where she works. In the Accidental Detective humorous mystery series, a witty journalist solves mysteries in Arizona and tackles the challenges of turning fifty. Kris’s romantic suspense novels include treasure hunting, archaeology, and intrigue. Readers have called these novels “Smart romance with an Indiana Jones feel.” She is also the author of the Furrever Friends Sweet Romance series and the Accidental Billionaire Cowboys series.

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Author Links

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Amazon US page or Amazon UK page

Website https://www.krisbock.com/