Double Trouble: Two Maggie Dahl Mysteries

by Mark McNease

Double Trouble brings together the first two Maggie Dahl Black Cat White Paws, and Open Secrets. Maggie and her late husband David had left New York City for a new life in Lambertville, NJ. Soon after following their dream there, Maggie finds herself pursuing it alone after David's sudden death. She opens Dahl House Jams, she devotes herself to success, and she comes face to face with murder.

In Black Cat White Paws, Maggie throws herself into solving the murder of her neighbor, whose cat Checks quickly becomes part of Maggie's family. Her sister moves from Philadelphia to help her in this difficult time and forget her own rocky relationships with men. Soon the sisters are tracking down a killer and revealing a shocking secret that has kept a notorious case unsolved ... until now.

In Open Secrets, Maggie has become a minor celebrity in town, and she suddenly finds herself trying to learn what happened to another local author Shanna Delaney, whose second book of essays threatens to reveal secrets someone wants kept unknown. Throughout the two books, we're introduced to characters who all have one thing in life in an idyllic Delaware River community that had not seen a murder in decades ... until Maggie Dahl came to town.

473 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 3, 2023

About the author

I've recently released 'Blank Page to Bookshelf: From First Sentence to First Sale,' condensing two years of my workshops into one easy to read guide on fiction writing, character creation, and self-publishing.

I've also written horror as M.A. McNease - not a pen name, it's my initials. Books under M.A. McNease include 'I, Warlock,' 'A House in the Woods (1 and 2)', and 'Hell to Pay' (a two-book volume of both House in the Woods books).

I'm the author of the Kyle Callahan Mysteries, two of which have been best sellers on Kindle. In 2022 I released the second Maggie Dahl Mystery, 'Open Secrets,' with Maggie pursuing another killer in sleepy Lambertville, NJ.

My Detective Linda mystery, 'Last Room at the Cliff's Edge', was released in September, 2016, and called a winner by Publishers Weekly. I released the first Marshall James thriller, 'Murder at the Paisley Parrot', in 2017, followed by 'Beautiful Corpse,' 'Final Audition,' and most recently 'Night Flight to Murder Town' in 2025.

'Black Cat White Paws: A Maggie Dahl Mystery' was released in 2018, followed by 'Open Secrets.'

I have 10 audiobooks currently available (Audible, Amazon, various retailers). My short story 'Stop the Car' was selected as a Kindle Single and is now an audiobook narrated by the amazing Braden Wright. It was selected twice to be included in the Amazon Prime reading library.

For old time's sake I also have two Emmys for Outstanding Children's Program for 'Into the Outdoors', a television show I co-created and wrote for two years that is now in its 17th year.

I live in the New Jersey woods with my husband, Frank, and our two cats, Wilma and James.

You can find me at my website, MarkMcNease.com.