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Hazardous Hoarding Mysteries

Mysteries with a load of Southern charm.

Dumpster Dying

A little about this book: it's what I call "Cozy with an edge," toeing the line between cozy and traditional. In its strictest sense, it is a cozy because it involves a  small, tight-knit community with touches of humor, quirky characters, and is clean with no on scene gore or sex, no cursing, and little violence. But the coziness ends there. Because I was aiming to blend Southern Gothic with Cozy, the subject matter is a little darker than a typical cozy, but I  handled the subject matter gently.

TOP PICK in the 2024 Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Awards (Cozy Mystery Category)
and Finalist in American Book Fest Fiction Awards (Cozy Mystery Category)
FINALIST in the 2024 Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Awards

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Henny Wiley is a widowed hoarder who lives with her husband's ghost. The only thing she enjoys more than a good yard sale is a good dumpster dive. When she finds her latest treasure—a ceramic angel— she knows just who to bring it to.

Jenna Lawson is a cashier at the Blue Market convenience store where Henny often shops. The two women have formed a strong bond to assuage the losses in their lives, and Henny thinks of Jenna like the daughter she lost long ago. So, when Jenna goes missing, Henny is determined to find out what happened to her.

As she works to unravel the mystery, a man at church, Neville Miller, shows interest in Henny, leading her to wonder if the lonely days are finally coming to an end. But her ghostly husband, Walter, sure isn’t going to like it.

Henny is on a hunt that may claim the ultimate price—her own life.

Killer Cache
Coming December 2025
Pre-order now!
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Hoarding Henny Wiley returns in the highly anticipated sequel to Dumpster Dying!

Henny Wiley isn’t just a collector, she’s a hoarder. And her collection, er, hoard, keeps growing—and attracting all the wrong attention. Her nosy neighbor, her family, the sheriff, and Adult Services are all putting on the pressure for her to clean up her property—but she ain’t cleaning without a fight!

However, her dumpster cache is the least of her concerns when her no-good rotten-to-the-core brother, Cash Cooper, shows up on her crowded doorstep. Wherever Cash appears, trouble is sure to follow. Within days of his arrival, Henny's friend dies, jewels go missing, a gun store is robbed, and Henny’s own collection is threatened. Most people in the small town of Plum Springs, Kentucky, are certain Cash is to blame, but Henny isn't convinced. Cash may have always had sticky fingers, but there's no way he’s a murderer! Worse, the sheriff begins to think Henny may be assisting her brother's criminal activities. With the help of her husband, Walter—rather, his ghost—and her sister, Ida Mae, Henny aims to clear her and her brother’s names. That is, if she isn’t killed first!

Buried Treasure
Coming 2026

© 2024 by Michelle Bennington. Proudly created with Wix.com

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