Showing results by narrator "Pam Dougherty" in All Categories

When Mustang Ridges receives a severed penis in the mail, she knows it's going to be a bad day. She's sure there's a body to go along with the penis, but she can't find it. While on the hunt for the owner of the penis, she stumbles across a dead body. It's Jane Dough, a substitute teacher at Lakeside Elementary. The Lakeside Elementary PTO is on the case. It appears that Jane might have been a prostitute who supplemented her income with a little substitute teaching on the side.

Phoebe, a private duty nurse, has a gift for knowing certain kinds of information that are none of her business, so when her new boss asks her to help him find and retrieve some extremely valuable items that have gone missing, she's happy to try to help. What the boss failed to disclose was who she'd have to work with and what they'd be up against.

In this first book of the Trail of Thread series, in the form of letters she wrote on the journey, Deborah Pieratt describes the scenery, the everyday events on the trail, and the task of taking care of her family. Stories of humor and despair, along with her ongoing remarks about camping, cooking, and quilting, make you feel as if you pulled up stakes and are traveling with the Pieratts, too.

Phoebe McFarland has just lost her job as a rural home health care nurse in White Oak, Tennessee, a sleepy rural community nestled in the mist-shrouded Smoky Mountains. But then she's unexpectedly offered a ritzy-sounding position as a private duty nurse to an enigmatic scholar. Unfortunately before she can start her upscale new life, Phoebe is unwittingly caught up in a medical emergency with Nick, a total stranger. The mismatched couple is forced to cooperate as they flee professional killers who now have Phoebe in their crosshairs, as well.

Grace Kelley isn't blonde or demure, and she definitely isn't a princess. At the moment 15 dollars and a single peppermint stand between her and starvation. When she meets a teenaged girl in trouble, Grace's life takes a turn for the better. She goes from a homeless singer to a nanny in no time flat.

From the first moment she met her new Texas neighbor, Prudence Belmont was in love. When she was old enough for marriage, Gidry Chavis promptly presented her with an engagement ring, and all her dreams seemed to have come true. But the hellraising Gidry disappeared before the wedding, leaving only a brief note in explanation. "My dear Miss Prudence, I have determined that it is best that we do not wed. Please forgive me and recall me with fondness."

Kat Stevens is a slightly insecure, mostly bored technical writer who likes her cat a lot more than her boss. She hasn't laid eyes on her great aunt Abigail since she was eight, so she's stumped when she inherits Abigail's house in the small hamlet of Alpine Grove. Kat's uncomplicated life gets decidedly less so when she discovers the inheritance comes with some hairy conditions: four dogs and five cats that her aunt wanted her to love as her own. Of course, the house smells like a barn - with a touch of antique skunk - and, naturally, has serious roof issues.

Follow the widowed Margaret Ralston Kennedy (a relative of the author) in this second book of the Trail of Thread series, as she travels with eight of her thirteen children from Ohio to the Territory of Kansas in 1855. Thousands of American headed west in the decade before the Civil War, but those who settled in Kansas suffered through frequent clashes between pro-slavery and free-state fractions that gripped the territory.

Jan's orderly life is turned upside down when she attends her mother's latest wedding in San Diego. (Number six...or maybe seven, but who's counting?) There, Jan encounters Michael Lawson, the obnoxious neighbor kid from 20 years ago. He's still irritating, but not as annoying as his dog, who has a habit of eating...everything. The last thing Jan wants to do is risk heartache on a vacation fling with a smooth-talking serial dater, even if he is sinfully gorgeous and finds her unusual ability to remember obscure facts fascinating.

One morning Lo Anne Mayer wrote a letter to her mother, who had died a year earlier. Despondent over the strained relationship they had endured in life, Mayer started the journal because she still longed for healing. So began a remarkable soul-to-soul correspondence that restored their bond. When her own daughter died, Mayer started a new journal that soothed her grief. Now she shares her story and simple technique with bereaved people everywhere.

Maddie Kinkaid believes her late husband, Jack, gives her advice on everything - from ordering a pizza to hiring a carpenter. When she finds Caleb Walker's business card on Jack's desk, she's convinced that he's the guy to remodel her kitchen. He can't decide if she's worth the risk. Caleb is a single father, and protecting his young son means avoiding romantic entanglements. But there's heat in every kitchen, and sparks ignite between Caleb and Maddie - until disaster strikes. When Jack goes silent, it looks as if she and Caleb will never find their happily-ever-after. At least, not without a little help from Jack.

The summer of 1932 was a troublesome one for Jack Alder. His grandmother's health was fairing poorly, they were having a difficult time making ends meet during the Great Depression, and the town banker was threatening foreclosure on the family farm. The future seemed dismal and help was nowhere in sight. But Grandmama's faith in God brought renewed hope in the form of a childhood toy lost decades ago in an abandoned cave; an antique toy that could earn enough to drive the wolf from their door. It would take a journey across three rural counties to get them there...

With the exception of a few failed forays into higher education, Tracy Sullivan has lived her entire life in the small town of Alpine Grove. When she is fired from her hostess job, Tracy hits a new all-time career low. Now, she's officially a repeat underachiever and almost completely broke. The income from her second job as a veterinary assistant is barely enough to pay her rent and keep her temperamental dachshund Roxy in dog food.

Competitive barista Brenna Kinkaid loves a challenge, and she'll do whatever it takes to win, especially when it comes to her nemesis, Dante Caravicci. But when forced to team up to save their best friends' wedding, Brenna recognizes that Dante might just be her ultimate win. Restaurateur Dante Caravicci won't quit anything until he can claim success. He's bided his time, but he's used to taking big risks and surviving, so he figures he's got nothing to lose by playing for Brenna.

CPA Rebecca Walker wields a hammer and saw with skill, but it's like fighting tooth and nail to prove to her chauvinistic father that she's capable of managing the family construction business. Romance is a luxury Rebecca can't afford. Thanks to his past, romance isn't in Sean Kinkaid's future, so when Rebecca proposes friends with benefits, Sean agrees. It's the perfect scenario until love sneaks in - and Sean's secrets tear them apart.

What is a southern, gentile, society lady of impeccable taste, breeding, and education to do when her husband of nearly 20 years announces he is divorcing her on the day they deliver their youngest son to college? Loretta Hill Mason, Head Mistress of the Columbia Academy in South Carolina, did not see her husband’s declaration coming and had no idea what she should do next. She couldn’t just emulate Miss Scarlet and say “Fiddly dee, I’ll think about it tomorrow.”

Mary is a naive 20-year-old in 1945 when her high school sweetheart, Jack, returns to their small Indiana steel town wounded from World War II and makes her his bride. While Jack struggles to find his place in the world, Mary begins her own journey of self-discovery. As the years and letters unfold, Mary and Jack have five children, including their first-born son, Junior, who is not “right", an issue that contributes to the turmoil in their marriage and impacts their lives in unforeseen ways.

When her own dreams are visited by a mysterious woman in a red dress, Sara realizes she has something she never expected: a counterpart, someone outside her family who shares her talent to see other people's dreams. When the woman in red keeps showing up in other dreams as well, leaving ruined lives in her wake, Sara knows she has something she never imagined: a nemesis.

Harold may be dying but he's still got a sense of humor. That's more than can be said for his wife, who's trying to whisk him away from the grimness of the hospital for one last holiday bash.