Showing results by narrator "Julie McKay" in All Categories

Zoe Rutherford wasn't sure what she was expecting when she returned to Sullivan's Island. The house on Sullivan's hadn't represented home to her in decades. It was the place where she had endured her father's cruelty. It was the place where her mother had closed herself off from the world. It was the place where her sister had disappeared. But now that her parents are gone, Zoe needs to return to the house, to close it down and prepare it for sale. She intends to get this done as quickly as possible and get on with her life.

Miss Hildegarde Winters, accompanied by her poodle, Talleyrand, is ready, willing, and able when nasty valentines upset a cartoon studio. With one murder down and three to go, Miss Withers and New York's Inspector Piper delve into poison ivy and a fantasy land when snooping around a school.

Tanya Anne Crosby explores the lives of Caroline, Augusta, and Savannah Aldridge, three sisters who share a dark past and an uncertain future. After the death of their mother, a newspaper heiress, Caroline Aldridge steps up to head the paper. But a killer is making headlines, and Caroline may have unwittingly stepped into the crosshairs. Even as she mends the tattered bonds of sisterhood, a sinister force beyond their control may tear them apart forever....

Double standards are nothing new. Women deal with them every day. Take the common truism that women who sleep around are sluts while men are studs. Why is it that men grow distinguished and sexily gray as they age while women just get saggy and haggard? Have you ever wondered how a young woman is supposed to both virginal and provocatively enticing at the same time?

When Inspector Oscar Piper asks his old friend Hildegarde Withers to stop meddling in murder, she surprisingly agrees. But old habits die hard and Hildy soon finds herself back in harness, investigating suspects and snooping for clues. Oddly enough, she spots a vital clue while looking at her own tank of tropical fish.

A young man is stopped by the police, a body is found in his backseat, and he is convicted of murder. While he awaits execution, he makes out a will leaving all his money to the police lieutenant who handled his case. The lieutenant learns of this when Hildegarde Withers, schoolteacher and hard-boiled private eye, stops by. She determines to clear the man in the few days left before his execution. The opening paragraphs bear comparison with the opening of Chandler's short story "Red Wind".

Augusta Aldridge believes in Ian Patterson's innocence, even after he was arrested for killing two young women. She was with him the night one of the crimes occurred, hidden in the shadows beneath a beachside pier, locked in a wild, unthinking embrace with a man whose dangerous fascination may have fatally lured other victims. Now that another body has been discovered, and a 13-year old boy has gone missing, the police suspect a copycat killer, but Augusta is certain they have the wrong man.

"What's Happened to Me?": Sarah finds herself in a strange place, and she can recall only one thing - her name. A young man, Heath de Charon, explains to Sarah that he found her unconscious on the grounds of his family's estate and has been caring for her. "When the Clock Chimes": Drake Iverson lands a summer job on Sandstone Mountain. There are no computers; he has to do all the work by hand in a large leather-bound book. He doesn't mind, as long as he can be near Gina, who is pretty and kind. "The Mysteries of Chance": Dylan Sorenson offers his help to a girl who seems to be in distress.

Less than 48 hours. That's how long Florence W. Aldridge has to live. Every event in a person's life is connected. The state of our lives, at any given time, is the sum of everything we have done and everywhere we have been. Our next decision determines, not merely where our lives end, but who we become along the way. How far can one lost woman go to redeem herself by the time the clock stops ticking? These are the final moments of Florence W. Aldridge....

Alex Cassidy's parents always said they'd move heaven and earth to ensure she married well. And this time, they did! After all, Alex was turning thirty and still had no husband - that was a combination they just could not live with. The day she turned 3-0, Alex woke to find, at the foot of her bed, looking dapper and doting, the ghosts of her parents. Most ghosts were fleeting apparitions, but Alex's ghosts were here to stay... at least until they delivered her birthday present - Mr. Right!

Americans are disgusted with watching politicians screaming and yelling at one another on television. But does all the noise really make a difference? Drawing on numerous studies, Diana Mutz provides the first comprehensive look at the consequences of in-your-face politics. Her book contradicts the conventional wisdom by documenting both the benefits and the drawbacks of in-your-face media.

Sarah Jane Pullman is a good cop with a complicated past. From her small-town chicken-farming roots through her runaway adolescence, court-ordered Army stint, and ill-advised marriage, Sarah Jane unfolds her life story, a parable about memory, atonement, and finding shape in chaos. Her life takes an unexpected turn when she is named the de facto sheriff of a rural town, investigating the mysterious disappearance of the sheriff whose shoes she’s filling - and the even more mysterious realities of the life he was hiding from his own colleagues and closest friends.

In this second book of the White House national security thriller series, Dr. Cameron Talbot, a famous expert on missile defense systems, returns to investigate how American airplanes could plummet from the sky - though nothing shows up on radar and none of the usual terrorist suspects have claimed responsibility. With the country in a panic and the economy taking a nose-dive, the beautiful scientist finds herself once again enmeshed in international plots as well as a romantic triangle in the highest levels of government.

Fueled by paranoia and visceral suspense, and crafted with masterful restraint, these 17 stories explore what happens when our fears cross over into the real, if only for a fleeting moment. Identities are stolen, alternate universes are revealed, and innocence is lost as the consequences of minor, seemingly harmless decisions erupt to sabotage a false sense of stability. False Bingo is a collection of realist fables exploring how conflicting moralities can coexist: the good, the bad, the indecipherable.

Anita Hughes' Monarch Beach is an absorbing debut novel about one woman's journey back to happiness after an affair splinters her perfect marriage and life - what it means to be loved, betrayed and to love again.

It was all planned. A weekend away at an exclusive hotel in the Hollywood Hills where vampire PI Nick planned to have some alone time with his hexy honey, Jazz. have some alone time with his hexy honey, Jazz. Except Stonegate Manor isn’t what it appears to be. Jazz isn’t impressed. The hotel doesn’t boast spa facilities that seriously upset magick bunny slippers Fluff and Puff. A celebutante psychic is seriously ticking her off. Not to mention the old-fashioned bellhop is a zombie.

Use Your Words introduces the art of creative nonfiction to women who want to give written expression to their lives as mothers. Written by award-winning teacher and writer, Kate Hopper, this book will help women find the heart of their writing, learn to use motherhood as a lens through which to write the world, and turn their motherhood stories into art. Each chapter of Use Your Words focuses on an element of craft and contains a lecture, a published essay, and writing exercises that will serve as jumping-off points for the readers' own writing.

The revised story of Checkmate is the first in The White House National Security series and features young scientist Dr. Cameron Talbot who invents a breakthrough technology to defend against cruise missiles. She needs support from skeptical company officers, funding from a reluctant Congress, and help from Lt. Col. Hunt Daniels, detailed to The White House NSC. With disaster brewing overseas, threats to New Delhi, the Taj Mahal, and to Cameron herself, she and Hunt find themselves enmeshed in terrorist plots and political wrangling at the highest levels.

Paris Adieu is a coming-of-age tale of life lessons, romance, and self-empowerment all wrapped in the sights, sounds, and smells of Paris. The first time Ava Fodor visits Paris as a 19-year old au pair, she has no idea who she is. Paris introduces Ava to the type of woman she'd like to become. Her French boyfriend introduces her to the concept of being comfortable in her own skin. She's intrigued. If only she knew how...

Since the age of 12, McKenzie Arnold has spent every summer at Albany Beach, Delaware, with her best friends, Aurora, Janine, and Lilly. The seaside house teems with 30 years of memories - some wonderful, others painful - and secrets never divulged beyond its walls. This summer may be the last they spend together, as Janine contemplates selling her family cottage.