Showing results by narrator "Vanessa Daniels" in All Categories

In Benevolence, Washington, the Lamont family's delectable handmade chocolates are a precious tradition - and always a reason to return home. And for the most rebellious of the three Lamont sisters, they provide a chance to create a tempting new future, complete with delicious happiness....

Lily Trulock, owner of Trulock's Grocery & Marine Supply, leads a pretty quiet life until a stranger comes to town. The new guy's not what he appears, but then, some of St. Elmo's residents aren't either. Before she can say, "down the hatch", Lily's at the center of a vicious murder and a no-holds-barred bootlegging war-and a nasty storm's on the way. This is a vibrant, atmospheric, powerful novel-as filled with energy, mystery, and motion as a hurricane.

Suzy and Josie, owners of the Thousand Islands Doggy Inn, are attending an end-of-summer party and are about to receive a sizeable charitable gift from one of their good friends, a local businessman with a love of dogs and a reputation with the ladies. A newly built yacht about to embark on a trip to Florida via the Inland Waterway is one of the party highlights, but when the engineer is killed, and Jackson, the Clay Bay Chief of Police, ends up in critical condition, the yacht becomes the focal point of the ensuing murder investigation.

A lot of things are going well for Alara Beatty. She's got an amazing boyfriend, the best dogs ever, and she's back at her predictable accounting job. There's just one problem—she's still struggling to contain her erratic psychic powers after they exploded a few months back. Desperate to gain control, Alara is powerless to resist a mysterious woman who offers an alluring solution to her problem . . . but one that comes at a cost—help her find a dangerous and elusive killer before they disappear forever.

Alara Beatty is still pretty new to this whole psychic gig. She's not used to all the bits and bobbles yet. So, when an uninvited vision of a strange man's murder shoves its way into her dreams one night, she's overcome with emotion. Lost and confused, Alara has no idea what to do. She hopes the police will help her out, but the killers were good—when the man's death comes to light, it looks like a simple accident. Only Alara and her sleuthing sidekick, Aunt Irene, know the truth.

Alara Beatty, dog mom and novice psychic, is already exhausted by her biological family and she hasn't even met most of them yet. Before she can even begin to process their antics, her mother shows up uninvited. Mother dearest has brought Alara's grumpy uncle and happy-go-lucky cousin too. They've only been in town long enough to dip their toes in the hard desert sand when a death threat aimed at Alara's new cousin appears. He begs her to use her psychic powers to find the culprit before they act on the threat and put him six feet below the desert.

Waiting is a vital part of our stories, and what we do with our times of waiting matter. Life isn't about navigating around seasons of waiting. It is learning to embrace them. In Now Waiting, Sarah will explain how you can remain confident in the goodness of God when your season of waiting leaves you feeling discouraged, frustrated, and left out of God's plan; embrace seasons of waiting as a time to thrive, not just to endure; and find hope in the promises of God for today and tomorrow, even when things aren't going the way you planned.

As intricate as a fisherman's net, Riptide fairly writhes with sinister delights - family secrets, family feuds, lost family fortunes, betrayals, puzzles, sunken treasure...and murder, of course. With a bit of illicit romance and treachery thrown in for seasoning, this rife atmosphere swirls around New York artist Isabel Anders, who's summoned home to tiny St. Elmo, Florida to deal with an emergency: the aunt who raised her has been brutally - and mysteriously - injured. Isabel arrives to find the family mansion in ruins, her aunt living in a trailer, and more.

The Thousand Islands Doggy Inn Mysteries feature two of the smartest and funniest lead female protagonists to hit the cozy mystery scene in a very long time, and their affection for food and boundless love and devotion to their dogs puts this new series in the 'Don't Miss' category. The Case of the Abandoned Aussie gets this fresh alphabet series off to a great start, and B. R. Snow promises that listeners are in for a long, wild, and highly entertaining ride as the series moves forward.

This is the story of an audacious journey. It's the story of what happens when people garden, worship, and eat together and invite anyone and everyone to join them. In This Is God's Table, writer and pastor Anna Woofenden describes the way that the wealthy and the poor, the aged and the young, the housed and unhoused become a community in this once-empty lot.

People born in the big cities often scatter to the country, desperate for a breath of fresh air and a sense of direction found in the stars. Those born and raised in the country long for the glitter and glamor the big cities promise. But what if the grass isn't always greener on the other side? Growing up in a small town, you soon run out of new people to meet, and the chances of falling in love with a stranger or a career are few and far between. Especially when age-old family feuds threaten to tear everyone apart . . .

Computer programmer and tole painting enthusiast Aurora (Rory) Anderson doesn't envision finding either when she steps outside to investigate the frenzied yipping coming from her own backyard. After all, she lives in Vista Beach, a quiet California beach community where violent crime is rare and murder even rarer. Suspicion falls on Rory when the body buried in her flowerbed turns out to be someone she knows - her tole painting teacher, Hester Bouquet.

Tensions are high on the eve of the grand opening of Prive, an exclusive gourmet dining club that interior designer Meg Barrett played a large part in decorating. With just the well-heeled owners, the kitchen staff, and Meg gathered for the pre-opening feast, it seems that everyone in the small group is airing their grievances, with their most venomous attacks directed at the notorious sous chef.

Montauk's first annual Designer Showhouse was meant to be a collaborative event, so decorator Meg Barrett can only despair at the group of cutthroat designers scheming to sabotage each other on the project, not to mention the oddball collection of ghost hunters slinking around to investigate a supposedly haunted cottage. But when one of the owners of the showhouse is found murdered on the rocky beach below, Meg suddenly finds herself clashing with local police because of evidence that points to her as a prime suspect.

Jesse Camden is minding the store at the Gilded Lily Antiques and Vintage Shop when a stranger enters and begins asking questions about Jesse's friend and business partner Lindsey Hatch, who is also the barista at the tearoom next door. It's a bad beginning to a day that just gets worse when, within hours, two people are found dead. While trying to learn more about the man who's stalking Lindsey, Jesse and Vivian Windsor find his body in a motel room. When it turns out they are also the last two people to see another victim alive, they become prime suspects in both deaths.

When Jesse Camden, owner of the Gilded Lily Tea Room and Coffee House, agrees to meet her childhood friend, Winnie Rogers, for a morning of girl talk and reminiscing, or "fishing" as Winnie likes to call it, Jesse anticipates a morning of shared confidences over a picnic brunch in the countryside. But spring in Oklahoma can be unpredictable, and when a tornado drops out of a wall cloud practically on top of them, Jesse and Winnie find themselves stranded with a demolished pickup and a dead body before they've even opened the picnic basket.

Misty Bennett, 17-year-old daughter of Jesse's former beau Ronald Bennett, is the closest thing to a daughter of her own that Jesse has ever had. So when Misty flees from her father's overbearing bride-to-be and travels across two states to arrive on Jesse's doorstep, Jesse takes the girl in. And when the fiancee herself shows up demanding the girl's return, Jesse sends the woman packing and vows to keep Misty safe until her father comes for her.

Emma Lapp tries to be the perfect daughter, to earn the loving embrace of her family and her Amish community in Pennsylvania. Yet she can't quite win her mother's smile - or her forgiveness for a transgression Emma can't quite place.... Emma knows she's a reminder of her mother's greatest sorrow, having been born on the same day Mamm lost her beloved sister. The one bright spot has been the odd trinkets anonymously left at her aunt's grave each year on Emma's birthday - gifts Emma secretly hides because they upset her parents.

Jesse Camden is a sucker for a mystery. So when Amanda Carmichael's assistant Bethany asks the Myrtle Grove Garden Club to investigate what she thinks are attempts on her employer's life, Jesse and Vivian Windsor agree. But before they can start, Bethany sends a frantic message that Amanda is leaving for her isolated estate in the Salish Sea, taking her dog Lady and a small staff, including Bethany, with her. As Jesse and Vivian go hurrying after them, disaster strikes again, and this time the "accident" is fatal.

It's the dead of winter in the Thousand Islands, and there's nothing that reminds Suzy and Josie about that fact more than sub-zero temperatures, bone-chilling winds, and finding a dead body under the ice wearing only shorts and a tee shirt. In addition, a rare Dandie Dinmont has been found wandering around the area and Suzy and Josie, while trying to figure out what might have happened to the man under the ice, are also doing everything they can to reunite the dog with its owner.