Showing results by narrator "Courtney Patterson" in All Categories

When a local woman dies in a most unconventional way, In a Pinch takes on the quirky case and once again, Maddy finds herself in the middle of a would-be murder investigation. Even with the help of her grandmother and best friend Genny, this case may be too hot to handle. Things really start smoking when Cutter's grandfather, rodeo legend Sticker Pierce, returns to The Sisters and tries to rekindle a romance with old flame Belle, aka Granny Bert. And Maddy's latest brush with death prompts Brash to finally make his move.

Love Inspired Suspense brings you three full-length stories in one collection! Enjoy action-packed stories in the Rocky Mountain K-9 Unit series featuring K-9 crime-stoppers solving thrilling mysteries that will keep you on the edge of your seat!

At seventeen, Charlie Coleman was on top of the world. He was captain of the football team, dating the smart and beautiful Shawna David, and on his way to becoming another pillar of his Nantucket community, just like his father before him. But all that changed in the blink of an eye. It's been thirty years since the accident, and Charlie is still overwhelmed with guilt. Why has he been blessed with so much—a gorgeous wife, three children, and two grandchildren, while Nora is left with nothing? Why did he escape that night with his life?

Meghan Coleman has been head-over-heels for her husband, Hugo, for twenty-seven years. But one afternoon a few weeks before Thanksgiving, she discovers a box of letters from his ex-fiance, which illustrate a smoldering love, one he never mentioned. Not long after that, she learns her children already knew about the ex-fiance and kept it a secret. Tormented, she finds her world crumbling around her. Who can she trust?

Madison Reynolds can't wait for Christmas this year. Rebuilding her life as a single mom hasn't been easy, but after a challenging 12 months, she's excited about the holidays. She and her twins have settled quite nicely here in The Sisters, renovations on the house are complete, her business is slowly growing, and, best of all, Chief of Police Brash deCordova is in her life.

Single mom Sadie Owens’s fear of being watched is confirmed when her home is set ablaze—while she and her son are trapped inside. Officer Rocco Manelli and his arson dog arrive in the nick of time to make a rescue. But as attacks persist, it’s up to Rocco to keep Sadie and her three-year-old safe from a criminal with a lethal agenda. Can he keep a vengeful arsonist from scorching a deadly path through Elk Valley—before Sadie and her son become the next victims?

It's been four months since forensic psychologist Claire Britten last crossed paths with danger. Finally feeling she can catch her breath, together with her partner, criminal lawyer Nick Markwood, Claire has settled into a new role, volunteering with a support group for children stressed by domestic violence. But a leisurely field trip to a wildlife sanctuary turns deadly, leaving Claire to question whether the death was an accident, suicide - or something far more sinister.

Texas socialite Delaney Cartwright knows she can't go through with her wedding. But she can't simply call the whole thing off. The nuptials to her nice, predictable childhood friend are the social event of the season (not to mention that her mother would freak). To fan the flames of this dying ember, Delaney abducts her fiancé for a night of passion - and grabs the wrong guy! A guy with smoldering eyes and an irresistible country-boy swagger...

From African American to Asian American, indigenous to immigrant, "multiracial" to "mixedblood," the diversity of cultures in this world is matched only by the diversity of stories explaining our cultural origins: stories of creation and destruction, displacement and heartbreak, hope and mystery.

Released early from a triple-max military prison, Berserker Lieutenant Allison Rave is given a second chance at a mercenary career. Ordered to the remote, ice-covered world of Lucent-2, she is assigned as a grav-tank platoon commander in Task Force Metal, a crack unit tasked with quelling a bloody insurgency. As her isolated unit pushes further into hostile territory, Rave witnesses the depravity and madness of war. Fanatical enemies and unforgiving weather aren't her only concerns.

When an old college roommate invites Claire Britten to join her on an archaeological dig at a Florida peat bog, it's an offer the renowned forensic psychologist can't refuse. Claire's husband, criminal lawyer Nick Markwood, is comforted to see Claire working on a prehistoric burial site instead of an open grave for once. But Claire's investigative instincts kick in when some of The Black Bog's perfectly preserved corpses show signs of a grisly fate. What really happened to these people?

The Saturnalia carnival marks three years since Nina walked away from Philadelphia's elite Saturn Club--with its genteel debauchery, arcane pecking order, and winking interest in alchemy and the occult. In doing so, she abandoned her closest friends and her chance to climb the social ladder. Since then, she's eked out a living by telling fortunes with her Saturn Club tarot deck, a solemn initiation gift that Nina always considered a gag but has turned out to be more useful than she could have ever imagined.

In December 2008, twentysomething Jill Grunenwald graduated with her master’s degree in library science, ready to start living her dream of becoming a librarian. But the economy had a different idea. As the Great Recession reared its ugly head, jobs were scarce. After some searching, however, Jill was lucky enough to snag one of the few librarian gigs left in her home state of Ohio. The catch? The job was behind bars as the prison librarian at a men’s minimum-security prison. Talk about baptism by fire.

When Madison Reynolds finds herself widowed and penniless before 40, she does the only thing she knows to do - she packs up her teenage twins and moves back home with her 80-year-old grandmother. To make ends meet, Madison opens In a Pinch Temporary Services. Her first real client is Ronny Gleason, but when she shows up for the first day of work at the Gleason Poultry Farm, Madison makes a gruesome discovery. The dead body she finds belongs to Mr. Gleason. When a local man is arrested for murder, Madison takes on the job of proving his innocence.

When your not so very departed great-great-aunt relies on her old belongings to cling to her particular form of spectral life force, what do you do when some of them come up for auction in Tuscany? Travel to Italy, of course! But what Genie Darling expected to be a smooth, if expensive operation, soon becomes a haunting experience.

Every case that Claire Britten cracks is a win, not only professionally but personally. The forensic psychologist has spent a lifetime fighting a neurological disorder, and her ability to conquer it is a testament to her razor-sharp intuition. Nick Markwood is used to winning in the courtroom, so when his latest case is overthrown by Claire's expert testimony, he can't help being impressed by her skill. He needs her on the team of his passion project - investigating unusual cases involving mysterious deaths.

“All the tales are a variety of detective story,” wrote Bowles of this, his first short story collection, “in which the reader is the detective; the mystery is in the motivation for the charcters’ behavior.” In such stories as “A Distant Episode” and How Many Midnights,” Bowles pushes human character beyond socially defined limits and maps a transformed (often horribly transformed) reality.

Savanna Edwards is feeling downright Scrooge-like. Who can blame her? A truly unjolly Santa - suit, beard and all - just repossessed her car because of her ex's shady business dealings. She'd like to murder the no-good lying cheat, but somebody already did that for her - and left him right in the middle of her kitchen, wrapped up with a bow. Detective Mark Donaldson has a rule against getting involved with his neighbors. He can look - and he's studied every sweet curve of Savanna from across the street - but he can't touch.

Seventeen years ago, when Rebecca Thompson endured a string of life-threatening pregnancy losses and rare medical conditions, her training as a physician didn’t protect her from feeling isolated and overwhelmed. What she longed for was a community of women—or even one encouraging story—to reassure her that she wasn’t alone. Deciding to create the community she couldn’t find in her own time of need, Dr. Thompson reached out to friends, patients, and medical colleagues and asked them to share the stories of their personal journeys to parenthood.

A completely revised and updated values-based guide to navigating the first year of college that speaks to college students in their own language and offers practical tools that listeners need to keep from drinking, sleeping, or skipping their way out of college. In the four years since its initial publication, The Freshman Survival Guide has helped thousands of first year students make a successful transition to college life. However, much has changed on campuses.