Showing results by narrator "Sarah Pesek" in All Categories

When Fort Lauderdale’s wealthiest want to discreetly trade their best barely-worn threads for cash, they bring it to Snapdragon’s Second Thoughts - which is where Helen Hawthorne finds herself selling the most chic second-hand clothing in Florida. But the usual haggling turns homicidal when a particularly petty customer turns up dead - dangling by a darling Gucci scarf - and Helen's boss Vera is eyed as a suspect.

Miguel Angel’s chic salon is where Fort Lauderdale’s high society hairdos get done. Even though Helen Hawthorne is just a gofer at the upscale salon, she has to admit the fabulous Miguel Angel is a master at the craft of coif. But with great heads of hair come great headaches. Especially when Miguel Angel and Helen try to prepare the pregnant fiancée of Kingman "King" Oden for her nuptials. King is a bloated, loudmouth bully with a gossip blog, a TV show, and a lousy attitude.

The Superior Club is where Fort Lauderdale’s wealthiest - and snobbiest - come to play. But for Helen Hawthorne, it’s all work and no play. As a customer care clerk, it’s her job to cater to the clients’ every little whim and take care of their every little problem.

Still on the run from the long arm of the law, Helen Hawthorne has found employment as a maid at Fort Lauderdale’s Full Moon Hotel, picking up after clueless tourists and keeping her head down. But staying discreet gets a bit more difficult when Helen opens the hotel dumpster and discovers the dead body of a fellow hotel employee. Then a hotel guest is murdered in the shower, and Helen’s no-good ex-husband Rob arrives in town in search of the money the court said he deserves.

At the Pampered Pet Boutique in Fort Lauderdale, the wealthy owners need a muzzle more than their beloved pets. On her way to deliver a freshly groomed Yorkie, Helen discovers client Tammie Grimsby stabbed to death with a pair of grooming scissors. As Helen sniffs around both the boutique and a growing list of pure breed suspects, she knows that her bark will have to be worse than her bite if she’s going to put the collar on a killer.

After all she’s endured with her own marriage, divorce, and subsequent flight from alimony, Helen Hawthorne getting a job at Millicent’s Bridal Salon is ironic in the extreme. The newest client is Kiki, a wealthy witch who’s making her daughter's wedding day all about Kiki. When Kiki is found smothered to death with her daughter’s wedding dress, the cops seem to think Helen is responsible. Now, Helen must prove her innocence before the bride and groom read their wedding vows—and the police read Helen her rights.

Still living under the radar in Fort Lauderdale due to her refusal to pay her ex-husband’s spousal support, Helen Hawthorne’s latest workaday job might just be the lowest rung on the employment ladder - telemarketing. While Helen is conducting a phone survey with the wealthy Henry “Hank” Asporth, Helen is convinced she heard a murder being committed. With no solid proof, Helen is driven to find out what really happened with Hank and the mystery woman. But if she’s not careful, she just might end up holding a dead line of her own.

Helen Hawthorne is still on the run because of her refusal to pay her worthless ex-husband alimony. But a girl’s gotta eat...and pay rent, utilities, etc. So she’s taken a cash-paying job at Fort Lauderdale’s own Page Turners bookstore. And while the job is decent enough, the owner of the store is anything but. Page Turner III is a boor with more money than brains: He’s cheating on his wife while running his family business into the ground and has a list of enemies longer than any best seller. So when he turns up dead, no one is too surprised. What is surprising is where.

From clinical sexologist Dr. Arlene Krieger comes a collection of nonfiction short stories for adults that explore love and relationships - the most thrilling and complicated quest in the world. Written with compassion and humor, Sex: From the Couch explores the irrational, passionate, and occasionally bizarre nature of love. Krieger’s stories will make you laugh, cry, and gasp - sometimes with subverted expectations, other times in uncomfortable recognition of the pitfalls of adult relationships.

Ever since he survived a suicide attempt, New York artist Stan Foster has not been himself. Plagued by amnesia and a head full of visions of death and destruction that fuel his ever-more disturbing work, he claws his way through a life he doesn't recognize in search of his true identity. What he finds leads him to believe he is Satan, spit out from the bowels of hell to live among the mortal inhabitants of earth. Is he delusional, or is there truth behind this troubling revelation? One woman can help him find out.

An overachiever who is driven by an ambition to succeed, Samantha Harrison has set out to be the first woman president in United States history. With her devoted husband Ben behind her, she begins her campaign with Zachary Watts, a determined campaign manager with questionable ethics. As her campaign begins to take shape, Samantha is forced to deal with a crumbling home life as she continues her quest to hold the highest office in the land.

When Bobbie and Grayson go on the hunt for the legendary Florida Skunk Ape, there’s more than one tangled mystery afoot. Grayson, the man Bobbie’s hung her life and career on, is every bit as evasive as the creature they’re tracking. At the start of their investigation, a colossally bad judgement call leaves Bobbie wondering just exactly who—or what—the elusive being is.

Husband and wife PI team Helen Hawthorne and Phil Sagemont are hired by Trish Barrymore, who is divorcing her no-account accountant Mort. When Mort is found dead, Trish is the main suspect. She wants Helen and Phil to find out who killed Mort Barrymore—and more importantly, kidnapped Justine, the couple’s pedigreed Chartreux show cat. Helen goes undercover as an assistant to a woman who shows prizewinning Persians. Under the primping, posing, and purring, cat shows are a high-pressure world, and now the stakes are life and death.

Everybody’s got their coping mechanisms. Val Fremden is no exception. But when her longtime boyfriend Tom Foreman takes off without even saying goodbye—well, that’s just the kind of thing that can make a good woman go bad. Out to track down Tom or die trying, everyone Val meets seems like a potential suspect. Especially her new coworker, Gary. Ever since he showed up, women around town have begun disappearing. And the macabre clues left behind at each woman’s last known address keep Val on the run like a chicken with its head cut off.

What better place than the Sunshine State for dark souls to live out their golden years? After all, who would notice? Uh, Bobbie and Grayson, of course. As a rogue physicist turned conspiracy chaser, Grayson's motto is: Have sentience, will travel. As a broke, private-eye wannabe, Bobbie doesn't have much choice but to follow his sketchy command. But every road Grayson travels down leads to the bizarre, the unexplained, and taco-induced heartburn. Vampires. Zombiguanas. Ikigai smell. Its hard to decide which is scarier!

All Harvey Beckett wants to do is help the residents of St. Marin's find the perfect book for that moment, snuggle with her hound dog Mayhem, and be ignored by her cat Aslan. But when the small waterside town's newest resident discovers the body of the community's persnickety reporter in her bookshop storeroom just before her grand opening, Harvey can't help trying to solve the crime, even when it might cost her business and her life. The more questions Harvey asks, the more secrets she uncovers.

Harvey Beckett had heard tale of how the postmistress steams open people’s mail to feed her gossip-hungry customers, but when the postmistress is murdered, Harvey learns that the mail carrier might have been doing more than passing along juicy details. Soon, Harvey and her father find themselves embroiled in hunt to find a killer, a quest that might stop her dad’s heart.

When Harvey Beckett stumbles upon the body of the community's most reviled dairy farmer, she, her friends, and her parents are launched into an investigation that reveals a family secret that wasn't really that secret after all. Soon, Harvey's curiosity lands her and her mother in a heap of danger that may mark the end of her sleuthing

Chronic disease and pain doesn’t need to leave you stressed and depressed. Chronic illnesses come with unique types of stress. In Chronic Resilience, certified life coach and speaker Danea Horn, who suffers from chronic kidney disease, infertility, and other demanding health challenges due to a birth disorder called VACTERL Association, offers techniques and tools to help you rebound from the pressures of having a body that's doing things you wish you could control.

When the local librarian is found dead among the stacks, the rumors about her reputation reach a fever pitch, but Harvey Beckett can’t let a fellow book-lover’s name be sullied. But when she drags her friends and her dogs into the investigation, she finds that it’s more than just rumors she has to contend with.