Showing results by narrator "Hollis McCarthy" in All Categories

Christmas is in the past and the new year is shining bright for Bay Winchester—right up until a local inn catches fire, and she realizes that something more than snow is afoot in Hemlock Cove.

When a man shows up strangled by his own mummy costume, literally unmasking the killer among the guests proves to be the least of the polices problems. Between overbearing relatives trying to micromanage the investigation to inexplicable events in the library targeting Rory and her family, she finds herself wondering if there was more to the man's death than meets the eye.

Ewan Cameron has no intention of falling in love with the delectable, bookish Lily Farthingale. He is the estranged grandson of the duke of Lotheil and has come to London because of a deathbed promise to his father. He has no intention of staying beyond his three-month obligation. Nothing can tempt him to remain, not even Lily, the beautiful bluestocking determined not only to restore relations between him and his grandfather, but to turn Ewan into a proper gentleman.

Ignazio was destined to rule Casa Florio since birth, a fearless drive that pulses through his veins, pushing him to look beyond Sicily towards Rome, Europe and its courts, the naval domination of the Mediterranean, and eventually the purchase of the entire Archipelago of the Egadi to build his dazzling empire. But his heart is black as ice. To seize Casa Florio, he abandoned the love of his life—an act of treachery which still casts a dark shadow.

Brook Ridge Falls' favorite bakery owner Lexy Baker has everything she ever wanted. A new husband she adores. A thriving bakery business. Everything is going great. Until a new bakery springs up across the street and tries every trick in the book to put her out of business! Lexy smells something rotten about the bakery, and it isn’t just their stale brownies. When her own bakery is broken into, she knows who did it...but what she can’t figure out is why. Could the new baker be after her great-grandmother's prize-winning scone recipe, or is there another more sinister reason?

A family secret catapults Rory into a magical library - and a new life she never knew she wanted. Bookshop assistant Aurora "Rory" Hawthorn thinks reality will never be as interesting as fiction. Content to spend her time escaping into a good book to escape her micromanaging boss, the very last thing she expects is to be cornered by a group of terrifying strangers hunting down a journal that belonged to her late father.

Poppy Farthingale has made a pact with her two best friends to use The Book of Love to find true love. How else will Nathaniel Sherbourne, Earl of Welles, ever notice her? With a small dowry and no prominent lineage, Nathaniel will never consider her a suitable wife, especially when her competition is a beautiful duke's daughter who has already been declared an Incomparable. Poppy has four days to win his heart, but with time running out and her rival about to attend a weekend party at Nathaniel's country home, is all hope lost?

I thought judging the Willow Waters garden contest would be fun. A nice way to get to know a few more of my neighbors in this beautiful Cotswold village. I’d get to see how the best gardens grew, maybe even nab a few tips for my own garden. I did not expect the competition to be to the death.

The fun of an English baking contest set in the beautiful English countryside complete with witches, recipes, and murder. Join Poppy and her friends as she puzzles out another complex murder that might have ties to her!

Things are going great for Lexy Baker. She's finally opened her dream bakery, gotten rid of her cheating boyfriend and settled into her grandmother's house with her perky dog Sprinkles at her side. But her blissful life doesn't last long. When her ex-boyfriend is found poisoned with cupcakes from her bakery, Lexy finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation headed up by her hunky neighbor detective Jack Perillo. With the help of a gang of iPad toting, would-be detective grandmothers, Lexy decides to take it upon herself to find the real murderer.

American detective Sam Holt has a knack for finding people who shouldn't be found. When his last case almost killed an innocent woman, he swore off detective work forever. But when this same woman asks him for one last investigation - to find her husband's long lost mother - Sam cannot refuse. Clairvoyant Irish artist Glenna McClure will do anything to stop Sam, even if it means teaming up with a powerful sorceress who she knows she cannot trust.

Stealing a code book from an enemy spy should be easy for someone like Frederica Vale. As the plain-looking older sister, she's practically invisible at social events. Never mind that she has no experience as a spy or that the codebook rests in the possession of one of the most powerful men in England. Freddie has no choice - she's desperate to save her young sister from the lecherous intentions of their guardian and recovering the book is her only option.

Something’s not right at the local retirement home, Tranquility Terrace. The residents are losing more than their memories—jewelry, watches, and keepsakes are disappearing too. Enter Ray Leonard, a detective who could use a break. His secret weapon? Earl—a snarky cat with a nose for trouble.

A Christmas charity contest leads to murder! Amateur baker Poppy Wilkinson agrees to be a celebrity contestant in a charity gingerbread house competition in Bath, England. She can support a good cause while promoting the long running TV reality show in which she’s a contestant — The Great British Baking Contest. However, beneath the gingerbread walls and behind the lollipop trees swirl bad feelings, jealousy, and murder. Good thing Poppy is also a witch and a talented amateur sleuth.

Rory and her magical family have been through their fair share of tribulations. The sudden reappearance of a hidden corridor in the library has unleashed a series of baffling riddles left by the library’s creator, but Rory’s deceased grandmother’s motives are as shrouded in mystery as ever.

Pancho Barnes was a force of nature, a woman who lived a big, messy, colorful, unconventional life. She ran through three fortunes, four husbands, and countless lovers. She outflew Amelia Earhart, outsmarted Howard Hughes, outdrank the Mexican Army, and outmaneuvered the US government. In The Happy Bottom Riding Club, award-winning author Lauren Kessler tells the story of a high-spirited, headstrong woman who was proud of her successes, unabashed by her failures, and the architect of her own legend.

In this age of lunchtime lifts, wrinkle-erasing injections, furrow fillers, and lip plumpers, there’s no question that anyone who aims to look younger easily can. But Lauren Kessler wants something more than to follow the cosmetic path to youthfulness. She wants to live with energy, stamina, vitality, resilience, and health for a very, very long time. Her goal: to reverse her biological age from the inside out.

When Lady Henley Killigrew's father dies and his title of earl passes to a not-so-friendly cousin who wants her and her two younger sisters out of their elegant London townhouse, she takes them to Moonstone Cottage, a lovely manor house they inherited from a maiden aunt in the Cornwall seaside village of Moonstone Landing. But their funds are limited, and the new earl is a stingy guardian who will not loosen the purse strings to allow her to properly maintain herself and her sisters in their new home. The only way to save them all is for her to marry.

Lady Penelope Sherbourne is not - absolutely not - going to fall in love with Thaddius MacLauren, Laird of Caithness, even if he is a big, handsome Scottish brute and ridiculously protective of her. But now that the Book of Love has fallen into her hands, Thad is the only one she trusts to test out the sensations she must explore in order to find the perfect husband. She wants a mild-mannered English earl, one who lives near her family, and who will not make her heart leap or her bones melt as Thad does every time he looks at her.

Witches are descending on Hemlock Cove and the town is gearing up for mayhem. Bay Winchester is ready to cover the event for her newspaper, and is excited to see faces she hasn’t interacted with in more than a decade. Then the unthinkable happens. The local blacksmith shop catches fire and Bay and her cousin Thistle risk death to try and rescue the owner. Unfortunately, they’re too late, and the man is unable to be resuscitated. Not only that, but it wasn’t the fire that killed him. No, he was murdered.