Showing results by narrator "Johanna Parker" in All Categories

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, Jane Steward is organizing a week of activities for fans of love stories at her book-themed resort. But her Regency readers barely have time to brush up on their Jane Austen before tragedy strikes Storyton Hall. Rosamund York, one of the most celebrated authors in attendance, is killed.

Rachel never wanted to travel into the wilderness. The westward trail has stolen everything from her. Her home. Her family. Her husband. Now a match made out of necessity has trapped her in a marriage with a man she can't stand. Owen likes Rachel about as much as his horse likes a burr under its saddle. She's bossy and stubborn with an independent streak a mile wide. And a baby on the way. He can't help feeling responsible for the prickly mother-to-be. A marriage of convenience is the right thing to do. But that doesn't mean he has to like it.

Local woman Etta Hardgrove, a consignor at the Tough Nickel thrift shop, catches the eye of a Cowgirl Camper with her distinctive jewelry. But when Etta is found dead, the Campers swiftly become suspects, mired in a town teeming with those who harbored ill-will against Etta. The mystery deepens, and no one can be trusted.

An upcoming election shakes up Honeysuckle. When an outspoken resident who opposes the changes to the magical small Southern town turns up dead, it's up to Charli Goodwin and her special talents to get on the case, except her valuable magic doesn't seem to be working. What starts as a simple search uncovers a darker layer of manipulation and sabotage. Will Charli be able to figure out who is pulling the strings before the foundations of the town are destroyed?

All Susannah Simon wants is to make a good impression at her first job since graduating from college (and since becoming engaged to Dr. Jesse de Silva). But when she's hired as a guidance counselor at her alma mater, she stumbles across a decade-old murder, and soon ancient history isn't all that's coming back to haunt her. Old ghosts as well as new ones are coming out of the woodwork, some to test her, some to vex her, and it isn't only because she's a mediator gifted with second sight.

With characters arranged alphabetically - from the Ancient Pythoness to Bethany Zanelli - best-selling author Charlaine Harris takes fans into the future of their favorite residents of Bon Temps and environs. You’ll learn how Michele and Jason’s marriage fared, what happened to Sookie’s cousin Hunter, and whether Tara and JB’s twins grew up to be solid citizens. This coda provides the answers to your lingering questions - including details of Sookie’s own happily-ever-after…

June wedding bells are ringing! Cameron Cripps Hayman is the matron of honor, and her five furry good boys are all ushers, so what could go wrong? The day before the wedding, the new pastor is found hanging from the choir loft. It's ruled a suicide by the police, but Cam and her Action Agency suspect foul play. Cam's police-officer husband warns her to not stir up trouble where none exists, but when the pastor's home is ransacked, it's clear to Cam that she was murdered.

After the death of her adoptive mother, Chelsea Kane is a woman consumed by a need to discover her natural heritage. She arrives in the New Hampshire town where she was born, aching for answers. It is while she is looking for them that she finds something quite unexpected: a love she thought she would never know.

With Christmas right around the corner, all of Holiday Haven is busy getting ready for the season. Aurora Hart's schedule is full to the brim, but unlike last year, she is determined to enjoy every ounce of holiday fun with her bear of a boyfriend, her squirrel neighbor, her half elf best friend, and the rest of the Humbug gang. However, when her magic starts failing, Rory's seasonal happiness just might be cursed.

In 1925 Colorado, 14-year-old Ida Bidson dreams of becoming a teacher, but she knows it won’t be easy. When the school board closes the town’s one-room school, threatening to keep Ida from finishing eighth grade and moving on to high school, it looks like her dream will never come true. Then she and her classmates come up with a plan for a secret school - with Ida as their teacher!

Things are always odd and strange in Metamora, but when the proprietor of the curiosity shop, Odd and Strange Metamora, hosts a spring carnival showing off his collection of oddities, the day goes right in the garbage - or rather, out of the garbage when a raccoon overturns a trash can in the middle of town scattering human bones around the park. When it's discovered that the remains date back over a century, rumors start to run as rampant as the pack of furry bandits taking over the town at night.

It is fall in Normal, Kentucky, and the town is celebrating the season with a Bourbon Festival. Mae West is trying to enjoy the festival and a night out with Hank. While trying to dodge the one question every keep asking (When is the wedding?) Mae overhears an argument between the bourbon king's son and another man and woman. So, when she stumbles over a body with ties to the Bourbon King, her hackles are raised.

An aspiring writer moves into a new apartment and discovers that her landlady has murdered her husband. Elsewhere, an accomplished surgeon is approached by a cabaret singer, whose beautiful appearance belies the grotesque condition of her heart. And while the surgeon's jealous lover vows to kill him, a violent envy also stirs in the soul of a lonely craftsman. Desire meets with impulse and erupts, attracting the attention of the surgeon's neighbor - who is drawn to a decaying residence that is now home to instruments of human torture.

The last place Suze Simon expects to find herself during Valentine's Day is a cemetery. But that's what happens when you're a mediator—cursed with the "gift" of communicating with the dead. That's how Suze has ended up at the graves of a pair of tragic young lovers. They're NCDPs—Non-Compliant Deceased Persons—whose drama didn't end with death. It's Suze's job to make sure they move on—for good.

Cam is taken aback when she stumbles upon a murdered neighbor behind her sister's shop, Dog Diggity. The timing couldn't be worse, as it's only a week until the store's grand opening during Canal Days, the biggest festival of the year. When the police arrest her handyman, Cameron knows they have the wrong suspect, so she and the rest of her Metamora Action Agency set out to crack the case.

Spending five months eating trail dust wasn't Leo Spencer's first choice. Or his second. He's not one to run away, but some situations can't be fixed and his family—two brothers and a sister—needs to start over. Which is how he finds himself on a westbound wagon train. Evangeline has a secret, one that has sent her on a journey across the plains on the Oregon Trail. When her father is badly hurt and she needs help, Leo is there. A deal is struck, and the two unlikely friends form an alliance . . . that leads to more.

Sadie Stephens has loved her brother's best friend, Lincoln Carver, since she was a girl, but a family feud involving a runaway bride closed any options for a romance. Lincoln's only interest in her now is one of obligation and guilt. After all, he's the one responsible for the lassoing "incident" (don't ask. Lincoln's life was perfect until his matchmaking granny stuck her nose in his business. Now, he's accidentally injured his best friend's sister, the woman partly responsible for a family feud.

Lissa Bachner was born with a passion for horses and won her first blue ribbon at age five. Other awards would follow as a young rider, and for years Lissa trained with jumpers, tackling more difficult leaps, and working to perfect her ride. When blindness struck in her teens, it appeared her passion for riding would come to an end. How could she jump hurdles when she could barely navigate through her own home? But success, trust, and love came to Lissa when her trainer convinced her to buy a "diamond in the rough" from Germany.

It's Christmas, and wounded rodeo cowboy Wade Cruz could use a miracle. He's back home to restore his run-down family ranch but the local biddies are convinced he'd be the perfect candidate for their future reality dating show. Wade isn't even a little bit interested but then his best friend's sister, Daisy Carver, suggests a fake dating relationship to throw the matchmakers off his back. In return, virgin Daisy asks experienced Wade to educate her in the ways of love . . .

Jane Steward's resort is hopping - not only is Peppermint Press' conference in full swing, there are also lots of families staying on the premises, bringing their kids to events like a scavenger hunt through the Fairy Tale Forest. Then a woman dressed like Little Red Riding Hood is found dead from a plot device straight out of a fairy tale-with a rare and valuable copy of Grimm's Fairy Tales in her basket. Not long after, a second victim is killed, with yet another treasure - a volume by Hans Christian Andersen worth thousands of dollars - nearby.