Showing results by publisher "Recorded Books" in Literary Fiction

A former actress, Allison Rocca knows her husband, Tony, a screenwriter, has been extra busy lately. And news reporter Katy knows her ex, Chief Detective Sam Ladera, is desperately hunting the Video Killer. Still, each woman senses something unusual about the men's behavior. But as they attempt to find the truth, they unwittingly draw closer to the lens of a calculating madman searching for his next leading lady.

A consummate storyteller in the Southern tradition, Lee Smith tugs at her listeners' heartstrings with this haunting narrative that reads like a country ballad. Touching, funny, and sad, its down-to-earth characters are somehow familiar and endearing as they do their best to meet the demands of daily life.

Craig McDonald made a huge critical splash with his debut Head Games���shortlisted for the Edgar, Anthony, and Gumshoe Awards. In his thrilling followup, he delivers a devilishly clever mystery built around the premise that legendary author Ernest Hemingway’s death was anything but a suicide.

In 1935 Betsy Throckmorton’s father lures her from a New York job with Time magazine back to Claybelle, Texas, with the promise that she can be the editor of his Claybelle Standard-Times. Betsy brings along her husband, Ted Winton, an easterner and Yale graduate to whom she is constantly explaining Texas. Ted will run Ben Throckmorton’s radio station, KVAT, where Booty and Them Others sing in rivalry with the better known WBAP Light Crust Doughboys. Betsy is a serious journalist though, and she sets out to change the paper....

Abra Dixon is well educated, fashionable, and married to the perfect man. She also runs a film production company with her childhood friend, Natasha. Abra’s perfect life is suddenly thrown off course when her husband leaves her for a sexy young model.As Abra and Natasha try to find a backer for their latest film, they must navigate the opulent world of directors and investors. But now Abra must learn to be single and strong again. In a world where everyone seems so confident, Abra will need to develop her own definition of success.

Kate Karlson's only focus in life is her Midwestern horse farm. Ignoring her husband, she spends long days giving riding lessons and training horses. To showcase her teaching ability, she enters her three sons and daughter in all the equestrian shows. But when her family dares to thwart her interests, the results bring tragedy and devastation.

A classic work of Texas fiction from M.E.M. Davis, Under the Man-Fig was first published in1895. Part romance, part satire, and part realism, this entertaining novel takes place in the fictional town of Thornham on the Texas Gulf Coast. Under the sprawling branches of the ancient man-fig tree in the town square, all the male gossips of Thornham sit around and spin their colorful yarns - and in so doing, unwittingly weave a folk history of the Old South. This important work resounds with a reading from narrator Sally Darling.

Based on actual events, The Story of My Assassins tells the story of a journalist who learns that the police have captured five hitmen on their way to kill him. Landing like a bombshell on his comfortable life, just as he’s started a steamy affair with a brilliant woman, the news prompts him to launch an urgent investigation into the lives of his aspiring murderers - a ragtag group of street thugs and village waifs - and their mastermind. Who wanted him dead, and why?

Whirlwind, the twin brother of Stone, disappears during a raid into northeastern New Spain. So Stone brings together Cheyenne, Kiowa, and Gataka warriors to go after his missing brother - but there are many things between earth and sky that oppose his quest.

A native Texan, Edwin “Bud” Shrake has written more than two dozen works and is best known for "The Borderland", which was named one of the 10 best books of 2000 by the "Los Angeles Times". Fort Worth lawyer Ben Carpenter’s 30th birthday party turns into a bizarre trip across the Mexican border. And things get even stranger when he finds himself in a confrontation with a dangerous legal opponent.

In the spare, no-nonsense Gradgrind household, Tom and Louisa are raised according to their father's unyielding guiding philosophy: facts - nothing but facts. But while a ban on imagination is mere policy for the Gradgrind children, lack of whimsy is a necessary survival skill in Coketown, the grimy and grim working-class burg devoted to nothing but the relentless advance of industry...

Spring Warren breaks onto the literary scene with a remarkable debut novel. This often comic picaresque follows Edward Turrentine Bayard III, who deserts his upper-class family and moves to Nebraska. Soon he finds trouble - and a Pinkerton agent following his every move.

This title is a mystery and romance by Malú Huacuja del Toro of her native Mexico. When a female journalist visits the city in an attempt to escape her heartbreaking past, she finds herself surrounded by corruption.

Seventeen-year-old Kevin Adams’ best friend is the first polio victim of Fort Appleby. In just a few short months, Kevin’s adolescence is stripped away and he must confront decisions he is not prepared to make.

Critically acclaimed author Thomas Steinbeck, eldest son of the famous Nobel laureate John Steinbeck, pens a compelling tale of adventure and romance with The Silver Lotus. In the early 1800s, merchant Captain Jeremiah Macy Hammond is searching for new customers. Along the way, he comes up against pirates, storms, and illness. But when he falls for Lady Yee, prized daughter of a wealthy merchant family, he discovers that love is the greatest challenge of all.

Critically acclaimed author Keith Lee Morris—who has drawn favorable comparisons to Richard Russo and Richard Ford—delivers a stunning collection of stories. Through these tales of deep humanity, the flaws and strengths of young men are explored with remarkable clarity.

The recipient of the Journey Prize and Edna Staebler Award, Heather Birrell made a splash in the literary world with her first collection, I Know You Are But What Am I? In Mad Hope, Birrell employs her keen insight into the human condition to present tales featuring a complex array of characters, including a gay man caring for a friend and a science teacher faced with a shocking request.

Acclaimed author Shelby Hearon is winner of an American Academy of Arts and Letters Literature Award and two Texas Institute of Letters fiction awards. Taking place during the 1960s’ rebirth of feminism, The Second Dune is an insightful and emotional tale revealing one woman’s search for independence.

At 44, Eve Mozell has a wonderful husband and a creative job. She also has a temperamental teenage son, two headstrong sisters, and a demented old father. As she deals with her family's frequent crises, her days overflow with lengthy phone calls. She is never far from a dial tone. But as her father begins to die, Eve is tempted to disconnect and to sort out her feelings for this difficult man.

USA Today best-selling author Ralph Cotton pens gun-blazing tales evoking the glory days of the Old West. In City of Bad Men, Lawrence “Fast Larry” Shaw wants nothing more than peace and quiet after miraculously surviving a gunshot wound to the head. But his hopes for tranquility don’t last long. A powerful businessman needs help defending his mining operation from the likes of the Cut-Jaws Gang, and he thinks Larry is just the man for the job.