Showing results by author "Donna Ball" in All Categories

This anthology contains Angels in the Snow, The Good Shepherd, and Welcome to Bethlehem.

Former Hanover County Sheriff Buck Lawson leaves the mountains of North Carolina to take a job as the police chief of the small South Georgia town of Mercy, and soon finds himself in over his head. For one thing, his predecessor has been murdered...Buck has inherited an unsolved homicide, a house that may well be haunted, and a police department that is almost certainly corrupt. It falls to Buck to free an innocent man and bring the former police chief’s killer to justice while wading through the quagmire of incompetence and dishonesty that permeates his office.

Police Chief Aggie Malone is facing her first Christmas as a married woman, and hoping for a relatively uneventful holiday in the quiet Gulf Coast community of Dogleg Island where she, along with her perspicacious border collie Flash, is in charge of keeping the peace. She is still trying to find her place in the big, boisterous Grady family, but unlike Flash - and her own husband, Deputy Sheriff Ryan Grady - Aggie does not see the appeal of the holiday, and the magic of the season is completely lost on her. The old-fashioned Christmas Grady has planned for his bride begins to unravel when Aggie's investigation into a homicide hit-and-run leads to the arrest of her own brother-in-law and exposes a crime syndicate that's responsible for spreading millions in counterfeit bills throughout the southeast.

On foot, on horseback, in covered wagons and mule carts they came, traversing treacherous rivers and wild plains in search of the Promised Land, drawn ever westward by the promise of the new American frontier. Katherine Carlyle, a desperate woman with a violent past, leaves behind the graves of her family and the only home she has ever known in search of a new life. An unwanted passenger on a westward bound flatboat, she is forced into the role of hero when catastrophe strikes...

Times are hard in the small Smoky Mountain town of Hansonville, North Carolina, and for former forest service employee Raine Stockton this Christmas will be harder than most as she prepares to spend her first holiday without her family, without a job... and without a dog. When a mysterious Secret Santa starts making dreams come true all over the county everyone's spirits are on the rise, but Raine can't help but wonder whether there is more to this enigmatic philanthropist than meets the eye.

When Bridget, Cici and Lindsay left behind their safe suburban lives for a stately old mansion in the Shenandoah Valley, they redefined the concept of family. The friends, like the house, have faced many challenges and undergone major changes over the years. But the one thing they never imagined was that one day they would be expanding their house of women to make room for a husband.

January is known as the dead season in the small Smoky mountain community of Hanover County, North Carolina. For dog trainer and wilderness expert Raine Stockton, who hasn't had a client in six month, this season has been deader than most.

Raine's old boyfriend Andy Fontana is back in town...and at the top of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List. With a fortune in diamonds hidden somewhere in the wilderness, several recent acts of eco-terrorism and an unsolved murder laid at Andy's door, the feds turn to Raine Stockton, with her unsurpassed knowledge of the mountains and her reputation as a wilderness tracker, to help bring Andy to justice. The only problem is that Raine still believes Andy is innocent...

It's Christmas time, and for Raine Stockton and her Search and Rescue dog, Cisco, Hansonville, North Carolina is just like a Norman Rockwell painting - except for the rash of thefts of baby Jesus figurines from nativity scenes, an abandoned box of golden retriever puppies that someone leaves beside her mailbox, and a mysterious gift from one of Cisco's a grateful admirers. Raine already has her hands full with her own misbehaving pooches, unexpected house guests, and a complicated new relationship.

Paul Slater and Derrick Anderson set about opening the Hummingbird House B&B with their usual style and flair, only to find that they may have taken on more than they bargained for. Despite constant coaching from their friends Cici, Bridget and Lindsay, they don't seem to be able to do anything right. Before they know how it happened, they are at odds with their teenage housekeeper, overwhelmed by a zany spiritualist who seems determined to take over their lives, and, most horrifying of all, on the wrong side of the law.

It's Christmas Eve, and Cici, Bridget and Lindsay are busy preparing for their annual holiday party. The tree is sparkling, the turkey is roasting, the stockings are hung and the eggnog is chilled. The scene is set for the perfect Christmas...with one or two exceptions. The entire state is in the midst of a heat wave. No one can find any mistletoe. The Christmas tree lights keep exploding, and, perhaps worst of all, something has gone terribly wrong with Ida Mae's fruitcakes.

The vineyard has been restored and Ladybug Farm Winery is on the verge of bottling its first vintage. Their friends Paul and Derrick are building a house next door. High school and college graduations are just around the corner for the two young people they have shepherded for the past four years. Life couldn't be more perfect. But Ladybug Farm still holds a few surprises for them all...