Showing results by narrator "Courtney Patterson" in All Categories

When Madison Reynolds finds herself widowed and penniless before 40, she does the only thing she knows to do - she packs up her teenage twins and moves back home with her 80-year-old grandmother. To make ends meet, Madison opens In a Pinch Temporary Services. Her first real client is Ronny Gleason, but when she shows up for the first day of work at the Gleason Poultry Farm, Madison makes a gruesome discovery. The dead body she finds belongs to Mr. Gleason. When a local man is arrested for murder, Madison takes on the job of proving his innocence.

Kate Walker used to believe in true love and happily ever after. While her own love life may have left her brokenhearted, it hasn't kept her from churning out made-for-TV romance movie screenplays...until a major career slump and a longing to do something meaningful send her running back to her hometown of Maple Valley.

Sexual misconduct accusations spark competing claims: Her word against his. How do we decide who is telling the truth? The answer comes down to credibility. But as this eye-opening book reveals, invisible forces warp the credibility judgments of even the well-intentioned among us. We are all shaped by a set of false assumptions and hidden biases embedded in our culture, our legal system, and our psyches. Deborah Tuerkheimer provides a much-needed framework to explain how we perceive credibility, why our perceptions are distorted, and why these distortions harm survivors.

Shay Matthews moved to Boston for a fresh start...new apartment, new job, new routine. After too many years being coddled by her overbearing older brothers, Shay's ready for some freedom and maybe a nice, easy-going guy. She wasn't expecting to literally run into the scowling, brooding (and unfairly smoking hot) guy next door. Fresh off a haunting undercover assignment, detective Wyatt Daniels is jaded about life, relationships, and especially happily-ever-after. But there's something about the independent and beautiful Shay that makes him want to dig deeper. Or stay away.

Wedding preparations are underway, but the aisle to the altar gets rockier by the minute. Though the community's support is humbling, their enthusiasm soon hijacks the wedding. Squeeze in a suspicious death during a Texas Independence Day celebration, the needy new widow Madison befriends, and the unscrupulous politician trying to unseat Brash as chief of police, and the path seems littered with obstacles.

Raised by a drunken brute, Caitlin O'Shannessy is proving to everyone that she's not her father's daughter. As honest as she is kind, Caitlin manages the family ranch and dreams of a different life. But when her brother gets in Ace Keegan's way, Caitlin is forced to do whatever it takes to save her family.

Now that Madison Reynolds has agreed to be part of a reality-television home remodeling show, she barely recognizes her own life. The show is an instant success, bringing cameras and reporters right to her doorstep, eager to chronicle her every move in the small Texas town. With In a Pinch Temporary Services hovering on the thin line between prosperity and extinction, Madison takes on another quirky case, this one concerning a property dispute. Complications turn a simple mission into all-out danger, and once again Madison finds herself embroiled in an intriguing mystery.

Jennifer Peterson has been unlucky in love, but now, thanks to an Internet search, she's found a surefire formula for identifying the perfect man. Statistics seem to show that if she narrows her search to men of certain careers and physical attributes, she'll have a better shot at success. So now she's on the hunt for not-so-well-endowed, short and hairy podiatrists or funeral directors who've been dubbed less likely to cheat than their tall, good-looking counterparts.

Macy Tucker was five years old when her beloved grandfather dropped dead in his spaghetti. At 12, her father left his family in the dust. At 25, her husband gave his secretary a pre-Christmas bonus in bed, and Macy gave him the boot. To put things lightly, men have been undependable. That's why dating's off the menu. Macy is focused on putting herself through law school - which means being the delivery girl for Papa's Pizza.

Savanna Edwards is feeling downright Scrooge-like. Who can blame her? A truly unjolly Santa - suit, beard and all - just repossessed her car because of her ex's shady business dealings. She'd like to murder the no-good lying cheat, but somebody already did that for her - and left him right in the middle of her kitchen, wrapped up with a bow. Detective Mark Donaldson has a rule against getting involved with his neighbors. He can look - and he's studied every sweet curve of Savanna from across the street - but he can't touch.

Brady Davis is as happy as he is charming. Usually. Unless he's in the same room with the frustratingly gorgeous antidote to his cheer. Mia Kendrick is headstrong and determined. She's done with men who stand in her way—even if he has arms like Thor and a smile that makes her dizzy. Whenever they're together, sparks fly—both the bad and good kind. When Mia returns home to take over management of Kendrick Place, Brady is worried her focus on big business could be the end of his tight-knit home and the family he's created there.

Montana 1925: Three brave kids from New York board the orphan train headed west. An Irish boy who lost his whole family to Spanish flu, a tiny girl who won’t talk, and a volatile young man who desperately needs to escape Hell’s Kitchen. They are paraded on platforms across the Midwest to work-worn folks and journey countless miles, racing the sun westward. Before they reach the last rejection and stop, the kids come up with a daring plan, and they set off toward the Yellowstone River and grassy mountains where the wild horses roam.

Madison's newest client at In a Pinch Temp Service is a suspicious wife, up against a formidable foe - the lovely Caress Ellingsworth, former soap opera queen. When the star is murdered and Madison is eyewitness to the deed, she wonders if the shadowed person she saw commit the crime might really be her client. Now Madison is torn between uncovering the truth and keeping her client's name off the suspect list. Caress is not the only star in town these days. With a little help from Granny Bert and Madison's best friend Genesis, the popular television show Home Again arrives.

Ten years ago, Bear gave up everything - his freedom and his reputation - for his mess of a family. But after years of distance and too many attempts at starting over, he finally has a new life doing noble work in Brazil...until his past catches up to him once again. Suddenly he finds himself back in Maple Valley, charged with the care of his missing brother's children, convinced he's out of second chances to make his life count. Maybe this is the fresh start he's been longing for all along.

Madison Reynolds is looking forward to a few days of rest and relaxation. Her best friend, Genny, is judging a celebrity bake-off near DC, so it's the perfect opportunity for a girl's getaway. With fun-loving Granny Bert in tow, the trio heads to the very heart of the intel community. A mix-up at the airport leaves Madison with the wrong luggage, and a last-minute change in accommodations lands them at The Columbia Inn at Peralynna. How can they know its ties to the spy world will soon spin them into its web?

The Art of Coaching Teams is the manual you never received when you signed on to lead a team. Being a great teacher is one thing, but leading a team, or team development, is an entirely different dynamic. Your successes are public, but so are your failures-and there's no specific rubric or curriculum to give you direction. Team development is an art form, and this book is your how-to guide to doing it effectively. You'll learn the administrative tasks that keep your team on track.

This bundle includes Crime Scene Secrets, Montana Abduction Rescue, and Trail of Secrets.

When small-town Police Chief Arly Hanks returns to Maggody, Arkansas, after vacation, she finds the population has risen to a booming 802. Among the newbies: Madame Celeste, the psychic who's holding locals in thrall with her predictions of doom; a handsome new high school guidance counselor; and a gaggle of mantra-chanting hippies who have turned the old general store into the source for cosmic harmony. Unfortunately, life in Maggody is anything but harmonious.

Genie and her ghostly great-great-aunt Adriana have been too busy with their gelato business and helping with the restoration of the old speakeasy to notice that something isn't quite right in their small town. Until pranks with touch of the macabre haunt the neighborhood, right before Halloween. But it gets worse. When a locked room murder case points straight at a connection to dark forces, the sleuthing duo fears for the living—and the not-quite so departed. Can they root out the evil in their midst before it ends Adriana’s happy afterlife—forever?

There's something special about Genesis Baker, owner of The Sister's popular New Beginnings Cafe. With her dimpled smile and twinkling blue eyes, Genny has practically the entire town eating from the palm of her hand. But Genny is hiding a secret. Despite her sunny disposition and golden touch, there is heartache in her past. And on top of it all, someone is stalking Genny, determined to make her life miserable.