Showing results by narrator "Vanessa Daniels" in All Categories

Christmas is fast approaching, and around the Inn, Suzy and Josie are looking forward to relaxing and enjoying the holiday season with their friends and family. But when a box of puppies is dropped off on their doorstep on a frigid night, the chain of events that unfolds leads them straight to a murder and an illegal puppy mill that's operating in the area.

Suzy and Josie, owners of the Thousand Islands Doggy Inn, are attending an end-of-summer party and are about to receive a sizeable charitable gift from one of their good friends, a local businessman with a love of dogs and a reputation with the ladies. A newly built yacht about to embark on a trip to Florida via the Inland Waterway is one of the party highlights, but when the engineer is killed, and Jackson, the Clay Bay Chief of Police, ends up in critical condition, the yacht becomes the focal point of the ensuing murder investigation.

The Thousand Islands Doggy Inn Mysteries feature two of the smartest and funniest lead female protagonists to hit the cozy mystery scene in a very long time, and their affection for food and boundless love and devotion to their dogs puts this new series in the 'Don't Miss' category. The Case of the Abandoned Aussie gets this fresh alphabet series off to a great start, and B. R. Snow promises that listeners are in for a long, wild, and highly entertaining ride as the series moves forward.

It's June in quiet Vista Beach, the place computer programmer and tole-painting enthusiast Aurora (Rory) Anderson calls home. Decorative painters are flocking to the newly built Akaw hotel to attend the Ocean Painting Society's inaugural convention. Rory plans on shopping the trade show floor, working in her mother's booth, and connecting with other decorative painting fans. She doesn't expect to witness her childhood friend collapse in class and die. When the police find no evidence of foul play, Rory embarks on her own investigation.

Emma Lapp tries to be the perfect daughter, to earn the loving embrace of her family and her Amish community in Pennsylvania. Yet she can't quite win her mother's smile - or her forgiveness for a transgression Emma can't quite place.... Emma knows she's a reminder of her mother's greatest sorrow, having been born on the same day Mamm lost her beloved sister. The one bright spot has been the odd trinkets anonymously left at her aunt's grave each year on Emma's birthday - gifts Emma secretly hides because they upset her parents.

Autumn on the Maine coast is stunning, which brings the tourists out in droves. My restaurant, the Little Dog Diner, is teeming with them, thanks to the locally famous fall festival. Usually that's a great thing...this year, however, the discovery of a dead body puts a damper on business awfully fast. Add to that the fact that the victim had a vendetta against almost every small business owner in town, and now I've landed right in the middle of the very long and tedious suspect list.

Twenty-something bookseller and sleuth Meg Gates has a confession: solving crimes may be easier than writing. She's been working on a guide to becoming a detective—but she's her own worst critic. She needs a how-to in order to write her how-to! At the Bainbridge Island writers' group, she meets freelance food critic Lee Anderson, who invites her to join him for dinner at the Local Crab so he won't be suspected of reviewing the place. Lee is a bit of a crab himself and intends to do a hatchet job on the eatery.

Karen S. Lynch went from a childhood filled with loss and instability in a stark mill town in Massachusetts to leading one of the nation's largest health care companies, where she has been instrumental in transforming how people access affordable quality care. After being named CEO of the Fortune 500's sixth largest company, CVS Health, she is now the most powerful woman on that revered list. In Taking Up Space, she tells her trailblazing story-and delivers powerful lessons you can use to become the leader you're meant to be.

Alara never thought she'd know her biological family, much less have a criminal mastermind father who kidnaps her mother. To get her mother back and gain the upper hand, Alara has to solve a mystery that no other psychics have been able to crack before her father's swift deadline arrives. Alara, Irene, and a couple of stowaways travel to a nearby city to investigate the murder of her father's loyal lieutenant, but Alara didn't expect the only witnesses to be a house full of paperbacks and an ornery bobcat.

Margo Harper is done with love. After swearing off it once before, she fell for the safe bet, the sure thing...but the only thing she can be sure of now is that her marriage is over. With only one place to go, she returns to Maine, desperate for her grandmother's pancakes, her sisters' laughter, and maybe a chance to begin again. But while Margo may have run home, she doesn't plan on staying, especially when she comes face-to-face with the first man who ever broke her heart.

Campbell Carter has come to Sweethaven in search of answers about her mother's history. Just before losing a battle with cancer, Suzanne Carter sent letters to childhood friends from her hometown of Sweethaven, Michigan. Suzanne's three friends - Lila, Jane, and Meghan - haven't spoken in years, yet each has pieces of a scrapbook they made together as girls. Suzanne's letters have lured them all back to the idyllic lakeside town, where they meet Campbell and begin to remember what was so special about their long Sweethaven summers.

When Jesse Camden, owner of the Gilded Lily Tea Room and Coffee House, agrees to meet her childhood friend, Winnie Rogers, for a morning of girl talk and reminiscing, or "fishing" as Winnie likes to call it, Jesse anticipates a morning of shared confidences over a picnic brunch in the countryside. But spring in Oklahoma can be unpredictable, and when a tornado drops out of a wall cloud practically on top of them, Jesse and Winnie find themselves stranded with a demolished pickup and a dead body before they've even opened the picnic basket.

The Given-Up Girl is the story of Bonnie Koller, who joins the country's brightest women at idyllic Halstead College in 1969. With her roommate Hollis as her guide, Bonnie trades her skirts for jeans and her innocence for independence. An unwanted pregnancy forces Bonnie and Hollis to navigate the traps of pre-Roe America—a boyfriend consumed with fear of the draft, doctors of questionable competence, and a hospital bureaucracy rife with corruption. Their search for an abortion puts their ambitions, their friendship, and their lives at risk.

A lot of things are going well for Alara Beatty. She's got an amazing boyfriend, the best dogs ever, and she's back at her predictable accounting job. There's just one problem—she's still struggling to contain her erratic psychic powers after they exploded a few months back. Desperate to gain control, Alara is powerless to resist a mysterious woman who offers an alluring solution to her problem . . . but one that comes at a cost—help her find a dangerous and elusive killer before they disappear forever.

As shooting concludes on the season finale of the TV mystery Mr. & Mrs. Winslow, interior decorator and set designer Meg Barrett can feel the hostility in the air. The show's new director had already alienated the entire cast and crew, and now Meg's boyfriend, Patrick, was ready to throttle him for taking liberties with the script. Meg thought the director was a very lucky man to have gotten out of there in one piece—until a few nights later when she stumbles over his dead body.

After losing everything in a devastating fire years ago, Ryan Beckett is left with the only legacy he treasures: his beloved niece and his land. But when his neighbors nearly get murdered, Ryan knows the enemy of the five ranches is coming for them in full force. And yet an unexpected arrival rocks his world first.

Born and raised in Montana, Tammy has left the cowgirl lifestyle behind, but she's no stranger to hardships. And she won't let some lying soon-to-be ex-husband break her. But when he dies in an accident along with her brother, the avalanche taking those lives sweeps Tammy away. She sets course for Montana, chasing that peaceful life again . . . Only to find the Double A Ranch in chaos along with Greg Watson there. The last man Tammy ever wished to see.

Maria Parker was never the same after her husband's death. But before she loses her life in a cloud of grief, she encounters a man she never thought she would see again. West Lockran, the city slicker, rubs Maria the wrong, irresistible way. Being near West feels to Maria like playing with fire . . . Until a very different kind of flame threatens her home. When the ongoing attacks reach Big Valley, the past resurfaces with sharp teeth and a thirst for blood. And this time, Brett, Zac, and West are in the eye of the storm.

Thirty-one years ago, Cat stormed out of her home with nothing but a backpack, her songbook, and her late mother's guitar. That gave her worldwide fame as a country music star. And a broken heart. Cat Sparrow has nowhere else to go now but her home, back in Cupids Bow Ranch, Montana. Even though nothing stays the same in Big Sky country, she never expected so much to have changed. But her world is about to be shaken once more when she collides with the handsome, enigmatic cowboy, David Miller.

People born in the big cities often scatter to the country, desperate for a breath of fresh air and a sense of direction found in the stars. Those born and raised in the country long for the glitter and glamor the big cities promise. But what if the grass isn't always greener on the other side? Growing up in a small town, you soon run out of new people to meet, and the chances of falling in love with a stranger or a career are few and far between. Especially when age-old family feuds threaten to tear everyone apart . . .