Showing results by narrator "Jennifer Araya" in All Categories

It’s cold enough to freeze a shadow when Battle Lake local Tom Kicker braves the killer temps to bag a deer—only to get shot to death by his best buddy, Clive, in a hunting accident. Tragic, yes. Accident? Mira James, just a few weeks into working toward her PI license, isn’t so convinced.

Mira James has had it up to here with Battle Lake, Minnesota. After her latest romantic prospects go bust, she’s ready to move back to the Twin Cities and get a lapful of cats. Funny how murder can stall the best-laid plans. Days before the August Moon Festival, high school cheerleader Lucy Lebowski, Mira’s library assistant and an all-around sweetheart, is murdered.

Summer in Battle Lake kicks off with fireworks and festivities, but it’s a local treasure hunt that’s amping up the tourist trade. It certainly piques the interest of part-time reporter Mira James—both as fodder for a column and because she could use the five grand in prize money. The treasure? A faux diamond hidden at the bottom of Whiskey Lake.

Cue the accordions: Battle Lake, Minnesota, is kicking off October Fest with polka, sausage, and cold suds. The big inaugural event? A debate between two congressional hopefuls. One, stultifyingly sincere. The other, a foot-in-mouth tippler. Reporter Mira James is roped into covering their fighting words…and then a murder, when a relentless pit bull of a blogger is found dead at a motor lodge filled to capacity with fellow pundits, campaign entourages, and tourists—all of whom have just become suspects.

The Minnesota State Fair wows again with 4-H exhibits, rides, a Neil Diamond concert, and deep-fried everything on a stick. Covering it is a breezy assignment as fluffy as cotton candy for reporter Mira James, until the main attraction becomes murder.

A charitable senior finds her calling making creepily authentic life-size dolls. Call it recreation. But when Mira finds a dead body encased under that painted porcelain, it’s more like murder. It gets even stranger when Mira’s investigation lands her just where the Battle Lake police chief wants her: in jail. Luckily, Team Mira is on the case. They’re a fierce, if unlikely, force to be reckoned with: one flashy lady mayor and Mira’s scrappy nonagenarian best friend.

With a human mother and a werewolf father, Xander Binnigas has never fit anywhere. His father wasn't keen on being saddled with a clueless cub. His mother hated when he drank out of the toilet bowl and marked mailboxes on their Sunday strolls. Even so, he survived to adulthood, his one desire never wavering. And like a wolf with a bone, Xander still longs to find a place to belong. But after years of working like a dog in hopes of officially joining the Manhattan pack, he realizes that he’s been barking up the wrong skyscraper.

Sylvia Plath knows she was born to be remembered. She loves learning, literature, and writing, especially poetry. The problem is, she’s coming of age in a time when women are expected to happily set aside their dreams for a husband and a home. Even in high school, Sylvia struggles to reconcile the societal expectations placed on women and the ambitions she has for a great career. She aches for a partner and a family, but she longs to become a poet, too. And she’s afraid she can’t have both.

A heartwarming Christian Christmas picture book for kids to celebrate unity, kindness, and the miracle of the Nativity. On a peaceful night in Bethlehem, a stable full of animals is about to witness a miracle. But can they put aside their differences in time to welcome a very special guest? The...

March 1943. The Usurper’s War has resumed, with disastrous results for the Allies. The Imperial Japanese Navy, flush with victory after securing their eastern flank, turns their gimlet gaze towards the ultimate prize for their Emperor: The Dutch East Indies. For Commander Jacob Morton, XO of the U.S.S. Houston, the oncoming Japanese storm is not unexpected. The Houston and her Allied companions will have to fight against overwhelming odds, at night, against an enemy who claims the darkness as their own.

*Winner of the 2026 Sydney Taylor Book Award Honor in the Young Adult category! Part historical mystery, part sweeping romance, The Rebel Girls of Rome brings the stories of two young women to brilliant life: Lilah, a college student looking to understand her grandfather’s mysterious past, and...

Hollywood make-up artist and costumier, Jeany Lin, travels to Arkham to work on the new "nightmare movie" by enigmatic director Sydney Fitzmaurice. The star is her sister, Renee Love, Sydney's collaborator and lover. Desperate to outdo the thrills and terror of Lon Chaney's popular pictures, Sydney prepares occult-infused dream sequences for Love and her co-stars to perform. But there's more than mere imagery at play as the cast suffer recurring nightmares, accidents, and impossible waking visions.

I'm alive. I'm out of the Hells. I've become one of the most powerful people in mage society overnight. Also, it's summer break. But there's no rest for the wicked. I witnessed dark magic and darker crimes in the Hells. Now, I stand with allies I struggle to forgive, against a mortal enemy who once held my heart in his hands. Powerful men want to make me a pawn in their unhinged games, to be used or sacrificed at their whim. They can try. My boyfriends and I will carve our own path through mage society, whatever it takes. I have innocent people to protect. Vengeance to take.

Dive into three more compelling stories of loss, love, and living well. The heroes and heroines of the Finding Home series know that not all that is gone is lost, and not all that is broken is beyond repair. Find some inspiration amid despair and some hope among the rubble.

Barbara H. Rosenwein traces our many conflicting ideas about and expressions of anger, taking the story from the Buddha to our own time, from anger's complete rejection to its warm reception. Rosenwein explores how anger has been characterized by gender and race, why it has been tied to violence and how that is often a false connection, how it has figured among the seven deadly sins and yet is considered a virtue, and how its interpretation, once largely the preserve of philosophers and theologians, has been gradually handed over to scientists - with very mixed results.

*An Outside Magazine Book Club Pick* "A sparkling account."—Wall Street Journal An electrifying adventure into the rich history of skiing and the modern heart of ski-bum culture, from one of America's most preeminent ski journalists The story of skiing is, in many ways, the story of America...

Being a twin complicates the Evian line of succession, but Chancery Alamecha is fine letting Judica inherit the throne. After all, she’s the stronger sister - the merciless fighter, the ruthless politician, and the groomed heir. But something unexpected happens when Chancery tries on her mother’s staridium ring, forcing her into a role that she never wanted: the prophesied queen who will prevent the destruction of Earth.

Something monstrous has come to Arkham, Massachusetts. There have always been shadows here, but now a new hunger has risen from the depths and threatens those who dwell here. But there are heroes too—people who stand up and fight to stem the tide, even when it costs them everything. Explore eight shocking new tales of occult horror, captivating mystery, and existential fear—from a zealous new heroine to conniving cultists, bootleg whiskey to night terrors, and fiends that crawl from open graves. A nightmare has fallen across Arkham, and it will devour all.

Alora was born with the ability to lift, a power no other women on Terra possess. If the wrong people find out, there’s no telling what will happen. But when she almost kills a man in self-defense, her secret is exposed, and she’s forced to run for her life. On Earth, Alora's running from something else: hazy memories of her parents’ death and the social worker who wants to separate her from her brother.

Eden Hawthorne spent idyllic childhood summers in Grand Trees, a mountain town perched along a restless earthquake fault in the heart of California’s fire country. But her family and future were shattered there, and she vowed never to return—until news of her estranged mother’s illness forces her back twenty years later. Still reeling from her recent divorce, Eden has to confront her mom’s found family, including single father Caleb Connell, who blames Eden for the seismic rift that drove her away.