Showing results by author "Donna Ball" in All Categories

As a native of the small town of Hansonville, North Carolina,and a wilderness rescue worker, Raine Stockton knows the Smoky Mountains as well as anyone could, but she gave up her Search and Rescue work after a tragic loss. Now she reluctantly returns to active duty to help find a young child who has been kidnapped and taken deep into the forest.

Aggie Malone is a dedicated young cop who has spent her entire life just looking for a place to call home. She never thought she'd find it in a quaint Florida village called Dogleg Island, where almost nothing ever happens. Deputy Ryan Grady is an easygoing playboy who carries a surf board in the trunk of his patrol car and lives in the same rambling beach cottage his grandfather built 70 years ago. He grew up on Dogleg Island and can't imagine ever living anywhere else. It's always been the most peaceful place he has ever known.

Raine Stockton and her high-spirited, big-hearted golden retriever, Cisco, are accustomed to being heroes wherever they go. But there's a new dog in town, and Raine and Cisco find themselves upstaged by a flashy K-9 addition to the sheriff's department. Nike and her handler, Jolene, are part of a new government-funded program. Though Raine admires Nike's talent almost as much as she resents Jolene's arrogance, she wonders why the Department of Homeland Security would send such an expensive gift to their sleepy Smoky Mountain community.

The name Stockton has always carried weight in the small Smokey Mountain community of Hanover County, North Carolina, and Judge Jonathon Stockton was one of the most respected men in the county… until a scandal was uncovered that destroyed his legacy and shook his daughter, Raine, to the very foundation of her being. Now her father’s misdeeds are once again threatening to upend Raine’s world, this time in the form of a relative she never knew she had.

The annual Hansonville, North Carolina Founder’s Day Festival it’s a perfect opportunity to raise money for the local animal shelter for Raine Stockton...but when a stranger wanders into her fund-raising booth, the peaceful country afternoon is turned into chaos.... When the unthinkable happens and an innocent life is placed in jeopardy, Raine is forced to make a terrible choice: one that will shake her to her very core and cause her to question not only herself, but everything she has ever believed.

Wilderness expert and dog trainer Raine Stockton agrees to help lead a survival skills training camp for her fiancés executive team. She is unaware that she and her tracking dog, Cisco, are walking into a hotbed of corporate intrigue involving espionage and stolen technology. Everyone at the retreat is a suspect, and no one can be trusted. And none of them is aware that, while their small drama plays out, a much bigger threat is stalking them.

For dog trainer and search-and-rescue volunteer Raine Stockton, the last few months have been marked by murder, danger, and betrayal. A luxury vacation to the Caribbean resort island of St. Bart's sounds like the perfect antidote for stress, particularly since it includes three of her favorite traveling companions: her boyfriend, Miles; his daughter, Melanie; and Raine's happy-go-lucky golden retriever, Cisco. But even in paradise, trouble finds them.

Raine Stockton knows dogs, not kids. Nonetheless, she is supremely confident in her ability to take care her fiancé’s 10-year-old daughter Melanie for a week while he is out of town. After all, how hard could it be? But things get complicated when Raine and her golden retriever Cisco rescue a dog who is locked in a hot car in a remote Smoky Mountain park and subsequently discover the owner of that car drowned in the creek only a few dozen yards away. Was it an accident, or was it murder?

Still recovering from the traumatic events of the past year, newlyweds Aggie Malone, police chief of Dogleg Island, and Deputy Sheriff Ryan Grady are looking forward to a casual day trip to Wild Horse Island, a nearby nature preserve, with their precocious - and uncannily perceptive - border collie, Flash. But when Flash discovers a body in a shallow grave on the island, and Aggie and Ryan learn of an attack on the park ranger, a tangled knot of conspiracy, murder and deception begins to unfold.

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.

A notorious serial killer, come home to die. A young woman found hanging from a tree. A missing billionaire. In the quiet coastal community of Dogleg Island, nothing is as it should be. And for Police Chief Aggie Malone and her extraordinarily perceptive canine assistant Flash, time is running out. When Acting Sheriff Ryan Grady apprehends a suspect attempting to rob his father’s bait shop, he has no idea that the man he has taken into custody will eventually confess to over one hundred murders…

A deadly explosion at an archaeological dig on Dogleg Island plunges police chief Aggie Malone and her canine partner Flash into a dark mystery from the past. On the other side of the bridge, Deputy Sheriff Ryan Grady, still reeling from the brutal assassination of his ex-partner, stumbles onto the site of a mass murder. In the midst of a state-wide manhunt for a desperate fugitive, Aggie deals with a new island administrator who threatens the future of police department, while a mysterious stranger with an agenda of his own stalks Grady.

Police Chief Aggie Malone and her canine assistant Flash are glad to be back to the ordinary business of small-town policing again, but their move into their new office is not entirely without its challenges. Old ghosts haunt the hallways of their new headquarters as they struggle to overcome the memories of its tragic past. While Aggie and her husband Grady excitedly await the birth of their first child, Grady is faced with an unexpected career change. Old friends are leaving, while others are coming home.

Paul and Derrick have hit their stride with the Hummingbird House Bed and Breakfast, a destination in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley. Guests come from all over the country to enjoy their Christmas weekend extravaganza. Of course there are a few glitches: 20 Christmas trees to be decorated in less than a week, an absentee massage therapist, and - perhaps most distressing of all - the unexpected presence of three school-age children, courtesy of their saucy young housekeeper Purline.

Though still adjusting to a new job, a new town, and a new family, Buck is acutely aware that the probationary period specified by his contract with the City of Mercy is almost up. His relationship with the mayor has never been ideal, and he knows he could be fired at any time. It therefore seems imprudent to refuse when the mayor asks him to do a favor for an old friend and political ally, Jarrod Whitley.

Dog trainer Raine Stockton has lived all her life in the quiet community of Hansonville, North Carolina. She is the daughter of a judge, the niece of a sheriff, and the ex-wife of a deputy. She does not lead the kind of life, generally speaking, in which people get buried in her backyard. But when Cisco, Raine's mischievous golden retriever, digs up human bones beneath the site of what will soon be her new training kennel, mayhem ensues.

Hollywood has come to the scenic Smoky Mountain community of Hanover County, and dog-trainer Raine Stockton can’t resist the opportunity when her dogs are offered a chance at a role in the film. Filmmaking turns out not to be as exciting as Raine had expected, and the only upside to the long, mostly boring days is the new friend she makes on the set, a stuntwoman by the name of Dallas McKenzie. But it doesn’t take Raine long to discover Dallas is a woman of secrets and lies, and trouble seems to follow her wherever she goes.

No one knows the mountains of North Carolina like Raine Stockton and her search and rescue dog, Cisco. When they are called in to search for an elderly man who has wandered away from home, it seems like a routine mission until Raine looks through her binoculars and sees something she wasn't supposed to see. A dead man is very much alive, a felon is walking around free, and Raine is the only person who can testify to the fact. The problem is that no one takes her claims seriously...except the person who wants her dead.

A gripping tale of suspense, mystery, and the unyielding pursuit of justice. The Saga of the Hunter ContinuesThe quiet little south Georgia town of Mercy is rocked by the brutal murder of one of its most unassuming citizens. Within hours of the discovery of the crime, the remains of another victim are found in the Blood River. And then another. Things like this simply don’t happen in Mercy. Until they do. Police Chief Buck Lawson is still finding his way around his new hometown and his new job, but he is no stranger to the savagery that appears to be stalking the residents of Mercy once again.

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