Showing results by narrator "C. J. Critt" in All Categories

Christmas in Twilight, Texas, is all merriment and mistletoe. The Cookie Club is whipping up their most festive sweets, the townspeople are scrambling to get their holiday shopping done, and Joe - a hometown guy with a restless heart - is dreaming about the woman he wants to kiss most.

Just uttering the word wedding makes Jodi Carlyle break out into a cold sweat. So a year after she was dumped at the altar, and two days after turning the big 3-0, she decides to break some rules - by dressing to the nines, hiring a limo, and crashing a swanky wedding....

Ex-pitcher Rowdy Blanton never saw a woman he couldn't conquer or a team he couldn't beat. And now that he's off the field he's ready to tell all about when he played the field. So he chooses Breeanne Carlyle to do the job - she's got the requirements, but more important, there's something about her that makes him want to be a better man.

It's Christmas in Twilight, Texas. The Cookie Club is baking, the town is decorated, and Delta Force Operator "Hutch" Hutchinson has finally, reluctantly, returned home - only to get pepper sprayed by the delicious- looking stranger who's taken over his house. She says her name is Jane, and she immediately sets down ground rules. Top priority: no touching. For Hutch that isn't easy - he was wounded in action, but one part is still working very well.

Melody Spencer had long-ago wiped the dust of Cupid, Texas, off her cute shoes…and done her best to forget the chiseled jaw and strong arms of cowboy Luke Spencer. Their families might be part of a long-time feud, but he was her very first love, even if it turned out they never wanted the same things. But now Luke's come striding back into her life, tempting her with the memories of long, lazy evenings and hot, passionate kisses.

Sexy cowboy-scholar Jericho Chance always knows exactly what he wants and how to get it. And after sauntering back home to Cupid, he's shocked to discover that he wants Zoe McCleary. After years from home, he takes one new look at his bubbly best friend, with her lightning smarts and luscious body, and it hits him like a bolt: She's his somebody to love and he's not leaving town again without her.

Publishers Weekly declares that the "leaves of autumn are in full splendor, and so is Maron's talent in her 10th Deborah Knott adventure". Judge Knott is finally ready to marry her long-time friend Deputy Sheriff Dwight Bryant and settle down...or is she? She jumps at a chance to fill in for a judge in the high country of North Carolina. But ugly murder haunts the beauty of the Smoky Mountains.

It's Christmastime in Jubilee, Texas, but Lissette Moncrief is having a hard time celebrating.... Especially after she accidentally smashes her car into Rafferty Jones's pickup truck. Yes, he's a whole lot of handsome - from the tips of his boots to the top of his Stetson. But he's no Christmas present. Lissy's not about to let herself get whisked away by his charming ways and words...only to watch him drive away in the end. But what Lissy doesn't know is Rafferty's in town just to meet her - and to give her a share in a windfall that doesn't rightly belong to him.

Killer Market takes the quintessential steel magnolia to the hub of North Carolina's massive furniture industry. Deborah soon gets caught up in the whirl of the International Home Furnishings Market and finds herself a suspect in a high-power murder case. The feisty judge must use her courtroom experience and intuitive skills to strip through layers of deception if she is to clear her own name. Maron draws from her own rural southern roots to craft her trademark authentic settings and characters.

In Up Jumps the Devil, fast-moving progress is threatening to forever destroy the leisurely, heart-warming pace of Colleton County, North Carolina. District Court Judge Deborah Knott sees trouble brewing when plans for a new interstate highway start pushing up property values. Deborah finds herself calming the combatants with down-home wit, but when the squabbles escalate to murder, Deborah is forced to search for a killer uncomfortably close to home.

Populated with colorful, richly drawn characters, Margaret Maron's latest novel captures the flavor of life in rural North Carolina. Arriving in Carteret County, Judge Deborah Knott finds herself in the thick of battles between sport and commercial fishermen and between old and new money. She discovers the body of Andy Bynum, a retired waterman respected by all. With no obvious suspects in the murder, Deborah must find the killer in a place where people shoot at loons, sea turtles, and their neighbors.

When Carlotta Carlyle agrees to help a mysterious woman locate her missing immigration card, she doesn't anticipate any complications. But then her client disappears, and the immigration card in question turns up on the dead body of another woman. Suddenly, Carlotta is plunged into the desperate world of illegal aliens, the cold-hearted immigration agents who hunt them down, and the deadly “coyotes” who bring the innocents across the border.

When a local farmer - known for his severe treatment of migrant workers - turns up savagely murdered, Judge Deborah and her new Deputy Sheriff husband soon wade into a quagmire of exploitation. But as murders mushroom, the two uncover secrets that threaten both their community and their new life together.

At 44, Eve Mozell has a wonderful husband and a creative job. She also has a temperamental teenage son, two headstrong sisters, and a demented old father. As she deals with her family's frequent crises, her days overflow with lengthy phone calls. She is never far from a dial tone. But as her father begins to die, Eve is tempted to disconnect and to sort out her feelings for this difficult man.

It is a moment in the near future when the threat of terror has cultivated rage, apathy, and panic across the country. For Phil, a dermatologist at the UCLA hospital, it is a time of unease, in contrast to the days when he coasted through life on his good looks and middling charm. In addition to having to deal with his mother, Edith, who's emerging after years of grieving over her late husband, Phil has been recruited for a secret terror-response team. The assignment just may provide an ordinary man a chance at heroism.

There's a legend in Twilight, Texas. It says that if on Christmas you sleep with kismet cookies under your pillow and dream of your one true love, he will be your destiny. Carrie, Raylene, Christine, and Flynn are all members of the Christmas Cookie Club. Each has a story to tell, and each discovers the miracles of the season and the power of love.

Maggody Police Chief Arly Hanks is all shook up when she hears that her mother collapsed during a pilgrimage to Graceland and is in a Memphis hospital. Another member of the tour is pushed to her death from a hotel balcony. A prominent Maggody citizen stands accused of the murder. Arly's suspicious mind tells her to snap into action--it's now or never--before the touring residents of Maggody are returned to sender ... in a hearse.

The Prince of Air was raised to fear love and distrust women. This all changes the moment he sees Princess Rosalie, and he kidnaps her and hides her away, much to the dismay of her father. When the Invisible Prince comes to visit Rosalie’s father, it seems he might be able to rescue Rosalie after all, thanks to a magical gift from a fairy that granted him invisibility.

Football star Pierce Hollister has fame, fortune, and beautiful women who'll do anything for him. But when it all comes crashing down, Pierce finds himself back home, running the ranch in Cupid, Texas. But one thing is right: Lace Bettingfield. The former plain-Jane has turned into a luscious knockout - trouble is, she won't even give him the time of day. But Lace is about to see that things aren't always as they seem... especially when it comes to love.

Margaret Maron’s best-selling Deborah Knott mystery series won instant acclaim upon its debut in 1993. In this 16th entry in the series, the judge is faced with a horrifying holiday murder case. After a beautiful young cheerleader is found dead in a car wreck, Judge Knott’s husband Deputy Dwight Bryant discovers evidence that the death was anything but an accident.Now Knott and Bryant are on a desperate search for a killer before he or she trikes again.