Showing results by narrator "Melinda Cumming" in All Categories

Summertime 1929. Hattie Mae Sizemore lives with her family in a Kentucky holler. Her father is a coal miner and a moonshiner. Determined to shield his oldest from the influence of outsiders, he declares Hattie won’t return to school. She is distraught, not even having a single book of her own.

From a working-class family, Scotsman Andrew Cunningham stewards for wealthy travelers aboard elegant cruise ships of the early 20th century, but he resents those who flaunt their inherited wealth. New Yorkers Florence and Bradley Cumings, first-class passengers traveling aboard Titanic, are the exception, and the three discover an ancestral connection.

What follows a wedding? A honeymoon, of course. The beginning of a happily-ever-after future in which Ivy and Mac will travel the country in their motorhome searching for the perfect place to settle down and live. No more dead bodies. No more murders. Instead, here they are on a detour to an old dinosaur park, and Ivy is up to her possum-gray hair in ghost goats, deteriorating dinosaurs, and… what else? A dead body, of course.

Jane Roland and her painter friends are enrolled in a watercolor retreat at the picturesque Gardens and Horses Resort. They're looking forward to a week of sun-drenched landscapes, sleek racehorses, art instruction, and — best of all — laughter and conversation. Out for their first stroll, the women discover a dead thoroughbred in the pretty reflecting pool. Next evening, they find the handsome young stable man in the horse watering trough. Surely, there's a link between them?

Lara McAllister was adored by everyone in the small town of Grants Pass until one rainy day last year when she vanished without a trace. Some believe she simply ran away. Others believe something sinister happened. In a close-knit community where everyone knows everyone's business, is it possible that nobody saw anything?

Carlie is not merely traveling. A child trauma survivor as a teen, she steals ten thousand dollars and runs away to Asia. Through Hong Kong, The Philippines, Bali, and Thailand, the Lonely Planet path of hookups, heat, alcohol, and drugs takes on a terrifying reality for the young survivor. Trading sex for protection, Carlie retreats to alcohol and self-starvation. Finally, on the tiny island of oh Phangan, Thailand—home to the infamous Full Moon party—Carlie falls in with an international crew of Tai chi-practicing backpackers.

In the 25th century, the recently widowed Prince Jack Windsor escapes his grief after the death of his wife and child by fleeing to Mars to solve the mystery of the dormant HMS Ares. When Harlow Hanson, the Robin Hood of the Martian colony, sneaks aboard to plunder the ship in order to save her people, the Ares springs to life and begins communicating with her. Prince Jack realizes the woman stealing from him is the key he's been searching for.

Perfectly Hugo is a gently provocative and emotionally layered novel that explores the boundaries of love, memory, and identity in an age of advancing technology. Enid and Hugo built a life together—full of quiet joys, deep conversations, and unshakable devotion. But when faced with the inevitable, they make a decision few would dare: to sign with Assembled Souls, a cutting-edge company that offers the ultimate promise—rebirth through AI. If one of them dies, the other can bring them back.

A spirited ex-reporter questions her deepest beliefs and desires while rushing to learn who killed a woman in the long-abandoned cabin of a famous writer—a riverfront gem she and a fellow horsewoman hoped to turn into a guest ranch. The timing couldn’t be worse: She’s preparing for a major horse show and trying to save her tack store, The Best Little Horsehouse in Oregon. But when she receives a death threat and, with her Lakota police partner, finds shocking evidence related to Indian adoptions, she shifts into overdrive. Unless she IDs the killer, her dreams—and life—will go up in flames.

Martha Moses Kane—a former rodeo queen and a shirttail relative of Annie Oakley—sees being an 80-year-old widow as no obstacle, but a banquet. By staying fit, loving pets, and baking pies for a cafe and her daughter’s Bed, Barn & Breakfast, she blows a raspberry at old age. But she’s bored. She wants more. Color. Excitement. Maybe a man. When her daughter dragoons her into headlining a Wild West show like her famous 19th-century sharpshooter cousin, she reluctantly agrees. But practicing is a blast.

Danger and desire swirl about modern cowgirl-sleuth Pepper Kane as she uses her ex-reporter skills to solve mysteries she suspects are related.

The Lowell Brothers have seen a lot of marrying since coming to Fontaine, Washington. Now Carl’s three older brothers all have wives, but romance is a risky business, and Carl is in no hurry to follow in their footsteps! He’s busy building up the general store in Fontaine, and he’s doing quite well in his vocation. But when Harriet Finch, an orphaned girl who was exploited by her own relatives and made to work as a maid in their home, shows up late at night with a broken wrist and a broken spirit, Carl can’t turn her away.

Dennis didn’t figure on marrying, but he finds himself falling in love with Isabelle du Pres, the widowed daughter of his boss. Not able to make his affections known, he yearns for an opportunity to prove his love. When unexplained, troubling things start happening in the rail yard, it seems that Martin Crawler, Isabelle’s father, has an enemy.

Mayor Townsend has plans for Ridge, the makings of a political dynasty. It’s a dream opportunity that includes marriage to the most beautiful and powerful lady in Spruce. Ridge is dazzled by the beauty and elegance of the mayor’s daughter, Miss Robin, but his brothers are offended by the way she addresses people who are not of her status.

Jack Pennington has a heart as big as Oregon’s Rogue Valley, where he’s delivered agricultural equipment and taken in foster children for years. Stalled in his marriage, dreading retirement, and making his final runs over the pass to Klamath Basin, he sees an old, abandoned horse that won’t make it through the coming blizzard.

When Thorne Lowell sees that the vacant blacksmith’s shop in Fontaine is now open, he realizes that it’s not ranching that has captured his interest. He and the smithy owner form a partnership, and Thorne’s ambitions begin to come true. Penny Abercrombie’s family has fallen on hard times, and when she comes seeking employment, the partners hire her to do their bookkeeping. For Thorne, the presence of Penny in his life makes him realize that even the dream-come-true of working as a blacksmith isn’t enough if it doesn’t include the woman he loves.

The Lowell Brothers are used to hard luck and hard times. But when they decide to leave their rough-and-tumble neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio, they hope their fortunes will change in Spruce, Washington, where they go to mine for gold. But they are not the only gold-diggers. Victor Lowell, the eldest brother, loses his heart to a conniving beauty whose father has cheated them out of the worth of the gold they’ve mined....

Early Alaskan military and bush pilots navigated some of the highest and most rugged terrain on earth, taking off and landing on glaciers, mudflats, and active volcanoes. Although they were consistently portrayed by industry leaders and lawmakers alike as cowboys—and their planes compared to settlers’ covered wagons—the reality was that aviation catapulted Alaska onto a modern, global stage; the federal government subsidized aviation’s growth in the territory as part of the Cold War defense against the Soviet Union.

An unexpected—and unrecognized—visitor attends veteran writer Esmé’s reading and brings events of 40 years past squarely into her present. Struggling with writer’s block and uncertain about a future with her romantic partner, Esmé undertakes a journey through her own history. Esmé revisits a particular year she had written off as the worst of her life as well as her whirlwind early marriage. In the process, Esmé ultimately overcomes the wounded hesitancy that has characterized her life and rediscovers her former courage and openness to risk.

Enoch Miller was Kate Bieler’s first love, but when it was time for her to go on rumspringa, he cut all communication with her. Furious, Kate married another Mann. Now she is a widow, her parents are dead, and she has an orphaned child to raise. Out of options, she turns to Gott for help. One night while praying, she realizes she must marry, and quickly. Unfortunately, the only single Mann in her Amish community is Enoch Miller, who hasn’t spoken to her in years. Trusting in His guidance, she summons her courage and asks Enoch to marry her. Will Enoch agree to marry her?