Showing results by narrator "Robin McAlpine" in All Categories

Never make a major life decision in the wake of emotional turmoil. Cassie Romano learned this the hard way, leaving sunny San Diego for a teaching position at a private school in the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York after a painful break-up left her heart-broken and in need of a change. It all seemed so perfect in June when she came to interview. But now it’s December, and she’s stranded on top of a mountain surrounded by snow, ice, and acres of wilderness, lonelier than ever and bored out of her mind.

What leads to political turbulence and social breakdown? How do elites maintain their dominant position? And why do ruling classes sometimes suddenly lose their grip on power? For decades, complexity scientist Peter Turchin has been studying world history like no one else. Assembling vast databases mined from 10,000 years of human activity, and then developing new models, he has transformed the way we learn from the past. End Times is the result: a ground-breaking account of how society works.

This boxed set includes the first three books in the Martina Monroe crime thriller series: What She Left (Book 1), If She Ran (Book 2), All She Wanted (Book 3).

Victoria’s life isn’t as perfect as it seems. But with two homicide detectives on her doorstep, it's about to get a lot worse. Still reeling from the shocking discovery that her husband is having an affair, Victoria struggles to process the mind-blowing news that Nick’s lover is dead—murdered in cold blood on the very same evening she uncovered the truth. And now two detectives are on her doorstep, waiting to question both of them. Is she a suspect?

Whiskey Ryder spends most of his time on the back of a horse on a mountain. Whether it’s on a search and rescue mission or on the Ryde Hard Ranch working the land with his brothers. He’s all about being a cowboy…and a single father of a preteen who woke up one morning hating him.

If you want to learn about honey bees, set up your own apiary, and manage beekeeping as a hobby, then check out HowExpert Guide to Honey Bees & Beekeeping.

In the thick of the current cold case investigation, PI Martina Monroe receives a hand-written letter from a desperate mother pleading for Martina and Hirsch to reopen the cold case of the woman’s missing daughter and five-year-old grandson. Feeling a deep connection to the request, Martina knows that Hirsch and she have found their next case.

Ten years earlier, two teenage girls were found murdered by what appeared to be a satanic sacrifice. The case had dominated the news headlines for months before the original investigators failed to arrest the perpetrators of the crime—despite multiple suspects. Without solid evidence to prosecute, and even with the near-heroic efforts of the original detectives, the homicide investigation turned cold. For years, the families of the two victims fought to keep the young women’s memory alive and to get the attention of law enforcement to not give up on finding those responsible.

When a woman is discovered beaten and bloodied in a park, with no ID, no memory, and no past she can recall, Martina and her team at Drakos Monroe Security & Investigations are called in to uncover the truth. But from the start, this case defies all logic. The woman, known only as "Jane Doe," has no fingerprints or DNA matches. No social media. No records. It’s as if she never existed. Every lead Martina follows only deepens the mystery, raising questions that pull her further into an unsettling puzzle.

Using granular data and authoritative Chinese sources, Oriana Skylar Mastro demonstrates that China was able to climb to great power status through a careful mix of strategic emulation, exploitation, and entrepreneurship on the international stage. This “upstart approach”—determined by where and how China chose to compete—allowed China to rise economically, politically, and militarily, without triggering a catastrophic international backlash that would stem its rise.

PI Martina Monroe has found her groove working cold cases alongside Detective Hirsch at the CoCo County Sheriff’s Department. With a growing team of cold case detectives, Martina and Hirsch are on the heels of bringing justice for Julie DeSoto—a woman Martina failed to protect one year earlier. But when Martina receives a haunting request from her past, it nearly tears her in two.

Selena Bailey, a sophomore at the local university studying criminal justice, returns from winter break to jump into her first official case as a private investigator with her stepmother's security firm.

After escaping a violent past, Selena Bailey starts her first semester of college determined to put it all behind her - until her roommate is attacked at the Delta Kappa Alpha house. After reporting the attack, police refuse to prosecute due to lack of evidence, claiming another case of 'he said, she said.'

Martina and Detective Hirsch, still reeling from their last high-profile case, agree to reopen the missing person case of Sadie Jarreau, a friend of one member of the Cold Case Squad. At first glance, Sadie’s disappearance from the local marina looks like the typical unhappy marriage resulting in a deadly end. But between the marina’s surveillance cameras malfunctioning that day, her husband’s air-tight alibi, and no one with a motive to harm Sadie, Martina and Hirsch are forced to consider a less common scenario - a stranger abduction.

The Fullness of the Ground distills Dr. Judith Blackstone’s decades of teaching into the essentials of the nondual spiritual path. Embodied nondual realization can have a profound effect on your senses, your experience of your own authentic existence, and your relationships and ability to love.

Jacklyn Stone's husband dies in front of her on their anniversary. Bereft and alone, her children betray her, lock her in a psych ward, cut her off from her friends, and rapidly dismantle her life. Blood is the tie that binds, but can she cut the bonds and regain her freedom?

Twenty years earlier, a set of female eighteen-year-old twins went missing in the Bay Area. There were no news reports or national coverage. The original investigators had barely touched the case, and like so many other cases of missing teens, were quickly labeled runaways, and the file sat on the shelf. Baffled by the lack of attention for the sisters, Martina insists it will be Hirsch and the Cold Case Squad’s next case.

Five years on from the adrenaline-fueled days of the Cold Case Squad, PI Martina Monroe is now a managing partner at the renowned, Drakos Monroe Security & Investigations. She spends her days running the firm—a safe desk job—allowing her to spend more time with her sixteen-year-old daughter and less time in the line of fire. But her quiet life shatters when a meeting with the desperate parents of Katie Kimble, a young woman missing for two years, pulls her back into the fray.

With haunted eyes, a survivor steps into the offices of Drakos Monroe Security & Investigations, asking for Martina’s help. Thirty-five years earlier, Nancy made a harrowing escape from the clutches of a ruthless sex-trafficking syndicate in San Francisco, forced to leave her best friend Victoria behind. Clean and with a family of her own, Nancy hires Martina to find Victoria in a search for closure, justice, and the friend she lost so many years ago.

Detective Leslie, once a key figure in the Cold Case Squad, is convinced she’s closed the case on Darren, Martina’s brother, for a cold-blooded murder. But Martina, shaken by her brother’s guilty plea and an anonymous tip claiming his innocence, starts questioning the conviction. As Martina delves into the details, she encounters a series of unsettling discrepancies. The investigation’s weak foundation, coupled with the lack of physical evidence and a dubious motive, ignites Martina’s suspicions.