Showing results by narrator "Vanessa Daniels" in All Categories

When Jessica Chamberlain's friend Laura takes a wrong turn in a storm, three men trap her in a dark house. The cops blow it off as a misunderstanding, but Laura's husband, Nate, is furious and Jess can't let it go. Pursuing the men nearly gets her arrested, but a link to bones her dog, Luke, finds in a Norfolk backyard confirms her suspicions. The Doyle family is up to no good.

With veterinarian Sydney Jones being targeted, K-9 Officer Gavin Walker and his furry partner must stand between her and certain death in Lenora Worth’s Hidden Christmas Danger. And the clock is ticking in Silent Night Explosion by Katy Lee—but can Jodie Chen trust the newest K-9 officer, Victor Abrams, and his dog to find a bomb and keep her alive…despite Victor’s shadowed past? 

Christmas is fast approaching, and around the Inn, Suzy and Josie are looking forward to relaxing and enjoying the holiday season with their friends and family. But when a box of puppies is dropped off on their doorstep on a frigid night, the chain of events that unfolds leads them straight to a murder and an illegal puppy mill that's operating in the area.  

Millie is happy that her childhood friend, Uriah Schrock, has returned to Harvest after decades away. He was sweet on Millie in their school days, but she only had eyes for her future husband. Now, there's a new spark between them, so Millie is concerned when Uriah doesn't show up at the Harvest concert series - or for his job as the Village square's groundskeeper. Perhaps Millie has been involved in too many murder investigations, but she has a sinking feeling. And when she and her best friend, Lois, find Uriah with the police, it seems she's right.... 

In all the years of their marriage, Clara Trent's husband failed to mention his involvement in a murder - and now he's not only dead himself, but accused of committing it. When St. Elmo sheriff's investigator Aaron Malone re-opens the 40-year-old cold case, Ronan Trent's named - posthumously - as the killer of his previous lover, a vivacious blonde with a jealous husband. Clara's discovery of sensuous drawings of the woman, unlike any of her husband's other work, reveals a carefully concealed obsession.

Autumn on the Maine coast is stunning, which brings the tourists out in droves. My restaurant, the Little Dog Diner, is teeming with them, thanks to the locally famous fall festival. Usually that's a great thing...this year, however, the discovery of a dead body puts a damper on business awfully fast. Add to that the fact that the victim had a vendetta against almost every small business owner in town, and now I've landed right in the middle of the very long and tedious suspect list. 

I always thought weddings were supposed to be about joining lives...Not ending them. But when an unexpected guest shows up dead on the beach and the groom seems to be hiding more than just cold feet, I need to take my chef's hat off and don my deerstalker once again. Who was this mysterious stranger that came to town claiming to be a long lost relative, and why is she now dead? Who is the groom really, and are his intentions for my friend pure?

After two years of pandemic people are touchy. Violence is everywhere. Fear and anxiety run wild. Jess has a scary encounter with a man in the woods and then a blow-up that threatens her closest friendships. Her husband, FBI Agent Scott Cooper, investigates a school shooting he thinks might be the start of a bigger terrorism campaign.

Lily Trulock, owner of Trulock's Grocery & Marine Supply, leads a pretty quiet life until a stranger comes to town. The new guy's not what he appears, but then, some of St. Elmo's residents aren't either. Before she can say, "down the hatch", Lily's at the center of a vicious murder and a no-holds-barred bootlegging war-and a nasty storm's on the way. This is a vibrant, atmospheric, powerful novel-as filled with energy, mystery, and motion as a hurricane.

It's June in quiet Vista Beach, the place computer programmer and tole-painting enthusiast Aurora (Rory) Anderson calls home. Decorative painters are flocking to the newly built Akaw hotel to attend the Ocean Painting Society's inaugural convention. Rory plans on shopping the trade show floor, working in her mother's booth, and connecting with other decorative painting fans. She doesn't expect to witness her childhood friend collapse in class and die. When the police find no evidence of foul play, Rory embarks on her own investigation.

The Emergency Dessert Squad business is booming, with owner and baker Winnie Johnson working overtime to satisfy the emergency cravings of Silver Lake, Ohio. Her latest order, a plate of motivational desserts for an artists' retreat, is just what she needs to keep her mind off her own relationship woes. But Winnie's problems seem like trifles when she discovers the body of retreat owner Sally Dearfield mere inches away from five oh-so-eccentric and viable suspects. Now, this baking detective must uncover the inspiration behind Sally's murder.

Widowed matchmaker Millie Fisher is anything but lonely between her mischievous goats, her quilting circle—and her habit of solving the odd murder or two . . . Millie's decidedly not Amish best friend, Lois Henry, is outspoken, colorful, and so hopelessly romantic, she's had four husbands. Millie doesn't judge, and she also doesn't expect to run into Lois's most recent ex, gambler Gerome Moorhead, in small-town Harvest, Ohio. With him is the very young, new Mrs. Moorhead, aka "Honey Bee."

The rapid rise of the #MeToo movement has created a seismic shift in how we work with sexual misconduct that occurs in relationships between men and women, but the scope and impact of behaviors within that category is full of gray areas. #MeToo-Informed Therapy guides therapists in finding effective ways to help men who offend, empowering women to find their voices, exploring ways for men to be allies in the #MeToo movement, and helping couples whose relationships can be enhanced by understanding #MeToo issues.

As intricate as a fisherman's net, Riptide fairly writhes with sinister delights - family secrets, family feuds, lost family fortunes, betrayals, puzzles, sunken treasure...and murder, of course. With a bit of illicit romance and treachery thrown in for seasoning, this rife atmosphere swirls around New York artist Isabel Anders, who's summoned home to tiny St. Elmo, Florida to deal with an emergency: the aunt who raised her has been brutally - and mysteriously - injured. Isabel arrives to find the family mansion in ruins, her aunt living in a trailer, and more.

A killer heat wave settles over Seagull Lane...Summer's sizzling in Vista Beach, the home of computer programmer and tole-painting enthusiast Aurora (Rory) Anderson. The abnormally high temperatures are hard on everyone in the quiet Los Angeles county beach community, especially the city's homeless population. Residents are doing everything they can to stay cool, including leaving windows open to catch the faintest breeze. Not the best idea when a string of burglaries is plaguing nearby towns. Still, Rory doesn't expect to find her neighbor's body just a few doors down.

Computer programmer and tole painting enthusiast Aurora (Rory) Anderson doesn't envision finding either when she steps outside to investigate the frenzied yipping coming from her own backyard. After all, she lives in Vista Beach, a quiet California beach community where violent crime is rare and murder even rarer. Suspicion falls on Rory when the body buried in her flowerbed turns out to be someone she knows - her tole painting teacher, Hester Bouquet.

Baker Winnie Johnson does her best work when the heat is on. As owner of the Emergency Dessert Squad, she has a deft touch in the kitchen and a soft spot for lost causes. So when her business professor beau, Jay Morgan, expresses misgivings over having to fail one of his fourth-year students, Winnie cooks up a sweet solution. She'll offer an extra credit opportunity in exchange for a little help with her growing business. But when her protégé's first dessert delivery poisons a student journalist, the publicity threatens to burn Winnie's business to a crisp.

With her rent rising faster than her pie crust, bakery owner Winnie Johnson had hoped to be rescued by an inheritance from her wealthy friend and neighbor Gertrude Redenbacher. Instead all she inherits is the widow's hostile hissing tabby, Lovey, and a vintage ambulance, restored by Gertrude's late husband. As her dream crumbles, Winnie makes her final delivery - a peach pie to an elderly widower. But she finds Bart Wagner lying on his kitchen floor, smothered by a pillow.

The women of Sweethaven are reunited for a small-town Christmas! It's holiday time in Sweethaven, but things don't go quite as planned for these scrapbookers. Lila is thrown for a loop when a woman claiming to be her sister arrives in town. As she begins digging into the woman's claims, Lila uncovers things about her family she may never be able to accept or forgive.

As shooting concludes on the season finale of the TV mystery Mr. & Mrs. Winslow, interior decorator and set designer Meg Barrett can feel the hostility in the air. The show's new director had already alienated the entire cast and crew, and now Meg's boyfriend, Patrick, was ready to throttle him for taking liberties with the script. Meg thought the director was a very lucky man to have gotten out of there in one piece—until a few nights later when she stumbles over his dead body.