Showing results by narrator "Aven Shore" in All Categories

Cults prey on the very attributes that make us human: our desire to belong; to find a deeper meaning in life; to live everyday with divine purpose. Their existence creates a sense that any one of us, at any time, could step off the cliff’s edge and fall into that daunting abyss of manipulation and unhinged dedication to a misplaced cause. Perhaps it’s this mindset that keeps us so utterly obsessed and desperate to learn more, or it’s that the stories are so bizarre and unsettling that we are simply in awe of the mechanics that make these infamous groups tick. 

For 20 years Daniel Paquette's murder in New Hampshire went unsolved. It remained a secret between two high school friends until Eric Windhurst's arrest in 2005. What was revealed was a crime born of adolescent passion between Eric and Daniel's stepdaughter, Melanie - redefining the meaning of loyalty, justice, and revenge. 

Weaver and fiber artist Edith “Pen” Meyer knew her friend Sandy Merritt’s relationship with a married man was wrong. She had even urged Sandy to take out a restraining order against Kenneth Carpenter. Which was why her call to Sandy on February 23, 2005, seemed to come from out of the blue. During it, she told Sandy to drop the restraining order and get back together with Ken. Pen was never seen again. One man stood to gain from Pen’s disappearance: Ken Carpenter. But evidence was bleak: no blood, no DNA, no body. Until detectives found notes hidden....

Set in Newman’s home state of Alaska, Nobody Gets Out Alive is an exhilarating collection about women struggling to survive not just grizzly bears and charging moose, but the raw legacy of their marriages and families. Alongside stories set in today’s Last Frontier—rife with suburban sprawl, global warming, and opioid addiction—Newman delves into remote wilderness of the 1970s and 80s, bringing to life young girls and single moms in search of a wilder, freer, more adventurous America.

Cassie Simmons, a museum curator, is enthusiastic about solving mysteries from the past, and she has a personal interest in the history of the rumrunners who ferried illegal booze across the Detroit River during Prohibition. So when a cache of whisky labeled Bailey Brothers’ Best is unearthed during a local home renovation, Cassie hopes to find the answers she’s been searching for about the legendary family of bootleggers....

In One Size Fits None, Anderson follows diverse farmers across the United States: A South Dakota bison rancher who provides an alternative to the industrial feedlot; an organic vegetable farmer in Florida who harvests microgreens; a New Mexico super-small farmer who revitalizes communities; and a North Dakota midsize farmer who combines livestock and grain farming to convert expensive farmland back to native prairie. The use of these nontraditional agricultural techniques show how varied operations can give back to the earth rather than degrade it.

TC is a mysterious adventurer who suddenly awakes in a strange, new world. He meets a female elf in the forest who, despite being beautiful, attacks him and nearly takes his life. The encounter ends well and he manages to find his way out of the forest and reach the nearest city. Luck is on TC’s side at first, and a friendly innkeeper gives him advice on what to do next. It turns out, in order to survive in this world, he needs to have a female companion, otherwise TC won’t be able to get any jobs at the Guild.

Told in three distinct, brilliantly interlocking narratives, Leigh Gallagher’s Who You Might Be is a fiercely original debut that takes listeners from 1990s Southern California to a UFOlogist holdout in the Nevada desert, the graffiti underworld of Detroit, and the self-important Brooklyn art scene to present an unflinching examination of trauma.

Attorney Seth Bader and his wife, Vicki, moved to New Hampshire in 1992. Three tumultuous years later, their marriage ended and left Vicki a broken woman, driven to the edge as Seth seduced their teenage son, Joey, into a violent plot to kill her in cold blood. What followed was one of the most bizarre and harrowing crime stories in New Hampshire history. 

Paisley Sutton hates to see an old barn falling down, so when she has a chance to take in a crew of friends to salvage timbers, she goes in with gusto. But when they find the bones from a decades-old murder, Paisley begins to wonder if maybe some things should just be let go to ruins. Maybe some secrets need to stay buried. If Paisley decides to salvage more than just wood and reveal the murderer, will she be the next body buried in a barn?

Gertrude Stein held a unique position at the center of the modernist movement. She was a novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector. Born in America, she moved with her family to Paris where she ran a Paris salon frequented by many famous historical figures, such as Ernest Hemingway, Pablo Picasso, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Henri Matisse, Ezra Pound, Sherwood Anderson, and Sinclair Lewis.

Based on true events, this unforgettable novel tells the story of the Bloody Benders, a family of grifters and thieves running an isolated feed store on the Kansas plains, boarding travelers along the Great Osage Trail. Beautiful Kate Bender was mysterious and well-versed in the dark arts; Ma and Pa were quiet and foreboding, speaking in guttural tones; and young John Bender was thought to be insane. On land soaked with the blood of conflict, the Benders made their home.

Her beloved city in dire straits after a bloody civil war, the spell-casting Lady Nyctasia is forced to seek alliance with a neighboring state. But the rumored marriage-treaty has loyal swordswoman Corson whetting her blade…matrimony being no proof against murder. Between NYC and the cloaked assassins stands only a tormented nobleman—whose enigmatic past bears close examination indeed.

Ghosts just don’t show up for anybody. So when I meet the spirit of a former slave named Moses, I know he needs my help. But I didn’t expect to be taking on half of my town, or the powerful men who seem to run everything and have done so for years. Secrets are being uncovered, and some people would do anything to keep them buried, no matter who gets hurt. I’ll need the help of history and friends I can trust if I want to save Moses’ graveyard and protect his legacy. If only everyone believed it was one worth protecting….

A multi-cast performance of the first book in Agatha Christie's best-selling Tommy and Tuppence mystery series introducing this charming and oh-so-British detective duo as they are drawn into a dangerous political plot. Set in 1920s London, Tommy and Tuppence are young, daring, and in serious need of money. After impulsively forming the Young Adventurers Ltd, they suddenly find themselves embroiled in a complex plot with the political future of England at stake! 

When little Henrietta decides I'm trustworthy and introduces me to her teacher, Charlotte, I find myself wrapped up in the story of their murders. Before long, my friends and I are saving a building, solving a murder, and telling the stories that a lot of people in our small town would rather be left untold. Our best hope for ourselves and for Henrietta and Charlotte is that the truth really will set us free.

 I didn't expect to meet a grieving ghost or her dead mother. But then, I didn't expect to find out my town had been the site of a lynching, a lynching that had left my friend Sarah motherless and had made her a victim of murder as well.

Five years ago, Jo Harper did a bad thing. Dumped, injured, and in crippling debt, Jo did what any desperate woman with a PhD in psychology and above-average computer skills would: Become an elite, undetectable online romance scammer. Now Jo and her team of four young women bring in enough cash to keep them securely afloat. Their targets? Married cheaters.

In the bustling industrial cities of Victorian America, soot clouds darken the skies, plaguing citizens with black lung. Rich or poor, young or old, no matter their station, no one is able to escape the life-threatening disease, and the West family is no exception.

 Cerah Passel is a farm girl, a shepherd, but a seemingly accidental animal attack sets in motion an adventure that spans a planet. Along with her brother Beru, Slurr a boy who grew up with her family but who she can barely tolerate, and Kern, the healer of indeterminant act, they must discover the source of the great evil that is befalling the planet of Quadar.