Showing results by narrator "Laural Merlington" in All Categories

Absolute Madness tells the disturbing true story of Joseph Christopher, a white serial killer who targeted black males and struck fear into the residents of Buffalo and New York City in the 1980s. Dubbed both the .22-Caliber Killer and the Midtown Slasher, Christopher allegedly claimed eighteen victims during a savage four-month spree across the state.

Someone is watching Kaycee Raye. But who will believe her? In Kaycee's newspaper column she's known for writing of her paranoia and fears. Is the new danger real - or is she going crazy? In this story of terror, twists, and desperate faith, the startling questions pile high. But Kaycee's descent to answers proves even more frightening.

Abandoned by the father of her child, May Taylor supports herself by her work as a gifter wedding planner with her best friend and great-aunt, carrying on the timeless traditions established by her grandmother and mother. She is a devoted mother to her daughter, Kylie - a very special child. For Kylie sees and hears things no one else can. Her unique visions will lead May to a love she never expected and a life she never imagined.

In the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, Nebraska schoolteacher Audrey Stone wants to support the war effort in any way she can. When her community starts a canteen at the train station, Audrey spends nearly every spare moment there, offering food and kindness to the soldiers passing through. She never expected to fall for a local boy...or face the challenges of budding love in the face of war.

Starting in spring 2006, journalist Laurie Abraham sat in with five troubled couples as they underwent the searing process of group marriage therapy. Published as "Can This Marriage Be Saved?" the resulting article generated intense reader response. While space limitations allowed Abraham to focus only on one couple in her article, this book, which grew out of it and the reaction it inspired, tells the moving, fascinating story of all five.

It’s been a year and a half since the women of the Sisterhood received their presidential pardons, but the freedom they craved has come at a high price. The lucrative positions handed out to them by the Global Securities company have turned out to be golden handcuffs - scattering them around the world, cutting off communication, and leaving them in miserable isolation. But a homecoming at the old Virginia farmhouse is marred by the hijacking of Nikki and Kathryn’s private jet.....

A former Seattle policewoman, Ann Rule has extensive experience of violent crime and brings this knowledge to bear in this collection of fascinating case studies. You Belong to Me focuses on one of Florida's most shocking criminals - Tim Harris, the poster-perfect 'All-American' State Trooper who hid bizarre and fatal fantasies behind his badge of authority. Bearing the stamp of classic Ann Rule that makes her books so extraordinary, this and other cases from her personal files prove once again her undisputed status as the “Queen of True Crime".

From trust to terror... from security to survival...The author of The Stranger Beside Me brings her brilliantly informed understanding of the sociopath to this riveting true crime collection. Only Ann Rule, who unknowingly worked alongside the smart and charming Ted Bundy - America's most notorious serial killer - could lend her razor-sharp insight into these cases of the spouse, lover, family member, or helpful stranger who is totally trusted but whose lethally violent nature, though masterfully disguised, can and will kill.

With spring’s arrival in Goosebush, Lilly and the Beautification Committee turn their eyes to new projects. A cleanup of the historic Goosebush Cemetery may be in order after Lilly and Delia find the plots there sorely neglected and inexplicably rearranged. Lilly soon discovers that Whitney Dunne-Bradford snapped up custodianship of the graveyard once she inherited Bradford Funeral Homes. But before Lilly can get to the bottom of the tombstone tampering, she stumbles upon Whitney’s body at the Jayne family mausoleum.

An American aristocrat - a descendant of founding father John Jay - Susan Mary Alsop (1918–2004) with husband, Joe Alsop, brought together the movers and shakers of not just the United States, but the world. Henry Kissinger remarked that more agreements were concluded in her living room than in the White House. Born in Rome, brought up in Argentina and the United States, Susan Mary arrived in Paris in 1945 to join her first husband, Bill Patten. There she witnessed "history on the boil" at dinners with Winston Churchill, Duff Cooper (the British ambassador and the love of her life), FDR, Greta Garbo, and many others.

Dasher is an adventurous young reindeer with a wish in her heart. She spends her days with her family under the hot sun in a traveling circus, but she longs for a different life - one where there is snow beneath her hooves and the North Star above her head. One day, when the opportunity arises, Dasher seizes her destiny and takes off in pursuit of the life she wants to live. It’s not long before she meets a nice man in a red suit with a horse-drawn sleigh - a man named Santa. And soon, with the help of a powerful Christmas wish, nothing will be the same.

Thanks to her superstitious mother, Esther knows some tricks for avoiding bad luck: toss salt over your left shoulder, never button your shirt crooked, and avoid black cats. But even luck can't keep her family safe from the Great Depression. When Pa loses his job, Esther's family leaves their comfy Chicago life behind for a farm in Wisconsin. Living on a farm comes with lots of hard work, but that means there are plenty of opportunities for Esther to show her mother how helpful she can be.

She is a fragile innocent haunted by memories of her past and by dreams of the man who once shared her secrets...the only man she can ever truly love. Now, in the icy chill of a desert storm, they must find the way back to love together - to rekindle the fire whose healing warmth has drawn them home.

When Sol and Connie Blink move to Grand Creek, one of the first people to welcome them is an odd older woman, Fay Holaderry, and her friendly dog, Swift, who carries a very strange bone in his mouth. Sol knows a lot more than the average 11-year-old, so when he identifies the bone as a human femur, he and Connie begin to wonder if their new neighbor is up to no good.

On the eve of her retirement, Georgia attorney Mikala Aulani is as vivacious and vibrant as ever, eagerly anticipating a happy future with her partner, Ben. But if Kala has learned anything in 35 years of practicing law, it’s that the truth can always surprise you. And when Adam Star turns up at her office, confessing to the long-ago murder of his wife, Kala must return to a notorious case that has never stopped haunting her. Ten years have passed since young nurse Sophie Lee was accused of murdering her wealthy patient.

When Judith's son Alexander announces that he; his wife, Marla; their daughter, Olivia (age five); and their two sons, Isaac (age two) and Toby (four months); will be staying with her and her husband for 90 days while their house was being renovated, Judy doesn't know quite how to respond.

A parent becomes a new person the day the first grandchild is born. Formerly serious adults become grandparents who dote on their grandchildren. This new audiobook includes the best stories on being a grandparent from past Chicken soup books, representing a new listening experience for even the most devoted Chicken Soup fan. Everyone can understand the special ties between grandparents and grandchildren - the unlimited love, the mutual admiration and unqualified acceptance.

Civility and society come head to head in Henry James’ seminal work. The heroine of this powerful novel is the spirited young American Isabel Archer. Blessed by nature and fortune, she journeys to Europe to seek her future, but what she finds may prove to be her undoing. She is courted by three men: an English aristocrat, an American gentleman, and a sensitive expatriate. Her invalid cousin becomes her benefactor and adviser.

Books on Whittaker Chambers and Alger Hiss abound, as countless scholars have labored to uncover the facts behind Chambers's shocking accusation before the House Committee on Un-American Activities in the summer of 1948---that Alger Hiss, a former rising star in the State Department, had been a Communist and engaged in espionage.

Follow a crawling baby around and you’ll see that right from the beginning, nothing excites us more than something new and different. Our unique human brains are biologically primed to engage with and even generate novelty, from our ancestors’ first bow and arrow to the latest tablet computer. This “neophilia” has enabled us to thrive in a world of cataclysmic change, but now, we confront an unprecedented deluge of new things, from products to information, which has quadrupled in the past 30 years and shows no sign of slowing.