Showing results by narrator "Mary Ann Jacobs" in All Categories

A .38, a nip of gin, and sensational legs get Depression-era private investigator Maggie Sullivan out of most scrapes - until a stranger threatens to bust her nose, she's hauled in on suspicion of his murder and she finds herself in the cross-hairs of a crime boss with connections at City Hall.

It's 1910 and Anna Lewis is praying that God will help her become a premier watercolor artist of the lush beaches of Carmel, California. When a man strides down the beach and stops to face the ocean, Anna sketches him into her painting. Was it a mistake? Anna thinks so when he tells her he doesn't have spare change to purchase her work. Spare change indeed! But while she seeks God's leading for her art career, she'd better keep her day job as nursemaid to two rambunctious boys.

Molly McClain tells the remarkable story of Ellen Browning Scripps (1836-1932), an American newspaperwoman, feminist, suffragist, abolitionist, and social reformer who used her fortune to support women’s education, the labor movement, and public access to science, the arts, and education.

When the pain first hit, she ignored it and continued racing across the parking lot toward the food court. But within moments she realized something was terribly wrong as her wobbly legs gave out and she dropped to the ground. The last thing she remembered as she started to fade away was the guy in the Grateful Dead T-shirt who held her in his arms and promised he'd never let her go.

When a man offers 1940s private investigator Maggie Sullivan twice her usual fee to look into a "possible" jewelry theft from his hotel safe, she’s skeptical - until a maid’s body tumbles out of a trash can and a jeweler known for high quality fakes is murdered. Does a hotel guest who vanished without a trace hold a piece of the puzzle? Or, does it have to do with the Polish count and his family fleeing the start of WW2 in Europe?

Tattoos. Unwed pregnancy. Giving up on shaving…showering…and employment. These used to be signatures of a trashy individual. Now they’re the new norm. What happened to etiquette, hygiene, and self-restraint? Charlotte Hays, Southern gentlewoman extraordinaire, takes a humorous look at the spread of white trash culture to all levels of American society.

When a formal gathering of NATO leaders is interrupted by a bomb blast, a US general becomes the subject of an international manhunt. Tasked to find him is an ornery sergeant on his way out the army, along with three individuals with unique skills of their own. When several attempts to nab the team members are thwarted, they become suspicious that the general is receiving inside information.

Days before the Pearl Harbor attack plunges the US into World War II, private eye Maggie Sullivan is hired to find a missing engineer in Dayton, Ohio. Has Gil Tremain been kidnapped, or has he turned traitor to his employer and, maybe, his country? As Maggie pieces together his last movements, she finds there are secrets the man’s ex-wife and his employers don’t want uncovered.

In a suburb on Boston's North Shore, a catatonic little girl is found behind a dumpster. She is a mystery. As social worker Debbie Gillan pieces together the puzzle of the child's identity, she discovers the child had disappeared two years earlier along with a twin sister. She also discovers Hannahwhere, an alternate world that is both a haven and a prison. Life-altering trauma becomes the key to unraveling the truth about the children, about Hannahwhere, and about Debbie herself.

Glass bead-maker Jax O'Connell and her friend Tessa have no idea what challenges await them when they take a glassblowing class with Marco De Luca, a famous Italian glass artist - and infamous lothario. After the first night of class, Tessa sees a body through the rain-streaked window of the studio. The next morning there's no sign of Marco, and one of the studio owners is also missing. The local sheriff isn't taking the disappearances seriously, but Tessa knows what she saw.

An aged photograph of a dead man hanging from a tree...Deaths in a nursing home that may not be as natural as they appear...Clues showing a 70-year-old suicide could be murder...Sinister small town secrets, decades old, finally revealed...Feisty Livy Crowe, single-and-loving-it owner of the nostalgia shop, Better Days, has to deal with all of these and more, including her mother's slow deterioration in a senior residence that might be a crime scene, a very awkward romantic triangle, and murders old and new that threaten even Livy herself...

The Vanhorn sisters want her to learn the fate of their father, who vanished more than 25 years earlier in Dayton, Ohio’s, catastrophic 1913 flood. They believe he was murdered. They think they know the killer. But before Maggie can question the suspect, he winds up dead. With a nip of gin to cheer her and a Smith & Wesson for company, Maggie follows a trail all but obliterated by time. It leads her to a local politician with bigger ambitions - and possibly secrets to hide. 

When a wealthy theater owner is killed by a falling art glass chandelier, glass beadmaker Jax O’Connell’s boyfriend, Detective Zachary Grant, quickly determines it was no accident. Jax and her friend Tessa try to carry on with a charity fashion gala at the theater, but with only a few days before the big event, they have to scramble to keep things from falling apart. The emcee quits, and to make matters worse, Tessa’s daughters are suspects in the murder.  

Stylist Marla Shore goes undercover in a hair-brained scheme to catch a killer in her latest South Florida adventure. In a story braided with unexpected twists and curls, she takes on a role as nurse's aide for wealthy Miriam Pearl. While Marla snoops into the elderly matriarch's affairs, her boyfriend Detective Dalton Vail is afraid that the only affair she'll snag is with her ex-spouse Stan. Juggling work at her salon, crime solving, and two amorously inclined males, Marla fights a race against time to save Stan before the dashing detective nails him for murder. 

Crime-solving sleuth Em Johnson and her uncle, Louie, owner of the famous Tiki Goddess Bar on Kauai, head for the Cocktail Shake Off Competition in Honolulu. What is supposed to be a fun trip to a mixology contest turns weird when Louie's legendary "Booze Bible" is stolen and Em's ex-husband winds up dead - with Em the number-one suspect.

Sassy salon owner Marla Shore is giving grumpy Mrs. Kravitz a perm when her client dies in the shampoo chair. If that isn't enough to give her a bad hair day, handsome Detective Vail suspects Marla of poisoning the woman's coffee creamer. Figuring she'd better expose the real killer before the next victim frizzes out, Marla sets on the trail of a wave of wacky suspects. Her theory regarding whodunit gels only after she looks for the culprit closer to home.

Hairstylist Marla Shore joins a fitness club to get in shape, but discovers a dead body instead of an exercise routine. Jolene Myers, a client at Marla's salon, has drowned beneath the frothing waters of the whirlpool. When Detective Dalton Vail determines Jolene's death was no accident, Marla decides to give her deductive skills a workout and help solve the case. Jolene had few friends at the fancy athletic club. As Marla gets to know everyone, she wonders who might have targeted Jolene for a lethal soak in the hot tub.

Between the Dark and the Daylight explores the concerns of modern life, of the overworked mind and hurting heart. These are the paradoxical - and often frustrating - moments when our lives feel at odds with everything around us. Only by embracing the contradictions, Chittister contends, may we live well amid stress, withstand emotional storms, and satisfy our yearnings for something transcendent and real.

After inheriting a house in Seattle, Jax O'Connell is living the life of her dreams as a glass bead maker and jewelry designer. When she gets an offer to display her work during a bead shop's opening festivities, it's an opportunity Jax can't resist - even though the store's owner is the surliest person Jax has ever met. The weekend's events become a tangled mess when a young bead maker is found dead nearby and several oddball bead enthusiasts are suspects.

During the first vacation she's taken in years, Logan looks forward to sharing the beauty of the Oregon coast with Ben and her family. They quickly immerse themselves in summer fun - ocean walks, caramel corn by the fire, a visit to the aquarium, a charter boat fishing trip, and to top it all off, tickets for Logan and Ben to an amazing, intimate classical music concert featuring a pair of visiting musicians from China.