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Ann Simas
Ann Simas lives in Oregon, but she is a Colorado girl at heart, having grown up in the Rocky Mountains. She is an avid reader since childhood and penned her first fiction "book" in high school. She particularly likes to write mystery/suspense/thriller with a love story and paranormal or supernatural elements and is a three-time RWA Golden Heart Finalist.
An award-winning watercolorist and a budding photographer, Ann also enjoys needlework and gardening in her spare time. She is her family's "genealogist" and has been blessed with the opportunity to conduct first-hand research in Italy for both her writing and her family tree. The genealogy research from decade's old documents in Italian, she says, has been a supreme but gratifying challenge. |
*Click on the cover for more information and to purchase via Amazon.com.
SANTA'S HELPER (A Christmas Valley Romance, Book 1)(42,382 words)
'Tis the season to be jolly...
Single mom Lily Hammond wants nothing more than to give her toddler a happy Christmas. For the second year, she assumes her elf persona for two weeks and hires out as Santa’s Helper, a personal shopper for folks who don’t have the time or inclination to fill their Christmas list.
Business owner Sean D’Arcy loves Christmas shopping for his thirteen nieces and nephews. But something happens the moment he lays eyes on the picture of the knock-’em-dead, auburn-haired elf smack dab in the middle of the Santa’s Helper poster. He decides this is the year he needs help to buy gifts.
Lily has sworn off men. Sean is a happy bachelor. The thing is, he’s never encountered an elf before, and certainly never a woman like Lily. Suddenly, he’s not so sure the single life is the high life.
Will Sean be able to convince Lily he’s the real deal?
Lily believes in Christmas magic, but does she believe in happily-ever-afters?
SANTA'S HELPER
A CHRISTMAS VALLEY ROMANCE - BOOK 1 |
CANDY CANE LANE (A Christmas Valley Romance, Book 2)(51,231 words)
Candy canes and lighted lanes...
Nothing like a seven-year-old’s school assignment to shake things up. Single mom Esme Taylor and her son Arran just moved from the city, where talking to strangers was a no-no. Still, here in Christmas Valley it should be safe for Arran to interview a neighbor they haven’t met yet, right?
The psychic next door is reluctant, but she agrees because Esme and Arran arrive toting a box of home-baked cookies. What woman who can’t cook would turn away a new neighbor who can?
As it happens, psychic Olivia Strangewayes is also the mother of former NFL Stallions quarterback, Murph O’Donnell. Esme doesn’t care about football, but even she can appreciate a hot guy when she sees one.
It’s not that Murph isn’t attracted to Esme, but it’ll be a cold day on Candy Cane Lane before he falls for the daughter of the surgeon he holds responsible for never being able to get back in the game.
It’s a real Christmas pickle–Arran is angry at Murph, Murph’s brain is sending mixed messages to his heart about Esme, and Esme? Well, Esme didn’t expect to fall for a guy who hates her father and engages in a battle of wills with her son.
It’s the ultimate standoff! Can a persistent seven-year-old who loves Christmas be the glue that binds them all together?
CANDY CANE LANE
A CHRISTMAS VALLEY ROMANCE - BOOK 2 |
LET IT SNOW (A Christmas Valley Romance, Book 3)(50,700 words)
The weather outside is frightful...
But inside Micah Barrow’s house, it’s just delightful.
Sylvie French has been hired by Micah’s family to decorate his house for Christmas. It’s a surprise for the returning Marine, recovering from a harrowing battle in which three of his friends were killed.
Micah doesn’t like surprises, or being woken up out of a dead sleep to Christmas music blasting through his house. All he wants is be left alone. He doesn’t need a knock-out Christmas decorator spouting holiday cheer, either, and really, did she have to fall off the ladder just because he yelled at her? His first day home and he not only has to take Sylvie to the ER, but now he’s on a guilt trip to help her finish decorating the tree. And what’s with Mother Nature dumping 36” of snow while they work?
Micah’s been without a woman for too long, but Sylvie’s appeal goes beyond that. He’s never believed in love at first sight, but too bad for him—in his family, that’s the way the genetic dice rolls. Sylvie’s had only one serious relationship, which ended in betrayal. Sure, she likes Micah, and man, can he kiss, but their relationship is missing something. Something important.
Micah doesn’t get why Sylvie shies away.
Can Sylvie unravel the problem herself in time to spend Christmases-ever-after with the man of her dreams?
LET IT SNOW
A CHRISTMAS VALLEY ROMANCE - BOOK 3 |
FruityCakes (A Christmas Valley Romance, Book 4)(48,530 words)
Some presents walk on two legs...
Tate Brewster is stunned when he learns Fruitycakes is faltering this holiday season. Who moves their Christmas-baking business in December, anyway? Envisioning a white-haired old lady falling behind on both her bills and her energy, he takes off for Christmas Valley to find out what’s going on.
Charley Palmer, Fruitycakes CBO—Chief Baking Officer—greets Tate at the Fruitycakes door, dusted in flour from head to toe. The white-haired old lady is there, too, but she supervises from a rocking chair, belting out Christmas songs while knitting red and green sweaters. The baking assistants—six little girls in white T-shirts and jeans, candy-cane striped aprons, and dark ponytails—bop to Granny’s Christmas beat.
Life would be a lot simpler if the visions in Tate’s head concerned only sugar plums.
Charley’s never had happily-ever-after, but if Tate’s kisses aren’t sprinkled with Christmas magic, Santa’s reindeer are doing unauthorized fly-bys, dropping love bombs.
Tate’s certain he’s found the woman he’s been waiting for. Now all he has to do is convince Charley.
FRUITY CAKES
A CHRISTMAS VALLEY ROMANCE - BOOK 4 |
SLEIGH BRIDE (A Christmas Valley Romance, Book 5)(51,353 words)
Giddyup go...
Rory Campbell’s lifelong dream of being a Christmas bride and taking a romantic horse-drawn sleigh ride after the ceremony evaporates when she discovers her groom-to-be in bed with the maid of dishonor. Goodbye magical sleigh ride.
Sleigh-builder Cooper Bryson finds Rory freezing her tush off outside the Christmas Valley Inn, waiting for the Kringles to return so she can cancel her wedding event. He’s sorry about what happened, but he’s been in love with Rory since the first moment he laid eyes on her. “I’ll marry you,” he says.
Fresh off the jilted train, Rory is resistant to the proposal, and besides, she hardly knows Coop. He’s not deterred and offers an alternative: He’ll court her for two weeks, and if she can’t stand him by then, he’ll take a hike. If she can, they’ll get married.
Despite Rory’s best intentions, her heart rate does a little reindeer gallop every time she’s near Coop. She’s not sure what that reaction is all about, but would it be so bad to agree to his plan to “court” her for two weeks before she decides what her decision is going to be? After all, he did seal the deal with the best kiss she’s ever had.
SLEIGH RIDE
A CHRISTMAS VALLEY ROMANCE - BOOK 5 |
ANGELS ON THE ROOFTOP (A Christmas Valley Romance, Book 6)(55,444 words)
Goodbye Tinsel Town...
Lachlan Campbell has called it quits in Hollywood. He’s tired of the razzle-dazzle, fed up with making movies, and ready for the quiet life. Stolen as a child, he was adopted by a family who loved him, but his adoptive parents are gone now.
His sister Rory’s settled in Christmas Valley, and of all things, she’s found his birth parents. Lachlan decides the back of nowhere is exactly what he’s looking for, and it will give him an opportunity to get to know his birth parents.
He doesn’t expect to find the woman of his dreams there, especially since he didn’t even know he was looking for her. The problem is, Jossamyn Lamb isn’t the least bit impressed with Mr. Hollywood. Or at least, that’s what she keeps telling herself.
Lachlan didn’t get to be one of the highest-paid stars in Tinsel Town by sitting back and letting things happen. He’s bound and determined to convince Joss to marry him. Of course, he has a little help he doesn’t know about...two guardian angels, perched on the rooftop, matchmaking. They’ve got their orders and a deadline from the Big Guy. They have eight days, and if they don’t get Lachlan and Jossamyn together by New Year’s Eve, no wings!
ANGELS ON THE ROOFTOP
A CHRISTMAS VALLEY ROMANCE - BOOK 6 |
DECK THE GNOMES (A Christmas Valley Romance, Book 6)(50,939 words)
The gnomes have it . . .
There’s something quirky about the Christmas gnomes scattered throughout Gingerbread Cottage. For one thing, they’re never in the same place in the morning that they were the evening before. And then, there’s the tittering…
Bonnie Hall wants to know who’s messing with the merchandise after she closes up every night. There’s no budget to install security cameras, and even if there was, who’d believe her about rearranged gnomes, anyway? She’s on her own finding the culprit.
Griffin Conte is trying to convince Bonnie to marry him. In an effort to further his cause, the security expert insists he’ll accompany her on the overnight surveillance gig she has planned to catch the gnarly gnome hooligan.
But...things aren’t what they appear to be inside Gingerbread Cottage. Both Griff and Bonnie are surprised at what can happen when the lights are off.
DECK THE GNOMES
A CHRISTMAS VALLEY ROMANCE - BOOK 7 |
BACK-DOOR SANTA (A Christmas Valley Romance, Book 8)(51,419words)
Does Santa need a chimney?
Spenser Pope is desperate. He’s been trying to have a relationship with Stevie Bell, the CFO of Fruitycakes, for a year with no luck. He needs help! He solicits his no-longer-bachelor friends for advice and what do they tell him? Kiss her!
Stevie had a bad first marriage. Her husband, and her sister Charley’s husband, were cheaters and died in a boating accident with their current flings. She doesn’t want another husband, but there’s something about Spense that curls her toes in a way they’ve never been curled before.
Spense knows how to pick a lock, but can he also unlock Stevie’s frozen heart by Christmas? Maybe...if he can figure out how to bypass the out-of-commission fireplace in the old family homestead so that Santa can deliver presents to Stevie’s triplets.
BACK-DOOR SANTA
A CHRISTMAS VALLEY ROMANCE - BOOK 8 |
Jingle Bell Clock (A Christmas Valley Romance, Book 9)(53,132 words) Why does the Christmas clock keep coming back? Tally Barrow awakens from a coma that’s lasted almost a year. She believes she hates Christmas, and who the heck is this guy, Sam Reed, who claims to be in love with her? All it takes is one night in bed with Sam for Tally to reconsider what she thinks she knows about herself, but then Sam disappears. The Christmas clock, however, just keeps coming back, and coming back, driving her crazy with its musical renditions of Christmas favorites. Tally finally realizes the clock is giving her clues, but about what? Even when she figures it out, she still doesn’t know where that leaves her relationship with the hunky firefighter, Sam Reed.
JINGLE BELL CLOCK
A CHRISTMAS VALLEY ROMANCE - BOOK 9 |
What s up with Vixen? Just because she’s the reindeer blessed with magic skills, does she really have to show them off? First, she sends Jani Fridley off the road and into a ditch, and then she rescues her. She also has a bad habit of disappearing and reappearing. Okay, so she has a reindeer boyfriend, but it’s not like she spends all her time making little reindeer with him. So, what is she doing? And does she think it will be easy to get the imprint of her reindeer nose off the window glass? Jani is heartbroken, but she feels an affinity with Vixen. Ryker Manning is just the man to salve Jani’s broken heart, but he’s had his own heart flayed in the past. And besides that, both have sworn off falling for anyone ever again. Vixen, the magical reindeer, has other ideas. Who will prevail in this battle of the wills?
REINDEER BLITZ
A CHRISTMAS VALLEY ROMANCE - BOOK 10 |
DRESSED TO DIE (A Grace Gabbiano Mystery, Book 1)(123,161 words)
The new job is supposed to be quiet, uneventful!
The last thing Grace Gabbiano expects to find on her morning run is a dead guy in a mint field. And really, he had to be wearing a formal evening gown, a woman’s wig, and a tiara? She’s only been on the job a week and now she has to lead a homicide investigation?
Grace thinks the dead guy was murdered…
Chief Aidan Cruz, Coburg’s new police chief, isn’t convinced the death is a homicide. And he sure as hell isn’t sure that Grace, who left Seattle PD under a dark cloud, knows what she’s doing. She’ll either prove she can’t handle it—or fall flat on her face—whichever comes first.
Vindication doesn’t equal satisfaction…
The autopsy cinches it, but before anyone can catch a breath, another dead guy is found propped up in a rocking chair on sweet old Gunny Spriggs’ front porch. Grace begins to wonder if a psycho with a fetish for women’s evening-wear plans to turn Coburg, Oregon into serial-killer central.
Never say die…
Grace’s suspect list is short, but does it actually include the killer? Will she figure it out before another dolled-up dead guy turns up? Or before the killer decides she’s too smart for her own good?
DRESSED TO DIE
A GRACE GABBIANO MYSTERY BOOK 1 |
SLICED TO DIE (A Grace Gabbiano Mystery, Book 2) (127,585 words)
Never ask, “What next?”
Life has settled down in Coburg, Oregon since the crimes of the century are finally becoming a manageable memory for the town’s citizens and its police department. But suddenly, things change...
An urban myth rears its ugly head
Sergeant Grace Gabbiano’s fire-chief brother is expecting his life-long friend Benny for a weekend visit. The problem is, someone’s taken a kidney out of Benny. Without his permission. The only visiting he’ll be doing for a while is from a hospital bed.
Three neighboring police jurisdictions and the FBI come to call on Coburg PD. Seems that more than one horny man in the county has been seduced for his kidney recently and it’s time to take action. One agency has a plan that will involve Grace. Whether she wants to participate or not, Chief Aidan Cruz has already volunteered her for hooker duty.
Everything’s just dandy
Turning faux tricks on the street nets Grace a new social network, a lot of jaw-dropping information, and more trouble than she bargained for.
And then bodies start to pile up.
SLICED TO DIE
A GRACE GABBIANO MYSTERY BOOK 2 |
Buried to Die (A Grace Gabbiano Mystery, Book 3; 145,591 words)
Spring has sprung in Coburg, Oregon...
It comes as a big surprise to Sergeant Grace Gabbiano to learn there’s a body farm smack in the middle of one of the town’s largest filbert orchards.
Her assignment from Police Chief Aidan Cruz is to find out everything she can about it, and get it done five minutes ago.
But it’s not just tulips blooming...
A research team from a local university is studying the thirteen cadavers in various stages of decomposition throughout the body farm, and how the elements and unusual circumstances affect them. Six students, led by a teaching anthropologist, seem to spend as much time making whoopee on the grounds of what they fondly call the B-Farm, as they do recording data for their study.
Grace barely has time to write her report before a fresh grave is discovered inside the compound. There’s just one problem—it doesn’t contain a body donated for research.
A killer is on the loose...
As the body count rises, Grace struggles to find a common denominator connecting the women the killer has targeted. Little does she know, he’s also got his eye on her.
BURIED TO DIE
A GRACE GABBIANO MYSTERY BOOK 3 |
QUILTED TO DIE (A Grace Gabbiano Mystery, Book 4) (135,512 words)
The annual Coburg Quilt Show might have gone off without a hitch if not for the body wrapped up in the benefit quilt…
Grace Gabbiano left Seattle PD under a dark cloud, but as a sergeant with Coburg PD, she’s put all that behind her. She certainly doesn’t expect her former lover to come asking for help a year later. Chief Aidan Cruz has a short fuse for bad cops, and he’s certain Mackey falls into that category. When Mackey vanishes without explaining himself, Grace realizes the Seattle “thing” has more to it than anyone imagined.
QUILTED TO DIE
A GRACE GABBIANO MYSTERY BOOK 4 |
Taken to Die (A Grace Gabbiano Mystery, Book 5)
Something is amiss in the night skies
It started with crop circles in farmers’ fields, and then more crop circles. And after that came the animal mutilations, one a cow, the other a sheep. An unidentified flying object appeared about the same time, shining a bright white beam down from its belly.
What in the galaxy is happening in Coburg?
Grace Gabbiano is determined to find out, but these events aren’t every-day occurrences that can be investigated like a shop-lifting or a barking dog complaint. They require specialized research, and assistance from a UFO specialist, a necropsy specialist, and anyone else with Mr. Spock’s knowledge of space.
The little green men aren’t green, they’re grey
The peeping alien has a big head and big black eyes, but he’s the least of Grace’s worries. For a change, Chief Aidan Cruz is on board with her outlandish theories, but that doesn’t solve the deeper problem they haven’t even recognized yet. The threat to Grace’s life is much more sinister than little green men.
TAKEN TO DIE
A GRACE GABBIANO MYSTERY BOOK 5 |
Father Sidney has gone off to find himself, even though he knows someone is stealing valuable items from St. Anthony’s. Chief Aidan Cruz decides it’s time for Grace to go undercover as a nun to find the thief. It doesn’t take her long to discover Father Sidney’s search didn’t go well.
PRAYING TO DIE
A GRACE GABBIANO MYSTERY BOOK 6 |
Earthly and otherworldly spirits collide for the ride of a lifetime. . .
There’s more ticking at Chloe Faust’s house than the cuckoo in the living room and her own biological clock. Sure, she wants a baby, but with no Mr. Right in sight, the only good solution seems to be medical science. Adept at juggling more than one project at a time, Chloe also wants to find out who really killed her great-great-great aunt.
With the baby issue resolved, Chloe will have to rely on her own methods to get the real facts about her aunt’s death. To help with that, she signs up to take a criminal investigation class, where she meets the substitute teacher, Homicide Detective Marsh Fielding.
Really? Mr. Right is teaching the class? Life just isn’t fair!
Marsh thinks the stunner in the back row is a little bit nuts, poking into a murder that’s over a century old. He figures he must be a little crazy himself, because he agrees to help her.
As if their relationship isn’t facing enough complications, life takes an unlikely turn when Marsh visits Chloe’s house for the first time…
CHLOE'S SPIRIT
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Second Chance
Luce Maguire has dreamed of being elected to the state supreme court for years, but now that she’s almost there, she finds herself disenchanted with the law. Doubts begin to plague her, not only about her career, but about the man she’d should have been married to by now.
Detective JD Kemp is a fearless dynamo investigating homicides, but after a two-year engagement, he’s still scared as hell to take a walk down the aisle with the woman he loves. Talk about doubts!
When Luce and JD find themselves the targets of ruthless serial killers, the bullets start to fly, literally. Will facing death erase their doubts, or will it drive the final wedge between them?
Foolish Heart
Deputy Medical Examiner Sarajane Nichols has pretty much seen it all, but she never imagined she and her friends would be targeted by psychopaths who love to kill. She never imagined a living a life of unrequited love for Dominic Fielding or being cursed with the family juju after she’s shot. Who wants to see the future, anyway?
Dom has already recited vows—not to another woman, but to God and the Catholic church. As a priest, he has been in the war zone for over ten years, counseling and offering support to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Dom’s been MIA for three years, but now he’s back, and he has news that will shock everyone who knows him, especially Sarajane.
CHLOE'S SPIRIT AFTERSTORIES
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It ended with theft and murder…
One day Callie Brennan is a happy shop owner. The next, she’s recruited by a Bureau of International Antiquities agent in a plot to catch thieves trafficking in stolen Hopi artifacts. Before Callie gets the details, the agent is murdered and the next stranger to come calling thinks she had something to do with his death.
Finn Gallagher works as a civil engineer, a cover that works well for his real job as a secret agent…or so he thinks.
But it started with a legend…
Both Callie and Finn harbor secrets. From the moment they meet, nothing is normal for either of them again. Will their feelings for each other be strong enough to withstand the evil that has been stalking them both for years?
As false identities are revealed, and the prophecies of an old Hopi legend come true, who will survive and who will not? Who will recognize the lies and who will continue to search for the truth? With the incarnation of the mystical Hopi Eagle kachina, Callie and Finn will be staggered by one truth they could not have anticipated.
BLESSED ARE THE EAGLES
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Smoke doesn’t always mean there’s fire...
Andi Comstock loves her new job, but she can’t figure out why she is the only person in the building who smells the smoke. Not only does she smell it, but each time she does, she hears a voice in her head.
One of those voices suggests she talk to Father Riley at St. Gemma’s Church, “a man of God and a believer in the afterlife.” Stunned and hoping she hasn’t lost her mind or developed a brain tumor, Andi makes the leap back to church. Much to her surprise, she gains a cohort in her effort to track down the source of both the smoke and the voices.
Sometimes, it means murder...
Then comes a voice that belongs to someone Andi went to school with and it’s begging for help. When Andi and Father Riley discover they may have stumbled upon a murder, the priest summons homicide detective Jack Harmon for assistance.
Now if Andi can just figure out why the voice keeps telling her, “Look at my teeth.”
HOLY SMOKE
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Where there’s smoke...
Andi Comstock has grown used to smelling the smoke that pervades her office every time a cremation takes place in the mortuary next door. She even enjoys the moment or two when each soul stops to chat with her on the way to the Pearly Gates.
But one day, a Smokie utters a confession that leads her to believe he may be headed in the other direction. I did something bad, Andi, and I don’t know how to fix it.
Sometimes, it means murder...
Andi isn’t the type of person who can let a plea for help go unanswered. Her sleuthing cohort Father Riley sometimes compares her to St. Jeanne d’Arc, fighting battles on behalf of others.
Andi’s no saint, but neither is she a coward. When someone–dead or not–asks for help, she can’t just walk away. Not even if it means putting her own life on the line.
PENITENCE
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Where there’s smoke . . .
Andi Comstock is not the type of person to tell someone who’s been murdered to take a hike, especially if that someone is an unborn baby. Angel-baby Lucy asks Andi to find the woman who killed her and her mother before the baby-snatcher strikes again.
From past experience, Detective Jack Harmon knows his most valuable information will come via the spirits who talk to Andi after cremation, when they pass from this world to the next. This time, though, something is different. Andi’s been told she’s The Chosen One and for Jack, who is also Andi’s boyfriend, that’s a show stopper.
Sometimes, there’s a plea for help . . .
With Jack avoiding Andi while he attempts to wrap his mind around what it means for her to be The Chosen One, Andi is forced to devise a creative plan to find the baby-stealer on her own. The resulting brainstorm is both outrageous and ingenuous, and it has the potential to be fatal. For her, at least.
Andi’s sleuthing cohort, Father Riley, who often compares her to St. Jeanne d’Arc, urges her to abandon the scheme, but Andi is set on doing it her way.
After all, a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.
ANGEL BABIES
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Where there’s smoke, fire is not far behind...
Bucky Detering is killed while fighting a fire at a local lumber mill. Andi Comstock’s brother, Dell, and several other firefighters are injured. After he’s cremated, Bucky pays Andi a visit and the next thing she knows, she’s involved in the search for the arsonist responsible for his death. Bucky delivers clues to Andi via fire-related quotes from famous people, which helps local law enforcement and the fire department prevent more deaths, but it doesn’t help identify the arsonist.
But something more is going on than a firebug who likes to watch things burn...
Andi soon discovers unexpected elements at play, aside from being able to speak to the cremated dead. When she’s threatened with an ominous warning, BURN BABY BURN, she and her boyfriend, Detective Jack Harmon, and their willing cohort, Father Riley, understand that the ticking fire clock is nearly wound down. Will they be able to find the arsonist before his threat becomes reality?
HELLFIRE
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Sunshine Fyfe ’s dealt with the death of her Navy SEAL husband, the birth of two kids, and life’s general ups-and-downs, but five visions in five days, each showing a different version of a disturbing event? What’s that all about?
From the moment Sunny stops to help a bicyclist down on the side of the road, her calm, sane life becomes hell on earth.
Detective Luca Amorosi doesn’t start out beholden to Sunny for helping his sister. How could he, when he’s been led to believe she’s the hit-and-run driver? With the truth comes another realization—he’s falling for Sunshine Fyfe in ways he never imagined possible.
From her dead husband’s letters, Sunny gleans information that sends her spiraling into a living nightmare. Cults. Blue moons. Sacrificial lambs. She does the only thing she can to prevent the dire future her visions foretell.
Will her efforts be too little, too late, or can Sunny save her children, her family, and the man she’s come to love?
BLACK MOON RISING
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The bad-luck threes ...
Sophie Doyle is not having a good day. She’s without a car, because hers was stolen. She’s without a washer and dryer, because hers both tanked on the same day. She’s overslept because of a power outage and when she finally arrives late for work, she’s told her employment is terminated due to budget constraints. Could things get any worse?
Never ask, “What next?”
Hit in the crosswalk by red-light runner, Sophie finds herself dead on the sidewalk, observing a good Samaritan trying to resuscitate her. Suddenly, she’s thrust into a tunnel of incredibly bright light, where she meets…God? Sophie likes it in Heaven where it’s warm and welcoming, but she’s told she can’t stay. Her assignment? Return to the earthly plane to save a man by saving his daughter Bella.
The next thing Sophie knows, she’s watching resuscitation efforts on her poor dead body again when she’s rushed to surgery for treatment of a subdural hematoma. This time, she finds her ethereal self flying through walls to the ER when she’s summoned by a child’s voice calling, Sophie, help me, please! She’s trying to take me to the Dark Place and I don’t want to go.
Life after death ...
Sophie hasn’t been conscious long enough to consider the ramifications of dying or of her assignment, but meeting Bella on the other side...well, that seals the deal for her. She formulates a plan to save the child from the evil that stalks her. The only question is, will she make it back from the Dark Place once she implements it?
HEAVEN SENT
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Every six years, Jessica Myer has a nightmare and someone she knows dies…
This time, inexplicably, more dreams follow at three-week intervals. Each time, a woman Jessie doesn’t know is brutally raped and murdered. When she dreams her best friend will be next, Jessie comes up with the idea of hiring a body guard to keep her safe.
McKinley West has no idea what he’s letting himself in for…
The moment Mac meets Jessie, there’s something about her he can’t resist, but that doesn’t mean his corporate security firm will take on a two-day body-guarding job for a crackpot! Even he can’t believe he hires on when she comes back asking a second time.
The assignment is not the slam-dunk Mac anticipates—Jessie is summoned to the county morgue to identify her friend’s body less than twenty-four hours later.
Things aren’t always what they seem...
Despite repeated warnings to keep out of the investigation, Jessie is driven by guilt and her dreams to find out if the murders are connected to an article her friend was researching about sex ads in the local weeklies.
Pornography. Snuff films. Drugs. Lies. Jessie becomes entangled in a web of deceit that grows more complex the deeper she digs.
And then Jessie dreams of her own death…
Mac is skeptical of psychic mumbo-jumbo, but he believes in Jessie. Will they be able to find the killers before Jessie’s latest dream—the one of her own death—comes true?
LOOSE ENDS
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FIRST STAR -- An RWA Golden Heart Finalist (108,350 words)
The stalking incidents begin slowly. . .
Alex Dumont’s budding relationship with Kell Sagen, a local building contractor and single father, heats up quickly, igniting her slow-burning stalker. As the stalker escalates attention on Alex, is he also the one targeting Kell’s construction sites?
Blood is not always thicker than water. . .
Alex discovers that her sister, Josie, did not die in childhood as her parents had led her to believe. Heartbroken and angry by their devious callousness, she is elated at the prospect of reuniting with her twin. She hires a PI to find Sasha. Is she well? Is she happy? Is she still alive?
A new love, a deadly stalker. . .
When her stalker turns violent, Alex fears for Kell’s life and the safety of his daughters. To protect them, she decides to distance herself from the man she loves and his family. In the stalker’s eyes, is it too little, too late? Alex is about to find out.
FIRST STAR
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You can run, but can you hide?
~ALL THAT GLITTERS~
Carolina McGee’s life changed dramatically one warm summer day fifteen years earlier. She’s been on the run ever since, but no one can hide forever. She holds her secrets close, but when an enemy from the past surfaces unexpectedly, Carolina discovers that in order to fight back, she must trust her friends with those secrets and accept their help.
Jake Malone has given up life in the combat zone and he’s ready to settle down with a woman he barely knows. A man who knows what he wants, and usually gets it, he’s not going to let Carolina slip away.
~STARRY NIGHT~
Dani Laszlo is an independent woman who talks the talk about finding herself a man, but she’s not willing to walk the walk to get him. What will it take for her to get serious about love, and can she even concentrate on it while she’s helping Carolina?
Lucas Maxx is a big tough-guy PI with a soft heart. He’s fascinated by Dani, but he doesn’t have a clue about how to win her heart, plus he’s been hired to protect Carolina, not fall in love.
Friendships are important, but can friendship ensure that Carolina and Jake and Dani and Lucas will all walk away from the ultimate standoff alive?
ALL THAT GLITTERS & STARRY NIGHT
FIRST STAR AFTERSTORIES |
Truth + Consequences = Murder
Hannah Clarke, a wife and mom one day, is a widow without a child the next. Two years later, living as H.L. Mason in Fossil, Colorado, her safe new world explodes with a revelation so shocking and horrifying she can hardly grasp it. By chance, she meets Sheriff Noah Ward, and though she’s leery of cops after being accused of killing her family, she needs help. Noah, a former Navy SEAL, agrees to do what he can, but he soon discovers the case is far more insidious than parental abduction.
HERE & GONE
A Fossil, Colorado Book #1 |
Fossil, Colorado is Georgie’s destination, but she takes a wrong turn and ends up in a creek, only to be rescued by Brant Ward, who doesn’t quite know what to make of her. Georgie prefers men from a distance, but circumstances have taken that away from her and she’s forced to reveal her past to Brant. The more untangled her family dynamics become, the more twisted they get. When the ultimate secret is revealed, it’s almost incomprehensible, though it answers so many questions. It also raises a new one—will Georgie and Brant survive the evil twosome pursuing them?
DISAPPEARING ACT
A Fossil, Colorado Book #2 |
No Place to Cry
Sometimes a woman just needs a good cry, you know? Jolie’s got a job, a husband, and three kids who dare her to keep up with their antics. When life gets her down, what’s she supposed to do when she can’t find a private place to open the flood gates?
Brave Little Soldier
A family loses a husband and a father on December 7, 1941. Mama grieves for the man she loved; Robbie grieves for Papa, but also for his lost childhood. Mama expects him to be the man of the house and tolerates no tears. Decades later, Mama still mourns her lost love. Laden with guilt, she holds herself responsible for Papa’s death. After all, she encouraged him, a German immigrant, to fight for his new country. After years of keeping herself distanced emotionally from her family, Mama is about to reveal a startling encounter that will change their lives forever.
The RBs
Teaching needlework can be a challenge, but Abby has been doing it successfully for years. Inevitably, there’s a rudester in the group—usually more than one. This latest class is no different, except they’re much worse than any who have come before. Abby stitches up a bit of mild retribution, completely dumbfounded when her efforts net unexpected results.
One More Time
Didi and Eric McCumber have three kids, a dog, jobs, a mortgage, and a marriage on the way out. Didi is recovering from a fractured skull as a result of an accident; Eric is not being supportive, but he’s cocky about his husbandly rights, even if Didi is laid up in a hospital bed. She’s had it with her husband and Eric’s out the door. Now that push has come to shove, is it inevitable they’ll wind up in divorce court, or will life deliver a slew of little surprises?
K-I-S-S-I-N-G
All her friends are married and having babies, but Caty Santangelo is still looking for the right guy. She’ll know if she’s met him when they exchange their first kiss. So far, not one of her relationships has lasted more than one month. On this particular night, Caty’s date is sixteen minutes late. She heads to her godfather’s restaurant alone. The place is packed, but Caty can always get a table. Luigi asks, would she mind sharing hers? Caty expects one of the neighborhood ladies to join her, and instead a stranger joins her. Sebastiano Cervi has nice lips, but can he kiss?
Who’s There?
Serena Jackman could put the doomsday preppers to shame. Not that she has a warehouse full of food and supplies, but she has contingency plans for all types of situations and emergencies. She’s upstairs putting away laundry when two punks knock on the door and take her husband hostage in a home invasion. Serena springs into action. With surprising innovation and an unexpected outcome, she learns that she’s pretty good at winging it, too.
And for a change of pace…
The Three Bares
Goldie Locke is out for a stroll in the nearby woods. It’s her birthday and she’s just happy to be alive, enjoying the beautiful sunny day until she hears the growls. The love of her life, Joe, did warn her there may be bears in the forest. Then she happens upon a garish little cottage with three creatures flitting around outside. These are not bears, though, but they are bare. And they have green polka dots and three eyes. What in the world has she encountered and why is she thinking that even though they invite her to join them for lunch, she may be the main course?
ALL'S WELL
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