The fallen college superstar joins the family winemaking business, but working alongside his parents is not the future he had planned. He escapes work whenever he can and soon finds a new friend named Randy Black. Randy is part stunt-pilot, part Casanova, and part drunken Pied Piper. Randy introduces Charlie to Deirdre Deudon, the provocative wife of a French farmer. They come together in an ill-conceived stunt that explodes into consequences that chase Charlie and Randy back home to Massachusetts and change Deirdre's life forever. The after-effects of this tragic mistake bind the three of them together and threaten everything they hold dear.

    He meets a fan, an attractive woman, in a coffee shop and she plies him with compliments and a Mickey. The next morning he wakes up at a seedy motel naked, reeking of alcohol, alone, and confused. A blackmail ensues and he becomes entangled in a shadowy underworld involving strippers, prostitutes, gangsters, corrupt politicians, and cops. His wife and son leave him and he plunges into the mean streets of San Francisco seeking answers to the riddles at the heart of those seeking to destroy him.My main character in Between a Smile and a Tear, Jack Waters, a successful novelist, is a recovering alcoholic coming to terms with the damage his drinking has caused to his family and friends. He's trying his best to make amends, but is it too late? Is it impossible to right some wrongs?I've read a number of James Hall's antic thrillers set in Florida (primarily the Thorn books) with their wild and crazy bad guys and they inspired me to create my villain here: Wallace Unger. I tried to make him both humorous and scary, a counterpoint to the serious and darker action and themes of the novel.Wallace is wild and crazy, funny and dumb, but also unpredictable and a dangerous antagonist made even more fearsome by his employer, the amoral gangster boss, NIck Ravelli.This is a "bigger" novel than others that I have written, featuring multiple point-of-view characters, more subplots, a wider range including political and social forces impacting the characters, as well as a deeper attention to location and geography.I've tried to make San Francisco a major character in its own right here. I grew up in the city and know it well, but supplemented that knowledge with research and maps and a couple of trips back to the Bay Area. I think San Francisco, in all of its beauty and mystery, comes alive in the novel and I hope you agree.I put my heart and soul into this book and hope you feel that while you read.Thanks for taking the time.

    Savannah Harris is determined to raise her three-month-old daughter in the best possible environment, and flees home to Grace Creek, an inheritance from her recently deceased mother.But even this peaceful property cannot cocoon her from her abusive husband or a stranger who intends to rip her life apart.In an atmosphere thick with fear, Savannah realises she cannot keep running, she must fight back or risk losing not only her life, but the only family she has left, her precious daughter.

    She’s been jilted at the altar by Stephen-the-indecisive, is paying off a mountain of wedding debt by holding down two jobs, and her flat is mostly made of cardboard and spackle. Then at work she meets a man in need of a date to his ex-fiancée’s wedding. Annie goes, and one wedding and four bottles of wine later, she finds herself getting married in Vegas to Dorian, an erotic illustrator.Of course, it’s all great and romantic, until someone loses an eye, which here means, ‘until Annie gets home, and realizes that her best friend (and boss) Will, has kind of been working up to popping the question himself. Will is not happy to see Annie married, in fact he’s willing to trade his Mohawk and every Ke$ha CD he owns to get Dorian out of the way.As if that wasn’t enough to make things tense at work, Annie’s best-work-friend Yvonne (who knows something really fun you can do with a rugby player, some roller skates and chocolate spread) can’t resist getting involved in Annie’s love life. Neither can Dorian’s kleptomaniac sister Fifi, Dorian’s ex-bride and Annie’s mother.In between breaking into cafés, having her door kicked down by the police and trying not to kill each and every one of her friends and relatives, Annie tries to work out how the hell her life got so complicated.

    . . Rocco Silas has come home to Wyoming after long years as a Red Team operative in Afghanistan. It isn't easy returning to civilian life, especially burdened as he is with a staggering case of PTSD or hunted as he is by an enemy determined to seek an eye-for-eye--neither of which can he battle until he confronts the truth of what happened one fateful day in the high mountain ranges of the Hindu Kush. . . . She alone holds the key to his sanity. Mandy Fielding's dream of opening a therapeutic riding center on her family's ranch is almost within her grasp--until she hires Rocco Silas, a dangerous ex-Spec Ops friend of her brother's. His haunted eyes and passionate touch promise a love she never dared believe possible. Can they confront the truth of his past and build a future together or will the enemy stalking him destroy them both?

    She embarks on a clandestine investigation while dodging the FBI, risking her life as well as her career.***It starts with a simple unwanted kiss…and evolves into a labyrinthine trail of forgery and illusion…a hijacked identity, a corruption scandal involving a U.S. Senator accused of channeling illegal benefits to a shady South American firm…even kidnapping and murder. Wearing the Spider, the award-winning debut novel by Susan Schaab, may be the only novel to combine elements of sexual harassment, identity theft, and political scandal into one sophisticated plot set in the hard-driving corporate culture. Evie Sullivan, a rising legal star on the fast track to partnership at her respected New York law firm, is being set up for a fall…a BIG fall. Besieged initially with seemingly innocuous recordkeeping errors, she overhears portions of a shocking telephone conversation. Then, she is blindsided by discoveries that are much more troubling: impersonation of her email username and unmistakable sabotage of one of her client projects causing a groundswell of doubt within the firm about her competence. Once her name is linked to a deal containing a questionable, and possibly illegal, arrangement, she has no choice but to conduct her own clandestine investigation to clear her name. An FBI agent confronts her with tough questions about murder and fraud for which she has no answers. As she searches for the truth, the electronic evidence shifts and transforms behind a dynamic veil of security””and certain pieces of the puzzle simply disappear. How will she gather tangible evidence to prove her innocence among the elusive clues and carefully woven traps? At stake: not only her professional reputation and her future with the firm, not only a commission worth $25 million””but several lives. In this intricately plotted and memorable thriller, attorney and former computer consultant Susan Schaab draws on her expertise in intellectual property and technology law as well as computer systems design to create a fast-paced and thoroughly believable journey through corruption and intrigue…an exhilarating joyride that explores the complex relationships in a big-city law firm, where sexual harassment and manipulation may be more common than any statistics suggest. “The Devil Wears Prada in legal technicolor. A smart, thoroughly enjoyable tale.”� ”“Liz Smith, New York Post“Wow…a high-tech thriller that cracks open the inner workings of a large law firm and leaves one wondering just how often sexual harassment and hostile work environments are tolerated in the corporate world…I highly recommend Wearing the Spider.”� ”¨”“Heather Froeschl, Book Review Journal “Imaginative, suspenseful and well thought out, Wearing the Spider is a mystery thriller that readers will find hard to put down.”� ”“Shirley Roe, Allbooks Review “…confronts us with some of the horrifying truths of our computer age world.”�”¨”“Ross Malde, TCM Reviews “...The characters are memorable and the vicarious technological insights are very interesting…Thrilling read…”�”“Jill Stovall, Armchair Interviews “It is one of those novels that one finds impossible to put down…If I could have given it a higher score than five stars, I would have…It will keep you on edge until you find

    He’s interested. Escaping the compound of a deadly international felon--with a fortune in rare, stolen coins hidden on her body--elite athlete Angel Farentino has to make the most important run of her life. Literally. With her father in prison, where he belongs, and a prior undeserved conviction hanging over her head, she has nowhere to turn and no one to trust. Definitely not law enforcement who railroaded her through a judicial nightmare. One step ahead of lethal men and dogs on her trail, she runs into the arms of a dark stranger willing to help her if she’d let him. But that would only get the sexy pilot killed. Between figuring out who’s sabotaging his undercover work for the DEA and trying to save his baby sister from herself, Zane Jackson has enough on his plate. The last thing he needs is to get entangled with a woman who’s treading on the wrong side of the law. But when the long-legged distraction races into the middle of his operation and stows away on his plane, a primal need to protect forces Zane to risk everything, starting with his heart.Note - This book was originally released as Worth Every Risk. When Dianna received the rights back she revised the story to the much larger romantic thriller version she'd always envisioned, which includes more romance and plenty of action.

    President Grant appoints Judge Mobley Meadows to the Texas Federal Circuit Court and charges him with preventing the situation from getting out of hand. Davis quickly realizes that Mobley is a threat when he overturns the Governor’s land reappraisal decree, a source of graft for Davis’s supporters, and sends his personal assassin to get rid of Mobley. Mobley and his two deputy marshals, Edson Rabb, a handsome Cherokee Indian, and Jack Anthony Lopes, the illegitimate son of General Santa Ana and the English Lady Madeleine Smythe, are repeatedly attacked on their journey from Waco to Austin. They know Davis is behind the attacks, but they cannot make a case against him. Davis loses the election by a majority of two to one, but arranges for his personally appointed state Supreme Court to overturn the election on a technicality involving a single misplaced semi-colon in the new Texas constitution. He then refuses to leave office or to participate in a trial in Mobley’s court. Davis’s opponent, Richard Coke, does not accept this decision and with his supporters storms the state administrative building in Austin. Davis’s forces counterattack and manage to take back the first floor of the building. A standoff then prevails that can only be resolved by the action of President Grant. Mobley suggests a course of action to the president, that in the end works, but not without Mobley having to compromise his beliefs, his sense of honor, and everything he thinks he stands for.

    She has taken a North Texas quarter horse racer and liquor baron named Archie Carpin--the last of a dynasty of criminals from the 1920's--for a ride and cleaned him out of a neat two million bucks. And thus begins the adventure of Bill’s life.Ensues a chase north across Texas to recover the money and shake the pursuit of a couple of rednecks with a penchant for rifles and rigged explosives. Yet, through all this action the compelling tale of yet another mystery—an 80-year old missing person’s case—begins to unravel.

    Casey draws his evidence from open sources; by reading beyond the headlines. When his theorizing catches the attention of the wrong people and anonymous threats turn deadly, Casey looks to Susan Williams, an intelligent, but insecure, analyst for the New York-based consulting firm Intelligence Watch Group for help. The two soon find themselves in the crosshairs and fighting to save their own lives, while preventing an even greater injustice that could affect the balance of power in the Middle East and plunge the world headlong into the next Great War.

    Taken hostage, Jules provides escape for Sam Fields, anundercover cop desperate to avoid capture by his nemesis and former mentor, Detective Stone McCarthy. Sam can't afford to blow his two-year investigation of Goliath, a band of crooked cops who clean up New York City streets vigilante style. Especially if Stone is one of them.*WARNING* This book contains adult content & language, sexy love scenes, a complicated storyline with lots of action and subplots, and a troupe of rich characters. This is not your mother's mainstream romance book!You can read an interview of the author, Christine M. Fairchild, here: http://mariposacruz.blogspot.com/sear...Or visit these pages to hear the author discuss:1) Writing the character Sam Fields as a hero OUT of uniform here: http://sharonhamiltonauthor.blogspot....2) Creating creepy villains: http://savvyauthors.com/vb/content.ph...3) Researching law enforcement and writing dog heroes: http://www.stormgoddessbookreviews.bl...4) Building the novel as an outlet during a difficult time providing eldercare:http://www.justromanticsuspense.com/2...

    CIA operative, Ridley Fox, never stopped hunting his fiancée's killers—a weapons consortium called The Arms Of Ares. When Fox follows a lead to one of their top-secret bioweapons facilities in Chechnya, he barely escapes alive. However, he's learned that Ares has weaponized a hyper-deadly microbe called Pandora. The trail leads Fox to Tokyo, where he teams up with an old flame and fellow operative, Nita Parris. Aside from Ares, they must contend with rogue agents who'll stop at nothing to get Pandora. This throws Fox and Parris into a deadly game of spy vs spy, as they must rely on each other to locate the microbe. For if it's unleashed, it could mean the end of humanity.

    . . Is the rising number of abused women who've gone missing a statistical anomaly? Or is a serial killer targeting this vulnerable group of women? When the Milwaukee Police Department refuses to investigate because no bodies have been discovered, Lisa Rayburn, the clinical psychologist who discovers the anomaly, is drawn into an investigation to discover the cause after one of her own clients goes missing. She finds herself forming an unlikely alliance with a former policewoman turned security consultant, TJ Peacock, and the husbands of two of the missing women who may themselves be murderers. When TJ is attacked, and a woman looking remarkably like Lisa is found murdered, they know . . . someone is willing to kill to protect his secret. Can they reveal the killer before he gets to them?

    When his dad died, leaving him and his mother penniless, he dropped out of law school and ended his relationship with Noella, but in doing so, he stopped a scandal that could have ruined her family. These secrets he would never let her know. Ironically, years later, he would have never guessed she would be instrumental in ruining his career with the Tampa police force. After Noella finished law school and started pursuing her goal of working up the ranks in judgeships, she never considered inviting another guy into her life. As such, when someone attempts to threaten her into vacating her seat on the bench, and by force if necessary, she knows of no one else she really trust as much as Vance, who now has a successful bodyguard and private detective business.She knows that Vance might hate her for her part in having him dismissed from the police force, but what he will never know is that she actually saved him from going to prison. Additionally, she now thinks he was framed, and perhaps by the same people who are threatening her. She had to talk him into taking her on as a client . . . but would he agree to her request?As the number of attacks on her life increases, Vance soon has no choice but to offer her his protection, and in spite of everything, when they see each other again their old attraction for each other returns. She wants the truth. He wants the truth. However, making the ultimate sacrifice is not always easy to understand, whether given or received. Ultimately . . . could they now trust each other with these secrets? While their lives depend on discovering the truth to their past, these truths are locked in deep secrets that could also destroy them.This novel is available also in paperback, hardback, and audio.

    Tempest finds stubborn Jake attractive, compelling and infuriating, his logic the complete antithesis of her reliance on her instincts. And Jake is fascinated and attracted to the feisty redhead.As they spend time together trying to thwart a heist at the British Museum, the attraction between them flares out of control. The thief has a grudge against Jake, and danger stalks their every move. Will Jake learn to trust Tempest’s intuition, before it’s too late?