My Mother's Daughter


Judith Henry Wall - 2000
    It's a bittersweet celebration as Mary Sue is scheduled for a mastectomy in the morning. When Mary Sue's boyfriend finally shows up, she has already gone to bed. Drunk and angry, he trips, breaks his neck, and dies. Horrified, the three other women put him in his car and send it careening into the lake.How these women deal with their awful secret parallels their lives and relationships to this point. Pamela is at the beck and call of her rich and boorish husband. Gretchen gave up a promising career to marry an adulterous man who eventually left her for his secretary. Dixie -- also divorced -- is involved in an extended long-distance affair with a handsome but married vineyard owner; as she plays the role of the dreaded "other woman, " even her closest friends can't know. And Mary Sue, the ebullient cheerleader, had lived an idyllic married life until she found her husband carrying on with a sexy widow. Shattered, she convinced herself to fall in love with a contentious and truculent drunk.In addition to keeping their terrible secret, the women must continually deal with their ever-complicated lives and relationships. And it is these trials, and the struggle to find one's place in a world where everyone is younger and prettier that is at the heart of this moving and ultimately triumphant novel.

Bigfoot Beach


Kristopher Rufty - 2015
    A missing woman. And a giant footprint in the sand. Now, the dying beach community known as Seashell Cove finally has a hook to attract the tourists—a Bigfoot on the beach! As the summer season winds down, the tourists go home and the town begins preparing for the colder months. Soon, more strange footprints are found, other mysterious sightings are reported. Then the deaths begin. Could there really be a Bigfoot running loose in Seashell Cove? A tracker with a personal agenda, the local sheriff, a hero whose fifteen minutes of fame expired a long time ago, and a female reporter looking for a scoop will team up to find out for sure.

Starting Out In the Afternoon


Jill Frayne - 2002
    She decided to pack up her life and head for the Yukon.Driving alone across the country from her home just north of Toronto, describing the land as it changes from Precambrian Shield to open prairie, Jill finds that solitude in the wilds is not what she expected. She is actively engaged by nature, her moods reflected in the changing landscape and weather. Camping in her tent as she travels, she begins to let go of the world she’s leaving and to enter the realm of the solitary traveller. There are many challenges in store. She has booked a place on a two-week sea-kayaking trip in the Queen Charlotte Islands of British Columbia; though she owns a canoe, she has never been in a kayak. As the departure nears, she dreads it. Nor does it work any miracle charm on her, as she is isolated from her fellow travellers; yet the landscape and wild beauty of the old hunt camps gradually affects her. Halfway, as she begins to have energy left at the end of the day’s exertions, she notes: “This is as relaxed as I have ever been, as free from anxious future-thinking as I have ever managed.”From there she heads north, taking ferries up the Inside Passage and using her bicycle and tent to explore the wet, mountainous places along the way. Again, she feels self-conscious when alone in public, but once she strikes out into nature, the wilderness begins to work its magic on her, and she begins to feel a bond with the land and a kind of serenity. Moreover, she comes to realize that this self-reliance is an important step. Many travel narratives involve some kind of inner journey, a seeking of knowledge and of self. Set in the same part of the world, Jonathan Raban’s A Passage to Juneau ended up being “an exploration into the wilderness of the human heart.” Kevin Patterson used his months sailing from Vancouver to Tahiti to consider his life in The Water in Between, while the Bhutanese landscape worked a profound transformation on Jamie Zeppa in Beyond the Sky and the Earth. In This Cold Heaven, Gretel Ehrlich chose not to put herself into the story, but described the landscape with a similar hunger and intensity, while Sharon Butala has written deeply and personally about her physical and spiritual connection with the prairies in The Perfection of the Morning and other work.In Starting Out in the Afternoon, Frayne struggles to come to terms with her vulnerabilities and begins to find peace. In beautifully spare but potent language, she delivers an inspiring, contemplative memoir of the middle passage of a woman’s life and an eloquent meditation on the solace of living close to the wild land. Eventually what has begun as a three-month trip becomes a personal journey of several years, during which she is on the move and testing herself in the wilderness. She conquers her fears and begins a new relationship with nature, exuberant at becoming a competent outdoorswoman. “Despite a late start I expect to spend the rest of my life dashing off the highway, pursuing this know-how, plumbing the outdoors side of life.”

The Crocketts': Western Saga Two


Robert Vaughan - 2020
    

In Search of Vindication


Ethan Westfield - 2020
    Deputy Marshal in Kansas for a great deal of his life. As soon as his brother Tommy stops answering his letters, he gets extremely alarmed and decides to take matters into his own hands. When he puts a plan in place to travel to Texas, little does he know that a shattering surprise awaits him there; his brother has been found dead, next to the body of one of the most powerful ranchers in town. Will Lee manage to unravel the truth behind these enigmatic and shocking deaths?While Lee is still aghast, the local sheriff declares Tommy's death a suicide, and also accuses him of attempting robbery and murder. On the spur of the moment, the case is considered closed, which makes Lee highly suspicious. Feeling that they drag Tommy's name through the mud, he decides to defy the law and seek vindication. Will he succeed in this lonesome yet risky mission? How will he solve this demanding riddle and clear his brother's name?Lee's hazardous quest begins, having Susan Marsh and Ki'Somma, a young Cherokee medicine man, on his side. Doubts, lies, deceits, serious injuries as well as many other roadblocks will derange their endless undertaking. Will they manage to join forces triumphantly and complete this challenging mission? Or will Tommy always be remembered as a ruthless criminal?

The Christos Mosaic


Vincent Czyz - 2015
    Drew is desperate to turn everything over to the academic community, and in the process redeem himself in the eyes of his estranged wife, but Kadir and Zafer are only interested in what they can get for the scrolls on the black market. Not everyone wants to see the scrolls go public, however, and some will stop at nothing to protect the Church and believers around the world from the revelations embodied in the priceless manuscripts.An action-packed intellectual thriller unraveling the mystery of a theological cold case more than two thousand years old, The Christos Mosaic is a monumental work of biblical research wrapped in a story of love, faith, human frailty, friendship, and forgiveness. Author Vincent Czyz takes the reader through the backstreets of Istanbul, Antakya (ancient Antioch), and Cairo, to clandestine negotiations with wealthy antiquities smugglers and ruthless soldiers of fortune, to dusty Egyptian monasteries, on a nautical skirmish off the coast of Alexandria, and  finally to the ruins of Constantine's palace buried deep beneath the streets of present-day Istanbul.

The Kiln


William McIlvanney - 1996
    With school behind him and a summer job at a brick works, Tom had his whole life before him. Years later, alone in a rented flat in Edinburgh and lost in memories, Tom recalls the intellectual and sexual awakening of his youth. In looking back, Tom discovers that only by understanding where he comes from can he make sense of his life as it is now.

The Golden Hour


William Nicholson - 2011
    When Andrew is offered a job close to Maggie, moving in with her is the obvious next step. Or is it? Moving in together leads to marriage. Is this the man she wants to spend the rest of her life with?Maggie panics. Andrew is devastated. But when he turns the tables on her, Maggie begins to see him rather differently. Meanwhile Maggie's Sussex neighbours are living through their own intense dilemmas. Henry's midlife crisis is exacerbated by a plague of rabbits in his garden, but hiring petty criminal Terry to extend the fencing turns out rather badly. Henry's wife Laura is secretly adored by her brother in law, Roddy. He hovers in the wings waiting for the moment to declare himself; while screenwriter Alan's efforts to convert a Grade II listed outbuilding to a workspace are thwarted by a maddening conservation officer--who happens to be Maggie.

Body on the Shore


Diane M. Dickson - 2020
    Yet they will struggle to establish the identity of the victim, let alone the killer.Leading the inquiry on his first murder case, DI Jordan Carr must marshal a somewhat motley team to build a picture of what happened one grim day on the Mersey. Like footprints in the sand, in time the clues will disappear.With a victim who has clearly concealed her own identity, it will require a journey into Liverpool’s underworld to shake loose the facts.But once they have their man, the police still need to know why the woman was killed. And answering that question will be DI Carr’s biggest challenge.BODY ON THE SHORE is the first book in a new mystery series by Diane Dickson. She is the author of many crime fiction titles, including the bestselling DI Tanya Miller series set in the Midlands and Oxfordshire.

The Return of The Little Prince


Ysatis De Saint-Simon - 2004
    Sequel to Le petit prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupaery.

Avondale


Toby Neighbors - 2014
    Only a few fortified cities high in the mountains have survived. The lands below lay covered by a permanent barrier of mist and only huge, monstrous beasts ever rise up above the cloud bank.In Avondale, the Earl’s son harbors a secret. Magic is blamed for the cataclysm and outlawed in the high mountain cities, but Tiberius longs to become a wizard. When he finally begins to practice magic, he knows his time in the wondrous city of Avondale is short, but where can he go? What lies beneath the mists that surround his mountaintop home? And if he ventures out of the city, how will he survive in a land that no one has ever returned from?Avondale is the first book in new epic fantasy series that explores a fantastic world full of wonder and more than a little danger. It’s a fast paced adventure, with strong characters and magical places that you won’t want to put down. Written by Toby Neighbors, author of the best selling series The Five Kingdoms, Avondale is a fresh, new, high action fantasy novel that will sweep you away into a world of magic and wizards, swords and sorcery.

The River by Starlight


Ellen Notbohm - 2018
    There, sparks fly when she tangles with Adam Fielding, a visionary businessman-farmer determined to make his own way and answer to no one. Neither is looking for marriage, but they give in to their undeniable chemistry.Annie and Adam's marriage brims with early promise and unanticipated passion, but their dream of having a child eludes them as a mysterious illness of mind and body plagues Annie's pregnancies. Amidst deepening economic adversity, natural disaster, and the onset of world war, their personal struggles collide with the societal mores of the day. Annie's shattering periods of black depression and violent outbursts exact a terrible price. The life the Fieldings have forged begins to unravel, and the only path ahead leads to unthinkable loss. Gold medal - Independent Publisher Book Awards, Best Regional FictionSarton Women's Book Award for Historical FictionWestern Writers of American Spur Award, Best First NovelGrand Prize Short List, Eric Hoffer Book AwardsFirst Runner-up for Historical Fiction, Eric Hoffer Book AwardsFirst place, Goethe Award for Historical Fiction, Chanticleer InternationalFinalist, National Indie Excellence AwardsFinalist, High Plains Book AwardsFinalist, Nancy Pearl Book AwardsFinalist, Chatelaine Awards, Chanticleer InternationalFinalist, Spur Awards, Best Traditional NovelFinalist, Next Generation Indie Book Awards,Finalist, Da Vinci Eye Award, Eric Hoffer Book AwardsSemifinalist, Somerset Awards, Chanticleer InternationalPowell's City of Books Staff Pick

Anti-Social Media


Kate-Beth Heywood - 2015
    without a script. But this isn't a problem until by random stroke of fate the mega-famous Hollywood diva Jennifer Roberts announces on American primetime television that Constance is writing her next movie. But this is news to Constance; how the hell did that happen? She is jettisoned to fame overnight and faces a race against time to write the script. With the help of an unscrupulous 'agent' and a hostile ghost writer, Constance battles her way to Hollywood through the onslaught of social media, trolls, a philandering boyfriend, and leaked naked photographs... Social media paves the way for an unknown scriptwriter in a comedy of misunderstandings and miscreants, and finally an ounce of good luck.

The Legend of Jake Jackson: The Last Of The Great Gunfighters


William H. Joiner Jr. - 2019
    Joiner, Jr. comes a great new action-packed Western adventure. How does a man become one of the fastest guns in the old West? Ride with Jake Jackson as he roots out evil, brings peace to the Old West—and fights for what’s right! This is a man who isn't afraid to fire the six-shooter in his hand! Jake Jackson’s white family were killed when he was a baby by a Comanche war party. Jake’s red family raised him as White Wolf, Comanche warrior. He became a celebrated warrior of the tribe. When the Comanche were forced onto a reservation by the U.S. military and the decimation of the buffalo herd, Jake transitioned to the white world and became known as the fastest gun on the western frontier. Grab your copy today!

The Eight-Shilling Girl


Faye Godwin - 2021