Sam believes she will soon have to adjust from the slow-paced, farm life of East Arkansas to follow her track scholarship to the University of Arkansas. Her life now is laid-back and predictable just the way she wants it. However, that will soon change as she goes for a morning run down a familiar, rural road and stops for a brief rest at an old, abandoned farm. There at that lonely, isolated place, so peaceful, so familiar, Sam has an experience that will change the course of her life. What will she do and where will she turn as she discovers she is not who or what she thought and this world is not the only one? Are they even her choices to make when a strange, dimension portal proves time travel and other worlds are real? Return from the Portal is the sequel to the time travel novel Portal to the Forgotten. In that story Luke, a reclusive Arkansas Constable, while searching for a missing girl, discovers a time travel portal in the Ozark Mountains that opens to another dimension. He and a reporter are pulled into that world and find it is almost impossible to get back. Return from the Portal is a stand alone novel, but would be better enjoyed by first reading Portal to the Forgotten. Visit John Gschwend at Johngschwend.com to see more of his stories.

    

    

    Not only do they live in an extraordinary house, in an extraordinary hamlet, but they also have rather extraordinary skills…Nestled among a thicket of weeping willows deep in the heart of Dartmoor, lies a house like no other. A house defying the laws of logic–and gravity for that matter. Some might even say it had a mind, and soul, of its own. They wouldn’t be wrong.Affectionately known as Willow, this house has been an integral part of the Winterbourne family for over 400 years, and it is very, very protective of the Winterbournes, so woe betide anyone who dares to wrong this family of witches…

    YOU GET *FIVE* CRIME THRILLERS FULL OF TWISTS AND EDGE OF YOUR SEAT TENSION.What readers are saying about STEVE PARKER“A must read for all crime thriller fans.” Viv“A really good thriller to keep you on the edge of your seat.” Barbara“I was up until 2am as I couldn’t read it quick enough.” Carole“The differences between the two detectives works so well ... they are so much alike ... but yet are miles apart in others” Linda Strong“I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. I was hooked right from the start.” Sue“A fast-moving action-packed thriller which will keep you enthralled from page one.”“Another gripping, fast-paced and twisted caper for the most unorthodox police duo in UK fiction.” Donna“Loved the book, Clocks makes me laugh out loud.” AileenDO YOU LOVE EXPLOSIVE UNPUTDOWNABLE CRIME FICTION? THEN MEET DETECTIVES PATERSON AND CLOCKS. THIS DUO ARE IRREVERENT, IMPULSIVE, AND ALWAYS FULL OF SURPRISES.IN THIS FIVE-BOOK BOX SETBOOK 1: THEIR LAST WORDSA young woman is found dead on the streets of London. Her throat slashed, her body mutilated, and one word carved into her flesh: “DON’T.” Detective Superintendent Ray Paterson is assigned to the case. Young, handsome, and from a wealthy background, he’s tipped for the top. He joins a team based out of Bermondsey, South London. It’s meant to be a steppingstone to his next promotion, but this case will threaten to bring down his career and everything he thought he knew about policing.BOOK 2: DEADLY CRIMESAn elderly African man is found dead in the street, shot through the head. The killing has the hallmarks of a professional assassin. Dumped in a waste bin next to the dead man is the dismembered torso of a child. On his first day back at work, disgraced Detective Superintendent Ray Paterson finds himself teamed up again with newly promoted Detective Inspector Johnny Clocks.BOOK 3: THE BURNING MENA man is burnt at the stake in a London park. His smouldering corpse is a message of the most violent kind. The victim is Davey Caine. He is the heir to the criminal empire created by his father, William ‘Billy’ Caine. Billy is a notorious and violent gangster who controls South East London. But he’s not the man he used to be and the sharks smell blood in the water.BOOK 4: YOU CAN’T HIDEAlbert Tanner, vicious psychopath and burner of men, is in the USA with unfinished business. Only Detectives Ray Paterson and Johnny Clocks can stop him. Their task is straightforward: hunt Tanner down and bring him home. But a few explosions, an assassin and a dead child change everything.BOOK 5: THEIR DYING BREATHA severed head washes up on the banks of the Thames, a star carved into the forehead. The next day the airwaves are hacked. A live-stream shows a man imprisoned in a box. He also has a star cut into his head. Then the man is drowned. Two more men are murdered on live TV, two more will die within hours. Detectives Paterson and Clocks race against time to ensure their next breath isn’t their last. But this enemy is far more deadly than any they’ve encountered before.THE DETECTIVESDetective Superintendent Ray Paterson is a young and (thanks to family money) wealthy womaniser, separated from his model wife and tipped to be the youngest ever commissioner of police. Detective Inspector Johnny Clocks is a foul-mouthed, working-class officer. He grew up surrounded by rogues and villains but became a first-class thief taker.THE AUTHORSteve Parker is a retired police officer who served for 20 years in numerous high-profiles squads.Don’t miss out on this action-packed series! YOU GET ALL FIVE OF THE ABOVE BOOKS IN THIS EDITION

    Pregnant with their third child, Deirdre works as a washerwoman at the hotel's laundry. If Sean works at all, he drinks his paycheck at the pub. When he is killed in an accident at work, Deirdre is devastated. She gives birth to another son, but cannot work at the laundry. The oldest son lives on the street as a newsie. Rather than let Ava Rose and her baby brother starve to death with her, she signs for them to be put on an orphan train. This orphan train takes these youngsters to Nebraska to Claudine, who has suffered multiple miscarriages. Will the adoption provide the safety and opportunity that Deirdre hopes? This researched story of two mothers and the child who loves both is heart wrenching.It is a poignant tale of hope and courage against unfathomable odds for a better life free from prejudice and poverty.

    Then she learns she's fighting for the wrong side. Fleeing for her life, she seeks out Max, the one wizard who can help save her people. Michael is a simple carpenter. While other eighteen-year-olds seek adventure, he loves his quiet life. Then nightstalkers attack and everything turns to chaos. With the world on the brink of Armageddon, a mystical gem known as the Eye calls on Michael to wield its great magic, but its power is useless if he can’t learn to embrace the magic within himself. Thrown into a war of wizards and warlocks, demons and dragons, Michael and Falon follow Max on a daring mission to save the world. Racing headlong toward the fight of their life, Michael must wield powers he barely understands while Falon must embrace skills she abhors and Max must become the wizard he failed to be in the past.

    Read their stories about the hidden secret of an old Irish castle, the ultimate revenge of a high school teacher, the story of a ghost who travels overseas and the mysterious prom date. A perfect way to get into the Halloween season.

    Mike and his cousin, Salvatore “Sally-Boy” Boccanera are born one minute apart, in the same hospital, and it seems like they’ll never be more than a minute apart the rest of their lives. Their experiences knocking around the city are challenging, funny, touching, and at times disturbing—all of the ingredients that define growing up. Life lessons happen in the Italian bakery Sally-Boy’s father owns, where the boys loll and play, with ears and eyes wide open. But maybe the biggest lesson of all looms over Mike’s father, who’s determined to make drastic changes in pursuit of a better life. Hanging in the balance, at the center of the boys’ tumultuous lives, is the fire escape. It’s a place that is uniquely theirs, and Mike best describes its spell, recalling how it reeks in the rain, blisters in the sun, and ices over in the snow. It’s where he and Sally-Boy talk and think and philosophize and plot and try to understand all they can about themselves and the world.

    Layer upon layer, twist upon twist, secret upon secret, this is a case tailor-made for a Sherlock Holmes devotee like private investigator Joey Mancuso. From the beginning, there’s just something funny about parents who didn’t report a missing student right away, and days later still want no police.Hold it here! This is their beloved daughter, last seen leaving for a date. Why wouldn’t they want as much firepower as they can get? Because they know too much, that’s why—and Owen Parr’s clever detective senses that. Joey’s first job’s to save the girl, but no way he’s going to stop there. The scrappy PI and ex-cop’s going to get answers if it kills him.A lot of the fun is in the clever Russian doll structure of a puzzle wrapped in a mystery, each discovery leading to a bigger and more surprising twist, but it wouldn't be half as delightful without the loveable series ensemble author Parr has assembled. The usual suspects are here—Marcy, Joey’s new wife and favorite FBI agent; researcher Agnes, who goes to Father Dom’s Mass every morning, presumably to repent for her shameless hacking; and Mr. Pat, gentle giant bartender-turned-detective. There’s also a welcome new addition—a professor who’s as close as you’re ever going to get to Indiana Jones.BOOK 5 -AT 16, HE SAW HIS DAD GUNNED DOWN. NOW HE HAS A CHANCE TO FIND THE KILLER,,,PI Joey Mancuso was just a kid when he watched a stranger walk into a Little Italy bar, shoot his mobster dad in the chest, and calmly walk back out, disappearing into the Manhattan din. The murder was never solved. And the old mob adage “an eye for an eye” went unfulfilled.But now, at death’s door, infamous mobster Tony the Hammer summons Joey and utters three mysterious words: “Wetherly Stevens, Barcelona.” Joey has no doubt he’s just been told how to find his father’s killer. From tantalizing tapas near La Sagrada Familia to bourbon-soaked pulled pork sandwiches at a South Carolina B&B, murder couldn’t get any more flavorful—or more personal.Perhaps retired partner Alexander Wetherly has answers. Next stop: Hilton Head, where Wetherly is happily ensconced with a houseful of help serving up bottomless Arnold Palmers. But a peaceful Q&A on quaint Daufuskie Island turns murderous when the elderly gentleman who runs Joey’s B&B winds up stabbed to death. And this isn’t the first murder of its kind—it seems Daufuskie Island has a grisly and deeply-seated cold case all its own. With the help of his cohorts—including Father Dom and a talented hacker (their researcher, Agnes)-- Joey meticulously puts together the pieces of two puzzles at once—and scrutinizes the connections between them—hoping to solve his father’s murder while preventing another from haunting the Carolina shores. BOOK 6 -THE WOMAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH. As the men around her are dropping like fliesIn his sixth labyrinthine hard-boiled puzzler, NYC private eye Joey Mancuso finds himself neck-deep in a maze of a murder mystery—the kind that weaves through military secrets and international espionage—at the center of which is the woman he loves. The vic, Oscar Stanton (name etched into his designer trousers), was gunned down in Washington Square Park in broad daylight, just after a lunchtime rendezvous with a business associate. A quick and dirty ID reveals the real Oscar Stanton was working in cybersecurities for the DOD—and, perhaps unsurprisingly, was KIA in Afghanistan. And since Mancuso’s antics tend to weave a winding yarn as intricately-connected as a satisfying Sherlock Holmes.

    When the stunning public defender, Kathryn Andrews, asks him to bring a wrongful death suit against Wycliffe Pharmaceutical for the death of her public defender husband, Tom, Hugh agrees to take the case. But from their first meeting, Hugh has misgivings because he is convinced Kathryn is hiding a dark secret about her marriage. As Hugh and his team of high-priced of Goldstein, Miller attorneys prepare their case, they find more and more evidence that Wycliffe has covered up the deadly properties of the drug that killed Tom. And, at the same time, multiple attempts on Kathryn’s life confirm that the Goldstein, Miller lawyers are very close to uncovering the truth. Feeling certain of a big win, Hugh and his team take the Andrews’ case to trial. But one by one his witnesses start to die, Hugh himself is arrested in front of the jury, and a surprise witness reveals the disastrous secret of the Andrews’ marriage. Will the Andrews’ case be the end of Hugh and his empire?

    This bundle offers a great introduction to Blake Pierce’s series with over 140,000 words of reading.In BEFORE HE KILLS, a woman is found murdered in the cornfields of Nebraska, strung up on a pole, the victim of a deranged killer. It doesn’t take long for the police to realize a serial killer is on the loose—and that his spree has just begun. Detective Mackenzie White, young, tough, smarter than the aging, chauvinistic men on her local force, finds herself called in grudgingly to help solve it. As much as the other officers hate to admit it, they need her young, brilliant mind, which has already helped crack cold cases that had left them stumped. Yet even for Mackenzie this new case proves an impossible riddle, something the likes of which she—and the local force—have ever seen. With the FBI called in, together, an intense manhunt ensues. Mackenzie, reeling from her own dark past, her failed relationships, and her undeniable attraction to the new FBI agent, finds herself battling her own demons as her hunt for the killer takes her to the darkest places of her mind.In ONCE GONE, women are turning up dead in the rural outskirts of Virginia, killed in grotesque ways, and when the FBI is called in, they are stumped. A serial killer is out there, his frequency increasing, and they know there is only one agent good enough to crack this case: Special Agent Riley Paige. Riley is on paid leave herself, recovering from her encounter with her last serial killer, and, fragile as she is, the FBI is reluctant to tap her brilliant mind. Yet Riley, needing to battle her own demons, comes on board, and her hunt leads her through the disturbing subculture of doll collectors, into the homes of broken families, and into the darkest canals of the killer’s mind. As Riley peels back the layers, she realizes she is up against a killer more twisted than she could have imagined. Dark psychological thrillers with heart-pounding suspense, BEFORE HE KILLS and ONCE GONE mark the debut of riveting new series—and beloved new characters—that will leave you turning pages late into the night. Books #2 and #3 in the Riley Paige series are also available!

    It’s enough to make a scrapbooker see red. Determined to save the man she loves, Kiki vows to track down the real killer.BOOK #8 – GROUP, PHOTO, GRAVETHE WEDDING WAS WONDERFUL, EXCEPT FOR THE CORPSE IN THE PUNCH BOWL. Kiki has knocked herself out to make her mother-in-law’s wedding picture perfect, but a dead body is always a disaster. When the bride gets blamed, Kiki relies on her nose for clues as she sniffs out the killer.BOOK #9—KILLER, PAPER, CUTA HALLOWEEN HACK JOB CUTS DOWN ONE OF KIKI’S FRIENDS. When an event at a spooky historical mansion becomes a venue for a stabbing, Kiki refuses to let the slasher get away with carving up one of her dearest friends.BOOK #10 – HANDMADE, HOLIDAY, HOMICIDEA PREGNANT KIKI WATCHES IN HORROR AS A WOMAN DIES UNEXPECTEDLY IN A HOLIDAY CLASS. When one of Kiki’s besties is unfairly blamed, the intrepid (and very pregnant) amateur sleuth pulls up her big girl maternity panties and discovers someone has been not nice and very naughty indeed. BOOK #11 – SHOTGUN, WEDDING, BELLSKIKI’S WEDDING IS INTERRUPTED BY GUNSHOTS AND HER NEW HUSBAND GOES DOWN. Two weeks from her due date, a pregnant Kiki traces the hired hitman to a “gentleman’s club.

    Once again, local butcher Bob is playing the dame, but the whole production is put under threat when someone sabotages his business. Libby Sarjeant recruits Fran Wolfe to help find the culprit and restore the Steeple Martin pantomime.