He just wanted a quiet life. Something his mother was not going to allow. There again he never for one moment imagined he would have to look into the death of a 90-year-old lady who was gambling away her family fortune. The Hayden Detective Agency has no need of clients. The very existence of the Agency allows Martin Hayden to claim his large monthly allowance from the family fortune - without lifting a finger. Martin’s biggest problem is his interfering mother, who understands her idle son too well. She takes steps to find him not just clients but also a personal assistant to keep an eye on him. Under pressure from the women in his life, Martin agrees to take on his first client. How hard can it be to follow a 90-year-old woman who spends her time losing money at roulette tables? As it turns out harder than Martin ever thought possible, especially with the old lady dying in strange circumstances. Soon the Reluctant Detective is grappling with shady estate agents, an intellectual artist, missing charity money and an irritating Indian waiter. Luckily for Martin there is help in the form of Colin, a transvestite who, apart from having very good fashion sense, is an expert at breaking into houses.

     PART I When Deputy Carson Wheeler goes to the One Hart Ranch to investigate a report of cattle rustling, he finds himself face to face with Melody Hart. Melody is the last of the Harts left to run the old ranching operation. She’s fierce and hardworking and Carson finds himself fascinated in spite of how prickly she seems with him. But they’re going to have to work together to unravel the case of the animal rights activists looking to shut down what they see as an abomination against cattle and the ranching tradition itself. PART II One of Deputy Lilliana Martinez’s favorite stops every morning is at the food truck parked not far from the sheriff’s office. There are Burrito Trucks everywhere in the valley. But lately, there have been several very strange robberies. When Lilli witnesses a robbery, she takes a personal interest in the case. Lilli thinks that it’s an inside job and she even has her suspect. Oscar Garcia certainly looks the part. But the more Lilli gets to know Oscar, the more she realizes that he only looks like a thug on the outside. On the inside, he’s a prince among men. And in fact, it’s the one who looks like a prince that is really the devil in disguise. PART III Deputy Rico Attencio is not a big fan of art and yoga weekends. Maybe that’s why he’s not all that surprised to get a phone call from the artists’ retreat saying that they have a problem. What Rico could never predict was how attractive he finds the owner. Sara Sellers is nothing like what Rico expected. Sara is absolutely sure that someone is poisoning her guests. But it will take more than a little bit of sleuthing and good old fashioned common sense to find the culprit before someone winds up dead. PART IV Deputy Tom Mason is just as supportive of this resurgence of the homestead movement as anyone else. That is until it starts to spawn a herd of livestock and children who seem determined to wander through the streets of Dos Brazos. First chickens. Then a bull. And then eventually there are goats and children roaming just about everywhere around town and getting in the way of normal things like traffic. When Florence Fiskars from the Department of Social Services asks Deputy Tom for a hand, he is sure that the state is just going to make a mess of things. It does not take long for them to discover they’ve stumbled onto a little more than the average negligence case. Tom always heard about the “orphan train” in history class as a boy. He just never thought he’d discover that someone was attempting to use orphan labor in the here and now. PART V There have been a lot of changes in the valley, but when someone starts putting pressure on Clarissa Maestas to sell her family’s farm, she digs in her heels and says no. Then a string of strange things begins to happen within the Maestas family’s Farm to Table operation. That’s when Clarissa calls in the help of her oldest school friend, now sheriff of the Dos Brazos Valley. What Wyatt and Clarissa dig up has them realizing that someone has huge plans for the valley that leaves no room for any of the locals. It’s up to Clarissa and Wyatt to put aside their childhood quarrels and put a stop to the Hollywood invasion before it’s too late.

    But soon after Desmond and his two friends, Corin and Diego, start exploring the museums and ancient ruins of Rome, fate, it seems, intervenes. Almost by accident, the kids find a hidden map that appears to lead to a heretofore unknown treasure—hidden long ago by none other than Julius Caesar himself, one of the most powerful emperors in all of recorded human history. But finding the hidden treasure proves to be just as difficult and inscrutable as Caesar himself, and unfortunately their hunt attracts a heap of unwanted attention from some seedy underworld characters. Now you can join the adventure with Desmond, Corin, and Diego with this complete digital box set of all three books in the Adventure Guild Trilogy of The Caesar Secret. Don't miss out on this page-turning adventure for all ages.

     Then, a domineering whisper in my ear contained the capacity to rule my world. His deep baritone was the beginning of a profound obsession-an irresistible mirage that turned into my incontestable truth. I never thought I could love someone like him. He was foul-mouthed, demanding, and far from the standard I preferred. Then he caressed me, and I became hooked.

    Unadopted and nearing the maximum age for the Foundling Home, Mary Catherine is given a choice by the mother superior, and decides to take the orphan train looking for a future. Trace Jennings is a shy young man who lost his father in the Civil War. Raised by his mother, he lives on a ranch in Helena, Montana. Raw from a disastrous mail order marriage, romance is not on his agenda. Faced with the obstacles life has dealt them, can Mary Catherine and Trace find romance and have a life together?

    

    

    Every decision is based upon a game of chance, even the decision to kill. She trusts the coin to keep her safe … it’s never let her down.DS Khenan Malice is called to attend a clear case of suicide. But all is not what it seems. Then his world is turned upside down by a casual remark. The worst thing is … the remark comes from his seven-year-old daughter.DC Kelly Pietersen is close to breaking point. The ghosts of recent events won’t leave her alone. She’s about to snap and someone is going to get hurt.Valerie is always one step ahead … the coin knows best.

    Unbeknownst to her, a secret hides within her family that will eventually enlighten her to herself and to her past and permanently change the direction of her future.

    When her gangster boyfriend Tim is sent down, Susie Jones’ life is thrown into turmoil.Left to run his criminal empire, Susie finds solace in new acquaintances made in Strangeways Visitors’ Centre with unforeseen consequences.

    Her life was uneventful; she hated the monotone existence that she had to deal with, where each day blurred into the one before. She dreamed of the day where this would change, the day when she could finally begin to live her life.But when a mysterious young man from out-of-town visits Boutiques with Coffee, Meghan is overwhelmed with emotion. Young, attractive, and more mysterious than a Top-Secret military document, this man by the name of William quickly changes Meghan’s life. Whether the changes were good or bad, she did not yet know.Would this man be good for Meghan? Is he the answer to the boring and uneventful life that she was currently living? Or will the mysterious man break her heart, and make her wish that she had never met him?

    

    All hope of staying in her childhood home are gone, as are the chances of finding the one man who could have saved the Hall. But when a stranger arrives late one evening, drawn to the tiny fishing harbour by an injured dog, will he be friend or foe? Only the Hall’s ancient guardians and its missing owner know the truth. Time is running out. Soon it will be too late.

    But when she hatches a desperate plan that has her digging a grave in her vegetable garden to protect her young daughter, she finds some secrets are too big to bury. Now she must answer to the law and her mother. As if that isn't enough, nature itself seems to be aligned against her. Just when Krystal finally embraces the untidy truth and accepts the consequences of her murderous actions, she must confront a ghost from the past who's even better at deceit than she is. And he has a score to settle.

    Black Irish Blues is the return-to-origin story of Caesar Stiles, an erstwhile runaway who returns to his hometown with plans to buy the town's only tavern and end his family's Sicilian curse.Caesar's attempt for redemption is complicated by the spectral presence of his estranged father, reparation seekers related to his corrupt older brother, a charming crime boss and his enigmatic crew, and - most significantly - a stranger named Dinny Tuite whose disappearance under dubious circumstances immerses Caesar in a mystery that leads into the criminal underbelly of industrial New Jersey, the flawed myth of the American Dream, and his hometown's shameful secrets.Black Irish Blues is a poetic, gritty noir full of dynamic characters, a page-turning plot, and the further development of a unique American character.