Where the Bullets Fly


Terrence McCauley - 2018
    It's up to Sheriff Aaron Mackey to keep the peace--and keep the dregs of humanity from trying to make a killing . . .WHERE THE BULLETS FLY, VENGEANCE REIGNS If anyone can smell an investment opportunity, it's railroad men and big city bankers. They're not the kind of folks that Sheriff Mackey is used to dealing with. But greed is greed, and if anyone knows how money can drive men to murder, it's the sheriff of a boomtown like Dover Station. But when Mackey is forced to gun down a pair of saloon rats, it brings a powderkeg of trouble--with a quick-burning fuse of vengeance named Alexander Duramont. This bloodthirsty psychopath wants to kill the sheriff for killing his buddies. And he plans to get his revenge using a highly combustible mix of fire, fear, and dynamite . . . Mackey's not sure how he's going to stop this blood-crazed lunatic. But it's going to be one heck of an explosive and very violent showdown . . . "Hard to put down . . . because of the gritty and stylish narrative, the virtually nonstop action." -- Publishers Weekly on Terrence McCauley's Sympathy for the Devil

Rosa's Island


Val Wood - 2001
    Mr Drew's religious fervor holds a dark secret; Jim, the eldest son, is terrified of something from his past; Delia longs to escape from the island and tall, handsome Matthew wants only one thing - Rosa herself. Rosa's background is one of mystery, but Mr Drew knows the secret of Rosa's past - and so do the two mysterious Irishmen who come back to the island after many years to threaten everything Rosa holds dear...

Hard Candy


Amaleka McCall - 2011
    Rock's a reclusive hitman and "cleaner" who's been in service to Candy's father for years. He takes her in, and together they vow to avenge the murders. When she turns eighteen, her plans go into effect as she knocks off all her father's enemies, one by one, going up against some of the most dangerous killers in the game. But has she put her trust in the right hands? Or is she destined to face the same grisly fate as the rest of her family?

The Haunting of the Old Box: The Spirit Guide


Caroline Clark - 2018
    An evil spirit that haunts the night, a murder, a haunted box—once just a tale to scare the children—but now? Fern has always loved the supernatural and everything that goes bump in the night. Her university asked that she interview the famous murderer Raymond Tibbs. She couldn’t resist interviewing the man who claims he was possessed by a ghost that forced him to murder his wife and the family pet. Little does Fern know the terror she will unleash. Death and destruction stalk the ancient city of Lincoln as evil searches for its soulmate. If the two are reunited, then the reign of terror will last one hundred years. Can The Spirit Guide find a way to capture and contain this ancient force or will Fern lead the world into darkness? Find out in The Haunting of the Old Box — and remember just because it’s a tale whispered to scare children, it doesn’t mean it isn’t true.

At the River's Edge


D.R. Shoultz - 2018
    The unsolved shooting death of Mayor Hank Richards has a five-year curse hovering over the historic mountain community. Townspeople look over their shoulders in fear as neighbor accuses neighbor. Rumors of buried moonshine money captivate those seeking unearned riches, but haunt Emily Edwards, the strong-willed granddaughter of the purported moonshiner. Shortly following the murder of Mayor Richards, James Wolsey returns from college to help his mom manage the family’s hardware business. James and Emily are traveling diverse paths when they meet, but quickly align on a common course. If not for obsessed treasure hunters convinced Emily possesses a map, it seems their future together is promising. The couple's attempt to dispel rumors of buried treasure leads them to the gravesite of Emily’s ancestor beside the New River. What they uncover at the river’s edge propels them into the path of the mayor's killer, and unleashes a chain of chilling events that forever changes Sunset Peak. Mayor Richards’ murder will not be the last in the previously peaceful town.

Necessary Lies


Diane Chamberlain - 2013
    Bestselling author Diane Chamberlain delivers a breakout book about a small southern town fifty years ago, and the darkest—and most hopeful—places in the human heartAfter losing her parents, fifteen-year-old Ivy Hart is left to care for her grandmother, older sister and nephew as tenants on a small tobacco farm.  As she struggles with her grandmother’s aging, her sister’s mental illness and her own epilepsy, she realizes they might need more than she can give.When Jane Forrester takes a position as Grace County’s newest social worker, she doesn’t realize just how much her help is needed.  She quickly becomes emotionally invested in her clients' lives, causing tension with her boss and her new husband.  But as Jane is drawn in by the Hart women, she begins to discover the secrets of the small farm—secrets much darker than she would have guessed.  Soon, she must decide whether to take drastic action to help them, or risk losing the battle against everything she believes is wrong.Set in rural Grace County, North Carolina in a time of state-mandated sterilizations and racial tension, Necessary Lies tells the story of these two young women, seemingly worlds apart, but both haunted by tragedy.  Jane and Ivy are thrown together and must ask themselves: how can you know what you believe is right, when everyone is telling you it’s wrong?

The Hired Man's Christmas


George Givens - 1997
    Every summer a mysterious man known only as "Frank" arrives to help George Givens's grandfather with his farmwork. No one knows the hired man's last name, where he comes from, or why he always seems to be so sad. Once the season's crops are harvested, he disappears only to reappear the following summer. This routine continues for many years -- until one fateful Christmas Eve.The hired man never returns to the Givens farm after that day, and the mystery of his final disappearance seems destined to remain unsolved. Then, on Christmas Eve many years later, George serendipitously discovers the long-lost hired man's fate. This discovery teaches him a powerful lesson about the importance of family and the endurance of love."The Hired Man's Christmas" is a story of simpler times, but its message resonates across the years and in the hearts of fathers and sons even today.

But Come Ye Back: A Novel in Stories


Beth Lordan - 2003
    But when he retires, his Irish-born wife, Mary, wants to leave America and go home -- where the ocean is near and the butter has flavor.Somewhat grudgingly, Lyle agrees, but during their years in Galway, they discover that the surprises of life are not over. Going home is more complicated than butter and the bay, and thirty content years does not mean that a couple is immune to romantic intrigue. In this new life, while Mary and Lyle are rediscovering each other and building a richer life together, an unexpected event forces Lyle to decide where his home truly is.Told in "quiet stories with emotions like old stepping-stones that have sunk beneath the surface" (Christian Science Monitor), Beth Lordan's evocative and heartfelt novel explores the complex emotional terrain of mature marital relationships.

Heroes Road: Complete Edition (Heroes Road1)


Chuck Rogers - 2016
    Coel ap Math and Snorri Yaroslav are soldiers without a cause. When a mysterious sorcerer makes them an offer they can’t afford to refuse, they set out on an adventure that will take them around the known world, and one that will determine the world's fate.

Rules for Visiting


Jessica Francis Kane - 2019
    Over the years, she's turned inward, finding pleasure in language, her work as a gardener, and keeping her neighbors at arm's length while keenly observing them. But when she is unexpectedly granted some leave from her job, May is inspired to reconnect with four once close friends. She knows they will never have a proper reunion, so she goes, one-by-one, to each of them. A student of the classics, May considers her journey a female Odyssey. What might the world have had if, instead of waiting, Penelope had set out on an adventure of her own?RULES FOR VISITING is a woman's exploration of friendship in the digital age. Deeply alert to the nobility and the ridiculousness of ordinary people, May savors the pleasures along the way--afternoon ice cream with a long-lost friend, surprise postcards from an unexpected crush, and a moving encounter with ancient beauty. Though she gets a taste of viral online fame, May chooses to bypass her friends' perfectly cultivated online lives to instead meet them in their messy analog ones.Ultimately, May learns that a best friend is someone who knows your story--and she inspires us all to master the art of visiting.

A Perfect Match: An Amish Wedding Novella


Kathleen Fuller - 2013
    Now with her sister’s wedding right around the corner, Naomi wonders why she’s able to find husbands for her friends and family, but not one for herself.At age twenty-nine, Zeke Lapp is a confirmed bachelor. The problem is, he doesn’t want to be. But despite his family and friends’ attempts at matching him up with the single women in his community of Middlefield, he still hasn’t found the one for him. He wonders if he ever will. Zeke arrives in Paradise to help his cousin finish the house he’s building for his soon-to-be new wife. A month before the wedding, he meets the bride’s sister, Naomi, a pretty girl with a bubbly personality.From the moment they meet, Zeke is attracted to Naomi. But Naomi tries to set him up with her friend Margaret, who is desperate for a mate. Hiding her unexpected feelings for Zeke, she is reluctant but loyal to her friend. When the date is a disaster, Naomi comforts her friend but cannot deny her growing feelings.As Zeke and Naomi grow closer, so does their reliance on God’s will for their future and in a moment of honesty, both reveal what’s holding them back. Will they be able to overcome these obstacles and find true love?

A Perfect Secret: An Amish Wedding Novella


Kelly Long - 2013
    Rose and Luke have known each other since childhood and their families have both joked about a possible union in recent years.When Luke asks her to marry him, Rose agrees out of a sense of duty and a willingness to settle for solid friendship as a basis for the engagement. But, as she witnesses Priscilla’s excitement, despite a trail of mishaps leading to the wedding, Rose begins to wonder if there shouldn’t be more to a relationship.Rose begins to examine Luke and his life more closely, and she’s amazed when she stumbles upon an exciting, secret side of him. But what if she isn’t as adventurous as Luke expects? The Lord will whisper to Rose and Luke that they both have much to offer that’s worth the telling in A Perfect Secret.

Glory Over Everything: Beyond The Kitchen House


Kathleen Grissom - 2016
    Glory Over Everything is “gripping…breathless until the end” (Kirkus Reviews).The year is 1830 and Jamie Pyke, a celebrated silversmith and notorious ladies’ man, is keeping a deadly secret. Passing as a wealthy white aristocrat in Philadelphian society, Jamie is now living a life he could never have imagined years before when he was a runaway slave, son of a southern black slave and her master. But Jamie’s carefully constructed world is threatened when he discovers that his married socialite lover, Caroline, is pregnant and his beloved servant Pan, to whose father Jamie owes his own freedom, has been captured and sold into slavery in the South. Fleeing the consequences of his deceptions, Jamie embarks on a trip to a North Carolina plantation to save Pan from the life he himself barely escaped as a boy. With the help of a fearless slave, Sukey, who has taken the terrified young boy under her wing, Jamie navigates their way, racing against time and their ruthless pursuers through the Virginia backwoods, the Underground Railroad, and the treacherous Great Dismal Swamp.“Kathleen Grissom is a first-rate storyteller…she observes with an unwavering but kind eye, and she bestows upon the reader, amid terrible secrets and sin, a gift of mercy: the belief that hope can triumph over hell” (Richmond Times Dispatch). Glory Over Everything is an emotionally rewarding and epic novel “filled with romance, villains, violence, courage, compassion…and suspense.” (Florida Courier).

The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell


Robert Dugoni - 2018
    Born with red pupils, he was called “Devil Boy” or Sam “Hell” by his classmates; “God’s will” is what his mother called his ocular albinism. Her words were of little comfort, but Sam persevered, buoyed by his mother’s devout faith, his father’s practical wisdom, and his two other misfit friends.Sam believed it was God who sent Ernie Cantwell, the only African American kid in his class, to be the friend he so desperately needed. And that it was God’s idea for Mickie Kennedy to storm into Our Lady of Mercy like a tornado, uprooting every rule Sam had been taught about boys and girls.Forty years later, Sam, a small-town eye doctor, is no longer certain anything was by design—especially not the tragedy that caused him to turn his back on his friends, his hometown, and the life he’d always known. Running from the pain, eyes closed, served little purpose. Now, as he looks back on his life, Sam embarks on a journey that will take him halfway around the world. This time, his eyes are wide open—bringing into clear view what changed him, defined him, and made him so afraid, until he can finally see what truly matters.

Holding on to Hurt


Charlotte Roth - 2017
    the day she gets the call every mother dreads: Your son has been shot and is in a coma.In the blink of an eye, Irene’s life is shattered into a million pieces.What follows is a story about a mother and her struggle to keep, not only her son but eventually also her marriage and herself alive. On Irene's journey through grief, denial, and anger, she discovers more about the events of that tragic day, the boy who shot her son and then took his own life, and the husband she thought she knew and could trust. An emotional and heart-gripping story, Holding on to Hurt, is a novel about family, trust, grief, and a mother’s unconditional love. “If you love emotional reads and if you dare to open up your heart, you’ve come to the right place.