But the consequences are Deadly. Amy Sholes has a problem. An obsession. She’s a murderer. A talented and prolific serial killer. To most, she is a monster—an evil person with a cancer on her soul. But to many, she is an avenging angel, serving justice and helping those who could not help themselves. Her one rule, she only kills those who prey on others. Amy is beautiful and sexy with a wonderful husband and a family she adores. Her world may seem perfect, but Amy knows it could be better. And she’s willing to do whatever it takes to rid the world of bad people. She’s a killer you’ll want to root for. Book 1 follows Amy’s Affair with Murder. She succumbs to the seductive draw of a dark society, risking everything for a little taste. Her desires lead her into a thrilling world filled with twists and turns so intoxicating that she loses sight of who she is. Soon, Amy is living two lives—a dangerous juggling act in which one misstep could destroy her and shatter the family she loves. But her newfound obsession has bled into her family's lives, jeopardizing everything. Amy’s husband is a police detective and some of her adventures have showed up on his desk. She’s determined to keep her two worlds separate, and finds herself tangled in a deep web of lies, telling one after another to throw off the suspicions of the man she loves and to save who they are. Amy knows people live for the idea that their fantasies can come true. The question she begins to ask: should they?

    It is the one place where she had always felt safe and loved. Devasted and lost, Rachael longs for the simplicity of her childhood. But Jenny’s Cove has changed. From the moment of Rachael’s arrival, a man watches. He has already killed, and mercilessly will do so again. Soon Rachael becomes a target for a vicious predator whose own dark and twisted past forms a deadly bond between them. And sets her on a collision course with a crazed killer. "...Joan Hall Hovey is a female Stephen King... a stunning, multi-layered, modern-day gothic, told with the unforgettable style and grace of a true master of suspense..." Rendezvous Magazine * * * Bloody Dagger Award Winner MIDWEST REVIEW by Cynthia Penn Chill Waters Joan Hall Hovey Evil stalks the unsuspecting --Recommended. Memories of idyllic summers spent with her grandmother motivate Rachael to buy the house in Jenny's Cove. Tired of the arguments and silences, she had tried to breath fire back into the dying embers of her marriage, only to discover her husband warming someone else's bed. Now at age forty-five and in the process of a divorce, Rachael longs for the simplicity of her childhood. Iris Brandt recognizes the arrival of evil, chilled by the malevolent energy that follows Rachael. The practical, no nonsense proprietress of local gas station feels compelled to warn her. Indeed, Iris would be correct, because from the moment of Rachael's arrival, a man watches. He has already killed, and mercilessly will do so again. And his stalking of Rachael has only just begun. Author Joan Hovey creates a taut thriller in CHILL WATERS. Woven with an uncanny magic, CHILL WATERS is rich in sensory imagery and dense with the darkness that lies in the heart of a madman. Hovey creates a rich cast of characters, each uniquely realized and memorable. At age forty-five, heroine Rachael provides a refreshingly mature viewpoint who still manages to grow and change with the flow of the novel. She has raised her children and fled a failed marriage to take control of her life only to confront a madman. With believable vulnerabilities

    Her sister Andrea has an altogether different point of view. When the sisters go to the Canaan Valley to search for paintings mentioned in a document found in an old hotel once owned by their grandparents—paintings that might be Monets—Andrea immediately becomes involved in tracking down a murderer. Kathleen would much rather be looking for the paintings, but she goes along with Andrea, since the victim was their hotel-keeper, murdered just down the hall from their room. The question is: Does the murder have something to do with the elusive paintings?There are many clues and many suspects, including hotel staff, valley residents, and the mysterious foreigners who come from the Eastern Seaboard for skiing. There are also many types of danger—icy roads, sub-zero temperatures, and a killer who doesn’t care how many people die in the attempt to make sure the right ones do.

    The catch? The last tenant, Brody Walsh, killed himself.Or did he?As disturbing dreams and hauntings start to occur, Harley realizes there may be much more behind the previous tenant’s death than a simple suicide. She finds her life further entangled with his when she learns that her new boss, Nolan, was also his best friend. Could this handsome but evasive pub owner have something to do with Brody’s death?Trying to piece together the events surrounding Brody’s death proves to be a daunting task, but Harley can’t give up. Brody won’t let her. He is still in the apartment with her, trapped in limbo until she finds his killer.But he’s not waiting for revenge.Harley’s next.

    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.

    Twelve years later, the victim's daughter begs for help: the killer is stalking her now. But Marty has retired to battle cancer. A second shot at the killer - and a first chance at redemption - Marty has A Reason to Live.

    But her real dream is to open her own pastry shop, Sweet's Sweets.Life is a little crazy for Sam right now. At one of her break-in properties a dying woman insists that she take a small wooden box. Sam doesn't realize that the old woman was known locally as a bruja, a witch, until she begins to feel some strange effects from the box, herself.Meanwhile, at another property, she finds an unmarked grave and the authorities come to investigate. The property owner disappeared a few months earlier and Sam wonders--who is the body in the grave? A small mural in the house leads to a connection with a famous artist; a bogus will points to possible fraud; and the handsome deputy investigating the case seems completely enchanted with Sam.While Sam scrambles to fill bakery orders and keep her properties in order, she's equally intrigued with the idea of a new romance. It all makes for a delightful romantic mystery with elements of the paranormal.

    NANNY BY DAY. ASSASSIN BY NIGHT. Holly Lin is living two lives. To her friends and family, she's a pleasant, hardworking nanny. To her boss and colleagues, she's one of the best non-sanctioned government assassins in the world. But when a recent mission goes wrong causing one of her team members to die, she realizes she might no longer be cut out for the work — except the mission, as it turns out, is only half over, and to complete it will take her halfway across the world and bring her face to face with a ghost from her past. Things are about to get personal. And as Holly Lin's enemies are about to find out, she is not a nanny they want to piss off. Praise for NO SHELTER: "Excellent—memorable and something I’ll read more than once." —Roxane Gay, New York Times bestselling author of An Untamed State "NO SHELTER is part mystery, part thriller suspense, and all kinds kick ass!" —The Man Eating Bookworm

    When she lands a job at one of New York’s premier boutique investment firms, Janet begins to hope that her luck is finally turning for the better. Not only is she happy with her new paycheck, but things also seem to be looking up on the personal front, as the company’s handsome attorney expresses keen interest in Janet. However, her euphoria is short-lived, as Janet soon discovers alarming facts about her new employer’s business tactics. When her boss dismisses her suspicions as groundless, Janet finds herself confiding to a cute IT engineer, Dean Snider. The closer she gets to Dean, the more Janet is tempted to break her rule of not dating co-workers, but what she doesn’t realize is that everything she knows about Dean, including his occupation and even his name, is a lie.Dennis Walker is a top-notch white collar crime investigator who will stop at nothing to put culprits away. When an opportunity for an undercover assignment at one of New York’s premier boutique broker dealers comes up, Dennis jumps at the chance, adopting a persona of geeky IT engineer, Dean Snider. While he may be an ace at his job, years of experience fail him when Dennis meets Janet Maple and finds himself torn between his professional obligations and his personal desires. Will he have to choose between his feelings and duty, or will he find a way to satisfy both?

     STEPPING INTO HER WORST NIGHTMARE... Because when she returned, she found an open bedroom window and her three-year-old son, Nathan, gone. The boy would never be seen again. A NIGHTMARE THAT ONLY BECAME WORSE.A tip leads detectives to the killer, a repeat sex offender, and inside his apartment, a gruesome discovery. A slam-dunk trial sends him off to death row, then several years later, to the electric chair. CASE CLOSED. JUSTICE SERVED...OR WAS IT?Now, more than thirty years later, Patrick Bannister unwittingly stumbles across evidence among his dead mother's belongings—it paints her as the killer and her brother, a wealthy and powerful senator, as the one pulling the strings. WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO NATHAN KINGSLEY?There's a hole in the case a mile wide, and Patrick is determined to close it. But what he doesn't know is that the closer he moves toward the truth, the more he's putting his life on the line, that he’s become the hunted. Someone's hiding a dark secret and will stop at nothing to keep it that way.The clock is ticking, the walls are closing, and the stakes are getting higher as he races to find a killer—one who's hot on his trail. One who's out for his blood.

    Recently unemployed after quitting a boring office job, Alexis Stanton finds a mysterious ad in the help wanted section that might prove to be the answer to her desire for excitement and adventure. After an intense application process, including actually fighting with her competition, she gets the job of her dreams. But is it going to kill her?

    What he finds is beyond imagining. It unleashes a mystery older than recorded time, rewrites human history, and promises to change the planet’s future. It must be suppressed.The most powerful forces in the world align against him, and a deadly competition for the artifact ensues. Capturing Gaines is not enough--everyone who has seen the artifact must be killed. His only hope is to stay alive long enough to decode the Cosega Sequence. Dig far enough into the past . . . you may just discover the future.

    Pushing forty and still single, Hetta is the epitome of the b word: bold, bossy, brassy, breezy and brash. After leaving a lifelong swath of failed multi-national affairs in her jet stream, it is no wonder Hetta prefers living with her dog R.J. But old habits die hard, and trolling for triceps is Hetta s hobby. Plying the waterfront in search of Saturday brunch, Hetta s attention is snagged by a parade of passing yacht--especially their predominantly male skippers--and experiences a champagne-induced epiphany: if she had a boat, she could get a man. In hopes a floating Valhalla will overcome an all-time low-water mark in her life, Hetta buys her dream boat in spite of a spectacular ignorance of all things nautical. But a shadowy stalker, an inconvenient body, and Hetta s own self-destructive foibles imperil not only her new life, but a newly- found romance.

    While most of her classmates and instructors at the academy want her to succeed, Detective Johnny Nolasco is hell-bent on keeping the boys’ club intact. The training sessions offer plenty of opportunities for humiliation, but Tracy’s not the type to give in. Fueled by a confrontation with her in the middle of a class, Nolasco is determined to see Tracy fail. Tracy, harboring memories of the loss of her sister and the disintegration of her family, has too much at stake to let one pigheaded detective stand in her way. With so much to lose, will she make the cut in this competitive world?

    Puzzling over the document's sinister entries, Jake pieces together a story of mass murder near the Texas-Mexico border two decades before. If Jake's theory is correct, the names listed on the ledger's final page are the victims of a previously unknown serial killer. Leads are scarce until a gruesome new crime scene, deep in the Mexican desert, shows a chilling connection to the border deaths of long ago.