P.D. Workman's Blog, page 50
June 3, 2021
Hot on the Trail Mix and more freebies
My newest release, Hot on the Trail Mix is free this weekend. It is book #15 in the Auntie Clem’s Bakery series. You can also pick up the first in series, Gluten-Free Murder, as a free download. This culinary cozy mystery series will keep you satisfied for a while!
@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-91022fd .ugb-img{width:640px;height:auto !important}}Hot on the Trail MixSpelunking isn’t for sissies.
When Vic and Willie discover human remains in a cave they are exploring, the shock waves are felt throughout Bald Eagle Falls. When Willie falls under suspicion, Erin has to do more than just make her awesome new granola bars and trail mix.
Erin’s investigations reveal that there is more to the case than meets the eye, and if she is going to uncover the truth, she had better watch her step.
Fun easy to read mystery. I personally love love love …. the ending.
—Disney, Goodreads reviewerThis book is everything I expect of Ms. Workman. The characters are well developed and believable, the plot is deliciously twisty, and the writing exceptional.
—Sandy, Goodreads reviewer
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Erin Price moves to Bald Eagle Falls, a place where everyone knows everyone as well as everyone else’s business, taking over the store left to her by her aunt to start up a gluten-free bakery. The grand opening is marred by just one thing, the death of her business rival, Angela Plaint. It appears that Angela was poisoned by one of Erin’s cupcakes, making her a prime suspect.
Equipped with cupcakes, her desire for the truth, and new bakery assistant Vicky’s help, Erin goes head-to-head against Detective Terry Piper to solve the murder. Rumors of treasure hunting, drug dealing, and a missing boy swirl around Bald Eagle Falls as Erin tries to sort the clues from the red herrings and find the killer before the killer can take care of her. P.D. Workman has done it again! This introduction to a new series involves a fresh start, sympathetic characters, and a murder. I spent the last ten minutes of the book standing up to read because I was off to do something but just couldn’t put it down until I got to the end. I haven’t been that invested in a book in a while. Couldn’t put it down !! From a cute kitten to a police dog to a bakery for people with allergies ! Highly recommend!
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I have searched out more freebies for your enjoyment!
You can add all of the freebies available in the Kindle store with one click, or pick which books or which stores you want individually. As always, check prices before you check out, as prices may change without warning or not be free all days or in all markets.
.ugb-4de6344 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-4de6344 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-4de6344 .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-4de6344 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-4de6344 .ugb-img{width:234px;height:auto !important}}Death Takes a BreakSaddle up for a trip to the Texas Hill Country…
Christie Taylor is ready for a break from work and life. She returns home to Comfort, Texas, only to be thrust into the middle of a land dispute and developers intent on gaining the Taylor Ranch property. When one of the developer’s employees dies on their property, Christie must extend her break to help her father. Christie sets out to find the killer before they strike again. But will the truth unravel everything?
If you love Texas, country life and pies, you’ll enjoy this humorous cozy mystery set in the beautiful hill country. Meet the characters who may remind you of your cantankerous grandpa or your quirky next-door neighbor. Pie Recipe included!
Buy Death Takes a Break and get roped in to a your new favorite cozy series.
.ugb-02b0134 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-02b0134 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-02b0134 .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-02b0134 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-02b0134 .ugb-img{width:315px;height:auto !important}}Cats and CatnappingFree Friday and Caturday
Mira Michaels finally calls her old life quits. She moves out of her psychic sister’s house and is on the road to her new life. Her trip to Pennsylvania starts simply, even if her cat, Arnold, can’t stop backseat driving.
She refuses to accept that she can hear his kitty voice, until the radio refuses to work. Then, at a rest stop she witnesses a catnapping of the sweet kitty that Arnold has a crush on. Mira promises to chase the catnapper across the northeast and find the cat’s owner all before she must meet her realtor at her new house. Antics ensue.
Also pick up book #2 for just $0.99
.ugb-e1bb2a8 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-e1bb2a8 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-e1bb2a8 .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-e1bb2a8 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-e1bb2a8 .ugb-img{width:312px;height:auto !important}}Raspberry Ripple MurderBitsie George has always dreamed of owning her own bakery.
When she finds herself suddenly single after 27 years of marriage, Bitsie jumps at the chance of fulfilling her dream. The only drawback to her new life as a baker is the dead electrician in her kitchen.
Was the electrician the victim of a tragic on-the-job accident, or is there something much more sinister afoot? It’s up to Bitsie to find out with a little help from her sister-in-law, her recently-retired-from-the-police-force brother, and her too-handsome-to-be-real shop assistant.
It’s not easy finding a murderer when your most compelling clue is a half-eaten raspberry ripple cupcake, but perhaps a pleasantly-plump cupcake connoisseur is the perfect woman for the job.
.ugb-20899cb .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-20899cb .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-20899cb .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-20899cb .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-20899cb .ugb-img{width:333px;height:auto !important}}Beachfront BakeryAllison Sweet, 34, a sous chef in Los Angeles, has had it up to here with demeaning customers, her demanding boss, and her failed love life. After a shocking incident, she realizes the time has come to start life fresh and follow her lifelong dream of moving to a small town and opening a bakery of her own.
When Allison spots a charming, vacant storefront on the boardwalk near Venice, she wonders if she could really start life anew. Feeling like it’s a sign, and a time to take a chance in life, she goes for it.
Yet Allison did not anticipate the wild ride ahead of her: the boardwalk, filled with fun and outrageous characters, is pulsing with life, from the Italian pizzeria owners on either side of her who vie for her affection, to the fortune tellers and scheming rival bakery owner nearby. Allison yearns to just focus on her delicious new pastry recipes and keep her struggling bakery afloat—but when a murder occurs right near her shop, everything changes.
Implicated, her entire future at stake, Allison has no choice but to investigate to clear her name. As an orphaned dog wanders into her life, a devoted new sidekick with a knack for solving mysteries, she starts her search.
.ugb-875bc60 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-875bc60 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-875bc60 .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-875bc60 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-875bc60 .ugb-img{width:334px;height:auto !important}}Mango Cake and MurderWhat do you get when you combine mango cake, murder, and Mom?
An unlikely recipe for a better life!
When Mom convinces Christy to ditch her “lousy” job and help with the catering business, their fledgling partnership suffers a few setbacks. One of them can’t cook, they’re short a catering van, and the guest of honor at their first party is murdered.That would be bad enough, but then, Christy’s cousin, Celia, becomes the prime suspect.
Solving a murder is no easy task, but when drunken death threats, a dashing detective, and terrifying taxidermy are added into the mix, the case becomes almost impossible to crack. Who knew a small town like Fletcher Canyon could be filled with so much craziness?
.ugb-3f9944d .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-3f9944d .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-3f9944d .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-3f9944d .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-3f9944d .ugb-img{width:341px;height:auto !important}}On the RocksRuby Steele, 30, beautiful, fit, seems just like any other ex-pat hiding out in the Bahamas and playing local bartender. But unruly patrons find out the hard way: Ruby is a mixed-martial-arts pro, and not one you’d want to cross.
In fact, Ruby would be a champion if she hadn’t been forced to walk away and hide out in the Bahamas.
Because Ruby knows too much. She knows where the bodies are buried. And she knows when it’s time to get out of town.
But what Ruby doesn’t know is why there is a dead tourist in the dumpster behind her seedy bar.
Or why, she, of all people, had to find it.
Or why this guy was out at 3am when he had a pretty fiancé waiting in a hotel room a mile away.
Or why the local cops are pinning her.
Or why she’s gonna be forced into a choice: find the killer, or do hard time herself.
For Ruby, good choices have never been her strong point.
And this one’s definitely not going to be good…
Welcome to the Bahamian world of Ruby Steele, replete with her local dive bar, her wily pet monkey, her major drinking problem, her (way) too many fights, her inability to get herself out of trouble, and her fists made of stone. Ruby’s life is a complete wreck. But there’s one thing she’s good at: capturing your heart.
.ugb-97f8c49 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-97f8c49 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-97f8c49 .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-97f8c49 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-97f8c49 .ugb-img{width:313px;height:auto !important}}Tapas, Carrot Cake and a CorpseSt Eves is a town with real community spirit. It’s a town where residents leave their doors open all day so that neighbours can pop in for a cup of tea and a chat. No one’s ever too busy for a cup of tea and a chat in St Eves.
But then a stranger is murdered and everything changes. The townsfolk close ranks — and their doors — as the hunt for a killer gathers pace, and it’s not long before inquisitive café owner Charlotte Denver is desperate for a return to carefree, small-town life. Determined to do whatever she can to see the killer behind bars, she starts poking around in things she shouldn’t and discovers a secret that rocks the bustling coastal town to its core, and a twist in the tale that no one saw coming.
Small town murder was never so calculated…
.ugb-dee6db0 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-dee6db0 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-dee6db0 .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-dee6db0 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-dee6db0 .ugb-img{width:334px;height:auto !important}}Cutthroat CupcakesKiller cupcakes
Seems improbable to Lina, but when an attractive detective snaps cuffs on her and accuses her of witchy crimes she’s forced to reconsider.
The murder weapon? A cupcake topper sold in Lina’s shop, Sticky, Tricky Treats. The method? A killing curse. The curse’s origin? Lina…sort of.
Except Lina hadn’t a clue that she was a witch, and certainly didn’t know she’d accidentally cursed some of her confections.
She’s got to catch the killer who’s used her magic to murder or face a conviction as an accessory.
Now, if only the wizard detective assigned to the case weren’t such a distraction.
.ugb-980bb95 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-980bb95 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-980bb95 .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-980bb95 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-980bb95 .ugb-img{width:333px;height:auto !important}}Tempest in the Tea LeavesIn the fortune telling business there are a lot of pretenders, but Sunshine Meadows is the real deal—and her predictions can be lethally accurate…
Leaving the Big Apple for the quaint town of Divinity, New York, Sunny is determined to make it on her own as a psychic. With an ancient Victorian house as her place of business, Sunny uses various psychic methods to aid the town’s residents.
But when she uses tea leaves to give a reading for a frazzled librarian, what she finds at the bottom of the cup is anything but helpful. Sunny informs the police of her deadly vision, but her warning is too late. And with hard-nosed, ruggedly handsome Detective Mitch Stone denying her abilities and naming her prime suspect, the situation is dire.
Now Sunny has to use her visions to clear her name, before the killer can put an end to the psychic’s
.ugb-8df4ae5 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-8df4ae5 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-8df4ae5 .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-8df4ae5 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-8df4ae5 .ugb-img{width:333px;height:auto !important}}A Pie to Die forRachael is a pastry chef with a boutique bakery. When a food critic dies after eating a pie from Rachael’s bakery, she is quickly labeled the prime suspect.
Faced with a police investigation that doubts her innocence, she has no choice but to find the real killer. With carefree best friend, Pippa, Rachael sets out on a mission to save her bakery, but it could ultimately cost her, and her best friend, everything.
.ugb-67c9e04 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-67c9e04 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-67c9e04 .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-67c9e04 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-67c9e04 .ugb-img{width:352px;height:auto !important}}Coffee and CorpsesGod, Coffee, Small Town Murder
In the small town of Coffee Creek, things move pretty slow.
But when Connie Cafe finds the best golfer in town dead in a water hazard, suddenly, life in the Creek is anything but…
.ugb-22c9dbf .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-22c9dbf .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-22c9dbf .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-22c9dbf .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-22c9dbf .ugb-img{width:333px;height:auto !important}}Cappuccinos, Cupcakes, and a Corpse
Francesca Amaro moves back to her hometown of Cape Bay, Massachusetts, and takes over the family business, Antonia’s Italian Café. She spends her days making delicious artisan cappuccinos, until she stumbles upon her neighbor’s dead body. When the police discover Mr. Cardosi was poisoned, Francesca becomes a suspect.
The victim’s son, Matty, happens to be Francesca’s old high school friend. Together, they uncover the secrets of the locals in order to find the killer in their idyllic beach town.
Includes two special cupcake recipes!
June 1, 2021
A Sweet Mystery in Bitter Sweet
It is the first day of June, and summer weather has put on an appearance in Calgary this week (despite the snow last weekend!) A new month means I am starting on a new book. I hope you enjoyed my Read Your Way Through May booklist and last week’s post on Reading About Characters with Mental Illness. Make sure you check back here this weekend for a new freebie roundup!
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme. Read the rules and more teasers at The Purple Booker. Anyone can play along.
I think this is the first time I have read something from Connie Shelton’s Samantha Sweet Mysteries. Bitter Sweet is book #5, but you will have no problem understanding who the players are or what is going on. It is a self-contained mystery like most of the cozy or traditional mysteries that you have read.
This one has just a hint of paranormal in it. Samantha Sweet is not a witch or a psychic like Reg Rawlins, but has a magical little box that gives her extra energy or insight when she is at the end of her rope. That would be a nice thing to have around some days!
Nicely developed characters and setting, plenty of clues and cake-building details, Bitter Sweet is a mystery that you can really dig your teeth into.
“What are you doing?” The sharp voice startled Sam and she nearly dropped the key. She spun around, knowing she looked guilty as hell.
Connie Shelton, Bitter Sweet
In this fifth installment in the Samantha Sweet mystery series, it’s the height of the wedding season at Sweet’s Sweets and Sam has all she can do to stay ahead of the rush of bakery orders. Plus, her side job—breaking into houses—isn’t allowing much summer time off either. Not to mention that her mother is pressuring Sam and Beau to set their wedding date.
When Sam encounters two older women who then die suddenly, it appears that there may be a serial killer on the loose. Sam and Beau are shocked to consider that Beau’s own mother may have been an earlier victim of someone who operates by preying on the women’s trusting natures. As they begin to investigate, a number of suspects emerge and it looks like someone is out to keep Sam quiet.
May 27, 2021
Mental Health Awareness Month
If you have been following my blog for long, you probably know that I am an advocate for supporting those with mental health issues in all aspects of their lives. As far as we have come in our understanding of mental illness, it is still stigmatized and our loved ones with mental health issues are still marginalized. You don’t have to look far to find evidence of injustices being done to these important members of our community. Statistically, you are more likely to suffer a mental illness during your lifetime than to require corrective lenses.
If you take a look at my Reading Lists page, you’ll see that a lot of them relate to mental illness. Depression, schizophrenia, psychosis, and anxiety are all represented, as well as other disorders or neurological differences (neurodiversity). I write about characters with a wide range of differences and difficulties in these areas.
I guess I take it for granted that people understand mental illness better than they do, because I am often surprised when I see reader reviews that include comments like “I’m so tired of Erin’s whining. Why doesn’t she just get over it?” or “Other people have had tough childhoods, why doesn’t Zachary just grow up?”
I guess a lot of information comes to us filtered through the lens of a TV camera. TV characters sometimes suffer from depression, but they get over it after an episode or two of the TV show or by the end of the movie. Someone gives them a stern talking to that convinces them to cheer up, they get over the death of a child or partner, or they start taking an antidepressant and bounce back in a day or two.
But in real life, someone doesn’t get over major depression because you gave them good advice. Some people are unable to get past personal tragedies or trauma for decades or for the rest of their lives. Some people, even though they see a doctor or therapist regularly and are compliant with medications, never find that magic pill that will take away their depression, anxiety, or psychosis. Even those that seem like a miraculous cure can stop working suddenly and unpredictably. c-PTSD and personality disorders are notoriously difficult to overcome through any of the counseling or behavioural treatment options currently available. And there is no cure for autism, learning disabilities, or cognitive issues. In addition to that, many medications, chemicals, diets, and other things in our environment can cause damage to our brains and therefore our emotional state, social abilities, and sense of reality.
You can expect, then, that my characters will not be suddenly cured in the next book of the series. They may show improvement in some areas, and that improvement may be temporary or permanent. They may decline or experience a crisis in another area. Damage done in their childhoods will not suddenly cease to matter anymore, even though they do their best to put it behind them.
But they will also continue to find people who value them and support them and help them through crises. They will continue to move forward the best that they can despite setbacks. And I hope the true is the same for you and your loved ones, and that you can continue to find places of peace and happiness along the way.
Here are just a few of my characters who struggle with mental illness. If you haven’t met them yet, I hope you will soon! I have also included a variety of other authors’ books below.
Erin Price – Auntie Clem’s Bakery seriesErin Price is a baker, not a sleuth. Well, except for the fact that she keeps stumbling over dead bodies or other crimes in and around Bald Eagle Falls. Erin had a tough upbringing, which she doesn’t talk a lot about, and she mostly stays on an even keel. But you’ll notice that stumbling over those dead bodies does take its toll, and a few books in, she is having some difficulties in dealing with the sights she cannot unsee. Her partner also ends up dealing with a brain injury and PTSD later in the series.
@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-9266625 .ugb-img{width:669px;height:auto !important}}Gluten-Free MurderErin Price moves to Bald Eagle Falls, a place where everyone knows everyone as well as everyone else’s business, taking over the store left to her by her aunt to start up a gluten-free bakery. The grand opening is marred by just one thing, the death of her business rival, Angela Plaint. It appears that Angela was poisoned by one of Erin’s cupcakes, making her a prime suspect.
Equipped with cupcakes, her desire for the truth, and new bakery assistant Vicky’s help, Erin goes head-to-head against Detective Terry Piper to solve the murder. Rumors of treasure hunting, drug dealing, and a missing boy swirl around Bald Eagle Falls as Erin tries to sort the clues from the red herrings and find the killer before the killer can take care of her.
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Zachary suffers significantly more impairments than Erin. A private investigator by trade, he has managed to build his business and reputation in spite of his PTSD, ADHD, depression, anxiety, learning disabilities, and more. As I say in my description for this series: “Zachary Goldman, Private Investigator, is flawed with a capital F. Shattered by the tragedies of his own life, he will somehow still manage to pick himself up and dig just a little bit deeper than anyone else to find the vital clues.
Maybe being broken makes it easier for others who have faced tragedy to trust him. Walk with Zachary as he solves cases that will stretch his abilities to the limit.
Even with his own life in shambles, Zachary Goldman is still the one you want on the case.”
And I would like to take a minute to acknowledge the friends, family members, cops, and members of the community who support both Erin and Zachary. There is plenty of intolerance out there for those who struggle, but a few characters are shining examples of devoted friends.
@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-5110e11 .ugb-img{width:313px;height:auto !important}}She Wore MourningA dead child.
A mother deep in mourning.
Private Investigator Zachary Goldman’s life isn’t all roses, but he tries to put his own shattered life behind him to investigate the death of five-year-old Declan Bond.
Declan’s death has been ruled an accident, but his grandmother thinks there is more to it. She fears Declan’s mother will not be able to find peace until Zachary can give them an answer once and for all.
But as Zachary digs into the circumstances surrounding Declan’s death, he finds that all is not as it seems, and somebody doesn’t want him to find the truth.
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A couple of others before I turn the page over to my fellow authors:
Renata Vega – Medical Kidnap FilesRenata struggled with major medical issues as well as paranoia and psychosis. She may only be a teenager, but she is brilliant, and her paranoia, while sometimes leading her down conspiracy theory rabbit trails, is one of the things that keeps her and Gabriel Tate alive and free.
@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-1b21e6e .ugb-img{width:332px;height:auto !important}}MitoGabriel has dealt with mysterious medical issues his whole life. Just when he finally thought that they had all of the answers and he was on the road to good health, he is apprehended by DFS on the grounds of medical neglect.
At first, he thought that he would be back home in a few days, once the misunderstanding was cleared up. But when Renata tells Gabriel her crazy conspiracy theories, Gabriel feels the first pangs of doubt. Is there really a conspiracy?
Will he ever be able to get well and go back to his mother, or is he doomed to be another guinea pig for Doctor De Klerk?
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All of the children in the Simpson family suffer from the abuse they suffered, some with major mental illness or personality disorders. Chloe is my favourite of the siblings, and her journey out of darkness is one you will want to read.
@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-57c45c6 .ugb-img{width:676px;height:auto !important}}ChloeChloe had always been the perfect daughter. Diligent, obedient, good at caring for the other children when Mom wasn’t home. She always worked hard and did everything she was asked.
But she couldn’t please her mother and the parade of stepfathers. It seemed like the harder she tried, the worse the abuse got.
Chloe had known for a long time that she was two people. The Chloe who watched and the Chloe who experienced. She had been watching for so long, she wasn’t sure she could feel anything anymore. But if she can’t overcome her past and start living in the real world, she knows she will lose herself forever.
Placed on the In the Margins Committee Recommended Reads, 2018 by Library Services for Youth in Custody.
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Looking Over Your Shoulder was my first published book, so I hope you will excuse the fact that it is a little less polished than the ones I have published recently. Abe is one of the few characters I am aware of who is an example of a schizophrenic who is married with a family and who is usually able to manage day-to-day challenges and hold down a job. If you only watch/read popular media, you may be unaware that not all schizophrenics are institutionalized or homeless. That they are not, as a rule, dangerous to those around them.
Abe does suffer through a crisis in this story, which causes difficulty with both his job and his family, but he is not as paranoid as you think…
@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-a05b918 .ugb-img{width:663px;height:auto !important}}Looking Over Your ShoulderThings were going well for Abe. Despite all of his past struggles with mental illness, he was happily married, had three wonderful children, a nice home, and a fantastic consulting business that satisfied his creativity and brought in a good income.
But you can never get too comfortable. When Abe becomes a prime suspect in a jewel heist – one of the largest successful jewel heists in history – his schizophrenia becomes unmanageable and everything begins to spiral out of control. Abe’s own investigation into the heist has the jewel thieves hot on his tail… but are they really, or is he just losing the battle against his inner demons?
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From zero to hero…
James Flynn is an expert shot, a black belt in karate, fluent in four languages and irresistible to women. He’s also a heavily medicated patient in a Los Angeles psychiatric hospital. Flynn believes his locked ward is the headquarters of Her Majesty’s Secret Service and that he is a secret agent with a license to kill.
When the hospital is acquired by a new HMO, Flynn is convinced that the Secret Service has been infiltrated by the enemy. He escapes to save the day, and in the process, Flynn kidnaps a young Hispanic orderly named Sancho.
This crazy day trip turns into a very real adventure when Flynn is mistaken for an actual secret agent. Paranoid delusions have suddenly become reality, and now it’s up to a mental patient and a terrified orderly to bring down an insecure, evil genius bent on world domination.
.ugb-bd46e81 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-bd46e81 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-bd46e81 .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-bd46e81 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-bd46e81 .ugb-img{width:313px;height:auto !important}}Shrouded MemoryWhat You Don’t Remember Can Hurt You
Rian Field has it all. A thriving career as a marine biologist, a loving husband, and a loyal circle of friends. But after surviving a shark attack, she becomes strangely haunted by disturbing memories where two masked men held her hostage in her own home.
Before long, nightmares begin to plague her, her friends start acting suspiciously, and she’s convinced that there are fragments from the past that she can’t remember, important clues that could save her life.
Then someone breaks into her home. Again. Convinced that the shark attack is somehow connected to the masked men, she experiences a renewed sense of terror as the culprits appear to be among those she trusts. Because they are watching her every move. They aren’t finished with the past. They know about her fear of sharks. And they will use that fear against her until she’s dead.
Rian must overcome her fear of sharks and uncover the truth before the past buries her once and for all.
A psychological thriller that deals with the realities of trauma and PTSD.
.ugb-49405c0 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-49405c0 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-49405c0 .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-49405c0 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-49405c0 .ugb-img{width:346px;height:auto !important}}Comfort ZoneThere’s a killer lurking in all of us. Sometimes you just don’t know it.
Take Phil Mercer, for example, what dark secret from his past changes a decent man, and respected professional into a man with murder on his mind?
Down to earth Northerner, Phil Mercer, begins to question why so-called university friends failed to help him establish a practice at London’s Criminal Bar.
Despite that and colleagues’ professional jealousy, he goes on to achieve success as a fearless defender of society’s less fortunate until his career is threatened by events triggered by something completely out of his control.
Figuring his life and career are about to change forever, Mercer strives to find a way to right wrongs by inventing a new parlour game called ‘Comfort Zone.’
At a dinner party surrounded by colleagues he insists they all play the game. He introduces it after dinner as a ‘storytelling game.’
He adds – “the easy choice is not an option at all. What terrifies you? What scares you shitless? Be brave. Be reckless. You are among friends. What can possibly go wrong? It’s just a parlour game, right?”
.ugb-159ef97 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-159ef97 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-159ef97 .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-159ef97 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-159ef97 .ugb-img{width:326px;height:auto !important}}All for MotherI don’t know what to say except I’m in crisis. I’m mad and I’m angry. I feel trapped. I wish I could erase the person that I am…
After the death of the family patriarch, Ash heads home to help take care of mother. Days and weeks pass; a temporary arrangement turns into an inescapable reality where Ash’s life shrivels to dust.
Nothing ever prepares you for the role reversal where the child becomes the parent.
Aging is the cruelest of jokes. Death comes for us all.
.ugb-d33eef3 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-d33eef3 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-d33eef3 .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-d33eef3 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-d33eef3 .ugb-img{width:375px;height:auto !important}}Emotional GeologyRose Leonard is on the run from her life. Haunted by her turbulent past, she takes refuge in a remote Hebridean island community where she cocoons herself in work, silence and solitude in a house by the sea. Life and new love are offered by friends, her estranged daughter and most of all by Calum, a fragile younger man who has his own demons to exorcise.
But does Rose, with her tenuous hold on sanity, have the courage to say “Yes” to life and put her past behind her?…
.ugb-88383ba .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-88383ba .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-88383ba .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-88383ba .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-88383ba .ugb-img{width:333px;height:auto !important}}Grayson’s WayLove is patient. Love is kind.
But love is never perfect
Grayson and Angie’s marriage isn’t typical. Grayson suffers from schizophrenia, a mental disorder of delusion and fantasy. Their deep love, and an unyielding bond have allowed them to endure. This gorgeous, kind, sexy man has refused to be defined by his diagnosis.
When Grayson spirals into psychosis, Angie is powerless to stop it. He retreats into a world of delusions and paranoia, distrusting everyone around him. The danger he perceives appears to be an elaborate mental concoction, a reckoning of his tragic past and his crumbling present.
Are forces working against them? Are the OTHERS real or has Grayson finally succumbed to the demons in his head?
.ugb-d53b7e1 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-d53b7e1 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-d53b7e1 .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-d53b7e1 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-d53b7e1 .ugb-img{width:313px;height:auto !important}}Laura’s Hidden LegacyAn abandoned mansion in Scotland; revelations about her stepfather’s past life; an enigmatic handsome neighbour. These are the essential ingredients of Laura’s Hidden Legacy – The Mansion. Laura Walter is a contented London art student living a privileged life and on the point of graduating university when tragedy strikes: her parents die in a car crash.
As part of her legacy, Laura discovers she has inherited an estate in Scotland in the middle of a forest; an estate about which she had no prior knowledge. Laura’s journey takes her to Scotland to see both the property and the village situated just a few miles away, as well as the man living down the road who had been keeping an eye on it for her stepfather.
While staying there, she comes across a number of art works that appear to have been painted by famous artists. In addition to the paintings, she finds a journal written by her stepfather dating back to 1940. At first, her life at the mansion and the life of her stepfather as expressed in his journal are wonderful. However, she soon discovers a number of disturbing truths about her stepfather and his abusive behaviour towards women.
In addition, she discovers his involvement with a Masonic Order and his role during World War Two, including what lay behind the paintings. The more she uncovers about the house and her stepfather’s past life, the greater the danger that surrounds her. As the story races towards its climax, Laura discovers the true, sinister history behind the mansion, as well as the family who inhabited it for generations, all of which could have altered the outcome of World War Two.
.ugb-2b583fd .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-2b583fd .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-2b583fd .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-2b583fd .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-2b583fd .ugb-img{width:313px;height:auto !important}}Nowhere BoulevardStephen Bell wants to be forgiven for reading his daughter’s diary. But he’s compelled to dredge every secret as her world changes.
This is the story of how Sarah’s perfect existence is shattered when everything trusted is stolen from her. Dad’s quit his job. Mum’s got pregnant and gone mental. But the boyfriend is a welcome distraction…until crazy is dialled to the max.
Sarah tries to be normal among her peers — but normal won’t let her be.
In a change from Black’s usual style, she breathes life into a family at breaking point. But readers will be left with no doubt that this is Katherine Black at her psychological best.
.ugb-62b9451 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-62b9451 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-62b9451 .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-62b9451 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-62b9451 .ugb-img{width:375px;height:auto !important}}Beyond Dark“I am surrounded by beautiful things… but I am not one of them.”
Agent Alyssa Rawkesby never thought she’d relate so strongly to a serial killer’s letter. But the moment she reads it, she knows there is no going back – she must find the notorious Belladonna Killer, even if it breaks the mental stability she spent seven years repairing. Women in Ottawa, Ontario are being poisoned to death and left posed with a bizarre signature. The grief and fear is filtering through the entertainment industry over a shadow slipping death into drinks.
As an expert in female serial killers, and a veteran criminal psychologist, Alyssa never before encountered a case like this. Is Belladonna a sadistic monster, or a victim of something sinister Alyssa is too familiar with? She fears looking Belladonna in the eye will be like looking at her own reflection – or that of someone she cut from her life a long time ago. But time is running out to save other women. She gets assigned a new, rookie partner, and she tries not to unravel as lines blur between what the killer truly is and the pieces of her own past.
“I know how it feels to live with crippling insecurity behind a mask of false ego and confidence. I only want to connect to a world I feel so detached from. To connect with something, anything to feel normal.” – Alyssa
.ugb-0590622 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-0590622 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-0590622 .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-0590622 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-0590622 .ugb-img{width:333px;height:auto !important}}Hard TraumaTy Stone never wanted to be anything but a soldier.
While in Afghanistan, an operation under his command goes horribly wrong, ending his military career. Ty is thrust back into civilian life, stuck working as a security guard at a truck stop. To make matters worse, he struggles every day with the demons that followed him home from the war.
His new job is routine, even boring, until a young girl is abducted while he’s on duty. Ty can’t let the case go, even when law enforcement insists he leave the investigation to the professionals.
Ty doesn’t listen.
He cannot listen.
His gut tells him that the investigators are going down the wrong road and with every minute they waste, the girl slips farther away. Unable to accept that outcome, Ty risks it all for this new mission. He knows that somehow their fates are inextricably bound. If he can save her, then somehow he might just be able to save himself.
May 25, 2021
Bryan Stevenson’s quest for change in Just Mercy
Have you picked up a copy of my most recent release yet? Hot on the Trail Mix, #15 in the Auntie Clem’s Bakery series is now available!
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme. Read the rules and more teasers at The Purple Booker. Anyone can play along.
I have been fascinated with reading Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson. It is full of amazing and heartbreaking stories of injustice, with lots of details about the changes in the law over the decades, statistics, and how these changes to the justice system have worked or not worked to the advantage of the poor, marginalized, and disadvantaged.
I was struck within the first few lines of Just Mercy about the similarities between it and Grisham’s A Time for Mercy, which I just finished reading. Both are about young lawyers working on innocence projects and getting people off of death row. Both are filled with a number of different stories of how people were unjustly sentenced to death within a system that punishes the poor while letting the rich go free or get off on much reduced charges.
Then I reached the point in Just Mercy where the narrator describes going to see Charlie, a young teen boy who has been charged with murder. Grisham’s book centers around his Jake Brigance character’s defense of a similar boy. The more Stevenson revealed about the circumstances about the case in his book, the more similar they were. Each the story of a small, shy teen who shoots his stepfather who is passed out in his bed after coming home drunk and knocking out the boy’s mother in the kitchen. He thinks she is dead and uses the stepfather’s own gun to kill him. The stepfather, as well as being a violent drunk, is also a police officer in the small town.
I couldn’t believe the similarities between the two stories. Stevenson was ripping off Grisham! I know that plots are not protected by copyright laws, but the two were so clearly telling the same story. So I searched up both books together, and silly me—Stevenson’s Just Mercy is autobiographical, and Grisham has fictionalized the actual case that Stevenson represented and reported on. In fact, here is what Grisham says in his review of Just Mercy on Goodreads:
John Grisham
I echo his sentiments. The work that Stevenson has done is amazing and has changed the lives of countless people. This is one book that I may pick up in print after I finish reading it on Overdrive/Libby. While Grisham does a great job of garnering the reader’s sympathy for Drew Gamble, (his fictionalization of Charlie,) and telling his story, I am disappointed by the fact that he used his existing Jake Brigance character, a white man, as the lawyer, and that Brigance was forced into representing Drew. I think this does a disservice to Bryan Stevenson, a Black lawyer who took on Charlie’s case willingly.
Just Mercy has been made into a motion picture and you can see Bryan Stevenson on TED Talks:
So, on to the teaser:
When I first went to death row in December 1983, America was in the early stages of a radical transformation that would turn us into an unprecedentedly harsh and punitive nation and result in mass imprisonment that has no historical parallel. Today we have the highest rate of incarceration in the world. The prison population has increased from 300,000 people in the early 1970s to 2.3 million people today. There are nearly six million people on probation or on parole. One in every fifteen people born in the United States in 2001 is expected to go to jail or prison; one in every three black male babies born in this century is expected to be incarcerated.
Bryan Stevenson, Just Mercy (2014)
Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system. One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian, a young man who was sentenced to die for a notorious murder he insisted he didn’t commit. The case drew Bryan into a tangle of conspiracy, political machination, and legal brinksmanship—and transformed his understanding of mercy and justice forever.
Just Mercy is at once an unforgettable account of an idealistic, gifted young lawyer’s coming of age, a moving window into the lives of those he has defended, and an inspiring argument for compassion in the pursuit of true justice.
May 20, 2021
Release of Hot on the Trail Mix and more
Today is the day! Launch day for Hot on the Trail Mix, book #15 in the Auntie Clem’s Bakery mystery series. You can read it as a stand alone mystery or enjoy it with the other books in the series. You can get the first in series, Gluten-Free Murder, as a free download.
@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-91022fd .ugb-img{width:640px;height:auto !important}}Hot on the Trail MixSpelunking isn’t for sissies.
When Vic and Willie discover human remains in a cave they are exploring, the shock waves are felt throughout Bald Eagle Falls. When Willie falls under suspicion, Erin has to do more than just make her awesome new granola bars and trail mix.
Erin’s investigations reveal that there is more to the case than meets the eye, and if she is going to uncover the truth, she had better watch her step.Fun easy to read mystery. I personally love love love …. the ending.
—Disney, Goodreads reviewerThis book is everything I expect of Ms. Workman. The characters are well developed and believable, the plot is deliciously twisty, and the writing exceptional.
—Sandy, Goodreads reviewer
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Erin Price moves to Bald Eagle Falls, a place where everyone knows everyone as well as everyone else’s business, taking over the store left to her by her aunt to start up a gluten-free bakery. The grand opening is marred by just one thing, the death of her business rival, Angela Plaint. It appears that Angela was poisoned by one of Erin’s cupcakes, making her a prime suspect.
Equipped with cupcakes, her desire for the truth, and new bakery assistant Vicky’s help, Erin goes head-to-head against Detective Terry Piper to solve the murder. Rumors of treasure hunting, drug dealing, and a missing boy swirl around Bald Eagle Falls as Erin tries to sort the clues from the red herrings and find the killer before the killer can take care of her.
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Looking for more hot new mysteries? Keep reading!
.ugb-f4a7419 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-f4a7419 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-f4a7419 .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-f4a7419 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-f4a7419 .ugb-img{width:313px;height:auto !important}}Chocolate Cherry MurderNothing goes better with chocolate than murder-soaked cherries…
Baking duo, Ruby and Bee, have had a blast serving their treats in the tiny, cozy town of Yesterday. Things are looking up—they’re the go-to baking solution for many businesses and events in town, including the Yesterday Ballroom Dancing Contest.
With a kitchen to themselves, a metric ton of cherries to soak in cherry liquor, and music all around, it’s shaping up to be an exciting weekend. Until the star couple of the contest turn up dead on the night of the event. With the local sheriff completely out of his depth, Ruby and Bee are more than happy to help. It’s just a pity that the killer has noticed…
.ugb-e9b238d .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-e9b238d .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-e9b238d .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-e9b238d .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-e9b238d .ugb-img{width:333px;height:auto !important}}Hamburgers & Homicide Bluebonnet Trails Bike Race is coming up and Poppy is laser-focused on getting her food truck ready for the crowds. Her tireless assistant, Kim, is there every step of the way—creating recipes, sourcing ingredients, and spending hot Texas days in what amounts to a large metal box—until a wrong step sends her to the hospital with a broken leg.
Afraid she is going to miss out on the race crowds, Poppy quickly hires a temporary assistant. Everything is back on track until her new help stumbles out of the food truck, a kitchen knife plunged in her gut. She manages to utter one word before passing—“Poppy.”
Now Poppy is again without an assistant, and people aren’t exactly lining up to help, considering previous help ended up in the hospital and morgue, respectively. Oh, and there is the little problem that half the town now believes she is a murderer.
.ugb-e563d3d .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-e563d3d .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-e563d3d .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-e563d3d .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-e563d3d .ugb-img{width:333px;height:auto !important}}Dying for Dominoes
Four ambitious women risk losing it all when they play to win… while the husband dies trying.
Amy Sparks owns Tiddlywinks Players Club at the Cardboard Cottage & Company where the game is always afoot. Her friends love dominoes and competitive camaraderie, bending the rules just enough to pursue life with a little moxie and mischief.
When Amy learns her best friend wants husband number four gone and then he’s found dead, she fears a not-so-innocent game of dominoes has turned into premeditated murder.
Who killed the husband?
Scrambled evidence and sketchy alibis compel her to uncover the truth before they all land in jail. Unraveling the facts and the fibbery in a fast-paced misadventure through the back roads of Arkansas, Amy finds the courage to face her doubts and the true meaning of friendship. All while hunting down a killer on the run.
An entertaining new author for mystery readers craving armchair travel and a sisterhood on the other side of middle age who determined to reach their bucket list destinations. A cozy mystery with games, fluffy cats, and women whose southern sass is anything but cookie-cutter sweet, this series invites book fans to ride along for high drama adventure and amateur sleuthing in a puzzle and plot-driven whodunnit.
.ugb-f87996e .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-f87996e .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-f87996e .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-f87996e .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-f87996e .ugb-img{width:313px;height:auto !important}}The Magical BookshopBooks, magic, and a cat with character!
Travel to Charing Cross Road in London and join sales assistant Jemma, bookshop owner Raphael and Folio the cat in three spellbinding cozy mysteries.
Every Trick In The Book
When Jemma James takes a job at Burns Books, the second-worst secondhand bookshop in London, she finds her ambition to turn it around thwarted at every step. Raphael, the owner, is more interested in his newspaper than sales. Folio the bookshop cat has it in for Jemma, and the shop itself appears to have a mind of its own. Or is it more than that?
Gradually Jemma starts to make a difference … and then the anonymous letters start arriving. Who is behind them, and why?
Brought to Book
Business is booming at Burns Books — so much so that Jemma and Raphael hire a new assistant. And that’s when things start to go wrong.
Luke’s helpful, he’s knowledgeable, and the customers like him. So why is the shop up to its old tricks, and a few new ones?
Jemma and Carl take it upon themselves to investigate, and end up finding out a lot more than they bargained for. Will working at the bookshop ever be the same again?
Double Booked
Jemma’s dream of running her own bookshop is becoming a nightmare. She has plenty of ideas, but her assistant Maddy is resistant to change. Come to that, so are the customers.
To distract herself, Jemma gets involved in Raphael’s attempt to recruit a new member of staff — but that doesn’t go entirely to plan either, as his wider team turns against him.
.ugb-89453d9 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-89453d9 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-89453d9 .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-89453d9 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-89453d9 .ugb-img{width:328px;height:auto !important}}ArrowedIt all began when a dying man with an arrow in his chest grabs her ankle.
During a heat wave at a Santa Fe resort, Julienne has the resort owner pressuring her to solve the murder. The victim is a high profile business man who made enemies rather than friends, leaving Julienne with a roster of suspects. She was supposed to be training the staff and spending quality time with Mason rather than investigating a murder. The heat turns up when an old girlfriend of Mason’s checks in and is determined to get back together.
.ugb-3d8e661 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-3d8e661 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-3d8e661 .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-3d8e661 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-3d8e661 .ugb-img{width:333px;height:auto !important}}When the Cat’s AwayFrom all-inclusive cruises to all-American road trips, sometimes we all just need to get away. And what better escape than into the pages of a book?
USA Today bestselling author Molly Fitz has gathered a fantastically talented group of emerging and established talent in the Cozy Mystery genre. Together, she and her ten author friends are ready to present the ultimate bookworm staycation.
The best part? Kitty doesn’t have to stay at home. Grab your favorite furry friend and snuggle up to read this fun collection of 11 travel cozies, each including a fabulous feline along for the ride.
.ugb-26e900d .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-26e900d .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-26e900d .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-26e900d .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-26e900d .ugb-img{width:313px;height:auto !important}}Sew DeadThis is book 1 in the Good Harbor Witches Cozy Mystery series.
Carly Cooper and her sister, Dana, live in the coastal town of Good Harbor, Maine where they belong to a small community quilting club. Only their “community” is a group of witches, warlocks, and a vampire who are terrible at magic. A non-magical town citizen who moved to Hollywood fifteen years ago is returning to film a new series and the mayor wants the quilting club to plan a party for the famous actress. Trouble brews when the assistant to the actress is found dead with strange markings on her forehead.
.ugb-dedf5cb .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-dedf5cb .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-dedf5cb .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-dedf5cb .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-dedf5cb .ugb-img{width:333px;height:auto !important}}Murder at the SpaWhen a daughter that Kelly’s best friend gave up for adoption at birth is accused of murder, Kelly has no choice but to see what she can do to help.
But there are several things that present major problems. A sheriff who just wants a quick conviction,
a woman who has a history of embezzling, an errant husband, looking for a way to escape from what life has dealt him, a jealous competitor, and a frustrated employee.
So just who was the murderer? And what about that red-headed judge?
Could he inadvertently preside over a murder trial where his daughter is the accused killer? A daughter he didn’t even know he had?
.ugb-0dd7352 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-0dd7352 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-0dd7352 .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-0dd7352 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-0dd7352 .ugb-img{width:315px;height:auto !important}}Life Crafter DeathMy sister, Emmy can be impulsive. Like when she spontaneously shows up on my doorstep, heartbroken.
Emmy says she and her husband, Armando had a huge argument and she needs some time alone to figure things out.
Except she’s not alone.
Armando, Emmy’s friends, and even her co-workers have followed her to Harmony Lake. When Armando turns up dead in our cozy, tight-knit town, my sister is the prime suspect.
But there are plenty of people in town who had a reason to want Armando dead. One of them is the killer.
Why did Emmy’s friends and co-workers follow her to Harmony Lake? What secrets are they trying to keep hidden? Who else is in danger?
I don’t care how much evidence points to Emmy, I know my sister isn’t a killer, and I’ll prove it if it’s the last thing I do.
.ugb-12c2618 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-12c2618 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-12c2618 .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-12c2618 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-12c2618 .ugb-img{width:312px;height:auto !important}}Dead Man’s Key“People pay for what they do, and then some more for what they become”
Holly Bennett is 16, daughter of Chief of Miami Police, a recovering sex addict and kidnapped.
Roy Miller is lethal, has an eagle’s eye for details and mind of a cunning wolf inherited from a private investigator father who disappeared six months ago.
Joseph Gage is an absconding leader of a drug peddling biker gang, settled on the borders of Mexico, who returns to his home turf of Pelican Bay with a deadly purpose on his mind.
Together, their paths crosses in this explosive action adventure with a gripping mystery at it’s heart.
May 18, 2021
Artemis Runs Afowl in The Atlantis Complex
I hope you saw Reading for Celiac Disease Awareness last week. If not, take a look at the information and resources attached to that post. Pick up a few books, fiction and non-fiction, to learn more about this autoimmune disorder and the impact it can have on sufferers lives.
Be sure to pop back in this weekend for my new release!
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme. Read the rules and more teasers at The Purple Booker. Anyone can play along.
It’s actually a couple of weeks since I read The Atlantis Complex, but the book I read last was pretty much a waste of time, so I am posting a teaser for Atlantis instead.
I have read a couple of other books in Eoin Colfer’s Artemis Fowl series. It is a middle grade fantasy/sci-fi adventure series that is just a lot of fun to read. If you’re looking for an escape for a few hours, this is a great series to get into.
The Atlantis Complex is book 7 in the Artemis Fowl series. In this episode, Artemis is suffering from a fictional dissociative mental illness which makes it difficult for him to manage even his day-to-day activities. The spy/inventor/criminal mastermind who is usually ahead of the game in every instance is really suffering in this installment.
Fun characters, lots of humor and adventure, and a satisfying resolution. Artemis Fowl is always a good choice.
[image error]You teenagers are all the same. Let’s see if your generation does any better with the planet.
Eoin Colfer, Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex
Artemis has committed his entire fortune to a project he believes will save the planet and its inhabitants, both human and fairy. Can it be true? Has goodness taken hold of the world’s greatest teenage criminal mastermind? Captain Holly Short is unconvinced, and discovers that Artemis is suffering from Atlantis Complex, a psychosis common among guilt-ridden fairies – not humans – and most likely triggered by Artemis’s dabbling with fairy magic. Symptoms include obsessive-compulsive behavior, paranoia, multiple personality disorder and, in extreme cases, embarrassing professions of love to a certain feisty LEPrecon fairy
May 12, 2021
Reading for Celiac Disease Awareness
May is Celiac Disease Awareness month. You may have heard of Celiac Disease and not know what it means. It has also been called Celiac Sprue and a couple of other names. While those with Celiac Disease react to the glutens (proteins) in grains, it is not an allergy like a peanut allergy.
One of the things that I have had people ask me is which is worse, allergies or intolerance (Celiac Disease is an intolerance to glutens.) But it is very individual. Either one can be mild or severe. And with an intolerance like Celiac Disease, you may not realize that you have it, may not have any recognizable symptoms, but it can still cause damage that can result in serious illness such as colon cancer or the inability to absorb nutrients.
Some CD sufferers have very severe symptoms from just a crumb of gluten or cross-contamination. Others don’t have any obvious symptoms but still have silent systemic damage. So don’t assume that because your acquaintance is not actually gluten intolerant because they didn’t know that you snuck some gluten into their food (yes, people do this…) People may also be suffering for it hours later and not tell you because they are nice and trying to spare your feelings. Or they don’t know how they got contaminated. Just don’t be that guy.
Definition
Celiac disease (CD) is a common disorder that is estimated to affect about one percent of the population. It is a condition in which the absorptive surface of the small intestine is damaged by a substance called gluten. Gluten is a group of proteins present in wheat, rye and barley and their cross bred grains. The damage to the intestine can lead to a variety of symptoms and result in an inability of the body to absorb nutrients such as protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals, which are necessary for good health.
Canadian Celiac Association
Sufferers of CD may also not be able to tolerate other grains (members of the grass family, such as corn, sorghum, millet, rice, etc.) They may also have other intolerances, such as for dairy products. They may have other autoimmune diseases such as Sjrogen’s, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, Hashimoto’s, and others. Because of increased gut permeability, they may develop multiple food allergies and intolerances.
While Celiac Disease may seem like something new, it has been around for a long time, but is exacerbated by our modern western diet which includes lots of gluten in a wide variety of sources. It wasn’t until the late 1800s and the first half of the twentieth century that doctors began to find success in treating this wasting disease with a diet that substituted rice or bananas for grains.
Gluten-Free DietThe basic gluten-free diet avoids any sources of wheat, rye, and barley. There are many places gluten can lurk in your diet, it isn’t all bread, cereal, and pasta. It may be used as fillers in a myriad of food, is in your soy sauce, and many other places you might not expect. Cross contamination from equipment, pots, and deep-fryers is also an issue.
Oats are a problem for many celiacs, even when it is certified gluten-free. And as I mentioned above, other grains may be a problem, and some may find themselves saddled with a number of other intolerances and allergies. Finding and sticking to a diet that will keep you healthy and feeling well can be a lot more difficult than just buying commercial gluten-free bread.
A few resources you may want to explore further:
Gluten-Free Pinterest BoardDisease and Disorder Pinterest BoardFood families referenceRecipesGluten-free recipes about on the internet and in recipe books. In most cases, just googling “gluten-free” with the food you are looking for will give you plenty of options. If you are cooking for a friend, be sure to find out all of their dietary requirements.
.ugb-885794f .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-885794f .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-885794f .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-885794f .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-885794f .ugb-img{width:640px;height:auto !important}}Recipes from Auntie Clem’s BakeryA number of readers have asked for recipes for the Auntie Clem’s Bakery series.
Now, Erin can make a lot of awesome baking that I cannot, both because she can use ingredients that I can’t eat (I am one of those people with multiple intolerances and allergies) and because she has time to experiment and bake when I am spending my time writing new books for you! I don’t want to give you recipes that I haven’t tested myself, so that limits the number of recipes I can share.
The good news is, during the Christmas holiday last year, I pulled together a few of my tried, tested, and true recipes and made them available to you for a free download. These are recipes that I spent years adapting and creating. I will continue to add recipes to it in the future.
So if you are interested, here are Recipes from Auntie Clem’s Bakery!
The library and book stores are full of books about gluten-free diets, cooking, and baking. I’ll list a few farther down that helped me at the beginning of my gluten-free journey or look particularly good. [Edited to add — okay, it looks like so much time has passed since I first went gluten-free that none of the ones I used are around anymore. but I’ve added a few that are consistently recommended and look good or are by authors I recognize from blogs and newsletter.] But first, let’s escape to a free fiction books that deal with gluten-free diets or cooking!
@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-9266625 .ugb-img{width:669px;height:auto !important}}Gluten-Free MurderErin Price moves to Bald Eagle Falls, a place where everyone knows everyone as well as everyone else’s business, taking over the store left to her by her aunt to start up a gluten-free bakery. The grand opening is marred by just one thing, the death of her business rival, Angela Plaint. It appears that Angela was poisoned by one of Erin’s cupcakes, making her a prime suspect.
Equipped with cupcakes, her desire for the truth, and new bakery assistant Vicky’s help, Erin goes head-to-head against Detective Terry Piper to solve the murder. Rumors of treasure hunting, drug dealing, and a missing boy swirl around Bald Eagle Falls as Erin tries to sort the clues from the red herrings and find the killer before the killer can take care of her.
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Gabriel has dealt with mysterious medical issues his whole life. Just when he finally thought that they had all of the answers and he was on the road to good health, he is apprehended by DFS on the grounds of medical neglect.
At first, he thought that he would be back home in a few days, once the misunderstanding was cleared up. But when Renata tells Gabriel her crazy conspiracy theories, Gabriel feels the first pangs of doubt. Is there really a conspiracy?
Will he ever be able to get well and go back to his mother, or is he doomed to be another guinea pig for Doctor De Klerk?
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Caleb, an autistic teen is mistakenly arrested.
Bad turns to worse when he is then apprehended from his family by DFS.
His mother could never have predicted the chain of events in a million years.
In trying to protect him, DFS has actually put Caleb in harm’s way.
Once again, Gabriel and Renata have teamed up to right injustice and to get Caleb to safety. But Andrew Searle is on the case, and it’s his job to see that they don’t succeed and that Caleb remains in foster care.
Ripped from the headlines, you won’t want to miss this intriguing plot!
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[This is not one of mine, so I can’t speak for an accurate portrayal of celiac disease. However, at least one reviewer has said that it is a good portrayal]
Even though Toni is used to going against the grain by preparing allergy-safe, gluten-free products for her online bakery, Baker’s Treat, opening a storefront in the middle of wheat country Kansas might be biting off more than she can chew. The town is already skeptical of her flour-free ways, but when a local wheat farmer is murdered outside her patisserie, skepticism turns into outright suspicion.
With the help of her eccentric grandmother, her handsome lawyer, and the sexy new widower in town, Toni is determined to find the real criminal before bad publicity and increasingly personal acts of vandalism shut her down. But when another suspect winds up dead, Toni realizes that this half-baked killer isn’t just trying to get her to close shop—he’s trying to make sure that she’s made her last gluten-free cookie…forever.
Resources.ugb-e1a1330 .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-e1a1330 .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-e1a1330 .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-e1a1330 .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-e1a1330 .ugb-img{width:265px;height:auto !important}}Deliac Disease: A Hidden EpidemicFrom Dr. Peter H.R. Green, internationally renowned expert on celiac disease and director of the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University, and medical writer Rory Jones, the definitive book on celiac disease, one of the most underdiagnosed autoimmune diseases in the U.S.
Do you suffer from gastrointestinal complaints, fatigue, headaches, joint pain, anemia, and/or itchy skin conditions? Have you consulted numerous doctors, and been prescribed drugs and diets that have only temporarily alleviated some symptoms? If so, you may have celiac disease, a hereditary autoimmune condition that affects nearly one in every hundred people—97 percent of whom remain undiagnosed and untreated.
The real answer to your medical problems may lie in this book. Dr. Green, together with Rory Jones, an accomplished medical writer who was diagnosed with the disease in 1998 and has been researching it ever since, have written this authoritative guide on how celiac disease is properly diagnosed, treated, and managed. The disease is triggered by gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye, and barley, which damages the lining of the small intestine so that it cannot properly absorb food. Without essential nutrients, the entire body begins to suffer. Complications from celiac disease can include infertility, depression, liver disease, other autoimmune diseases (such as type 1 diabetes and thyroid disease), and even cancer. This is a disease that you do not outgrow. At present, the only way to treat it is to follow a lifelong gluten-free diet.
.ugb-a1da89f .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-a1da89f .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-a1da89f .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-a1da89f .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-a1da89f .ugb-img{width:432px;height:auto !important}}Celiac and the BeastThis is a real-life, no-holds-barred account of being diagnosed and living life with celiac disease. This is told through a humorous perspective from an average gluten-free girl who hates to cook and has an obsession with baking chocolate chip cookies to combat stress.
This details the struggle through misdiagnosis after misdiagnosis, additional medical issues along with celiac disease, and a connection between her past life of disordered eating to her new medically restricted diet. However, this book also showcases the triumphs of living a gluten-free life – from meeting new friends, to living life with a purpose, and meeting the wheat-free man of her dreams.
.ugb-91be7eb .ugb-button{background-color:#BE1E2D;border-radius:25px !important}.ugb-91be7eb .ugb-button .ugb-button--inner,.ugb-91be7eb .ugb-button svg:not(.ugb-custom-icon){color:#ffffff !important}.ugb-91be7eb .ugb-button:before{border-radius:25px !important}@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-91be7eb .ugb-img{width:333px;height:auto !important}}The First Year: Celiac Disease and Gluten IntoleranceIf you’ve just been diagnosed with celiac disease, you’re not alone: as many as 1 in 133 Americans have this autoimmune disorder characterized by an inability to digest gluten, a protein found in wheat and other grains. For ten years, Jules Shepard’s gastrointestinal symptoms went misdiagnosed. Finally diagnosed, she experienced a rollercoaster of emotions and illness the year following, as she discovered what she could and could not eat through trial and error.
Now, in The First Year” Celiac Disease and Living Gluten-Free, Shepard explains everything you need to learn and do upon your or a family member’s diagnosis.
How celiac disease affects your entire body
Eating gluten-free (and avoiding hidden glutens)
Keeping your kitchen safe from cross-contamination
Can I drink alcohol?
Celiac and fertility
Finding support groups
Parenting a child with celiac disease
Dining out, traveling, and entertaining
This unique guide prioritizes all the most important information on diet and lifestyle changes for you. Day-by-day, week-by-week, month-by-month, learn how to safely alter your diet, manage your symptoms, and adjust to living gluten-free. Complete with easy and delicious recipes for gluten-free baking, The First Year: Celiac Disease and Living Gluten-Free is your essential guide to a healthy life.
May 11, 2021
Chills and thrills in You Are Not Alone
Are you Reading Your Way Through May? I hope you have picked up some of the books on my reading list. If not, click through and take a look. There might just be something that you are interested in. I’ll be writing on Celiac Disease Awareness month later on this week—good reason to join Erin Price in her specialty bakery!
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme. Read the rules and more teasers at The Purple Booker. Anyone can play along.
I am currently reading You Are Not Alone, a psychological thriller by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen. Both have at least a couple of other books under their belts, and you can tell. You Are Not Alone is a slow-burn as Shay Miller finds herself pulled deeper and deeper into the plot of the Moore sisters. An innocent bystander, Shay has no idea what she is getting into or why the sisters are first befriending her and then… not. Definitely a page-turner.
I stretch out my hand toward her and yell something—“No!” or “Don’t!”—but it’s too late.
Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen, You Are Not Alone
Shay Miller wants to find love, but it eludes her. She wants to be fulfilled, but her job is a dead end. She wants to belong, but her life is increasingly lonely.
Until Shay meets the Moore sisters. Cassandra and Jane live a life of glamorous perfection, and always get what they desire. When they invite Shay into their circle, everything seems to get better.
Shay would die for them to like her.
She may have to.
May 4, 2021
It’s Still Jack Reacher in The Sentinel
Lots of good things going on around here recently. Hopefully, you managed to pick up a few new free books this weekend. A few of them might still be on sale if you pop over and take a look at my freebie blog post.
And I have kicked off Read Your Way Through May. Looking for some books to read on important causes this month? Get started with the reading list that I have put together.
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme. Read the rules and more teasers at The Purple Booker. Anyone can play along.
You might have heard that Lee Child is passing on the mantle of the Jack Reacher series to his brother, ten years his junior, Andrew Grant. Andrew Grant, now writing as Andrew Child, teams up with Lee Child in The Sentinel. They plan to write a few Jack Reacher books together, and then Andrew will take over. You can also find out more in this podcast, but it is fairly lengthy and I haven’t watched it yet.
But on to the book! The Sentinel is the twenty-fifth book in the Jack Reacher series. I haven’t noticed any issues with the transition from Lee Child writing alone to coauthoring with Andrew Child. It is still classic Jack Reacher. However, Reacher is becoming a dinosaur in his investigative methods. He has never carried a cell phone, doesn’t drive a car, doesn’t know how to operate a computer. He looks up phone numbers and addresses in the paper director, if there even is one. It looks like Rusty Rutherford, the IT consultant that Reacher is protecting from all of the bad guys in this story is going to give him a little help in bringing himself up-to-date on the technology side of things, so you can look forward to Jack Reacher with a smart phone as the series progresses. This could open up a whole new world for Reacher—online searches and maps, calling an Uber, Amazon dropping supplies at his door… the possibilities are endless.
Today’s teaser:
“…It was not my fault. None of it. The truth is I tried to stop it from happening. And I was the only one who did.” No one paid any attention.
Lee Child and Andrew Child, The Sentinel
As always, Reacher has no particular place to go, and all the time in the world to get there. One morning he ends up in a town near Pleasantville, Tennessee.
But there’s nothing pleasant about the place.
In broad daylight Reacher spots a hapless soul walking into an ambush. “It was four against one” . . . so Reacher intervenes, with his own trademark brand of conflict resolution.
The man he saves is Rusty Rutherford, an unassuming IT manager, recently fired after a cyberattack locked up the town’s data, records, information . . . and secrets. Rutherford wants to stay put, look innocent, and clear his name.
Reacher is intrigued. There’s more to the story. The bad guys who jumped Rutherford are part of something serious and deadly, involving a conspiracy, a cover-up, and murder—all centered on a mousy little guy in a coffee-stained shirt who has no idea what he’s up against.
Rule one: if you don’t know the trouble you’re in, keep Reacher by your side.
May 1, 2021
Read Your Way Through May
I often look through national observances to see what topics people will be talking about that I have addressed in my books. Some observances are silly, like National No Pants Day (May 7), National Limerick Day (May 12), or Put a Pillow on your Fridge Day (May 29). Others are quite serious.
There were so many causes that I would like to highlight for May, that I decided to do one massive post about the different days and see which resonate with you. Thus… Read Your Way Through May.
I have been experimenting with reading lists on a number of different platforms, so you can find this book list on each of the following:
GoodreadsBookfunnelBooks2ReadBingebooksPinterestMay 1 Celiac Disease Awareness MonthJoin baker-sleuth Erin Price as she bakes up speciality goodies and solves mysteries in the Auntie Clem’s Bakery series.
@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-9266625 .ugb-img{width:669px;height:auto !important}}Gluten-Free MurderErin Price moves to Bald Eagle Falls, a place where everyone knows everyone as well as everyone else’s business, taking over the store left to her by her aunt to start up a gluten-free bakery. The grand opening is marred by just one thing, the death of her business rival, Angela Plaint. It appears that Angela was poisoned by one of Erin’s cupcakes, making her a prime suspect.
Equipped with cupcakes, her desire for the truth, and new bakery assistant Vicky’s help, Erin goes head-to-head against Detective Terry Piper to solve the murder. Rumors of treasure hunting, drug dealing, and a missing boy swirl around Bald Eagle Falls as Erin tries to sort the clues from the red herrings and find the killer before the killer can take care of her.
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Reg Rawlins, Psychic Investigator, and Starlight, her familiar, investigate strange goings-on in the paranormal community of Black Sands.
@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-2a1ec0e .ugb-img{width:640px;height:auto !important}}What the Cat KnewReg Rawlins, professional con, has really gotten herself into a bind this time.
The fortune teller gig started as a scam, but she suddenly finds herself tangled up in the case of Warren Blake, a man who she thought was dead. It turns out he may still be alive, but in mortal peril.
Reg has always taken the quick exit, the easy way out, but running out on this racket might mean someone else’s death.
Staying in it might mean hers.
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Follow June Simpson’s story in the award-winning family epic Between the Cracks series.
@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-209cace .ugb-img{width:640px;height:auto !important}}June & JustinJustin had made a mistake. A big, life-changing mistake.
He already failed June once. He wasn’t there when she needed him, and because of him, their lives will never be the same. June is everything to Justin, and he must be everything to her. He must protect June at all costs. Justin is prepared spend the rest of his life keeping her from getting hurt again.
But it seems they are always falling behind, barely keeping one step ahead of the nightmares.
There is always one more hazard, just around the corner.
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June Simpson has lost everything. Her family, the love of her life, and now her freedom.
And it’s her own fault.
Drugs have taken her health and what little happiness remained in her life, and now, incarcerated after a failed attempt at armed robbery, June is forced to detox and to face the reality of the misery and abuse she has perpetrated on those closest to her, especially her children.
Getting clean is just the first of her challenges, and as difficult as it is, may be the easiest part.
The path ahead is filled with so many obstacles she can’t see her way through to the other side. Facing her children and convincing them that she has really changed and is capable of a healthy relationship with them seems like an insurmountable task.
Readers begged for another book in the Between the Cracks series from award-winning and USA Today bestselling author P.D. Workman. They especially wanted June’s story to be told.
You asked for it, so here it is. Click ‘buy now’!
June, Into the Light is book #6 in the Between the Cracks series but can be read as a stand-alone novel.
The Between the Cracks series has won multiple literary awards from the In the Margins Committee of Library Services for Youth in Custody.
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Hopefully, you have been enjoying the antics of the pets in the Auntie Clem’s Bakery series and Reg Rawlins series. Another kitten crawls into your heart in Virtually Harmless
@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-329ed9d .ugb-img{width:681px;height:auto !important}}Virtually HarmlessMicah lived a quiet, comfortable life, her involvement in law enforcement limited to the composite pictures that she produced with her computer and colored pencils.
But everything is turned upside down when she involves herself in the case of an infant found abandoned in the Sweetgrass Hills.
With the help of her knowledge of DNA and law enforcement contacts across the country, Micah is closing in on a killer. But her investigation draws the killer’s attention, and she finds herself in the middle of an operation that could mean the end of her career—or worse, her life.
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I already introduced the Simpson family in the Between the Cracks series above, so how about meeting Parker’s family in this award-winning book?
@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-dc8dfc8 .ugb-img{width:671px;height:auto !important}}Endless ChangeShe was a broken bird
He was a mender of wings
Parker’s mother always said he jumped into things without thinking first, and that’s exactly what he did when he saw Dakota, cold and hungry, fending for herself on the city streets. How could he ignore the pain and fear in her dark eyes? Dakota was eager to go to school and she made friends quickly, eager to make up for a dismal childhood full of deprivation and abuse by enjoying every moment she could.
But there was something wrong with Dakota. It wasn’t just the hollowness in her eyes or her traumatic past. Others sensed it too and warned Parker not to get too close to Dakota. But despite his questions, he just can’t help falling for her.
Dakota holds her secrets close, and Parker is worried that if he pushes too hard for answers, she’ll just run away.
Placed on the In the Margins Committee Recommended Reads, 2018 by Library Services for Youth in Custody.
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Take a peek at the Medical Kidnap Files. More on this series below.
@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-d2fa3ea .ugb-img{width:678px;height:auto !important}}EDSWith a long string of unbelievable stories to explain her frequent injuries, Social Services sees Katt is the stereotypical abused child. When she is admitted to hospital with yet another broken bone, they do the only logical thing to protect her, removing Katt from her mother’s custody.
But Katt and her mother know that something is wrong, and it has nothing to do with abuse, and the longer Katt stays in foster care, the worse her health gets. Can they get the answers they need before it is too late? Can they get the answers and get Katt back home?
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If anyone can tell you about mental illness, it’s Zachary Goldman. Maybe being broken makes it easier for others who have faced tragedy to trust him. Walk with Zachary as he solves cases that will stretch his abilities to the limit.
@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-5110e11 .ugb-img{width:313px;height:auto !important}}She Wore MourningA dead child.
A mother deep in mourning.
Private Investigator Zachary Goldman’s life isn’t all roses, but he tries to put his own shattered life behind him to investigate the death of five-year-old Declan Bond.
Declan’s death has been ruled an accident, but his grandmother thinks there is more to it. She fears Declan’s mother will not be able to find peace until Zachary can give them an answer once and for all.
But as Zachary digs into the circumstances surrounding Declan’s death, he finds that all is not as it seems, and somebody doesn’t want him to find the truth.
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What are you going to get caught reading this month? Do you read on the train? In the park? What special book would you like to share with others?
May 18 Lyme Disease Awareness MonthAs an infections disease expert, Matt Malloy knows all about Lyme disease. This one will have you itching to go for a walk in the woods. (Not!)
@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-5452462 .ugb-img{width:658px;height:auto !important}}In the Tick of TimeThings creep and crawl in the woods. Things that can wreak havoc with your life.
Things that can be deadly.
As an infectious disease expert for the DOH’s vector-borne disease division, Matt Malloy knows this. What he doesn’t know is who, or why, someone would want to deliberately infect innocent people. Adding insult to injury, his co-workers think he’s either paranoid or losing his mind because of erratic behavior and disordered sleep habits.
Behavior he can’t help. A traumatic head wound can have that effect on a man. He was clocked hard while interviewing a patient with Lyme disease weeks ago, and he’s still suffering from it.
But he’s definitely not crazy.
Or paranoid.
Someone is deliberately infecting people. Maybe even someone he knows. Very soon, that someone will know Matt’s on to him.
Can he prove his suspicions before he’s targeted, too?
A nail-biting, creepy-crawly, medical-thriller that fans of Robin Cook will devour because it could happen to you. Maybe it already has.
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Follow Tamara French as she struggles to overcome the challenges of her past and reintegrate into the normal world in the award-winning Tamara’s Teardrops series
@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-cd7551b .ugb-img{width:678px;height:auto !important}}Tattooed TeardropsWinner of Top Fiction Award, In the Margins Committee, 2016.
I don’t plan on getting in any trouble.
Tamara had thought that when she got out of juvie, things would be easier. But before long, it seems like her life is spiraling into chaos.
If she can’t prove to her probation officer that she is innocent of the allegations against her, she’s going back to prison, and Tamara just can’t let that happen.
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Can Nadie find happiness and a place of her own in a foreign world where she is abused and discriminated against? Completely alone for the first time in her life, it is a challenge such as Nadie has never before faced.
@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-a3d1b9d .ugb-img{width:675px;height:auto !important}}Questing for a DreamNadie is a bright, caring teen growing up Manitoba Cree growing up in abject poverty. She tries to balance school attendance, caring for her younger cousin Luyu, and spending time with handsome, impish Mouse, her best friend and confidante. Together, they strive to find the path to happiness on the reservation.
But tragedy strikes and Nadie’s is devastated by Luyu’s accidental death. Unable to find comfort in Mouse’s arms or Grandfather’s traditional mourning rites, Nadie leaves the band and strikes off on her own, searching for meaning and a new life in the outside world.
Can Nadie find happiness and a place of her own in a foreign world where she is abused and discriminated against? Completely alone for the first time in her life, it is a challenge such as Nadie has never before faced.
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Things were going well for Abe. Despite all of his past struggles with mental illness, he was happily married, had three wonderful children, a nice home, and a fantastic consulting business that satisfied his creativity and brought in a good income. But you can never get too comfortable.
@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-a05b918 .ugb-img{width:663px;height:auto !important}}Looking Over Your ShoulderThings were going well for Abe. Despite all of his past struggles with mental illness, he was happily married, had three wonderful children, a nice home, and a fantastic consulting business that satisfied his creativity and brought in a good income.
But you can never get too comfortable. When Abe becomes a prime suspect in a jewel heist – one of the largest successful jewel heists in history – his schizophrenia becomes unmanageable and everything begins to spiral out of control. Abe’s own investigation into the heist has the jewel thieves hot on his tail… but are they really, or is he just losing the battle against his inner demons?
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From the Zachary Goldman Mysteries series mentioned above, Zachary takes a deep dive into the mystery surrounding his ex-wife in this episode.
@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-4f28868 .ugb-img{width:640px;height:auto !important}}She Was At RiskZachary has done his very best to let go of ex-wife Bridget and relegate their relationship to the past. So when her current partner comes to him for help, he is understandably hesitant to help.
But Gordon has always been a stand-up guy and done right by Zachary, so he reluctantly lets himself be talked once more into helping Bridget and Gordon. Zachary struggles with obsessions and self-doubt at the best of times, and this is a case that could break him.
His investigations lead him from one dark revelation to another until Zachary has no idea how he’s going to find his way back into the light.
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Erin Price (Auntie Clem’s Bakery), Reg Rawlins, and Zachary Goldman are all former foster-kids solving mysteries. The Between the Cracks series and Tamara’s Teardrops series also address foster care.
Jump into the Medical Kidnap Files, where teens put into foster care are at the center of their own adventures.
@media screen and (min-width:768px){.ugb-1b21e6e .ugb-img{width:332px;height:auto !important}}MitoGabriel has dealt with mysterious medical issues his whole life. Just when he finally thought that they had all of the answers and he was on the road to good health, he is apprehended by DFS on the grounds of medical neglect.
At first, he thought that he would be back home in a few days, once the misunderstanding was cleared up. But when Renata tells Gabriel her crazy conspiracy theories, Gabriel feels the first pangs of doubt. Is there really a conspiracy?
Will he ever be able to get well and go back to his mother, or is he doomed to be another guinea pig for Doctor De Klerk?
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How many of these did you manage to read this month? Did you read something (on this list or not!) that you would like to share with others? Send a friend or family member a recommendation, review on your favourite book site, or gift a book to someone!
