Showing results by narrator "TALMADGE RAGAN" in All Categories

Trading in Texas heat for Maine's tangy salt air, Natalie Barnes risked it all to buy the Gray Whale Inn, a quaint bed and breakfast on Cranberry Island. She adores whipping up buttery muffins and other rich breakfast treats for her guests until Bernard Katz checks in. The overbearing land developer plans to build a resort next door where an endangered colony of black-chinned terns is nesting. Worried about the birds, the inevitable transformation of the sleepy fishing community, and her livelihood, Natalie takes a public stand against the project.

Kay Farrow, a color-blind photographer who sees the world in black, white, and shades of gray, probes the mysterious death of her beloved mentor on a quest that takes her to the darkest intersections of San Francisco's Mission District. When distinguished photojournalist Maddy Yamada is struck by a motorcyclist at two in the morning in a seedy area far from her Marina apartment, Kay Farrow's grief is tempered by suspicion. What could have drawn the reclusive Maddy so far from home at such an hour?

It’s time to return to Hemlock Cove with five fun tales of Winchester fun. Join the Winchester witches - and those who love them - for a bevy of mischief and mayhem. Spend time in the present with Clove, Thistle, and Landon and travel through time with Twila and Aunt Tillie. This 140,000-word omnibus includes five shorts: "Four-Leaf Clover", "Thistle While You Work", "Landon Calling", "I Dream of Twila", and "How Aunt Tillie Stole Christmas".

Tremaine Valiarde and a small, brave band of heroes ventured into a wondrous new realm on their desperate mission to save Ile-Rien from the conquering Gardier. Now, as a relentless enemy creates chaos and destruction - with the fate of the magical city of Lodun hanging in the balance - the last hope of a land besieged may rest on the far side of a secret portal.

A plague of vampirism has crept across the country, reducing once-thriving cities to ghost towns. In Chicago, a few scattered survivors hide behind the fortified walls of office buildings and museums, raiding deserted stores for dwindling supplies of clothing and food.

A woman who sees what others cannot see seeks the murderer of a young street hustler, a man she had befriended in photographing San Francisco's dark, sexually charged netherworld. The colors of Kay Farrow's landscape are black, white, and shades of gray. An achromat suffering from total color blindness, Kay possesses a vision that informs her world and sharpens her skills as a talented photographer. When Tim Lovsey, a handsome prostitute, is brutally slain, he becomes much more than Kay's subject. She makes it her mission to find his killer, even though the police would prefer to quietly let the case drop.

Don't sleep, Mary. Satan's night is near. He will take you and drown you in blood-drenched sin. Mary Taylor is happy now, married to the man she loves. The years of the Christian Home for Children are behind her, buried in the dark, unspoken folds of memory. But still she awakens to terror, to the hideous acts that gentle Mary would never, ever commit. And someone is killing the girls she knew at the Christian Home.

They say that your school years are supposed to be the best years of your life, and that you should make the most of them because you'll miss them when you're all grown up. Up until Maisie Preston's senior year, she would have totally agreed with that statement. Life was great, she had everything going for her, excellent grades, great parents, an annoying yet caring twin brother, and an impossibly sweet boyfriend. Everything was perfect - that is until the arrival of Zach Anderson.

Ile-Rien is in peril. A mysterious army known only as the Gardier has surrounded the country, attacking in ominous black airships. Hope is not lost though, for a magical sphere created by Ile-Rien's greatest sorcerer may hold the key to defeating the faceless enemy. But the sphere is unpredictable and has already claimed several lives. When a magical spell goes disastrously awry, young Tremaine Valiarde and a brave band are transported to another world-a world of rough magics, evil mages, honorable warriors, and a secret Gardier base.

Known for her lush, intricate worlds and complex characters, acclaimed author Martha Wells has delighted readers with her extraordinary fantasy novels of daring and wit. With The Wizard Hunters she launched her most ambitious undertaking yet-the return to the beloved world of the Nebula Award-nominated The Death of the Necromancer and The Fall of Ile-Rien.

Cara Bishop already saved the world. Now, with the war over and the aliens defeated, she's teaching other pilots to fly the alien ships that turned the tide...until the government approaches her about joining a super-secret mission, that is. Steve Hunter is the product of alien DNA. He was created in a lab, designed to destroy the aliens in a ground war that was never fought. Now, they're finally putting him to use as the leader of this new mission.

When Christine Blacksworth's larger-than-life father is killed on an icy road in Magdalena, New York, 100 miles from the 'getaway' cabin he visited every month, she discovers a secret that threatens everything she's always held to be true. Her father has another family which includes a mistress and a daughter. Determined to uncover the truth behind her father's secret life, Christine heads to Magdalena, prepared to hate the people who have caused her to question everything she thought she knew about her father.

A murderer is stalking the Windy City, carving out the eyes of his victims as grisly souvenirs. When shy Ellen Gordon finds a diary left behind in a coffee shop, she can't keep from reading it. And when she meets the author in person, he's just as charming as his writing. Only when she reads further does she find clues to the identity of Chicago's terrifying serial killer. Could it be the author, himself? Ellen will have to uncover the truth about her new boyfriend quickly if she doesn't want to become the killer's next victim.

For the last eight months, Mandy has lived across the hall from a caveman. He won’t trim his beard, he mostly talks in grunts, and he’ll hardly emerge from his cave of an apartment. Ben might be a grumpy mess, but she kind of likes him anyway. She’s not attracted to him, of course. Not at all. Those stray feelings are merely a fluke. She’s looking for a man who has it all together, and Ben isn’t even close.

Can a painting hold a secret safe in plain sight across seven centuries? The murder of the last member of an old Venetian family peels back the rug on a shocking truth that draws art historian and textile expert Phoebe McCabe into the fray. What she sees in the missing Renaissance symbology will shake the foundations of religious and cultural assumptions across two continents and point the way to a priceless hoard. It’s a secret potent enough to pitch rival factions against Phoebe and her team while destroying history as collateral damage along the way.

Hiding in the Weave, written from the perspective of 18-year-old Joel Barlev, a senior at Delamere, a school geared to talented young artists, plays off themes typically found in classic boarding-school novels - requited and unrequited romantic relationships, alienation, rebellion, sexuality, troubled home lives, moral dilemmas, epiphanies, and acquiring maturity. But there is more here...much more....

Following a family tragedy, Kayla, a 12-year-old orphan, and Garty, a college dropout and junkie, are sent to spend the summer with an enigmatic uncle neither of them have ever known, at his palatial desert home in Los Alamos, New Mexico, the birthplace of the atomic bomb. While Garty struggles to come to grips with his reckless past and Kayla attempts to discover her place in the world, their uncle Xander reveals the true purpose for them being there.

The only person who can identify the most notorious hit man in the country, Kate Bridges is running for her life. Murphy Dolan is in the Army Reserves, returning from his 2nd tour of duty, only to find a stranger hiding in his house. She's scared spitless. He's completely burned-out on violence. Neither of them has any trust left to give.

Amanda Stevens hasn't had an easy life. Her parents are both dead. The only man she ever loved died before their wedding. She works a mundane job, lives in her childhood home, and hasn't gone to a party since shoulder pads were in style. But all that is about to change. A single act of selflessness drives her out in her father's old boat, late at night and in the middle of a storm. She's on her way to rescue someone but when she lands in the past, she finds a new life, a new love, a new Amanda.

Harry Blacksworth is rich, handsome, the ultimate playboy with a killer smile and a clever wit. He's fought it, denied it, ignored it, but the damn truth won't go away: He's fallen in love. And just when he's accepted that fact, Greta Servensen, the only woman he's ever trusted, breaks his heart. Christine Blacksworth and Nate Desantro beat the odds when they fell in love and married. But staying married is threatened when the foundation behind every good relationship - trust - is challenged.