Rural Fiction

The emotional equivalent of a Category Six hurricane is raging through the small Southern town of Barksdale in the form of a rumor that a provocative African American newcomer might be of supernatural origin.

Detective Abish Taylor left Utah for a reason. But with her husband’s passing, it’s time to come home. Reconnecting with her family means dealing with her past: the father she abandoned and the community she left behind. Her one escape is serving as the sole police detective in the small town of Pleasant View. But when the quiet Mormon suburb in the Wasatch Mountains is shaken by a macabre death - with the hallmarks of a sacred ritual dating back to the days of Brigham Young - Abbie is called into action.

Locky Sorenson isn't a risk taker. He's stuck in an awful office job. He's terrified of turning his one true passion, baking, into something real. And worst of all, he hasn't gotten laid in almost a decade. Sure, he could confront the traumatic reason he's in this mess, but stress eating donuts under a cozy blanket sounds like a much better option. Benedict Owens doesn't screw his clients, no matter how beefy and adorkable they are. As a small business advisor, he knows that's a recipe for disaster. Better to keep his distance. That way, he won't get burned again.

An unputdownable novel from master of suspense Noelle W. Ihli, where two women find themselves on the run for their lives... A rural country road. No cell signal for miles. A terrifying game of cat-and-mouse. By the time Laura and Olivia notice the headlights tailing them through the hills...

When her stepmother dies, Caro returns to her childhood home in the rural English countryside. She hadn’t seen Elizabeth in years, but the remote farmhouse offers refuge from a bad relationship and a chance to start again. But going through Elizabeth’s belongings unearths memories Caro would rather stay buried. In particular, the story her stepmother would tell her about two little girls and the terrible thing they do. As heavy snow traps Caro in the village, where her neighbours stare and whisper, Caro is forced to question why Elizabeth hated her so much and what she was hiding.

In the quiet, sunrise-side town of Hampstead, Michigan, Rachel Roberts descends the stairs in her beach house, ready to sit on the back deck, have a glass of wine, and feel the Huron breezes come in from the water as the stars start to glow in the night sky above. But everything changes when she sees headlights coming down her driveway. As the vehicle approaches, she becomes both excited and puzzled. Excited, because the vehicle belongs to her friend, retired Hampstead P.I. Obadiah Ben-David. Puzzled, because she has no idea why he is paying her an evening visit.

There's no one I hate more in our small town, and now that my dad is his boss, I can't avoid him. And maybe…maybe I don't want to. Because the more I get to know him, I realize there's more to him than I thought. With each intimate conversation and accidental touch, the sizzling tension between us grows. He makes me laugh. We understand each other in a way no one has before.

Brightwater Valley, New Zealand, is beautiful, rugged, and home to those who love adventure. But it's also isolated and on the verge of becoming a ghost town. When the town puts out a call to its sister city of Deep River, Alaska, hoping to entice people to build homes and businesses in Brightwater, ex paratrooper Chase Kelly is all for it. He sees the benefits of building the economy, but only if those who come to Brightwater are ready for its challenges.

Pastry chef Tessa Montgomery knows what everyone in Blossom Glen says about her. Spinster. Ice Queen. Such a shame. It’s enough to make a woman bake her troubles away, dreaming of Parisian delicacies while she makes bread at her mother’s struggling boulangerie. That is, it is until Tessa’s mortal enemy — deliciously handsome (if arrogant) chef Leo Castorini, who owns the restaurant next door — proposes a business plan…to get married.

Cilla St. James never believed in fairy tales until she fell in love at first sight with a man who was everything she ever wanted. Awkward, barely scraping by as a waitress, and as plump as a Christmas ham, she never thought anyone would ever look at her twice. She didn't think anyone could ever make her believe that she was worth loving. But he did.

As a firefighter, Kent Wakefield has been burned before, and not just by fire. So when Casey Bradford, his best friend's off-limits, gorgeous little sister, asks him to be her fake boyfriend, he flat out refuses. He doesn't do relationships, real or otherwise. But when his well-meaning, marriage-pushing mother corners him about his cousin's wedding, he panics and tells her he has a date. After being left at the altar, Casey is out of options. She needs a boyfriend ASAP or she can kiss her dreams goodbye. Who better than her brother's emotionally unavailable best friend, Kent?

Award-winning wildlife photographer Elijah Ellis has come back home due to the tragic accident that killed members of both his and his best friend Tabitha Brodie's family. Despite their grief, Eli hopes that he and Tabby can pick up their familiar friendship. Tabby has always loved Eli. He's everything she wants in a man. But he left Gatlinburg to make a name for himself outside of his famous family. She refuses to be an anchor to a life he never wanted. As Eli and Tabby spend more time together, he's determined to show her they could be perfect together.

The SideRoad Kids follows a group of boys and girls as they enter the sixth grade in a small town in Michigan's Upper Peninsula during 1957-58. This meandering collection of loosely-connected short stories is often humorous, poignant, and sometimes mysterious. Laugh as the kids argue over Halloween treats handed out in Brimley. Recall Dorothy's Hamburgers in Sault Ste. Marie.

Actor Kelsey Grammer, best known for his roles in the TV sitcoms Cheers and Frasier, delivers Bitter Brew, a compelling mystery featuring Detective Bill Walsh, an upstate cop in the quiet, rural town of Beatriceville, 200 miles north of New York City, who suspects foul play in the death of millionaire city transplant Jonathan Kimball, even though the evidence points to suicide, not murder.

Lucy Parsons wants absolutely nothing to do with the Westmoore family or the maple syrup they produce. When Sierra Westmoore blows back into town after her father's death and tries to rent a room at Lucy's family's bed-and-breakfast, The Maple Inn, Lucy kicks her out on the spot. It doesn't matter that Sierra hasn't set foot in Maple Run in fifteen years—the Westmoores are not allowed. But small towns don't leave a lot of room to hide, and Sierra and her brother, Drake, have set their sights on improving the town's opinion of them now that their father is gone.

Soon after banker Willard Carmichael and his young bride arrive in Pickax, a string of petty burglaries follow. Then Willard meets his demise—an apparent victim of a mugging—and the banker's home restoration project goes to the widow's cousin. Though the clues are as elusive as a cat burglar, the suspicious Qwill and his feline companions, Koko and Yum Yum, are determined to catch a thief—and a killer.

After a series of life-changing losses, Nadia is shocked when life hands her a big win. But with that comes the realization that people will lie and cheat just to get a piece of her. Fighting to not let life keep her down, Nadia is surprised when sexy bad boy Locust edges his way into her life, her bed, and her heart. And then he breaks it.

Luca Torres, a struggling journalism graduate, never meant to take a vow of celibacy. It was just a dumb idea from a job interview gone wrong. He never thought they'd approve the article. Or make his future career conditional on delivering it. Now, with no choice but to steer clear of temptation for the summer, he takes the most isolated job he can find: a fire lookout in the rural and picturesque mountains of Washington State. However, his goal becomes much harder with the arrival of the husky and flirtatious Artair Osmond, a musician and wilderness enthusiast who takes up camp nearby.

Janine Potter grew up on the other side of the tracks. Her mother, Nancy, struggled with just about everything—alcohol, men, money—and Janine made a pledge to herself that she would never be like her. At age nineteen, Janine met Jack Potter, the son of an oil tycoon, and never looked back. Her life became a series of cocktail parties and multi-million-dollar apartments all across the world, and rubbing elbows with celebrities. Slowly, memory of her mother faded, although the trauma never really did.

When Pippa finds herself in Fairhaven Falls with empty pockets and a brand new baby, she's thrilled when a sweet—and slightly scary—old lady offers her a job and a place to live. Their new home isn't much, but it offers a desperately needed shelter. Then, her grumpy orc neighbor comes charging into their lives. She should be wary of the huge male, but when she watches him handling his hammer, fear is the last thing she feels. And when he cradles her daughter so tenderly against that big muscular chest? Her heart isn't the only thing melting!