Showing results by narrator "Christina Traister" in All Categories

Caecilia, Roman born but Etruscan wed, forsakes Rome to return to her husband, Vel Mastarna, exposing herself to the enmity of his people while knowing the Romans will give her a traitor's death if Veii falls. Semni, a reckless Etruscan servant in the House of Mastarna, embroils herself in schemes that threaten Caecilia's son and Semni's own chance for love. Pinna, a destitute Roman prostitute, uses coercion to gain the attention of Rome's greatest general at the risk of betraying Caecilia's cousin.

It's the 1970s, and the fight for women's rights is gaining speed. In the sports world, Billie Jean King is breaking gender barriers on the tennis court. Janet Guthrie doesn't consider herself a "women's libber," but to racing's good ol' boys, she's a threat. When Guthrie makes a bid for Indy in 1976, the other drivers slam her mercilessly, even suggesting she's really a man. Fans heckle her, hoping she'll crash. Guthrie smiles through the pain and qualifies for Indy in 1978.

A stifling heat wave rolls into New York City, amplifying the already critical level of tension in the fragile concrete ecosystem. The air tastes of electricity - the negative charge of bad things to come - but everyone hopes it’s just the temperature. Then, on the morning homicide detective Alexandra “Hemi” Hemingway finds out she is pregnant, a twisted serial killer makes his debut. And the heat goes up.

Overmatched and far from home, torn between revenge and duty, Elena Aureli is running out of time. She has youth, beauty, and money, all of which she pours into her obsessive hunt for the man she believes murdered her father. Betrayed in an attempt to secure proof of the crime, she finds herself alone in an unfamiliar city—mysterious Old Montreal—her prey now the predator, and only five days left to finish the job for which she has sacrificed so much.

At a time when nothing seems real, it takes something truly unusual to put your life into focus. When her beloved husband, Jackson, disappeared without a trace, popular novelist Sia Dane stopped writing, closed down her house, stuffed her heart into a cage, and started floating. It wasn’t the normal response to heartache, but Sia rarely did things the normal way. Exactly one year, one month, and six days after Jackson’s disappearance, Sia discovers a mysterious man on the beach. He’s mute, unresponsive, and looks as if he has just walked out of the sea.

Waiting for Prince Charming to ride up on his white horse and make you happy? Don’t waste your time.You hold the reins of your own happiness. We women have all the power, knowledge, and confidence necessary to create the life we want - without relying on a man to do it for us. We just need to learn to use our innate gifts and start living deliberately today.

In Berry Ridge, Vermont, Beth Callahan had found a place to start over. She'd started a successful real estate and design business in the quaint, picturesque town, and she'd even found her perfect house...where she dreamed of someday living and raising a family. Until a reckless bachelor bought it out from under her.

The jockey, the wealthy owner, the veteran trainer: one by one they die. All players in the high-stakes world of horse racing - and all complicit in its terrible sins. By making them pay, one killer earns the chance to make his point…while the mastermind behind it all draws closer to the fatal finish line. San Diego CSI Holly Jennings has seen enough violence in her career to know the difference between a killer bent on revenge - and a killer bent on chaos. She knows there’s more to these murders than meets the eye.

Magnolia Kelch is no stranger to pain. Beautiful and powerful, she’s spent her entire life at the mercy of her sadistic father and the rest of the Kelch clan, who have tortured her and tested the limits of her powers. After one particularly heinous night that leaves Magnolia nearly dead, she finally sees her chance for escape….

But this first taste of freedom is short-lived when she collides with Thirteen, head of the Network - a secret organization dedicated to fighting supernatural criminals - who recruits her into the group.

Nicholas, Kevin. Age 19. Died at York Hospital, July 19, 2012. Kev's the first kid their age to die. And now, even though he's dead, he's not really gone. Even now his choices are touching the people he left behind. Rita Williams-Garcia follows one aimless teen as he finds a new life in his new job - at the mortuary. Ellen Hopkins reveals what two altar boys (and one altar girl) might get up to at the cemetery at night.

Christmas has never brought out the best in the MacDougal family. Still, year after year, they gather together in the Blue Ridge Mountains to try to make the season merry and bright. But this year is an especially strained one, with Shayne’s impending divorce, Morwenna’s slavish devotion to work and Bobby’s reluctance to face what life has to offer. They’ve never felt less like a family. Then, in the midst of a snowy sibling shouting match, a mysterious stranger appears.

Each year, a down-and-out America looks to the Gauntlet games for sheer spectacle and - for one lucky state - a better chance at survival. In 2023, former-police-detective-turned-paramedic Lara Evans is poised to enter the punishing endurance competition, determined to bring glory and a major economic boost back home to Oregon. But treacherous tests of physical and mental prowess - and a pack of cutthroat rivals - are far from the greatest obstacles Lara faces. Saving a hit man’s victim has made her a target, and the murder of a fellow contestant has branded her a suspect.

Anna Reuben intends to get out of Summer Breeze - the quaint seaside resort where she's just inherited a house - and back to the city as quickly as possible. The last thing she wants to do is stick around and dredge up old emotions about the mother who abandoned her as a child. But her plans are foiled by an encounter with Scott Murray, a sexy single dad and a neighbor and close friend of Anna's late mother.

Death has always stalked single mother Allie Callahan. For the first time in her life, she has found a fragile sort of happiness living a quiet, peaceful existence in East Texas with her young son, Sammy, and her adoptive mother. Still, Allie fears she may be susceptible to the same mental illness that destroyed her serial-killer mother and brother. She's haunted by the idea that she could become incapable of caring for Sammy.

By the best-selling author of The Dress Lodger, Sheri Holman’s new and most ambitious novel to date, Witches on the Road Tonight, uncovers the secrets and lies that echo through three generations of one Appalachian family. It is a deeply human, urgent exploration of America’s doomed love affair with fear. On the eve of World War II, eight-year-old Eddie Alley lies in bed watching his first horror movie, hand-cranked and flickering on the bare wall of a backwoods cabin. In 2011, Eddie’s daughter, Wallis, an anchorwoman for a 24-hour news channel, lies in bed with a stranger, spinning ghost stories.

What happens when you think you have it all, and then, suddenly it’s taken away? Willa Chandler-Golden’s father changed the world: with his self-help best seller Is It Really Your Choice? Why Your Entire Life May Be Out of Your Control, millions of devoted fans found solace in the notion that everything happens for a reason. Though Willa isn’t entirely convinced of his prophesies, she readily admits that the universe has delivered her a solid life: a reliable husband, a fast-paced career.

In 406 BC, to seal a tenuous truce, the young Roman Caecilia is wedded to Vel Mastarna, an Etruscan nobleman from Veii. Leaving her militaristic homeland, Caecilia is determined to remain true to Roman virtues while living among the sinful Etruscans. But, despite her best intentions, she is seduced by a culture that offers women education, independence, sexual freedom, and an empowering religion.

FBI special agent Paige Carson hoped she'd be able to start a new life in small-town South Carolina. But when a senator's sister is murdered and a blank postcard is left next to the body, Paige realizes that a killer from her past has found her - and is sending her a very personal message. From the moment he hired her, FBI special agent in charge Sam McKade knew Paige was hiding something. Prompted by this recent threat, she finally opens up: one year ago, she caught the eye of suspected serial killer Todd Thames.

Five cousins must band together to decide the future of their shared inheritance—the family’s sprawling property in Stowe, Vermont—but with each at a different place in life, reaching a unanimous decision seems unlikely.

A collection of killer stories from some of today's hottest crime fiction writers, edited by grandmaster and #1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Child. Killer Year is a group of thirteen authors whose first novels were published in the year 2007. Now, each member of this widely-praised organization has written a story with his or her own unique twist on the world of crime.