Showing results by narrator "Beth Richmond" in All Categories

Cealie Gunther avoids things that bind - like control-top pantyhose and Gil Thurman. Widowed Cealie thinks she wants to avoid her hunky ex-lover Gil as she travels while trying to rediscover herself. But he opens Cajun restaurants in many cities, and Cealie's not great at avoiding temptation. She tries to avoid family members so she won't become dependant, but since her family is most important, constantly winds up around them. Murder is always involved.

Anthony Wright made a career of getting what he wanted, whatever the price. When he's murdered and ends up as a late night snack for the zoo's 15-foot crocodile, few are shedding any tears. After police arrest the lead crocodile handler, it's up to zookeeper Lavender "Snake" Jones to prove her friend's innocence. But is she really helping? Each lie she exposes only serves to strengthen the case against him, rattles her belief in those she trusts and, in the end, threatens her own safety.

Hetta Coffey is a woman with a yacht, and she's not afraid to use it! As a self-employed engineering consultant with a penchant of oddball (read: shady) projects, she has a way of attracting trouble. With her floating home dry docked for repairs in Mexico, Hetta needs a place to live and a job to pay for boat repairs. Landing a project at a mining operation not far from her boat, Hetta finds herself on the tumultuous Arizona/Mexico border, where all hell is breaking loose even before she gets there.

RN Gina Mazzio returns to San Francisco's Ridgewood Hospital after a near-death experience in Nevada's desolate gold country. On her first day in the Ob/Gyn Women's Health Clinic, a co-worker suffers a mystifying post-abortion death due to sepsis. Two days later, the same thing happens to a clinic patient. Gina thinks it's an inside job, but gets no support for her theory. Convinced she's right, she risks everything to dig into the who and why of the deaths. She wants to know if someone is deliberately causing clinic patients to suffer horrible deaths.

When pretty, smart Sara Long is found bludgeoned to death, it's easy to blame the man with the bat. But Georgia Davis - former cop and newly-minted PI - is hired to look into the incident at the behest of the accused's sister, and what she finds hints at a much different, much darker answer. It seems the privileged, preppy schoolgirls on Chicago's North Shore have learned just how much their innocence is worth to hot-under-the-collar businessmen.

Berkeley peace activist Sophia Raday never imagined she would fall in love with an Oakland police officer and major in the Army Reserve, much less marry one. Barrett is loving and loyal, but in his world a threat lies around every corner, and so he asks Sophia to stay in Condition Yellow - always aware that her life may be in danger soon.

Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman is always busy, but more so now than ever. The sheriff is still not completely recovered from his stay in the hospital, and she is recovering from a hospital stay herself. After a long day at work, Estelle is happy to clear off her desk and drive home, where her beloved family waits. She hears her cell phone ringing as she pulls into the driveway. A truck has gone off the road and the driver's body found near the wreck.

Hetta and her husband, Bob (Jenks) Jenkins, have finally broken free from the rat race of corporate America. Having forsaken the shackles of deadlines, they have been enjoying the soul liberating life of freedom. For the past five years, they have traveled on their boat, Jensky, meeting new friends and finding their true selves. Freedom, however, comes with a price.

The search for truth can be deadly. Kate and Richard Warner have a quiet life – a routine life – until the one afternoon that changes them forever. Within a few short hours they are thrust into the black hole of every parent’s worst nightmare. Suddenly, they are at the center of attention of their community, the media, and the police...for all the wrong reasons. The chief of police has singled out Richard as the primary suspect in a heinous crime that took more than an innocent life.

When three bodies turn up in rapid succession, all in landfills or waste disposal dumpsters, rookie cop Georgia Davis is drawn into the investigation. Teaming up with her detective boyfriend Matt and his friend, Detective Sergeant John Stone, Georgia must work out who's responsible for the killings, but there's little evidence to go on. The case also tests the strength of Georgia's relationship with Matt - complicating the situation is the daughter of a real estate mogul, who also happens to have her eye on Matt. Who's behind these gruesome killings?

Hetta Coffey is a globe-trotting civil engineer with attitude who is working on coming of age, a little late. Pushing forty and still single, Hetta is the epitome of the "B" word: bold, bossy, brassy, breezy, and brash. After leaving a lifelong swath of failed multinational affairs in her jet stream, it is no wonder Hetta prefers living with her dog, R.J. But old habits die hard, and trolling for triceps is Hetta's hobby....

In an era when people live longer and want (or need) to work past the traditional retirement age, the Vita Needle Company of Needham, Massachusetts, provides inspiration and important lessons about the value of older workers. Vita Needle is a family-owned factory that was founded in 1932 and makes needles, stainless steel tubing and pipes, and custom fabricated parts. As part of its unusual business model, the company seeks out older workers; the median age of the employees is seventy-four.

Private Investigator, Catherine Winter has seen it all in her many years as a Southern California PI. Widowed and in her sixties, she has no desire to retire. She frequently says she will not give it up as long as she can hit a target with a .357 slug. Determined, and dedicated, she often works alongside the Los Angeles police in investigating crimes.

One week before her wedding a young woman strips, takes the time to fold her clothes, then calmly walks into Lake Michigan. When Sam Casey is asked to look into the death of a young mother who left her infant in a high chair, walked down the street and jumped off the overpass, Sam finds a strange similarity-they each received a phone call just prior to committing suicide. Both calls were from disposable phones and both calls lasted four seconds. Were these really suicides or something more sinister?

Miffed that vacation plans with her chronically absent boyfriend Jenks Jenkins have gone awry, she accepts a job in Baja. So what if she and her friend Jan are spectacularly unqualified to take her yacht on a thousand mile cruise in the eastern Pacific Ocean in the middle of hurricane season? Hiring a handsome, if somewhat fishy captain for the trip might keep them off the rocks, but probably won t do the same for her future with Jenks.

Six-year-old Nemo is a member of the Concrete Community, the homeless who scrape out a life on the streets and in the shelters. Street savvy beyond his years, he relies on instincts to stay safe and cunning to find food and clothes. But curiosity gets the best of him when he finds a tunnel in the sub-basement of an abandoned building. His mother warns him to stay away. It could be dangerous, and he might get lost. The tunnel runs for blocks and is a great place to explore.

It's RN Gina Mazzio's wedding eve. But when she takes the week's final Ob/Gyn telephone advice call, a deadly serious male voice says, "She's all cut up." The police, the hospital administrator, and even Gina's fiancé, Harry Lucke, insist it was only a crank call, some sicko getting his Friday evening jollies. Gina doesn't buy it. After a second similar call, at her home, she starts to link the calls and caller with a series of nurse disappearances.

A bloodstained note left for PI Georgia Davis reveals the shocking existence of a half-sister she never knew about. Her sister, Savannah, is pregnant and begging for Georgia's help. Determined to track her down, Georgia finds herself heading deep into the secretive and dangerous underworld of Chicago's illegal sex trafficking business. She soon discovers that trafficking is just a small part of the horrifying and deadly situation in which her new sister is caught up.

He’s known by the code name, Sparrow. Authorities can only identify him by the tattoo on the back of his hand. Sparrow is a gun for hire and his next target is Reverend Everett Smith. His orders are to kill the Reverend on the River Queen Casino. But just before he pulls the trigger, someone beats him to it. The Reverend is carrying $50,000 in counterfeit money. Sparrow soon realizes the fee he was paid is counterfeit.

A body is discovered in a cement pillar. Clasped in his hand is a gold pin shaped like a lightning bolt. What secret did he carry to his grave and why is someone hell-bent on keeping that secret buried? Detective Sergeant Samantha Casey is more than just a cop. She is part Native American with a unique ability to hear the dead speak. They tell her secrets about their life and death. And sometimes what she learns can get her killed.