Showing results by narrator "Joan DuKore" in All Categories

Murder doesn’t set much colder than on the icy shores of Lake Ontario, where Jesse James is hot on the trail of a real estate scam that really has the feisty reporter steamed. This sleazy operation is behind a string of costly accidents - but it's no accident when Jesse wakes up, bandaged head to toe, in a hospital where everyone insists she’s Daphne Malcross, a young socialite with more connections and cash than common sense.  

On a hot, muggy afternoon in Eden, a tiny, rural town deep in southeast Louisiana, two boys make a grim discovery: They unearth the decades-old remains of a child, strands of hair and clothing still attached to the bones. Meanwhile on the other side of the country, in California, forty-one-year-old Evelyn Yates, a single mother is struggling to maintain psychological equilibrium despite problems with alcohol, a difficult teenage daughter, and her own traumatic past.

First published in 1881, the subtitle of this book tells us that it was written “for children and those who love children”. Heidi, a 5-year-old orphan, is handed off by her young Aunt Dete to live with her grandfather in the Swiss Alps. Though her new life is foreign, Heidi soon falls in love with her grandfather, and he with her. They share a contented life of goat-herding. But when Grandfather refuses to allow Heidi to attend school in the small village below, quarrels ensue.

Mystery usually follows murder, but when Baby Cakes Sloan bites the bullet, everybody in Rochester already knows whodunit. Beautiful Babs had been Marcus Andrelli’s lawyer—until she got iced on the crime king's yacht. Of course, all fingers of guilt point to Andrelli. But Jesse James smells something fishy. And she’s casting for the truth, even if she has to drag the bottom of Lake Ontario to get it. Nobody knows Andrelli better than Jess. Mafia don, certainly. Killer of the woman he loved, no.

With a classical series sold and a portrait commissioned, Cherry Tucker's art career is in Georgia overdrive. But when the sheriff asks Cherry to draw a composite sketch of a hijacker, her life takes a hairpin as the composite leads to a related murder, her local card-sharking buddy Max Avtaikin becomes bear bait and her nemesis labels the classical series "pervert art". While she seeks to help the misfortunate and save her local reputation, Cherry's hammer-down attitude has her facing the headlights of an oncoming killer.

The curtain rises on Cherry Tucker’s debut as a high school set designer at the posh Peerless Day Academy. Cherry’s been hired for an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, but the drama director is hoping Cherry can also turn the spotlight on a malicious social media bully who’s sending poisonous texts to the faculty. The director’s got his own drama to hide, and the phantom texter seems eager to spill school secrets. When the principal’s secretary commits suicide, Cherry suspects foul play.

In the eyes of Nadine, a polygamist and serial bride, nudging her husbands into heaven is a testament to love. Even Nancy Neptune, a notorious shock jock, is gobsmacked by Nadine's so-called “Celestial Send-Offs.” Things go to hell in a hurry when Nadine offs the wrong guy and is charged with assisted suicide. Meanwhile, Blue McKenna has problems of her own. A power outage has leveled Blue's medical marijuana dispensary. Scottie Sphincter, lead singer of a band called The Rectal Surgeons, is fingered as a suspect.

When Cherry Tucker's invited to paint the "kill portrait" for the winner of Big Rack Lodge's Hogzilla hunt, it seems like a paid vacation. Back home in Halo, a Hatfield-McCoy-style standoff builds between Luke and Cherry's families. She's ready for a weekend away, hobnobbing with rich and famous hunters, where she can forget her troubles and nobody knows her name.

Without warning, a tragedy hit our family. Our son-in-law committed suicide! With a death like this, there are no answers to our questions. There were no visible illnesses or health problems that were life-threatening. The death of this successful young man came from nowhere! My daughter, her husband, and their beautiful three-year-old daughter Samantha Jo seemed to be a happy family. It was devastating to see the pain my daughter had to go through. It was hard for Samantha to see her mom’s sadness and not understand why. The scar left on Samantha’s heart will change her life forever.

Witch Island used to be feared. Even the bravest would not dare go there. Legend said a witch had been burned alive at the stake, and upon her death she cursed the town. Terrified residents performed rituals to keep her spirit trapped on the island where she was buried. 

After months on the run, sneaking onto a luxury cruise liner wouldn’t be easy, but she’d done worse things to survive. The ship is owned by Roslyn Travel Co, the sole proprietor of a mysterious vacation destination exclusively for the filthy rich.