Showing results by narrator "Petrea Burchard" in All Categories

Jovie is adrift. She’d been feeling alone ever since her best friend, Micah, left her behind for a new group of friends—but when Micah went missing last fall, Jovie felt truly lost. Now, months later, the search parties have been called off, and the news alerts have dried up. There’s only Jovie, biking around Far Haven, Washington, putting up posters with Micah’s face on them, feeling like she’s the only one who remembers her friend at all.

The women of The Homegrown Café Book Club are over 40, single, and loving it. Fate, however, has a different plan with a younger man for every last one of them.

Former Wall Street executive Marisa Santoro spent years navigating trading floors in an abrasive male-dominated industry and field, where she learned from experience that the key to leadership success is self-trust. Now, in Own Your Authority, she shares her hard-won secrets to being a resilient leader. Santoro lays out a step-by-step blueprint for building the confidence you need at any stage of your career, whether you are an executive, a mid-career senior professional, an emerging leader, or consultant.

Widow Wallis Danforth is looking for a little companionship now that her special needs daughter is becoming more independent. That’s all. Nothing complicated. Unfortunately, dating apps have yielded nothing but jerks and perverts - so many that she’s written a one-act play about her misadventures.

Desperate to stop her PI business from going belly-up, Verity Hawkes doesn’t hesitate to dive into the next case she finds: a body in a septic tank. But just when she thinks her investigation couldn’t get any more peculiar, she’s shocked to learn the accused perp is the town’s beloved billy goat. Verity must juggle her meddling aunt, a surly former soldier, and a tuxedo-wearing cat to sanitize this baffling homicide.

When the local ladies' man is accused of a double murder, amateur sleuth Verity Hawkes immediately starts digging for answers. After finding the suspect recently inherited a priceless masterpiece, she's convinced the Casanova is innocent. Following a trail of clues into the world of rare art, Verity uncovers dodgy dealers, surprising DNA results, and an alarming number of ingenious booby traps. If she doesn't connect the dots soon, she may run out of time to paint the real killer into a corner...

Previously published as ShadowMan. There is something terribly wrong in Sanctuary City. When Maggie Bychowski starts her new job as a police officer in Sanctuary City, the small northern California town appears as bucolic as its name. But three young girls are beginning to find out that their beloved home town has a dark, writhing underbelly. When Shadowman, an online fantasy character, starts luring local girls into doing his deadly bidding, Maggie is the only one who can save the town from a powerful evil that threatens to destroy everyone and everything in its path.

A shocking revelation. A long-buried secret. An old mystery reappears.... Verity Hawkes' new life as Leafy Hollow's resident landscaper and part-time sleuth is just about perfect. She has a new love interest, a new home - even a new pet. The last thing she needs is a reminder of her troubled past. So, when her estranged father shows up with a plea for help, her first instinct is to throw the cad out. Until he reveals scandalous new details that threaten to tarnish the memory of her deceased, and beloved, mother.

With Leafy Hollow in a deep winter freeze, landscaper Verity Hawkes is all out of funds. Setting up a private investigator business seems like the best way to indulge her fantasy and make a few bucks. But she never expected her first case would turn the whole town against her. As she investigates a shady, million-dollar crossword competition, even her detective boyfriend sides with her neighbors in thinking it’s legit. But when the contest seems to connect with scruffy dog walkers and a missing investment advisor, Verity hopes she can solve the clues....

Verity Hawkes can hardly remember her reclusive past. She's actually starting to enjoy her role as the small town's resident gardener and unofficial super sleuth. Her blossoming relationship with a dreamy local detective certainly doesn't hurt matters. But Verity can't help but question her place in town when a group of kidnappers steal away a beloved citizen and single her out to handle the ransom... 

Verity Hawkes’ new life in Leafy Hollow almost feels whole. All the self-taught horticulturalist lacks are her Aunt Adeline and a stable relationship. Just when the second missing piece seems like it might be falling into place, Verity’s sleepy town welcomes back an all-too-familiar killer…. Suspicions run rampant when a body is found at the base of Pine Hill Peak, and the mother of Verity’s best friend is the number one suspect. To keep the wrong woman out of prison, Verity must rub shoulders with an arsonist, a hunky lawman, and a pair of dueling pastry chefs.

Verity Hawkes is a shut-in. After two years bunkered in her apartment, the only thing that gets her out is the disappearance of her beloved but eccentric aunt. As she takes over her aunt’s landscaping shop, she’ll need to go from hoarder to horticulturist in a hurry.... Her new home of Leafy Hollow is quaint, except for her most obnoxious client. When a series of freak accidents kills the customer, all signs point to Verity as the killer.

Imagine what life would be like to be loved by a not-so-typical wild deer. Think of the discoveries - full of fun, and at times, terrifying - as awareness blurs nature's wildlife boundaries and friendship grows. This is the true tale of a deer rescue and a human. It was the spring of 1999 when Anna found the fawn, alone and dying in the grassy paddock of Unicorn Hollow, her farm in bucolic Tewksbury, New Jersey. The sick baby triggered vivid memories of her own catastrophic injuries as a small child, and their bond grew strong.

A catalyst for change can take many forms. For author Erin Burrell, that life-altering moment began with a jarring knock at the door. A solemn detective delivered the news that a loved one had died. The grief and heart-splitting loss sent her groping for answers. In her search, she was drawn toward an unexpected path - towards the metaphysical. After reading several books about psychic mediums, Erin wondered if she too might be able to connect with her deceased loved one.

Avalanches are deadly, but in the remote Rocky Mountains, something even more sinister awaits...Private investigator Katerina Carter and boyfriend Jace embark on a cozy weekend getaway just before Christmas at a luxury mountaintop lodge. While he writes the biography of a billionaire environmentalist, she explores the snowy wilderness.Then two local environmental protesters die under mysterious circumstances. Kat and Jace race to uncover the truth only to face even deadlier disaster. The mountains take no prisoners. Neither does the killer. And the killer is creeping closer....

A Hollywood movie shoot comes to town and journalist Cendrine West is eager for a scoop. Her witchy family also wants in on the action, but shenanigans with the stars soon turn to Tinseltown tragedy. Bodies are piling up faster than a coven's worth of curses, and everything points back to Cen's starstruck family. They will stop at nothing in their quest for supernatural stardom, even if that means meddling in a murder investigation. The witches have created one spell of a mess and given the killer a chance to get away with murder.

Cendrine West can't catch a break. She's close to landing a new job, and things are getting cozy with sexy sheriff Tyler Gates. All that changes when she is kidnapped by renegade witch Aunt Pearl, who is hell-bent on avenging a friend's untimely death. It's Las Vegas or bust...for all the wrong reasons. Rocco Racatelli is a hunky Vegas kingpin - and the next mob target. Lady Luck has dealt him a losing hand and he wants revenge. When Aunt Pearl is a little too eager to help, project Vegas Vendetta quickly escalates into an all-out mob turf war.

Recent sexagenarian widow Dawna Carpenter thought running her own hardware store after the death of her husband was hard enough. With her adult daughter, April, moving back into town, and Darlene, the annoying boutique owner next door to her shop poking around, Dawna has her hands full. But when she finds a dead man in the bathroom of her store, with a framing hammer by his side, she’s in way over her head.

Alison Jacobs needs brain surgery and places ultimate trust in her sister's husband, Grant Kaplan, a world-renowned neurosurgeon and expert in treating her condition. But Grant is hiding a dark secret which threatens the outcome: an addiction to prescription pills. As Alison struggles to rebuild her life, Grant's daughter, Sadie, spends more time with a new friend. Frustrated that her parents exclude her from the conversations about her beloved aunt, Sadie makes increasingly risky choices which could endanger not only her, but her entire family.

Matilda Case never thought of herself as a hero. But because she is galvanized-and nearly immortal in her stitched, endlessly healing body-she doesn't have much of a choice. Even if she doesn't want to save the world, she's the only one capable of traveling in time to do so. But her rescue attempt hasn't gone as planned. She's stuck in an alternate universe, and her world is in danger of disappearing.