Showing results by narrator "Pam Dougherty" in All Categories

Maddie Kinkaid believes her late husband, Jack, gives her advice on everything - from ordering a pizza to hiring a carpenter. When she finds Caleb Walker's business card on Jack's desk, she's convinced that he's the guy to remodel her kitchen. He can't decide if she's worth the risk. Caleb is a single father, and protecting his young son means avoiding romantic entanglements. But there's heat in every kitchen, and sparks ignite between Caleb and Maddie - until disaster strikes. When Jack goes silent, it looks as if she and Caleb will never find their happily-ever-after. At least, not without a little help from Jack.

The summer of 1932 was a troublesome one for Jack Alder. His grandmother's health was fairing poorly, they were having a difficult time making ends meet during the Great Depression, and the town banker was threatening foreclosure on the family farm. The future seemed dismal and help was nowhere in sight. But Grandmama's faith in God brought renewed hope in the form of a childhood toy lost decades ago in an abandoned cave; an antique toy that could earn enough to drive the wolf from their door. It would take a journey across three rural counties to get them there...

Follow the widowed Margaret Ralston Kennedy (a relative of the author) in this second book of the Trail of Thread series, as she travels with eight of her thirteen children from Ohio to the Territory of Kansas in 1855. Thousands of American headed west in the decade before the Civil War, but those who settled in Kansas suffered through frequent clashes between pro-slavery and free-state fractions that gripped the territory.

When a tree topples over onto Lillian’s prized 1948 Tucker Torpedo, these over-50 amateur sleuths are once again scrambling for money. Lucky for them, they have their choice of two cases, but which to take - a suspected art forgery or mysterious trash theft from the county landfill?

Southern matriarch Lillian Summer Fairview is settling right nice into prison, until Big Martha, the toughest broad on the cellblock, comes asking for a favor. Her niece has fallen for a guy she met online, and Martha’s convinced Mr. Too-Good-To-Be-True is up to no good. All Lil’s friends have to do is investigate the guy and report back. Will these amateur sleuths be able to track down the elusive Romeo in the scam-filled world of online dating without alerting the local police to their shenanigans, or will they find themselves in trouble right up to their granny panties?

With the exception of a few failed forays into higher education, Tracy Sullivan has lived her entire life in the small town of Alpine Grove. When she is fired from her hostess job, Tracy hits a new all-time career low. Now, she's officially a repeat underachiever and almost completely broke. The income from her second job as a veterinary assistant is barely enough to pay her rent and keep her temperamental dachshund Roxy in dog food.

What is a southern, gentile, society lady of impeccable taste, breeding, and education to do when her husband of nearly 20 years announces he is divorcing her on the day they deliver their youngest son to college? Loretta Hill Mason, Head Mistress of the Columbia Academy in South Carolina, did not see her husband’s declaration coming and had no idea what she should do next. She couldn’t just emulate Miss Scarlet and say “Fiddly dee, I’ll think about it tomorrow.”

Jan's orderly life is turned upside down when she attends her mother's latest wedding in San Diego. (Number six...or maybe seven, but who's counting?) There, Jan encounters Michael Lawson, the obnoxious neighbor kid from 20 years ago. He's still irritating, but not as annoying as his dog, who has a habit of eating...everything. The last thing Jan wants to do is risk heartache on a vacation fling with a smooth-talking serial dater, even if he is sinfully gorgeous and finds her unusual ability to remember obscure facts fascinating.

Phoebe, a private duty nurse, has a gift for knowing certain kinds of information that are none of her business, so when her new boss asks her to help him find and retrieve some extremely valuable items that have gone missing, she's happy to try to help. What the boss failed to disclose was who she'd have to work with and what they'd be up against.

Kat Stevens is a slightly insecure, mostly bored technical writer who likes her cat a lot more than her boss. She hasn't laid eyes on her great aunt Abigail since she was eight, so she's stumped when she inherits Abigail's house in the small hamlet of Alpine Grove. Kat's uncomplicated life gets decidedly less so when she discovers the inheritance comes with some hairy conditions: four dogs and five cats that her aunt wanted her to love as her own. Of course, the house smells like a barn - with a touch of antique skunk - and, naturally, has serious roof issues.

Phoebe McFarland has just lost her job as a rural home health care nurse in White Oak, Tennessee, a sleepy rural community nestled in the mist-shrouded Smoky Mountains. But then she's unexpectedly offered a ritzy-sounding position as a private duty nurse to an enigmatic scholar. Unfortunately before she can start her upscale new life, Phoebe is unwittingly caught up in a medical emergency with Nick, a total stranger. The mismatched couple is forced to cooperate as they flee professional killers who now have Phoebe in their crosshairs, as well.

CPA Rebecca Walker wields a hammer and saw with skill, but it's like fighting tooth and nail to prove to her chauvinistic father that she's capable of managing the family construction business. Romance is a luxury Rebecca can't afford. Thanks to his past, romance isn't in Sean Kinkaid's future, so when Rebecca proposes friends with benefits, Sean agrees. It's the perfect scenario until love sneaks in - and Sean's secrets tear them apart.

In partnership with Texas Monthly, the following articles spotlighting true crime are now available in a bundle as an audio download: "The Cheerleader Murder Plot" features a woman who went to extreme, murderous lengths to ensure her daughter's spot on the cheerleading squad. "The Last Ride of Cowboy Bob" profiles the mysterious Peggy Jo Tallas who, disguised as a man, robbed banks and confounded police for years. Also featuring "A Kiss Before Dying", "The Talented Mr. Khater", and "Just Desserts".

Mimi Swartz paints a scene of a place that makes the unthinkable - the plot to murder a fellow cheerleading mother and her daughter - something within the realm of possibility. To say Channelview is a dismal place is an understatement. It's the kind of place where even the slightest bit of distinction goes a long way amidst the usual doldrum of high school, marriage, kids, repeat. It's within this setting that the likes of obsessive, helicopter moms, Wanda Holloway and Verna Heath, who live vicariously through their daughters, are given terrifying credence.

After two divorces, Sandi Walker, entrepreneur extraordinaire, is on her own and loving it. As a devout animal lover, she has made a success of the only gourmet pet food bakery in Midland, Texas. She's also a pet foster parent and has 15 assorted abused and unwanted animals at home. When a golden-colored stray dog with an abundance of personality appears at her door, she can't refuse him and she can't keep from falling in love with him. She names him Waffle and gives him a permanent home.

Harold may be dying but he's still got a sense of humor. That's more than can be said for his wife, who's trying to whisk him away from the grimness of the hospital for one last holiday bash.

Before Oprah, before Ellen, there was Dinah Shore. She was the queen of the afternoon talk show. For over five decades, Dinah induced a state of joy into people wherever she appeared, a love affair between her and her audience. In the fickle world of popular music, Dinah had a longer run at the top than any other girl singer, and on television, she had no equal in the musical field. Arguably, she was "the first lady of television". Dinah's life, however, was not always easy.

From the first moment she met her new Texas neighbor, Prudence Belmont was in love. When she was old enough for marriage, Gidry Chavis promptly presented her with an engagement ring, and all her dreams seemed to have come true. But the hellraising Gidry disappeared before the wedding, leaving only a brief note in explanation. "My dear Miss Prudence, I have determined that it is best that we do not wed. Please forgive me and recall me with fondness."

One morning Lo Anne Mayer wrote a letter to her mother, who had died a year earlier. Despondent over the strained relationship they had endured in life, Mayer started the journal because she still longed for healing. So began a remarkable soul-to-soul correspondence that restored their bond. When her own daughter died, Mayer started a new journal that soothed her grief. Now she shares her story and simple technique with bereaved people everywhere.