Showing results by narrator "Maria Marquis" in All Categories

Victims or victimizers, the mothers, daughters, sisters, lovers, friends, and ghostly presences in this collection face their unique circumstances with passion and creativity. Whether or not they find satisfaction, they are all Women of Consequence.

What would you do with twelve minutes? My best friend became the love of my life. Like all couples, we had our good times and our bad. Endured through sickness and health. Worked as a team to navigate through richer and poorer. The life we built was a good one... then tragedy struck.

Botanist Millie Whitehall is making good progress surveying an old homestead until discovering the body of a missing university professor in the root cellar. Millie learns why the homestead was abandoned shortly after it was built; another horrific murder occurred inside the cabin in 1913. Rumors of a lost silver cross, a pearl in a pack rat's nest, and an old man's dying story lead Millie to uncover the link between the professor's murder and the century-old murder. But her work at the site draws unwanted attention and jeopardizes the property of being declared a National Historic Site.

Six years after moving to Cottageville and opening Carter's Canine Coiffure, Sarah and her red heeler Australian cattle dog Whiskey discover their elderly neighbor has disappeared and that some people in their town are not who they seem. Whiskey, Sarah, and Sarah's assistant Emily Colt—as well as other townsfolk—embrace being amateur sleuths (and work with local police) to piece together clues to determine what happened to Mrs. Janice Jenkins and why.

In Capitol Murder, Jake meets Atlanta attorney Scarlett Kavanaugh when the husband (a U.S. Senator) of her estranged twin is found dead. Authorities suspect the wife was involved. She needs help proving her claimed innocence. A savvy Harvard law graduate, Scarlett is a formidable match for Jake with her poise, intelligence, sharp tongue, and independence. Thrown together in the quest for who was responsible for the death of the man with many enemies, Jake and Scarlett often trade witty banter. However, Scarlett's respect for Jake's skill grows—especially in the face of danger.

There are a lot of things you can do with your career—it's what you want to do that matters. Your finest work is achieved when you experience your own definitions of fulfillment, impact, and success. Rather than a destination, it’s an ongoing journey and state of being. Over thousands of coaching conversations, the thought and action patterns that keep professionals stuck have become crystal clear to Merideth.

Empty nest. Broken dreams. A single mom rediscovers her inner compass on the Potomac shores, guided by an ancient arrowhead and the captivating marsh man who found it.

Evan has spent the last decade trying to forget senior year—the panic when Faith Flynn disappeared, the lies she told the police, the secrets she still plans to take to her grave. After graduation, she couldn't move away fast enough, but divorce has forced her back to her dreary hometown. As if living with her parents at almost thirty isn't punishment enough, she's welcomed home with messages from Faith. Or, at least, someone claiming to be her. Fiona has been receiving similar messages from Faith, her twin, the one everyone believes she murdered in cold blood.

Early aspirations of being an accomplished musician that I had held in my heart since childhood were not encouraged as academically attainable by those who would know....

Iskra is committed to following the rules—the rules that keep everyone safe. But when a savage outlaw rescues her from a gang of vicious bandits, she discovers that most of what she believes is a lie.

Modern girl Jillian time travels to the 1900s to meet the Wright brothers and beat her fear of flying. There, she encounters dashing Everett, who broke from his wealthy family to pursue a passion for flying—and who claims they kissed five years ago. Soon she's falling for him and facing a heartbreaking choice that could destroy her happiness or possibly unravel history itself.

Modern girl DaVinci doesn't recognize her life after a quick trip to the past turns her world upside down. Meanwhile Quintus, a swoony soldier stuck in this century from 53 BC, is set on time traveling to make good on a promise to Julius Caesar.

Tangled influences compel a young girl to hide her true nature, until one weekend in her mid-20s when the truths she’s been suppressing call her to a crossroads she can’t avoid. Insulated from societal mores by her glamorous mother and humble father, six-year-old Beatrice—barefoot in ratty overalls—tunes into animals, senses the unspoken, and thrives. But when tragedy penetrates their rural Vermont bubble, Beatrice is thrust into a world that tells her she has no place unless she hides her depth, pretties up, and falls in line. She complies.

It’s Christmas Eve in western Kansas and a snowstorm is gaining strength as Bear Bailey, a devoted Great Pyrenees, tries to comfort his beloved owner Mary. She’s in hot water with the local business villain, and Bear’s earlier altercation with this miser only seemed to make things worse. When Mary blurts out that she wishes for a different life, Bear blames himself for her despair and runs away.

Erika Germoglio is a self-made woman who has it all—a successful career and a well-connected fiancé—then suddenly has even more. An Italian grandfather she has never met wills to her Casalvento, a house and a vineyard, and Livernano, a medieval village turned bed-and-breakfast, both in the Chianti region of Tuscany. When Erika travels to Italy to settle the affairs of her inheritance, she meets Paolo, Casalvento’s intelligent, compassionate, and strikingly handsome estate manager and wine maker. And she learns the inheritance comes with a catch.