Showing results by narrator "Traci Odom" in All Categories

There’s usually a chill in the air when Halloween arrives—but in these three novellas by beloved cozy mystery authors Leslie Meier, Lee Hollis, and Liz Ireland, the crimes are even colder than the haunted climate . . .

At sixty-three with a failed marriage, a dead-end job, and a solid belief that all men leave their women, Jessamine Jo Woodley (Jessie) is feeling the loss of her one cheerleader in life, Auntie J, who has just passed away—leaving her a healthy trust and a cabin in the charming town of Woodcreek, Colorado. However, Auntie J stipulates that Jessie must complete a mysterious series of tasks before collecting . . . all proctored by a handsome lawyer, Finnegan Cooper Conrad.

With her brother in debt to the biggest loan shark of the slums, Marielle does the only thing she can to save him: she takes the debt on herself. Down on her luck and at the mercy of the thugs, she knows the only way she can repay it is to be claimed as mate by a Draekon Lord and deliver him an heir. She has no intention of following through with the deal, however. Her plan is to escape as soon as she's received payment and disappear far out of reach of the Draekon who would claim her.

Three months after her husband's death in 1969, Rosalee Linoff is determined to jump back into life. She desperately wants to be accepted as a talented sculptor, but that requires she dig up the courage to submit her work again—and be judged. Her paralyzing insecurity mounts when she meets her new neighbor, bestselling author Fran Barish. But Rosalee's joy with her children, especially her granddaughter, Jill, eats at Fran, a constant reminder of her childlessness.

John Ward, a stoic Calvinist preacher, marries free-thinking, kind-hearted Helen Jeffries. They are deeply in love. John is so taken with his new wife that when he discovers they have opposing views on religious doctrine, he tries to lovingly and gently lead her to the "truth". Helen, strong in her convictions, refuses to alter her beliefs, instead soothing her husband's worries with her loving words and actions. However, a tragedy in their small impoverished lumber town puts her beliefs in the spotlight.

Thirty years ago, torn by shock and guilt over the death of her mother, Darby York fled the dude ranch where she’d grown up in Montana. In her new life in the bluegrass of Kentucky, she’d become a horse groom, an artist, married a wealthy Thoroughbred owner, raised twins, and been widowed. But now, with word her father is growing feeble, Darby has to finally face the truth: no matter how far you run, the past has a way of catching up. Her father hadn’t been the only man Darby had left behind. Would the boyfriend she’d abandoned still be there?

Career-focused Audrey Summerlin (58) has never wanted or needed a caretaker, even when she breaks her ankle from a fall on her slippery sidewalk. A little help might be nice, but she’ll be fine on her own. Maybe. Newly retired Nolan Beckett (57), her former lover from college and her neighbor's holiday housesitter, comes to her rescue. He’s ready to play nursemaid and a whole lot more if she’ll let him.

In this gripping sci-fi thriller, Svetlana Peterman has met her soul mate in Andrew Jovian, a young astronomer who works for Starbright International, the aerospace company his wealthy parents own. Once married, they make a home in Kirksberg, Pennsylvania, a small town famous for a UFO sighting that occurred in the 1960s. Svetlana is, for once, truly happy, except that Andrew’s family is strange, and not in a normal-strange kind of way.

Doors that close by themselves. Items that move without human help. Visions of a handsome spirit in the moonlight. Visiting the Welsh castle that is her ancestral home, Bria Leighton is frightened by eerie happenings. Unseen. Unheard. Untouched. Desperately lonely. For more than two hundred years, a curse has trapped Nicholas Pierce, the last Earl of Beaumarith, in his family castle. The words of the wicked sorceress hint that the curse can be broken, but the riddle of moonrise and true love's embrace seems impossible to solve.

Maggie McCoury, a generational healer woman, relies on family traditions, folklore, and beliefs gleaned from a local Cherokee tribe. Her daughter, Carrie Ann, believes her university training holds the answers. As they clash over the use of roots, herbs, and a dash of mountain magic versus the medicine available in the town’s apothecary, Josie Mae doesn’t know whom to follow. But what happens when neither family traditions nor science can save the ones you love most?

Welcome to Connelly Court. A secluded, old money neighborhood, harboring a web of desires and deceit behind pristine facades and manicured lawns, where the lives of a group of neighbors, bound by their shared secrets and unconventional lifestyle, are about to unravel. Michael and Amelia Ross move into their dream home, and get drawn into the seductive allure. But their house once belonged to a family whose lives were seemingly ruined by their participation, which leads Amelia to question everything about her new-found friends.

Slade Heston has been around horses his whole life. But growing up as a “rich” boy in Kentucky Bluegrass country is nothing like spending the summer as a hired hand at a Montana dude ranch with his mother, Darby, and the grandfather he never knew. A Western saddle, complete with saddlebags, doesn’t make him a genuine cowboy. Unlike his twin sister, with her perfectly planned life, Slade’s still trying to figure it all out. What he never expected was his attraction to a pretty visiting writer.