Showing results by narrator "Tom Taverna." in All Categories

He landed his dream job pursuing the guilty, but two decades of horrific violence and a steady stream of death left him scarred...From the streets of South Los Angeles to the elite homicide bureau, former sheriff’s detective Danny R. Smith saw some of LA’s darkest hours: A crack cocaine epidemic, unprecedented gang warfare, a spike in homicides that stunned the nation, the Rodney King riots. In this no-holds-barred memoir, Smith offers a rare, unfiltered view of a career in law enforcement.

An ancient ship lost at sea. In 1852, a whaling vessel killed a bizarre creature the length of a whale...but it was no whale. Soon after, the ship went missing, along with any evidence of their find. Was the encounter true, or merely a legend? The public could only wonder as newspapers of the day spread the story across Europe. A mystery that would go on to haunt and taunt cryptozoologist through the ages...until now. Archeologist John Paxton has always been eluded by the great find. But his luck is about to change on a mysterious island near South Africa.

Cam Derringer is Key West's wildest PI. While trying to find the men responsible for his wife's disappearance five years earlier, he unexpectantly stumbles across a much deadlier case. It appears his wife was caught in the middle of a drug ring used to fund international terrorism. Cam is soon pulled into a world of uncertainty and deceit as he digs deeper into the underworld. Giving his heart to a woman once more, he soon realizes she has lied about everything from her name to her game.

Axemen. Norsemen. Vikings. Whoever they are, Jedidiah Huckleberry Smith doesn't care. But with the possibility of a pardon on the table, he knows that he'd better do everything he can to prove his worth. Which means leading a civilian expedition, this time along the coast of Prehistoria, towards a mysterious warrior tribe whom the apes fear.

Hazel Craft needed change, so when she spotted the ad for the bookstore, she knew it had to be a sign from her late husband. Second Chance would be the perfect place to start fresh and ease the lingering heartache of tragedy. When they arrived, her teen daughter wasted no time complaining about the dilapidated cabin and bookstore. Hazel had to admit, things weren’t what she expected either. What was meant as an escape turned out to be a mistake—or was she about to find a hidden gem?

Dustina “Dusty” Cavanaugh has been around rough and tough cowboys all her life. She has two unwavering rules. One, don’t mix business with pleasure. Two, never, ever, believe anything that a cowboy says right after an eight second ride. Then she blows it over a charming, handsome cowboy. He gives her a night to remember…and a positive pregnancy test.

A collection of short stories; some are true, some are fiction, but all are captivating. To say that the deep south is different is stating the absurdly obvious. In many ways it has not changed in the last 100 years or so. This is especially true of South Louisiana where I grew up, just a stones' throw from the Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, and practically on the banks of the same river that Huck Finn rafted down. Sound interesting? The author thinks so too! Listen to Hershey Bars and Werewolves.

When Sloan Booker’s father dies tragically, he has no other option but to give up his job as an FBI agent and take over his family’s vehicle restoration business in Oahu, Hawaii. Giving up his badge is difficult but having Homeland Security and his old boss request the use of his house in a stakeout, spying on his Muslim neighbors who they suspect are terrorists, is just too damn much for a man already frazzled. It makes no difference that they’ve offered him a partner to be in charge of the surveillance...until he meets the gorgeous divorcee.

When high-powered corporate lawyer Dupree arrives in White Owl, Washington, he should know better than to get between a corrupt deputy and the focus of his lust. Little did he know that his actions set in motion a reign of terror on the whole town. Will the town continue to allow a corrupt man to destroy their gentle life and make law the enemy? Sometimes the battle between good and evil seems unwinnable, until just one man steps out of the shadows and dares to make a difference.

Forced into a marriage arranged by the orphanage where she lived, Sadie escapes the clutches of an abusive older man: her betrothed. She needs to stay hidden, where no one knows her or cares that she has broken the law. Dr. Elliott Larkin is still reeling over the loss of his young family. His brother in Big Rock has convinced him to come back home to visit, and he decides a change would do him good. Who would have thought a mine collapse on the outskirts of town would be just what the doctor ordered?

Humanity has come face to face with its own mortality. The Earth, its environment overwhelmed by the products of an increasing human civilization, no longer offers its inhabitants quality of life. Survival, for all of the Earth's species, has become the only goal. Then they came. Not many, just a few. Their behavior and instincts were more like the bear and the deer than human but they possessed powers beyond humanity's comprehension. They came to restore paradise on Earth.

Adam Dupree is at a literal crossroad of life. Dupree’s life has become a living hell, and it’s time to make a change. Turn right and end it. Or, turn left, break free, and see where life takes him. That one decision sends Dupree on an epic journey of rediscovery, as he attempts to understand the mystery inside himself. Moving down a literal and figurative highway, his life attains meaning by defending the weak, protecting the poor, and standing up for what is right in an unjust world.

Honor, courage and a profound sense of right and wrong! These are the character traits Marshal Wallace McKenney lives by. His reputation is known far and wide in Kansas and neighboring states. Those on the other side of the law usually give him and his pearl-handled Colt a wide berth. Those that don’t...well, they pay the price.

A missing student. A gunned-down detective. A woman in fear for her life. All three are connected somehow. Detective Inspector Carl Sant and his fellow officers get on the case. But what links the disappearance of a university student, the death of an off-duty police sergeant, and a professor reluctant to help them solve the case?

Hailey is a palm reader and a fortune teller, complete with crystal balls and tarot cards in her little shop in the French Quarter of New Orleans. She is a throwback to the '60s, with her boho style and long, blonde hair. Joshua is a marketing guy - a handsome business type - who has been seeing Hailey professionally for over a year. She predicted his promotion, that he'd find the perfect condo, and just about everything that's happened in his life recently.

An off-duty detective gunned down. A dead woman. A student missing, feared dead. And now, a former policeman in search of his past. All these people, dead or alive, have one thing in common. D.I. Carl Sant must discover what it is. A series of cold-case enquiries leads D.I. Sant and his colleagues to investigate a botched assassination plot dating back to the 1980s. The deeper they dig into the case, the more secrets are revealed, including shocking connections to the infamous National Front.

On January 17, 1781, at Cowpens, South Carolina, the notorious British cavalry officer Banastre Tarleton and his legion had been destroyed along with the cream of Lord Cornwallis’s troops. The man who planned and executed this stunning American victory was Daniel Morgan. Once a barely literate backcountry laborer, Morgan now stood at the pinnacle of American martial success. When George Washington called for troops to join him at the siege of Boston in 1775, Morgan organized a select group of riflemen and headed north.

After the 1986 tragedy of the Space Shuttle Challenger, the technicians of NASA hoped to create a failsafe shuttle, incapable of malfunctioning. With the space shuttle Lightning, all systems were go.... Then lightning struck twice. America’s greatest technological achievement has been sabotaged. First an engine malfunctions. Then, another. Now Lightning is desperately trying to land, racing against time - and a powerful and unseen enemy will do anything to make the first flight of Lightning its last....

Sheriff Seth Reed believes in justice and seeks vengeance on the lawless folks who dare corrupt tranquil Ruby Creek. But when the mayor mysteriously dies and Sherman takes over, corruption begins, especially when a mysterious gunslinger comes to town. As the mysterious stranger disrupts the town, a body of a young woman is discovered. As Seth tries to unravel the mystery, he becomes the next target. When Sherman's wife desperately begs Seth for help, Seth realizes that peaceful Ruby Creek life is all a sham, and no one can be trusted.

Tales from the Beach House is a satiric work of fiction that sharply captures the "man-bites-dog" world of contemporary South Florida. The Beach House, a crumbling old motel, is home to a collection of eccentric residents. Amongst their ranks: a tennis pro at the end of his game, a mortuary scientist whose love life has flat-lined, a paparazzo photographer searching for scoops, and more. Each member of this cohort is in search of something - fast money, an easy hustle, fleeting romance, enduring love, fame, power, dignity, happiness...a place they can call home.