Showing results by narrator "Beth Richmond" in All Categories

The buzz word in education today is accountability. But the federal mandate of "no child left behind" has come to mean curriculums driven by preparation for standardized tests and quantifiable learning results. Even for very young children, unstructured creative time in the classroom is waning as teachers and administrators are under growing pressures to measure school readiness through rote learning and increased homework.

Anthony Wright made a career of getting what he wanted, whatever the price. When he's murdered and ends up as a late night snack for the zoo's 15-foot crocodile, few are shedding any tears. After police arrest the lead crocodile handler, it's up to zookeeper Lavender "Snake" Jones to prove her friend's innocence. But is she really helping? Each lie she exposes only serves to strengthen the case against him, rattles her belief in those she trusts and, in the end, threatens her own safety.

Modern dance was a movement that began at the turn of the 20th century when American dancers Loie Fuller, Isadora Duncan, and Ruth St. Denis broke from formal dance traditions with their own personal vision of movement. Soon, their visions evolved through Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, and Charles Weidman, who would all go on to teach their methods and present modern dance as a serious art form.

Berkeley peace activist Sophia Raday never imagined she would fall in love with an Oakland police officer and major in the Army Reserve, much less marry one. Barrett is loving and loyal, but in his world a threat lies around every corner, and so he asks Sophia to stay in Condition Yellow - always aware that her life may be in danger soon.

Former homicide detective, Sam Casey, finds it hard to stay away from crime scenes, especially those where victims have died violently, and where the killers are still unknown. Centuries-old skeletal remains of Native Americans along with artifacts are discovered during the construction of a downtown office building. Sam has a difficult time deciphering her visions of two moons and the sound of gravel crunching until she realizes the two moons are headlights.

This is a fast-paced tale of intrigue, deception and betrayal. Madison McKenzie, a vacationing investigative reporter, overhears some old codgers talking about people disappearing, unexplained deaths and activity at the now defunct Annabelle Mine. Curiosity gets the better of her and she decides to investigate. What she unearths is a conspiracy of international proportions.

Cealie Gunther avoids things that bind - like control-top pantyhose and Gil Thurman. Widowed Cealie thinks she wants to avoid her hunky ex-lover Gil as she travels while trying to rediscover herself. But he opens Cajun restaurants in many cities, and Cealie's not great at avoiding temptation. She tries to avoid family members so she won't become dependant, but since her family is most important, constantly winds up around them. Murder is always involved.

Straight arrow lawman Josh Cummings retrieves over a million dollars from a snow filled gorge…and keeps it. As he relates his most interesting cases from 50-plus years in law enforcement to two young reporters, Steve Simon and George Smitts, he conveniently leaves this part out. Each chapter is a complete story running the gamut from dark comedy to crime thriller.

Why were Prometheus and Loki envisioned as chained to rocks? What was the Golden Calf? Why are mirrors believed to carry bad luck? How could anyone think that mortals like Perseus, Beowulf, and St. George actually fought dragons, since dragons don't exist? Strange though they sound, however, these "myths" did not begin as fiction.

It's RN Gina Mazzio's wedding eve. But when she takes the week's final Ob/Gyn telephone advice call, a deadly serious male voice says, "She's all cut up." The police, the hospital administrator, and even Gina's fiancé, Harry Lucke, insist it was only a crank call, some sicko getting his Friday evening jollies. Gina doesn't buy it. After a second similar call, at her home, she starts to link the calls and caller with a series of nurse disappearances.

One week before her wedding a young woman strips, takes the time to fold her clothes, then calmly walks into Lake Michigan. When Sam Casey is asked to look into the death of a young mother who left her infant in a high chair, walked down the street and jumped off the overpass, Sam finds a strange similarity-they each received a phone call just prior to committing suicide. Both calls were from disposable phones and both calls lasted four seconds. Were these really suicides or something more sinister?

RN Gina Mazzio returns to San Francisco's Ridgewood Hospital after a near-death experience in Nevada's desolate gold country. On her first day in the Ob/Gyn Women's Health Clinic, a co-worker suffers a mystifying post-abortion death due to sepsis. Two days later, the same thing happens to a clinic patient. Gina thinks it's an inside job, but gets no support for her theory. Convinced she's right, she risks everything to dig into the who and why of the deaths. She wants to know if someone is deliberately causing clinic patients to suffer horrible deaths.

Spunky young grandma Cealie Gunther tries to avoid her hunky sometimes-ex lover Gil Thurman so she can rediscover herself. She also wants to avoid relatives so she won't become dependent on them. But a cousin who antagonized her in childhood pleads for Cealie to come to Gatlinburg, TN, needing Cealie's help or she'll face dire consequences. And Gil couldn't be opening another of his Cajun Delights restaurants there - could he? Torn between flying off for her planned exotic vacation or landing in the hills of Tennessee, Cealie knows where she must go. She can't believe what she finds once she gets there....

RN Gina Mazzio is not a wimp, but after nearly being murdered twice, she needs a time out. Needs to get away from San Francisco and Ridgewood Hospital. She and her fiancé sign up for a travel assignment at a small Nevada facility in the middle of nowhere. On their first day, driving down a long, creepy private road, ominous sentry-like boulders block out the sun. When they finally arrive at the facility, Gina’s eye starts to twitch a warning when she stares at heavy iron bars on the second floor windows.

For 70 years, Sin Strip was the place to be in Chasen Heights, Illinois. It offered liquor, gambling, topless dancing, anything the heart desired. It was an age of self-indulgence that began a decline in 1995. But two weeks before the wrecking ball was to destroy one of the remaining landmark hotels, the police make a grisly discovery. Not all of Chasen Heights' secrets were destroyed when Sin Strip was closed down. The fifth book in the award-winning Sam Casey series, combines mystery with an element of paranormal.

Free-spirited Tracy cheers when her stuffy husband, Drew, loosens up enough to rearrange the nose of his boorish boss, Ian Dragger. But Drew's timing couldn't be worse. When Dragger is found floating face down in the Eatons' pool, deader than disco, Drew is the one that wily Detective Patti Garcia zeroes in on as her prime suspect. Still, Tracy expects to clear her sweetie in short order.

Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman is always busy, but more so now than ever. The sheriff is still not completely recovered from his stay in the hospital, and she is recovering from a hospital stay herself. After a long day at work, Estelle is happy to clear off her desk and drive home, where her beloved family waits. She hears her cell phone ringing as she pulls into the driveway. A truck has gone off the road and the driver's body found near the wreck.

In 1847, Marjory Turner struggles with the difficult journey west to the Oregon Territory, recording her feelings in her journal. On the cusp of womanhood, she is ill equipped to deal with the hardships after her father dies in an accident midway through the journey. The already-strained relationship with her mother grows worse as her mother's behavior becomes more mysteriously irrational and Marjory is forced to take on the responsibility of her much younger siblings. But the trials strengthen Marjory.

Although drinking alcoholic beverages is legal for those 21 years and older in the United States, alcohol is a dangerous drug when misused or abused by those of any age. One of the most commonly used drugs among teens and adults, alcohol affects areas of the brain that influence pleasure, impulses, and coordination. Long-term abuse of alcohol has devastating effects on one's health and can be fatal to the user.

Hetta Coffey is a sassy Texan with a snazzy yacht, and she's not afraid to use it! As a self-employed engineering consultant with a penchant for oddball - read: shady - projects, Hetta Coffey has a history of inviting trouble. But now that she's been hired for a legitimate mining project in Mexico's Baja, it looks like smooth sailing ahead... until she discovers that people and pesos are disappearing faster than you can say, "This job is the pits!"