Showing results by narrator "Jill Smith" in All Categories

As much as Beatrice Hyde-Clare relished the challenge of figuring out who murdered a fellow guest during a house party in the Lake District, she certainly does not consider herself an amateur investigator. So when a London dandy falls dead at her feet in the entryway of a London Daily Gazette, she feels no compulsion to investigate. It was a newspaper office, after all, and reporters are already on the case as are the authorities.

Having solved the two murders that somehow fell in her path, Beatrice Hyde-Clare is on the lookout for a third. Through a absurd quirk of stupid fate, the shy spinster has fallen in love with the thoroughly unattainable Duke of Kesgrave and is desperate for something, anything, to occupy her mind. A dead body would do nicely.

I'm the coach's daughter, watching from the shadows as my father's best friend and star player wins the World Series for his team. Trick Lowry is almost twice my age and a bonafide celebrity, and I love him with my entire heart. It's the kind of secret, off-limits crush that feeds wild fantasies and reckless ideas—like sneaking into his hotel room while he's celebrating, just to have a little slice of him to myself. I innocently surround myself with his smell, thinking he doesn't have to know.

Having long abandoned any hope of making a match, 26-year-old Beatrice Hyde Clare finds herself a little overwhelmed by her engagement to the Duke of Kesgrave. Cloying society matrons clamor for her attention while her aunt reels off an endless list of servants she will have to oversee. Even the most intrepid female would quake at the prospect of managing eight footmen! Fortunately, Bea knows the perfect distraction - an intriguing mystery - and pays a call on the Countess of Abercrombie, who had promised her that very thing only the evening before.

Despite suffering a few initial setbacks, the former Beatrice Hyde-Clare has settled into her new position nicely. Thanks to Lady Abercrombie’s machinations, she has secured the admiration of society and finally earned the respect of her staff. Even the lessons in defending herself, which her husband, the Duke of Kesgrave, insists she take if she wants to continue in her dangerous avocation, are going well. But then she learns from a most unlikely source that Kesgrave’s malevolent uncle is scheming to destroy her happiness.

Since the new Duchess of Kesgrave cannot be swayed from her unfortunate interest in dead bodies, Lady Abercrombie decides to confront the matter head-on by hosting a murder mystery dinner party. Gathering together several of society’s most influential members, she concocts an amusing puzzle-play, assigns roles, and stands back to allow Bea to impress them all with her ingenuity.

Stormy Morgan’s life took a rocky turn, but things are looking up. Sure, she’s a new witch living in her childhood hometown but she’s looking forward to the future. That includes her boyfriend Hunter Ryan moving in with her so they can save up to buy Stormy’s dream house in the spring. Things are going as planned…until a scream interrupts moving day.

Stormy Morgan is a witch with too much attitude, an old love fueling new fires in her soul, and a talking cat who keeps threatening to give her an ulcer. She’s got a full plate. Things get even busier in her life when a body drops outside her boyfriend Hunter Ryan’s house...and the death looks like more than a standard murder. Even though her magic is growing at an exponential rate, Stormy is still a novice when it comes to wielding her new power. She’s determined to find answers, and prove herself invaluable to Hunter in the process, but each lead brings more questions.

There’s a prominent threat on the block...and he might just be sharing Stormy Morgan’s roof. She’s a new witch, but she has a big problem...and it talks. Her new roommate Krankle may look cute, but he’s a huge pain in her posterior. He’s also hiding something. Before she can focus on that, however, the unthinkable happens.

Nick Fischer is a screw-up; everyone knows it and they're not afraid to tell him so. The only thing he's got going for him is that he plays a reliable rhythm guitar for License to Game, and his big fat bulldog, Princess Fiona, is so ugly she's cute. Dempsey Lawrence is a former child star turned financial advisor, and while she's curious about the hot mess of a man who's her co-panelist for a presentation on financial literacy, she has no intention of pursuing anything with him. Too loud, too crass, too wild, Nick is altogether too much.

Katelyn (Kat) Summers’ family has just moved to Webster, Massachusetts. It’s the day before her 12th birthday, and all Katelyn wants to do is go back home to Pennsylvania. That is until a 10-year-old boy named Neil Masters crashes into her bicycle. When Katelyn looks up from her position on the ground, she finds a hand stretched out to greet her. As she’s pulled to her feet, Katelyn meets with the inquisitive gaze of Sarah Masters. Within minutes, Katelyn will never think of any other place as home again.

Hilarious and colorful episodes in the lives of families, many depicted from a kid's-eye-view, are the theme for this compilation. Being part of a family is often trying, and stranger than any fiction, but never dull and always worth it in the end. Join these very different families as they face the shrinking of parents, the pre-emptive guilt of First Confession, the secret worlds of children, and more!

The Art of Change Leadership represents a major milestone in the study of change leadership. An approachable yet thorough guide for leaders and team members that illustrates how to increase speed and agility during times of intense technological innovation and fast change, this resource focuses on the ways in which you, as an individual, can harness your unique abilities to lead cultural change and personal leadership in a positive and proactive way.

New York Times Bestseller “This is a devastating book, heartbreaking in how familiar and relatable each story is—yet there’s power and solidarity in it, too.” — Shondaland Edited and with an introduction by Roxane Gay, the New York Times bestselling and deeply beloved author of Bad...

When a woman is murdered behind the library, Chief Fox realizes the victim was more than she seemed and enlists the aid of Chipping Cheddar’s resident Federal Bureau of Magic agent, Eden Fury. The woman’s death also triggers the arrival of Alcina, a powerful supernatural hellbent on uncovering the killer’s identity and bringing them to justice. Alcina views Eden as her polar opposite on the supernatural scale of good and evil and doesn’t trust her to conduct a proper investigation, no matter what her badge says.

I’ve had enough. I’ve been at odds with my family for as long as I can remember. And I’ve been at odds with myself. Light and dark. White and black. Good and evil. To hell with the scales of justice, my mother and Grandma deserved what they got for the recent wrong done to my beloved Chief Fox. If that means finally embracing the fury within, then so be it. Except then I'm no better than they are. Meanwhile, there’s a new supernatural threat in town, but I’m too preoccupied to put on my badge and get to work.

Well, maybe not all supernaturals. I tend to avoid using my fury traits, but when I reluctantly use my power of invisibility and then can't undo it, I don't know whether the gods are punishing me—or someone else is. At first my condition isn't so bad. I can play well-deserved pranks on my family and aid Chief Fox as a silent observer in town. As time passes, however, it becomes clear that the longer I'm sight unseen, the more clear and present danger I'm in.

Agent Eden Fury is currently building a bridge over troubled waters and she's not sure if she has the tools to finish the job. The truth about her personal life is out and Eden wants nothing more than to put the genie back in the bottle. Unfortunately that won’t happen without the type of magic she refuses to touch. With a mayoral election in full swing and a dead body in her family’s yard, Eden is struggling to keep her nose clean and her head above those troubled waters

I foolishly believed this day would never come, that life in charming Chipping Cheddar would always be pleasant and somewhat predictable—but all good things must come to an end. And it seems the dormant portal is no exception.