*

Shadows on the River

by Linda Hall

SHADOWS ON THE RIVER is the story of Ally Roarke. When she was a young teenager she saw her best friend pushed to her death. Here are Ally’s own words:

“I was only fourteen when I witnessed a murder on the riverbank. A murder that went unpunished. Unless you count what happened to my family. We were forced out of town by the teenage killer’s prominent parents. And the murder was forgotten—by everyone but me. Now, the killer is a respected businessman. I can’t let him get away with it. But I’m a single mother with a child to protect, what can I do? The new man in my life, Mark Bishop, warns me to be careful. For there’s already been another murder. Close to home.”

Linda Hall

Award winning and twice Christy-nominated author Linda Hall has written fifteen novels plus many short stories. She has also worked as a freelance writer, news reporter and feature writer for daily newspaper.

She grew up in New Jersey where her love of the ocean was nurtured. Most of her novels have something to do with the sea. When she’s not writing, Linda and her husband enjoy sailing the St. John River system and the coast of Maine. In the summer we basically move aboard their 34′ sailboat aptly named – Mystery.

Shadows on the River can be ordered from most online bookstores. Including Amazon or can be ordered from her website: http://writerhall.com

What others are saying:
- With a voice well suited to mystery and suspense, Hall creates an almost gothic atmosphere and a wonderfully satisfying conclusion in this final installment of her Shadows series. Romantic Times gave it 4 stars.

*

Deadly Competition

by Roxanne Rustand

The single mother hasn’t been found. And all her daughter, Sarah, has is her uncle. Clueless at parenting, Clint Herald seeks a loving, responsible nanny. What he finds instead is a stranger as mysterious as his sister’s disappearance. Mandy Erick is secretive and seems scared, yet she’s so good with Sarah that Clint can’t help but trust her. In fact, he even enters Mandy in the town’s Mother of the Year contest. But attention is the last thing Mandy wants. Her time in the public eye may prove just as dangerous as she fears.

Excerpt

All rights reserved

Mandy Erick flinched as the door of the Greyhound slid shut behind her.

The bus lumbered away, taking with it her chance to reach Texas or California or Oregon anytime soon. Leaving her standing on the edge of Loomis, Louisiana, a backwater town in the middle of nowhere.

Though maybe the middle of nowhere was the safest place for someone who’d had to leave her old identity behind.

To purchase from Steeple Hill, click here.

For more about Roxanne Rustand, visit www.roxannerustand.com and her new blog “All Creatures Great and Small.”

*

A VOTE OF CONFIDENCE

Who says a woman can’t do a man’s job?

    Put up or shut up! Complaining about Bethlehem Springs’ dissolute mayoral candidate, Gwen Arlington is challenged to take on the role herself. For seven years, she’s carved out an independent life in the bustling mountain town of Bethlehem Springs, Idaho, teaching piano and writing for the local newspaper. But now she’s a single woman running for mayor — and in 1915 this decision is bound to stir up trouble.

    Morgan McKinley is fed up with the delays that hinder the construction of New Hope Health Spa, a place where both rich and poor can come for rest and healing. New to the area, he has determined that serving as mayor would help him push through his agenda for progress.

    Gwen and Morgan each want to prove they are the most qualified candidate, not only to voters but to each other, and so sparks fly as the two campaign. Although Morgan has learned to guard his heart as fiercely as Gwen guards her independence, could they learn to be allies instead of adversaries?

    This first book in the Sisters of Bethlehem Springs Series provides intriguing insights into how women challenged convention and shaped America in the early twentieth century.

You Tube for A Vote of Confidence

*

To purchase through Amazon, click here.

*

To purchase through CBD, click here.

Robin Lee Hatcher

Robin Lee Hatcher is the best-selling author of over sixty books. Her well-drawn characters and heartwarming stories of faith, courage, and love have earned her both critical acclaim and the devotion of readers. Her numerous awards including the 2000 Christy Award for Excellence in Christian Fiction, the 1999 and 2001 RITA Awards for Best Inspirational Romance, Romantic Times Career Achievement Awards for Americana Romance and for Inspirational Fiction, and the 2001 RWA Lifetime Achievement Award. Catching Katie was named one of the Best Books of 2004 by the Library Journal.

Robin began her writing career in the general market, writing mass market romances for Leisure Books, HarperPaperbacks, Avon Books, and Silhouette. In 1997, after several years of heart preparation, Robin accepted God’s call to write stories of faith and hasn’t looked back since. She has written both contemporary women’s fiction and historical romances for CBA publishers, and in 2009 her 60th book, A Vote of Confidence, was released, launching a new series (The Sisters of Bethlehem Springs) that looks at the question, “Who says a woman can’t do a man’s job?” The setting is Idaho during the WWI era.

*

A NOTE FROM ROBIN:

Ideas come to writers in lots of different ways. The idea for The Sisters of Bethlehem Springs series came to me back in 2003-2004 and had its genesis in a couple of other books. From Catching Katie had come a fascination with the decade leading up to the passing of the 19th Amendment that gave American women the right to vote. From a secondary character in Speak to Me of Love came a fondness for a woman in an unusual occupation. While those two things were rolling around in my head, up popped the final ingredient. A question: Who says a woman can’t do a man’s job? And the next thing I knew, I’d met Gwen and Cleo Arlington, the heroines of the first two books in the series. I had to wait to meet my third heroine until the hero of A Vote of Confidence walked into my imagination. Guess what, Morgan McKinley had a younger sister, Daphne. Each of these women have jobs that weren’t considered a woman’s domain in their time (1915-1918). I hope readers will become as fond of Gwen, Cleo, and Daphne — and the men with whom they fall in love — as I am.

*

Nothing But Trouble!

(PJ Sugar – Trouble Collection)

ISBN 1414313128

Tyndale

Romantic Comedy/Suspense

 PJ Sugar knows three things for sure:

 After traveling the country for ten years hoping to shake free from the trail of disaster that’s become her life, she needs a fresh start.

 The last person she wants to see when she heads home for her sister’s wedding is Boone—her former flame and the reason she left town.

 Her best friend’s husband absolutely did not commit the first murder Kellogg , Minnesota , has seen in more than a decade.

 What PJ doesn’t know is that when she starts digging for evidence, she’ll uncover much more than she bargained for—a deadly conspiracy, a knack for investigation, and maybe, just maybe, that fresh start she’s been longing for.

About Susan:

Susan May Warren is the award-winning author of seventeen novels and novellas with Tyndale, Steeple Hill and Barbour Publishing. Her first book, Happily Ever After won the American Fiction Christian Writers Book of the Year in 2003, and was a 2003 Christy Award finalist. In Sheep’s Clothing, a thriller set in Russia , was a 2006 Christy Award finalist and won the 2006 Inspirational Reader’s Choice award. A former missionary to Russia , Susan May Warren now writes Suspense/Romance and Chick Lit full time from her home in northern Minnesota .

Also! It’s launch month for my new book, Nothing But Trouble, and I’m running a “sweet” contest when people go “Hunting for Trouble” in their local bookstore! Click HERE for the Contest details! 

Where did the idea for PJ Sugar come from? 

            Every author dreams of a moment where someone says something, or they see something on the news, or in a newspaper and it springs out at them, nearly shouting – STORY IDEA!  This happened to me a number of years ago while talking to friends about their daycare situation, and how one of the parents ended up being a murder suspect!  Scary!  But an interesting idea.   About that time, I was a mom who wore many hats – homeschooling mom, writing teacher, speaker, children’s church leader, — and it occurred to me that a mother really has to be a sort of PI.  Not only taking on different roles, but sleuthing out daily household mysteries like, who ate the last of the peanut butter (and put it back in the cupboard?) and whose socks are laying in the middle of the floor, and finally…(in our house), who let the dog (and her muddy feet!) in the house!  PJ is the alter-ego in every mom, that super-hero inside of us that allows us to have esp (I know you’re not really done with your homework!), or have “eyes in the back of our head,” (stop poking your sister!) or even figure out how to whip together an award-winning science project the night before the fair.  PJ just applies all those skills to bad guys and figuring out the truth. 

PJ Sugar is also a woman who wants to be all things to all people. She wants to be her nephew’s champion and her sister’s best friend, and her mother’s favorite daughter, and Boone’s special girl, and the  hero of her hometown.  That’s not too much to ask, is it?  Maybe…because God wants her to be His girl, and satisfied in who He made her to be.  And that is a journey for all of us PJ Sugars.

 A note from Susan May Warren

Sometimes, do you feel like you just don’t fit in?  You look around you and if anyone knew how difficult it was just to put yourself together, to smile when you feel completely overwhelmed, to even figure out what you were making for supper, they’d know what a mess you were.   Maybe you totally relate to those words in 1 Peter – God’s elect, strangers and aliens in the world.   Do you feel like when you look in the rear view mirror, all you see are your mistakes? 

            Maybe not.  But if so, then PJ is your gal.  I wanted to write a story about the person in so many of us who just wants to get it right…but can’t seem to stay out of trouble.  My friend and I have what we call the “stupid mouth” club…and we report our weekly foibles (usually on Monday, after Sunday church!).  PJ is our charter member.  She’s the girl that changes her mind, always hopes for the best, is always discovering that she is just a little different than everyone else.  PJ is us. 

            And that’s good news.  Because God loves PJ.  He loves her messiness, and her impulsiveness, her heart bent toward others, the hope that fuels her actions.  And He has a plan for PJ – one that includes her weaknesses as well as her strengths.

            Yep, I need to hear that – need to hear that I don’t have to be perfect for God to love me, use me, sing over me.  Need to hear that although I don’t fit in, well, I’m not supposed to…in fact, I’m supposed to be a little…alien.

            I wrote PJ for everyone who feels just a little messy, just a little like they can’t quite get it right.  And who needs to hear that God loves them.  Period.  Full stop.  Hallelujah.