"Full of page-by-page surprises" – Kirkus Reviews

When Nicole Graves arranges a summer-long swap of her Los Angeles condo for a London couple’s house, she thinks it’s the perfect arrangement. She’s always dreamed of seeing the real London; she’s also hopeful the time away with her husband Brad will be good for their troubled marriage. But things don’t turn out the way Nicole expects: The Londoners fail to arrive in L.A. and appear to be missing. Then people begin following Nicole and making threats, demanding information she doesn’t have. Soon, Nicole realizes she’s in serious trouble––but she can’t get Brad or the police to believe her. When the confrontations turn deadly, Nicole must either solve the case or become the next victim.

The Brueggen Stones: When two brueggen stones are dropped. Over Shagger’s dreary rock. Gefcla’s evil will be stopped.

Lynn’s life isn’t interesting, until she falls on a Chicago sidewalk and sees yellow, orange, and green lights flitting past. The next time she opens her eyes, she’s in a forest that has huge roots coming out of the ground. A man with tennis ball-sized eyes howls at her—and that’s just the beginning.<br><br>Chell and the other Stalli warriors are on a hopeless series of raids against a ruthless enemy who outnumbers them. Keshua has given them a foretelling rhyme, but they have no idea how to fulfill it, they feel deathly ill anywhere near a brueggen stone.

Is Lynn the answer to saving them? And will she realize it in time to help?

Under the Golden Mists: “Help me!” the girl’s voice sobs. It’s only a dream, Lacht tells herself. But what if it isn't?

Under Wasso Lake live the Wassandra. The underwater people have abnormally long arms and fingers and aren’t to be trusted—at least that’s what Stalli guide, Crispin, tells Lacht and her family as he takes them to a village on the shores of the lake.

Lacht is intrigued; especially when she hears the Wassandra want help to find a missing child. Then dreams of the frightened girl begin troubling her.

When they arrive at the golden lake, Lacht thinks it’s the most beautiful place she’s ever seen—until a bizarre discovery terrifies her.

“Help me!” cries the Wassandra girl in one last dream, but can Lacht find the courage to face the horrifying creature she sees in that dream?

The Opal Cavern: Curl says she’d rather die than spend the rest of her life trapped under Wasso Lake. What if her wish is coming true?

Nineteen-years-old and still longing to see new things, Curl plans an exploration trip with Lynn’s sons, Mindik and Chera. Their goal is to find Tarth’s legendary Opal Cavern.

Lacht has recurrent, heavy feelings that her Wassandra friend shouldn’t go, but nobody listens and the team leaves.

Then Wave learns something from an old Wassandra diary that can mean life or death for Curl. A rescue team rushes off but they don’t know how long it will take to find her.

They do know that if they don’t find her soon, time will run out before they can get her back.

The Stone Walkers: A depressed eighteen-year-old. An old couple with a terrible secret. A new exploration on an ancient mountain

In the bowels of the mountain, two boulders leaned against a wall in a small chamber. Everything was as it had been for years upon years. No sounds from the explorers working on the surface above penetrated to the chamber. It was the deepest of the deep places. Then the air changed. The change was barely discernible, but it was there.

One of the boulders moved. Slowly, impossibly, it stood upright. A grating sound came from it, and the other boulder slowly moved upward. For a long time, the boulders stood next to each other, motionless. Finally, as if hearing a cue only they could hear, they moved forward out of the small chamber. The Stone Walkers were walking again.

We labor in the dark, not knowing how close we come to tapping gold or triggering disaster. Only God knows.

When her parents marry off Kansas-born Nellie Belle to the ranch foreman, she never questions that motherhood will follow. But at the dawn of the progressive era, dissatisfied Nellie seizes an opportunity to move west and start a new life. Desperate to find a sense of self-worth, Nellie leaves behind her husband and son and takes her two daughters to the Northwest. She charges forward to become the first woman court reporter to travel the circuit in the region. But in the process she loses her daughters, one to death, and one to vaudeville.

In small-town makeshift courtrooms and growing cities boasting new halls of justice, Nellie touches many lives, independent-minded lawmen, enterprising women, hard-working immigrants, a senator, a number of cads, and a cross-dresser. She earns the respect of a tight legal community with their own ideas of early twentieth-century justice. But when her prodigal youngest returns home with a babe in arms, she must do what she can to pull together the remains of her scattered family.

Can Nellie rescue her broken-hearted daughter, and give badly needed direction to her headstrong granddaughter who is on a path to disaster?

From multi-award-wining author Deborah Hining come two novels about The Women of Jacob's mountain who have a strength and sense of adventure unknown even to themselves.

Two book boxed set of the award winning titles A Sinner in Paradise and A Saint in Graceland

Just when the world thought Oscar Pistorius’ meteoric rise to Olympic glory and international celebrity had terminated abysmally in prison, Brent Willock’s scientific perspective reopens this gripping narrative for an astonishing re-view.

Oscar’s spectacular assent to fame ground to a screeching halt in the wee hours of Valentine’s Day, 2013. Hearing a sound emanating from his bathroom, he grabbed his pistol and he stumbled to the washroom, screaming at the intruders to leave. Fearing someone was about to emerge to harm him and his girlfriend, Reeva, he fired four bullets into the toilet chamber. Soon he realized he had killed his lover. Horrified, he summoned the authorities. The investigating detective believed this was yet another case of an escalating argument where the man murdered his partner. World opinion is split. Some believe Oscar. Others are convinced he committed a despicable crime of passion.

¿Qué tienen en común los médicos, bomberos, escritores, chefs, agricultores, plomeros y los niños? Todos ellos pueden codifi car para resolver problemas del mundo real. “Recuerda, la codificación no ha sido creada para sólo unas pocas personas. Todo el mundo puede codificar. ¡Incluso los niños como tú!”

Con textos interesantes e ilustraciones coloridas, este divertido libro anima a los niños de todas las edades a explorar el maravilloso mundo de la codifi cación. Con códigos que ayudan a un plomero a identifi car un fregadero atascado, alertar a un bombero sobre un nuevo incendio, avisar a un chef cuando su comida está lista e identifi car plagas en la cosecha de un granjero, losCode niños aprenderán maneras prácticas de hacer del mundo un lugar mejor a través de la codifi cación.

o Our Health is a blueprint for wellness with all the tools to build a strong, healthy body and vibrant lifestyle. While there are many books focusing on gluten-free, dairy-free, proper food combining, and over all nutrition, To Our Health is the first to combine all of these wellness-relevant lifestyles.

With wellness and vibrancy as the goal, To Our Health recipes are also free of nightshade vegetables and low in salt, fats and animal protein. To Our Health offers crucial insight into the reasons behind the lifestyle requirements, answering questions of what, why, and how as well as offering easy tips to expand the recipes in this book, ensuring a seemingly endless array of delicious, healthy meals. A complete 21-Day Meal Plan takes the guesswork out of making the switch and helps you be successful from day one.

Trouble has a way of finding Blanche Murninghan...

When Blanche “Bang” Murninghan visits an exhibit of ancient Mayan ruins in Mexico City, she sees that all is not ancient. One of the mummies has a pink hair clip embedded in its hay-like do, and the texture of the skin is not quite right.

Blanche, a part-time journalist, starts to dig for answers and gets tangled in the mystery of the mummy at the Palacio Nacional.

Her cousin and traveling companion, Haasi Hakla, aids and abets—and puts the reins on Blanche. All the while, the two eat and drink their way across the city, following one hunch after another with a cast of colorful characters that include a prescient elderly chilanga, an amiable overworked detective, and a stunning doctor of shady deeds.

The cousins are willing to risk kidnapping and attempted murder to get at the truth—but first, Blanche stops for another excellent beer and Haasi delights in one more taco al pastor.

Trouble Down Mexico Way is the second book in the Blanche Murninghan cozy mystery series. Each of the books can be read as a stand-alone. Foreword Reviews is in love with the "spunky heroine" and Kirkus Reviews says, "There’s a reason Blanche Murninghan’s cousin Jack calls her 'Bang.' When she gets mad, it’s an event to rival a Santa Maria Island sunset—and it happens about as often."

Fans of Jana Deleon's Miss Fortune Mystery series and Tonya Kappes A Camper and Criminals Cozy series will fall hard for the colorful characters and exciting misadventures in the Blanche Murningnan Mysteries.

Paul Dodge is no stranger to the dark side of crime. As a parole agent and a member of the local Sex Crimes Task Force, he knows what depravity lies in the shadows. But when an investigation into a local sexual predator leads him to a photo of a judge’s daughter and another young girl ends up dead, Dodge quickly realizes he doesn’t know who to trust.

In the most dangerous case of his career, Dodge races to detangle a growing web of lies and corruption. His life and career are both on the line in this high-stakes case, and a single misstep could end them both.

“Help me!” the girl’s voice sobs.

It’s only a dream, Lacht tells herself.

But what if it isn't?

Under Wasso Lake live the Wassandra. The underwater people have abnormally long arms and fingers and aren’t to be trusted—at least that’s what Stalli guide, Crispin, tells Lacht and her family as he takes them to a village on the shores of the lake.

Lacht is intrigued; especially when she hears the Wassandra want help to find a missing child. Then dreams of the frightened girl begin troubling her.

When they arrive at the golden lake, Lacht thinks it’s the most beautiful place she’s ever seen—until a bizarre discovery terrifies her.

“Help me!” cries the Wassandra girl in one last dream, but can Lacht find the courage to face the horrifying creature she sees in that dream?

Peter wants nothing more than to settle into a normal life with his fiancée, Kate Simpson. But the Fates seems to have other plans as he finds himself in a deadly confrontation with North Korean agents intent on stealing his latest invention; a pulsed energy weapon that promises to revolutionize small arms technology and upend the international balance of power.

After suffering a heartbreaking loss at the hands of the North Koreans, Peter is devastated. Vowing retribution, he has only one option. With his faithful companion Diesel by his side, Peter must retreat to a remote section of Idaho wilderness known as the Zone of Death—a large, uninhabited tract of Federal land where one can literally get away with murder.

Somehow, he must entice the North Korean assassins to follow him. There Peter will need all his skills as a hunter to kill… or be killed.

"Valiant Savage is a pulse-pounding action thriller that’s anchored by its charming everyman hero and a fascinating historical mystery."
– Foreword Reviews

The Cascadia Independence Movement, a radical political group, aspires to succeed where others have failed and split off the Pacific Northwest as an independent nation. With a sympathetic politician occupying the seat of president pro tempore of the Senate, CIM hatches a daring plan.

Eliminating the President, Vice President, and Speaker of the House in a coordinated attack would be difficult enough, but to do so and get away with the crimes would border on the impossible. They plot to frame the commander of The Strategic Global Intervention Team, James Nicolaou, for the murders and steal a revolutionary weapon under development by Peter Savage, which will assure success.

With Commander Nicolaou missing and the subject of a nationwide dragnet with orders to shoot to kill. With his faithful canine companion, Peter crisscrosses the northwest in a race against time to save his friend and avert a political coup the likes of which haven’t been witnessed since the Lincoln assassination plot.

"Wait is a necessary source of comfort for those plagued by intractable problems."
– Foreword Reviews

What are you waiting for?

Everyone has endured the endless traffic light, the queue that goes nowhere, the elevator music piped through the phone line. But what of those periods in your life when everything seems on hold? When you can't do the next thing in your professional or personal life because you can't get to it?

Waiting—be it for health, a life partner, a child, a job—can be an agony. The persistently unrealized goal feels like an endless road. And hope's constant deferment can be exhausting. A firm answer against the thing you're hoping for—"no"—might be easier than this constant lack of closure. It might be easier to give it up.

But what if waiting means to be something else? Waiting doesn't have to mean idleness. Our prolonged state of need might teach us to look beyond the desired goal to something infinitely better. We find lessons on this throughout the Bible and, if we are paying attention, in our own lives.

Rather than fostering frustration, periods of waiting might have great truths to tell us. It might show us that hope is worthwhile. Waiting might even be a gift in and of itself.

Study and Discussion Guide for the book Wait

What are you waiting for?

Everyone has endured the endless traffic light, the queue that goes nowhere, the elevator music piped through the phone line. But what of those periods in your life when everything seems on hold? When you can't do the next thing in your professional or personal life because you can't get to it?

Waiting—be it for health, a life partner, a child, a job—can be an agony. The persistently unrealized goal feels like an endless road. And hope's constant deferment can be exhausting. A firm answer against the thing you're hoping for—"no"—might be easier than this constant lack of closure. It might be easier to give it up.

But what if waiting means to be something else? Waiting doesn't have to mean idleness. Our prolonged state of need might teach us to look beyond the desired goal to something infinitely better. We find lessons on this throughout the Bible and, if we are paying attention, in our own lives.

Rather than fostering frustration, periods of waiting might have great truths to tell us. It might show us that hope is worthwhile. Waiting might even be a gift in and of itself.

Join Rebecca Brewster Stevenson in a guided discussion and reflection on the lessons shared within her award-winning book Wait: Thoughts and Practice in Waiting on God. This guide is designed to be used together with award-winning source book

"Relevant, challenging, and accessible." –Brother Dennis Gibbs, Community of Divine Love

Our lives are busy, much more so than they ought to be. A demanding lifestyle calls for a healthy dose of spiritual refreshment, the kind that can go the distance. That’s where the brief meditations in Week by Week come in. Each reflection presents a topic to chew on, expressed in relatively few words; something to mull over.

Life is rhythmed with spiritual seasons, each providing its own challenges and joys; each calling for its own medicine. Souls, not just bodies, need to be able to adapt, refresh, reboot, and readjust to changing climates. As we move through the seasons of life, may God’s healing power enter to bring us what we need.

This collection of meditations and reflective questions is designed to adjust with your needs for the season you are in. With one meditation per week, this book can be read and enjoyed topically or in the printed order.

"The product of a rare author, someone who is both as deeply grounded in Christian tradition as one can imagine but at the same time has the profound ability to touch others with insights of practical depth." –The Rt. Rev. Stacy Sauls, Bishop of the Episcopal Church

Four kingdoms are locked in a horrible war—a war that, if lost, will surrender innocent lives to the power and control of King Kayne, the barbaric and bloodthirsty king of the South. The kings and queen of the North, East, and West have no choice but to join forces against the South if they’re going to hold onto everything they hold dear.

But the northern Queen’s brother has a different ambition in mind, and sees the South as a route to power. While Kayne spends his time traveling across the Great Sea, seeking out herbs and potions to enhance his abilities, Kristofer rises amongst the ranks to become his right hand and leads the people in the king’s absence.

Bewildered and devastated by Kristofer’s betrayal, Queen Elora of the North and lifelong ally King Rian of the West join their armies to fight against him. As they seek to save their kingdoms, Elora and Rian face an excruciating struggle between the love they once had for Kristofer and their duty to deal the fatal blow.

Fans of Christopher Paolini, Laura Sebastian, and Chloe Gong are sure to devour this action-packed debut from D.S. Churchill.

Inspired by his immigrant physician mother, who surmounted multiple obstacles in her forty-five year-career, Dr. Friedman worked through a twenty-year battle with depression to realize the life-saving power of committing himself to love, spirit, and service. This story of his personal journey toward wholeness offers thoughtful advice for those who suffer and encouragement for those aspiring to careers in the healing arts.

Where Spirit Touches Matter: A journey toward wholeness is a book about health, healing, and hope by a physician who has spent more than thirty-five years helping patients find relief from pain and suffering.

Dr. Friedman writes: "On a journey to Tibet, while circling what is widely considered the holiest mountain on Earth, Mount Kailash, which sources the five great rivers of Asia with its runoff, I heard the myth that one of the rivers, the Saraswati, existed only in nonmaterial form. In this form, it contributed a spiritual and vitalistic energy to the holy Ganges, which arises at the convergence of four rivers in the Himalayan region of India.

"Eight years later, on my last journey to India, I stood in front of the gorge where the Saraswati River originates, and I wept. I wept because I saw that the nonmaterial had become material, and that the chasm between the mythological and the physically real had been bridged. This is the meeting place of spirit and matter that I have pursued in endless forms throughout my life.

"This book chronicles a sampling of my experiences of that space between. It honors the continuously moving stream running through all of time and space, filled wholly with the presence of a loving consciousness. I am grateful to have been a participant in the flow of that stream and to have been given the opportunity to return whatever love I can into that current."

Growing up in the suburbs in the 1950s was a completely different experience than growing up after the year 2000. Just about everything was self-created and directed. From a very early age, we left our house right after breakfast and would return in time for supper. No parent or adult told us what to do to occupy our time. Mostly, they told us what not to do and we paid little attention to that advice.

Each new adventure took us to its logical or illogical conclusion. Sometimes a lesson was learned, more often than not the hard way. This is a journey through those experiences, many of which are not repeatable today.

Growing up is mental, and growing older is physical. Both form integral parts of the experiential library. Whether in the late 1800s, the mid-1950s or now, it is the best time to be alive in an ever-changing world.

Join C.M. Rip Cunningham in his recollections of what it means to grow up in an ever-shifting environment, supplemented by excerpts from As the Twig is Bent by Dr. John H. Cunningham.

A journey in defying cancer

In this story about her harrowing battle with a rare, aggressive form of breast cancer, Dr. Julia Burns encourages readers to take charge of their own health by seeking multiple medical opinions and fighting for a treatment plan that meets their emotional and spiritual needs as well as their physical needs.

Chapter by chapter Julia shares lessons learned from her own journey through cancer. The numbers were abysmal: her odds of survival were so low some wondered why she should even bother fighting. Julia didn't care what the numbers said—she defied the odds and found a path where few had dared to look.

Julia Burns inspires others who face seemingly insurmountable challenges to take heart, to advocate for themselves, and to pursue the path that makes them feel well and whole—no matter the odds.

An elderly mother, an aging son, and life’s final journey
"Winter Stars is a gift — a modern classic of frontier literature documenting the uncertain journey into the country of caregiving." –Michael J. Fox.

Dave Iverson was a busy broadcast journalist recently diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease when he decided to do something he’d never quite imagined: He moved in to take care of his 95-year-old mom. Winter Stars is the moving story of their ten-year caregiving journey.

"The resulting memoir is a love story you won't soon forget," writes Elizabeth Farnsworth, former chief correspondent for The PBS NewsHour and author of A Train Through Time.

By the end of this decade, 74 million Americans will be over the age of 65, including every member of the Baby Boom generation. The pandemic prompted more Americans to consider caring for their parents at home, but as Iverson learned, the gritty, life-changing reality caregiving delivers requires more than good intentions. He didn’t know that his mom’s dementia would pose more challenges than his Parkinson’s. He didn’t know he’d be capable of getting so angry. He didn’t know that becoming a caregiver means experiencing love and loss, anger and insight—usually when exhausted and often on the same day. And he didn’t know that moving in with his mom would challenge and change him more than any other life experience.

"A deeply moving memoir, Winter Stars is still more than that — it is a guide to finding the help we all need, in one way or another, as life poses new and different challenges," praises Ron Elving, Senior Editor and Correspondent, NPR

For the vast number of families who are confronting —or will soon confront—a caregiving journey, Winter Stars offers an intimate, unvarnished portrait of the challenges, choices, and life lessons that lie ahead.

"Honest, comforting, and true, Winter Stars is a testament to the power of family love," says Ann Packer, best-selling author of The Dive from Clausen’s Pier and Songs Without Words.

Meditations from the Psalms and Proverbs to help you ponder the beauty of God’s Word and grow in worship and wisdom.

The inspired prayers of Psalms range through the entire gamut of human emotions: faith and doubt; elation and sorrow; hope and despair; confidence and terror; love and hate. We read magnificent paeans of praise, and howling wails of complaint. With utter honesty, they allow us to express our hearts to the LORD, knowing that he hears us. With a growing crescendo, they point us back to God who cares for his people. Through them, we learn how to worship.

The Book of Proverbs contains wise sayings from David’s son Solomon and others. On the surface, it seems to focus on this life and how to live it well. Here we learn about sex, money, and power; the proper use of the tongue, relating well to others, and the path to success. From the opening chapter to the end, however, one theme dominates: If we want to be wise, we need to fear and to love God.

A turbulent telling of one woman’s immersion in her faith, and one man’s journey to acceptance.

Seeking comfort in the isolation of the western landscape, young single mother Pansy Blackwell brings her son Butch to the Siskiyou Mountains. Fully engulfed in the Jehovah’s Witnesses assurances for a soon-to-arrive end of the world, Pansy raises her son to conform to the constrictive requirements of their religion. But as Butch discovers the wonders of the world around him with an endlessly patient and kindhearted rancher, he embraces the cowboy culture and struggles to live as his authentic self.

In the late 20th Century, rural communities in America were often hostile to the rising-awareness of LGBT people, and Butch is soon cast aside by his church for homosexuality. In The Gift, Scott Terry crafts a memorable and historically-accurate tale of religious extremism and the struggle for acceptance, before the truth of those times are swept under the forgotten rug of history.

This ancient Ojibway legend predates contact with European settlers, but the drummer boy and the people he meets at the end of his journey couldn’t be more familiar to modern culture.

When the orphaned Anung sets out on his vision quest, he sees clearly that his purpose in life is to find the greatest chief of all and tell him of the many acts of kindness the mothers and fathers of the village have given to Anung.

When the people of his village learn of the vision, they are proud of him. For every man of the village loves Anung as his son. Every woman is his mother. They believe Gitche Manitou, the great creator, has chosen their son for a special journey.

In his quest to find the greatest chief, Anung travels through the 13 tribes of the First Nations, across forests, plains, water, and desert. Along the way, he is accompanied by Turtle, the interpreter of all languages. He finds friends in the most unlikely of places––a squirrel’s nest, a mother bear’s den, and a city filled with people from every tribe. At each stop, Anung and his drum sing of his mothers and fathers and his quest to meet the greatest chief.

What Anung finds at the end of his journey will both surprise and thrill readers of all ages. This ancient legend, told in the beautifully poetic style of Carl Nordgren, begs to be read aloud and savored.

Long after ordination in 1963, John Main discovered that the form of prayer advocated by the swami already existed within the mainstream of Western Christianity but had fallen into disuse. From then on, he was to devote his life to restoring this form of Christian meditation to its rightful place within the Church. His work began with the foundation of a meditation centre at Ealing Abbey in London and led, some years later, to the foundation of the Benedictine Priory of Montreal and the establishment of a worldwide spiritual family linked through the daily practice of meditation. Neil McKenty paints an attractive portrait of this compelling Irish monk whose teaching and writing on meditation were to transform the lives of thousands of men and women.

In his evocative debut novel Carl Nordgren weaves an ambitious tale about the power of dreams, the hope of new beginnings, and the dangers of ghosts who haunt our past.

Brian Burke emigrates from 1950s West Ireland to the wilderness of Northwest Ontario with his partner Maureen O Toole. He's been exiled from his village, and she is running from her IRA past. The dreams of an Ojibway clan elder bring the Irish to the sacred place on the River, where they build The Great Lodge of Innish Cove.

The dreams tell of a white man who will destroy the River and another who will protect it. While the Ojibway believe Brian and Maureen are the River s guardians, Maureen s IRA connections and the construction of a pulp mill upstream threaten to destroy the newly created Eden before it even begins.

Under the watchful eye of a warrior spirit, the clan and their Irish companions risk all they love to protect the River and the promises it holds for their future. The fates of the two groups will intertwine as both seek to ward off the encroachment of the modern world.

In The 53rd Parallel readers will find a rich tapestry that weaves together the literary influences of such giants as Peter Matthiessen, Ken Kesey, Jack London, and Ernest Hemingway (whose son appears in Book 2 of the River of Lakes series).