A welcome quietness settled over Witherspoon academy in early June. School was out for a while causing teachers to breathe a sigh of relief. Five of the instructors had plans for a cruise. Three of these had plans for murder.

This manuscript is a contemporary novel that challenges readers to solve a murder mystery. The suspects are a close-knit group of medical center employees. The book features a variety of well-developed characters and an exciting, unexpected conclusion. The main setting for this mystery is a small East Texas town, with a couple of excursions to the Texas Gulf Coast and Aspen, Colorado. Each suspense filled chapter is a short story ending with a cliffhanger. These episodes are interlinked to propel the protagonist, Nelda Simmons, toward a successful resolution. Summary: The mystery begins with the murder of a doctor who owns a health clinic. Nelda discovers the body, and calls the young sheriff, John Moore, who doesn't mind Nelda's aid in solving the mystery. Nelda has considerable experience in solving criminal cases because she assisted her late husband in his work as sheriff. All the workers at the clinic are suspects and have good reasons for wanting him dead. None of them have air tight alibis for the night of the murder. The plot continues with the drowning of the murdered doctor's wife and warning to Nelda in Latin. This Latin phrase is one in a series left by the murderer after or before crucial events. All the messages appear in red lipstick of a particular brand and color. Some of the major events that occur after the two deaths are: the sabotage of Nelda's car and the major car accident that followed; the near drowning of her niece, Sue; predawn visit by the murderer; confrontation in Aspen with the killer on a downhill bicycle ride, and the final outcome. This is a Fireside Mystery with approximately 70,000 words in twenty-six chapters

"Women of Courage" They Never gave Up, is an inspirational book that tells how three brave women fought back from adversities to live productive lives, and give back to the community. Linda Warren suffers from rheumatoid arthritis. She would not let this disease, or years of rejection of her first book, keep her from becoming an award winning author. Her novels entertain and help readers by relating to concerns in their own lives. Teresa Maurer has multiple sclerosis, but lives a full life. She is a successful Beatrix Potter Storyteller and literacy advocate encouraging hundreds of children to read each year. Her performances draw school children from all over Texas. Their smiles as she relates a Potter story are rewards she cherishes. Marsy Clarke is a crusader for the physically and mentally challenged citizens in Texas. For more than a decade, Marsy has helped implement programs that find jobs and housing for those in need. Her desire to become a crusader was kindled by her son, Andrew, who was born with disabilities. Travel with them through their lives. Feel their despair and triumphs as God leads them to reach higher planes.

Rudder From Leader to Legend Thomas A. Hatfield In this first comprehensive biography of James Earl Rudder, Hatfield covers Rudder's storied military exploits -- from years spent stateside training the all-volunteer 2nd Ranger Battalion to the unit's trek over the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc during the D-Day invasion. 540 pp. 68 b&w photos. 8 maps. Bib. Index. $30.00 cloth

Family isn’t always what you think it is. Twins learn what they are to each other, siblings learn what they are not and a mother is replaced by another. Connecting them all are the flames that wove through Burasal so long ago. Now, new flames are burning across the kingdom revealing secrets and magic long thought lost.

Dorothy Swayne, Lupe Sylvia-Sotomayor, and veteran legal secretary Gertie Chase have been working for an exceedingly difficult Texas attorney for eighteen years, five months, and twelve days when they suddenly find themselves jobless after she dies at her desk. The deceased lawyer’s greedy son has designs on the office and demands that the women spend their last two weeks on the firm’s payroll referring out all his mother’s cases to other attorneys. As the three co-workers comply, they happen upon an unknown case file that involves Gertie’s childhood friend whose pipe fitter husband died of a rare asbestos-related cancer. When the women learn that their deceased boss never took action on the matter, Gertie decides to handle the case while impersonating her former boss. After she enlists her two cohorts to help, they embark on a journey filled with complications and consequences and where only time will tell if they will solve the case or if one or all of them will end up behind bars. Home Cookin’ shares the entertaining tale of a seasoned legal secretary as she and her two co-workers take on a complicated case after their boss falls from grace and dies at her desk.

Eight years have passed since their passionate young love went wrong. Now Nelda returns to her Iowa farmland home, only to rediscover her teenage love who was, for a few brief months, her husband. But is their love reawakening?

Voodoo Queen is a story that takes place in Lake Charles, LA. Dating 1940. In this book you will travel the roads leading deep into the swamplands where Voodoo takes place unbeknownst to many others. A young woman, Nelda, celebrates her eighteenth birthday. Little does she know that on this particular day her life will turn upside down. She is the only daughter to James and Sally Hebert. Or so they thought. When this young woman experiences things that not many do she finds that life isn't as grand as one would think for an only child of a wealthy Banker. James and Sally find that their daughter bears a mark. Making her tied to Voodoo that is thought to no longer be practiced. A woman begins to follow Nelda and her parents claiming that Nelda is her daughter. Which places fear into the Hebert family. The events that follow lead them all deep into the swamps of Louisiana into a gathering of Voodoo magic. There is human sacrifice and more that comes.

Living in the foothills of North Carolina, Laura Carter has it all: a nice home, wonderful adoptive parents, two lovely teenage daughters, and a to-die-for handsome husband. As they celebrate freedom on the Fourth of July, she's certain that nothing could ever shatter her perfect American life: Or could it? An unexpected letter from her great-grandmother brings Laura face-to-face with her birth family. At their first, shocking meeting, she receives a stack of diaries that trace a heartbreaking voyage from Africa to Jekyll Island, Georgia, via a slave ship. Thanks to the missionary who lived with her ancestors in Africa and taught them how to speak and write English, Laura holds in her hands a gripping record of their lives. Could the realities of her mixed-race heritage destroy her family? Laura tries to live honorably, but her husband resists, and daughter Lakin has her own secrets. Lurking in the shadows is a small group called the brethren. The brethren's dirty deeds are meant to p