Showing results by narrator "Jennifer Jill Araya" in All Categories

When Tina Evans gets a call from her brother in the middle of the night, she doesn’t think much of it; she’s been fielding distress calls from Bill for the last twenty years, ever since the day their father killed their mother. At first, this call seems just like all the others: Bill’s holed up in a Brooklyn drug den and needs her to come rescue him. But when Tina gets there, her brother’s nowhere to be found. Instead, she discovers the body of a private detective hidden in the junk heap out back. He’s been shot to death, and his gun is missing from its holster.

It may be six below zero, but an ice-skating jaunt gets even more chilling for private investigator in training Mira James. She’s just locked eyes with a frozen corpse floating under a sheet of ice. The man, a curious transient who’s been researching local history, also rescued Mira and her best friend from a mugging the night before. His death is no accident, but it is a mystery. To solve it, Mira follows a trail leading to the alleged haunting of a historic museum and a centuries-old tragedy that has yet to claim its final victim.

After more than a decade away, Mira James isn’t keen on returning to her Minnesota hometown for the holidays. Her childhood memories aren’t particularly jolly. Even less festive is the news of a serial killer on the loose. With only ten shopping days till Christmas, the Candy Cane Killer has been very busy slashing through the snow. Eager to earn her official PI stripes, Mira is anxious to track him down. But when the latest victim is a woman from her high school graduating class, the investigation hits a little too close to home.

When a twelve-year-old girl named Cleo and her cat, Muffin, become the newest members of PURR (Peace Urgently Requires Reasonableness), a secret society of cats fighting for peace, they aren’t exactly sure what they’re getting themselves into. Then, PURR discovers that KLAW (Cats Loving Awful Warfare), an evil secret society of cats, is planning to send dogs to space for ransom. PURR tasks Cleo to infiltrate KLAW as a secret spy so together they can stop them.

Mackenzie Murphy: independent woman and excellent student—but not a med student. Because those pesky MCATs were H-A-R-D. She doesn’t particularly mind that much, seeing as she’s never really wanted to be a doctor, but her mother will be...uh, displeased. Exceptionally. That’s nothing, however, compared to how Mother will respond if she finds out what else happened in Vegas.

If we call someone extravagant, we’re usually thinking about his spending habits and luxurious way of life. So to use that word for a homeless man who had only one change of clothes—an itinerant teacher who depended on others for food and shelter—seems a stretch. Yet Jesus was the most extravagant person who ever lived. Carole Engle Avriett invites you to redefine your notion of “extravagant.” In this study of ancient customs and ways of life, you’ll gain an understanding of the cultural context of the Scriptures and of twelve key characteristics of God's nature.

A Christmas Anthology of several of the best Christmas Novellas you have never heard from authors who were prolific in their time. Including the author of the Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farms series, the Little Bear children's series, Charles Dickens & Howard Hughes' award winning novelist/playwright brother.

Harper is living a life she never expected. After a failed attempt at making it as an artist in New York while falling for and losing her first love, her dreams crumbled in the span of a week. A decade later, Harper is happily living a simpler life as an art teacher in Chattanooga with her beloved new husband, Ben. When Ben is diagnosed with late-stage cancer, their whole world shifts. Despite the bad news, Ben comes up with one final wish for his wife: he wants Harper to find a new partner before he dies.

Cole's mother married the Hereditary Prince of Liechtenstein when he was only three years old. When his stepfather’s failing health requires Cole to step in and help out, he does it without complaint, knowing he can never ascend the throne. When his stepfather offers to adopt him, Cole knows it's unlikely the other members of the Princely Family will ever accept an adopted heir. Even so, part of him wants to try.

“Just do this one thing for me.” Drew's mother says it more often than good morning. Heidi Hill has been juggling shady side hustles for all of Drew’s seventeen years, and Drew knows that “one thing” really means all the tedious and necessary things her mother thinks are boring, including taking care of her fifteen-year-old sister and eight-year-old brother. In fact, Drew is the closest thing to a responsible adult they’ve ever known.

Ava Lafleur wants nothing more than a family and home of her own. When she is dumped by her boyfriend at Christmas, she arrives home to the small town of Kissing Bridge, Vermont, to find her inheritance is dependent on her winning a Christmas treasure hunt. Even worse news for Ava is there are also two other contenders trying to win her family home. She’s ready to give up when she realizes she has more fight in her than she thought.

Holly Foster knows that nothing lasts—not hometowns or schools, or even family. It’s just safer to keep herself uninvolved. So when she’s sent to spend part of the summer with her uncle, she knows better than to get attached to him…or any part of his small Vermont town of Arden.

The summer of 1988 is possibly one of love, and that’s the problem. Aspiring journalist Bobbi Sue Baxter has feelings for a man who’s engaged. But then again, he seems to return the vibe. Adding more mud to the already unclear waters, his fiancée might be involved in a murder that happened in the building where Bobbi Sue was taking an aerobics class. So should Bobbi Sue get involved? That’s a definite yes.