Showing results by author "Denise Swank" in All Categories

Book eight in the New York Times and USA Today best-selling Rose Gardner Mystery series. Rose Gardner has survived plenty of close scrapes in the past, but her latest bit of trouble has landed her in the Fenton County holding cell on trumped-up charges. The most powerful man in Southern Arkansas, J. R. Simmons, is determined to put her behind bars for good and destroy everything she holds dear, including her boyfriend, Mason, and her friend, Skeeter, reigning king of the Fenton County crime world.

There's no denying trouble finds Rose Gardner like a divining rod finds water, especially when Rose finds herself in the middle of a bank robbery. But after the robbers steal her deposit bag - containing a large amount of cash - she soon finds out that thanks to her sister Violet's financial mismanagement, trouble is threatening her business as well. To top it off, Rose's ex-boyfriend Joe Simmons has moved back to Henryetta to fill the chief deputy sheriff position.

Romance isn't an option for Holly Greenwood. With her wedding planner career on the line, she needs to stay focused, and that means pleasing her demanding boss, not getting distracted by her mind-alteringly hot neighbor.... Ex-marine Kevin Vandemeer craves normalcy. Instead he has a broken-down old house in need of a match and some gasoline, a meddling family, and the uncanny ability to attract the world's craziest women. At least that last one he can fix.

I’m usually the first person on my block to decorate for Christmas. This year? Humbug. My six-year-old son, Aidan, just had a meltdown after learning some hard truths from a drunk Santa impersonator, and I can no longer deny we both need help. Change is hard for Aidan, and right now he’s dealing with several big ones, including A) his father abandoning us, B) our move to Asheville, and C) the Santa snafu.

Rose Gardner is trying to build a new normal. One that leaves the Fenton County crime world - including James "Skeeter" Malcolm, the current king - behind. Her best friend and roommate is a big part of that effort, but Neely Kate is busy building her own life anew. She disappeared for a few days, scaring the spit out of Rose - which is why Rose finds it impossible to deny her when she suggests they look for a missing parrot. Only this time Neely Kate isn't interested in the reward money - she's set them up to work with a cranky private investigator.

Anna Sullivan has spent the last 30 years traveling solo around the world as a nature photographer, and she's loved every minute of it. But suddenly, the nights seem long and lonely, and she looks forward to her trips away from Bluebird, Maine, and her sisters, Cee-cee and Steph, less and less. When a cruel twist of fate brings her back home, Anna reevaluates everything in her life. Can she find happiness in the town she's spent a lifetime running away from?

Maddie Baker just wants to make ends meet. She gave up her school librarian career to return to her hometown and take care of her elderly aunt. So when she starts making Uber runs to supplement her barista job, she never dreamt she’d not only drop a man off to his murder but be labeled a person of interest in his death. Detective Noah Langley is looking for a fresh start in a city with a lower crime rate and a fraction of the population of Memphis. It’s just what he needs to recover from a nightmare that left him severely injured and his teenage mentee dead.

Lee Buchanan is a hot mess. Turning one’s father in to the feds can do that to a man. He had nothing to do with his father’s Ponzi scheme, but he’s blacklisted from commercial real estate all the same. Which is how he ends up in Asheville, working at the brewery he inherited with his siblings. He’s salty as hell, and he doesn’t care who knows it.

Everything Emma Thompson owns fits in a suitcase. She moves from one roach infested motel to another. She and Jake, her five-year-old son, who can see the future, are running from the men intent on taking him. Emma will do anything to protect him, even when it means accepting the help of a stranger named Will. Jake insists she needs Will, but Emma's never needed help before. And even though she's learned to trust her son, it doesn't mean she trusts Will.

Maddie Baker hasn’t seen Detective Noah Langley since he ghosted her a month ago, but now she needs his help to find a missing woman. When Maddie Baker offers a self-defense course, a terrified young woman asks her for private lessons to escape a chokehold. Maddie readily agrees to meet Amy the next morning, but when she doesn’t show up, Maddie becomes concerned.

For as long as Magnolia Steele can remember, the past has had its hooks in her. Her time as a Broadway actress in New York City was an escape that ended in public humiliation, but now that she's back home in Franklin, Tennessee, she's feeling the grip of the two incidents that stole her innocence. The first was the disappearance of her father when she was a teen, who left home for a meeting and never came back. The other incident...well, her memories have returned, but it's best left where it belongs - in the past.

Two decades of unanswered questions. One woman determined to find the truth. Maddie Baker has spent nearly twenty years haunted by her mother's murder—a case shrouded in mystery and buried in a grave of police negligence. When Noah Langley, the new detective on the force, claimed to have solved the crime, Maddie believed she could finally close this agonizing chapter in her life. But Noah got it wrong. A chance meeting with the original detective reignites Maddie’s quest for justice. Fueled with new determination, Maddie vows to uncover the truth herself, no matter the cost. Noah vows to help.

One night. Just one night. Or at least that’s what Maisie tells herself when she brings Jack Durand home. Because even though his arms are a thing of beauty and he can charm wild animals, she’s in no position to start anything with anyone. So she pretends she’s just scratching an itch. Jack is pretending, too. His little sister is moving to Asheville as his ward, and between getting her through her senior year of high school and working at the family brewery, he doesn’t have time for a girlfriend. Even a sexy, no-nonsense powerhouse like Maisie.

I used to believe in what we do at Mayberry Matchmakers, but now? Love is just another four-letter word. Too bad my grandmother hasn’t gotten the memo. When tech billionaire Rory Byrne approaches us, wanting to develop the matchmaking app my sister and I dreamed up (and Nana shot down), she jumps at the chance. My grandmother is nothing if not opportunistic. Of course, there’s a catch. She’ll only do it if Rory lets us matchmake him the old-fashioned way. He’s going to say no. Please God, let him say no. The last thing I want to do is matchmake an entitled rich jerk.

Darcie Weatherby has a full plate - a preteen and sixteen-year-old twins, a wayward grandmother, a nightmare boss, and a manipulative ex-husband. The last thing she needs are hot flashes. Especially ones that start fires. Burning her boss’s house down was a total accident. Honest. It doesn’t take long before Darcie realizes she’s running on borrowed time. Unless she figures out a way to get these hot flashes under control, there’s a very good chance she’ll spontaneously combust at the Founder’s Day Masquerade Ball and leave her children motherless.

When Joe walks out of Rose's life, she can't imagine life without him. But with support from her friends - and an unexpected person - Rose finds her way to climb out of her despair. After his father's blackmail forces him to leave the love of his life to protect her, Joe is thrown into the race for Arkansas State Senate. But while Rose has people to help her grieve, Joe finds himself completely alone - except the one person he detests is the only person who's offering comfort.

Rose is called into action when Neely Kate's cousin goes missing and the police refuse to take it seriously. But while the authorities - Rose's ex-boyfriend, included - are certain the missing woman has run away, mounting evidence points to foul play. Rose agrees to help her friend, even if it means partaking in Neely Kate's shenanigans, including an impromptu trip to a strip club.

Crashing weddings is so not my thing. I’d much rather stay home and watch HGTV...and ignore the fact that my life is messier than those fixer-upper houses. Because my jerk ex left, and the only thing keeping a roof over my sons’ heads is my crappy telemarketing job. But then, I get a challenge from the Bad Luck Club, the group I joined to turn my luck around: Do something that breaks the rules.

Rowan might be the firstborn of the Whelan sisters, but her magic is far from first class. Outshone by her younger sisters’ rare and powerful gifts hasn’t been easy, but she has always taken her position as leader of their family seriously. Even more seriously when her sisters are endangered and they lose - yet again - the book of Sindal, a magical tome of evil spells and incantations their small coven of three has been tasked to protect.

While Rose might be reeling from the news that Joe's ex-girlfriend is pregnant, she's got bigger issues to deal with. One, putting her business back together - albeit with a new partner - and into two separate entities; and two, trying to keep the Fenton County Sheriff's Department from figuring out the true identity of the Lady in Black.