Showing results by narrator "Lee Ann Howlett" in All Categories

Dying to Get Married is a modern day morality tale of the perversion of an American dream. Julie Miller was a successful executive, who, through a newspaper ad, met who she thought was "Mr. Right". Little did she know that he had a violent past and a predisposition for bizarre sexual rituals.

Pull up a chair, snuggle under your favorite blanket, gather the kids, and enjoy the charming stories you know and love. This multicast production brings to life all your favorites!

An American institution, Sun Records has a history with many chapters: its Memphis origins with visionary Sam Phillips, the breakthrough recordings of Elvis Presley, and the studio's immense influence on the sound of popular music. But behind the company's chart toppers and legendary musicians there exists another story, told by Barbara Barnes Sims. In the male-dominated workforce of the 1950s, 24-year-old Sims found herself thriving in the demanding roles of publicist and sales promotion coordinator at Sun Records.

Youth mentoring is one of the most popular forms of volunteering in the world today, but does it work? Drawing on over 30 years of research and her own experience in the field, Jean Rhodes reveals that most mentoring programs fail to deliver what young people actually need. Many prioritize building emotional bonds between mentors and mentees. But research shows that effective programs go far beyond this, developing specific social, emotional, and intellectual skills.

Consulting detective Sherlock Holmes is first introduced to the reading and listening public in A Study in Scarlet, along with his soon-to-be fellow sleuth Dr. John Watson. First published in 1887, the novel is one of only four full-length works by the author in his original canon of Holmes cases. The murders in question are committed in London, but the actions leading up to them were perpetrated in America, calling for a transcontinental narration of this most interesting story.

First published in 1881, the subtitle of this book tells us that it was written “for children and those who love children”. Heidi, a 5-year-old orphan, is handed off by her young Aunt Dete to live with her grandfather in the Swiss Alps. Though her new life is foreign, Heidi soon falls in love with her grandfather, and he with her. They share a contented life of goat-herding. But when Grandfather refuses to allow Heidi to attend school in the small village below, quarrels ensue.

In this lively and enlightening study, Kathleen B. Casey explores the ways in which the gender- and race-bending spectacles of vaudeville dramatized the economic, technological, social, and cultural upheaval that gripped the United States in the early 20th century. She focuses on four key performers: Eva Tanguay, Julian Eltinge, Lillyn Brown, and Sophie Tucker.

Special Agent Floy Turner returns for her final crime-fighting battles. With the first page bringing us back to historical 9/11, Floy finds herself in a precarious situation as she and her team face the potential threats of entering and searching the apartments of the 9/11 terrorists mere hours after the attacks. From escorting renown serial killer Aileen Wournos to her execution to interrupting the insidious ploys of kidnappers, cybercrime predators, and human traffickers, Turner uses her seasoned investigator’s skills to ensure justice is served.

Originally published in 1991 as a Book of the Month Club Featured dividend and awarded the Best Nonfiction Book by the American Society of Journalists and Authors, this authoritatively researched portrait of Queen Isabella brings to life one of the most controversial figures in European history--a woman who was passionate lover to Ferdinand of Aragon, conquered the Moors (Muslims) of Spain, funded Columbus on his famous journey, brought the Renaissance to Spain, and was hated for introducing the Spanish Inquisition.

Stephen Leacock (1869-1944) may be considered the Canadian counterpart to Mark Twain. For many years he was professor of economics at Magill University and published a number of well-regarded texts on economics and political science. However, he is best known today for his many volumes of humorous fiction. During the 1920s he was one of the most widely read authors in the English-speaking world and was considered by Jack Benny and Groucho Marx to be one of the greatest comic writers of all time.

In this vivid memoir, Neidhardt explores her childhood in wider familial and social contexts. Drawing upon a trove of family letters and other archival material, she follows her parents’ journey from privilege to food stamps—from their formative youths, to their embrace of pioneer homemaking and rural poverty, to their sudden and wrenching return to conventional society—and explores the back-to-the-land movement of the 1970s as it was, and as she lived it.

In a public debate held at the Manhattan Opera House, Clarence Darrow argued that not one of the 19 men under sentence of death at Sing Sing Prison would have been convicted if they could have afforded good attorneys. He was opposed by Judge Alfred J. Talley of General Sessions, who argued for the retention of the death penalty for murder. The debate commenced with an address by Lewis Lawes, who was the warden at Sing Sing.

In Losing Eden award-winning historian Sara Dant debunks the myth of the American West as “Eden” and instead embraces a more realistic and complex understanding of a region that has been inhabited and altered by people for tens of thousands of years. In this lively narrative Dant discusses the key events and topics in the environmental history of the American West, from the Beringia migration, Columbian Exchange, and federal territorial acquisition to post–World War II expansion, resource exploitation, and current climate change issues.

In one of her escapades as a reporter for Joseph Pulitzer's New York World, the renowned Nellie Bly feigned insanity in 1889 and slipped, undercover, behind the grim walls of Blackwell's Island mental asylum. She emerged ten days later with a vivid tale about life in a madhouse. Her asylum articles merged sympathy and sensationalism, highlighting a developing professional identity—that of the American newspaperwoman.

Macey Spade has always loved mysteries. As a girl, she read every crime novel in the school library, and memorized the plots of her favorite British detective shows. A brainy, awkward girl with few friends and a knack for getting into trouble, she dreamed of becoming a sleuth like the heroes of her beloved Agatha Christie novels.

At the ripe age of 73, Imogene Deal McGregor has a penchant for following her own instincts, as well as more grit and spunk than her hypochondriac son, Billy McGregor, and Billy's impulsive partner Jackson can handle. The boys take Imogene to New Orleans with their devilishly handsome English bulldog Goose, hoping to visit friends and attend a second line parade, but moments after arriving in the French Quarter, they find their friend Glenway Gilbert murdered in his art gallery.

On a fall evening in Corvallis, Oregon, in 1967, 17-year-old Dick Kitchel, a senior at the high school, disappeared after attending a party. Ten days later, his body was spotted by two children as it floated down the Willamette River. He had been beaten and strangled. Now, nearly 50 years later, a classmate, New York Times best-selling author Rebecca Morris, returns to her hometown to write about how the murder changed the town and the lives of Dick Kitchel's friends.

In this story, by American writer Dorothy Parker, a woman gives a laundry list of men she's not married to. She also convincingly states the reasons why she is not and would not want to be married to the various men. Parker's wit and humor shine through as the eccentricities and foibles of the men are described.

In Black Walden: Slavery and Its Aftermath in Concord, Massachusetts, Elise Lemire brings to life the former slaves of Walden Woods, and the men and women who held them in bondage during the 18th century. After charting the rise of Concord slaveholder John Cuming, Black Walden follows the struggles of Cuming's slave, Brister, as he attempts to build a life for himself after 35 years of enslavement.

A man is found dead in the study of his New York City house and Detective Gryce is called upon to deduce the how and why of his murder - if it is indeed a murder. With the assistance of Miss Amelia Butterworth, Gryce must investigate the meaning of the meager clues, including the cries of a talking bird, in order to uncover what happened to the victim. Solving this crime will involve several generations of two families. Author Anna Katharine Green was often referred to as "the mother of the detective novel" and was an early influence on Agatha Christie.