Showing results by narrator "Ron Butler" in All Categories

No one can talk to the dead...can they? Free man of color Benjamin January gets caught up in a strange, spiritual world that might lead to his own demise, as he hunts for a missing teenager in this gripping, atmospheric historical mystery. New Orleans, 1840. Freshly home from a dangerous journey, the last thing Benjamin January wants to do is leave his wife and young sons again. But when old friends Henri and Chloë Viellard ask for his help tracking down a missing girl in distant New York, he can’t say no.

On an unnamed Caribbean Island, political tensions provoked by race and poverty are high. Jimmy Ahmed, a young mixed-race man, has been hailed as a revolutionary leader of the people. Roche, imprisoned for activities against South Africa's apartheid regime, and Jane, a feckless English rich girl wanting to feel a part of something bigger, get sucked into the turmoil and world of Ahmed. But does anyone achieve anything by causing unrest? Do any of them really want freedom in a new society or just the old society with themselves at the helm of power?

Claire is only seven years old when her college-age sister, Alison, vanishes from the luxury resort on the Caribbean island of Saint X on the last night of her family’s vacation. Several days later Alison’s naked body is found in a remote spot on a nearby cay, and two local men, employees at the resort, are arrested. But the evidence is slim, the time line against it, and the men are soon released. It’s national tabloid news, a lurid mystery that will go unsolved, but for Claire’s family there is only the sad return home to broken lives.

Sebastian Steele was the kind of man women dreamed about. He was drop-dead gorgeous, wickedly charming, and fabulously wealthy. So why wouldn't Jocelyn Mason accept his offer to help run her struggling company? It was his reputation. Sebastian was a corporate shark, and Jocelyn knew the big fish didn't swim with the little fish, they swallowed them whole. It had been Sebastian's intention to take over Mason Builders, whether Jocelyn liked it or not. But when he started to work with her, sparks began to fly and they shared a sizzling, unforgettable night of passion.

As Magnus has said, "Ormr is after the crown, I need to get there first," but who is twisting time and causing the mess? Kaitlyn and Magnus and their family are in 13th century Scotland, they're trying to stick together, attempting to keep their memories intact while their timeline crumbles around them.

It was the night before his wedding, 15 years ago, when the nightmare began for Jay Crawford - locked up for a crime he never committed. Now he's escaped prison and wants nothing more than to clear his name and protect his family. To get justice,he'll need the help of the three best friends who have always had his back - Wil, Kyle, and Allan. But a man on the run requires absolute trust...and Jay may just be setting himself up for the ultimate betrayal.

Westmoreland family friend Jaxon Ravnel is in Wyoming to consummate his fiery attraction to Nadia Novak. But unbeknownst to him, Nadia has her own plan for seduction. Their pleasure-filled night is full of surprises. Nadia leaves believing Jaxon isn’t ready for love…and he leaves wanting to make her his wife! Now Jaxon is playing by his own rules…

It all started in college, in the turbulent sixties, when Randolph and Jenna became lovers. Randolph knew the moment he saw Jenna Haywood that he had to make her his. But the path to love is not an easy one. His wealthy Grandmother Julia disapproves of the match and unbeknowst to him, his brother’s seemingly docile fiancee has a few plans of her own that she would like to set in motion. Betrayal and devastation lurks in unexpected places and tests the bond they believed was unbreakable.

After the fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald by a white police officer, Chicagoans demanded change. Can a new state’s attorney, the first black woman to hold the position, bring real reform to a broken system? With a brick on her desk from the Cabrini-Green housing project where she spent her childhood, Kim Foxx must adapt her hard-won ideals to the realities of criminal justice in Chicago. In this intimate narrative by award-winning author Steve Bogira, Foxx reveals: “My mother taught me how to be a hustler. Hustle in the sense of work hard, grind - find a way out of no way.”

Nathan Bird doesn’t believe in happy endings. Although he’s the ultimate film buff and an aspiring screenwriter, Nate’s seen the demise of too many relationships to believe happy endings exist in real life. Playing it safe to avoid a broken heart has been his MO ever since his father died and left his mom to unravel - but this strategy is not without fault. His best-friend-turned-girlfriend-turned-best-friend-again, Florence, is set on making sure Nate finds someone else. And in a twist that is rom-com-worthy, someone does come along: Oliver James Hernández.

The arrangement is simple: a two-week getaway, then a marriage of convenience. Until Garth Outlaw’s potential bride is a no-show. Now family pilot Regan Fairchild is sharing his bed - and he can’t get enough…even though he’s vowed never to love again. Can Regan convince him the wife he needs and the woman he desires are one and the same?

When a middle-class kid from the suburbs was caught using Facebook to distribute firearms bought legally at Indiana gun shows to notorious gangsters across the border - was he a kingpin or a scapegoat? David Lewisbey received perhaps the harshest sentence ever in a gun-trafficking trial. A college student from the suburban outskirts of Chicago, he allegedly embodied the enterprising swagger of his favorite rap lyrics, moving weapons for stacks of cash. John H. Richardson tours Chicago’s gun-soaked South Side with Lewisbey’s clientele and meets with the “Big Man” himself to unpack the truth.

Miami, Florida, is likely to be entirely underwater by the end of this century. Residents are already starting to see the effects of sea level rise today. From sunny day flooding caused by higher tides to a sewer system on the brink of total collapse, the city undeniably lives in a climate changed world. In Disposable City, Miami resident Mario Alejandro Ariza shows us not only what climate change looks like on the ground today, but also what Miami will look like 100 years from now, and how that future has been shaped by the city's racist past and present.

Emmett's put the events at the mutagen warehouse behind him. He's finished his degree, moved in with a new roommate, got new cybernetics, and things with Clara have never been better. He's even got allies and the makings of his own superhero team. It's a good thing too, because Belport won't stay peaceful for long. There's a new supervillain gang in the city and they've claimed responsibility for a gruesome string of murders. The Freakshow—they're powerful, coordinated, and ruthless. And they'll test Belport's newest group of heroes like never before.

Two years ago, Zara Miller found herself heartbroken and stranded in a New Orleans hotel bar with a sexy stranger named “Saint.” One thing led to another and to a night of unforgettable pleasure. Though contact info wasn’t exchanged—no strings attached—Zara hasn’t been able to stop thinking about him or that one scorching night ever since. Now she’s returned to her hometown of Catalina Cove only to discover that her brother’s new hire is Evans “Saint” Toussaint, the one-night man she can’t forget.

Attorney Royce Parker has had the hots for Michelle Kincaid for a couple of years and decides it's time to do something about it. He books a cruise through her travel agency and talks her into joining him as nothing more than a friend. Once together on the high seas, they discover their biggest challenge is fighting the powerful attraction trying to overtake their senses.

Twelve-year-old Kingston James is sure his brother Khalid has turned into a dragonfly. When Khalid unexpectedly passed away, he shed what was his first skin for another to live down by the bayou in their small Louisiana town. Khalid still visits in dreams, and King must keep these secrets to himself as he watches grief transform his family. It would be easier if King could talk with his best friend, Sandy Sanders. But just days before he died, Khalid told King to end their friendship, after overhearing a secret about Sandy - that he thinks he might be gay.

Ninetysomething Mama Laverne is determined to find all of her great-grandchildren their perfect match before going home to glory. So far, her success rate is 100 percent—and she intends to keep it that way. After sustaining injuries in Iraq, US army ranger Chancellor (Chance) Madaris was told he’d never walk again. Chance credits his great-grandmother Mama Laverne with giving him the will and fortitude to heal and prove the doctors wrong. He has a healthy respect for her meddling ways and knows he’ll eventually end up next on her matchmaking list.

Part guide to Christian living, part spiritual autobiography, The Way of Jesus is Jay Parini's exploration of what Jesus really meant, his effort to put love first in our daily lives. A lifelong Christian who has at times wavered and questioned his beliefs, Parini recounts his own efforts to follow Jesus' example, examines the contours of Christian thinking, and describes the solace and structure one can find in the rhythms of the church calendar.

Jean-Michael Basquiat and his unique collage-style paintings rocketed to fame in the 1980s as a cultural phenomenon unlike anything the art world had ever seen. But before that he was a little boy who saw art everywhere: in poetry books and museums, in games and in the words that we speak, and in the pulsing energy of New York City. Now, Javaka Steptoe's vivid text introduces young listeners to the powerful message that art doesn't always have to be neat or clean - and definitely not inside the lines - to be beautiful.