Mail-order bride Millie Donovan was looking forward to meeting Sam Larson, a Kansas homesteader, who she is sure, from reading his heartfelt letters, will provide her with the love and safety she wants and needs. Millie arrives on the train, not realizing that her husband-to-be was killed in an accident, until Clear Creek's town marshal informs her of the situation.Town Marshal Adam Wilerson never plans to marry due to his dangerous job. After reading letters found at his friend's home following his untimely death which were sent from his friend's mail-order bride, he can't help thinking of the woman, and believes he may be in love with her himself. But instead of sending Millie on the train back to her former home, he finds himself welcoming her—and her two-year-old charge—into his house, and into his heart.When danger threatens, Millie faces it head–on to protect the people she loves, including the town marshal.Can Adam keep the peace in town—and his house—or will the man...

The Underhill family has loomed over Pennsylvania politics for four generations as the most powerful in the state. Now, with their youngest son locked in a tight gubernatorial race, a simple accident threatens to derail the entire campaign. After Floss Underhill, the family matriarch, has been discovered alive after falling from a gazebo into a ravine, Brenna Kennedy gets brought in as a defense attorney to the family. The police don’t seem to believe that her fall was an accident, however, and soon neither does Brenna. Jim Christensen, a psychologist, memory expert, and Brenna’s partner as they raise their children together, has been studying Floss Underhill for months in a group of Alzheimer’s patients. Her mind ravaged by the disease, her body broken by the fall, Floss Underhill nevertheless knows something, and is trying to tell Christensen a family secret so explosive it could bring down an empire. To help bring it out of her, though, will make them powerful enemies, and bring both the truth—and the danger—very close to home… “Martin J. Smith writes a damned good whodunit. Shadow Image hooks you … right through to the last page.” —Michael Connelly, New York Times bestselling author of The Black Box “Powerful figures tread a dangerous path through dementia, pity, and murder in Martin J. Smith’s compelling new novel. …No reader will walk away untouched.” —Taylor Smith, author of Random ActsAmazon.com ReviewPsychologist Jim Christensen takes on a touchy, timely subject--the ravages of Alzheimer's and how little is really known about it--in Martin J. Smith's second original paperback featuring Christensen (after the equally tense and strongly written Time Release). It appears that Floss Underhill has attempted suicide by jumping off a bridge on her family's estate outside Pittsburgh, and both Christensen and his live-in lover Brenna Kennedy become involved in the case. Brenna's the lawyer hired by the politically powerful Underhill family to keep a lid on the story. Jim knows Floss from his work at the Alzheimer's research center where she is a longtime patient. As Brenna and Jim arrive at the same conclusion from different angles--that Floss was the victim of attempted murder--their lives and those of their two children from previous marriages are threatened by old and new secrets that bubble up from unexpected sources, including the strangely lucid paintings of a disturbed woman. --Dick AdlerFrom Publishers WeeklySmith brings back psychologist Jim Christensen (Time Release) in an obvious whodunit set against a truly engaging background of art therapy used to aid Alzheimer's patients. Christensen and his lover Brenna Kennedy, the knockout defense attorney, are caught in the maelstrom when the matriarch of the powerful Underhill family, Floss Underhill, goes over a railing on the family estate. Floss is in the late stages of Alzheimer's, so it is through her paintings that the duo hope to unravel the secrets behind Floss's "accident." The scenes at the Harmony Brain Research Center are fascinating, but unfortunately, Smith's plotting plods, with Jim and Brenna often two steps behind any reader who's ever seen or read a mystery. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The war was over, and Jeremy Swanfield's family were eager to include his young widow in their prosperous, comfortable life. But between the demure bride, who had waved her husband of three days to the front, and the woman with three years of nursing behind her, lay an impassable gulf of experience. Clare Swanfield was fiercely determined to maintain her independence in the post-war world. Taking a job in the smart new hotel run by Kit Hardie – once the Swanfield's boot-boy, now part of the new elite – was the first of many acts that would bring her into conflict with her husband's family – especially the coolly conventional Benedict.

From Library JournalForced by a forgotten promise to his autocratic grandmother to marry by his 25th birthday, the earl of Saxonhurst consults his servants, flips a coin, and ends up married to gently bred but impoverished Meg Gillingham. He doesn't realize that in her desperation Meg has invoked the powers of an ancient Irish statue to help her out of her difficulties?with sexy, magical, and ultimately dangerous results. A charming, outspoken heroine, a magnetic, unconventional hero, and a diverse cast of well-drawn secondary characters come together in a fast-paced, intriguing plot with a holiday setting that features a touch of evil, a dash of bawdy humor, and enough of Beverley's trademark page-singeing sensuality to satisfy the most demanding reader. Beverley (Lord of Midnight, Topaz, 1998) is a member of the Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame and lives in Canada.Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. From BooklistBeverley's nonpareil Regency-era romance of the season features a vulgar prehistoric stone statue, the sheelagh-ma-gig, which has been used by generations of women to invoke a dangerous magic. Meg Gillingham, responsible for four orphaned younger siblings, is down to her last handful of oatmeal when their lecherous landlord, Sir Arthur, threatens to either make her younger sister his mistress or throw the family out on the streets. Meg decides that she must use the sheelagh-ma-gig, even though it will exact a high price. Could it be the magic of the statue that induces the eccentric earl of Saxonhurst to decide to take his one-eyed maid's suggestion and marry respectable but impoverished Meg? Terrified that her new husband will discover that she used magic, Meg leaves the statue behind, intending to retrieve it later, but it is stolen by the dastardly landlord. Meg bravely sets out to retrieve the family treasure but finds herself fleeing for her life when she is fingered as Sir Arthur's murderer. Delightfully odd characters and a thrilling plot, along with a generous touch of magic, make this an enchanting read. Diana Tixier Herald

Pulled down from the clouds at the end of a kite string, Mary Poppins is back. In Mary's care, the Banks children meet the King of the Castle and the Dirty Rascal, visit the upside-down world of Mr. Turvy and his bride, Miss Topsy, and spend a breathless afternoon above the park, dangling from a clutch of balloons. Surprises are sure to pop up when Mary Poppins is around!

Edmund and Herbert, newly made knights, return to England expecting to revel in the pleasure of being home. Instead, scheming Prince John has a new task for the weary Crusaders; they are to escort two young women on a pilgrimage to Rome, a journey that will take them through the perilous Alps, controlled by bands of brigands. And once in Rome, even greater hazards await. Suspenseful, exciting, and filled with colorful details of 12th century Europe, this final volume of the trilogy that began with The Book of the Lion will thrill readers.

O'Malley Ramsey, math aficionado, grew up next door to Garrison Rook, All-American athlete. While O'Malley dreamed of numbers and kissing Garrison, Garrison's tastes ran to home runs and hot chicks. During a family celebration the night before both young men were heading off for college, O'Malley joyously discovers that Garrison isn't quite as straight as the star athlete had been pretending to be. Vows to return to each other quickly followed a few clumsy kisses in the old treehouse in the Rook's backyard.O'Malley came home to Garrison. Garrison never returned to O'Malley.Four years later, the two ex-friends meet up at a summer camp where O'Malley is serving as a counselor. Garrison is desperate to make things right with his childhood friend, but can O'Malley, still nursing the pain and mistrust of Garrison's betrayal, ever forgive or love Garrison again?

Claire has a secret. Logan has a past. When the daughter of a powerful man and a cowboy collide in a small country town, fires spark and danger ignites. With no where to run, she's pushed into his arms and soon his bed. But their is still the problem of her stalker, her secret, and a man that can't be tamed...

Tonight's tale . . . Devin's rock band Torn is about to hit the big time. The haunting song he's just written is getting buzz. Between his gorgeous girlfriend, Cheryl, and all the perks of high-school stardom, Devin's feeling pretty good. Then his band mate is murdered. Viciously. Is it a gang slaying? Or has Devin's lingering melody called up . . . something . . . from the darkness?

Lucky, a romantic short story, is a perfect pleasurable escape for the afternoon. It reminds readers that second chances are sometimes better than first time experiences.

An intimate and uplifting book about finding renewal and hope through grief and loss."It was a terrible life; it was an enchanted life; it was a blessed life. And, of course, one day it ended." —Sharon Butala In the tradition of Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking, Diana Athill's Somewhere Towards the End, and Atul Gawande's Being Mortal comes a revelatory new book from one of our beloved writers. When Sharon Butala's husband, Peter, died unexpectedly, she found herself with no place to call home. Torn by grief and loss, she fled the ranchlands of southwest Saskatchewan and moved to the city, leaving almost everything behind. A lifetime of possessions was reduced to a few boxes of books, clothes, and keepsakes. But a lifetime of experience went with her, and a limitless well of memory—of personal failures, of a marriage that everybody said would not last but did, of the unbreakable bonds of family. ...