Showing results by narrator "Joan DuKore" in All Categories

On a hot, muggy afternoon in Eden, a tiny, rural town deep in southeast Louisiana, two boys make a grim discovery: They unearth the decades-old remains of a child, strands of hair and clothing still attached to the bones. Meanwhile on the other side of the country, in California, forty-one-year-old Evelyn Yates, a single mother is struggling to maintain psychological equilibrium despite problems with alcohol, a difficult teenage daughter, and her own traumatic past.

Emma Harvey is a brilliant and gifted young pianist, accepted into one of the most prestigious music conservatories in the country and prepared to do whatever it takes to accomplish her dreams of playing professionally. With a renowned jazz musician for a father and a world-famous mentor growing up, she is convinced her path is easy. Until her world is suddenly silenced when she loses her hearing.

Two action-packed, romantic comedy holiday crime capers from The Wall Street Journal bestselling Maizie Albright Star Detective series. Find out why fans love these light and fun mystery novellas with a touch of romance and a heavy dose of holiday cheer featuring the ex-celebrity turned detective (Almost. She’s still in training), Maizie Albright.

When ex-teen star Maizie Albright returns to her hometown in Black Pine, Georgia, she hoped to rid herself of Hollywood tabloid and reality show hell for a new career as a private investigator. Instead, Hollyweird follows her home. Maizie’s costar crushing, but now for her gumshoe boss. Her stage-monster mother still demands screen time. Her latest rival wants her kicked off their set, preferably back to a California prison.

A sadistic vamp lord. A rebellious fae. A vicious hunt. The first term of Nocturnal Academy is over. Majors have been assigned. I’ve made choices that brought me closer to the guillotine. But the fight isn’t over, not yet. I must get through the spring term. Not an easy feat when the vamp students are planning a sacrifice and have a bone to pick with me. But even if I survive the prison academy, someone will be buying my contract after school is out, and rumor has it that the king of sadists is interested in me. Whatever he wants, he gets.

In a world ruled by vamps, being half fae and magicless sucks. You know what’s even worse? Being sold into slavery by your own mother. I am Onyx Logan, and my mother condemned me when she sent me to Nocturnal Academy. If I get lucky, the academy will mold me into a servant for rich vampires. If I’m not, I’ll become a courtesan.

So far I have two possible fates: Die in my dorm or end up as a vampire’s slave. There is no escape out of Nocturnal Academy's prison school. Being here means I’ve lost my mother, my best friend, and my freedom - and it gets worse...Now Nocturnal Academy plans to make me into a courtesan for the vampires. Unless I get a win the chance to become the one out of 100 fae who gets to shape her own fate. Topping the Placement Tests are my only hope.

Murder doesn’t set much colder than on the icy shores of Lake Ontario, where Jesse James is hot on the trail of a real estate scam that really has the feisty reporter steamed. This sleazy operation is behind a string of costly accidents - but it's no accident when Jesse wakes up, bandaged head to toe, in a hospital where everyone insists she’s Daphne Malcross, a young socialite with more connections and cash than common sense.

The curtain rises on Cherry Tucker’s debut as a high school set designer at the posh Peerless Day Academy. Cherry’s been hired for an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, but the drama director is hoping Cherry can also turn the spotlight on a malicious social media bully who’s sending poisonous texts to the faculty. The director’s got his own drama to hide, and the phantom texter seems eager to spill school secrets. When the principal’s secretary commits suicide, Cherry suspects foul play.

With a classical series sold and a portrait commissioned, Cherry Tucker's art career is in Georgia overdrive. But when the sheriff asks Cherry to draw a composite sketch of a hijacker, her life takes a hairpin as the composite leads to a related murder, her local card-sharking buddy Max Avtaikin becomes bear bait and her nemesis labels the classical series "pervert art". While she seeks to help the misfortunate and save her local reputation, Cherry's hammer-down attitude has her facing the headlights of an oncoming killer.

While ex-celebrity Maizie Albright’s dreams of becoming a for-real private investigator have not exactly been dashed, they have been slightly thwarted. Her ex-manager and still-mother, Vicki Albright, has taken the helm of Nash Security Services while rebuilding her entertainment management company. Sometimes with the same clients. Like Chinese action star, Lili Liang, who’s making the film Unlucky 18 in Georgia.

When Cherry Tucker's invited to paint the "kill portrait" for the winner of Big Rack Lodge's Hogzilla hunt, it seems like a paid vacation. Back home in Halo, a Hatfield-McCoy-style standoff builds between Luke and Cherry's families. She's ready for a weekend away, hobnobbing with rich and famous hunters, where she can forget her troubles and nobody knows her name.

Maizie Albright might have once played a (teenage) private investigator on TV, but she’s now living the (adult) part. Her (mother’s) name is on her business cards. Her (boss’s) appointment book is brimming with new clients. And her bank account has grown large enough to finally trade in her dirt bike for an actual new (pre-owned) vehicle. While the police begin their inquiries, Maizie starts her own case. She’s needling Black Pine’s wealthy do-gooders, threading through lies, stitching together clues, and ripping out false leads.

As an ex-star of a hit teen detective show, Maizie Albright gets the youth demographic. Or so she thought. Now that she’s adulting, today’s kids make Maizie feel out of date. At least the teen Youtube stars of Bigfoot Trackers who want to hire her to look into the disappearance and possible murder of their producer. A murder the police find as likely as Bigfoot.

In continuing her career-makeover quest as a for-real detective, ex-teen and reality star Maizie Albright has a big learning curve to overcome. A sleuthing background starring in a TV show does not cut the real life mustard. It doesn't even buy her lunch, let alone extra condiments. So when a major movie producer needs a babysitter for his hot mess starlet, Maizie eagerly takes the job against her mentor's wishes. But when her starlet appears dead and then not dead, Maizie's got more than an actress to watch and a missing corpse to find.

For those who love country-fried cozy mysteries filled with action, quirky characters, and a side of romance, you're going to love the trouble-magnet portrait artist and amateur-sleuth Cherry Tucker. From The Wall Street Journal bestselling and international award-winning author Larissa Reinhart and read by the fabulously funny Joan Dukore.

In the eyes of Nadine, a polygamist and serial bride, nudging her husbands into heaven is a testament to love. Even Nancy Neptune, a notorious shock jock, is gobsmacked by Nadine's so-called “Celestial Send-Offs.” Things go to hell in a hurry when Nadine offs the wrong guy and is charged with assisted suicide. Meanwhile, Blue McKenna has problems of her own. A power outage has leveled Blue's medical marijuana dispensary. Scottie Sphincter, lead singer of a band called The Rectal Surgeons, is fingered as a suspect.

What If the Very Fabric of Reality Could Be Broken? One moment, Sylvia Huntershaw is toasting her future in one of San Francisco’s most exclusive restaurants. The next, she vanishes—leaving behind only her clothes, her jewelry, and a husband staring into the impossible. Hours later, a tech executive is found dead on the Golden Gate Bridge, his body shattered, his car simply… gone. These aren’t random events. Each is tied to cryptic messages, precision-timed and chilling in their intent. A pattern begins to emerge—one that sends ripples through the powerful elite of Silicon Valley.

Nora and Travis' honeymoon does not go as planned. Don't miss the exciting second book in the Agent Nora Wexler Mysteries Wedding Trilogy and the fifth book overall in the series.

Vampires Valad and Michael control the town, and every 10 years, they pick a fertile woman from the village to be wedded to them as part of a tradition that dates back to over a century. No one knows what happens to the women once they are chosen and, quite frankly, no one wants to know. The simple fact is they are never seen again. When curvy Siona discovers that her newly engaged best friend is the next girl to have been selected, she does what no woman has ever done before. Siona volunteers herself to be chosen and to take her friends place.