Centering her life on the successful Walker family, into which she plans to marry, Shea struggles to end her affair with a less-than-stellar boyfriend only to have her entire existence placed in question by the death of the family's mother.

Jacy, the high school beauty, returns to Thalia from a career as a Hollywood star and changes the lives of her fellow townspeople.

The third book in this cozy mystery series, Paint the Town Dead displays all the wry humor fans of Judge Jackson Crain have come to expect. When local real-estate mogul Tom Delgado is found murdered in his office, the police suspect his wife, Dovie. She had plenty of motive after finding out Tom changed his will to include another woman, but Jackson's gut tells him the newfound widow is innocent.

"When Lewis Wilkins, a physician with a vacation home in Jarrett Creek, is attacked by vicious dogs, and several pet dogs in the area around Jarrett Creek disappear, Police Chief Samuel Craddock suspects that a dog fighting ring is operating in his territory. He has to tread carefully in his investigation, as lawmen who meddle in dog fighting put their lives at risk. The investigation is hampered because Wilkins is not a local. Craddock's focus on...

In Port Sabine, the air is thick with oil, superstition reigns, and dreams hang on making a winning play. All eyes are on Mercy Louis, the star of the championship girls' basketball team. Mercy seems destined for greatness, but the road out of town is riddled with obstacles. There is her grandmother, Evelia, a strict evangelical who has visions of an imminent Rapture and sees herself as the keeper of Mercy's virtue. There are the cryptic letters from...