Miss Rita, Mystery Reader


Book Description

In Sam Donovan, Kristen Wixted & Violet Tobacco's heartwarming picture book Miss Rita, Mystery Reader, Tori can’t wait to show off Daddy’s drag queen alter ego, Miss Rita, at school story time. But will the other kids love Miss Rita like Tori does? Daddy is the Mystery Reader at Tori’s school today, and he’s coming dressed as Miss Rita! Tori helps Daddy gloss, glitter, glamour, and glimmer to get ready. It takes time—because sparkle is serious business! Tori loves helping Daddy become Miss Rita. But will the other kids at school love Miss Rita like Tori does? Luckily, a last-minute idea helps Daddy and Tori find a way to make story time sparkle for everyone. This heartwarming and relatable family story celebrates drag queens, reading, and self-acceptance, teaching every kid to let their sparkle shine! And it includes back matter providing an overview of drag performance.




Happy Birthday, Cupcake!


Book Description

From the creator of Peanut Butter & Cupcake comes a birthday book starring everyone's favorite dessert! What's a cupcake to do when she needs to plan her birthday party? In this hilarious, kid-friendly homage to food and birthdays, Cupcake runs through tons of ideas while her best friend, Blueberry Muffin, finds reasons why they won't work: Soup gets seasick; Donut melts in the sun; someome might get squashed during musical chairs; and Cupcake is not very good at limbo (her icing might get sliced off!). Just as Cupcake is ready to crumble, Blueberry Muffin has one last idea that just might save the day. With laugh-out-loud visual gags (like a band made up of beans--the musical fruit, of course), this book is sure to put a birthday smile on any kid's face (and on adult faces as well). Praise for Happy Birthday, Cupcake!: "As in his earlier picture book, Border's characters are skillfully crafted food items with basic wire limbs arranged in simple landscapes....Preschoolers will be delighted with the visual mayhem."--Kirkus Reviews Praise for Peanut Butter & Cupcake: "Border’s witty food comedy will lure children who are hungry for clever visual entertainment."--Publishers Weekly "[Z]any creative photographs. [A] read-aloud hit."--School Library Journal




Hiss of Death


Book Description

BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Rita Mae Brown's The Big Cat Nap. Ah, spring! The brighter days and singing birds have a way of lifting people’s spirits, as well as those of their animal companions. But the season can also bring out the first blossoms of murder. As the redbuds open in Crozet, Virginia, Mary Minor “Harry” Haristeen is especially excited—until a health crisis sends her reeling into the forbidding world of hospitals and doctors, treatments and procedures. Surviving this journey will be tough, but Harry has her animal friends—and her ever-helpful husband, Fair—to support her. Others are considerably less fortunate: A promising nurse’s lifeless body is discovered without a mark on her. Then another hospital employee, who had seemed in perfect health, is also found dead. There’s a mystery afoot—and that’s one thing Harry and her menagerie can’t keep their noses out of.




Karma Rising


Book Description




Wish You Were Here


Book Description

Curiosity just might be the death of Mrs. Murphy--and her human companion, Mary Minor "Harry" Haristeen. Small towns are like families: Everyone lives very close together. . .and everyone keeps secrets. Crozet, Virginia, is a typical small town-until its secrets explode into murder. Crozet's thirty-something post-mistress, Mary Minor "Harry" Haristeen, has a tiger cat (Mrs. Murphy) and a Welsh Corgi (Tucker), a pending divorce, and a bad habit of reading postcards not addressed to her. When Crozet's citizens start turning up murdered, Harry remembers that each received a card with a tombstone on the front and the message "Wish you were here" on the back. Intent on protecting their human friend, Mrs. Murphy and Tucker begin to scent out clues. Meanwhile, Harry is conducting her own investigation, unaware her pets are one step ahead of her. If only Mrs. Murphy could alert her somehow, Harry could uncover the culprit before the murder occurs--and before Harry finds herself on the killer's mailing list.




Rest in Pieces


Book Description

Mrs. Murphy thinks the new man in town is the cat's meow.... Maybe she should think again. Small towns don't take kindly to strangers--unless the stranger happens to be a drop-dead gorgeous and seemingly unattached male. When Blair Bainbridge comes to Crozet, Virginia, the local matchmakers lose no time in declaring him perfect for their newly divorced postmistress, Marry Minor "Harry Haristeen." Even Harry's tiger cat, Ms. Murphy, and her Welsh Corgi, Tee Tucker, believe he smells A-okay. Could his one little imperfection be that he's a killer? Blair becomes the most likely suspect when the pieces of a dismembered corpse begin tuming up around Crozet. No one knows who the dead man is, but when a grisly clue makes a spectacular appearance in the middle of the fall festivities, more than an early winter snow begins chilling the blood of Crozet's very best people. That's when Ms. Murphy, her friend Tucker, and her human companion Harry begin to sort throughout the clues . . . only to find themselves a whisker away from becoming the killer's next victims.




The Divine Miss Marble


Book Description

“In Robert Weintraub’s exhaustive biography, The Divine Miss Marble, he transports the reader into Marble’s vibrant world. It’s a dreamy, indomitable life worth reading about as today’s tennis tries to return to form.”—The Washington Post “An intriguing book about a fascinating woman…highly recommended.”—Library Journal (starred review) “Delightful and engrossing, this is a must for tennis fans.”—Publishers Weekly The story of 1930s tennis icon Alice Marble, and her life of sports, celebrity, and incredible mystery. Who was Alice Marble? In her public life, she was the biggest tennis star of the pre-war era, a household name like Joe DiMaggio and Joe Louis. She was famous for overcoming serious illness to win the biggest tournaments, including Wimbledon. She was also a fashion designer and trendsetter, a contributor to a pioneering new comic called Wonder Woman—and friend to the biggest names in Hollywood and society, like Carole Lombard and Clark Gable, William Randolph Hearst and Marion Davies, and members of families named Bloomingdale, Loew, and du Pont. She helped integrate tennis with her support of Althea Gibson, and even coached two young women who became stars in their own right: Billie Jean King and Sally Ride. Yet her private life provoked constant speculation while she was alive, and her own memoirs added layers of legend upon stories. According to Alice, she married a man who was killed in the skies over Europe during World War II. But who was the man she loved, and had he even existed? She was widely known for her patriotism during World War II. Had she really nearly given her life for her country as a spy, shot during a wild car chase fleeing foreign espionage agents? In The Divine Miss Marble, bestselling author Robert Weintraub traveled the country to uncover her fascinating story. And the more he learned about her, the more her mysteries and contradictions deepened. Alice was a powerful woman who knew her worth, demanding equal pay to men decades earlier than other female athletes; yet she was held in sway by a domineering, highly successful coach with whom she had a volatile relationship. She was renowned for her California style, and had a brilliant mind and the guts to overcome a lifetime of physical trauma. For the first time here, we come closer than ever before to the truths of this unforgettable life, and somehow it’s a story even more extraordinary than everything we already know about the divine Alice Marble.




Wanted


Book Description

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • For fans of Release Me comes a series of three enigmatic and powerful men, and the striking women who can bring them to their knees. He is everything I crave, all I desperately want—and he is everything I can’t have. Evan Black embodies my every fantasy. He is brilliant, fierce, and devastatingly handsome. But he is also headstrong, dangerous, and burdened with secrets. My family warned me to stay away, that I could never handle Evan’s dark dealings or scarred past. Maybe I should have listened. Maybe I should have run. But our desire is undeniable, and some temptations you just can’t fight. And from the moment we touch—the passion between us consuming us both—I know that I will never be the same. Wanted is intended for mature audiences. Praise for Wanted “If you’re looking for a steamy new . . . series, Wanted is just the book.”—Harlequin Junkie “This is one of the best books in this genre I have read this year.”—KT Book Reviews “Wanted by J. Kenner is the whole package! A toe-curling smokin’ hot read, full of incredible characters and a brilliant storyline that you won’t be able to get enough of. I can’t wait for the next book in this series. . . . I’m hooked!”—Flirty & Dirty Book Blog “J. Kenner has written an edgy storyline that will fascinate and keep you wondering.”—The Reading Cafe “Suffice it to say, I was hooked in the first few chapters. It was hot, it was sexy, and it really shows that J. Kenner knows how to write in this genre. I can’t wait to get my hands on Heated, the next book in the series, and see whose hands get on whom. Enjoy!”—Eager Reader “I loved this story! It had substance, lovable characters, and unexpected discoveries. And the love between Evan and Angelina was passionate, explosive, and utterly wonderful.”—Part of That World “I don’t know if I have enough adjectives to describe the hotness of this book. . . . Julie Kenner writes a heck of a story and I am definitely a fan!”—About That Story “J. Kenner writes a compelling . . . story about two people with many secrets. . . . Whenever Evan and Angie are together, the air sizzles with tension.”—Cocktails and Books “Wanted is another J. Kenner masterpiece. . . . This was an intriguing look at self-discovery and forbidden love all wrapped into a neat little action suspense package. There was plenty of sexual tension and eventually action. Evan was hot, hot, hot! Together, they were combustible. But can we expect anything less from J. Kenner?”—Reading Haven




Surrender the Wind


Book Description

Surrender the Wind is the story of Seth Braxton, a patriot of the American Revolution, who unexpectedly inherits his loyalist grandfather's estate in England. Seth is torn between the land he fought for and the prospect of reuniting with his sister Caroline, who was a motherless child taken to England at the onset of the war. With no intention of staying permanently, Seth arrives to find his sister grieving over the death of her young son. In the midst of such tragedy, Seth meets Juleah, the daughter of an eccentric landed gentleman. Her independent spirit and gentle soul steal Seth's heart. After a brief courtship, they marry and she takes her place as the lady of Ten Width Manor, enraging the man who once sought her hand and schemed to make Ten Width his own. From the Virginia wilderness to the dark halls of an isolated English estate, Seth and his beloved Juleah inherit more than an ancestral home. They uncover a sinister plot that leads to murder, abduction, and betrayal--an ominous threat to their new life, love, and faith.




A Perilous Undertaking


Book Description

Visiting a ladies-only club for intrepid women, Victorian adventuress Veronica Speedwell is challenged to save a society art patron from execution.