Showing results by author "Diane Kelly" in All Categories

A series of bogus reports of active shooters has rattled the Fort Worth PD. The SWAT team has been repeatedly deployed to what turn out to be nonevents. When no connection can be made between the "swatting" calls, Megan's mentor, Detective Bustamente, is at a loss. Are the phony calls being made by copycat criminals, or is there a link they haven't yet been able to identify? Megan and Brigit join the investigation. But will they be able to stop the calls before the department's reaction turns deadly?

Tax cheats, beware: The Treasury Department's Criminal Investigations Division has a new special agent on its payroll. A recovering tomboy with a head for numbers, Tara's fast becoming the Annie Oakley of the IRS-kicking ass, taking social security numbers, and keeping the world safe for honest taxpayers. Or else. Tara's latest mission finds her in hot pursuit of ice-cream vendor Joseph "Joe Cool" Cullen. Along with frozen treats he's selling narcotics-and failing to report his ill-gotten gains on his tax returns. Over Tara's dead body.

Officer Luz is lucky she still has a job after tasering a male colleague where it counts the most. Sure, he had it coming - which is why the police chief is giving Megan a second chance. The catch? Her new partner can't carry a gun, can't drive a cruiser, and can't recite the Miranda Rights. Because her new partner is a big furry police dog. So that's what the chief meant when he called Megan's partner a real bitch...With Brigit out on the beat, Megan is writing up enough tickets to wallpaper the whole station.

When she joined the Criminal Investigations Division, Tara knew she'd be investigating some very real crooks. Forget about waitresses hiding tips from the IRS or babysitters not declaring income! Tara and her partner, Eddie, are going after one of country's richest, dirtiest felons. Being on a diet doesn't help Tara's mood much. Hopefully, by the time the investigation is over, she'll be sitting somewhere in a string bikini, far, far away....

Carpenter Whitney Whitaker and her cousin Buck are no strangers to murder. After all, they’ve encountered corpses on their properties before. But this is the first time they’d decided to take a chance on a property where two suspicious deaths have already occurred. Most buildings on the former boarding school property will be repurposed for an upscale retirement community, but the developer has no use for the headmaster’s house given its violent history. The headmaster and his wife were killed there decades earlier, their deaths remaining unsolved to this day.

When the ladies of the Dangerous Curves Motorcycle Club take over the Mountaintop Lodge for their annual autumn ride along the Blue Ridge Parkway, Misty Murphy couldn't be more thrilled. Every room is full and the adventurous women even invite Misty and her assistant Brynn to join them on a ride to admire the colorful fall foliage. The skies are clear, the air is crisp, and the leaves are gorgeous. But what starts as a perfect ride turns worrisome when the tail gunner—the last rider in their group—fails to show up at the Craggy Gardens overlook.

International resort developer Nigel Goodwin has traveled all the way from London, England, to Misty Murphy's little corner of North Carolina, and bought out the Mountaintop Lodge for the week prior to Christmas. Their intention? To pitch an exclusive new resort concept to wealthy American investors.

The weather is beautiful, work is slow, and her canine colleague could use a walk. What better day for Megan to take Brigit to the Fort Worth Zoo, where they can let loose and witness the law and order of nature unfold? But what begins as a fun field trip turns serious when a pair of rare hyacinth macaws named Fabiana and Fernando goes missing. Is the new custodian, a gentle soul who happens to be an ex-convict, to blame? Or is something far more sinister afoot? The birds are worth thousands of dollars, and the list of people on the premises who might have stolen them is long.

Meet Whitney Whitaker. A hopeless romantic when it comes to real estate, she knows what it takes to find - and flip - the home of one’s dreams. A fixer-upper is like catnip to Whitney: She can’t resist the challenge of turning an eyesore into a priceless work of art. So when one of her clients decides to liquidate a crumbling property, Whitney seizes the opportunity to purchase it for a song. But soon a curious incident of the cat in the night-time leads to a change in tune.

Whitney Whitaker has scored the perfect piece of real estate: a ramshackle white Colonial at the top of a hill with views of downtown Nashville. What more could a self-taught home-improvement maven and occasional house flipper ask for? Ideally, the property of Whitney's dreams would not have come with a dead body blocking the entrance to the foyer. But Whitney, always quick to take heavy duty matters into her own hands, also happens to be a skilled amateur sleuth. So that helps.

Carpenter Whitney Whitaker, her cousin Buck, and guard-cat Sawdust just scored a hot property near downtown Nashville in a tax sale. While the Music City Motor Court might not be much to look at now, the two plan to transform the motel's 12 units into six one-bedroom condominiums with popular mid-century styling. But surprises await when Whitney discovers a squatter living in Room Nine and Sawdust uncovers a body in the bed next door.

A bloodbath is a shocking new challenge for Megan and Brigit when Detective Audrey Jackson calls them to the scene of what could only be a brutal murder. But the one thing the nightmarish scene is missing is a victim. The frantic homeowner's husband is gone, seemingly without a trace - and so is the money he was holding. Has a vicious killer committed what might just be the perfect crime?

One night, while on duty with her four-legged crime-fighting companion, Meg gets an urgent call from her boyfriend, Seth, who works for the Fort Worth fire department. A baby girl has turned up at the station with only two clues to her identity: One is a peace-sign symbol stitched into her blanket. The other is a word, written in string: help.   

Carpenter Whitney Whitaker and her cousin Buck are looking once again to rehab and resell a house, only this particular house is made of fiberglass, floats, and has been dubbed the Skinny Dipper. The old houseboat sure could use some work, but the unusual project has Whitney bubbling with excitement. The charming and handsome Grant Hardisty lives on the cabin cruiser in the adjacent slip, but the cousins soon learn he's left a half dozen angry ex-wives in his wake and made enemies of all sorts of unsavory folks.

Carpenter Whitney Whitaker and her cousin Buck have successfully flipped houses, but this is the first time they've attempted to renovate a house of worship. Still, the colorful stained glass in the country church has caught Whitney's eye, and she'd love to breathe new life into the abandoned building. What's more, the place has perfect acoustics. Could the worship hall be reborn as an entertainment venue with its parsonage repurposed as a pre-show bistro?

After capturing the notorious Fort Worth "Tunabomber", Megan and Brigit are practically celebrities. Which is why the police chief lassoed them into doing rodeo duty - mostly as a public relations stunt for the department.

Megan has her sights set on finding a convicted burglar who's broken his parole, and she has the perfect partner to help sniff him out. Unfortunately, her shepherd mix Brigit's dog bowl is already full. A Peeping Tom has been spotted in an affluent Fort Worth neighborhood, and concerned citizens are looking for a few good watchdogs. To catch the creep, residents start enlisting volunteers to beef up their neighborhood watch group - which is fine with Megan.

Carpenter Whitney and her cousin Buck are hot for a historical property that has just come on the market—a fire station in Nashville's Germantown neighborhood that was built nearly a century ago. The cousins have just begun the interior demolition work at the fire station when Joanna Hartzell, who lives in a townhouse around the corner, comes by with a plea for help. Joanna owns the right half of her building, which she proudly maintains in perfect condition, while the left side falls into disrepair: the seven adult children who inherited it years ago refuse to lift a finger on repairs.

Question your typical perception. See beyond the normal you know. Step into divergent realms. Let this anthology of new and original short stories show you the fantastic and futuristic through a new lens. A struggling father discovers why his autistic daughter becomes consumed with a virtual reality simulator in the wake of her mother’s death.

As if hitting the half-century mark wasn't enough, Misty Murphy celebrated her landmark birthday by amicably ending her marriage and investing her settlement in a dilapidated mountain lodge at the top of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The lodge is fully booked on opening night, every room filled with flexible folks who'd slipped into spandex and ascended the peak for a yoga retreat with plans to "namastay" for a full week. Misty and her guests are feeling Zen - at least until the yoga instructor is found dead.