Books published by Red Adept Publishing

Six years ago, ten-year-old Sophie Albright disappeared from a shopping mall. Her mother, Jesse, is left in a self-destructive limbo, haunted by memories of her intense and difficult child, who was obsessed with birds. Trapped in her grief and guilt, Jesse stumbles through her workdays at a bookstore and spends her off hours poring over Sophie’s bird journals or haunting the mall to search for the face of her missing child.When Star Silverman, Sophie’s best friend, starts working at the bookstore, Jesse is uncomfortable around the sarcastic teen, who is a constant reminder of her daughter. But Star has secrets of her own, and her childhood memories could be the key to solving Sophie’s disappearance.With help from Star and Kentucky “Tuck” Barnes, a private detective on the trail of another missing girl, Jesse may finally get some closure, one way or the other.

Blake Harper only wants to run her business and focus on her love life, especially the kind that comes with murder. But while she's setting up for the Mystery Cup Café's big Halloween bash, she sees a clown stab a masked man in the chest.Blake calls her sister, the town's lead detective, but when the police arrive, there is no killer… and no body. While everyone blows the whole thing off as a prank, Blake knows the truth. When the clown later makes an appearance at the party, she realizes the killer may be out to eliminate any witnesses.Blake must figure out not only who the killer is, but also who the first victim was. Will she be able to solve the murder when she's faced with a town full of people who don't even believe a crime happened? And can she unmask the killer before he stops her once and for all?

When Sam Cable, Texas Ranger, is assigned to protect a volatile and controversial candidate for US Senate, April Marie Fortney, his life is turned into a daily dose of hell on toast. Just when he thought the situation couldn't get worse, he wakes up next to her dead body… with no memory of how he got there.The investigation focuses on Cable, highlighting him as the newest poster boy for an intense debate on racial relations. Racing against an impending indictment, he digs through a web of conflicting motives, politically-driven ambitions, and the past of the murdered woman, desperately seeking the truth before time runs out.His only ally is feisty FBI agent Rita Goldman, whose sense of justice is as profound as her lack of field experience. Cable doesn't know if the rookie agent will help prove his innocence or be the one to bury him.

What if you could find the love of your life just by reading between the lines?Single mom Fordham Price is juggling her job at a small publisher, her precocious ten-year-old daughter, and her feisty mother. She wants to find time for men, but after a series of dating disasters, her relationship status is still stuck at single.As if her macchiato lite wasn't already overflowing, a co-worker gets pregnant, and Fordham is expected to step in and deliver the company's latest reality read from the Flowers from the Heart series. She must now supplement her own romantic misadventures with tales of cynical cat-ladies, identical-twin husbands, spunky monks, and countless other web-crawlers.As she wades through the submissions, she finds one from a widower whose story gives her tingles in all the places she forgot existed. His words draw her in until she finds herself daydreaming about him more than she'd care to admit.Could she have a love like that, or will her romantic fate be forever bound to her philandering ex-husband?

Maeve O'Neill grew a hard shell while growing up on the streets of Boston. Just as she's on the cusp of getting her life on a better track, she starts having agonizing visions of torture. Desperate to rid her mind of the awful scenes, she follows her visions to the scene of a murder. Instead of answers, she gets an unexpected gift from the victim: Magic.Maeve's newfound abilities soon make her the target of two powerful and dangerous groups, the Council and the Brotherhood, both of which will stop at nothing to gain the magic locked inside her. In an attempt to stay alive, Maeve strikes a deal with the Council's disillusioned enforcer, Silas Valeron. His motives are suspect, and his arrogance is frustrating, but his plan might work.With more visions sending Maeve deep into a world of magic with enemies all around her, she must learn to control her powers long enough to get rid of them. If she can't, all of Earth's magic could fall into the wrong hands.

When teenagers discover a body along the river in Grand Rapids, Lieutenant Jo Riskin and Detective Lynae Parker are called to the scene. The brutality of the murder is shocking, even without the corpse missing a hand. They soon find out that the suspect pool is huge, as the victim was not exactly a pillar of the community. When a second body is found, the similarities between the two crimes are unmistakable, and Jo fears they may have a serial killer on their hands. Teaming up with a handsome investigator from out of town, Jo and Lynae race the clock to find the killer before he claims another life. In the midst of her investigation, Jo receives a devastating blow related to her husband's murder. Everything she thought she knew is now suspect. Exposing the truth could be dangerous, but not knowing it is slowly unravelling her.To solve both cases, Jo must balance her need for answers with her desire for justice.

When Sarah Westwood’s deadbeat husband deserts her and their young son, she takes a job at her family’s restaurant, The Three Chocolatiers, working with her famous chef grandfather and her pastry chef cousin, Paisley. Determined to never fall for the wrong guy again, Sarah vows to stick to chocolate and steer clear of men, especially her delicious ice-cream supplier, Blake Harrison. But when Paisley signs her up for a dating site, Sarah is soon engaging in a sexy online flirtation with a stranger.Blake Harrison wants nothing more than for Sarah to give him a chance, but all she’ll give him is the cold shoulder. Never one to run from a challenge, he works on becoming the kind of man Sarah can’t refuse. And since he just happens to be on the same dating site, he’s not above using a little cyber-intel to worm his way into her heart.When Sarah’s grandfather collapses just weeks before an upscale chocolate-themed wedding that could make or break the business, the staff of The Three Chocolatiers is sent into a tailspin. With the pressure rising on personal and professional fronts, Sarah might just have to let someone sweet melt her defenses.Includes four recipes from The Three Chocolatiers Cookbook.

Ret McCoy was always the new kid, but after three years in the small town of Riverton, he thinks his family may have finally settled. He and his friends have the perfect summer planned before they start seventh grade, and his new job at the local mortuary promises enough pocket money for all the sodas they can drink. A dare from an older boy quickly ruins their plans. Everyone knows to stay away from the Crooked House, but after Ret and his friends take on the dare to spend the night in the abandoned house, they become caught up in the house’s dark history. Later, an outsider buys the house. When people start to disappear, Ret is determined to solve the mystery before it swallows the entire town. His obsession with the Crooked House and its strange new owner threatens to put him and his friends in danger more terrifying than anything they could have imagined.

A Honeymoon… Abel Yeager StyleAbel Yeager has settled into a life of domestic bliss with his lovely wife, Charlotte. He's left the violence and bloodshed behind to concentrate on being a good father and husband. For their long-delayed honeymoon, Abel and Charlie take a Hawaiian cruise. They're looking forward to hiking volcanoes and sightseeing, once they meet up with Victor "Por Que" Ruiz and his new love, Dr. Alexandra Lopez. Their idyllic vacation explodes in violence when a group of Hawaiian separatists, incited by a foreign power, rip through the islands, leaving blood and destruction in their wake. When Charlie is caught up with a group of hostages held by the terrorists as human shields, Abel is forced back into warrior mode. The Hawaiians are supported by a few dozen foreign special forces soldiers, modern gear, and plenty of munitions. Abel has the help of three septuagenarian Vietnam veteran Marines and his pal Victor. Outnumbered and outgunned, Abel will stop at nothing to rescue his wife.

Andie Carson has to do three things to inherit her grandmother's lottery winnings-sober up, spend a month running her grandmother's Georgia coffee shop, and enter homemade jam in the county fair. If she can't meet those terms, the money goes to the church, and Andie gets nothing. She figures her tasks will be easy enough, and once she completes them, Andie plans to sell the shop, take the money, and run back to Boston.After a rough breakup from his crazy ex-fiancée, Officer Gunnar Wills decides to take a hiatus from women. All he wants is to help make his small town thrive the way it did when he was a kid. But when wild and beautiful Andie shows up, Gunnar's hesitant heart begins to flutter.Gunnar knows that Andie plans to leave, but he's hoping to change her mind, fearful that if her coffee shop closes, Main Street will fold to the big-box corporations and forever change the landscape of his quaint community. But convincing her to stay means getting close enough to risk his heart in the process. Even though Gunnar makes small-town life seem a little sweeter, Andie has to decide if she's ready to turn her world upside down and give up big-city life. One thing's for sure-it's a very sticky situation.

Twenty-one-year-old Chris Olson has hit rock-bottom. His addiction to painkillers has left him homeless and ruined. Hoping to give him a clean start, his sister, Aida, convinces him to move to Anchorage to live with her.But trouble seems to follow Chris, and he brings it right to Aida's doorstep. Faced with having to kick her brother out of the house, Aida enlists the help of her friend, Doctor Max Fitwell. Max, haunted by a recent personal tragedy, wants nothing more than to be left alone in his misery. But he reluctantly agrees to allow Chris to stay with him and to help build a cabin.Chris and Max, two men who are each struggling to find their own reasons to live, navigate the wilderness of Alaska, where they'll either become better men or die trying.

Charly Bloom's life took a wrong turn that has left her alone and frustrated. When she gets a call from an old flame, she returns to her hometown to investigate the disappearances of four children. The abductions are eerily similar to a set of previous crimes.Two decades ago, Charly and her three friends decided to play amateur detectives and help find a girl who was stolen from her home. Then, another girl went missing. Clues overlooked by the inept sheriff left only one child to survive: Charly. She managed to fight back and kill the Snatcher. Or so everyone thought…Is the Snatcher back, or is there a copycat? Charly must face her past and her own personal demons in a race against time to save the latest victim.

Jimmy Lloyd McGowan tries to balance his job at the oil refinery with the siren call of the rodeo, but riding pickup for bronc busters takes its toll, and the refinery manager's not keen on Jimmy Lloyd's hazardous hobby. His ex, Esther, still controls the reins to his heart, and he lovingly cares for her horse, Sweet Ginger, on his property. Kamal, the international college student renting his back house, is all kinds of new and unfamiliar, but Jimmy Lloyd bonds with him over their mutual love of horses.Gradually, Jimmy Lloyd introduces Kamal to his friends in town, and the young man soaks up his first American experiences. But an explosion at the refinery drags Jimmy Lloyd from his genial mentoring and into a world of fire.Events converge and cast dusty shadows, and Jimmy Lloyd is the only man who can stop them from darkening the lives of those he loves-and settling like a deadly cloud on those far beyond his beloved countryside.

When a full-blooded Cheyenne called the Bone Lady asks Al Quinn to find her missing daughter, Gerta, he readily agrees. However, he soon discovers that there is no trail, no starting point. Forced to grab at glimmers and hunches that lead him to the seamy edge of a hidden child-porn ring, Sheriff Clayton asks Al to cooperate with an undercover FBI agent.Al's pal Fergie thinks the Bone Lady is one of the scariest women she's ever met. Not only does the woman work in a butcher shop, but some bodies begin to show up sliced like holiday hams.Each effort to find Gerta leads Al down a new dangerous path, from Russian mafia types to his old foes connected with the Mexican cartels. It may be that this time he just has to take a shot in the dark.

Something witchy this way comes.Kindergarten-teacher-slash-sorceress Ivie McKie has officially sworn off magic. With her father back from the dead-just in time for her upcoming wedding to sexy former magician Jackson Blake-Ivie has plotted a course straight to happily-ever-after-ville. And she won't let anything get in her way this time.But Daddy Dearest has something sneaky up his sleeve. When "just one more spell" goes horribly wrong and detours her into the path of her father's dangerously hot new apprentice, Ivie has to scramble to get the magic… and her love life… back on track.Along the way, she encounters a promise made before she was born, a clan of Scottish sorcerers in kilts, and yet another goat.Suddenly Spellbound is a new madcap adventure featuring Ivie McKie from Suddenly Sorceress.

Annie Fitch, a former police detective, struggles to make ends meet as a private investigator in the sleepy town of Leesburg, Virginia. On partial disability because of gunshot injuries, she’s relegated to doing surveillance gigs and background checks. But things are looking up, since her on-again, off-again relationship is back on and might stay that way. When Annie is hired by Laura Carlton to follow her husband to get evidence of cheating, Annie is certain the case won’t take long. Nick Carlton grew up with money and privilege and has a sex addiction dating back to his high school days. But things go sideways when Annie finds her target dead in an alley just a few blocks from her own home. Working with her former partner, Gunnar Jansson, Annie digs deeper into Carlton’s background, slowly excavating his past to reveal the multiple suspects and motives. The list includes his many lunch-hour-tryst partners, a local shop owner, and his business partner, among others. Layer by layer, Annie uncovers a truth that runs much deeper than anyone expected.

Jessica Donnelly’s life is beginning to unravel. When the attorney turned stay-at-home mom tentatively volunteers to represent Amina Hamid, a woman seeking asylum, Jessica must learn an unfamiliar area of the law. Soon, rising opposition to Muslim immigration and unexpected prejudices put her relationships on shaky ground.Amina fled Syria with little more than memories that now fight against the images splashed on the news. Seeking a secure future and freedom from guilt and grief, she must learn to trust others amidst the reality of fear and hate.To find stability, Jessica and Amina will both need to harness their own strengths, which may lie in connections that transcend generations, cultures, and continents.

Moorehaven is swarming with guests during summer’s last hurrah, and Pippa has her hands full at the mystery-author B&B. When her gossip-group connections inform her that a local construction project has unearthed a skeleton with a pocketful of Spanish gold, the news spreads, and treasure hunters flood the beaches. But the skeleton has a more recent connection to the area than anyone suspected, unearthing a shameful secret that hits far too close to home.A marine salvage team rolls into town, seeking the rest of the treasure. When they hire Pippa’s boyfriend, Lake, to be their pilot, the team’s pretty spelunker quickly stakes a claim, rousing Pippa’s jealousy. But Pippa’s been playing tug-of-war over Lake ever since his ex-wife, Mallory Tavish, became the new acting chief of police.When a killer’s strike brings tragedy to Moorehaven’s door, Pippa must rally her friends, family, and mystery-writing guests to catch the murderer before she loses someone she can’t live without and all the warmth of summer dies with one last gasp.

In the fall of 1967, Faye Smith's family moves to Florida to work in the orange groves, and she has to start a new school… again. She tries out for the track team, knowing her mother would never approve because of Faye's epilepsy.When Faye discovers she has a talent for distance running, she and her friend Francie decide to enter the Boston Marathon, even though women aren't allowed to compete. Desperate to climb out of the rut of poverty, Faye is determined to take part and win a college scholarship.After the school bully tries to run her down with his car, a strange memory surfaces-a scene Faye doesn't recognize. Her parents insist that it's a symptom of her epilepsy, but Faye thinks they might be lying, especially when it keeps happening. To get her life on the right path, she'll need to figure out what her parents are hiding and never lose sight of the finish line.

Palmer Tash always follows the path of least resistance. He has an unusual disability involving his hearing. But in theocratic Latysia, being different isn’t a good thing, so he conceals his problem.Brier Chastain’s malady is even more debilitating, and she often must take to her bed for long periods. Her days are spent in meaningless pursuits as she awaits an arranged marriage.When Palmer and Brier are kidnapped on the same night, they meet and discover that their so-called disabilities are actually budding powers. They are the incarnations of Order and Chaos. With their country on the brink of war, the two must step into their predestined roles and learn to take control of their own destinies.

Newlywed Katie Maxwell is ready to settle down and leave her amateur detective days behind. But when the veil of secrecy surrounding her husband's latest project takes them to Europe, her penchant for sleuthing lands her in some serious hot foreign water.Katie will need to think quickly to talk her way out of handcuffs and a Parisian jail cell. Too bad she doesn't speak French.For the Love of Katie is the second madcap adventure in The Katie Chronicles. This book can be read as a standalone, but why would you want to skip the first?

Millennia ago, beings we call angels were tasked with watching over humankind in its infancy. Rather than protect humans, these Watchers decided to subjugate them instead, beginning a rebellion that would rock both Heaven and Earth. Defeated, the most powerful of the Watchers were imprisoned for eternity, while the weaker ones were condemned to live out their existence on Earth, relegated to the shadows that now occupy human myths and legends.Until one of the Watchers escapes.Immortal protector of humanity and one-time hero of the Trojan War, Diomedes-better known as Steve Dore these days-is horrified to discover that what human authorities think is a mentally unstable cannibalistic murderer is actually a gateway to something ancient and apocalyptic. Racing against a cosmic timetable, Diomedes is drawn into a dark and sinister underworld in a desperate attempt to stop another uprising.But stopping this enemy may cost him far more than his life. Some grudges never die.

Jamie Rush understands what it takes to disappear because her parents taught her that long ago. Leveraging her knowledge of why and how people run from their own lives, Jamie has built a business based on bringing those in hiding back to answer for their actions. She takes pride in using her somewhat shady skills to work both inside and outside the law.When her estranged brother, Brian, calls and says his daughter is missing, Jaime initially turns down the case. Kristen has always been a bit wild, frequently dropping off the grid then showing up a few days later. But Brian swears this time is different, and even though Jamie vowed years ago to keep her conniving sibling at arm's length, she can't walk away if Kristen could be in real trouble.As Jamie begins digging into Kristen's life, she uncovers her niece's most guarded secrets. Uncovering the truth will put a target on Jamie's back and endanger the lives of those she loves.