Family Blessings Chase Rollins has much to be grateful for. A new home, a new career running the Fluff & Stuff pet store and new friends. But he could have so much more. Lovely bookstore clerk Vivian Duncan just might be the perfect wife. But when Viv becomes a foster mother to four-month-old Theo, Chase knows he has a problem. A life with Vivian will mean a life with children—and that's one challenge he's not sure he'd ready to tackle. Can Viv and Theo convince him that a family is the biggest blessing of all? The Heart of Main Street: They're rebuilding the town one step—and heart—at a time

Review“Charlotte Carter blends street savvy with wry urbanity.”–_The New York Times_Product Description_Of Jackson Park, the first Cook County mystery featuring an unconventional trio of sleuths, Margo Jefferson of The New York Times said, “Charlotte Carter blends street savvy with wry urbanity and delivers a truly modern big-city crime tale.” Now Carter returns with another suspenseful novel that brings the black experience to vivid life during one of the most turbulent times in American history._It is December 1968. In the wake of assassinations and the violence of the Democratic convention in Chicago, “Summer of Love” idealism has disintegrated into suspicion and disillusion. On the city’s North Side, twentyishCassandra Perry longs to be independent. She leaves the overprotective embrace of her granduncle and grandaunt, Woody ans Ivy Lisle, and moves into a multiracial commune dedicated to brotherhood and just causes. But Cassandra’s search for identity plunges her into the dark side of peace, love, and unlimited freedom–even before she discovers the brutally violated bodies of the commune’s most charismatic activist couple. As Cassandra investigates with the help of Woody and Ivy, she begins to see some friends–especially one of her dearest–in a disturbing, deadly light. But when the three amateur sleuths run afoul of a police cover-up with explosive political ramifications, they face a desperate enemy determined to bury the–along with the truth.

Where The Heart Leads ... Staying in one place was never Nick Carbini's plan. When his troubled past leads him to Bear Lake, Montana, single mom Alisa Machak makes him consider putting down roots. Alisa doesn't have a problem letting Nick work in her diner, but when he starts edging his way into her heart, she has to draw the line. He reminds her too much of her son's father, another drifter who abandoned them both. Nick wishes he could be there for them, but believes he's not fit to be a husband. When his worst fears come true one night, it's up to Alisa to show him the perfect recipe for a forever romance.

It's only been several months since the hospital was rescued from financial disaster, so why is receiving yet another dreaded memo? Unfortunately, the hospital isn't completely out of the red yet: This time, to address budget deficits, the staff is receiving a 10 percent pay cut. The news is particularly difficult for James Bell who, between helping his wife Fern with her multiple sclerosis, raising two teenage sons, and serving as his son's Scout leader, depends on that much-needed income.The cuts reverberate far and wide as Elena Rodriguez, so close to her savings goal, reconsiders her long-held dream of travelling to Spain, and Candace Crenshaw's daughter begins to look for ways to save money. Meanwhile, Anabelle Scott copes with her empty nest by adopting a rambunctious puppy. Can her home be a happy one when her husband is opposed to having a dog?As word spreads about the pay cut, James steps forward to rally the struggling community and to remind everyone that...

Will hard-boiled New York street musician Nanette Hayes find love and music in the city of lights—or only heartbreak and murder? After a series of harrowing events, sassy self-taught saxophonist Nanette Hayes is back to her routine: street performing from the theater district to Riverside Park to Park Avenue, haunting the music stores on Bleecker, hanging out at the mobbed-up strip club where her BFF, Aubrey, is the reigning diva, and, to keep her mom in the dark, inventing more and more tales about her fictitious job at NYU as a French teacher. When Nanette's overprotective mother tells her that her glamorous, bohemian auntie Vivian has gone missing in France under mysterious circumstances, Nanette is dispatched to Paris to help. Paris—her favorite city! Nan has to keep her focus on the mystery at hand and not on the coq au vin and Veuve Clicquot and jazz clubs. But the vibrant scene turns out to be the very thing that leads her deep into...

A fresh start for her troubled daughter--that's what widow Janelle Townsend wants to find in Bear Lake, Montana. The five-year-old girl hasn't spoken a word in months. But when the family of two meets widower Adam Hunter and his kind daughter, Janelle's child begins to blossom. Still, the handsome auto mechanic keeps Janelle at arm's length. He seems to be hiding something painful--something he can't bear to share. Perhaps their two sweet children can help Janelle show him that opening the heart to love is life's greatest joy.

Kate is working in her garden on a splendid Tennessee day when she is approached by a teenager in desperate need of work. Kate's heart goes out to the girl, Megan Maddock, who looks the worse for wear with her torn jeans, stringy hair and dirty face. Clearly Megan's family has fallen on hard times, but to Kate it seems like more than that. After exchanging a few words with Megan, Kate feels certain that the girl is keeping something from her. But what could this unfortunate teenager possibly have to hide? Meanwhile, vandals have set their sights on Copper Mill, wreaking havoc throughout the town and putting the townspeople on edge. Through it all, Kate is undeterred, and her sleuthing uncovers an unseemly connection between Megan's mother and a string of jewelry heists in Knoxville. As Kate unravels the mystery, she comes to realize how important family and faith are... and that home truly is where the heart is, no matter where that home might be.

With a high-flying career in the big city, Paige Barclay rarely finds her way back to the homestead in Bear Lake, Montana. But then a terrible accident leaves Paige in charge of her orphaned nephew. She's prepared to take Bryan back to Seattle, far from the home he loves. Wrangler Jay Red Elk loves Bryan like a son and knows the boy belongs in Montana. He won't let Bryan go without a fight. But as Paige grows closer to the handsome, determined cowboy, she begins to wonder whether she, too, belongs here—in Bear Lake by Jay's side.

This New York noir tale of a saxophone-playing amateur detective takes some jazzy twists Saxophonist Nanette Hayes, a majestic five-foot-ten-inch Grace Jones lookalike with hot style, lives for the music of her jazz forebears. Self-taught Nan is no Charlie Parker, but she dreams big. She performs regularly—on the sidewalks of New York City. Not exactly the Village Vanguard, but it pays the bills in ways that her master's degree in French does not. Mostly, Nanette just tries to stay cool in the face of the worst kinds of hardship. Recently, this has taken the form of getting dumped—hard—by her live-in boyfriend, Walter. When her normally messy life is at its epic messiest, fellow street musician Sig walks up, and—after insulting her playing and narrowly missing being hit by a bus—changes everything. Out of nowhere, sixty grand that can't possibly be legit appears in Nan's sax. Suddenly she is contending with two grisly murders, a...

Can voodoo magic turn Nanette Hayes's luck around—or will a tragic murder curse her life forever? Nanette Hayes, a high-styling, saxophone-playing street musician and reluctant amateur detective, is in a slump. Deep in the throes of a post-affair depression, Nanette is busy drowning her sorrows in bourbon and making enemies. To boot, her breakup has a body count. The son of a high-bourgeois doctor, a hip-hopster wannabe, is just one of the fatalities. With no zest for life and no taste for new adventures—not even the attentions of a fatally handsome new lover—heartbroken Nanette is at rock bottom when she receives a gift from sweet old Ida Williams, a crazy-looking voodoo doll named Mama Lou. Nanette doesn't believe in black magic, but her luck is beginning to change. A missing check arrives the moment she really needs it. Suddenly she's the most popular street musician at 53rd and 7th. Best of all, she's offered a regular gig in a jazz trio...