Joe Murray had a life in California for thirty years--in films. Oh, he was never the hero, but he had steady work as the hero’s sidekick. Then he suffered a stroke at age 52. Could have been worse, he knew that. He could walk, he could talk, but he had difficulty remembering lines. His career was over. Five years earlier he had inherited his aunt’s old home in Missouri, where he had visited every summer of his childhood. Now he retreats there to open a bed and breakfast with an older friend, Scott, a former pilot, who is gay. No one is straighter than Joe, but the two men form a strong bond, a new take on an odd couple.

Buster runs the contracting company hired to remodel the old Pope place into a bed and breakfast. Working in what the town has always referred to as a haunted mansion doesn’t scare him. He ain’t afraid of no ghost.

Claire owns the local bar on South Main Street. The Idle Hour is only blocks from Joe’s house, a great place for Miller Time. She’s a single mom, a former schoolteacher, and is a disappointment to her mother. But Claire wants to own her own life, not a life laid out by someone else.

These lives are intertwined as they search for the secrets in Joe’s new home that include the disappearance 75 years earlier of a young boy. Joe's Ghost is a story of hope and forgiveness as these folks come to grips with where their lives are heading and how to deal with changes they didn’t choose.

ISBN-13: 978-1-4659-9447-9

Availability: Kindle, Nooks, and computers with apps

It wasn’t only the battle fronts where the Civil War raged. The people of western Missouri struggled to hold onto their land and keep families together during the years of conflict. The author weaves a gripping tale of adventure, conspiracy and romance.

ISBN-13: 978-0-9846782-0-4

Availability: Email Author -- annemallinson@gmail.com

Literary/Mainstream Fiction
Geese to a Poor Market
By L. D. Whitaker
High Hill Press, September 2010

In 1955 Rita Sanders leaves a cheating husband and returns to her childhood home in the Missouri Ozarks. She lands a job at a honky-tonk on the outskirts of a dry bible-belt village owned by a retired navy petty officer. Rita's religious mother disapproves and accuses her of "driving her geese to a poor market." With the reappearance of her estranged husband, the prodigal daughter discovers there is more than one snake in the garden, as her husband and mother conspire against her for custody of her son. An ensemble cast of crooks, moonshiners, preachers, lawyers, and odd-ball characters support a plot that has one leg that wants to boogie and the other planted on a pew.

Available at Amazon and http://www.geesetoapoormarket.com/

ISBN 978-160653-024-5

Memories of St. Louis City Hospital and the Coral Court Motel linger in the minds of those who walked their halls. In St. Louis Hustle, the second in the ‘Nam Noir series, Elvin Suggs, Di Redding and Cobra Glynes encounter these landmarks in their first case. It should have been a simple one.

Sleek Emily Davies begs Elvin Suggs to trail her philandering husband, Nick; Di grows suspicious. A nurse at St. Louis City Hospital, Emily and her lies lead Elvin, Di and Cobra to the Coral Courts Motel, a notorious “no tell motel.” They become entangled in a web of lethal deception, as they unravel the mystery of the St. Louis Hustle.

ISBN 978-1-60318-306-2

Bernie and Mike are two delightful characters created by Cathie Wayland and Theresa J Garrido. Bernadette (Bernie) and Michaela (Mike) are a seemingly mismatched pair who have been friends ever since they taught school together many years ago. Now older and wiser, they decided to meet and catch up on old times. From their collective years of teaching school, Bernie and Mike are keen observers of life, often poking their noses into places they don’t belong, and subsequently finding themselves in the midst of real, true adventures. Come join the girls as they explore the uncharted lands of their Golden Years with wit and sarcasm. These two ladies “of a certain age” find hilarity in everyday circumstances, and accidentally solve a mystery. Both cynical and snide, they enjoy every opportunity to laugh at or with each other, loving the sheer joy of friendship.

Available at: amazon.com
Visit www.bernieandmike.com to read about the story and meet the authors.

ISBN 978-1-60318-250-8

Riches to Rags covers a wide array of human emotions. It is a love story and a tragedy; it is a tale of hope and hopelessness; and it is a story of great courage in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.

Available through any major bookstore, Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com
www.sandrawhite.com

While the Daffodils Danced
By Cathi LaMarche
Echelon Press, 2005

An unexpected pregnancy should have been the worst thing Cara Robertson had to face. Discovering the father was married and unwilling to claim their child, Cara offers her precious baby for adoption. As an artist, Cara is haunted by images of her unknown child, and finding it impossible to heal, she seeks solace in a field of daffodils. In the shadow of her pain, she finds a kindred spirit, forging an unbreakable friendship that sustains her through lost love and the betrayal of those she loves most.

Available through the author's Website at www.cathilamarche.com

"Crazy for You is a steady and at-times-amusing mix of French farce and chick-lit."--St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Claire Applewhite is a graduate of St. Louis University. Her first mystery novel, The Wrong Side of Memphis, was released in May 2009, by L&L Dreamspell. A short story, Moonlight Becomes You So, was released in June, 2009, also by L&L Dreamspell.

Crazy for You is available at amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and local St. Louis bookstores. Visit author’s website claireapplewhite.com for more info. Meet the Author

ISBN 978-1603182744

Callie's Mountain
by Veda Boyd Jones
Barbour Books, 2005

"Summer folk and North Carolina year-rounders don't mix," Callie has heard all her life. But when she meets country singer Trey, she doesn't heed the warning. Can a country girl and a celebrity find happiness? The volume contains two romance novels and one romance novella, featuring the same characters.

Price $6.97 at brick & mortar bookstores and BarnesandNoble.com Visit the author's Web site at: www.vedaboydjones.com