Charlotte Douglas

Most people dream of winning the lottery...

Rebecca Warwick dreams of health care. A clinic for her small community in the Blue Ridge Mountains that is fully funded and fully staffed. Though she never thought \staff\" would include Hollywood's Dr. Wonderful, Matt Tyler.

Matt is everything Rebecca isn't–stylish, smooth–talking and wealthy. He belongs in Warwick Mountain about as much as the schoolteacher belongs on Rodeo Drive. Yet the residents of Rebecca's village desperately need his expertise, and for the sake of Warwick Mountain, she opens her home to the handsome doctor. But as she welcomes him into her home, she wonders if she can keep him from entering her heart...and taking it with him when he leaves.

A Place to Call Home

B and B owner Caroline Tuttle has dreamed of moving out West and marrying a cowboy ever since she saw her first horse. But then a friend wills Caroline a farm, and leaves her with two final wishes–to care for an orphaned girl and the farm's tenant, an artist named Ethan Garrison.

Suddenly all the plans that Caroline has made–and thought she wanted–take a backseat to the warmth of the little girl's smile and Ethan's supportive embrace. But will her stubborn determination to fulfill a lifelong dream cost her the home and family she's found?

THE HOLIDAYS?–DON'T YOU JUST LOVE 'EM?

Been overstressed at work? Ever wish the holidays would go on an extended vacation? Worried about finding the perfect gift? Or had unresolved conflicts with family that drive you up the wall?

Detective Maggie Skerritt is every woman who's been there, done that.

She also excels at her work, doesn't eat right or get enough sleep and loves to have someone else do her cooking. But her job is murder and she strives to make her city safe. In the process, she gathers her courage to risk loving again.

But first she has to make it through Thanksgiving, Christmas…and another murder in Pelican Bay.

Who'd Been Sleeping in Her Bed?

When Tory Caswell attended her sister's wedding in a magical old Victorian resort, her mind was filled with images of bouquets and garters. But when she awakened the next morning, she thought she was still dreaming. Because a gray–eyed hunk was sharing her pillow!

Rand Trent had drunk some brandy the previous night, but not that much. He could never have forgotten sleeping in the arms of such a gorgeous woman. But was Tory Caswell sane? After all, the instant she got a second look at Rand, she started proclaiming that it was 1995–when he knew good and well that it was the 1800s….

Witty and irreverent homicide detective Maggie Skerritt likes her quiet, sleepy workdays. Violence in Pelican Bay, Florida, was rarely an issue, and Maggie certainly wasn't itching for the tide to change. Maintaining a professional distance had always been Maggie's M.O., but the more she learned about the homicide victims, the less sleep she got. Each woman had started to get her life back on track – something Maggie had been meaning to do for years. It was a wake–up call – and Maggie was more determined, once she solved the case, to reevaluate her own life. Especially her relationship with a certain former police detective...

SPRING BREAKDOWN

It's springtime again, and all P.I. Maggie Skerritt and her charmingly levelheaded business partner and fiancé, Bill Malcolm, can do is hope that rite of passage infamously known as spring break is quiet and painless. Luckily, as the week progresses, Maggie and Bill find the influx of college kids committing only minor offenses, albeit they're piling up like empty kegs at a frat party.

If only life could remain that simple…

While the tourists wreak mostly harmless havoc, the murder of a woman and her possible connection to a local politician grabs all Maggie's attention. And when that same connection leads her and Bill back to the unsolved case that changed–and still haunts–both their lives, Maggie suddenly wishes party patrol was all she had to worry about.

But weather isn't the only threat to P.I. Maggie Skerritt. Maggie's got her hands full when a nationally syndicated columnist enlists Pelican Bay Investigations to protect her from a stalker and a mysterious stranger with amnesia poses a threat to some dear neighbours. But when her partner–turned–fiance Bill Malcolm's broken hearted ex–wife reappears after twenty–odd years, well, the calm seas suddenly become as rocky as their once–peaceful relationship. Now, with the eye of a category–five hurricane closing in, will Bill and Maggie be able to reclaim their premarital bliss before the storms flood their sunshine state?

MAGGIE SKERRITT CAN'T GET AWAY FROM WEDDINGS…

The fortysomething cop-turned-P.I. has enough on her hands, dodging her mother's plans to turn Maggie's upcoming wedding to partner Bill Malcolm into an 800-guest circus. Then a friend asks them to provide security at the wedding uniting Florida's answer to the Hatfields and McCoys. And to top the week off nicely, they're hired to find a runaway bride–Maggie can empathize!–whose path intersects with a very dead, very murdered body.

Murder always gives Maggie hives. Add that to her own prewedding jitters and a sudden crisis of confidence about her new profession…. Well, suddenly she's thinking that staying single–and becoming a bartender–might be better choices after all….