Showing results by narrator "A A Maynard" in All Categories

Shell Scott is hired to help State Senator Paul Hershey gather information against Joe Blake, one of the biggest crooks Los Angeles has ever produced. Joe Blake is the kingpin behind the opposition party to Paul Hershey’s re-election. Blake is backing the candidate against Hershey, a Blake pawn, and using smear and innuendo in an increasingly vicious campaign. Hershey’s only defense against this onslaught is to get the information that will put Blake behind bars. That’s where Shell Scott comes in.

In the cold, wet summer of 1960, 11-year-old Joy Henderson lives in constant fear of her father. She tries to make him happy but, as he keeps reminding her, she is nothing but a filthy sinner destined for Hell.... Yet, decades later, she returns to the family's farm to nurse him on his death bed. To her surprise, her 'perfect' sister, Ruth, is also there, whispering dark words, urging revenge. Then the day after their father finally confesses to a despicable crime, Joy finds him dead - with a belt pulled tight around his neck.

Hallettsville, Texas was home to ex-Confederate officer Slate Creed. But after taking an oath for the Union he discovered Yankees had taken over his plantation, named him an outlaw when he resisted, and framed him for murder... Now with a signed confession in his hand naming the real murderer, Creed can finally clear his name. With his nephew and sister-in-law, he's headed for Texas. But his trail is fraught with danger...and it won't do Creed much good to gain his reputation if he loses his life in the process.

Ex-Confederate officer Slate Creed is still intent on taking back his land from Yankee carpetbaggers and clearing his name. But a noose still hangs over Slate Creed's head for a crime he didn't commit. Now there's only one hope to clear his name: saving the neck of the man who framed him. The whole town wants Dick Barth dead, except for Creed, he needs him breathing - and confessing. But freedom for both men makes trouble a sure bet - especially when the wager is paid in blood.

Haunted by the blood and bitterness of the Civil War, Houston Ballou escaped from Tennessee on the proud stallion High Fire, followed by his brother, Ruff; his sister, Dixie; and the last four mares from the Ballou farm, one of them heavy with foal. Threatened with extreme danger from either army, they head west to start a new life. Adding to their peril are deserters that stalk the roads. These men would kill for a few coins, more so for valuable horseflesh.

Hallettsville, Texas was overrun by Yankees and Northern corruption after the Civil War, and ex-Confederate officer Slate Creed lost everything and was named an outlaw as well.. Slate wants only one thing now that the Civil War is over...his good name back. The last thing he wants is trouble...but it just won't stop dogging his trail. First of all, there's his old pal Clay Allison, who's found himself a romantic rival in none other than Cole Younger of the notorious Younger clan.

When the Civil War ended, Confederate Captain Clete Slater was looking forward to going home to his family and enjoying a peaceful life on his family's plantation in Texas. He was greeted by the Union Army and Carpetbaggers taking over everything. When he resisted and fought for his home, they framed him and declared him an outlaw, forcing him to hit the trail. Now he has a crooked federal marshal with an itchy trigger finger dogging his trail.

'The scarlet bikini which had covered a minimum of the eye-popping curves on the dead woman, lay at her feet, and my eyes focussed on her as glassily as did the dead man’s next to her. He was dead, all right. He had been shot, poisoned, stabbed, and strangled. Either somebody really had it in for him or four people had killed him. Or else it was the cleverest suicide I’d ever heard of. Me? I’m Shell Scott, private detective and I’m wondering why anybody in his right mind would commit such a complicated murder....'

It was Martha Doak's last wish, and it may lead Slate Creed to his last showdown. Creed promised the half-blood squaw that he'd see her son Little Bee safe and sound to his uncle in the Choctaw Nation. Trouble is, the trip will take him through some of the meanest badland settlements the Nations have to offer. Towns where Little Bee's kind isn't wanted...and the rebel Creed is. As murderous bushwhackers stalk their trail, the boy and Creed live by quick wits, cold steel, and an unbreakable pact bound by honor and daring....

In Shattered to Shining, nine women and one male domestic violence survivor describe how they were shattered, as their home became a place where physical and sexual violence, emotional and psychological control dominated their lives. Through persistence and courage, they have risen above their situation and come out the other side shining with positivity, strength, commitment, and empathy for others.

“The strait jacket’s canvas held my arms tight. My six-two was horizontal on a stretcher and the two bruisers carried it and my 205 pounds easily down the long corridor. I was confused as modern art, and being in this stupid asylum didn’t help. I was dumped onto a bed, yelling like a fiend. A needle, a stinging sensation in my neck and it was lights out for me. I awoke with a light beaming upon my face. A blade moved upward through the beam of light. And suddenly I was wide awake, thinking: This idiot is about to stab me! Me? I’m Shell Scott private eye and I’m in a lot of trouble...”

Mando Killion's world was shattered by Santa Anna's brutal invasion of Texas. Scion of a wealthy ranching dynasty, he saw his father die at the Alamo, his mother and brothers murdered, and his beautiful sister taken hostage by a debauched Mexican General. Mando came of age during the most violent days of Texas history, as a hearty band of patriots led by Sam Houston fought a bloody revolution for freedom from tyranny.

A mocking Comanche warrior butchered the sable-haired woman in front of Golden Hawk's eyes; then confirmed that his beautiful, golden haired sister Annabelle was still the captive of a brutal Blackfoot chief. Golden Hawk's one man war flamed with fresh fury. No man fought the Indians as fiercely, for he had a terrible blood-score to settle. Along with a wanderer named Bill Williams and a pack of hard-as-nails mountain men, Golden Hawk was ready for action against the most murderous tribes in the West.

"There was a fire in her eyes that was scorching me - me, who couldn't tell whether a dame wanted to kiss me or kill me! No matter how you look at it, 36-22-35 are magic numbers. They have a real message for me. I'm Shell Scott, the private eye, and I'm very good at figures. You might say I follow them very carefully. I've been following this one for several days and learned her name is Sherry. I hated to think she was mixed in murder. But somebody was planning to send me to my friendly neighborhood mortician and I had to find out who - or die trying."

Hallettsville, Texas was overrun by Yankees and Northern corruption after the Civil War, and ex-Confederate officer Slate Creed lost everything when Yankees stole his home, named him an outlaw and condemned him to die as well... On the run since his home-coming after the Civil War, Slate Creed sees a chance to clear his name. To do so, he must find Quade, the man who helped frame him. The hard part will be getting him back to Texas to tell the tale...especially when a trumped-up charge of murder threatens to put both their necks in the noose.

What would you do if you thought each day on earth might just be your last? Lucky by name. Not so lucky by nature. Adopted twins Nora and Stevie Lucky have always been close, despite being total opposites. When their mother dies, Nora convinces Stevie to search for their biological parents, only...

Mercury’s Crypt is a hero's journey about a young necromancer named Mika. She is chosen to become the next Channeler in her lineage, to take up a ritual that opens the veil between the world of the living and the dead. When Mika performs the ritual, the spirits of the dead begin to possess those from her village. Mika must discover the cause of the possessions. She will have to use the powers of her birthright and journey through the Land of the Dead to save her village.

Golden Hawk's beautiful sister Annabelle had been kidnapped by a Comanche band, and Hawk knew all too well what was being done to her. Even more maddening was his discovery that she was being passed from hand to hand as he pursued her abductors. The Comanches, the Blackfoot, and then a mammoth mountain man named Gar Trimm, all in turn took possession of her as Golden Hawk battled the cruelest odds of nature and man to free Annabelle and wreak a revenge that made death sweet...

As Hawk watched the Blackfoot warriors attack their Bannock Indian enemies, he was shocked at what he saw. The Blackfoot were attacking not in the helter-skelter Indian manner, but with an organized military precision that could make them the most powerful fighting force in the West. Then Hawk saw the reason why. Mounted on a horse beside the Blackfoot chief, Spotted Pony, was a white man with a cavalry sabre raised high in the air to order the Blackfoot charge. It was James Cantrell.

"The grizzly stepped back, caught Hawk with his left paw, and flung him aside like a piece of carrion. Hawk landed heavily on his back, managing somehow to hang on to the bowie knife. Dazed, bleeding from his wounds, he stared up at the slavering, bleeding jaws of the huge grizzly, no longer confident that he or his bowie could do anything more than irritate the monster. Rearing up onto his hind legs, the bear uttered a fearsome roar, then came down hard and shambled forward to finish off Hawk...."