Showing results by publisher "Black Rose Writing" in Small Town & Rural

Grieving her fiancé’s death, Lizzie Walker struggles to find purpose to her life in Rugby, Tennessee, a utopian community in the Appalachian Mountains. But that changes when William, a wealthy flatlander mourning the loss of his sister, arrives. Teaching together in the community’s school sparks a budding relationship as they embrace Rugby’s classless society and equality for women. However, their peace is short-lived.

The police fabricated a story about the night four members of MS-13 died in a tiny home on a quiet city street almost two years previous. George Tokay and his friends were not supposed to share the secret about what really happened that night. No one was to know the truth. But someone talked, and now MS-13, ruthless and wanting revenge, is back in town, and people are dying.

The Dunwhitty family is flying high until their carefully choreographed life falls apart during the 2008 Great Recession. Lisa's firm goes belly-up while Michael's shuts down after selling faulty heart valves. Desperate, Lisa insists they regroup by seeking refuge in rural Central Texas on land she inherits from a distant relative she barely knows.

Callie Wind, single mom and owner of a quirky Texas amusement park, dreams of a carousel life, but her dead patriarch is determined to keep her on a chaotic thrill ride. He delights in their spectral arguments from beyond the grave. Her estranged daughter Sophie—now a televangelist with a knack for pyramid schemes—wriggles her way back into Callie's life with plans to turn the park into a shrine to her own ego. Caught between the old man's ghostly antics and Sophie's snake oil scams, Callie's life is like snow cone syrup on pony droppings.

Afghan war vet Mike Davenport just wants to run his coffee shop in Pittsburgh when he's approached by folks from his forlorn, rust-belt hometown of Pulver Forge to run for mayor. He's shocked at what he sees—everyone has given up. And this is a town that forged the steel that built the tanks and battleships that won WW2! What happened? Mike decides to run on the most audacious platform ever—everyone who wants a job can have one. The town will heal the sick and feed the hungry. He only asks one thing, and it's not money. Everyone needs to believe the town can do it.

Young mother and widow Katie Kaminski is chasing happiness at any cost—even to her children. When her in-laws ask her to photograph Grace Church’s fall festival, Katie reluctantly agrees to spend a week in her late husband’s hometown. But where she expected to find ghosts of his past, she instead finds her own. Standing next to her in-laws is former flame Isaac Torres. The soldier-turned-police officer isn’t at church for God, though. He has no need for religion or women—especially the ones who have lied to him, like Katie.

In Umbra River, California, the closets are full of skeletons. Unsettled spirits. Missing children. Family secrets. The Geode Cafe and Bookshop is the nucleus of life and friendship where, on Friday nights, Olivia, the owner, hosts her two best friends over dinner and wine. Anna, who owns Besties, a pet rescue and supply store next door, is a psychic animal communicator and a non-practicing veterinarian. Emmaline, a young widow, is a trauma survivor trying to find her way. She's also the mother to Charlie, a four-year-old with a psychic gift.

In a sleepy North Carolina textile town, rookie reporter Ronald Truluck is bored with writing about lawn mower thefts when he gets a tip—city councilman Lamont Moody got drunk, drove his Bonneville off the road, and ripped up somebody’s front yard. But the police let him walk away. Recognizing a cover-up when he sees it, Ronald vows to break Lamontgate and make his bones as a serious journalist. It won’t be easy. Ronald is a long-haired pothead who’s loosey-goosey with the facts. His paper, The Eagle, runs pet-of-the-week photos on the front page, not corruption stories.

Second Pocket First shoehorns comedy, crime, and small-town charm into this delightful romp as Issey must decide between old habits and a sudden devotion to the town's goodwill.