Showing results by publisher "Tantor Audio" in Animals

As a colleague of deputy coroner Mattie Winston, social worker Clothilde "Hildy" Schneider is no stranger to unsolved murders at Sorenson General Hospital. Except this time, it's up to her to crack the case.... Motivated by her own difficult past, Hildy has an unparalleled commitment to supporting troubled clients through grief and addiction in Sorenson, Wisconsin. But when a distraught group therapy member reveals disturbing details about her late son's potential murder, Hildy goes from dedicated mental health professional to in-over-her-head amateur sleuth.

My life was going just fine by most standards. I ran a successful business in a tight-knit magical community, and lived just blocks from a beautiful lake and series of hiking trails. Then Selene showed up. According to some magical code I inherit my aunt's ancient familiar; a grumpy 10-pound cat with a broken filter.

After unearthing Aunt Lavender's secret, we may finally know why she was abducted. Unfortunately, it also means the stakes are higher than ever. We're making headway, but we need help to navigate the elusive world of magical treasure hunting. So, when famed adventurer Tabitha Blake arrives in Winterspell, offering to help, I jump at the chance to work with her.

Tracking down Aunt Lavender's kidnapper is proving to be more difficult than running through a swimming pool filled with peanut butter. Every lead we uncover ends with more questions than answers.

A grieving young widow, Charlene needed a new start - so she bought a historic mansion, sight unseen, and drove from Chicago to New England to start turning it into a bed-and-breakfast. On her first night in the house, she awakens to find a handsome man with startling blue eyes in her bedroom. Terror turns to utter disbelief when he politely introduces himself as Jack Strathmore - and explains that he used to live here - when he was alive. He firmly believes that someone pushed him down the stairs three years ago, and he won't be able to leave until someone figures out who.

In Midcoast Maine, Jamie Flint and her K-9 team search for the cognitively challenged son of a local animal hoarder, while recently licensed private investigator Jack Juarez looks into a murder related to the case. Unfortunately, each new clue Jack finds in the investigation seems to lead him back to a suspect police already have in their sights: Jamie's son. Meanwhile, Jamie fights to save a critically ill pit bull pulled from the hoarder's home who could hold the key to the woman's dark secrets.

Trudell Becket, known to her friends as Tru, finds herself in a bind when her library in lovely Cypress, South Carolina, is turned into a state-of-the-art bookless "technological center". A library with no books breaks Tru's book-loving heart. Then the town manager, who was behind the big push for the library's transformation, is crushed by an overturned shelf of DVDs. Tru becomes the prime suspect as she hadn't hid the fact that she hated having all of those wonderful books replaced by tablets and computers.

Normally the arrival of an art exhibition at the Mayville Heights library would be cause for celebration. But thanks to the overbearing curator and high-tech security system that comes with it, Kathleen's life has been completely disrupted. Even Owen and Hercules have been affected, since their favorite human doesn't seem to have a spare moment to make their favorite fish crackers or listen to Barry Manilow.

Kathleen is excited to meet three old pals of her beau, detective Marcus Gordon, while they visit charming Mayville Heights on business. But the reunion is cut short when one of the friends is killed - and the evidence points toward Marcus as the murderer. Though it seems she doesn't know all of Marcus's secrets, Kathleen is sure he's no killer. With his suspect status sidelining him from investigating the case, it's up to Kathleen and her feline partners-in-crime to find whoever is framing Marcus.

It's Valentine's Day in Winterspell, but not everyone appears to be feeling the love. And no, I'm not talking about my dateless self. Instead of being wooed by candlelight, I'm working in a candle shop. Cora Hearth, Winterspell's magical chandler, has teamed up with Sugar Shack to create party favors for the lucky couples, and they're counting on us to spark some magic for their special night. So, when a thief breaks into my delivery van and swipes the goodies, Cora and I-and her persnickety talking cat-have to join forces to track down the culprit in time to save Valentine's Day.

Spring is coming to Mayville Heights, and Kathleen's brother, Ethan, has arrived in town with his band, The Flaming Gerbils. But not everything goes as scheduled when one of Ethan's bandmates gets into a fight with a man interested in investing in the town. When the businessman's body is later found, Ethan's friend is implicated in the crime. Kathleen wants to help her brother by solving the case, but she has no shortage of suspects from which to choose.

Maureen's career as a sportswear buyer hits a snag just before Halloween, when the department store declares bankruptcy. Meanwhile, Finn's lost his way as a guide dog after flunking his test for being too friendly and easily distracted. Sadly, only one of them can earn unemployment, so Maureen's facing a winter of discontent in Boston - when she realizes she can't afford her apartment. Salvation comes when she receives a mysterious inheritance: an inn in Haven, Florida.

It's hard being the youngest in a family of witches known for their power. It's even harder when that magical power has all but passed you by. Still, I was doing okay for myself. I like to think I was proving to the rest of my family that magic wasn't a requirement to living. Then Aunt Opal became the prime suspect in a murder investigation. Wouldn't you know it would happen right when everyone else in the family but me was out of town. Now it's up to me to prove her innocence, and a little magic could go a long way in helping me do that.

Lee has been promoted from field reporter to program director. Keeping track of all the shows and managing the local TV personalities - including a cowboy, a clown, and a performing dog - has her head spinning. Perhaps that's what makes her take pity on the distraught woman she finds sitting alone on a bench on the Salem common. When she realizes that the poor woman doesn't even know her own name, Lee takes her into the warmth of the home she shares with her Aunt Ibby and their clairvoyant gentleman cat, O'Ryan.

Tru Beckett succeeded in building a secret book room in her now bookless library, where book lovers from lovely Cypress, South Carolina, can rejoice in the printed word. Now she's working hard to maintain the little library downstairs while keeping her "real job" upstairs in the bookless technology center. The last thing she needs is a mysterious vandal who seems intent on breaking into her secret book-filled sanctuary and creating chaos. The nasty interloper doesn't steal anything, but brutalizes the books, damaging them and knocking them off shelves.

The arrival of the Janes brothers has the little town of Mayville Heights buzzing. Everyone of a certain age remembers when Victor had an affair with Leo's wife, who then died in a car accident. Now it seems the brothers are trying to reconcile, until Kathleen finds Leo dead. The police set their sights on Leo's son and Kathleen's good friend Simon, who doesn't have much of an alibi. To prove her friend innocent, Kathleen will have to dig deep into the town's history - and into her sardine cracker supply, because Owen and Hercules don't work for free....

December 25 is right around the corner. The last thing Charlie expects is to gain several new additions to his family. Charlie finds a box on his doorstep with five kittens inside and a note begging him to keep them safe. With Diesel's help, Charlie welcomes the tiny felines into the Harris household just as his neighbor Gerry decides it is time to throw a lavish holiday party. Determined to make her mark on Athena, Gerry instead winds up dead at her very own party.

Ever since Angie Russo woke up from a near fatal run-in with a coffee maker, she's been able to talk to - and even worse, understand - one very spoiled tabby named Octavius. He says his owner was murdered and that she's the only one who can help bring the killer to justice. And, well, that's just the first of the wonderfully whacky mysteries they solve together. Add in a traumatized terrier witness and two murderous Sphynx cats who speak only in riddles, toss on your favorite deerstalker cap, and let's go sleuthing!

The weather is beautiful, work is slow, and her canine colleague could use a walk. What better day for Megan to take Brigit to the Fort Worth Zoo, where they can let loose and witness the law and order of nature unfold? But what begins as a fun field trip turns serious when a pair of rare hyacinth macaws named Fabiana and Fernando goes missing. Is the new custodian, a gentle soul who happens to be an ex-convict, to blame? Or is something far more sinister afoot? The birds are worth thousands of dollars, and the list of people on the premises who might have stolen them is long.

Field reporter Lee Barrett is not happy that her hours are being cut back at WICH-TV, although it is nice to spend more time volunteering with Aunt Ibby, a research librarian. But Lee's least favorite task is going up to the stacks, a spooky, seldom-frequented upper section of the library. On this day she has good reason to be afraid - she finds a dead man, surrounded by hundreds of scattered books and torn-out pages. Her police detective beau, Pete Mondello, is soon on the scene, and the deceased is identified as a former minor league baseball player - and ex-con....