Courtney Patterson has narrated 81 audiobooks on Listento.it by 73 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.4★ across 536 ratings. The most-rated is Life in the Fasting Lane.
The Captive
Summary
In this compelling rural noir, a woman is forced to confront her own past during a pulse-pounding expedition to deliver a fugitive In a secessionist rural state that has cut itself off completely from urban centres, where living is hardscrabble and poor but “free”, Brooke Holland runs a farm with her husband and two daughters. Their existence at the fringes of modern society is tenuous - they make barely enough from each harvest to keep going - yet Brooke cherishes the loving, peaceful life they have carved out for themselves. She has even begun to believe she is free from the violent history she has kept a secret from her family. When escaped criminal Stephen Cawley attacks the farm, Brooke’s buried talents surface, and she manages to quickly and harshly subdue him. Convinced that he has come in retribution for the blood feud that began years ago, Brooke sets out to bring Cawley to justice, planning to use the bounty on his head to lead her family into hiding far from danger. Fearing that other members of Cawley’s infamous family will soon descend on the farm, Brooke insists that Milo and the girls flee with her, travelling miles on foot across an unforgiving landscape to reach the nearest marshal. Their journey, beginning at the onset of winter with little preparation, brings already strained family dynamics to the breaking point. As Brooke’s ghosts - both real and imagined - close in, the ruthlessness that allowed her to survive her past may become the biggest threat to her hopes for a different future. What follows is a harrowing exploration of family loyalty, trauma and resilience. As haunting and propulsive as it is powerfully written, The Captive is a thrilling debut novel about the seemingly impossible choices we make to survive and protect the ones we love.
©2021 Fiona King Foster (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
Show Me the Way
Summary
Presley Ingram has often wondered about her birth parents. Yet her 23andMe test kit remains unopened in her bedside table drawer. When she finds an address on a torn envelope in her adoption file upon her adoptive mother's death, she makes an impulsive decision to travel to the mountains of Virginia in search of answers. In the charming town of Hope Springs, she discovers her dream job as an event planner at the prestigious Inn at Hope Springs Farms and the potential for romance with a ruggedly handsome bartender. Presley has an uncanny knack for reading people. While she suspects Everett has a genuine heart, she's convinced he's hiding something from his previous life. Everett Baldwin is on the run from his past. He's hiding out at a luxury resort, working as a bartender while his dreams of becoming a country music star slip away. When opportunity knocks, Everett is forced to face his demons in order to move on with his life.
©2020 Ashley Farley (P)2020 Tantor
Silent Scream
Summary
A violent past leads to a present danger…. When an old college roommate invites Claire Britten to join her on an archaeological dig at a Florida peat bog, it's an offer the renowned forensic psychologist can't refuse. Claire's husband, criminal lawyer Nick Markwood, is comforted to see Claire working on a prehistoric burial site instead of an open grave for once. But Claire's investigative instincts kick in when some of The Black Bog's perfectly preserved corpses show signs of a grisly fate. What really happened to these people? What started as an exploration of the past soon escalates into an all-too-current danger. Someone is watching - someone who really doesn't want Claire digging into the past or Nick making connections to a current, violent murder case he's investigating. The bog's corpses may be long dead, but if Claire and Nick don't figure out who's gunning for a fresh kill, the next bodies to be discovered will be their own.
©2018 Karen Harper (P)2018 Harlequin Enterprises, Limited.
The Demise
Summary
Tiny Braxton, Tennessee, is a tight-knit community wrapped around an old town square just a stone's throw from Nashville. But when the town's most prominent citizen is found dead at the base of its water tower, news of Peter Lanham's apparent suicide roars through town like a massive tsunami. Peter, the handsome, beloved CEO of Lanham's Fine Foods, had taken a small, family-owned grocery store founded in 1927, and grew it into a successful national chain. With most of Braxton's residents employed by Lanham's corporate headquarters, word of Peter's demise left them searching for answers. Julie Parker is convinced he didn't. As receptionist at Lanham's executive office suite, she's determined to find out what really happened to her boss. An aspiring actor who also stars as "The Lanham Girl" in the company's TV commercials, Julie prides herself on her perceptive observations and people-skills. Matt Bryson, on assignment as a rookie Special Agent for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, isn't about to let the attractive receptionist intrude on his first case. She may be a hometown insider, but he's perfectly capable of solving the case without "Miss Marple" screwing up his investigation.
©2014 Diane Moody (P)2020 Tantor
Still Knife Painting
Summary
Miranda Trent has set up a sweet life in a scenic corner of Appalachia - until she stumbles across the trail of a killer.... After inheriting her uncle's Red River Gorge homestead in Eastern Kentucky - smack dab in the middle of the Daniel Boone National Forest - Miranda comes up with a perfect business plan for summer tourists: pairing outdoor painting classes with sips of local moonshine, followed by a mouthwatering sampler of the best in southern cooking. To Miranda's delight, Paint & Shine is a total success - until someone kills the cook. As the town's outsider, suspicion naturally falls on Miranda. Murdering the best biscuit baker of Red River Gorge is a high crime in these parts. Miranda will have to prove her innocence before she's moved from farmhouse to jail cell faster than she can say "white lightning".....
©2020 Cheryl Hollon (P)2020 Tantor
The Trouble With Cowboys
Summary
Eight years ago, Tyler Donnelly left Wishing River, Montana, after a terrible fight with his father and swore he’d never return. But when his father has a stroke, guilt and duty drive him home, and nothing is as he remembers - from the run-down ranch to Lainey Sullivan, who is all grown up now. And darn if he can’t seem to stay away. Lainey’s late grandma left her two things: the family diner and a deep-seated mistrust of cowboys. So when Tyler quietly rides back into town looking better than hot apple pie, she knows she’s in trouble. But she owes his dad everything, and she’s determined to show Ty what it means to be part of a small town...and part of a family. Lainey’s courage pushes Ty to want to make Wishing River into a home again - together. But one of them is harboring a secret that could change everything.
©2019 Dreamscape Media, LLC (P)2019 Dreamscape Media, LLC
Dark Storm
Summary
There are some forces you can’t outrun.... Forensic psychologist Claire Markwood has experienced her share of disaster. But nothing could prepare her for her sister, Darcy, going missing. Claire rushes to the butterfly sanctuary where Darcy has been working, prepared to do what she does best - work the clues. But her sister, along with her car and some of the sanctuary’s rarest species of butterflies, has seemingly vanished without a trace. Amid a flurry of mysterious leads and dead ends, Claire and her criminal lawyer husband, Nick, tap every resource at their disposal. But the deeper they dig, the more unsettling the case becomes, dredging up old family secrets that shake the foundation of everything Claire thought to be true. Because some secrets aren’t just threatening - they’re deadly.
©2019 Karen Harper (P)2019 Harlequin Audio
Chasing Shadows
Summary
The dead still talk if you know how to listen.... Every case that Claire Britten cracks is a win, not only professionally but personally. The forensic psychologist has spent a lifetime fighting a neurological disorder, and her ability to conquer it is a testament to her razor-sharp intuition. Nick Markwood is used to winning in the courtroom, so when his latest case is overthrown by Claire's expert testimony, he can't help being impressed by her skill. He needs her on the team of his passion project - investigating unusual cases involving mysterious deaths. Her condition doesn't deter him, and neither does the attraction that sparks between them...even if it should. As they join forces to investigate a murder in St. Augustine, Florida, Claire is thrust into a situation far more dangerous than she'd anticipated, pushing her disorder to a breaking point. Just when she fears she can't trust her own mind, she discovers Nick's personal connection to the case - and wonders whether she can trust anyone at all.
©2016 Karen Harper (P)2018 Harlequin Enterprises, Limited
Stipulations and Complications
Summary
Now that Madison Reynolds has agreed to be part of a reality-television home remodeling show, she barely recognizes her own life. The show is an instant success, bringing cameras and reporters right to her doorstep, eager to chronicle her every move in the small Texas town. With In a Pinch Temporary Services hovering on the thin line between prosperity and extinction, Madison takes on another quirky case, this one concerning a property dispute. Complications turn a simple mission into all-out danger, and once again Madison finds herself embroiled in an intriguing mystery. Now work is interrupted at the Big House, ghost stories abound, more secret passages have been unearthed, and someone is trying to scare her away from her new home. What she needs is another session of Brash deCordova's unique "river therapy"...not to mention the kiss that eludes them with frustrating regularity. What she gets is another round of stipulations and complications.
©2016 Becki Willis (P)2019 Tantor
Home Again: Starting Over
Summary
Things in The Sisters are heating up, and Madison Reynolds is in the hot seat. When a local woman dies in a most unconventional way, In a Pinch takes on the quirky case and once again, Maddy finds herself in the middle of a would-be murder investigation. Even with the help of her grandmother and best friend Genny, this case may be too hot to handle. Things really start smoking when Cutter's grandfather, rodeo legend Sticker Pierce, returns to The Sisters and tries to rekindle a romance with old flame Belle, aka Granny Bert. And Maddy's latest brush with death prompts Brash to finally make his move. With renovations almost complete and the love of a good man behind her, Maddy is ready to tell the world: I'm home again, and starting over.
©2016 Becki Willis (P)2020 Tantor
When the Stars Fall
Summary
Madison Reynolds is rebuilding her life, one obstacle at a time. Madison's newest client at In a Pinch Temp Service is a suspicious wife, up against a formidable foe - the lovely Caress Ellingsworth, former soap opera queen. When the star is murdered and Madison is eyewitness to the deed, she wonders if the shadowed person she saw commit the crime might really be her client. Now Madison is torn between uncovering the truth and keeping her client's name off the suspect list. Caress is not the only star in town these days. With a little help from Granny Bert and Madison's best friend Genesis, the popular television show Home Again arrives, with some crazy notion about remodeling the Big House for Maddy and her twins. The problem is, Madison can't afford to buy the house, much less pay to have it renovated. No matter how tempting the offer-or how tempting the show's star, Nick Vilardi-Madison sees it as just another block that will not fit. Even if she manages to stack the blocks in a semblance of order, even if she climbs her way up and reaches for the sky, what happens when the stars fall?
©2015 Becki Willis (P)2019 Tantor
The Junkyard Cowboy
Summary
Jennifer Peterson has been unlucky in love, but now, thanks to an Internet search, she's found a surefire formula for identifying the perfect man. Statistics seem to show that if she narrows her search to men of certain careers and physical attributes, she'll have a better shot at success. So now she's on the hunt for not-so-well-endowed, short and hairy podiatrists or funeral directors who've been dubbed less likely to cheat than their tall, good-looking counterparts. Yup, she's narrowing her playing field to the "safe" guys. But nothing feels safe when a hit man runs Jennifer off the road and chases her into an old junkyard. The sexy cowboy who runs the place may be the best man to keep her alive, but he's also the type to most likely put her heart in jeopardy. Should she trust her head and keep playing it safe or throw all logic out the window for the one guy who may be worth the risk?
©2017 Christie Craig (P)2018 Audible, Inc.
Inheritance
Summary
Cassidy Kincaide runs Trifles & Folly in modern-day Charleston, an antiques and curio shop with a dangerous secret. Cassidy can read the history of objects by touching them, and she teams up with friends and allies who use magic and paranormal abilities to get rid of cursed objects and keep Charleston and the world safe from supernatural threats. Caribbean ghosts terrorize Charleston and start racking up a body count. Then Beckford Pendlewood, the heir to a powerful family of dark warlocks, shows up raving about a bound demon locked in a lost box and begs sanctuary. Can Cassidy and her friends find the demon box, stop the killer ghosts, and break the Pendlewood curse before Beckford's murderous cousins and the vengeful demon destroy them all?
©2019 Gail Z. Martin (P)2020 Tantor
The Sibling
Summary
A murder in Braxton, Tennessee? Poor little town. If it's not one thing, it's another. An untimely death under nefarious circumstances spawns an odd lineup of potential suspects. Who killed one of Braxton's favorite sons? New resident and Pastor Peyton Gellar has already conducted more than his share of funerals for such a small town, but this one hits close to home. Aubrey Evans, in town for her father's funeral, is concerned by her mother's state of mind. With the help of the handsome new pastor, Aubrey extends her visit to help her mother and finds herself drawn into the local intrigue. A fateful baptism, an estranged brother, a mysterious button, and a Vegas showgirl. Once again the stage is set.
©2019 Diane Moody (P)2021 Tantor
The Whispering of the Willows
Summary
Set against the superstitions and old time religion in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia, author Tonya Jewel Blessing tells a difficult, yet redemptive story of a blossoming young woman who is accompanied by her friends and her foes on a journey towards hope and healing. Love weaves through gut-wrenching circumstances and dismal poverty where Emerald Ashby grows strong despite grievous wrongs committed against her. In this desperate, historical setting, mysterious disappearances lead to traps set for the innocent. Now, when key individuals begin carving out a rescue plan, Emerald Ashby sets a few of her own traps. What will be their measure of success? Cleverly suspenseful and sweetly spoken, the storyteller's unassuming voice transforms an Appalachian trail of tears into holy terror against an evil that stalks the innocent. In The Whispering of the Willows, an Appalachian marriage practice might be compared to the modern sex trade which exploits young females. Not since Catherine Marshall's strong heroine named Christy, has an Appalachian drama come to life like The Whispering of the Willows.
©2016 Capture Books (P)2019 Tantor
Separation Anxiety
Summary
"Separation Anxiety is a hilarious, heart-breaking, and thought-provoking portrait of a difficult marriage, as fierce as it is funny.... My advice: start reading and don’t stop until you get to the last page of this wise and wonderful novel." (Alice Hoffman) From best-selling author Laura Zigman, a hilarious novel about a wife and mother whose life is unraveling and the well-intentioned but increasingly disastrous steps she takes to course-correct her relationships, her career, and her belief in herself. Judy never intended to start wearing the dog. But when she stumbled across her son Teddy’s old baby sling during a halfhearted basement cleaning, something in her snapped. So: The dog went into the sling, Judy felt connected to another living being, and she’s repeated the process every day since. Life hasn’t gone according to Judy’s plan. Her career as a children’s book author offered a glimpse of success before taking an embarrassing nose dive. Teddy, now a teenager, treats her with some combination of mortification and indifference. Her best friend is dying. And her husband, Gary, has become a pot-addled professional "snackologist" who she can’t afford to divorce. On top of it all, she has a painfully ironic job writing articles for a self-help website - a poor fit for someone seemingly incapable of helping herself. Wickedly funny and surprisingly tender, Separation Anxiety offers a frank portrait of middle-aged limbo, examining the ebb and flow of life’s most important relationships. Tapping into the insecurities and anxieties that most of us keep under wraps, and with a voice that is at once gleefully irreverent and genuinely touching, Laura Zigman has crafted a new classic for anyone taking fumbling steps toward happiness.
©2020 Laura Zigman (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers
The Legacy
Summary
From best-selling author Diane Moody, book two in her Braxton series, The Legacy. Back in tiny Braxton, Tennessee, photographer Gevin Parker finds himself surprisingly smitten by the wedding singer who stepped in at the last minute to sing at his sister's wedding. A recent Belmont graduate, Emily Randolph is an aspiring singer-songwriter with bittersweet ties to Braxton's namesake family. But when the town's most valuable artifact goes missing - a sword dating back to the American Revolution - she and Gevin embark on a journey to help solve the mysterious disappearance. Meanwhile, Braxton is under siege by vandals who are out to paint the town - literally! As residents take sides and tensions rise, both law enforcement and politicians butt heads as they search for the pesky taggers. A priceless missing sword, a rash of troubling graffiti, a budding romance, and a cast of characters, old and new. Once again, the stage is set.
©2016 Diane Moody (P)2021 Tantor
Damn Love
Summary
Set in San Francisco and North Carolina, the linked stories in Damn Love introduce us to characters struggling with love in all its complicated forms, including a young doctor getting over a breakup with the help of a patient, a newly married gay man who reconnects with his estranged mother, a trio of physicists caught in a surprising love triangle, and a soldier who takes secrets with her to the Iraqi desert. Together, these stories report out from the fault lines of American life, uncertain territory where identity, risk, and desire co-mingle, and where reconciliation can be found in even the most flawed efforts to connect.
©2013 Jasmine Beach-Ferrara (P)2014 ListenUp Production, LLC
Under the Alaskan Ice
Summary
The truth always surfaces. When a small bush plane smashes through the ice at Falls Lake Lodge, it’s a chilling reminder of everything Megan Metzler has lost. Three years ago, Meg’s pilot husband died in a similar crash, a tragedy Meg and her young son, Chip, have struggled to move on from. Still, Meg does everything she can to assist when Commander Bryce Saylor arrives to investigate, even as working alongside the handsome pilot stirs up painful memories - and an attraction that catches them both off guard. Bryce knows time is of the essence as he plunges into the frigid water in search of clues. But when vital evidence is destroyed, it soon becomes clear this downed plane was no accident. With someone tracking them from the woods, Meg and Bryce must race to unravel a mystery as indomitable as the Alaskan wilderness, or they might be the next victims to crash and burn.... An Alaska Wild Novel Book 1: Deep in the Alaskan Woods Book 2: Under the Alaskan Ice
©2020 Karen Harper (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers
The Cop Who Stole Christmas
Summary
It'll take a tall, hot Texan and a little holiday spirit to mend a broken heart and catch a Christmas killer.... Savanna Edwards is feeling downright Scrooge-like. Who can blame her? A truly unjolly Santa - suit, beard and all - just repossessed her car because of her ex's shady business dealings. She'd like to murder the no-good lying cheat, but somebody already did that for her - and left him right in the middle of her kitchen, wrapped up with a bow. Detective Mark Donaldson has a rule against getting involved with his neighbors. He can look - and he's studied every sweet curve of Savanna from across the street - but he can't touch. So when she lands on his doorstep in need of help, he finds himself torn between being naughty or nice and fights every urge to unwrap her like a shiny new Christmas present. Trouble is, even Mark can't resist a little holiday magic...and there's definitely something magical happening between him and the girl next door.
©2013 Christie Craig (P)2018 Audible, Inc.