Showing results by author "Denise Grover Swank" in All Categories

Celia Burrows thought she had it all - a handsome husband, two successful children, and a gorgeous beach house on the northern coast of Maine. But her perfect life cracks apart when her husband of 30 years informs her that he's leaving. In a note. And since problems come in threes, her adult children reveal they've both been struggling with issues of their own.

Megan Vandemeer meant to tell her parents about her broken engagement, but a month and a half later she finds herself boarding a plane home to her wedding. Having stretched avoidance to its limits, it's time to come clean - a terrifying prospect since her mother is sure to blame her rather than her cheating, emotionally frigid ex. A couple of drinks and two Dramamine later, Megan finds herself spilling her sob story to the tall, dark, and handsome stranger in the seat next to her.

For Rose Gardner, working at the DMV on a Friday afternoon is bad even before she sees a vision of herself dead. She’s had plenty of visions, usually boring ones like someone’s toilet’s overflowed, but she’s never seen one of herself before. When her overbearing momma winds up murdered on her sofa, instead, two things are certain: There isn't enough hydrogen peroxide in the state of Arkansas to get that stain out, and Rose is the prime suspect.

It’s been nearly three years since the fall of the Hardshaw Group, and Rose is living a low-key life in Fenton County. She’s happily married to Joe Simmons, raising her own two children along with her niece and nephew, and running her landscape business. Everything is coming up…well…roses! And still, when she and her best friend Neely Kate unearth a peculiar wooden box in a client’s yard, she finds herself yearning for the good old days of solving mysteries. Be careful what you wish for.

Companion novella to the Rose Gardner Investigation series. This series provides insight into characters in the Rose Gardner world, but is not required to listen to the series.

Rose Gardner and Neely Kate Colson are thrilled with Mason's early present to Rose - a trip for the two of them to New Orleans for shopping, great food, and awesome seats to Wicked. Neely Kate plans to use the opportunity to visit a psychic and find out once and for all what her paranormal ability is. But when the psychic is murdered, and Neely Kate and Rose were the last people to see her alive, they find themselves the main suspects in a Christmas killing.

While Rose recovers from a broken heart, she finds herself at odds with her sister and business partner, Violet. Rose buries herself in her landscaping work but becomes worried when her employee and friend, Bruce Wayne Decker, goes missing. In the meantime Fenton County Assistant DA Mason Deveraux has been patiently waiting to begin a relationship with Rose, but she realizes she needs to confront the demons of her past before she can embrace a new future.

Disgraced ex-detective Harper Adams has traded her badge for a desk job at her father's law firm, a move as dull as the small town she's returned to. But things take a turn when a local woman wants to declare her missing husband dead, five years after his mysterious disappearance. With her father’s firm representing the missing man's wife, Harper seizes the opportunity to delve back into her investigative roots. Her search leads her back to James Malcolm, a former crime boss turned tavern owner, who has his finger on the pulse of every shadowed corner.

Blogging about bad dates used to be fun, but a girl can only take so much foolishness. So I broke up with my job. Okay, full disclosure, I was fired. It’s a long, sordid tale, involving my sourdough starter - RIP, Fred! - and my ex-boss’ serious lack of humor. Newly funemployed and in need of a break, I go to Asheville to dogsit for my sister…and stumble onto a scoop big enough to put my fake-dating days behind me forever.

I used to believe in what we do at Mayberry Matchmakers, but now? Love is just another four-letter word. Too bad my grandmother hasn’t gotten the memo. When tech billionaire Rory Byrne approaches us, wanting to develop the matchmaking app my sister and I dreamed up (and Nana shot down), she jumps at the chance. My grandmother is nothing if not opportunistic. Of course, there’s a catch. She’ll only do it if Rory lets us matchmake him the old-fashioned way. He’s going to say no. Please God, let him say no. The last thing I want to do is matchmake an entitled rich jerk.

Life in Henryetta, Arkansas, is turned upside down with the arrival of a televangelist, but it’s the death of a little old lady on Rose’s street that catches her attention. The Henryetta police deem her death natural causes, but Rose suspects foul play, and so does an unlikely supporter - the president of the Busy Body Club, her 82-year-old neighbor Mildred.

One wrongly accused man. Twenty-nine reasons for Rose to clear his name. When Rose reports for Fenton County jury duty, she figures she’s lucky to get out of a morning working at the DMV. Instead, despite a disastrous encounter with the new assistant district attorney, Mason Deveraux, she’s picked as a juror on a murder case. As the trial progresses, she realizes an ominous vision she had in the men’s restroom proves the defendant is innocent. And there’s not a cotton picking thing she can do about it. Or is there?

Trouble always comes to those who court it. Rose Gardner's ability to see glimpses of the future has gotten her into hot water time and again, but so have her curiosity and her sense of daring. Those very qualities helped her defeat the most powerful man in Arkansas - a man so adept at hiding his crimes there was no way to defeat him inside of the law - but her success came at a steep personal price. Now she's throwing herself into her landscaping business, trying to live a life that's as orderly as one of her gardens.

When Magnolia Steele started digging into her father's disappearance, she had no idea she'd find so much dirt. The secrets she unearthed have changed the official story of what happened to him. Everyone other than her now believes that he embezzled from a client with the help of several accomplices, one of whom got greedy and killed the rest, but Magnolia's convinced there's more to it. She finds plenty of conflicting evidence, including startling links between several recent deaths and her father's past.

Adalia Buchanan has always poured her soul into her art, but after a horrible betrayal by her mentor, she can no longer bring herself to do it. Instead, she’s designing merch and marketing materials for her family brewery in Asheville, hoping it’ll satisfy her urge to create. It doesn’t, of course, and her worst nightmare comes to pass when an arrogant yet attractive acquaintance witnesses her tearing up one of her own paintings.

Ten years ago, Magnolia Steele fled Franklin, Tennessee, after an incident that left her with hazy memories and a horror of the place where she had been born and bred. Though her abrupt departure destroyed most of her treasured relationships, she vowed never to return...until she has no choice. When Magnolia's breakout acting role in a Broadway musical ends in disgrace, there's only one place she can go. She finds herself on her momma's porch, suitcase in hand.

Rose is called into action when Neely Kate's cousin goes missing and the police refuse to take it seriously. But while the authorities - Rose's ex-boyfriend, included - are certain the missing woman has run away, mounting evidence points to foul play. Rose agrees to help her friend, even if it means partaking in Neely Kate's shenanigans, including an impromptu trip to a strip club.

There's no denying trouble finds Rose Gardner like a divining rod finds water, especially when Rose finds herself in the middle of a bank robbery. But after the robbers steal her deposit bag - containing a large amount of cash - she soon finds out that thanks to her sister Violet's financial mismanagement, trouble is threatening her business as well. To top it off, Rose's ex-boyfriend Joe Simmons has moved back to Henryetta to fill the chief deputy sheriff position.

For as long as Magnolia Steele can remember, the past has had its hooks in her. Her time as a Broadway actress in New York City was an escape that ended in public humiliation, but now that she's back home in Franklin, Tennessee, she's feeling the grip of the two incidents that stole her innocence. The first was the disappearance of her father when she was a teen, who left home for a meeting and never came back. The other incident...well, her memories have returned, but it's best left where it belongs - in the past.

Rose Gardner feels responsible for the death of a woman she tried - and failed - to save with her visions, and though she intends to do the “right” thing and tell James Malcolm she can’t possibly accept his offer of a relationship, she hasn’t yet mustered the strength. Worst of all, her sister is terminally ill, and there isn’t a thing she can do to save her. When a new case falls into Rose’s lap, she eagerly shifts her attention to someone else’s problems - except it’s Henryetta, and every person, and problem, is somehow connected.