He was a good cop until he ran into a bad one. Then, to save what was left of his family and his sanity, Michael Hogan, Jr., entered the Fed's Witness Protection Program and became Pastor Matthew Hayden. Small town Wilks, Texas, should be the perfect place for him to hide. But his new home is no paradise. It may not even be safe. When the remains of a local woman missing for years are discovered, Matt wants only to comfort his grieving congregation. Then a a parishioner with the same build and coloring as Matt is shot, right in the church. Worried that his own cover has been blown, Matt must find the killers—before they find him. He might be a man of God now, but Matt is still a man. And someone wants this man dead.
2011 Retailers Choice Award winner! Rebecca never felt safe as a child. In 1969, her father, Robert Nichols, moved to Sellerstown, North Carolina, to serve as a pastor. There he found a small community eager to welcome him—with one exception. Glaring at him from pew number seven was a man obsessed with controlling the church. Determined to get rid of anyone who stood in his way, he unleashed a plan of terror that was more devastating and violent than the Nichols family could have ever imagined. Refusing to be driven away by acts of intimidation, Rebecca’s father stood his ground until one night when an armed man walked into the family’s kitchen . . . And Rebecca’s life was shattered. If anyone had a reason to harbor hatred and seek personal revenge, it would be Rebecca. Yet The Devil in Pew Number Seven tells a different story. It is the amazing true saga of relentless persecution, one family’s faith and courage in the face of it, and a daughter whose parents taught her the power of forgiveness.
A historical thriller based on the real-life 1941 robbery of a Kentucky golf club that ended in the murder of a young champion golfer and her mother. Today, the name Marion Miley is largely unrecognizable, but in the fall of 1941, she was an internationally renowned golf champion, winning every leading women’s tournament except the elusive national title. This unassuming twenty-seven-year-old woman was beloved by all she met, including celebrities like jazz crooner Bing Crosby. With ambitions to become a doctor, it seemed Marion Miley was headed for greatness. But on September 28, 1941, six gunshots broke through the early morning stillness of the Lexington Country Club. Marion had been brutally murdered. News of her death spread quickly, headlining major papers such as the New York Times. Support flooded in, spurring police in the hunt for her killers. However, the bombing of Pearl Harbor less than two months later would redirect public attention and sweep Marion's story to a forgotten corner of time?until now. The Murder of Marion Miley recounts the ensuing manhunt and trial, exploring the impact of class, family, and opportunity in a world where steely determination is juxtaposed with callous murderous intent. As the narrative voice oscillates between Marion’s father, her best friend, and one of her killers, an ever-present specter of what could have been?not just for Marion, but for all those affected by her tragic death?is conjured. Drawing on intensive research typical of the true crime genre, Beverly Bell produces a passionate homage to one of the greatest golfers of the early twentieth century. Praise for The Murder of Marion Miley “Don’t let Beverly Bell fool you: she must have been reporting live in 1941 from the scene of Lexington’s most notorious crime. Bell writes with a golden erudition and preternatural imagination that keep the wide-eyed reader up all night—think Truman Capote.” —Patty Friedmann, author of Where Do They All Come From? “In The Murder of Marion Miley, author Beverly Bell takes literary crime-writing to new heights. Unearthing the remains of an actual 80-year-old crime—the murder of a world-class golfer in her prime—Bell creates a lyrical, page-turning novel about chance, class, and the strains of family bonds. Set in Kentucky’s Bluegrass region in the weeks before and after Pearl Harbor, Bell’s book recounts the crime while plunging us into the minds of an assortment of American characters of the 1940s. From its riveting opening scene, The Murder of Marion Miley is story-telling excellence.” —Neil Chethik, author of FatherLoss: How Sons of All Ages Come to Terms With the Deaths of Their Dads
This book was originally published under the title Ceremony in August 2021. Dr. Kep Woodhead is a brilliant, irascible forensic toxicologist with a dark past. Bernadette Becker is a disgraced federal investigator with one last chance. They're both assigned to a strange poisoning case: a graduate student has been found dead in a 15th-century chapel, a needle filled with a controversial hallucinogen sticking out of his arm. The priest, the professor, the piscary president, the protégé, the protestor— all emerge with a motive to stop the victim's research. Can Becker and Woodhead find the truth before more fall victim to the killer?
1 DOWN: A PERSON OF INTEREST Quinn Carr has been quietly creating crosswords for the Chestnut Station Chronicle in her small Colorado town since she was in high school, but she has yet to solve the puzzle of how to make a living from her passion. So she lives with her parents and works at the local diner, catering to regulars like The Retireds, a charming if cantankerous crew of elderly men. The most recent member to join the group is a recently retired tailor, the unfortunately named Hugh Pugh. 4-LETTER WORD FOR “IMPALE” But Hugh’s misfortune dramatically increases when he’s arrested for stabbing his husband with a pair of fabric shears. With a cryptic crossword clue left at the crime scene, Quinn seems tailor-made for solving this murder. The local police may be determined to pin the crime on the kindly tailor, but Quinn will use her penchant for puzzles and what her therapist calls her “obsessive coping mechanism” to get the clues to line up and catch the real culprit—before the killer boxes her in. . . . “FRESH, FAST, AND FURIOUSLY FUN . . . Becky Clark writes with wry wit, a keen eye, and no shortage of authority.” —Brad Parks, Shamus Award-winning author on Fiction Can Be Murder Includes original crossword puzzles!
He was a good cop until he ran into a bad one. Then, to save what was left of his family and his sanity, Michael Hogan, Jr., entered the Fed's Witness Protection Program and became Pastor Matthew Hayden. Small town Wilks, Texas, should be the perfect place for him to hide. But his new home is no paradise. It may not even be safe. When the remains of a local woman missing for years are discovered, Matt wants only to comfort his grieving congregation. Then a a parishioner with the same build and coloring as Matt is shot, right in the church. Worried that his own cover has been blown, Matt must find the killers—before they find him. He might be a man of God now, but Matt is still a man. And someone wants this man dead
Readers will enjoy the NRSV's contemporary, literal translation and the easy-to-read text. Churches that reference the Apocrypha in liturgy and worship will appreciate the quality and price of these outstanding editions for presentation, and outreach.
Pastor Matt Hayden is asked to deliver the Texas Inaugural Ceremony’s benediction after the scheduled speaker disappears. Though happy to do a favor for his friend the new governor, Matt soon discovers that a simple prayer can ignite a world of hate. As Matt joins in the hunt for the missing pastor, he discovers two preachers locked in a deadly battle, their families on the brink of destruction, and a national political power grab in the making. When the fight comes to Matt’s own family, he must find the truth or risk losing everything, including his life.
Five weeks after she’s brutally attacked and beaten in her home, Arykah Miles-Howell returns to church determined to reclaim her title as the First Lady of Freedom Temple Church of God in Christ. Not fully recovered from the loss of her unborn child, Arykah deals with broken women who bombard her with problems of their own. With the help of her supporters, affectionately known as Team Arykah, and her loving husband, Bishop Lance Howell, Arykah manages to overcome her personal struggles. She proves to the congregation that she is a force to be reckoned with when Bishop Lance’s ex-girlfriend tries to take Arykah’s place on the front pew. Will Arykah keep her eye on the prize and stay covered and protected in the armor of God, or will she strip down to nothing but her flesh, boxing gloves, and stilettos and jump in the ring to battle?
When the bodies of the Cowpers, a reclusive middle-aged couple, are discovered brutally slaughtered — and their teenage daughter goes missing — the tiny village of Nether Bowston reels in shock. And as the townspeople mull over the first murder in a century, everyone is asking the same question: Where is Gemma Cowper? Just down the road from the murder scene, Alison Akenside divides her time between cultivating her roses and reporting for the Rutland Record. Like Gemma, Alison grew up in the village — and knows what it's like for a young girl whose dreams are far grander than her prospects. Alison searches for inside information on the murder, hoping finally to sell a story to a national newspaper. But as the case leads her into the darkest corners of this bucolic town, she realizes that not everything is what it seems. And soon Alison, like the rest of Nether Bowston, will discover what really went on behind the tightly drawn curtains of the Cowper home — and find out if Gemma is the victim of a madman ... or something much worse.
