Feisty, redheaded Alexandra Merritt has the curious dilemma of inheriting her former employer?s casino in Las Vegas?where anything can and does happen. In addition to learning the ins and outs of running the Desert Flower, Alex has to deal with the famous and the infamous with their special quirks. Hot-shot athletes, movie stars, and stand-up comics all converge on the casino. But when more than one of her guests turns up dead, Alex becomes embroiled in a mystery as hot as the Nevada desert.Beautiful blond Nikki Simmons has the face of an angel, the body of a goddess, and the conscience of a sociopath. A spoiled heiress, she kills for fun. When she instantly takes a dislike to Alex, she decides to put the casino owner on her list of victims. After all, what?s one more?Alex isn?t sure who wants her dead, but she better figure it out before the Desert Flower becomes Vegas?s next morgue.With its tantalizing mix of cozy and regional, fans of Carolyn Hart and Cleo Coyle will enjoy this second offering in the Alexandra Merritt mystery series.
When the World Goes Strange Connie's first time in the desert sends her into sensory overload. So seeing and smelling the unusual comes as no surprise. But when her suspicion turns from unlikely to impossible, Connie brings in an expert. And realizes odd doorways pass into worlds she never imagined. What secrets does the desert hold if you know how to look? An excerpt from An Impossible Desert Flower: Where the Strange Seems Ordinary Connie resisted the urge to bring her smartphone out yet again to make sure she still wasn't getting any signal. At the moment it was a remarkably expensive digital camera, holding the dozens of plant photos she'd already taken on this trip. She turned herself out toward her personal undiscovered country and kept going. After a few minutes, she stopped, hands on her hips, raising her nose to scent the air like a good hound dog. She'd tried to pretend she'd imagined it earlier, but now she'd smelled it too many times. A campfire, clear as anything, with something that had to be meat roasting. And now...horses, as if she'd wandered into a sensory recreation of an Old West movie. But she'd never seen any old rancher or cowboy movie that featured an enticingly sweet scent, much more like a lilac than anything that should be growing out here. And yet again, just like that, the odd smells disappeared.
The power of love and the strength of women working together are proved once again. When Lily Weaver is asked to help Alec Thurston, the one man she’s ever truly loved, and to come to Palm Desert, California, she doesn’t hesitate. He’s dying of cancer and needs her help in overseeing the sale of his hotel, The Desert Sage Inn, to another hotel group. For five wonderful years, she was his assistant at the hotel until he kindly told her their relationship was getting too serious, and he helped her find other work. With her organizational skills and attention to detail, she’s his perfect choice to oversee the details of the sale to help make a smooth transition while maintaining the reputation of the upscale property. Unappreciated in her job with a law firm in New York State, she’s eager to leave it and the cold weather to head for the desert. Her only regret is leaving her sister and three-year-old niece behind. Lily arrives at Alec’s house to find two other women summoned to help him. Rose Macklin was once the social director at Alec’s hotel, and Willow Sanchez is like a daughter to him. They join forces to help him, lovingly accepting his nickname for them—the Desert Flowers, similar to the well-known Charlie’s Angels. As Lily forms her friendship with the other women, she becomes intrigued with the man the hotel company has put in control of the transition. Brian Walden is a war veteran who has never married and is someone who Lily finds, to her delight, she can talk to about most anything when they meet up for early morning walks. Disaster strikes them both as they’re falling in love. Lily ends up having to raise her niece, and Brian is left with a son he never knew he had. It seems only natural that they turn to one another for help, and Lily wonders if this is as Alec might have planned all along. A series for those who love stories about strong women facing challenges and finding love and happiness along the way. Be sure to read the other upcoming books in the series: Lily, Willow, and Mistletoe and Holly Other series written by Judith Keim are receiving a lot of love: The Hartwell Women Series, The Beach House Hotel Series, The Fat Fridays series, the Salty Key Inn Series, the Chandler Hill Inn series, and the books in the Seashell Cottage Collection.
The power of love and the strength of women working together are proved once again. When Rose Macklin is asked to help Alec Thurston, the one man she’s ever truly loved, by coming to Palm Desert, California, she doesn’t hesitate. He’s dying of cancer and needs her help overseeing the sale of his hotel, the Desert Sage Inn, to another hotel group. With her marketing skill and as the owner of a very successful blog, she’s his perfect choice to make the sale a smooth transition while ensuring the new owners will maintain the reputation and image of the upscale property after the sale. She arrives to find Alec has summoned two other women to help with the project. Lily Weaver was once Alec’s assistant, and Willow Sanchez was like a daughter to him. They join forces to help him, lovingly accepting his nickname for them—the Desert Flowers, similar to the well-known Charlie’s Angels of TV fame. When Rose is assigned to work alongside Hank Bowers, an independent consultant to the hotel company’s team, she shudders at his reputation as an outgoing guy who always uses sports analogies and is certain they won’t get along. But Alec counsels her to give Hank a chance and, later, as they work together as a team, Rose is left to wonder if falling for one another is part of Alec’s secret plan even if one of Hank’s grown daughters fights the idea. A series for those who love stories about strong women facing challenges and finding love and happiness along the way. Be sure to read the other upcoming books in the Desert Sage Inn series: Lily, Willow, and Mistletoe and Holly Other series written by Judith Keim are receiving a lot of love: the Hartwell Women Series, The Beach House Hotel Series, the Fat Fridays series, the Salty Key Inn Series, the Chandler Hill Inn series, and the books in the Seashell Cottage Collection.
The power of love and the strength of women working together are proved once again. When Willow Sanchez is asked to help Alec Thurston, the man for whom her parents work and who’s always treated her as the daughter he once lost, she doesn’t hesitate to leave Boston and come back home to Palm Desert, California. Alec is dying of cancer and needs her help in overseeing the sale of his hotel, The Desert Sage Inn, to another hotel group. With her hotel accounting background and financial ability, she’s his perfect choice to help make the sale a smooth transition while maintaining the reputation of the upscale property. She arrives to find two other women summoned to help Alec. Lily Weaver was once Alec’s assistant, and Rose Macklin was heavily involved in the hotel in earlier years. They join forces to help him, lovingly accepting his nickname for them—the Desert Flowers, similar to the well-known Charlie’s Angels. Willow is assigned to work with two young men, sons of the majority owners of the hotel company purchasing the Desert Sage Inn. One of the men, Brent Armstrong, attended the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University with her and used to bully her with unkind names. His cousin, Trace Armstrong, seems to be very different. Struggling to compete against them for the eventual job of executive assistant manager at the Desert Sage Inn, Willow wonders if she’ll ever find the right man to settle down with as she decides to stay in Palm Desert. A talented golfer, she is forced to take Alec’s place in a foursome with Craig Kincaid, the man both Rose and Lily think is perfect for her. But neither Willow nor Craig is interested in anything serious until Willow wonders if Craig might be the good guy Alec had always thought he was. A series for those who love stories about strong women facing challenges and finding love and happiness along the way. Be sure to read the other books in the series: Rose, Lily, and Mistletoe and Holly Other series written by Judith Keim are receiving a lot of love: The Hartwell Women Series, The Beach House Hotel Series, The Fat Fridays Series, the Salty Key Inn Series, the Chandler Hill Inn series, and the books in the Seashell Cottage Collection.
In hopes of bringing the high rollers back to downtown, Mayor Oscar Goodman plans to build a high-rise, glittering casino. He invests everything he has to buy the property and raises the rest of the money from old friends--friends he once defended in court. If his plan doesn't succeed, he stands to lose more than his life savings.On opening day, things go wrong, and those responsible wind up dead. Detectives Sam Howard and Jessica Chalmers begin to wonder...Is the Mayor a possible victim, or is he the prime suspect?
The Month-By-Month series is the perfect companion to take the guesswork out of gardening. With this book, you'll know what to do each month to have gardening success all year. Written by authors in your state, the information is tailored to the issues that affect your garden the most. When is the best time to plant trees and shrubs? Should I fertilize my lawn now? Is it time to prune my roses? What should I be doing in my garden this month? You'll find the answers to these questions and much more inside. This easy-to-use book highlights each of the ten major plant categories using a monthly format. It guides you through each month of the year, telling you exactly what your garden needs. It is like having an expert in the garden with you all year long. Valuable hints are located throughout the book, and beautiful photographs will inspire you. Written just for gardeners where you live, you can be confident that the information is right for you-and your garden will show it.
An “outstandingly dramatic and moving” memoir of fleeing a brutal girlhood in Somalia—and becoming a supermodel and UN special ambassador (Kirkus Reviews). To escape an arranged marriage to a sixty-year-old man, Waris Dirie ran away from her oppressive life in the African desert when she was barely in her teens, illiterate and impoverished, with nothing to her name but a tattered shawl. She traveled alone across the dangerous Somali desert to Mogadishu—the first leg of a remarkable journey that would take her to London, where she worked as a house servant; then to nearly every corner of the globe as an internationally renowned fashion model; and ultimately to New York City, where she became a human rights ambassador for the U.N. Poignant and powerfully told, Desert Flower is Waris’s extraordinary story. “Affecting and at times very entertaining . . . it is Dirie’s remarkable lack of narcissism or entitlement that makes her so captivating a raconteur.” —Publishers Weekly “Written with innocence and warmth, this book shows how one woman’s tragedy can help others.” —The New York Times Book Review “Waris’s story is one of remarkable courage. From the deserts of Somalia to the world of high fashion, she battles against oppression and emerges a real champion. She is the most beautiful inspiration to anyone.” —Elton John
Mojave Desert Trails explores some of the most interesting historic and geological sites in the Mojave Desert. Ecologically and environmentally diverse, the Mojave Desert encompasses a dramatic and enchanting landscape of ancient volcanic cinder cones, Joshua tree forests, sand dunes and rugged mountains. Weather in the Mojave changes as dramatically as its terrain: triple digits from late spring to early fall with winter temps often dropping below freezing. A wet winter, with both rain and snow, will prepare the Mojave Desert for a spectacular display of spring flowers.
