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BY DONNARAE MENARD

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Beneath the Fountain: A Lynn Steeves Series

Coming Soon

At 2:30A.M. Lynn Steeves caught the quick shine of light on the far side of Taylor Park. She was sure it was nothing, but later the news of a body dump in the fountain reached her. Forty-eight hours later, she walked among the Victorian homes left by the railroad barons and circles the burnout of one of the great houses. On the far side is a woman in a beautiful Christmas dress, an oddity for late June, but then the woman was dead. That too, was an oddity.


Chief Koone has two murders and only one suspect, Lynn Steeves. Her killing doesn't track, but her being first on scene for two murders can't be overlooked. Steeves knew the homeless man, but professes ignorance of the woman. Koone locks his eagle eyes on her. He's adding to her stress. Steeves is in the center of a custody battle, already has somebody trying to take her job, a young employee who is being abused, and now a friend from her bank is whispering that somebody might be killing to rob. Is the homeless guy connected? What about the woman in the scarlet dress? Koone appears to be following Steeves hoping she'll slip up. If he's not going to look for the real killer, then Steeves is going to have to. Suddenly it's too late back away. The murderer is dragging her through the garden away from safety. Ask yourself Lynn Steeves, is it your turn to die?

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Murder In The Meadow: An Its Never Too Late Series

Book 1

Kindle available

After 10 years gone, Katelyn Took returns home in 1974 to find the grandmother who raised her dead under mysterious circumstances. Katelyn is ready to cut and run away from the now dilapidated farm, but Gram left her responsible for seventeen cats and a crazy old woman who still lives in the farmhouse. With no money to go, Katelyn takes a job at the feed store and a part-time gig as animal control officer, hoping to save enough to run again. But time is a funny thing. It raises memories, strengthens the heart, and sometimes brings something new into your life, adding confusion. It also allows the world to find you. Who’s watching from the bushes, ready to attack? Who’s going to walk away, Katelyn or the killer?

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Murder on Eagle Drop Ridge: An Its Never Too Late Series

Book 2

Kindle available

Things are looking up for Katelyn Took, she has a job, a roof over her head, a new love, and she's down to fourteen cats. If it weren't for the human remains, she fell into on Eagle Drop Ridge, she'd be over the moon. Then things start to slide. Before she recovers from falling into the first set of bones, a second set of remains are discovered fifty feet down at the bottom of the ledge. She knows there has a connection, even though the father of the male victim, says no. His tunnel vision is mirrored by the sheriff, who's main focus is the woman. Katelyn just wants it all cleared up before the climbing company that's considering renting the ledges drops out. It's a balancing act with the media thrown in for added confusion, and somehow the fate of her new love is jeopardized. Then Katelyn finds a small, shiny clue. What is she going to give up for peace of mind, or rather, what is going to be taken from her?

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Murder in the Village Proper: An It's Never Too Late Series

Book 3

Kindle available

Katelyn Took came home to settle her grandmother’s estate, only to discover not only did Gram leave seventeen cats. But Ruth Beauregard, a childhood chum, had moved in. Ruth was confused, penniless, and abandoned by her in-laws because they believed she had murdered her husband five years before. Ruth had improved, physically and mentally, but she still lived under the stigma of the Beauregard family’s accusations. Katie believed Ruth was innocent and wanted her to be able to move on and be happy. But to make it so, she’d have to look for dirt under a lot of rocks, and it was looking like someone was going to throw those same rocks back. Hard. She could duck and weave, but could Katie find the truth without getting stoned to death?

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Murder on the Small Farm: An Its Never Too Late series

Book 4


Kindle available

Katelyn Took is surviving her return to rural Vermont. It's the 1970s, she's gay, and nobody knows. But she's got a BFF/lover, and the depression that's been riding in the sidecar of her life seems to be abating. Two small boys go missing. While she's out with the search party, she rides over land that used to belong to her grandfather. There are poignant memories, but not as sharp as when she finds out she traveled right past the dumping ground of an unknown woman. The Small Farm may indeed belong to someone else now, but the Gypsy Copse is still hers. Sheriff Lewis is on it. He knows Katie is not as innocent as she portrays. But she hasn't got a clue about who the woman is, how she got there, or what to do about a young boy's strange tale.

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The Waif And The
Warlord

Kindle Available

A foreign born orphan child, Rhys, is presented to the Warlord Most High as tribute. Her people are savages exhibiting fearful traits. It is the Warlord's plan to train Rhys as a child gladiator for his blood sport. But the wizard living in the castle believes Rhys has a different destiny. Custom dictates every man standalone and call forth a dragon. Only such a pair can rule. The Warlord's dragon is the most vicious ever seen. Never has a girl been granted such a prize.


   Through trickery, the wizard takes Rhys from the Warlord. She daydreams of a kind dragon. Suddenly, one appears. Rhys tries to hide it but uncovers another secret. The Warlord has a son born without the use of his legs, whom he ordered destroyed. The wizard hid the boy, but now, as a man, PETETRICH seeks revenge. Rhys and her dragon befriend Petetrich. But when the day comes that battle will ensue, who will face the Warlord? And who man, girl or cripple will win?

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In The Shadow Of
The Pharoah:
Woman Warrior Series

Kindle Available

Born into a poverty-stricken family in the slums of ancient Egypt, sold into slavery to work as a servant in Pharaoh’s palace, Ankh fights for survival for herself and the boy-child secretly sired by the Pharaoh’s only male heir–a child that might one day lay claim to Hokakhty’s throne.

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Strength Of The Mayan Leopard:
Woman Warrior Series

Kindle available

Strength Of The Mayan Leopard will put you in the heart of thirteenth century Mayans, an enlightened people still bound by ancient superstitions. One girl-child, Sun Dancer, fights against the beliefs which sentence her to a future of servitude.


Born with a gift that champions her spirit, she uses wit and guile to overcome her enemies and her own fears. Against the beliefs of her people that man is might, and might is all, Sun Dancer rises to be the first Mayan Leopard Woman Warrior.

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Wu-Lee:
Woman Warrior Series

Kindle Available

In the year 912, Wu-Lee was born the daughter of a powerful Chinese magistrate. Four years later, her life changed when a roving band of Mongolian raiders annihilated her family.


Saved by her nursemaid, she grew to womanhood hides as a slave in a neighboring village. Only one person knew her secret. Then life twisted again. The raiders returned looking for a princess to answer a dead chieftain’s vision. Wu-Lee’s secret was offered to the raiders in exchange for the secret holder’s life.


The raiders took Wu-Lee north. Three on the barren Steppes, alienated from her captors and impregnated by their ruthless leader, she grew strong and wise while protecting her child and herself. In time, she saw the way to escape, but could she create a ruse that would take her back to China and save her and her son?

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The Morality Issue: Courier of the Dead Series

Book 1

Kindle Available

Glenna Woodward had no job, no prospects, and only a few friends. Then she met Dennis Slater and went to work for him, delivering urns of cremated and unclaimed remains. It was his morality issue until one urn came with a terrifying tale of road rage and a confusing back story. Now Glenna had a job, a fledgling sweetie, and a strange man willing to kill to shut her up. Shots are fired. Who is going to fall to the ground? Is this the career end for the Courier of the Dead?

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It Takes Guts, Short Story

Jane Cummings ran afowl of the law. Her dad decided to clip her wings by getting her a job far enough away so she can't fly home. Now, she's living in the sticks, in a mobile home twenty years older than she is. She has a bike, AA meetings, a probation officer, and a job at a chicken processing plant. The other workers are older Korean ladies. They call her Nappeun Yeoja, bad girl. It can't get worse. Then a body surfaces in the gut vat. While she's trying to save her own tail feathers, she learns the other ladies have even more to fear. Raising her voice for the rights of all produces somebody who doesn't share her views. Then Cummings realizes the next cage she's going to be handling is going to have her inside. Will her squawking wake someone up? Or is she also going to get processed?

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Dreams of a Mad Woman, Book of short stories

Science says everyone dreams. Do you dream? Do you remember your dreams? Can you call up a specific dream and watch it whenever you want? Dreams of A Mad Woman contains three of my dreams that I've watched multiple times. You will meet Drew, who has a brother with control issues, Martha who's dreams end up in a puddle, and Epii who is a wild child. Sit back with a big bowl of popcorn and dream with me.

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Dropped From the Sky: A Gwen Hanson Mystery

Book 1

Kindle Available

My pepere always said that if trouble fell from the sky it would land on me, and it happened. I, Gwen Hanson, country girl turned city woman, now divorced and looking for a space right in the middle, am deep in the middle of the proverbial cow flop. Accepting an invitation to the Mystery Lovers Police Academy, I expect to learn a little bit about police procedure, participate in a staged mystery, and maybe meet some dark and handsome new man. Instead I end up discovering a body hidden in plain sight. A friend needs my help, yet every move makes the police look harder at me as a suspect. There's more than meets the eye here, and now that I'm being harassed. I don't understand why and I need to know. My gay and eccentric friend Phoebe follows me like a lost puppy, while Gina, whose husband is a retired detective, tries to herd us toward safety. Who's going to win, and more importantly am I going to fitted for an outfit with horizontal stripes? What are the chances something else is going to drop from the sky right on top of me?

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Willa the Wisp

Willa is a wisp, a tiny child ghost who sits in the forest watching the children play and wishing for a friend. When another little girl with a generous heart and an open mind becomes her friend, Willa is ecstatic. While they play, Willa's friend gets hurt and Willa needs to make the adults, who don't believe she exists, come to help. Can she do it? Can Willa make grown up people believe?

Books

New!The Pig & I series
Snuffling Up Bones
The Pig & I series

Coming September 2024

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