Kirjahaku

When Abigail Hightower's father loses his bid for re-election as mayor of Skylark City, the young woman searches for a way to support her family. Her greatest asset is a lovely singing voice. All she has to do is find the right style. With her Aunt Winifred's advice and the help of a handsome young musician, she's soon working her way to a career.That comes to an end when the new mayor, Mr. Crankybutt, forbids all music in Skylark City.What will happen if Abigail can't provide for her loved ones?

In 1906, I was barely over fourteen years old, and it was my wedding day. My older sister, Helen, came to my room, took me by the hand, and sat me down on the bed. She opened her mouth to say something, but then her face flushed, and she turned her head to look out the window. After a second, she squeezed my hand and looked back in my eyes. She said, "You've always been a good girl, Maude, and done what I told you. Now, you're going to be a married woman, and he will be the head of the house. When you go home tonight after your party, no matter what he wants to do to you, you have to let him do it. Do you understand?I didn't understand, but I nodded my head anyway. It sounded strange to me, the way so many things did. I would do what she told me. I didn't have a choice, any more than I had a choice in being born.

Out of work and almost out of money, actor/dancer/singer Shana Alana loses her most prized possession. In her frenzied efforts to retrieve it, she finds she will do anything, including murder.With the help of her best friend, Jeanne Harper, Shana finally lands a part in a show at the Las Vegas Getaway Hotel and Casino. Good luck seems to come in a landslide, but the depression that dogged her all her adult life refuses to leave. When she's cast in a leading part in eccentric director Hank Azar's new film, her career kicks into high gear. She's even mentioned as a possible Oscar winner.In spite of Jeanne's warning about dating actors, Shana falls in love with her handsome leading man. She soon finds that Jeanne speaks from the wise perspective of experience.Out of control, she sinks in a downward spiral and finds she's lost more than her heart and a material possession. She's also lost her sense of who she is and maybe lost her mind.

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? "A sizzling Sin City whodunit." -Norm Clarke, Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist "Thank heaven this isn't true " -Oscar Goodman, 3-term Mayor of Las Vegas, Attorney, Author, Actor and Restaurateur

In 1861, in the small town of Manhattan, Kansas, the Curran girls have expectations of what their lives will be. D'Arcy, 12, redheaded and freckled, curious and rebellious, wants to grow up and dominate her world. Suzanne, not yet 18, wants only to marry her handsome lieutenant from Fort Riley, Jonathan Taylor. The beginning of the Civil War and Suzanne's one night of passion sends everyone's lives in an unexpected direction. Jonathan is sent to the battlefields that will determine the survival of the nation. To avoid scandal in their small town, the girls are sent to Detroit to live with family.They not only find a welcoming aunt and uncle, they discover a burgeoning city, both ugly and beautiful, rough and cultured, drunk and refined.As she matures, D'Arcy develops a friendship with the older boy next door, and it changes her opinion of men. Fate throws both girls undreamed-of twists, and D'Arcy is forced to cope. A rash decision changes everything. Will D'Arcy be prepared for the consequences?

When Roxanne Russell's mother dies, her father is away on a business trip. The young military widow leaves dozens of messages for her father but receives no response. Looking for a copy of her mother's obituary, Roxie reads an article in the newspaper and discovers her entire life is a web of lies, secrets, and deceit. The story sends her off in search of the truth about the man she idolized. She drives to her father's birthplace-Manhattan, Kansas-and moves into her grandmother's huge, three-story, hundred-and-fifty-year-old house. It's been vacant for decades, but Roxie begins to believe she's not the only occupant. She doesn't know if there's an intruder or if the spirit of her grandmother is watching over her.In only a matter of days, someone has made several attempts on her life. She calls in her best friend, Janice Tallchief-retired on a disability from the Kansas City Police Department-to act as her bodyguard. Can Jan and Roxie unravel the mystery before the killer succeeds?

The Civil War ended, but the turmoil of D'Arcy Curran's life did not. Rather than give up the child she raised from birth, sixteen-year-old D'Arcy kidnaps her sister Suzanne's son. The only safe place for her and little Danny is home...Manhattan, Kansas. Once there, D'Arcy learns that danger comes in many forms, and some of them are too close for comfort. Her father is murdered by marauding Jayhawkers. Her mother is lost in grief. D'Arcy faces the disapproval of many when she wears trousers, carries a gun, and takes over the responsibility for the farm. She's drawn to Royce Quinn, her foreman, who years earlier swore his love to Suzanne. When her sister comes home, D'Arcy fears Suzanne is there to take Danny away from her...and maybe Royce as well.

Ninth in 'The Manhattan Stories' by Wall Street Journal Top 10 Best Selling author, Donna Foley Mabry, "Meaghan Curran Quinn The Manhattan Stories: The Currans, Book Five" continues the saga of the Curran Family.

Eighth in 'The Manhattan Stories' by Wall Street Journal Top 10 Best Selling author, Donna Foley Mabry, Dan Curran Quinn - The Manhattan Stories: The Currans, Book Four continues the saga of the Curran Family. After a romance that started when he was still in high school, Dan Curran Quinn marries his longtime love, Kathleen O'Malley. They begin their lives together with a bright future, but a vengeful killer from Dan's past has other plans. When every dream he ever had is shattered, Dan is unable to recover. Restless, he sets out to ride horseback across the vanishing frontier from Manhattan, Kansas to the little town of Goodland near the Colorado border. Along the way, Dan encounters dangers, hunger, thirst, desperate people, and situations that teach him what kind of man he is--and what kind of man he wants to be.

From the day he was born, Steve Schmidt had to fight to survive. Now, he's the king of Las Vegas . . . and he doesn't fight fair. Leah Wallace, daughter of a well-connected casino owner, battles to save her marriage and her husband's life. Ellis Marshall, born into violence in an Alabama shack, swears he'll do anything for Steve, including murder.

Seventh in The Manhattan Stories by Wall Street Journal Top 10 Best Selling author, Donna Foley Mabry, "The Currans and The Quinns, The Manhattan Stories: The Currans, Book Three" continues the saga of the Curran Family.On the Manhattan, Kansas frontier of the 1870s D'Arcy Curran, her adopted son Dan, and her new husband, Royce Quinn, want nothing more than to raise a family and live in peace. Their plans are waylaid when the renegade Jayhawker who killed D'Arcy's father returns from prison looking for revenge.Human treachery isn't the only thing D'Arcy and Royce battle on their prairie home. As Dan grows from a boy to a man and more children arrive, they struggle against the forces of nature, animals that are not as tame as expected, and disease.When Dan meets Kathleen O'Malley, he's only sixteen but is convinced she's the girl for him. He sets out to win her heart, but he wonders, can the pampered daughter of a New York millionaire learn to love a rough-hewn cowboy?

In this collection, Donna brings us a novella, a selection of seven short stories, and reminiscences of growing up in Detroit.