by Philip Eliot | Mar 9, 2026 | Cozy Mystery |
Elise Butler is a wildlife biologist who enjoys her stable (if somewhat predictable) job in finance at the World Wildlife Trust. However, when the veterinarian at Riverbend Animal Conservation Center goes missing, Elise offers to help the unlucky wildlife Conservation Center get back on its feet. Not only will the job in Riverbend, Indiana let her get back to her roots of working with animals, but it’s also a short drive from her sister’s workplace at Riverbend K-9 Academy, a training center for some of the FBI’s best explosive detection dogs.FBI Special Agent Finn Cooper and his canine partner, Sedona, are chasing a well-funded animal trafficking ring. After an injury sidelines Finn from official FBI undercover work, he goes to work at Riverbend K-9 Academy to stay busy while he recovers…and to investigate his only remaining lead in the animal trafficking case.Just as Elise begins to settle into life in Riverbend, her sister asks her to help the K-9 Academy by fostering one of their puppies. Finn is eager to keep Elise focused on training Zeke, the enthusiastic German shepherd puppy earmarked to become Riverbend’s first wildlife detection K-9, and keep her well away from his quiet animal trafficking investigation. Zeke quickly proves himself an expert both at chewing shoes and sniffing out clouded leopards. When Zeke starts finding scents where they don’t belong, Elise and Finn begin to realize that the Conservation Center may be more criminal than unlucky. And if Elise doesn’t keep her nose out of it, she might be the next target.An Ear for Trouble is Book 2 in the Riverbend K-9 Series. All books in the Riverbend K-9 Series may be enjoyed as standalone novels or as a series.
by Philip Eliot | Mar 9, 2026 | Romantic Comedy |
Finding yourself gets complicated when someone else finds you first.IvyAt forty-one, my career as an Urban Planner is on track, but my personal life? A total car crash. After one too many terrible dates (and a foursome mishap that shall never be mentioned again), my therapist handed me a three-month dating ban. Apparently, I’m supposed to “focus on myself,” which so far includes yoga I’m terrible at, clay work that looks like it was done by a four-year-old, and a baking attempt that produced something akin to cat vomit. But I’m determined to stick to the plan and so the last thing I need is the nosy café owner with the cheeky smile setting up camp in my dreams.Theo Life as a single dad means keeping up with Lucy, my 5-year-old tornado who can charm free biscuits out of strangers faster than I can make a flat white. Between running my Viennese café and bedtime negotiations that rival UN peace talks, I don’t exactly have time for complications. Then Ivy shows up, all sass and determination, ranting about her therapist’s odd rules and ordering coffee like it’s a science experiment. The curvy beauty is funny, clever, and unexpectedly refreshing to have around. She is a friend I never knew I needed… just a friend. Then my meddling brothers put all sorts of ideas in my head and that’s just so not what I need.Prepare for a laugh-out-loud romcom bursting with quirky characters, cheeky banter and enough chemistry to steam up your coffee. Meet our unconventional leads: a chaotic plus-size FMC and a dorky single dad MMC, both in their 40s and ready to embrace life’s curveballs. With twists and turns so funny they’ll have you snorting your tea, this story proves it’s never too late for a bit of delightful chaos. Heads up: this book comes with a naughty twist of adult content. Set in England and penned in British English.
by Philip Eliot | Mar 9, 2026 | Fantasy |
If you’d asked me a week ago, I would have told you that the best cupcakes were dark chocolate with chocolate cream cheese icing, that dancing in a crowd of magic wielders — the Adept — was better than sex, and that my life was peaceful and uneventful. Just the way I liked it. That’s what twenty-three years in the magical backwater of Vancouver will get you — a completely skewed sense of reality. Because when the dead werewolves started showing up, it all unraveled … except for the cupcake part. That’s a universal truth.Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic is the first book in the Dowser series, which is set in the same universe as the Oracle, Reconstructionist, Amplifier, Archivist, and Misfits of the Adept Universe series. While it is not necessary to read all the series, in order to avoid spoilers the ideal reading order of the Adept Universe begins with Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic (Dowser 1).
by Philip Eliot | Mar 9, 2026 | Fantasy |
Red Riding Hood & Beauty and the Beast meet Dragons in this fast-paced fantasy about a young woman caught up in a world steeped in danger and all the power and fiery heat of dragons. Gillian was willing to enter the Shadowlands and trade her life for her brother. Getting caught by the son of the Great Dragon was not the trade she’d bargained for. Now she’s a captive, far from home, learning a tangled web of history she’s somehow part of.But there is more to the lords who rule the Shadowlands than stories of her youth could’ve prepared her for, and she finds her heart thawing in the face of their fiery heat. Torn between duty to family and longing for the forbidden, Gillian must choose a path and, thereby, a future.And time is running out.Journey into an action-packed book that blends romance, fantasy, and dragon lore into an unforgettable read.
by Philip Eliot | Mar 9, 2026 | General Nonfiction |
The true crime story of the Texas mother who murdered her two young sons in 1996.Not since the Susan Smith case have two murders so shocked the nation . . . Hush Little Babies is the appalling true story of Darlie Routier, the neighborhood’s most wonderful mom, who, one night, coldly, calculatingly and brutally stabbed her two sons and watched them die in a pool of their own blood.Darlie claimed an intruder had come through the window, fatally stabbed her sons, six-year-old Devon and five-year-old Damon, slashed her throat with the same knife, then fled, while her husband and infant sons slept upstairs. At first Darlie’s heartfelt testimony evoked fear and sympathy in her safe Dallas community. Then police became suspicious after these troubling questions were raised:· Why, according to a police report, didn’t Darlie make any attempt to help her dying sons?· Why, when she called 911, did she tell the dispatcher that her own fingerprints would be on the murderer’s knife because she had picked it up?· Why did the trail of blood left behind contradict Darlie’s testimony?From the dark forces that drove her to kill her own flesh and blood, to the evidence that snared her in her own twisted web, here is a chilling account of homemaker, loving wife, mother of three, and cold-blooded killer—Darlie Routier.
