Wildflowers from Winter - A Novel

In this suspenseful fifth book in our wonderful series created by veteran dog trainer Lee Charles Kelley, a clever kennel owner, his lady love, and his loyal canines must solve their most disturbing mystery yet!

It's October in Maine and ex–cop/criminologist turned dog trainer Jack Field and his fiancée, Chief State Medical Examiner Dr. Jamie Cutter, are getting married in a few weeks. But fate puts a wrench in their plans when the police find a young woman's body in a secluded lake. Jamie asks Jack, who's been appointed her civilian advisor, to come to the scene. Seeing the body sparks a memory of a case Jack studied while taking a seminar at the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit. He suspects the death is the work of a serial killer and as the mystery unfolds, it becomes clear that suspects abound, including a sleazy private detective, a well–respected botanist, recruits in the upper echelons of the FBI, and even the wealthy husband of Jack's ex–girlfriend. Add an adorable Dalmatian named Daisy and a wedding ceremony like no other you've ever seen, and you've got Kelley's most touching, heartbreaking, suspenseful, and downright hilarious book yet!

When Jimmy McMullen, a fireman with the NYFD, is killed in the line of duty, his wife, Jackie, and ten-year-old son, Charlie, are devastated. Charlie idolized his dad, and now the outgoing, curious boy has become quiet and reserved. Trusting in the healing power of family, Jackie decides to return to her childhood home on Sullivans Island.

Crossing the bridge from the mainland, Jackie and Charlie enter a world full of wonder and magic—lush green and chocolate grasslands and dazzling red, orange, and magenta evening skies; the heady pungency of Lowcountry Pluff mud and fresh seafood on the grill; bare toes snuggled in warm sand and palmetto fronds swaying in gentle ocean winds.

Awaiting them is Annie Britt, the family matriarch who has kept the porch lights on to welcome them home. Thrilled to have her family back again, Annie promises to make their visit perfect—even though relations between mother and daughter have never been what you'd call smooth. Over the years, Jackie and Annie, like all mothers and daughters, have been known to have frequent and notorious differences of opinion. But her estranged and wise husband, Buster, and her flamboyant and funny best friend Deb are sure to keep Annie in line. She's also got Steven Plofker, the flirtatious and devilishly tasty widowed physician next door, to keep her distracted as well.

Captivated by the island's alluring natural charms and inspired by colorful Lowcountry lore—lively stories of Blackbeard and his pirates who once sailed the waters surrounding the Carolinas and of former resident Edgar Allan Poe—mother, daughter, and grandson will share a memorable, illuminating summer. Told in Annie's and Jackie's alternating voices, and filled with Dorothea Benton Frank's charming wit, indelible poignancy, and hallmark themes-the bonds of family, the heart's resilience, and the strength of love—Porch Lights is a triumph from "the queen of Southern fiction" (Charlotte Observer).

(A short novel of 40,000 words approximately 180 pages)

Three women, three birthdays and one unforgettable night that will change their lives forever.

One night in San Francisco, three women make a birthday wish believing it cant possibly come true. Liz is turning thirty. A successful nurse, she has a good career, but no man to share her life. All her friends are married, and shes alone, still trying to outrun a tragedy from her past. Then she meets a handsome stranger.

Angela, a member of a large, loving Italian family, is facing thirty-five with no baby in the nursery. Eight years of infertility treatments have put a strain on her marriage. Will she have to choose between her husband and having a child? When she is mugged by an unexpected assailant, her life takes a new turn.

Carole, a corporate wife, is staring down forty candles. Having grown up poor, she worked hard to get ahead, but when her kids bail on her birthday, and she discovers her husband with another woman, she realizes that she may have nothing at all. She goes back to where it all began, the mother she left behind, and the man whose heart she once broke.

When Grace Emerson's ex-fiancé starts dating her younger sister, extreme measures are called for. To keep everyone from obsessing about her love life, Grace announces that she's seeing someone. Someone wonderful. Someone handsome. Someone completely made up. Who is this Mr. Right? Someone...exactly unlike her renegade neighbor Callahan O'Shea. Well, someone with his looks, maybe. His hot body. His knife-sharp sense of humor. His smarts and big heart.

Whoa. No. Callahan O'Shea is not her perfect man! Not with his unsavory past. So why does Mr. Wrong feel so...right?