Baxter residents fear upheaval when a regional tire plant announces it's coming to Baxter. Rumor says mayor Charlie Kirby's signature on the deal was influenced by an affair with the tire company's corporate attorney - who dies suddenly after the agreement is finalized. Charlie, a pillar of the community and a father of seven, faces the court of public opinion and the biggest moral dilemma of his life. Meanwhile, newspaper editor Ellen Jones goes looking for a feature story, collides with the brick wall of the late attorney's past - and is stalked by someone pursuing the same track!

Is Liam Berne a loving son--or a murderer? The second book in the Ozark Mountain Trilogy, Only by Death is a thought-provoking suspense story of a man who loses everything and learns he must die to find life. After much agonizing, Liam Berne takes his mother, who has Alzheimer's, to the Sure Foot River and drowns her. A mercy killing, he tells himself, to spare her years in a nursing home. And getting his inheritance early isn't a bad thing either. Dixie Berne's body is recovered and the coroner cannot find any sign of foul play, though Liam's sister isn't convinced. Then Liam hears rumors...

Rich with the Cajun flavors of south Louisiana, this final book in the Secrets of Roux River Bayou series is a story of what it means to find true peace in an uncertain world. Sax Landry left home at seventeen to escape his father's abuse, leaving his mother and sister to fend for themselves. Now, twenty-eight years later, both parents are dead, and guilt compels him to find his sister and make peace. His search leads to Les Barbes, Louisiana, where authorities fear a bio-terrorist has injected cyanide into juice cartons and fresh produce at the grocery store. People are dead. It's not safe....