Showing results by author "Diane Kelly" in All Categories

Tax cheats, beware: The Treasury Department's Criminal Investigations Division has a new special agent on its payroll. A recovering tomboy with a head for numbers, Tara's fast becoming the Annie Oakley of the IRS-kicking ass, taking social security numbers, and keeping the world safe for honest taxpayers. Or else. Tara's latest mission finds her in hot pursuit of ice-cream vendor Joseph "Joe Cool" Cullen. Along with frozen treats he's selling narcotics-and failing to report his ill-gotten gains on his tax returns. Over Tara's dead body.

As if hitting the half-century mark wasn't enough, Misty Murphy celebrated her landmark birthday by amicably ending her marriage and investing her settlement in a dilapidated mountain lodge at the top of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The lodge is fully booked on opening night, every room filled with flexible folks who'd slipped into spandex and ascended the peak for a yoga retreat with plans to "namastay" for a full week. Misty and her guests are feeling Zen - at least until the yoga instructor is found dead.

Officer Luz is lucky she still has a job after tasering a male colleague where it counts the most. Sure, he had it coming - which is why the police chief is giving Megan a second chance. The catch? Her new partner can't carry a gun, can't drive a cruiser, and can't recite the Miranda Rights. Because her new partner is a big furry police dog. So that's what the chief meant when he called Megan's partner a real bitch...With Brigit out on the beat, Megan is writing up enough tickets to wallpaper the whole station.

When she joined the Criminal Investigations Division, Tara knew she'd be investigating some very real crooks. Forget about waitresses hiding tips from the IRS or babysitters not declaring income! Tara and her partner, Eddie, are going after one of country's richest, dirtiest felons. Being on a diet doesn't help Tara's mood much. Hopefully, by the time the investigation is over, she'll be sitting somewhere in a string bikini, far, far away....

When the ladies of the Dangerous Curves Motorcycle Club take over the Mountaintop Lodge for their annual autumn ride along the Blue Ridge Parkway, Misty Murphy couldn't be more thrilled. Every room is full and the adventurous women even invite Misty and her assistant Brynn to join them on a ride to admire the colorful fall foliage. The skies are clear, the air is crisp, and the leaves are gorgeous. But what starts as a perfect ride turns worrisome when the tail gunner—the last rider in their group—fails to show up at the Craggy Gardens overlook.

After capturing the notorious Fort Worth "Tunabomber", Megan and Brigit are practically celebrities. Which is why the police chief lassoed them into doing rodeo duty - mostly as a public relations stunt for the department.

Meet Whitney Whitaker. A hopeless romantic when it comes to real estate, she knows what it takes to find - and flip - the home of one’s dreams. A fixer-upper is like catnip to Whitney: She can’t resist the challenge of turning an eyesore into a priceless work of art. So when one of her clients decides to liquidate a crumbling property, Whitney seizes the opportunity to purchase it for a song. But soon a curious incident of the cat in the night-time leads to a change in tune.

A series of bogus reports of active shooters has rattled the Fort Worth PD. The SWAT team has been repeatedly deployed to what turn out to be nonevents. When no connection can be made between the "swatting" calls, Megan's mentor, Detective Bustamente, is at a loss. Are the phony calls being made by copycat criminals, or is there a link they haven't yet been able to identify? Megan and Brigit join the investigation. But will they be able to stop the calls before the department's reaction turns deadly?

The weather is beautiful, work is slow, and her canine colleague could use a walk. What better day for Megan to take Brigit to the Fort Worth Zoo, where they can let loose and witness the law and order of nature unfold? But what begins as a fun field trip turns serious when a pair of rare hyacinth macaws named Fabiana and Fernando goes missing. Is the new custodian, a gentle soul who happens to be an ex-convict, to blame? Or is something far more sinister afoot? The birds are worth thousands of dollars, and the list of people on the premises who might have stolen them is long.

When you're an agent for the IRS, it's always tax time. And this season, Tara Holloway is up to her neck in work with two very knotty cases. One involves a charismatic minister who's using his mega-church as a tax shelter. The other is a crazy militant who's trying to turn Texas into a separate country. With her boyfriend out of town and her partner reassigned, Tara is on her own - and things are getting hairy. If dealing with the Lone Star State isn't enough, Tara has other new issues to take into account: There's a sexy new agent named Nick, who's got her head in the clouds...and Tara's boss, Lu, who's having a hair problem of epic proportions.

Whitney Whitaker has scored the perfect piece of real estate: a ramshackle white Colonial at the top of a hill with views of downtown Nashville. What more could a self-taught home-improvement maven and occasional house flipper ask for? Ideally, the property of Whitney's dreams would not have come with a dead body blocking the entrance to the foyer. But Whitney, always quick to take heavy duty matters into her own hands, also happens to be a skilled amateur sleuth. So that helps.

International resort developer Nigel Goodwin has traveled all the way from London, England, to Misty Murphy's little corner of North Carolina, and bought out the Mountaintop Lodge for the week prior to Christmas. Their intention? To pitch an exclusive new resort concept to wealthy American investors.

Wedding bells are ringing as Tara and her soon-to-be-husband Nick prepare for their big day. But along with all the RSVP cards are a series of death threats from an unknown source. The culprit must be someone from an earlier investigation-a white-collar criminal with a red-hot grudge-but Tara has run across too many lawbreakers to narrow down the search. And time, like her biological clock, is ticking. 

When Tara agreed to be her best friend's maid of honor, she knew it would be a ton of work. But planning a bachelorette party is a piece of (wedding) cake compared to her latest mission for the IRS. Her target is radio host Florence "Flo" Cash, star of "The Flo Cash Cash Flow Show". Not only has Flo been giving her listeners shady tax advice, she's set up an elaborate barter system that leaves Uncle Sam out of the equation - and Tara tied in knots....

When a raging tornado hits Forth Worth, Megan's squad car is flipped over - and her devoted police dog, Brigit, is not amused. But that's not all that's upside down. The streets are littered with looters - and members of a violent street gang - and no local business is safe. It's time to get back on all fours and see that the job of protecting the public is done. But Megan, outmanned and outgunned, has no choice but to let the gang members get away.

When the IRS is tasked with assisting the border patrol in pursuing unscrupulous "coyotes" who've transported illegal immigrants across the border, Tara finds herself at odds. Not only must she investigate Brett Ellington, her old flame whose landscaping business employs such workers, but now Tara has to convince her new romantic partner in crime, Nick Pratt, that she doesn't still carry a torch for Brett. #stresseating #greaseistheword

Megan has her sights set on finding a convicted burglar who's broken his parole, and she has the perfect partner to help sniff him out. Unfortunately, her shepherd mix Brigit's dog bowl is already full. A Peeping Tom has been spotted in an affluent Fort Worth neighborhood, and concerned citizens are looking for a few good watchdogs. To catch the creep, residents start enlisting volunteers to beef up their neighborhood watch group - which is fine with Megan.

When a rash of college students fall seriously ill after ingesting Molly, a "club drug" also known as ecstasy, Officer Megan Luz and her K-9 partner, Brigit, are tasked with tracking down the dealers. Going undercover at the university leads Megan closer and closer to infiltrating the drug trafficking ring. But when the investigation implicates her former partner and workplace nemesis, Officer Derek Mackey, Megan's powers of discernment are put to the test.

It's bad enough that Tara has to go on trial against the mortgage-frauding "Tennis Racketeers" who cheated banks and homeowners out of millions in between doubles matches. Now she has to go undercover - in a strip club - to strip the sleazeball owner of his indeed illegal livelihood. At least she's working as a bookkeeper, not a pole dancer. And who needs tips when her undercover crush, Special Agent Nick, is the club's bodyguard? 

Question your typical perception. See beyond the normal you know. Step into divergent realms. Let this anthology of new and original short stories show you the fantastic and futuristic through a new lens. A struggling father discovers why his autistic daughter becomes consumed with a virtual reality simulator in the wake of her mother’s death.