Dean "DeBaz" Bazner is a Professional Surfer, private about his past and quiet about his future. Like any famous professional athlete he's got the talent and sponsors, but he hasn't clinched a World Title since his rookie year. Now in his thirties, with a career clock ticking, he's pushing his limits to get to number one again. When a travel writer named Azure Thomas is assigned to observe his journey between events, what seems like a dangerous diversion, both in and out of the water, forces him to accept that there's more missing from his life than another trophy.

She doesn't know anything about surfing. She doesn't drool over his celebrity. And she sure as hell doesn't ask others to haul her crap around. Azure Thomas has been taking care of herself for most of her thirty years, and this is just another assignment in the changing world of freelance journalism. What she doesn't expect is an athlete who relates to her profound loss and has sacrificed everything except his soul to get to the top of his sport. Dean is more than the hot surfer splashed across magazines and surfing is more than a hobby. Is it possible that what she can't live without is chasing the next big swell?

London Book Festival Honorable Mention
In the blink of an eye, the idyllic world that Claudine Bellamy knew, brutally turns upside down. While her family struggles with tragedy and permanent loss, their professional wrestling business is publicly exposed. Acutely vulnerable, is Claudine resilient enough to resist being exploited by corrupt vultures of the celebrity world and protect her precious family?

THE HOOK: After three years away, Dana, a globe-trotting journalist, reluctantly returns to her foggy coastal hometown, Half Moon Bay. She’s been running away all of her adult life, from the mental illness and chaos that defined her childhood. Now her junkie brother, a former surf star, is tangled up with a brutal meth dealer and he’s in the hospital.

Dana and Shane bonded over surfing as teenagers, frequenting local breaks, including THE HOOK, to escape their violent and damaged family. Dana’s father and brother walked away from Shane years ago, unwilling to deal with his volatility and drug use. But she just won’t give up on him.

As Dana turns to her friends and the tight-knit surfing community for help she confronts her brother’s illegal activities and nearly homeless existence. But that’s just the beginning … a drug kingpin is chasing Shane and then Dana, the FBI are involved, a gang war is building, and a new family crisis is brewing. Meanwhile Dana’s gut-wrenching and frightening journey forces her to face her ruinous childhood, her inability to sustain relationships and her struggle to move on with her life.

"GP Hutchinson's inventive romp cleverly pairs a shrewd police detective with a wronged sumo champion who must prove himself as sure-footed outside the ring as in--or perish trying." --Barry Lancet, bestselling author of JAPANTOWN, TOKYO KILL, and PACIFIC BURN
 
Strong, agile, and disciplined, Tatsuyama has everything it takes to be a legendary sumo wrestler. In fact, he is the only remaining Japanese "yokozuna," sharing the highest possible ranking in his own country's national sport with two foreign wrestlers. Despite his celebrity status, he is known as quite the humble hero, winning over plenty of fans with his affable personality and down-to-earth charm. But everything is about to change for the sumo champion.
 
At a promotional concert featuring a popular, all-girl band, a belligerent drunk won't leave one of the performers alone. When security and police fail to address the problem, Tatsuyama decides to step in and take care of business himself. The creep from the concert presses charges for assault, setting off a chain of events that threatens not only the yokozuna's career, but also the very lives of the people closest to him.
 
It soon becomes evident that certain high-ranking individuals--including an audacious crime boss--are determined to exact control over the world of sumo, and they will stop at nothing to drag Tatsuyama out of the ring.
 
SUMOTORI is a high-action cross-cultural adventure that explores many aspects of life in Japan, from the traditional topknots and kimonos worn by the "last of the samurai" to the trendy street culture of Tokyo. A page-turner from start to finish, you'll find yourself rooting for the instantly likable Tatsuyama the entire way--but can he stop Yamada and the corruption that is threatening to end him before it is too late?

Cycling's for brave people only in Tursenia. Murder is around the next bend.

What do cycling and target shooting have in common? Why is someone picking off young Olympic hopefuls?
Two cyclists in the Junior Italian National Team have been inexplicably shot. A month later Junior Target Shooting National Team member is killed by a high-precision shot to his forehead. A very complicated crime story is waiting for Chase Williams and Inspector Angelo Alunni.

Angelo and Chase are helped by a ballistics expert from Rome, Gianmarco Betti. A series of discoveries, lies and unspoken truths gradually whittle away at the shortlist of suspects until we reach the thrilling conclusion. This is a truly perfect murder mystery. Perhaps.

Chase faces the case with his usual inquisitive attitude as well as his brilliant attention to detail. He also has to deal with his previous life in London as a junior Scotland Yard detective, where he caused an incident he can’t forgive himself for or ever forget.

Who’s going to pull the trigger?

Discover more cozy mysteries

From the same Murder Mystery series

Into the Killer Sphere, a Chase Williams Murder Mystery #1

Other Chase Williams’s detective short stories

– Cutting Right To The Chase Vol.1, Chase Williams detective Short Stories Collection
– Cutting Right To The Chase Vol.2, Chase Williams detective Short Stories Collection
– Cutting Right To The Chase Vol.3, Chase Williams detective Short Stories Collection

Library Journal raves that readers “looking for heartfelt romance will feel the warmth emanating from this page-turner,” Sophia Henry’s debut featuring the Detroit Pilots, a hockey team full of complicated men who fight for love.

Auden Berezin is used to losing people: her father, her mother, her first love. Now, just when she believes those childhood wounds are finally healing, she loses something else: the soccer scholarship that was her ticket to college. Scrambling to earn tuition money, she’s relieved to find a gig translating for a Russian minor-league hockey player—until she realizes that he’s the same dangerously sexy jerk who propositioned her at the bar the night before.

Equal parts muscle and scar tissue, Aleksandr Varenkov knows about trauma. Maybe that’s what draws him to Auden. He also lost his family too young, and he channeled the pain into his passions: first hockey, then vodka and women. But all that seems to just melt away the instant he kisses Auden and feels a jolt of desire as sudden and surprising as a hard check on the ice.

After everything she’s been through, Auden can’t bring herself to trust any man, let alone a hot-headed puck jockey with a bad reputation. Aleksandr just hopes she’ll give him a chance—long enough to prove he’s finally met the one who makes him want to change.

Praise for Delayed Penalty

“Delayed Penalty is sexy, fun, and full of angst. Not only does Aleksandr dominate the ice, but he fights for what he wants outside of the rink as well. I will definitely read it again!”—New York Times bestselling author L. P. Dover

“Delayed Penalty is such a rush! Everything I love about the New Adult genre is right here: a captivating premise, a fresh new setting, and a scorching hot hero who constantly keeps you guessing. The romance is off the charts and Sophia Henry tackles real issues that tug at your heartstrings.”—New York Times bestselling author Rachel Harris

“Hot Russian hockey player meets feisty tutor? Yes, please! I loved watching Aleksandr and Auden work through their broken pasts together. Delayed Penalty is a unique New Adult romance that packs an emotional punch.”—Cindi Madsen, USA Today bestselling author of Getting Lucky Number Seven

“Auden and her hot Russian hockey god, Aleksandr, really heat up the pages in Delayed Penalty—a touching story about growing up, moving forward, and ultimately finding love.”—Renita Pizzitola, author of Just a Little Kiss

“Henry’s debut novel evokes the image of a culture characterized by a stoic exterior, only to reveal deep love as the characters dissolve their emotional walls from the inside out.”—Library Journal

“I really, really liked the premise of Delayed Penalty and I thought the characters were fun.”—Heather’s Book Chatter

“This was a fun book to read. In addition to being a hockey fan, I’m a sucker for guys who can speak a foreign language. And Aleksander is hot.”—Pages of Comfort

“Those who love their hockey romances will enjoy Delayed Penalty.”—Making It Happen

“I recommend Delayed Penalty for new adult romance lovers looking for a sexy and fun story. Plus who doesn’t love a hero with a sexy Russian accent?”—Reading in Pajamas

“I can’t wait for the next one.”—Book Magic

London Book Festival Runner Up-Romance
Hollywood Book Festival Runner-Up Best Genre Fiction
Silver Readers' Favorite International Book Award for Best Fiction-Sports
Southern California Book Festival Honorable Mention-Best Fiction

Claudine Bellamy grew up in a strong family of wrestlers and married a champion fighter. She feels protected and cared for and she likes it that way. When circumstances change, however, Claudine finds herself unprotected and alone. First in the Cauliflower Heart trilogy, A Romantic Wrestler, introduces Claudine Bellamy, who thinks she has the perfect life. She has a superstar wrestling husband, and her family enjoys all of the perks of celebrity. But when life grows bitter and Claudine's husband needs help, will she be strong enough to save him?

What People Say

"From wrestling royalty comes this insightful, emotive tale of the true, human costs of 'the bizness'." Billy Corgan, TV Producer, Author, and lead singer and guitarist of The Smashing Pumpkins

Francesca Milli’s father passes away when she’s a freshman in college and nineteen years old; she is devastated and copes with his death by securing a job working for the Bay City Blackbirds, a big-league team, as she attempts to carry on their traditions and mutual love for the game of baseball. The residual effect of loving and losing her dad has made her cautious, until two men enter her life: a ballplayer and a sports writer. With the support of her mother and two friends, she begins to work through her grief. A dedicated employee, she successfully navigates her career, and becomes a director in the team’s organization. However, Francesca realizes that she can’t partition herself off from the world, and in time, understands that sometimes love does involve taking a risk.