Inquisitive heir, Charlie Fine's obsession with the truth makes him an excellent fraud investigator, but there's one mystery he's never been able to solve: the identity of the girl who gave him the greatest kiss of his life during a high school game of 7 Minutes In Heaven. Twenty years of experiments attempting to recreate the chemistry of that kiss have gotten him nowhere but frustrated and he's about to resign himself to a life without relationship fireworks when an invitation to his high school reunion steels his resolve to get answers once and for all. Accompanied by his binge-drinking best buddy, Martin, he heads home to grill his lovely suspects only to find his skills better put to use in solving the disappearance of an old friend's father and the sabotaging of a maple farm. Thwarted by a shady detective, distracted by a former classmate's troubled sister, will Charlie be able to find out who done it and who done it best? Will the same suspect hold the answers to both mysteries and will her identity be that of the dream girl he let get away? Who kissed Charlie Fine? You could skip to the end, but you'd miss more bear attacks, booby traps, pickled cabbage, flying cardboard, dry lightning, ghost parrots, creepy crawlers, maple syrup and tea cozies than in any cozy mystery about smooching you've ever read! Please know this story contains mild cursing and three F bombs - one of which is totally necessary. *Cover art uses "On-De-Fence" by Gil Elvgren which is to the best of my knowledge in the public domain. *No part of this story may be reproduced or used in any manner without express written permission by the author. © All Rights Reserved

TRIGGER WARNING One of the most calming things in the world is listening to the sound of waves - not sound waves, but the beach waves. Just sit still, close your eyes, and listen. Don't pay attention to anything else, just the waves. Here I was, soaked head to toe, smelling like salt water, listening to the sound of the waves at three in the morning. How did I end up here you may ask? I tried committing suicide. And some idiot saved me. After a tragic accident that led to the death of her parents two years ago, Abigail Evans moved into her aunt's home in Belmar, NJ. During that summer, she just happens to bump in Roman Carter - mysterious, handsome, and the person that just happened to save her life. All Abigail wants is to leave. All Roman wants to do is to find out everything he can about Abigail. What happens when these two collide?

"You see love I'm about as straight as a circle." "Circle's aren't straight." "Exactly." --- In which a good girl falls for a bad girl. (book one of PRIDE series)