12-year-old Harper Richardson's parents are divorced. Her mum got custody of her, the Mini, and five hundred tins of baked beans. Her dad got a mouldering cottage in a Midlands backwater village and default membership of the Lone Rangers single parents' club. Harper got questionable dress sense, a zest for life, two gerbils, and her Chambers dictionary, and the responsibility of fixing her parents' broken hearts...Set against a backdrop of high hairdos and...

When sixteen-year-old Hannah Sheraton is arrested for the murder of her stepgrandfather, the chief justice of the California Supreme court, her distraught mother turns to her old college roommate, Josie Baylor-Bates, for help. Josie, once a hot-shot criminal defense attorney, left the fast track behind for a small practice in Hermosa Beach, California. But Hannah Sheraton intrigues her and, when the girl is charged as an adult, Josie cannot turn her back. But the deeper she digs the more J...

About the BookAn adventure through the wonderful world of a child’s imagination, Imagine! A Safe Place to Dream and Let Your Imagination Run Wild! encourages children to dream their thoughts and see them in a way that brings laughter to their hearts.May they always believe in themselves and seek joy, laughter, and love in words; and speak out and tell of goodness, excitement, and fear as they become aware of all life can offer.About the AuthorDonna Forster work...

In the dead of night, Josie Bates is ripped from sleep by the sounds of an epic storm raging over Hermosa Beach and a man beating on her door begging her to help Billy Zuni who is drowning in the raging sea. She arrives at the shore just in time to see the teenager pulled from the water, battered and near death. Ready to kill Billy's selfish, neglectful mother, Josie rushes to the Zuni house only to find someone has beaten her to it. Two men lie dead downstairs and Billy's mother clings to...

Josie Baylor-Bates has a full plate caring for a troubled teen, but it's about to get fuller when her ex-cop lover, Archer, is accused of murdering his disabled stepson—a son Josie never knew he had. When Timothy Wren died at California's oldest amusement park it appeared to be a tragic accident. But now Timothy's biological father and the district attorney are out for blood. Is this a criminal action with merit, a vendetta or is there a big cash settlement in the offing?For Josie ...

It's two in the morning and an aging cargo ship lies off the Port of Los Angeles. Deep in the bowels of the vessel, an important man is dead and the woman who killed him is mortally wounded. On shore another man staggers out of the sea determined to save the woman before she dies or the ship sails. Exhausted and terrified, he goes to the only person he trusts to help, Josie Bates. He brings with him a history she can't ignore, a problem that seems insurmountable, and a plea she can't refus...

No good deed goes unpunished: this time it's going to be brutal.Christmas is coming and the world is joyful for everyone but Josie Bates. A devastating miscarriage, her employer's pending retirement, and her husband's overseas job have left her alone and adrift—until Lily Daye dies and names Josie executor of her estate. Josie has no idea who this woman is, but her will is simple and her possessions meager. In the spirit of the season, Josie accepts the job. Yet be...

1988: Harper Richardson's mum and dad are divorced. Her mum got custody of her, the Mini and five hundred tins of baked beans. Her dad got a mouldering cottage in a Midlands backwater village and plenty of free time to indulge his WWII obsession. What a Way to Go is a warm, wise and witty tale of one girl's mission to run headfirst into the middle of some of life's big questions - and to come out the other side with some reasonable answers.

Grace McCreary swears she tried to stop her sister-in-law from jumping from her penthouse balcony but the police have a different take on the situation. They arrest Grace for murder which puts her brother, Senatorial candidate Matthew McCreary, in a spotlight he doesn't relish. Nor is he thrilled when Grace seeks out his former lover, Josie Baylor-Bates, to act as her defense attorney. Josie, who has sworn off rich clients, agrees to defend Grace but even she isn't sure why. She swears she...

It's two in the morning when Hannah Sheraton slips into Archer's Hermosa Beach apartment to see if Josie Bates sleeps in his bed. But Josie isn't there. In fact, Josie isn't anywhere. When her Jeep is found abandoned in a parking lot near the Redondo pier, the only clue to her whereabouts leads Archer to Daniel Young, an expert witness for the prosecution in the case that made Josie's reputation as a defense attorney ten years earlier. Fighting to keep Hannah from being taken into custody ...

Appearing before the Senate Select Committee on Eastern European crime, Josie Bates testifies passionately about the brutal Albanian blood feud that has sent Hannah into hiding with Billy Zuni, and Archer on a quest to find them. While Senator Patriota, the man sure to be the next president of the United States, promises his patronage, Josie isn't convinced he was even listening—but someone was.Charging through the crush of bodies, evading security, a frantic man launches himself a...

As the edge of winter slices through Washington, D.C., Josie Bates testifies before Congress about the Albanian blood feud that sent Hannah Sheraton and Billy Zuni fleeing for their lives while Archer reluctantly abandons a trail that has gone cold in his search for the teenagers. Determined to stay one step ahead of the authorities who want Billy back and a blood feud that will only be satisfied when he is dead, Hannah and Billy head north. There they will hunker down in the darkest corne...