A brilliant novel that captures the dusty, dark, and beautiful world of small-time horse racing, where trainers, jockeys, grooms and grifters vie for what little luck is offered at a run-down West Virginia track .

Tommy Hansel has a plan: run four horses, all better than they look on paper, at long odds at Indian Mound Downs, then grab the purse -- or cash a bet -- and run before anyone's the wiser. At his side is Maggie Koderer, who finds

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Megan hopes to mend the pieces of her broken spirit by attending a church group's annual camping trip. But the church group members make a catastrophic mistake, leaving them stranded in an untouched canyon in the forest. They soon realize the canyon is home to a terrifying prehistoric arachnid that patiently stalks its prey. Haunted by her tragic loss, Megan now faces her ultimate test of endurance. Can she outwit a bloodthirsty creature hellbent...

Can their love survive a secret he never suspected? A tragedy transformed Rose Hamilton from a surrogate mother for her beloved foster sister into a single mom expecting twins. But when she walks into Dr. Hunter Mackenzie's West Virginia wildlife rehab clinic-with her pregnancy still a secret-all he sees is a gorgeous, likable woman applying for a job. Rose doesn't want a romance with the handsome veterinarian who doesn't suspect that she's expecting,...

Set during the 1950s in West Virginia and Korea, this is the story of two children--Lark, on the verge of adulthood, and her brother, Termite, a child unable to walk and talk but filled with radiance--who grow up with their mother and aunt while their soldier-father fights for his life during the chaotic early months of the Korean War.

When he finds a lost beagle in the hills behind his West Virginia home, Marty tries to hide it from his family and the dog's real owner, a mean-spirited man known to shoot deer out of season and to mistreat his dogs.

"A lifeless girl slips into the river, cold and crumpled. Her body washes away with the rain. Her killer remains a mystery. Sheriff Elven Hallie has been longing for a new case that would add some excitement to his small-town life. But a dead girl wasn't what he expected. On the last murder case he worked, he was just a deputy with an experienced Sheriff to guide him and they were looking for an outsider. This time, he's in charge, and the killer...

Explores the geography, history, culture, and economy of West Virginia.

June Bug believes everything her daddy tells her. That is, until she walks into Wal-Mart and sees her face on a list of missing children. The discovery begins a quest for the truth about her father, the mother he rarely speaks about, and ultimately herself.

Rebecca Hawks has come home to remember who she was before the lure of life as a social worker in a big city nearly destroyed her-and might, still. She's moved back to her family's namesake mountain in West Virginia, where Granny Jo Hawks can help her forget the horrors she'd seen and been unable to prevent. Ex-Navy Corpsman, Nicholas Hart, has moved to Hawks Mountain in hope that its timeless Appalachian serenity will help him overcome his painful...

The Malloy girls and the Hatford boys compete and then join forces in a quest to earn money for the local hospital and the privilege of choosing how to participate in the annual Buckman, West Virginia, Strawberry Festival.