Showing results by narrator "Karen Commins" in All Categories

While perhaps best remembered today as the beloved, iconic character Glinda the Good Witch in the 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz", Billie Burke enjoyed a long theatrical and film career in the early 20th century. Popular, red-haired comedienne Burke was the daughter of a woman possessing an indomitable spirit and a well-known circus clown from whom she took her name.

In Dixie Divas, Trinket Truevine, her pal Bitty and their raucous diva friends in the historic small town of Holly Springs, Mississippi, solved the murder of Bitty's ex-senator husband, Phillip. Now, in Drop Dead Divas, the Divas are sleuthing again. Town bad girl Naomi Spencer has been accused of murdering her fiancé, drag-race champion Race Champion. Soon, Naomi turns up dead, too. Talk about a fly in the martini... Join the bawdy fun as Trinket, Bitty and the gang unravel another small-town mystery.

Although the story is over 100 years old, it offers an important truth that is still relevant to the modern listener. Rather than rely on dialogue to advance the plot, noted American Edna Ferber is an exceptional storyteller who delights and entertains the listener with narrative. Her stories featuring strong heroines are as fresh and original today as when they were written.

Lights! Camera! Murder! Trinket and the gang, beware! Hollywood descends on Holly Springs, and soon it’s up to the Divas to keep the stars from falling like magnolia blooms in a trailer-park tornado. Someone doesn’t want dark secrets under the holly to reach the big screen. He - or she - is willing to kill locals, movie stars, and maybe even Divas to stop it. Diva-sister Dixie Lee Forsythe wrote the juicy tell-all about a Mississippi town very much like Holly Springs, and a lot of townsfolk would be happy to strangle her.

My dog grooming business has picked up big time, thanks in part to my role in solving a local murder. Now, I’ve got more dogs than I can handle—and a fresh case to solve. Who needs time for a personal life, am I right?

Amelia Earhart captured the hearts and imaginations of people around the world when she became the first woman to cross the Atlantic by airplane. This audiobook, her personal account of the historic flight, sparkles with her high-spirited charm and adventurous determination.

In 1888, Nellie Bly, a feisty, investigative reporter for Joseph Pulitzer's New York World newspaper, pitched a story idea of traveling around the world in 75 days to beat the record achieved by Phileas Fogg, the character in Verne's book. While the editor thought it a great idea, he naturally thought the trip should be made by a man. The idea was shelved for over a year.

In her spirited, witty, and vastly entertaining first memoir, Helene Hanff recalls her ingenuous attempts to crash Broadway in the early forties as one of “the other 999.” Helene warmly tells stories about her life before she wrote the beloved and bestselling book 84 CHARING CROSS ROAD. Naive, nearsighted, frequently penniless but hopelessly stagestruck, she found her life governed by Flanagan’s Law: “No matter what happens to you, it’s unexpected.”

The 1930s still conjure painful images: the great want of the Depression, and overseas, the self-appointed national saviors dressing up old hatreds as new ideas. But there was another story that embodied mankind in that decade. The 1933 World’s Fair looked to the future, unabashedly, as one full of glowing promise, and no technology loomed larger at the Fair than aviation. It was only later in the decade that the dark correlation between the rise of some of aviation’s superstars and the rise of fascism was to be revealed.

As the country approaches the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution, which prohibits states from denying or abridging the right to vote on the basis of gender, the case of United States v. Susan B. Anthony remains a significant milestone in the quest for gender equality.

New York socialite Kit McNair decides to host an impromptu dinner party at the home of her friend, Jimmy Wilson, to cheer him up following his divorce. What could possibly go wrong?

When a high-tech gadget she discovered at her latest suicide cleanup gets a detective - and former lover - killed, Alex is propelled into the kind of dangerous plot spy novels are made of. Wyatt Murphy, the brooding deep cover agent shadowing her every move, makes Alex yearn for things she's never wanted before. But can Alex trust the sexy stranger to keep her safe without stealing her heart?

"You'd think a midnight prowler would have sense enough to get out after being discovered by a group of middle-aged women armed with flower vases. Or at least stop what he was doing. Not this one. Despite our menacing appearance, he kept opening cabinet doors and drawers. Our intruder wore what looked like a black Ninja outfit. It did not flatter. He was a bit chunky and not much taller than me. Nor did he move very fast as Gaynelle and I bore down on him like a freight train."

It's not often Alex St. James has a story this tantalizing fall into her lap, only to have it snatched away again. As news researcher at Midwest Focus Television in Chicago, she'd been set to interview a young Polish immigrant woman, pregnant by a Catholic priest. When the woman is found murdered, and Alex tries to investigate, her boss abruptly reassigns her to a fluff piece, so he can give the hot murder story to the station owner's nephew. But anyone who knows Alex also knows that, like fate, she'll find a way.

It is WWI and Canada has entered the war. Young men enthusiastically join up while mothers and sweethearts stay behind and fill the jobs that once were only for men. Rilla, the youngest of Anne and Gilbert’s children, struggles to find how she can possibly contribute. At first frustrated by being the “baby sister,” she soon is challenged by opportunities that will change her beyond her wildest imaginings. This is a coming-of-age story with all the lovable aspects of the first Anne book, yet with a compelling sense of historical immediacy.

The story revolves around Fanny Brandeis, starting with her childhood in Winnebago, WI, where her parents run a shop. After Fanny's father dies, her mother Molly must make extremely difficult choices about Fanny's and her brother Theodore's educations. These choices set the course for the entire family throughout their lives. Rather than rely on dialogue to advance the plot, noted American author Edna Ferber is an exceptional storyteller who delights the listener with narrative. Fanny must decide whether to pursue wealth or follow her creative dreams.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox wrote this classic text in the "New Thought" movement over 100 years ago, yet much of her advice and wisdom is still true today. If you want to be happy, the change must first start with your thoughts. Wilcox suggests ways to change your thinking and specific actions to take in order to feel better about yourself and improve your life.

Making My Pitch tells the story of Ila Jane Borders, who, despite formidable obstacles, became a Little League prodigy, MVP of her otherwise all-male middle school and high school teams, the first woman awarded a baseball scholarship, and the first to pitch and win a complete men’s collegiate game.

Ida Tarbell's earliest ambition was to be a biologist. While she put away her microscope in her youth, she continued to investigate people and situations of interest to her throughout her long and productive life. Tarbell was among the first American women to earn a college degree, graduating in 1880. Fiercely independent, she first took a job at a school in a different state. After returning to her family home, she fell into a writing and research assignment with a monthly newsletter.

When Jaine Andersen proposes a new marketing role to the local amusement park, general manager Dylan Callahan charms her into filling Cinderella's glass slippers for the summer. Her reign transforms Jaine's ordinary life into chaos that would bewilder a fairy godmother. Secretly dating her bad boy boss, running wedding errands for her ungrateful sisters, and defending herself from the park's resident villain means Jaine needs lots more than a comfy pair of shoes to restore order in her kingdom.