Scott Pratt won the McClellan Award for outstanding writing while majoring in English at East Tennessee State University. He later worked as a newspaper reporter, columnist and editor for daily papers, then earned a law degree from the University of Tennessee.
Scott tops today’s Buffet with An Innocent Client, his debut novel and a Mystery Readers International finalist for “Best Debut Mystery.” In the story, criminal defense lawyer Joe Dillard has become jaded over the years as he’s tried to balance his career against his conscience. Savvy but cynical, Dillar wants to quit doing criminal defense, but he can’t resist the chance to represent someone who might actually be innocent.
Publishers Weekly said, “Pratt’s richly developed characters are vivid and believable, especially the strong Southern women who fight their male-dominated culture from behind a facade of vulnerability in this brilliantly executed debut.”
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An Innocent Client (Joe Dillard Series No. 1)
Thrillers > Legal
Author: Scott Pratt
A preacher is found brutally murdered in a Tennessee motel room.
A beautiful, mysterious young girl is accused. Dillard wants to quit doing criminal defense, but he can’t resist the chance to represent someone who might actually be innocent. His drug-addicted sister has just been released from prison and his mother is succumbing to Alzheimer’s, but Dillard’s commitment to the case never wavers despite the personal troubles and professional demands that threaten to destroy him.
Get Noticed & Get Hired
Job Hunting & Careers > Interviewing
Author: Steve Matter
Going through a period of unemployment can be one of life’s most stressful situations. In many cases it seems to trigger a domino effect of pressures and strains ranging from emotional to financial to relational. Veteran corporate executive Steve Matter delivers an entire workbook for directing you from job loss to becoming empowered and employed.
This book is filled with action steps, resources and strategies to help you focus and prepare for your journey back into the workplace. Read it, apply it and start on the path back to the workforce.
Always the Last to Know
Romantic Comedy
Author: Crystal Bowling
- $5.99 List Price
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Wearing a Maid of Honor dress that very well makes the South want to rise again, Jess Reynolds is prepared to walk down the aisle at her best friend’s wedding. It’s just that things keep getting in the way, like a sex-crazed coworker, an annoying brother-of-the-bride, and a handsome and horribly charming friend posing as the Best Man. As it turns out, Jess might just be the last one to know everything, including the workings of her own heart.
Enchantment
Teen & Young Adult > Literature
Author: Charlotte Abel
- $3.99 List Price
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Channie Belks is trying to hide the fact she’s a witch.
Sorta hard to do after her parents slap a chastity curse on her for flirting with “dirty-minded, non-magical, city-boys.” She can’t even walk by a hot guy without zapping him.
There’s a way to break the curse; but one mistake could kill her. It’s not worth the risk…until she meets a certain BMX champion named Josh.
Suddenly, the threat of death isn’t such a deal-breaker.
Magic of Thieves: Legends of Dimmingwood, Book I
Fantasy > Historical
Author: C. Greenwood
In a province where magic is forbidden and its possessors are murdered by the cruel Praetor, young Ilan, born with the powerful gift of her ancestors, has only one hope for survival. Concealment. In the shadow of Dimmingwood, she finds temporary protection with a band of forest brigands led by the infamous outlaw Rideon the Red Hand.
But as Ilan matures, learns the skills of survival, and struggles to master the inherent magic of her dying race, danger is always close behind. When old enemies reappear and new friendships lead to betrayal, will her discovery of an enchanted bow prove to be Ilan’s final salvation or her ultimate downfall?
Which None Can Shut
Evangelism > Missions & Missionary Work
Author: Reema Goode
- $11.99 List Price
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Imagine a place where becoming a Christian is a punishable crime—and your own family exacts the punishment. Where those who spread the gospel among locals are deported if discovered. Where converts to Christianity face persecution, isolation, or even death as the price for their faith. “Reema Goode” and her family are Christians working in a closed Middle Eastern country where all of these things are true. Yet they are also firsthand witnesses of a whole new trend that is taking shape in missions to Muslims.
Despite all obstacles, God is opening miraculous doors in the Islamic world, where an unprecedented number of Muslims are becoming followers of Jesus. In this powerful collection of personal stories, Reema takes us deep inside her Arab neighborhood to show how God is opening doors in just one of many Islamic communities.
Peace River
Women’s Fiction > Contemporary Women
Author: Jaclyn Hawkes
The police didn’t understand the danger—but she did.
Her father had always been abusive, but now, with a ten million dollar Thoroughbred farm on the line, and a powerful bookie leaning on him, her father had become out of control. But how do you get away and take a world famous stallion with you? Carrie was getting desperate when a handsome and honorable but thoroughly cynical rodeo cowboy from Wyoming happened to show up with a horse trailer. He didn’t ride a white horse, but he was definitely a knight in shining armor.
He’ll protect her from the mob, but can she survive falling in love with a bull rider?
BAT-21
History > Military > Vietnam War
Author: William C. Anderson
- $9.99 List Price
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The story of Air Force Col. Iceal “Gene” Hambleton’s real life rescue from behind enemy lines in Vietnam — at the time, the largest rescue operation in USAF history. This best-selling novel was later turned into a film by TriStar Pictures starring Gene Hackman and Danny Glover.
Hour of the Wolf
Self-Help > Personal Transformation
Author: Paul Lipton
For Paul Lipton, a successful lawyer in his sixties, his mind’s howling in the darkness reminded him that time was slipping away. Perhaps partly because both his parents had died when they were young, and because he had already experienced his own severe health crisis, he wanted to be sure to live each day to the fullest. He decided he would start viewing each day afresh and in the now as a do-over, each night dying and each morning being reborn. His philosophy was to say, “I am me today,” and ask, “How do I choose to live in the now?”
His solution to these sleepless nights became an adventure, and an experiment in ageless living.
Kevin and the Seven Lions
Children’s Books > Animals
Author: Martin Tiller, Carla Tracy
Nearly eaten by dinosaurs, shot at by aliens, almost drowned by a giant squid, all while trying to pay attention in school is a normal day for Kevin. How does his teacher, Mrs. Calvin, keep from going crazy?
Kevin and the Seven Lions is a picture book leveled for second and third grade readers.
WordPress Your Way
Internet & Web Culture > Blogging & Blogs
Author: Nancy L. Hendrickson
Unless you love coding, there’s no reason to build your website on any platform other than WordPress. WordPress is free, it’s easy to use, it’s highly customizable, and your site can be up-and-running within an hour. What’s not to like?
Written using non-technical terms and language, this guide will walk you through a typical WordPress installation then jump off into how you can use WordPress’ built-in features and functions.
Yesterday’s Gone
Genre Fiction > Horror
Author: Sean Platt, David Wright
- $0.99 List Price
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A serial killer must hunt in a land where prey is now an endangered species.
A mother shields her young daughter from danger, though every breath fills her with terror.
A bullied teen is thrilled to find everyone gone. Until the knock at the door.
A fugitive survives a fiery plane crash. Will he be redeemed, or return to what he’s best at: the kill?
If Angels Fall
Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
Author: Rick Mofina
Tom Reed is a crime reporter with The San Francisco Star, whose superb journalistic skills earned him a Pulitzer nomination. But years later Reed’s life is coming apart. His editor wants him fired. His wife has left him to wrestle with his demons. Alone, Reed is tormented by the fear he may have caused the suicide of an innocent man suspected of murdering a two-year-old girl.
Reed’s friend on the case is legendary San Francisco Homicide Inspector, Walt Sydowski, who has one of California’s highest clearance rates. He is also a lonely widower haunted by the fact he cannot solve the girl’s heartbreaking death.
Both men grapple with the past while they race the clock to learn the truth behind a several new abductions that have anguished the Bay Area.
All for a Song
Religious Fiction > Historical
Author: Allison Pittman
Dorothy Lynn Dunbar has everything she ever wanted: her family, her church, her community, and plans to marry the young pastor who took over her late father’s pulpit. Time spent in the woods, lifting her heart and voice in worship accompanied by her brother’s old guitar, makes her life complete . . . and yet she longs for something more.
Spending a few days in St. Louis with her sister’s family, Dorothy Lynn discovers a whole new way of life—movies, music, dancing; daring fashions and fancy cars. And a dynamic charismatic evangelist . . . who just happens to be a woman.
COLT
Mystery > Hard-Boiled
Author: Jude Hardin
For Nicholas Colt, October 21 is an unlucky day. A day for nightmares. It always has been, and this year is no exception.
Someone is brutally murdering the offspring of an anonymous sperm donor, and Colt’s missing client is next on the list. With less than four days to find the young man—and, with a pair of drug-addicted study partners, a violent motorcycle gang, a stalker ex-girlfriend, and a host of other obstacles standing in his way—Colt faces the most challenging and deadly case of his life.
… See the rest of today’s Editor’s Picks here on page 2