Making moonshine, working blue-collar jobs, picking fights in bars, chasing women, and living hardscrabble lives . . . Clayton and Saford Hall were born in the backwoods of Virginia in 1919, in a place known as The Hollow. Incredibly, they became legends in their day, rising from mountain-bred poverty to pickin’ and yodelin’ all over the airwaves of the South in the 1930s and 1940s, opening shows for the Carter Family, Roy Rogers, the Sons of the Pioneers, and even playing the most coveted stage of all: the Grand Ole Opry. They accomplished a lifetime’s worth of achievements in less than five years—and left behind only a few records to document their existence. Fortunately, Ralph Berrier, Jr., the grandson of Clayton Hall and a reporter for the Roanoke Times, brings us their full story for the first time in IF TROUBLE DON'T KILL ME. He documents how the twins’ music spread like wildfire when they moved from The Hollow to Roanoke at age twenty, and how their popularity was inflamed by their onstage zaniness, their roguish offstage shenanigans, and, above all, their ability to play old-time country music. But just as they arrived on the brink of major fame, World War II dashed their dreams. Berrier follows the Hall twins as they travel overseas, leaving behind their beloved music, and are thrust into the cauldron of a war that reshaped their lives and destinies. Through the brothers’ experiences, the story of World War II unfolds—Saford fought from the shores of North Africa to Sicily and Europe and finally into Germany; Clayton fought the Japanese in the brutal Pacific theater until the savage, final battle on Okinawa. They returned home after the war to find that the world had changed, music had changed . . . and they had, too. IF TROUBLE DON'T KILL ME paints a loving portrait of a vanishing yet exalted southern culture, shows us the devastating consequences of war, and allows us to experience the mountain voices that not only influenced the history of music but that also shaped the landscape of America.

"I don't care who you hire, or what the company has to pay him … so long as he's the best there is." This anguished cry from the wife of murder victim Dean Milo would draw private investigator Bill Dear into one of the most frustrating and ultimately triumphant cases of his career. Dean Milo was a phenomenally successful businessman who had built a tiny family business into a $50 million-a-year corporation. Along the way he had established a lengthy list of enemies that began with his immediate family and stretched throughout the social and business community. His fast-track ride to the top came to a violent halt on August 11, 1980, when Milo was found dead in his luxurious Ohio home, shot twice in the head. A blank telegram form lay nearby. Four months after his death, the investigation remained a confusing collection of non sequiturs. Clues pointed toward Milo's involvement with the Mafia, the drug world, and the gay community. His own family refused to cooperate with the author¬ities. And time was ticking by … In desperation, Maggie Milo turned to Texas private eye Bill Dear. This is the gripping story of the remarkable collaboration between Dear and the police detectives of Akron, Ohio, that led to eleven convictions, an Ohio record. It is also a tale of the human weakness, desperation, and overwhelming greed that led to a sudden death.

Don’t Kill Me contains adventures of life-risking confrontations with animals. Stories of how the young generation, during their school and college period, take revenge on people for a very small incident and how that small incident escalates to a big-bloody episode with many losing their lives. In some instances, young people tried dangerous and life-risking activities to prove their potential. There are untold stories of birds and how they bond with human beings, how one lovely couple is being separated by society in the name of caste, how people are so cruel to animals, and how they are slowly, gradually yet prominently killing them. An account of how ancient people lived in miserable conditions – the experience of life in bullock carts and wooden boats. Stories that narrate how the bonds between people and animals are just like with our families – the tale of why crocodiles do not attack wooden boats, how houses were built and completely ruined after fires and how people came together to help one another during calamities.

In this memoir, Jason Schmidt tells the story of growing up with an abusive father, who contracted HIV and ultimately died of AIDS when Jason was a teenager.

New York Times–Bestselling Author: “Action-packed, littered with dead bodies, and brimming with heartfelt emotion, this edgy thriller keeps the tension high.” —Library Journal (starred review) One secret, one nightmare, one lie. You guess which is which. 1. I have the scar of a gunshot on my forehead. 2. I have willfully misrepresented my identity to the US military. 3. I’m the new mother of a seven-year-old girl. Kellen Adams suffers from a year-long gap in her memory. A bullet to the brain will do that. But she’s discovering the truth, and what she learns changes her life, her confidence, her very self. She finds herself in the wilderness, on the run, unprepared, her enemies unknown—and she is carrying a priceless burden she must protect at all costs. The consequences of failure would break her. And Kellen Adams does not break. What doesn’t kill her . . . had better start running. “An unforgettable protagonist . . . who makes Jack Reacher look like a slacker . . . and an ingenious plot that includes plenty of white-knuckle twists and turns.” —Booklist (starred review) “Sign me up for anything Christina Dodd writes.” —Karen Robards, New York Times–bestselling author of The Girl from Guernica

Karl and Ada love each other. Karl, however, is married to Maya, with whom he has a little daughter, Lilly. Ada thinks she has her feelings under control, until one morning she senses a powerful force slumbering inside her. She longs for the carefree lightness of simply being again and is now even willing to push her own boundaries to attain it. "An emotional story about love. Wild as a thunderstorm, tender as a feather" Calvin Burke, actor and screenwriter

"...Babe, your mother made me a little nervous." she said with a straight face. I rubbed her arms, "Why? I thought everybody was happy. What's wrong? I'm here. You can always talk to me. We said we would stay honest and open with each other a long time ago, right?" She nodded, "But she told me to tell you that you need to tell me everything. What was she talking about?" I exhaled as a million thoughts ran through my mind. Where do I start? Let me think... Derek Greene finally had the woman of his dreams, Ciara. Now all he has to do is pray that he's strong enough to prove that she can move on from being "Damaged Goods," all while letting her into his life and what ultimately lead him back to her. They say, "What don't kill you, makes you stronger," but how strong can one person's heart be?