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Official Duty
Ginny Matthews had a six-foot-one-inch, compelling reason to stay away from Gold Peak, Oregon: a long and lean cowboy by the name of Cully Black.
But when her beloved foster parents were brutally murdered, Ginny knew she had no choice but to return. Facing her past - and long-buried feelings for the handsome sheriff who still owned her heart - was harder than she'd anticipated. The long months of hiding had taken their toll and Ginny could feel a presence lurking in the shadows. Watching. Waiting. And soon, she become a killer's next target. She'd have to once again place her trust in Cully, the only man who could keep her alive. But was his protective embrace part of his official duty...or something more?
250 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published May 1, 2004
2 people are currently reading
17 people want to read
About the author
Doreen Roberts
80 books36 followersPseudonyms: Kate Kingsbury
Rebecca Kent
Allison Kingsley
Doreen Roberts Hight is the best-selling author of sixty-plus books which have sold all over the world. You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, Goodreads and various review sites. Her upstairs/downstairs mystery series featuring the Pennyfoot Hotel will release the 20th book in the series in November.
I was born in England, shortly before the outbreak of WW II. (Yes, I really was!) I spent the war years in London, spending most of my time between school and air raid shelters. When things got a little noisy outside the shelters, and everyone was too scared to sing, I'd get up and start telling a story, making it up as I went along. Before long word got around, and I was asked to entertain on a regular basis. Thus the storyteller was born.
It was many, many years, however before I actually saw my stories in print. My first publishing effort was a letter to the children's page of a British national newspaper. It described how our cat would thrust one paw through the letter box in our front door and hit the doorknocker with the other paw. When we opened the door the cat walked in. It was months before any of us realized why no one was at the door when we answered it. Anyway, I was eight years old and I got paid for the letter. My first sale!
The second came nearly fifty years later. (I'm a late bloomer.) In between I enjoyed a short career on the stage as one half of a sister act, until I emigrated to the United States. That put pay to my stage career, but I kept my hand in by playing piano and singing at a local English-style pub every month on British Night. I worked as a receptionist, accountant, office manager, executive secretary and for a change of pace, a salad maker in a restaurant. I actually worked with the first prototype computer. It took up the entire room, with tapes almost as big as me. The noise of all those wheels whirring around was distracting. How far we've come in such a short time.
My son was born in 1968, and during the first few months of his life I stayed home and renewed my interest in writing. The first manuscript I had the nerve to submit was accepted by Silhouette Books in 1987, and my new career began.
I wrote my first book on a typewriter. I often say that if computers hadn't been invented, I would not be a writer today. As it was, graduating to a computer changed my life. Back then, comparatively few people had access to a chat room. Those who did were usually savvy computer types, business people and writers. With my thirty year marriage breaking up, the chat rooms became salvation. I found companionship, friendship and eventually love.
He lived on the east coast, I lived on the west. That was in 1993, when computer time was charged by the minute. When our computer and phone bills added up to $1500 a month, we decided it would be cheaper to get together. We met for the first time at the airport in Portland, Oregon, and the next day drove across the country to Philadelphia. I had to call my sister and close friends every night to reassure them that I wasn't with an axe murderer. A year later we were married in Las Vegas on our way back to Oregon, where we've lived happily ever since. Now, how's that for romance!
Rebecca Kent
Allison Kingsley
Doreen Roberts Hight is the best-selling author of sixty-plus books which have sold all over the world. You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, Goodreads and various review sites. Her upstairs/downstairs mystery series featuring the Pennyfoot Hotel will release the 20th book in the series in November.
I was born in England, shortly before the outbreak of WW II. (Yes, I really was!) I spent the war years in London, spending most of my time between school and air raid shelters. When things got a little noisy outside the shelters, and everyone was too scared to sing, I'd get up and start telling a story, making it up as I went along. Before long word got around, and I was asked to entertain on a regular basis. Thus the storyteller was born.
It was many, many years, however before I actually saw my stories in print. My first publishing effort was a letter to the children's page of a British national newspaper. It described how our cat would thrust one paw through the letter box in our front door and hit the doorknocker with the other paw. When we opened the door the cat walked in. It was months before any of us realized why no one was at the door when we answered it. Anyway, I was eight years old and I got paid for the letter. My first sale!
The second came nearly fifty years later. (I'm a late bloomer.) In between I enjoyed a short career on the stage as one half of a sister act, until I emigrated to the United States. That put pay to my stage career, but I kept my hand in by playing piano and singing at a local English-style pub every month on British Night. I worked as a receptionist, accountant, office manager, executive secretary and for a change of pace, a salad maker in a restaurant. I actually worked with the first prototype computer. It took up the entire room, with tapes almost as big as me. The noise of all those wheels whirring around was distracting. How far we've come in such a short time.
My son was born in 1968, and during the first few months of his life I stayed home and renewed my interest in writing. The first manuscript I had the nerve to submit was accepted by Silhouette Books in 1987, and my new career began.
I wrote my first book on a typewriter. I often say that if computers hadn't been invented, I would not be a writer today. As it was, graduating to a computer changed my life. Back then, comparatively few people had access to a chat room. Those who did were usually savvy computer types, business people and writers. With my thirty year marriage breaking up, the chat rooms became salvation. I found companionship, friendship and eventually love.
He lived on the east coast, I lived on the west. That was in 1993, when computer time was charged by the minute. When our computer and phone bills added up to $1500 a month, we decided it would be cheaper to get together. We met for the first time at the airport in Portland, Oregon, and the next day drove across the country to Philadelphia. I had to call my sister and close friends every night to reassure them that I wasn't with an axe murderer. A year later we were married in Las Vegas on our way back to Oregon, where we've lived happily ever since. Now, how's that for romance!
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 24, 2008
Rating: 2.5 / 5
I'd have given this book a better rating except for 2 things. One being that I knew exactly how the plot was going to play out about 30 pages in (and I was right on every detail). And two, if it hadn't become blinking-red-light-"I'm-the-bad-guy" obvious who the antagonist was about 50 or so pages from the end...and the Sheriff hero STILL couldn't figure it out. Every clue pointed to the outcome and it never occurred to him and I just kept thinking how could it NOT occur to him? That annoyed me more than a little and made the hero look a bit like an idiot.
Aside from that, it was an okay read. The romance could have moved a little quicker, though.
I'd have given this book a better rating except for 2 things. One being that I knew exactly how the plot was going to play out about 30 pages in (and I was right on every detail). And two, if it hadn't become blinking-red-light-"I'm-the-bad-guy" obvious who the antagonist was about 50 or so pages from the end...and the Sheriff hero STILL couldn't figure it out. Every clue pointed to the outcome and it never occurred to him and I just kept thinking how could it NOT occur to him? That annoyed me more than a little and made the hero look a bit like an idiot.
Aside from that, it was an okay read. The romance could have moved a little quicker, though.
August 30, 2022
Boring
June 20, 2011
The book focuses on the female character, Ginny, returning to the home town she lived in with her foster parents for the first time in 12 years, after they are murdered. Ginny's husband has recently passed away, and previous to that Ginny had run away from the marriage due to the abuse she suffered from her husband. The male character, Cully, was also a foster child of the same foster parents, and is now the sheriff of the town, in charge of the investigation into their murders. Ginny and Cully had a brief relationship before Ginny left to pursue her dreams in the city, she wanted Cully to go away with her, but he wanted a quiet ranch life in a small town.
On returning Ginny becomes the killer's next target and has to work with Cully in order to stay safe and find the killer.
I really wanted to give this book a higher rating, but I just felt that the entire story was let down by the fact that it was so bloody obvious who the murder was, yet the characters we oblivious to it, surely the sheriff could have figured this out?!
The relationship of the characters is very good, they both have great chemistry but the baggage of their past relationship was a little annoying, they were both as stubborn as one another!
Overall, it wasn't a bad read, the romance was nice, it was just a tad predictable.
Originally posted at http://everyday-is-the-same.blogspot....
On returning Ginny becomes the killer's next target and has to work with Cully in order to stay safe and find the killer.
I really wanted to give this book a higher rating, but I just felt that the entire story was let down by the fact that it was so bloody obvious who the murder was, yet the characters we oblivious to it, surely the sheriff could have figured this out?!
The relationship of the characters is very good, they both have great chemistry but the baggage of their past relationship was a little annoying, they were both as stubborn as one another!
Overall, it wasn't a bad read, the romance was nice, it was just a tad predictable.
Originally posted at http://everyday-is-the-same.blogspot....
February 2, 2017
Not favorite author; decent book though.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews