In Search of Significance

Thirty-year-old Brandon Jones arrives at his parents’ doorstep burned out, jobless, and now fiancée-less. Ellen and Guy can provide a place for him to stay only until he figures out what to do with his life. When he takes a temporary job at a summer camp for disadvantaged kids, Brandon begins a turbulent relationship with a biracial adolescent named Caedmon. Somewhere in the midst of the chaos—caused by Caedmon’s disappearance just before a hurricane is predicted to hit Seaport, and by a group of racists who will not stop at arson or murder—Brandon begins to see that the pieces of his life are not by chance. If he has discovered his life’s purpose, can he live it?

“Life is pointless. And if there’s a God, He’s asleep on the job.”

Brandon Jones didn’t know what he expected from the homeless man he met on the way out of town. Certainly not the angry words that haunted him.

But then, nothing happened the way he expected. Not his promising career, not his engagement to the “perfect” woman. All his certainty that God had plans for him, that he was meant to do something important—something significant—had amounted to a big fat zero. And now, here he was, thirty years old, no job, no fiancée. Living with his parents.

Maybe the homeless guy was right.

Then again…maybe not. Maybe Brandon has returned to Seaport for a reason. To face down a brewing disaster, steeped in hate crimes and danger. To survive against all odds. To learn, once and for all, that “many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”

Story Behind the Book

“I am continually blessed by how many readers express their appreciation for the God-given talent that enables me to write novels, but I’m more amazed that so many of them feel as though they haven’t been gifted with anything. My goal in writing Not By Chance was to show that God’s purpose for every life is in place before we are born. Based on Proverbs 19:21 , ‘Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the L ord’s purpose that prevails,’ I sought to create unforgettable characters who challenge each reader’s understanding of their purpose in life. Ultimately, I want to point them to the Creator with the Master plan.” —Kathy Herman

The Past Is Back

Ellen Jones’s hands are full after she begrudgingly brings her aging father to Seaport. Lawrence’s memory is failing—though he can’t seem to forget what he’s been holding against Ellen for the past forty years. But when he’s diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, Ellen realizes she never released her resentment and it’s too late for reconciliation. Then suddenly—literally overnight—her son, Owen, comes face-to-face with the consequences of his wilder days gone by. No one is prepared for the changes he, and the entire family, will have to make as a result. The past weighing heavily in the present, a clean start is out of the question for both Ellen and Owen. How can God heal their deepest wounds? Enter the least expected person of the bunch… Can secrets kill?

Ellen Jones gets a disturbing call from her elderly father’s neighbor and must face the fact that her father, Lawrence, is no longer safe living alone. Ellen resents that he forgets the simplest of details and yet remembers the one thing he’s held against her for the past forty years. Her being his caregiver is out of the question.

Ellen and her husband Guy pair up their fathers to share an apartment in a nearby retirement community. The setup seems ideal until Lawrence wanders off…right past the scene of a murder. Did he see something? He can’t quite remember… but the killer doesn’t know that!

Just when Lawrence is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and Ellen realizes there’s no chance they’ll ever be reconciled, a shocking secret surfaces from her son Owen’s past that drops her to her knees. Ellen is desperate for a miracle. Will God intervene and erase the consequences of past mistakes—or does He have an even better plan?

Story Behind the Book

“I was twenty-seven when I gave my heart to Jesus. And twenty-nine years later, I’m still realizing the long-term consequences of some of the choices I made during the years I was enslaved to sin. The words of Galatians 6:7, “Do not be deceived. God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows,” are as true today as when the apostle Paul wrote them. In the writing of All Things Hidden, my goal was to create unforgettable characters caught in the throes of overwhelming consequences, and enable us to watch the response of a merciful God not to remove their struggle, but to walk with them through the pain and redeem it for His glory.”

—Kathy Herman

Things Aren’t Always How They Appear!

Guy Jones is about to burst his buttons. He just won the biggest case of his career and is being hailed by his law partners. But his wife, Ellen, is consumed with her quirky, needy friends and misses his victory dinner. Little does she know that Kinsey Abbott, Guy’s pretty legal secretary, is more than happy to keep him company. Communication between the Joneses rapidly deteriorates when Ellen’s stubborn loyalty to an Iranian couple lands her in the FBI’s spotlight—and Guy’s bad graces. Guy soon discovers Kinsey’s dark side, which inevitably pulls him into a web of danger and deceit. He decides not to tell Ellen. But it’s going to cost him.

Who is my neighbor?

Guy Jones is about to burst his buttons. He just won the biggest case of his career and is being hailed by his law partners. But his wife, Ellen, is so consumed with her quirky, needy friends that she misses his victory dinner—and bright, beautiful legal secretary Kinsey Abbott is only too glad to keep him company.

When a fishing boat full of explosives is seized near Seaport, Ellen’s stubborn loyalty to her Iranian friends lands her in the FBI’s spotlight—and Guy’s bad graces. But when Guy encounters Kinsey’s dark side, a lot more than the Joneses’ marriage is threatened!

Amid danger, deceit, and violence, Guy and Ellen clash over a key issue: Who is worth befriending—and who deserves loyalty under fire?

“As if pulled from today’s headlines, this novel touches on the fear that overtakes a town when rumors of terrorists are afoot. Filled with unexpected twists, Eye of the Beholder held me captive until the very end.”

—Traci DePree

Author of Aprons on a Clothesline

“Eye of the Beholder enticed me from the first page with familiar and beloved people. Then it took a twist that both delighted and convicted me. This visit to Seaport will change your life.”

—Janelle Clare Schneider, Author

Story Behind the Book

“My novels don’t come to me ahead of time; each book flows off the tips of my fingers as I sit down and begin to ‘feel’ the issues deep inside myself. For me, the most intriguing aspect of my writing style is that I don’t plan and outline the stories. I turn my fingers loose and get inside the characters and instinctively know where I need to go. After all the suspense is said and done, my hope is that each story will give us pause. That in the deepest part of our souls, we’ll embrace the depth of what it means to be believers and then be moved to share its powerful simplicity with those who struggle without hope. I want Eye of the Beholder to take readers inside my characters’ hearts and minds so they will take an honest look at whether they show favoritism to people of higher social standing. I want them to realize a person’s intrinsic value has nothing to do with social class.”

—Kathy Herman

The first book in the Seaport Suspense series

Ellen Jones, first introduced in the Baxter series, is enjoying a leisurely lunch at a Seaport restaurant when she overhears a private conversation at the table next to her—and disturbing accusations involving the husband of a woman she has recently befriended. But as Ellen digs through old newspaper articles and stumbles onto information too frightening to keep to herself, will she become enmeshed in speculation and gossip—or will she take the lead and become a catalyst for truth and healing?