Liz's Books

Newest Release:


The McCarran Collection is available in softcover and ebook at Amazon.com and will be out in audiobook in September of 2015. 

Bridget Olasfson, a beautiful archivist with a painful secret, comes to Utah's brilliant red rock country to catalog the McCarran Collection. She finds herself caught up in a dangerous intrigue involving a lost boy, a drug cartel, and possibly murder.  What will she do when the only way to save the boy is to give up the man she loves?



Interlude at Cottonwood Springs is available in softcover, Kindle, and audiobook at Amazon. This is a rewrite of Liz Adair's award-winning book, Counting the Cost.  Principle change is the addition of three prequel chapters.

Based on a true story, it's set in the Great Depression and is about New Mexico cowboy Heck Benham and New York socialite Ruth Reynolds. She comes west, and when chance throws them together, they fall in love. But she's a married lady, and he's an honorable man. 

The audiobook is read by Tanya Mills.





Trouble at the Red Pueblo is the fourth in Liz Adair's Spider Latham Mystery series and the first one set in red rock country. You can buy it at Amazon in softcover and Kindle.

Check out the review at Meridian Magazine

When Deputy Sheriff turned private investigator Spider Latham is sent to help the Red Pueblo Museum, he doesn’t suspect it will cause a rift between his wife, Laurie, and himself. 

Museum Director Martin Taylor is desperate, and his son Matt is angry. Some unknown person is bent on destroying the museum financially and is about to succeed. Things turn violent. It ends with someone’s skull bashed in with an Anasazi ax, and everyone has motive for the murder. 

Can Spider untangle the web of secrecy and lies surrounding the museum before the Taylors lose it all? And in the process, can he save his own marriage?


Liz Adair's Hidden Spring, is one of the six in this Timeless Romance Anthology. 

Buy it at Amazon.

Amazon #1 Bestselling series in *New Release* for Clean Romance 

A TIMELESS ROMANCE ANTHOLOGY: OLD WEST COLLECTION: Readers will love this collection of six historical western novellas, all with one thing in common: Romance. 

In BREAK A LEG, a charming story by two-time Rita Award winner Carla Kelly, hospital steward Colm Callahan is ready to move away from army life at Fort Laramie. His only regret is leaving behind exotic Ozzie Washington, easily the prettiest woman on the post. As a maid to the lieutenant colonel's wife, Ozzie is no wilting flower when it comes to hard work. When the post surgeon leaves for an extended week, Colm must handle several medical emergencies on his own. He pleads for Ozzie's help at the hospital. While they spend long days and nights working together, Colm, a shy man, realizes he can't hide the truth of his feelings for Ozzie. He needs a little help, though. Enter from stage left, Lysander Locke, Shakespeare tragedian on his way to Deadwood. 

THE SOLDIER'S HEART, an enchanting novella by Sarah M. Eden, follows Gregory Reeves has fallen in love with a woman he’s never met. Her brother’s dying wish is that Gregory checks on his family, and after the war, Gregory is only too happy to meet the woman he’s been dreaming about. Helene mistakes him for a hired hand and sets him to work immediately. As time passes, Gregory finds it more and more difficult to reveal his true connection to her family, fearing that a woman who loathes liars will turn her disapproval on him. 

HIDDEN SPRING is an enthralling novella by Liz Adair, in which Susannah Brown is just getting her life back together after becoming a widow. She still misses Wesley with a fierce longing, but when she meets his half-brother, Douglas, she learns her heart is not completely dormant. Over the next several weeks, Douglas helps Susannah with repairs on her small ranch in exchange for supper. The exchange becomes more and more meaningful as Susannah realizes that Douglas might be the one to finally heal her heart. 

In Annette Lyon’s delightful story, THE SWEETEST TASTE, Della Stafford hates being a farm girl in the tiny town of Shelley, Idaho. She’ll do anything to live in a big city and experience real city life. Her only regret is that she’d have to leave Joseph behind, the young man who makes her heart flutter. But she's convinced that moving away is for the best; her dreams and Joseph's dreams are too dissimilar. Then Della takes a job as a maid in Los Angeles and must face the truth that what she thought would make her happy and what really will are totally different things. 

THE SILVER MINE BACHELOR, by Heather B. Moore, is a sweet romance between an unlikely pair. Lydia Stone has a checklist for men who qualify as the eligible bachelors in the mining town of Leadville, Colorado. Her new boss, Mr. Erik Dawson, is about to be struck off the list when she sees him coming out of the town brothel. Lydia doesn’t know that Erik Dawson’s sister has been living the brothel lifestyle for years, and he’s set on redeeming her soul. When Lydia discovers Erik’s secrets, she learns that life is not as black and white as she thinks. 

In the captivating novella, FAITH AND THE FOREMAN by Marsha Ward, Faith Bannister is forced to travel west to earn a living as a school mistress in Arizona Territory. Faith soon learns that living the frontier lifestyle of a single woman has many harsh challenges. But when she meets Slim McHenry, she discovers that life doesn’t have to be so lonely. Unfortunately the dangerous Rance Hunter stands between her and Slim, and she must act with courage before everything is lost. 




Cold River can be purchased at Village Books in Bellingham, WA, at Deseret Book, and at Amazon. It is also available in Kindle.

Mandy Steenburg thinks her doctorate in education has prepared her to run any school district - until she tangles with the moonshine-making, coon-dog-owning denizens of a tiny district in Pacific Northwest timber country. She's determined to make a difference, but the local populace still looks to the former superintendent for leadership. When Mandy lands in the middle of an old feud and someone keeps trying to kill her, instinct tells her to run. And though she has to literally swim through perilous waters, she finds a reason to stay and chance the odds.  





Other Titles:




The sheets were damp and cold as she climbed into bed, and as she lay shivering, she ached with loneliness. . . . Cassie lay listening to the creaking timbers of the old hotel, and tears slid down her face.

It doesn't matter what answers I find, she thought. Nothing will ever be the same.
It was in that twilight between wakefulness and sleep that she wondered how she could find any answers when she didn't even know the questions.


* * *

Cassie Van Cleeve is thirty-two years old, single, and comfortably settled into a demanding career that leaves little time for romance. Suddenly faced with two unexpected proposals of marriage, she finds herself caught in a whirlwind of emotions with a vital choice to make. Her decision takes Cassie on an adventure she could never have imagined as she seeks to solve a deadly puzzle and uncover the mysterious past of her new husband.
Author Liz Adair has shown herself to be a wonderful storyteller, and in The Mist of Quarry Harbor, she has crafted another fast-paced novel that will satisfy even the most avid mystery lovers. Set in the starkly beautiful Sonora Desert and the picturesque islands and waterways of Puget Sound in the Pacific Northwest, this romantic novel provides a visual as well as an emotional feast. It is a book whose intriguing characters, startling plot, and exciting scenes will stay with you long after you have closed the book.  Click here to order. 


For handsome cowhand, Heck Benham, life is as solid as the New Mexico countryside he loves, as predictable as the annual spring roundup. Yet, that all changes when Mrs. Ruth Reynolds moves from back east into his homeland and into his heart.

The stark contrast in their lives is played out in a territory that is, itself, coming into its own. As Ruth and Heck face a trail of pivotal, life-changing decisions, their love is challenged at every turn. What will it cost them before they find what is most important in life?

With strong characters, true-to-life emotion, gentle humor, meticulous attention to detail and historical accuracy, Liz Adair paints a passionate tale of love and learning, of romance and redemption.
Counting the Cost is a Willa Literary Award finalist and the winner of the 2009 Whitney Award for Best Romance.  This book has been rewritten as INTERLUDE AT COTTONWOOD SPRINGS



In 1965, Lucy Shook went to Afghanistan with her husband, Jim, when he was posted to Lashkar Gah, a town about five hours on a bad road southwest of Kabul.  There she became manager of the Staff House, a small hotel that catered to the American community and visiting diplomats.  In a world where women are treated as chattel and hidden from view, Lucy, an American woman, was boss-lady to fifteen Afghan men.

Lucy wrote copious letters home, detailing the sights, sounds, and smells of Afghanistan and describing her experiences with the Afghan people.  Sometimes poignant, oftimes hilarious, the letters reveal the love she has for her ‘boys’ and for their country.

Lucy Shook's Letters from Afghanistan can be ordered through SWAN (Serving Women Across Nations).  Proceeds fund humanitarian projects that aid women and children in developing countries.


           The telephone rang, and Laurie went to answer it.
 
           She listened. "No," she said, winking at Spider, "he's here. Matter of fact, he was just sworn in this morning." She paused, listening again. "What!" The freckles on Laurie's nose stood out as the blood drained from her face.  Her eyes widened.
 
           "What's the matter?" Spider asked, sitting up straight.
 

           "Wait," she croaked into the receiver.  She thrust the instrument toward Spider. "It's Kyle Bates calling for the deputy sheriff," she rasped. "His son was out rabbit hunting with Cody Larson this afternoon, and they found a body." Click here to order. AN (Serving Women Across Nations).  Prods fund humanitarian projects that aid women and children in developing countries.




             “I know there was a problem with the mine at Snakewater,” said Jade. “It wasn’t as profitable as Dad thought it should be, and he sent Stan up to investigate.”
            “And what did Stan say?” asked Spider.
            “I don’t know. He never came back. The police say that he got on the plane to come home, but he never picked up his luggage when he landed. He disappeared.”
            “And the police have investigated?”
            “Well, that depends on your definition of the word investigate. My dad doesn’t feel that they have. That’s why he wants to hire someone else to look into it.’
             When Spider Latham takes a leave of absence from his regular job as deputy sheriff in Panaca, Nevada, to solve a mysterious disappearance, it isn’t long before he wonders if he isn’t in over his head. Something is fishy at Brick Tremain Enterprises in Las Vegas, and from the reception Spider gets from a couple of toughs in the parking garage, not everyone is enthused about his taking on the case. Did the regional manager run off, or did something more sinister happen to him? And what about Opal, Stan Lucas’s sad-eyed wife? Did she know more than she’s saying?
            Snakewater Affair once again finds the affable deputy sheriff up to his ears in a baffling mystery.  Click here to order. 

Spider looked first at the humble grave marker and then at the grizzled man who stood there with his hand outstretched. Just as Spider stepped forward to clasp Nephi's hand, the late-afternoon sun glinted on something on the cliff above them. Then something exploded in his head for a split second, sending jagged, multicolored laser-lines on a black background reverberating in his vision, like a thousand POW! signs from a Batman comic book all at once. Just a split second, the fireworks, and then all went black as Spider fell unconscious at Nephi's feet. He never got to shake the hand that shook the hand that had shaken the hand of the Prophet. He never heard the report of the rifle that sent a bullet hurtling toward him aimed right for the middle of his forehead.
When Deputy Sheriff Spider Latham finds himself investigating his second murder in six months, it looks as if someone would rather he not finish the job. Can he find the killer-before becoming the next victim?
After Goliath is the second of the Spider Latham mysteries.  Click here to order.