Raine Stockton, a dog trainer who gave up her career as a Search and Rescue worker after a tragic loss, reluctantly returns to active duty when a mother and daughter are kidnapped and taken deep into the forest where nothing is what it seems. Original.

When the FBI asks for her help in locating an old flame who is now an ecoterrorist responsible for the deaths of several people, kennel owner Raine Stockton, along with her canine companion Cisco, is determined to discover the truth about this man she once loved. Original.

Nestled in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains, Hanover County draws tourists every fall to leaf-look and hike. But unlike them, Michelle White came to die. The cops don’t know if it was suicide, but for days, her body has lain in a cabin, her wheelchair toppled, her hand around a shotgun—and her terrified dog starving. So they call in Raine Stockton, known among these parts for her canny way with canines… Busy with a thriving kennel business, an annoying new neighbor, four dogs, and an estranged husband looking to reunite, Raine hardly has time for the poor dog she’s named Hero. But as she falls for him, questions Why were there no groceries, luggage, or dog food in the cabin? And if Michelle was paralyzed on her right side, why was the gun in her right hand? Only Hero knows…and it’s up to Raine to find out.

Fourth Installment in the Raine Stockton Dog Mystery a short novella Dog trainer Raine Stockton has lived all her life in the quiet community of Hansonville, North Carolina. She is the daughter of a judge, the niece of a sheriff, and the ex-wife of a deputy. She does not lead the kind of life, generally speaking, in which people get buried in her back yard. But when Cisco, Raine’s mischievous golden retriever, digs up human bones beneath the site of what will soon be her new training kennel, mayhem ensues. With the state police swarming everywhere, concerns about a mass grave and suspicions of a serial killer, Raine is surrounded by chaos. But when her beautiful collie Majesty keeps disappearing and cryptic messages from a pet psychic only add to the confusion, Raine soon finds herself plunged into the midst of a mystery that is far too close to home. Can she and Cisco track down the truth before it’s too late? Praise for the Raine Stockton Dog Mystery “ An intriguing heroine, a twisty tale, a riveting finale, and a golden retriever to die for. [This book] will delight mystery fans and enchant dog lovers.” —-Carolyn Hart “Has everything—wonderful characters, surprising twists, great dialogue. Donna Ball knows dogs, knows the Smoky Mountains, and knows how to write a page turner. I loved it.” —Beverly Connor “Very entertaining… combines a likeable heroine and a fascinating mystery… a story of suspense with humor and tenderness.” —Carlene Thompson

'TIS THE SEASON It's Christmas time, and for Raine Stockton and her Search and Rescue dog, Cisco, Hansonville, North Carolina is just like a Norman Rockwell painting—except for the rash of thefts of baby Jesus figurines from nativity scenes, an abandoned box of golden retriever puppies that someone leaves beside her mailbox, and a mysterious gift from one of Cisco's a grateful admirers. Raine already has her hands full with her own misbehaving pooches, unexpected house guests, and a complicated new relationship. But when a newborn is abandoned in the manger of the town's living nativity and Raine walks in on what appears to be the scene of a murder, she has more to worry about than keeping the Christmas spirit alive.

Praise for the Raine Stockton Dog Mysteries "An exciting, original and suspense-laden whodunit...A simply fabulous mystery starring a likeable, dedicated heroine..." —Midwest Book Review "A delightful protagonist....a well-crafted mystery" —Romantic Times January is known as the dead season in the small Smoky mountain community of Hanover County, North Carolina. For dog trainer and wilderness expert Raine Stockton, who hasn't had a client in six months, this season has been deader than most. When the New Day Wilderness Program for Troubled Teens offers her a job leading a group of students on a winter camping expedition as part of their rehabilitation program, Raine jumps at the chance—particularly since it means she will be able to take her golden retriever, Cisco, with her. But something is not right at New Day, and Raine and Cisco soon find themselves caught in a web of intrigue, suspicion and sabotage. As the group moves deeper into the wilderness beneath steadily worsening weather, Raine begins to fear she and Cisco may soon find themselves trapped on the mountainside... with a killer. "There can't be too many golden retrievers in mystery fiction for my taste." —Deadly Pleasures

Raine Stockton looks back on how she first met Cisco, her incorrigible golden retriever pup, in this Raine Stockton Dog Mystery Christmas short story.

For dog trainer and search-and-rescue volunteer Raine Stockton the last few months have been marked by murder, danger, and betrayal. A luxury vacation to the Caribbean resort island of St. Bart’s sounds like the perfect antidote for stress, particularly since it includes three of her favorite traveling companions: boyfriend Miles, his daughter Melanie, and Raine’s happy-go-lucky golden retriever Cisco. But even in paradise, trouble finds them. An American actress has suffered a fatal diving accident, and someone close to Miles appears to have been involved. As more and more people from Miles’s past surface, he and Raine are drawn reluctantly into a murder investigation. Raine, far more comfortable in her native North Carolina mountains than in this foreign culture surrounded by the baffling behavior of the rich and famous, is at a distinct disadvantage. But Raine faces her worst fears when someone she loves goes missing, and she is forced to navigate unfamiliar terrain in an alien land to track down a killer. And this time, even Cisco can’t help her.

Raine Stockton and her high-spirited, big-hearted golden retriever Cisco are accustomed to being heroes wherever they go. But there’s a new dog in town, and Raine and Cisco find themselves unexpectedly upstaged by a flashy K-9 addition to the sheriff’s department. Nike and her handler, Jolene, are part of a new government-funded program for law-enforcement agencies, and though Raine admires Nike’s talent almost as much as she resents Jolene’s arrogance, she can’t help wondering why the Department of Homeland Security would send such an expensive gift to their sleepy little Smoky Mountain community. Sheriff Buck Lawson has his hands full with an upcoming election, a bizarre murder, and a special appearance by a celebrity politician at the Fourth of July parade, and he is not about to look a gift horse—or dog—in the mouth. But when things go horribly wrong at a children’s camp just outside of town where Raine and Cisco are spending the holiday weekend, the scattered puzzle pieces begin to form a terrifying picture. In a desperate battle against an enemy whose face they can’t even see, Raine, Jolene, Cisco, Nike and Buck must work together and reach for depths of courage they never knew they had to save the lives of those they love.

The dog days of summer bring murder to the Smoky Mountains in this tenth installment of the best-selling Raine Stockton Dog Mystery Series. For Raine Stockton, owner and proprietor of Dog Daze Boarding and Training, August is the busiest time of year. She has all she can handle with a kennel full of dogs, a very strange new employee, and a personal life that seems to be falling apart at the seams. The last thing she needs is another complication. But when she takes in a gorgeous white golden retriever that was found covered in blood and wandering alone in a national park, the complications have only begun. When the new dog escapes during the night, the search for her leads Raine and her irascible search-and-rescue dog, Cisco, to the scene of a tragic accident at the bottom of a gorge. But was it an accident, or a well-planned murder? The answer to that question draws Raine into a dangerous intrigue in which she doesn’t know who to trust... one that will turn an afternoon at the fair into a deadly ordeal, and could end up costing Raine her life. "A simply fabulous mystery..." —Midwest Book Review

No one knows the mountains of North Carolina like Raine Stockton and her search and rescue dog, Cisco. When they are called in to search for an elderly man who has wandered away from home it seems like a routine mission, until Raine looks through her binoculars and sees something she wasn’t supposed to see. A dead man is very much alive, a felon is walking around free, and Raine is the only person who can testify to the fact. The problem is that no one takes her claims seriously...except the person who wants her dead. Unwillingly thrust into the midst of an unpleasant child custody battle and a hotly contested political race, Raine finds herself questioning her own judgment and uncertain who to trust. Is she suffering from PTSD, or has a nightmare from her past materialized to haunt her? The police tell her one thing, her common sense tells her another. But when murder strikes too close to home, the hypothetical question becomes all too real, and no one is above suspicion: not the man Raine loves, not the man she once married, not even Raine herself. And they all must choose how far they’re willing to go to protect the ones they love. In this thrilling conclusion to the trilogy that includes HOME OF THE BRAVE, DOG DAYS and LAND OF THE FREE, Raine and Cisco face their biggest challenge yet, and when it is over nothing will ever be the same.

Book #12 in the Best-Selling Raine Stockton Dog Mystery Series Hollywood has come to the scenic Smoky Mountain community of Hanover County, and dog trainer Raine Stockton can’t resist the opportunity when her dogs are offered a chance at a role in the film. Naturally, she expects her showy golden retriever, Cisco, to win the part, but Cisco’s impetuous nature does him in, and the role goes to her twin Australian Shepherds, Mischief and Magic. For the first time in his young life, Cisco is left behind. Film-making turns out not to be as exciting as Raine had expected, and the only upside to the long, mostly boring days is the new friend she makes on set, a stunt woman by the name of Dallas McKenzie. But it doesn’t take Raine long to discover that Dallas is a woman of secrets and lies, and trouble seems to follow her wherever she goes. The set is plagued by accidents and vandalism, and Dallas always seems to be at the center of everything that goes wrong. But even Raine can’t imagine how wrong things have yet to go. Meanwhile, Raine agrees to investigate a case for her lawyer friend Sonny involving a service dog who is accused of biting a child. The case seems open and shut until Cisco, who is beginning to show some talent as a medical alert dog, sniffs out evidence that throws previous theories into disarray—and may shed some light into the mysterious happenings on the movie set. But when Cisco and Raine start to track down answers, they find murder instead. In a world where nothing is what it seems, it’s up to Raine and Cisco to find the truth… before it’s too late.

From the winner of the Dog Writer’s Association of America “Best Fiction Book of the Year 2017”award comes this thrilling new installment in the Raine Stockton Dog Mystery series. The annual Hansonville, North Carolina Founder’s Day Festival always draws plenty of locals and tourists alike who are eager to immerse themselves in the Smoky Mountain culture and show their support for local businesses and civic organizations. For dog trainer and Humane Society volunteer Raine Stockton, it’s a perfect opportunity to raise money for the local animal shelter. But when a stranger wanders into her fund-raising booth with his young daughter and their beautiful black Lab, the peaceful country afternoon is turned into chaos. Within moments the man is arrested for murder, his child is placed in foster care, and Raine finds herself the temporary custodian of what may well be the most valuable dog in the world. While Raine’s ex-husband, the newly appointed county investigator Buck Lawson, tries to sort out the tangled threads of a murder case that isn’t even his own, Raine discovers that the man they’ve taken into custody is the world-famous research scientist Dr. Jason Broderick and that the Labrador, Bongo, is one of an elite group of dogs Broderick has bred and trained to detect concealed micro-technology. Raine can’t believe that someone she so admires could be guilty of murder, particularly when she learns that one of his associates is her own fiancé, Miles Young. But is her faith in both men misplaced? It turns out that Bongo has skills that go beyond even those of his fellow scent-detecting canines—skills that are worth billions of dollars to some people, and are worth killing for to others. When the unthinkable happens and an innocent life is placed in jeopardy, Raine is forced to make a terrible one that will shake her to her very core and cause her to question not only herself, but everything she has ever believed.

Book #14 in the Award-Winning Raine Stockton Dog Mystery SeriesRaine Stockton knows dogs, not kids. Nonetheless, she is supremely confident in her ability to take care her fianc�'s ten year old daughter, Melanie, for a week while he is out of town. After all, how hard could it be?But things get complicated when Raine and her golden retriever, Cisco, rescue a dog who is locked in a hot car in a remote Smoky Mountain park... and subsequently discover the owner of that car drowned in the creek only a few dozen yards away. Was it an accident, or was it murder?Raine is certain that she recognizes the abandoned dog from her puppy training class six years ago. Mere months later, the dog, along with his three-year-old owner, disappeared from the child's bedroom during the night and were never seen again. Now the dog is back, and Raine is convinced his reappearance might hold the key to the truth about the missing child. The problem is that no one believes her.While Raine tries to unravel the mystery of the abandoned dog's past-and a six-year-old missing child case-her ex-husband, criminal investigator Buck Lawson, opens an investigation into the death of the man in whose car the dog was found. He soon finds himself involved in another cold case, one that leads him from an apparent serial killer in Florida to a murder in his own hometown.The one thing that ties the two cases together is the dog whose shadowy history opens the door to questions better left unasked, and whose answers may prove to be deadly. But when lives are in danger, it is up to Raine and Cisco to track down the truth, even though it means risking someone she loves.

An Epic Installment in the Raine Stockton Dog Mystery Series In this pivotal fifteenth book in the ground-breaking Raine Stockton Dog Mystery Series, the death of an old friend leaves Raine Stockton with an unwanted inheritance, an old wound reopened, and the most challenging mystery of her life. The name Stockton has always carried weight in the small Smokey Mountain community of Hanover County, North Carolina, and Judge Jonathon Stockton was one of the most respected men in the county… until a scandal was uncovered that destroyed his legacy and shook his daughter, Raine, to the very foundation of her being. Now her father’s misdeeds are once again threatening to upend Raine’s world, this time in the form of a relative she never knew she had. Both Raine’s ex-husband, county investigator Buck Lawson, and her fiancé, Miles Young, warn Raine that Casey Macintosh is not what he appears to be. But while Raine is not as naïve as either man seems to suspect, she finds herself unwillingly charmed by this stranger who claims to be her long-lost brother, and more curious than suspicious. But the more she learns about Casey the more she realizes that he is not only deceptive, he may also be dangerous. Raine and her search-and-rescue golden retriever, Cisco, have spent their lives rescuing others who have stumbled off the trail. She has never faced a crisis she couldn’t manage with the help of her devoted dog and her friends. But with Buck in the midst of an out-of-state move and a new county prosecutor looking to make a name for himself, Raine soon finds herself entangled in a desperate situation with no way out and no one to turn to. This time, she is not the savior, but the victim. And not even Cisco can help her now.