Ken Casper - Backlist

Backlist

Note: Ken Casper previously wrote as K.N. Casper, the name on most of his backlist books.

A Lady's Luck
Upstairs at Miss Hattie's
As Big as Texas
Family at Last
A Mother's Vow
The Toy Box
The Woman in the News
Jackson's Girls
First Love, Second Chance
A Mother to His Children
Gideon's Baby
The First Daughter
The Millionaire Horseman
The First Family of Texas
The Major Comes To Texas
The Texan
Her Brother's Keeper
A Man Called Jesse

A Lady's Luck

Will the lady bring luck...or misfortune?

Widowed racehorse breeder Brent Preston greets every morning with the painful memory of his wife...and the burden of knowing that somehow he's responsible for the encroaching ruin of Quest Stables. But then Brent stumbles across a clue-one that could solve the mystery surrounding his family's Thoroughbred champion once and for all...

Brent follows the trail to England, hoping that Lady Devon Hunter can help him infiltrate her brother's secrets. But after one glance at the lovely English schoolteacher, Brent finds himself feeling emotions long since buried. He's torn between pursuing the gracefully elusive Devon and hunting down the person responsible for ruining his family...unaware that both paths will lead him straight into the arms of danger!

Upstairs at Miss Hattie's

"We can never escape our yesterdays. They make us who we are today."

Young Bram and Sarah Clyburn are about to end their marriage and go their separate ways--a big mistake in the minds of Bram's grandparents, Evvie and Edgar, the same mistake they almost made many years ago.

Evvie's family had come to Texas from the dust bowl of Oklahoma in the waning years of the Depression, looking for opportunity but finding only hardship. Desperate times sometimes require desperate measures, and Evvie took them--measures that shamed her and threatened Edgar's love. But during the war years of sacrifice and separation they learned that their love could surmount anything--even Evvie's shameful past.

After sixty-five years, they share their shocking story for the first time. Will it be enough to save Bram and Sarah's marriage?

As Big as Texas

Nobody said it would be easy

But Kayla Price hadn't expected it would be this hard to begin a new life with her daughter in the Texas Hill Country town of Homestead. She's excited to join the innovative Home Free program, take ownership of a parcel of land and start a vineyard--doing everything she can to revitalize the dying town.

And "everything she can" includes helping her neighbor, cowboy Ethan Ritter, set up a riding program for challenged kids.

Turns out hard labor isn't enough to make Kayla's venture a success, and she and Ethan must find out who wants her gone and why they're desperate enough to resort to sabotage.

Home to Loveless County.
Because Texas is where the heart is.

Family at Last

Coming to America...

Sixteen years ago Nina Lockhart left Moscow to escape her past. Now she's helping a small Russian boy fit into his new life with his adoptive father, Jarrod Morrison, here in the States. But part of helping seven-year-old Sasha means returning to her former country.

Every instinct tells Nina to refuse.

But she can't. For the sake of the man who wants to be a good father--and the little boy who needs her so desperately--Nina Lockhart is about to step back in time to when she was Nina Kamarov. And that will force her to face her family and uncover the truth.

A Mother's Vow

There's corruption in the Houston Police Department. And because Catherine Tanner is the Chief of Police, it's her problem. Did her husband, a man of color, die of natural causes, or was he murdered? Why has her daughter chosen to become a nun? And what about the missing uranium? Has it fallen into the hands of terrorists? Catherine has to go outside her department to find the answers. Unfortuantely the only one she can trust is the cop she fired from the force last year.

The Toy Box

Secrets...and a second chance.

The smuggling of drugs and weapons...and a murder. Everything points to a mole in the Tombstone customs office. But when Agent Gage Engler goes undercover to investigate, he's shocked to find that Jill Manning, the new customs station chief, tops the list of suspects.

No one knows that he and Jill were once married, that Jill is the woman he still loves. Or that she holds him responsible for the death of their infant son. The last thing Gage wants is to cause Jill more pain. But his gut says she's a target... not a traitor.

A target he's determined to protect.

The Woman in the News

She's aiming for a promotion…

and scores love instead. Marlee Reid is up against some tough competition for her dream job of sports anchor on KNCS-TV in Coyote Springs, Texas. That news director Renn Davis has been critical of her work ever since he arrived six months earlier doesn't help. So Marlee is amazed when Renn wants to help her win the job, even after the chaos she causes barging into the men's locker room for an interview with a nothing-to-hide basketball star. Renn can't reprimand her-he can't even keep a straight face. Besides, the ratings soar. The fiasco is a turning point for Renn and Marlee. They're a team now, in more ways than one.

But just how final is that score?

When it looks as if Marlee might not get the anchor position after all, she wonders if Renn has been stringing her along- about her dream job…and her dreams about the two of them.

Jackson's Girls

Leanna Cargill is from up north - a damnyankee, as Southern folk say. But she's a steel magnolia if there ever was one- and she is determined to succeed at her new investigative job down south. All the more since a nasty divorce left her responsible for her little girl.

Jackson Fontaine maybe a Southern gentleman, but he is also a wheeler-dealer businessman and as strong willed as they come. He is not about to let his sugar plantation and refinery go under - he has a little girl to care for, too - because of any operational irregularities that Leanna Cargill may find.

Despite that, they like each other a lot. And when circumstances force Leanna to live at Bellefountaine, they both see how easily the four of them - Leanna and Jackson and their two girls - could make the arrangemnt a permanent one...

First Love, Second Chance

Means and opportunity--maybe. Motive? No way!

Michael First seems to have everything a man could want--a wife he adores; beautiful children he delights in; loving parents and siblings who live close by the West Texas ranch where he works.

Then fate turns his world upside down. Clare, his wife, is killed in his car--and when the police find that the brakes were tampered with, they charge him with the crime.

As attorney Lara Stovall gathers evidence on his behalf, she discovers some serious cracks in Michael's perfect marriage. She discovers, too, a simmering attraction to Michael, which started when she was his girlfriend in high school, before he met and married Clare.

The possibility of years in prison, lingering grief and guilt and doubt--that's a lot for any man and woman to overcome. But if they can, Michael and Lara might have a second chance at a first love...

A Mother to His Children

Marriage isn't for her...

When Julie First's boyfriend proposes on the condition that she devote herself to him and his banking career, she can't flee fast enough. She's going to put all her energy into working for the school district, instead, now that she's received her master's degree in education.

The job sounds great, except for the final clause in her contract--sign a loyalty oath that promises she won't criticize the administration. Julie finds the demand odd and offensive, but she goes along until she can no longer ignore growing evidence of corruption.

Or is it?

School board member Rolf Murdock thinks Julie's concerns are exaggerated, but he'll help her investigate. Although his first wife left him to pursue her career, he's as charmed by career woman Julie as she is by him and his children. Soon they're investigating more than a cover-up!

Gideon's Baby

First comes love, then comes marriage...maybe!

Gideon First has found the woman he loves, wants to marry and spend the rest of his life with. But wedded bliss may not be his after an ex-girlfriend charges that the child she secretly gave birth to is Gideon's.

Of course the news that her husband-to-be has fathered a child out of wedlock stuns Lupe Amorado. But what really shocks her is that Gideon considers putting his adorable little daughter up for adoption. He has his reasons, but Lupe's not sure she even wants to hear them.

Suddenly Gideon and Lupe have two crises to deal with - Gideon's baby and a wedding that's been put on hold.

The First Daughter

The First daughter just might have a second chance.

Nineteen years ago, when she thought she knew everything, Kerry First ditched Craig Robeson at their high school prom and ran off with the class bad boy. It was a mistake--one of many she would make.

Now Craig is back in her life, successful, strikingly handsome, generous and caring. And despite everything, he's thrilled to see Kerry again.

They've both grown up in nineteen years--though they had to do it the hard way--and they're ready for a deep connection.

Except that Kerry's unresolved problems with her family, so uncomfortably close to Craig's own, almost send HIM running this time--no matter how much he wants to be with her, no matter how much she begs him to stay...

The Millionaire Horseman

Mystery Bones Near Caddo Lake Identified

For nineteen years the land at Beaumarais near Caddo Lake, east Texas, his a secret. Now the secret is out, but a mystery remains: what happened on that hectic morning so long ago?

The morning of Frannie Granger's disappearance...

The local sheriff is determined to prove that Jed Louis, owner of the antebellum plantation and breeder of Percheron Horses, is responsible for what took place.

Gwyn Miller, who leases land from Jed, is equally determined to prove that the millionaire horseman was in no way involved. She's also determined to show Jed that nothing could ever threaten what they have with each other.

The First Family of Texas

The Man And His Family

Adam First and his family have been running the Number One Ranch in West Texas for generations. But now his daughter, driven by spite and revenge, has sold controlling interest to the local bank.

The Woman With Their Fate In Her Hands

Sheila Malone, a consultant for the bank, has to determine if Adam is managing the ranch properly and whether he should continue to oversee its operations.

The Choices They Have To Make

Adam can stay on - but only if agrees to Sheila's recommendations. That's asking a lot. Adam is as inflexible as Sheila is strong-willed. And the heat between them isn't just from their disagreements about the destiny of the ranch.

The Major Comes To Texas

She's got a Major problem.

Rika Philips, investigative journalist and single mother, plans to have a laid-back summer visiting family in the sleepy Texas town of Coyote Springs.

Enter Major Alex Huston, United States Air Force.

So much for Rika's plan. She is soon involved with the brash, handsome Major Huston in a top secret mission at the nearby air base, a mission that entails national security.

Collaborating closely with the major, which she must do in order to get the story she'd after, puts her on dangerous ground emotionally. Alex is way too appealing--and he's as wowed by her as she is by him. But Rika has sworn never to get near a handsome fighter pilot again.

Until the major changes her mind.

The Texan

Tall, dark and Texan.

And maybe her life's adventure.

After the failure of her marriage, Marcie Browder returns to the vast West Texas ranch she grew up on, to try to recapture her sense of self and security. But almost immediately she has an argument with her father. The next day she finds him murdered...with Tucker McGee, the new ranch foreman, standing over the body.

McGee isn't the simple cowboy he sometimes seems, and Marcie suspects he had a hand in her father's murder. Then she finds out that McGee suspects her.

To unearth the real killer, they have to trust each other.

Trust leads to love.

Or is it the other way around?

Her Brother's Keeper

Family means everything.

A deeply touching story about all the ways family gives meaning to life. And love...

Family means everything.

So when Krisanne Blessing gets a phone call for her brother's best friend asking her to come home, she doesn't hesitate. Even though the request comes from the man who'd betrayed her seven years before.

Drew Hadley had been her college lover until he suddenly married another woman. Now Drew is the lawyer for Blessing Pharmaceuticals--the family business in Coyote Springs, Texas.

He's also a widower with a six-year-old-son.

And he's never stopped loving Kris.

A Man Called Jesse

Jesse would do anything to save his home and community!

A rich Man's playground. That's what the neighborhood in Coyote Springs, Texas, will become if developer Winslow Carr and his cronies have their way. The neighborhood where Jesse, his family and friends grew up.

Jesse, a proud man, is determined to preserve his people's heritage. But he needs more than good intentions.

Tori Carr is determined to help her father realize his dreams for Coyote Springs. But she needs more than a partnership in his firm.

Then Tori begins to have thoughts about a new type of partnership--the kind that lasts a lifetime. With Jesse. But first the former Air Force Captain has to fight for her life, as well as her love...