The only thing the Herrins and the Burkes had in common was their Irish ancestry. Opposites in most ways, the families nevertheless personified two common threads in the history of the West. As the owner of an iconic Montana stock-raising operation--the famous Oxbow Ranch on the shores of Holter Lake--Holly Herrin ruled with frontier violence and legal action over an empire of cattle and sheep that covered thirty square miles. George Burke was a real estate agent, a sheriff, a game warden, and a civil engineer in a family of professionals--newspaper editors, lawyers, and politicians, including a U.S. senator. The country-mouse Herrins voted Republican, the city-mouse Burkes Democratic. Both patriarchs, fighting with their fists and their lawyers, were active players in the far-reaching dramas and ludicrous comedies that shaped the politics and economy of modern Montana. In 1949 the clans joined their fortunes together when rancher Keith Herrin, Holly's grandson, married George Burke's daughter Molly, a wire service reporter. It was a union that produced five girls and one boy--an heir. Twenty years later, the marriage and the Herrin ranches were failing. The story of the Burkes and Herrins has never been told before, and the history they made has been largely forgotten. The Last Heir recounts twelve decades of Burke and Herrin triumphs and tragedies: the story of Montana's Missouri River heartland, a history seen through the eyes and daily lives of those who lived it.

"Monsieur Giroux is not a happy man. Of course, who could be happy while discussing the death of their son? Without an heir, his Chateau Giroux winery in California will be inherited by another family member, its grapes plowed under to make way for a lucrative real estate deal. Yet Giroux believes that his son may still be alive and hires MacTaggart to investigate. In The Last Heir, the third entry in the Shamus Award-nominated series of Jack MacTaggart legal mysteries, author (and sometimes vigneron) Chuck Greaves blends themes of greed and vanity, rivalry and revenge, bottles them with an unexpected murder, and pours forth a plummy magnum of page-turning mystery about a privileged but deeply dysfunctional American family"--

"The Last Heir" is an engaging and thought-provoking novel that delves into the world of corporate and family dynamics. The protagonist, the young woman, must navigate the complex and often conflicting interests of the family members, employees, and the community as she works to implement her vision for a sustainable future. The book explores themes of legacy, responsibility, and the power of one person's actions to bring about change. It also touches on the importance of balancing financial success with social and environmental responsibility. The novel is filled with twists and turns as the young woman uncovers secrets, faces betrayal, and makes tough choices that will change the course of her family's future. It is a page-turner that will keep you on the edge of your seat as you follow the protagonist's journey. "The Last Heir" is a must-read for anyone interested in the business world and the impact of corporate decisions on society, as well as for anyone looking for inspiration to make a difference in the world. It is a powerful and thought-provoking novel that will leave readers questioning their own actions and their impact on the world around them.

Laurie Shoemaker traces six generations of her family who lived in the same South Carolina plantation house built in the 1850s in this memoir chronicling life from the Civil War to the Great Depression and beyond. An Excerpt: ÒHey, guys, yÕall need to come out here on the porch. ItÕs cooler and there are a million stars.Ó Before I finish the sentence, bodies start drifting out. Some lounge on the enormous stone steps, others fill up wicker and rocking chairs. For a moment, no one speaks. They are drinking it all in, the perfumed night, the cloudless firmament, a symphony of pastoral sounds both near this place we call home and far away down the roads and in the fields. Sons and daughters of Liz and Joe, of the Browns and Sloans and Chalmers, relax on the sturdy, broad-beamed porch our ancestors built. There is tranquility in the fresh country air, our individual, unspoken pain salved by the velvet night. Brown eyed Joseph, his grandfatherÕs namesake asks, ÒWhat will become of all this?Ó

He's fallen 12,000 feet from the sky… Now he knows exactly what he wants! Daredevil Rafael Revaldi has always lived for the moment. But having cheated death, the Conte di Monterrato is focused on the future. He needs an heir, but to get one he'll face his toughest challenge yet—winning back his estranged wife! Lottie returns to the castle she once called home with a newfound strength. The intense sensual connection between Lottie and Rafe remains, but so do the emotional scars of their marriage. Can Lottie risk her heart again to give them the child they both so desperately want?

This early work by Sheridan Le Fanu was originally published in 1838. Born in Dublin in 1814, he came from a literary family of Huguenot origins; both his grandmother Alicia Sheridan Le Fanu and his great-uncle Richard Brinsley Sheridan were playwrights,