Birthright

To protect her secrets, a woman refuses to acknowledge the child she left behind fifty years ago and a half a world away. Claire travels halfway across the globe from Southern California to Ireland to find the reasons Norah, her biological mother, gave her up. Norah is equally determined to avoid re ...

Metamorphose

Metamorphose examines the physical, emotional, and psychological changes that can occur from a difficult upbringing to transforming into a young mother. From her initial state of innocence, insecurity, and naivety, Salina undergoes a tumultuous journey as she begins to decide and find her path in ...

Saving Hope

Steve Berry, NYT Bestselling author, describes Saving Hope as “a tantalizing premise that toys with the most basic of emotions—a parent’s drive to save their child.” Alexandra Pavlova must choose: save her daughter...or the world. In one of Siberia's formerly closed cities, Nadezhda Pavlova’s unempl ...

Perfect Haven: Sweet Romance (Shady Piers Clean Romance Book 1)

After a disastrous 26th birthday party, Olivia Donaldson flees her wealthy but overbearing parents and her controlling soon-to-be ex-husband and makes for Shady Piers, the former hometown of her now-deceased grandfather, in Maine.

Desperate for even the most b ...

The Taste of Air

USA Today Bestseller! Mary Reilly's had a secret cottage in Vermont for 40 years. Why did she never tell her daughters? Nell and Bridget stumble across their mother's hideaway when she turns up in a hospital, far from home. Mary'a lakeside cottage is a vault for family secrets never suspected, and t ...

Space Cowgirl: Houston, All Systems Go

NASA astronaut Julie Starr knows nothing is earned without blood, sweat, and frizzy hair. Recently returned from orbit, Jules is on her way to becoming the youngest Flight Commander ever. So she isn't about to let a creepy stalker derail her goals. Or a chivalrous, wealthy rancher either, for that m ...

Beyond the Garden

From the bestselling author of the Sweeney Sisters Series comes the much-awaited sequel to Magnolia Nights, a novel of fate, discovery, and determination. All is right in Ellie Pringle Hagood’s world. Recently married to the man of her dreams and in anticipation of the big family she’s always wanted ...

Better To Have Loved

They both searched the world trying to fill their souls. But some beauty must be born from within… UK, 1967. Julie Jensen is desperate for a new beginning. After fleeing abuse and a rotten boyfriend, the determined young woman sets out for a fresh start across the globe. But just as she draws clo ...

Christmas with Hot Apple Cider

Want to warm your soul for the holidays? Unwrap the true meaning of gift giving with a treasure trove of festive tales. Christmas with Hot Apple Cider: Stories from the Season of Giving and Receiving is an eclectic collection of true stories, short fiction, and poetry. With 55 featured authors and p ...

A Case of Strangulation by a Stranger

When an asthma patient under Laurel Benson’s care dies, the ER nurse quickly realizes it wasn’t of natural causes. Faint bruising around the neck indicates the woman was strangled, right there in the recovery room! Always a champion for her patients, the headstrong nurse is determined to find out wh ...

The Deception

A sleight of hand. A trick up the sleeve. A call for the dead. It’s all part of the game in this twisty tale by the bestselling author of After Alice Fell. Maud Price was once a celebrated child medium, a true believer in lifting the veil between the living and the dead. Now penniless, her guiding s ...

Rejected Writers Take the Stage

After months of playing the lottery and hoping for an uptick in her dog-boarding business, Janet’s friend Annie must face the inevitable: the bank is foreclosing on her family farm. But thanks to the Rejected Writers’ Book Club, Annie doesn’t have to face it alone. With just a few ...

Suburban Skies

Everybody is on the premises of Suburban Skies Condominium Association when the victim is discovered. Residents of the small community face obstacle after obstacle as they try to rebuild their homes and their lives after Hurricane Katrina. When folks are at their most vulnerable, facades crumble, se ...

My Counterfeit Self

From the award-winning author of Half-truths and White Lies and An Unknown Woman comes an emotional story of hidden identities, complicated passions and tangled truths. ‘A compelling portrayal of the bohemian life of an activist poet, the men she loves, and the issues she fights for.’ ~ Eleanor Stee ...

Under the Salvadoran Sun

Angela, a mature artist, mother, and widow from Seattle, Washington, travels to El Salvador after the death of her husband. There she must confront old memories of a past affair when she runs into her past lover, Liam O'Connor. Filled with familial conflict, questions of faith, and self-interest ver ...

Mary Not Broken

IN 1930s MISSISSIPPI, Mary Johnson hates the oppressive heat, working on her family farm, and having to attend her minister father’s church several times a week. But she loves Mason Carter, her musician boyfriend. Both fantasize about living the high life up north in the big city.

...

Deep End of the Lake

First Place in General Fiction 2023 Christian Indie Awards
2021 Golden Scroll Award Winner


Who Says Giving Up Dreams Isn't Success?

Ally Cervantes has all she wants in life—an upcoming wedding, a chance to p ...

Weight of the Badge

Madison deCordova is tackling one of her strangest ‘cases’ yet. A woman contacts In a Pinch, begging for Madison to keep her from killing someone. She hangs up before giving her name, or that of her possible victim. It could be a prank. Someone looking for attention. A lost soul reaching out for he ...

Honeymoon in Italy

Not all Otto Viti stories are about dead bodies…

When Jill D'Angelo agrees to join her two sisters on an Italian vacation, she only hopes the three of them can go the whole week without driving each other crazy. Little does she know that the getaway will be full of traveling mishaps and u ...

Space Junk: Houston, We Have a Hottie

NASA engineer Dr. Jackie Darling Lee is a genius about many things... the male species is not one of them (despite the many cowboy romances she reads). Then a little friendly blackmail from a co-worker has Jackie walking into a Texas saloon ready to initiate Operation Social Life. After making fr ...

Chasing Kate

Rock bottom meets redemption in this hilarious and heartbreaking story about two unforgettable misfits on a riotous voyage of transformation. Adulting is hard for twenty-eight-year-old Kate Denai. Her chaotic life spirals even more out of control when she accidentally kidnaps five-year-old Sadie ...

A Hundred Magical Reasons

Most fairy tales have happy endings, but is it too late for this one? If you’re an Oz fan, meet the real mastermind behind Oz: author L. Frank Baum. This heartwarming novel spotlights Baum's influence through an unlikely childhood friendship. ~ Hawthorne Prize Winner < ...

Keep Me In Your Heart

A Friessen family celebration turns tragic when the marriage of one daughter is preceded by the heartbreaking loss of another. “This story is one that will stick with me for quite awhile. It is raw, gritty and the stuff of nightmares for those who are parents or part of a close knit family like t ...

The Doors of Rome

A delightful, up-lifting story of an ordinary woman whose life is transformed by one simple task: Photographing the doors of Rome.

Salt-of-the-earth housewife, Millie Devonshire enjoys making a home for her husband and going on "therapy" jogs with her best friend, yet ...

They Call Me Crazy

"Fried Green Tomatoes meets Dolores Claiborne. This character-rich southern gothic-esque tale will keep you guessing up to the very end." - NYT Bestselling Author Kate Moretti Cass Adams is crazy, and everyone in Deacon, Kansas, knows it. But when her good-for-nothing husband, Roland, goes missing, ...

Literary Global Book Awards * Finalist * December/2025
Literary Titan Book Award * Gold Book Award * September/2025
Readers' Favorite * 5-Star Review * July/2025 (book released)

Former conservation sc ...

That's Our Brother

Kacie knows three things for certain. She should have sent a text before abandoning her boyfriend. She should have let her family know she was coming home. And she has no business adopting a dog. When Kacie moved away from her father and stepfamily years earlier, she had big aspirations and no plans ...

The Ring

Two women, strangers, from culturally different neighborhoods struggle with their fathers’ deaths, each coping in her own way. Fate brings them together, and when certain disturbing truths are unveiled, they discover they have something in common that is inconceivable and difficult to acknowledge. A ...

Murder After Hours

Whose secret is a motive for murder? Sandra is murdered while working late at the office and the investigation drives Detective Elliot crazy because everyone has secrets. Ian is trying to hide illicit activities, Henry has a darker, hidden side, George needs money and will make it any way he c ...

Silvia Bell

Silvia Bell moved to New England to discover her parents' hometown and roots. Purchasing a run-down fixer-upper, she was determined to make it work. She arrived with a pocketful of hope, and a dash of reality. A feel-good story of courage, hope, and perseverance.

Beneath the Apple Blossom

Four women, linked by blood ties, friendship, betrayal, loss and hope, struggle with the choices they’ve made and the hand that life’s dealt them. All Pippa’s ever wanted is marriage and kids, but at thirty-four and about to embark on IVF, her dream of having a family is far from certain. Her younge ...

Bended Love

Scarlett is just trying to survive with her nephew in tow, hoping one day someone will want to marry her. Everything changes when she meets a former musician at the music camp she finds work at.

#WannabeDetective, A Maizie Albright Star Detective Omnibus (books 1-3)

"PART ROMCOM, PART MURDER MYSTERY, THEY ARE THE PERFECT WEEKEND READ."

Find out why romantic comedy mystery fans love the light and funny Maizie Albright Star Detective series. “In a nutshell, it’s pure escapism.” Included in the first omnibus from a Wall Street Journal bestselli ...

A Wild Encounter

When an unexpected encounter in the air leads to something kinky... Amelia: When I found out my boyfriend was cheating on me I was heart-broken. Forget about love. All I was interested in now was a relationship with no strings attached. So I had a one time fling with a sexy, rugged stranger on a pla ...

Caught Up In Me

From Bestselling Author Virginia Gray comes a delightfully funny page-turner about love, friendship, and second chances... Nothing is more important to 29-year-old Susan Wade than her career--not family, not friends, and especially not love. When she's offered a short-cut assignment to a big promoti ...

Worthless Treasures

Professional organizer Diamond Lange helps clients declutter their homes and let go of what no longer serves them. But when her mother, Eva, suddenly passes away, Diamond is left with a house overflowing with junk and a promise she regrets making.

Although Diamond considers everything ...

My Last Year

Nounous is a fourteen-year-old Maltese dog who loves people but loves his mother most. As he takes his last steps, he reminisces on life and worries about leaving his Mommy alone. His mother, Susanne Leist, is a paranormal suspense author and former financial analyst. When she isn’t writing her book ...

Dire's Club

Dying isn’t just hard on the ones left behind, the regret of unfinished lives weighs heavily on the terminally ill. That’s where Dire’s Club steps in, a specialty travel agency that takes a small group of dying people on one final adventure—so they can be free of guilt, be more than a diagnosis, and ...

Flying Lessons

A subtle story with a paranormal touch. Follow a wonderful journey of change that will help you believe in magic again.

Henry and his adult daughter, Chandra, are haunted by the past. Stuck in a state of mourning, they long to return to a time when the family matriarch was sti ...

Running From Herself

Who are you when things get hard? 

Small-town club singer Leah Branch welcomes her band's breakup. Tired of chasing the impossible dream, it's time to find a new life far away from music. She doesn't exactly pick tiny Chan ...

Butterfly Kisses is the first book in The Orange Blossom series, the latest in heartwarming Women's Fiction from National Readers' Choice Award winner, Leigh Duncan.

Whispered Wishes

They’re living the dream. But dreams aren’t real life. And secrets can’t be hidden forever… Lucas and Nathan are sworn enemies. When Olivia gets trapped between them, old hurts run deep and trust is not on the agenda. Then Nathan’s worst nightmare comes true. His beloved daughter is missing. With tr ...

The Tin Whistle

Inspired by a true story...


1854
Jacob Gusky wakes up hoping Santa has arrived. And he has... but not for Jacob, one of two Jewish boys living at the Boys’ Home of Manhattan. When a friend gifts him a tin whistle, Jacob learns the power of giving, the joy in receiving, and hear ...

The Secret Life of Book Club

The Seasons of Annah (2 Book Series)

From Book 1: How far would you go to find love? Would you travel into the depths of your soul? Would you face your deepest fears? Would you accept love if the Universe presented it disguised in a way you don't recognize?
Fifty-five year old Annah-Belle Henderson faced these questions on th ...

Doin' the Most on the California Coast

Greetings from Lavender Valley

Six women. Four decades. One long, unexpected reunion. Jewel Austin is a foster mother to dozens, but forms a special bond with five foster girls she welcomed under her roof long ago. Through handwritten letters, Jewel keeps in touch with these women she nurtured to adulthood. Now in her eight ...

An Audience with the King

The king says everyone is equal, but Nelia’s life shows the opposite. Once, she’d considered herself blessed; she has the ability to see the true character of others. Envy as green slime, evil as tar. Shame as rubies sparkling bright enough that men would fight over them.But then war took her hus ...

Before Everything Broke: A Lost and Found Short Story

A sharp, emotionally charged prequel to the forthcoming Lost and Found series from women's fiction author, Rachel Del Grosso.

When Harriet, her husband Alex, their teenage twins, and his complicated family gather for a “perfect” lake weekend, simmering tensions boil over ...

Fortune Fair

Fortune Fair is the short story prequel to The Tea Leaves Series It is 1997 and two friends, Nancy and Mickie have just finished their first year of college. They set off to the funfair to celebrate and encounter an eccentric fortune teller, The Mysterious Madame Marigold. Madame Marigold predicts N ...

Coffee Stains

Using a dead girl's name and secretly dating a professor are just some of the things Ana Lopez is willing to do to graduate college and build some sort of future for herself. You name it, she'll do it, if it gets her closer to a better life and helps her escape her violent past. After crawling out o ...

Camino Wandering

Aubrey is struggling to pick up the pieces of her shattered life when her son convinces her that walking 500 miles across Spain via the Camino Frances would be good for her. When she befriends Pam and Georgina, she meets kindred spirits. Each carry their burdens close to their hearts, trying to f ...

Second Chance Billionaire

He’s my billionaire ex that shattered my heart three years ago… And the last person I thought would save me. Despite our messy breakup, Jacob Adler is the sexiest man to ever cross my path. Those crisp blue eyes, irresistible smile and chiseled body still fuel my dreams. After putting my career on h ...

The Red Dirt Hymnbook

Ruby Fae McKeever is realizing that she made a terrible decision when she dropped out of college two years ago to marry that sweet-faced JW Jasper and join his family's traveling revival ministry--or, as her Daddy had put it, when she "run off with the dang-fool Jesus Circus." She'd thought at the t ...

Favorite Daughters

Elyse Gibbons is out of her depth when, as an undergrad at Columbia, she's befriended by campus superstars Aubrey Adam-Drake and Marina Hunt. While Aubrey's grandfather is a former U.S. president and Marina's dad is a notorious mob lawyer, Elyse was raised in Pennsylvania by a single mother/language ...

GLORY BISHOP

In 1980s Chicago, Glory Bishop lives her life in pieces. At work and with her friends, she reads novels, speaks her mind, and enjoys slow dances and stolen kisses with her boyfriend, JT. But at home, Glory follows strict rules and second-guesses every step. Though she dreams of going to college a ...

Girl Braiding Her Hair

Her friends included Van Gogh, Degas, and Renoir. Paris celebrated her as a sought-after model, until she picked up the brush herself, at a time when art schools refused to accept female students. By the time Suzanne Valadon was 15 years old, she'd been a horse walker, a milliner, a funeral wreat ...

False Security

Rachel Thomas longs for normalcy, but if she stops running she could die... or worse. Chased by a past that wishes to imprison her, haunted by dreams that seek to destroy her, Rachel finds solace in a love she could not predict. A love she cannot deter. Mark Jacobson is the man who never needed love ...

The Justicar Jhee Mysteries: Anchor Trilogy

Injustice rules the lives of many. Justicar Jhee, a magic-wielding sleuth, uses her talents to stand against it.

A mystical storm shield built to protect the Blessed Isles against barbarian invasion has caused sea levels to rise and rendered many islands uninhabitable.

For many y ...

Sailing out of Darkness

Love conquers all? Maybe for some people. Samantha flees Dodge--or rather Beaufort, NC--to free herself from a relationship that should never have happened. But does she leave in time to stave off trouble for others as well as herself? Teo isn't looking for romance or anything other than the next pl ...

Garden of Secrets

1940, England: ‘I promise we will find each other again. I will leave you a message,’ she said, ‘here, in our secret garden.’ But outside the garden walls a war was raging, and it was only a matter of time before they would have to risk everything for love… Now, England: When Laura moves to Norfo ...

The Midlife Lady's Guide to a Bad Horoscope: (A Paranormal Women's Fiction Novel) (Powers of the Zodiac Book 1)

A hilarious and magical new series from the authors of Down & Dirty Supernatural Cleaning Services! Three very different women receive a similar desperate message from their husbands: I've been kidnapped and I need your help. They each must secure a mysterious and powerful magical object for his ...

Accursed Women: a collection of short stories

Five stories, five women, five legends. Phaedra, a Minoan princess, marries out of duty and to safeguard her precious home. She falls in love with Hippolytos, her husband’s son and asks the Goddess Aphrodite for help. He spurns her affections. The Trojan War, one of history’s greatest stories ever t ...

Maren Russo knows better than anyone that sometimes life knocks your crown right off your head. Her event planning business crumbled to pieces like rotted driftwood thanks to a bridezilla extraordinaire. Without an income, ...

The Christmas Coat

Two days before Christmas, ornery Elliot Ebberts is tasked with school drop-off even though distracted by an important real estate transaction. In the holiday carpool chaos his extravagant, lucky coat goes missing. In a panic, he searches for it, tracing its path as it passes through the hands of go ...

My Best Mistake

Everybody wants something from her. She’s just looking for a little peace and quiet… Tired mother Tasha Gerome wishes she weren’t such a mess. With a deadbeat ex-husband hounding her for cash, a house so bad the cleaning service quit, and a rich doctor falsely accusing her of writing him poor re ...

Christmas on King Street

Alice's flower shop is in trouble, and her boyfriend has yet to propose. She's weary and disillusioned, so when her boyfriend suggests a trip to visit family and friends in Charleston, South Carolina, she's eager to go. But a discovery at her friend's vintage store reveals a decades-old music box wi ...

The Future Mrs. Brightside

After a year of making beautiful music together, Chloe Hatherly thinks she’s more than ready to make the age-old promise to her bandmate, Jon. In sickness and in health, for better or worse. When the sudden death of Jon’s father forces the couple to postpone their wedding in favor of a funeral, howe ...

Flawless (A Love, California Series Novel, Book 1)

"An engrossing view into the world of 'beautiful people' with an ending that will leave you wanting more." - New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Melissa Foster

Verena Valent is at the helm of her family’s legendary Swiss skincare company in Beverly Hills ...

My Best Memory

She needs to feel in control. When it’s all stripped from her, can a fifty-something mother build a bridge to a better tomorrow? Helene Shaw’s life is falling apart. She doesn’t have her friends’ respect, her eldest daughter moved to get away from her, and now her youngest is refusing her perfectly ...

Call Me Maybe

“Ellie Cahill is definitely one to watch!” raves bestselling author Cora Carmack, and this steamy, upbeat modern romance about connecting in all the best ways proves it once again. Clementine Daly knows she’s the black sheep. Her wealthy, powerful family has watched her very closely since she almost ...

A Season to Dance

Ana Brassfield has her path to the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House all figured out until her first love, renowned German dancer Claus Gert, returns to Georgia to win her back. Despite a promising start towards her ballet career and pending marriage to landscape architect, Peter Engberg, Ana wo ...

Beach Therapy: A Novel

Tuckaway Bay, Book 1

If you’re looking for a deeply emotional women’s fiction, pick up this book. Fans of Elin Hilderbrand will love this book. 5+ stars, NN Light's Book Heaven

Si ...

Accept this Dandelion

Renee Lockhart has her eye on a lofty goal…to fill the open position of morning radio show host at the station where she works. When her co-workers sign her up for a local TV version of The Bachelor, Renee goes along with it in order to raise her profile. Upon seeing her bumbling audition, Ben McCon ...

Echo of Glory

Where Bantry Bay in Ireland meets the wild Atlantic, three lost souls stumble together united by their inability to forgive themselves. A heart-pounding and magical tapestry of romance, history, legend, and complex themes of inequality that resonated as deeply centuries ago as they do today. Perf ...

Hannie Rising

When “typical Kerryman” Mickey Enright realizes he is dead, he is convinced there has been a mistake and demands another chance at mortality. But St. Peter, with an agenda of his own, sends him back to Tralee … as a stranger.

A Saint Nicholas Spirit

The spirit of Saint Nicholas transpires when family and friends gather in the family cabin for a mystical Christmas experience. The smell of fresh pine and cinnamon wafted through the air, and the fire crackled and popped, casting a warm glow over the room. Children squealed with delight, playing ...

Trading Places

TRADING PLACES

The more things changed, the more they stayed the same. Lindsey returned to the slee ...

Mine to Protect

Marrying my best friend was like a dream come true, even if it was fake. Aiden was the last person I thought I would run into on the streets of Seattle. He’s no longer the boy I remember, but a tall muscle-oozing gorgeous man. When my past comes back to haunt me, he’s the only one who can save ...

To Dream of Shadows: A Gripping Holocaust Novel Inspired by a Heartbreaking True Story

Inspired by a previously untold true story, “To Dream of Shadows” is one of the most heartwarming, heartbreaking, and heroic tales of the Holocaust. She will save hundreds of lives. But can she save her own? 1943. 18-year-old Czech, Inge is torn from her family and imprisoned in some godforsak ...

Nothing Forgotten: A Novel

Nothing Forgotten, Winner of Next Generation Indie Book Award. "An intricately layered, deeply heartfelt, and bittersweet novel," Starred Review, Booklist. "Delicious insights into Italian life," San Francisco Chronicle. When Anna is contacted by the Italian lover she knew decades before, she recall ...

A Sisterhood of Women Living Life: A Short Story Collection Book 1

These stories will make you laugh, cry and want to give them a hug… The Dreaded After Call—a young editor runs away from a love triangle and works to drown out the pain but… Will she have a second chance at love? Wine A Little or A Little Wine—a beautiful overweight woman can’t find love and all she ...

Katarina's Dark Shadow

The only uncertainty in war is uncertainty. Set during the darkest days of Ukraine’s history, Book One: Katarina’s Dark Shadow prequels the courageous human struggle inside a distinct faith during violent political times. 1951: Peter stumbles on his adopted mother’s diaries from the Russian Revoluti ...

Always with You

"Always With You is the bittersweet and poignant love story of a woman trapped between temptation and the ties that bind." ~Tracey Garvis Graves, New York Times bestselling author of On the Island and Covet. With Cathy’s health food café thriving, a loyal circle of friends, and a heartbreaking divor ...

The Journey

How could she know he was really a monster? As one reviewer said, " 5-Stars: A Great book about a horrifying experience." Katy is desperate to get away from a controlling, abusive, and terrifying man who hurts her in the most savage ways. He was once a kind, thoughtful lover. Now, he has her para ...

If There is Nothing Left Complete Novella Series Box Set

Amanda’s legacy was simple and unbelievably complicated...her sons were determined to make it happen exactly as she wanted.

Heaven to Betsy

A heartfelt and hilarious mystery. A dead body swan-dives into the pool at a wedding, bringing gossip about disgraced paralegal and former rodeo queen Emily to a halt. Enter Jack, a secretive attorney and sexy mix of cowboy and Indian, and a job offer. Emily refuses the man and the job, until she le ...

Along the Road (Becker Family Novel Book 2)

Kat Becker is a starry-eyed optimist with a dream. She’s convinced a move to Nashville will turn her into a singing sensation, and nobody’s going to stand in her way. Not even the cute but grumpy ER doctor she meets after a fender-bender. Dr. Dan McDonald is a hard-headed realist with a past. He kno ...

Just Once

What do you do when you are forgotten by the man you’ve loved for twenty years? What do you do if you are the one who is remembered? Frankie Sicari is roused from sleep late one night by a key rattling in the front door lock. It’s her ex-husband, Charley Blackwell: a man she hasn’t seen for nearly a ...

Rosie's Revenge

ROSIE’S REVENGE

 

Whispers of Her Memories

Some inherit money. Mallory inherited secrets… Mallory O’Neill swaps the buzz of Melbourne for the quiet shores of Anahera Bay, New Zealand, hoping for a fresh start… not secrets and surprises. But the crumbling seaside cottage left to her by Sofia—the grandmother she never knew—holds more than j ...

The Flight of Hope

A tragic accident. A mother in mourning. Can a second chance rise from the wreckage? Marlee Foster’s life was just getting started. She couldn’t wait for the return of her husband from deployment. After all, he’d be there just in time for the birth of their daughter. The welcome home party is full o ...

Grace on the Horizon (The White Sails Series Book 2)  - HISTORICAL ROMANCE

GRACE ON THE HORIZON is the second full-length novel in The White Sails Series. Grace and Seamus, united by their past experiences, are adrift on a raft of shame in the sea of 1830s London society. After a personal tragedy, Grace’s desperation to leave London forces Seamus to accept a dubious commis ...