The Misguided Souls of Magnolia Springs
A small town in Texas undergoes a remarkable series of changes when a couple of out-of-towners move in and open a tea shop in a rundown building. Everyone in Magnolia Springs is soon abuzz about the proprietors of the New Castle Gift Shop as it becomes apparent that something is unsettling about Mr. and Mrs. Aliger. A power company lineman, a police sergeant and a number of otherwise mild-mannered, country-fried characters try their hands at interpreting the strange actions and unusual behavior of their new neighbors. Things become curiouser and curiouser as the Aligers set up shop and begin making their rounds amongst the locals. Just why have they come to Magnolia Springs and what is on their hidden agenda? Could it be that the fate of the entire world might lie in the hands of a few unsuspecting souls in a sleepy little Texas Town?
The Hounds of Oblivion
When a string of ghastly murders strikes his small, East Texas town, he becomes the focus of an investigation wherein he even begins to suspect himself. Clint’s friend, Constable Dillon, is determined to solve the macabre mystery by tapping into the mystical side of his Native American heritage before the FBI arrests him. Subsequently, both Clint and Dillon, along with their respective love interests, become embroiled in something wilder than any campfire tale ever told under the face of a full moon.
Constable Dillon has no idea why someone wanted to cook Myra’s head in the dryer at the local laundry establishment, or why they didn’t go ahead and throw in her arms and legs, rather than scattering them around the laundry?
Clint Evans has no idea why he and his fiance are fascinated to the point of obsession with an old, mismatched suit of ancient armor found in an abandoned storage unit.
Quadrille: A Dance for Four People
Christian David Hunt, the illegitimate son of the Late Squire Hunt, is on his own in London in the mid-1750’s, trying to make a go of life on the pitiful allowance his half-sister and brother-in-law allow him while his case sits in the courts waiting for a hearing. Even though his father raised him to be the next Squire of Huntington Downs, his brother-in-law has other plans for the estate.
With only his bumbling man-servant, Thomas Boone Partridge, to help him, he cannot avoid getting into trouble right quickly in the city. His wandering eye for the ladies and his inability to budget his money lands him in the sticky web of a wealthy married woman who happens to be the wife of a baronet. Forced into her company by his desperate need of money enough to wait out the court’s decision concerning his heredity, his situation becomes extremely complicated in short order. He inadvertently causes the death of a young man enamored of his landlady’s daughter who has, unfortunately, set her cap on marrying David Hunt.
Meanwhile back at the Hunt estate in the country, his neighbor and late father’s best friend, Squire Summerlin forbids his daughter, Lydia, with whom David is madly in love from seeing him and sends her off to France. By the time Lydia can escape back to London where her beloved waits for her, he is embroiled in a juicily public affair with Lady Hornsworthy. Not only is his reputation completely ruined by his association with the ‘good’ Lady, the dead man’s older brother has come to town seeking revenge with a mind to make David Hunt suffer as much as possible.
Lady Hornsworthy arranges a fine marriage for the heartbroken Lydia with her father’s consent to her well-heeled cousin, the portly, middle-aged Lord Barrington. Enter Lady Hornsworthy’s beautiful, but precocious young niece, Lucinda who seems bent upon tormenting David to death while he tries desperately to stay alive long enough to straighten out his life. Lucinda, however, has a surprising motive for her puzzling behavior.
The story has many twists and turns, humor, misadventures, and frustrating situations begging for resolution. It is written in honor of the English writer, Henry Fielding, author of the eighteenth century bawdy comedic novel “The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling” and as such is both a Bildungsroman (coming-of-age story) and a Picaresque novel (comedic romance). The themes are adult romance, but are rather more suggestive than erotic and suitable for YA readers.
Tempo Rubato: Stolen Time
Curiosity killed the cat, they say, but sometimes it’s worth the danger when you just gotta know. Elisse Mannheim is a well-adjusted, Mozart scholar and professor of music history at a prominent Viennese university. Why on earth would she suddenly give up her comfortable position and take off on a wild goose chase to America where a possibly insane murderer might be waiting to satisfy her need for answers? Her obsession with learning more about Maestro William Masters leads her into a surrealistic situation no one in their right mind would believe. She is forced to assume Masters is actually what he appears to be, a highly eccentric, extremely talented kook, and she’s lost her mind or she can accept the notion that something even more bizarre is going on at Left Field Enterprises. To make matters worse, there are other nefarious characters interested in the Maestro and she has placed herself in the mystery as an unwitting pawn.
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Assassin Chronicles Plus 