When someone brutally murders fragile retiree Effie Lawrence in Comanche County, Oklahoma, suspicion falls on the neighbor/caretaker who found her body--Cheryl Jackson, a disgraced former basketball star trying to pull her life together. Since the local Kiowa Police Chief isn’t looking at anyone else for the crime, Cheryl is forced to dig for the truth herself.
Stunned to link Effie’s death to a treasure of ancient Mexican coins, Cheryl finds a Pawnee guide to decipher an 80-year-old map and navigate the nearby Wichita Mountains, a haven for outlaw loot in Indian Territory times. As she edges closer to what happened, not only is Cheryl attacked and beaten, but also her friend Silas, a stubborn Auschwitz survivor who loved Effie. Add a mystery woman kidnapped and held in a basement; a creepy, chain-smoking junk store owner; a greedy nephew and his wife; and an AWOL soldier missing since the 50’s, and it may prove impossible to unravel this fifty-year mystery. It will take town locals, Native wisdom and know-how, and Cheryl’s own grit and intuition to find the truth, and herself, again.
Stunned to link Effie’s death to a treasure of ancient Mexican coins, Cheryl finds a Pawnee guide to decipher an 80-year-old map and navigate the nearby Wichita Mountains, a haven for outlaw loot in Indian Territory times. As she edges closer to what happened, not only is Cheryl attacked and beaten, but also her friend Silas, a stubborn Auschwitz survivor who loved Effie. Add a mystery woman kidnapped and held in a basement; a creepy, chain-smoking junk store owner; a greedy nephew and his wife; and an AWOL soldier missing since the 50’s, and it may prove impossible to unravel this fifty-year mystery. It will take town locals, Native wisdom and know-how, and Cheryl’s own grit and intuition to find the truth, and herself, again.
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When a Hollywood-handsome Santa Fe art dealer pursues Shirley Loomis, an out of shape, rural Oklahoma widow, she thinks she must be leading a charmed life. Monty Aiello not only awakens a sensuality Shirley didn’t know she had, but he can’t wait to promote her unique paintings of the plains people – works she has thrown herself into since her first husband died.
But then Aiello takes her on a belated Alaskan honeymoon, three weeks in the wilds with just the two of them and a wilderness guide. Out of the blue, disaster strikes. Is it a horrible fluke of nature? Or part of a sinister plan? Left for dead, both with horrific injuries, Shirley must keep herself and Darrell, their guide, alive. Using his military survival skills and every trick she can remember from farm life, they fight to find their way out of the wilderness. Leaning on one another to survive, they form an unspoken bond. If they can make it back to civilization, and if they can find Aiello, their revenge will be nothing less than cold, lethal, and righteous payback. |
A novel of betrayal and revenge. 
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Tightly held In the Lion’s Mouth of danger, a young woman kidnapped by a Texas Vietnam vet, faces a harrowing gauntlet of secrets stretching from Texas to the streets of Matamoros. After outrunning firefights in her R.V. and seeing too many deaths, she isn’t sure who to trust, from her new boyfriend to her own father. A fast-paced thriller with colorful characters from both sides of the border.
Hang on tight, Here Comes the Night. A dark, steamy thriller in the tradition of film noir. There was a time when ex-football-star Buck Dearmore had it all, but that was long ago. After committing a reluctant crime of passion for his lover, he himself is grabbed up only moments later by henchman looking to collect gambling debts. And who could guess a dangerous parolee would impulsively take Buck’s custom Mustang on a bloody joyride? Who will survive until dawn, and of those that do, who’ll be charged with which crime?
When a robbery goes horribly wrong on the Oklahoma plains, the end result is drifter Gayla Early being accused of murdering the most powerful man in town. Albert Raeder may be dead, but he wields power from the grave — thanks to the good-old-boys who will make sure someone pays. And Gayla looks good for taking the fall. Sheriff Tommy Maynard's has always been more babysitter than crime-solver, but when a media circus murder happens on his watch, the Vietnam vet-turned-sheriff realizes he and a grumpy recluse are all that can keep a fragile stranger from being railroaded right into prison. Winner of Book of the Year in Fiction, 2013.
