Reading is the best way I know to escape reality. If you're feeling the need to escape - and I think most of us are these days - I have a suggestion. Escape to Storyville, a small, fictional town in southwest Ohio where there are no Big Box stores, only family-owned businesses, traffic is never an issue and neighbors look out for neighbors.
Kate Morgan, a single mother, lives in the small town of Storyville, Ohio where she grew up. A want-to-be author, she works as a sales clerk in the town’s only department store doing what she describes as “a job a monkey could do.” Although she’s bored with her job, she’s reluctant to consider making any major changes in her life. However, she’s about to find out that change is inevitable.
When Kate’s ten-year-old daughter, Mandy, tells the family she plans to do a family tree for a school project, the negative reaction of Kate’s parents and grandmother shocks her but also arouses her curiosity. Why are they so against Mandy’s project? Surely her family is too “normal” to have any skeletons in their closet.
Kate decides to support her daughter even if that means defying her parents. As she searches for the truth, she discovers some long buried secrets that, if she decides to reveal them, will change her life and the lives of the people she loves - forever.
Kate Morgan loves a good mystery. She’s an avid reader and
she recently finished writing a murder mystery. The story takes place at the
fictionalized version of Maple Ridge, the real life home of Chad Hollingsworth,
the man Kate has been dating for the past year.
Chad has invited Kate to his parents’ annual New Year’s Eve
party where Kate will meet the other members of his family. On the drive to
Maple Ridge, he tells her, “I have to warn you. When the Hollingsworth family gets
together, there’s always a lot of drinking and drama.” He has no way of knowing
there will be a murder.
In a strange twist of fate, there are numerous similarities
between Kate’s manuscript and what actually happens. Kate is determined to
separate fact from fiction by figuring out the identity of the killer. But she
soon discovers that solving a murder in real life is a lot harder than figuring
out whodunit in a mystery novel.
Kate Morgan, a single mother raising her eleven-year-old
daughter, Mandy, in Storyville, Ohio, feels like she’s finally getting her life
together, both professionally and personally. Her first mystery novel is about
to be published and she and Chad Hollingsworth are engaged to be married. She’s
looking forward to a bright future. Until the past comes back to haunt her.
Eleven years ago, a string of home invasions took place in Kate’s
hometown, threatening the safety and security of the elderly residents. The burglaries
stopped abruptly – until now.
And, eleven years ago, Bobby Benton, Mandy’s father, left
town, never returning – until now. The police consider Bobby a person of
interest in the crimes and, for the sake of her daughter, Kate is determined to
figure out the identity of the perpetrator in order to clear his name. However,
she quickly discovers that’s easier said than done.
The Legend, the fourth book in my Small Town mystery series, is due to be published in June 2021.
