My Book

I know I’ve talked a lot about getting a publisher and an agent and about my mysterious mystery novel, yet I’ve never revealed anything about it.

So, I thought it was about time I gave anyone who might be interested a peek.

The book is called False Witness and is about a college student, Billy Frayne, who takes a sucker bet to prove an acquitted defendent got away with murder. Despite the fact that the woman has changed her name and moved away from her original home, Billy manages to track her down and learns the truth - one he never counted on.

Excerpt:

The room was stunning and took Billy’s breath away. It looked like a display room in an exclusive antique shop rather than someone’s bedroom; Heavy, hand-crafted mahogany furniture, velvet drapes at the windows and imported area rugs covered the French oak floors throughout. He wandered through the room and touched things like a child, letting the texture come to his fingertips, the colors absorbed by his eyes, the scent of magnolia and gardenia fill his nostrils.

“Lovely,” he murmured.
Doreen beamed with pride. “Ain’t it, though?” She traipsed about, pointed out things to Billy and Joe, and bragged without shame.
Billy felt faint and flushed and his knees threatened to buckle on him.
“You okay, son?” Enders asked Billy.
“What?” Billy came out of his trance.
Enders looked concerned. “Just asked if you was okay. You’re looking a little spooked.”
Billy didn’t answer him because of the images and sounds roiling in his head. Shrieks of rage, explosions, shots, slaps, feet scuffling and finally, cries in the blackness. Billy’s eyes searched the room as he struggled to understand what he’d heard and seen in his mind.
Doreen came up on him and touched his elbow. “You feel it too, don’t you? The chaos and the pain?”
Billy moved away from her and shook his head. “No, no,” he mumbled. He went to the French doors that led to a small balcony and opened them. The heavy, humid air hit his face. He stepped out and looked at the small, upscale neighborhood below. An ancient oak, taller than the house stood to the right of the balcony. One of its boughs hung over the balustrade and seemed to call to him. Billy leaned on it and ran his hands over the rough bark and it calmed him.
“That’s funny,” Doreen said from behind him. “You sort of look like you belong right there, on that spot. Like you and that old oak tree are long lost friends.”
Doreen became a caricature of evil, as if a black spirit had invaded her body and smiled at him. Fear started at his feet and moved straight through him. The impetus to get out of the room overwhelmed him. ‘Now, now!’ his brained screamed. He rushed out and down the stairs and slammed the door behind him.