Kirjahaku

In 1936, a Fort Smith, Arkansas jury sent Avyce Buckman to prison for murdering her third husband. More than six decades later after a hint from a friend, book author and seasoned magazine writer Pitt Lewis begins a search for her motives, hoping a follow-up to his successful book might shelter him from the perceived irrational demands of a new magazine editor.Pitt's quest begins in Ashton, the small hometown he left years before, where Avyce is believed to have lived as a young girl. During his visit he renews friendships with Cassy Taylor, whose family history in the area reaches back into the 19th century, and Dave Perry, a classmate who derides the possibility of any story coming from the town he has grown to detest.Even with official records missing from the courthouse, Pitt finds other evidence that Avyce was raised near Ashton and encourages his search in Fort Smith and in El Dorado, Arkansas, a 1928 oil boomtown, where Avyce is suspected of a prior murder. Research and fortunate personal contacts bring the atmosphere of both towns alive during Avyce's era and Pitt begins to know the woman. Now his need to understand her reasons is sharpened. How does a person from such a peaceful background change into a possible murderess?That need and the hope of an intriguing story for his new book pushes him back to Ashton where he believes the answer must rest.

If you ever lived in a small town, or wished you had, or wondered what life there was like, join the author as he revisits Rushville, IL, his hometown. The time is the decade of the 1940s, a period now remembered as a simpler, more relaxed era. It was a time of front porch sitting, door locks for which keys have long been misplaced, innocent romances beginning with subtle glances, Saturday matinees, near-noiseless lawn mowers and strict parental and classroom discipline.But the author looks beyond the seeming tranquility and feels the town's push toward change--progress away from the deprivation of the Great Depression years, through days of World War II fears, and on to the excitement and fulfillment of dreams of better lives to come.A reader will experience humor, nostalgia, history and insight into another time--yet the ageless innocence and uncertainty of youth will be recognized and remembered by people of all decades. The author invites you to recall a period of innocence in your life as you experience his.

All Cassy Taylor needed was a man with a Social Security card. When Feeney Williams applied for the cook's job at her restaurant, she thought her problems were solved. Then Feeney winds up dead. As if that weren't enough, Cassy's husband Owen is arrested by a Federal marshal and jailed for the murder. Desperate, she calls her old high school flame Pitt Lewis whose talent as an investigative writer might help Owen. But if Pitt accepts will this task also give them an opportunity to reignite the passion they once experienced? More importantly, could Pitt betray Owen, his long time friend?Beleaguered by his magazine editor's proposed drug-related assignment, Pitt decides to temporarily ignore those demands and tries to help his friends. When Pitt arrives in Ashton he finds this long-time friend refuses all help and will not talk with Cassy or his own attorney. Why? Did he indeed murder Feeney Williams, or is he hiding some other criminal activity?All questions must wait while Pitt turns toward the victim's life to find answers, but he faces a blank slate and begins his search armed with only a photo and Cassy's vague recollection of the last place where Feeney worked. Following a faint trail from Iowa through Illinois, to Princeton, New Jersey, and finally to Louisville, Kentucky, Pitt gathers information from those who knew the mysterious Feeney Williams. A last stop in Owensboro, Kentucky leads to the discovery of a trial transcript where Feeney was a prime witness during the prosecution of major drug lords. Here the Federal Witness Protection program pops up, but Pitt is forced to return to Ashton with the final puzzle piece still missing. There the search erupts with a surprise for all.Join Pitt's race along Williams' murky pathway to Ashton as he hopes to solve the mystery of his death and save Owen.

Great short stories feature a small cast of characters and focus on an incident with the intent to evoke an effect or mood. Within this book lay 58 incidents that allow a reader to explore human behavior, laugh with the ridiculousness of unusual characters, recall personal experiences, and ponder life's journey.The book begins with the feature story, The Day Tinker Johnson Died, a fictional account of the life-long dedication and love of a father for his daughter. This first section contains a dozen award winning stories, then follows with twenty humorous yarns, one telling of a stranger from Clenver, Dolorado and his twisted vocabulary in town for a shurkey toot, one about a childhood taunt not completed until death, and another of a town mayor who allows the citizens to berate him savagely one evening in exchange for a year of letting him run the operation without interference. A reader will move through a maze of seven paranormal events beginning with a final gift of love and concluding with a homeless woman's scavenged pistol and its use in finding her redemption. The book concludes with remembrances from the last half of the 20th century, reflections on war and terrorism, and musings about families, history, communities and the uncertainty of answers to life's ongoing questions.Tag along with the author as he weaves memorable pathways through real and fictional happenings.

People hold secrets, many never disclosed. Pitt Lewis, fresh from a writing assignment about Texas drug trafficking that leaves him with doubts about his future, searches for reasons why Carla, a friend, has been assaulted and left with a blocked memory. Does she hold a secret that may affect her daughter? Has she shared the secret with her employer? Has her ex-husband learned the secret many years after their divorce? And does a long forgotten memory about basement stairs of a pre-Civil War mansion hold the answer for Pitt?When Carla's ex-husband disappears and the behavior of her employer becomes erratic, Pitt sets aside a long-sought romance and begins a search for Pugsley Tannon, following a towboat's path from the mouth of the Ohio River into West Virginia.

Maggie and Cornell discover a packet of stories about the residents of Addledtown hidden in the lining of an old trunk as they prepare it for sale at Ye Olde Antiques & Junk Shoppe. Former owner Terwilliger J. Perkins' hurried attempt to recover the trunk, encourages them to save and read the stories. Historian Basil C. DeMilde had expected, through those papers, to present Addledtown's uncovered history at the village's corrected sesquicentennial anniversary, improperly celebrated some years previously. But as readers accompany Maggie and Cornell's progress through the stories of current villagers and their ancestors, they will conclude many residents, as well as the former owner of the trunk, might also wish the material to be forever lost.