My Featured Books

Threads of humor and heartbreak weave together in this captivating Strength of the Human Spirit Novel ...

   Lizzie Cole, age 78, and her mother, Olive, age 95, live in an Iowa assisted living facility. Their rooms are separated by a hallway shorter than the aisle of the A&P where they once shopped. But they haven’t spoken to each other in decades. Anger keeps them apart as they both consider themselves the victim in their turbulent relationship.

  Beginning in 1947 and spanning 74 years, Forgiving Olive moves back and forth in time, between their chaotic past and their present-day ponderings at the care center. Their past is a story of abuse, neglect, abandonment, and betrayal. And their present reflections are their searches for understanding and justification of their past.

  Lizzie comes to a crossroads when she is faced with Olive’s imminent death. Can she offer the forgiveness the nurses tell her Olive desperately seeks? Forgiving Olive is a deeply sensitive novel that explores the conflict between justice and forgiveness, the ability of love to save a lost soul, and the painful permanence of regret. 

An Unethical Developer. An Incompetent HOA. And a Group of Feisty Retired Ladies.

  A late-night assault in an exclusive retirement community lands the president of the HOA in the hospital and leads to the investigation of a group of feisty residents known as the Yellow Belles. 

  The Belles, who roam their gated community in matching yellow golf carts, are entangled in a conflict with their dysfunctional HOA.  

  An investigation by job-weary Deputy Farley Lancaster reveals a neighborhood in turmoil. Financial issues threaten the golf course that is the centerpiece of the gated enclave. Now on the night before a critical board vote to determine the future of the community, a key voter is incapacitated.  

  Suspicion falls on the Yellow Belles as the motivations of individuals in their group come to light. They become the focus of the investigation, and their bonds of friendship are threatened.  

  As the investigation careens through accusations of attempted murder, blackmail, fraud, and the improper wearing of a Speedo, the Yellow Belles provide readers an amusing but thoughtful look at aging, politics, purpose, and the lifestyle behind the gates of an exclusive retirement community. 

 A twisting, emotional exploration of a family torn apart in pursuit of a pretense and brought  together again in the most unexpected way. 

  Valerie Fairfield is 13 when she decides to become someone else. By the time she realizes it is a mistake, she is 58. And dead.    

  When Valerie dies suddenly one Saturday afternoon, she finds herself trapped in her past until she can confront the tragedies she set in motion with her decision so long ago. 

  Her sensitive son is drifting through life convinced he has no value. Her beautiful daughter is miserable even as she prepares to marry a wealthy and handsome man in the society wedding of the year. Business problems, a tragic accident, personal losses and political scandal drive the family into deeper dysfunction as Valerie fights to protect the family image. Her children struggle to prevent their own identities from being sacrificed as they are being made into the children Valerie really wanted.          There is gritty reality lurking beneath the polished image of the family Valerie has created, but she refuses to acknowledge the pattern of destruction that has followed her since middle school. 

  Insight, imagination, and humor combine to create this deeply engaging novel about social class envy, peer pressure, individual differences and the outside influences that tear at family ties in our contemporary society.   

  Slowly Valerie realizes the tragedies her family endured were because of the misguided decision she made so many years before, and she begins to feel regrets. It isn’t until she looks down on her funeral, which is filled with devastating family revelations, that she finally understands that her perfect life is just a legacy of mistakes. But is it too late for forgiveness? 

A boss with a stage four case of greed and ego. People eager to crowd into his circle. But can anyone survive there? 

  Scarred from growing up in a small town where the children from a clique of wealthy families were always favored, Alan Dravel begins a vengeful search for his own wealth and power. 

  He barges into the technology boom of 1980’s corporate America with an idea.  He unleashes his greed and ego in a self-serving climb to success which turns destructive.  

  With a handsome face, a quick mind and a lack of ethical or moral considerations to restrain him, Alan drags a Kansas farm family, a country church and associates of a high-flying corporation together in his widening web of failures – all while being honored as one of the country’s top business leaders.  

  Those caught in the slipstream of Alan’s wild ride to power struggle to hang on for the rewards they believe association with Alan can provide. Power and ego prevail as Alan orchestrates the most unimaginable twists and turns to entangle his victims and save himself. Those who survive find justice in the last place they think to look.   

  Life in a Peacock Nest is a captivating novel that probes the strength and weakness of the human spirit. It is a story about the nature of people, with characters so memorable you won’t want to let them go.