Scroll to read a sample from each novel!
Bordertown Gypsy
A girl who’s been forgotten by her town becomes the town’s most notorious prostitute. But when she meets a young man who doesn’t know who she is, she loses her identity and finds God never forgot who she was.
While the world turns its attention to the great war in France, two orphaned siblings struggle for survival in a rowdy Arkansas bordertown. Daniella’s one savior – her older brother Franco – fights to protect her from their greedy uncle Wulf and the unsavory men who frequent his bordello. However, ultimately, Franco loses. With no one to rescue her, Daniella is forced into a life of shame and disgrace.
But God has not forgotten her.
Seventeen-year-old Robert is fighting his own battles. Orphaned by his birthmother, raised by his uncle, Robert longs for the affirmation of a woman’s undying love. When a prophetic dream leads him to Daniella, he believes he’s at last found what his heart desires. Their friendship rekindles a spark of hope inside Daniella. But when her situation takes an unexpected turn, what she had thought would simply be a secret friendship becomes something much more vital to her survival.
Bordertown Gypsy is the first novel in The River Series. Subsequent books are: Lynchtown Wolf, Mobtown Player, and Rivertown Crooner. The River Series novels are gritty Christian Historical Fiction with prostitution, suspenseful drama, murder, vices, gangsters and plenty of crooked characters. But it’s also a beautiful story of God’s redemption for those whom the world has forgotten.
“Bordertown Gypsy… repeatedly reminds the reader that life can change disastrously in an instant… If you want a book that rekindles your hope in the possibilities of a better society… then read this book and encourage others to do so.” -Michael S. Cole, M.D.
“My new favorite author! I have read the entire series. You will not be disappointed. Looking forward to more stories!” -pigloveisall (Amazon reviewer)
Lynchtown Wolf
Lynchtown Wolf raises the stakes in a game of deception versus truth.
The year is 1923. In Fort Smith, Arkansas, a raucous western town with a history of outlaws, marshals, hangings, and prostitution, Roy Kemp Ulric, the city’s District Attorney, is on trial for a crime he committed. A guilty verdict means time in federal prison and jeopardizes everything he’s built- his career, marriage, and a stash of blackmail money. Wulf, a scoundrel with few scruples who served as Mr. Ulric’s accomplice in the crime, is ready to reveal the attorney for the wolf he is, but both his health and business are failing at a rapid rate. Daniella Cordero, formerly known as the prostitute Gypsy, is a key witness for the prosecution, but she fears that her testimony may cause her to lose her best friend, Robert Callum, if he discovers the truth about her past.
Can Mr. Ulric convince the jury of his innocence and hide his sins from his wife, or will everyone discover the liar and criminal he is? Will Wulf die before he’s put on the witness stand, or will he at last get his vengeance on Mr. Ulric? Without Robert’s father, Henry, to protect her from the wolves, does Daniella stand to lose more than just Robert’s friendship?
Lynchtown Wolf is the second novel in The River Series. It follows Bordertown Gypsy and precedes Mobtown Player and Rivertown Crooner.
“Excellent 2nd in series book. I love how this book tied up so many of the first books mysteries. I love the continuing theme of forgiveness and healing for even the most unlikable characters.” -Avonlea2000 (Amazon reviewer)
Mobtown Player
The roaring twenties are in full swing.
Chicago’s hottest up-and-coming jazz musician, Robert Callum, and his band, the Windy City Rhythm Kings, keep the flapper girls swinging every night at the Green Mill. A world away, in Kerry Patch, St. Louis’ poor Irish neighborhood, Daniella embraces the humble culture of her adoptive family while striving to establish a new identity for herself and, simultaneously, hoping to bury the secrets of her scandalous past.
Nearly two years after they parted ways, Robert and Daniella cross paths by chance and, suddenly, a tidal wave of betrayal is upturned, threatening both of their lives as they know it. Robert’s boss, Jack “Machine Gun” McGurn, a dangerous gangster who deals in gambling, alcohol, and murder, meets Daniella and, soon, his passionate desire for the beautiful and young coquette flares into an alarming obsession. Without warning, she is caught between these two men, their jealousy, anger and power creating a deadly storm. To make matters worse, gangster wars rage in the streets of Chicago, and Daniella’s new beau’s involvement in the crime world puts her future- and a host of other’s- in jeopardy.
Robert knows the dark secrets both Jack and Daniella are keeping from one another- but will he use this knowledge to tear them apart? In his attempt to keep Daniella for himself, will Jack’s violence go over the edge? Will Daniella’s disgraceful behavior get her disavowed from her wholesome family?
Mobtown Player is the third book in The River Series. It follows Bordertown Gypsy and Lynchtown Wolf, and precedes Rivertown Crooner.
Rivertown Crooner
The secrets of Daniella’s past have finally caught up with her.
Under the mounting weight of scandal and deceit, Daniella’s engagement to Dr. Carvan Gains begins to crumble. Although he vowed to overlook her past sins, pressures from his family, friends, and the entire gossipy college town cause his loyalties to his fiancé to waver at every turn. Terrified of losing him and his children, Daniella compromises her beliefs and makes promises she knows might destroy her.
But the biggest blow is still to come.
When her brother Robert came to her for help in his greatest hour of need, Daniella coldly turned him away. Now she learns that Jack McGurn’s men put three bullets through his chest that night. Robert is dead- and it’s Daniella’s fault. The shock and guilt this realization thrusts upon her is crippling. Not only is her future becoming more uncertain with each passing day, but she begins to fear her own judgment. As she struggles to put her life back together, a series of events draws her back to the city where it all began.
Fort Smith, Arkansas.
The house. The secrets. They lurk in that town like shadows, darkening every corner and memory. As Daniella bravely faces them alone, she makes the most shocking discovery of all- a ghost from her past has come back to life…
Rivertown Crooner is the fourth and final novel in The River Series. It follows Bordertown Gypsy, Lynchtown Wolf, and Mobtown Player.
“An excellent book that shows of God’s love for us and his redeeming power.” -Anita J. Fenton (Amazon reviewer)
“Rivertown Crooner is a very gripping story. From the very beginning as the story unfolds the book is hard to put down. Like the two previous books in the series it is so well written, Especially if you are from the Fort Smith area, that you feel like you’re walking the same streets daily. The way God continues to rescue when there seems to be no hope, Shines through in this book.With the turn of each page you begin to see the layers of the characters, the backstories that they each have, even in the moments of tragedy, they grow not only as a character, but in God. I do hate to see this series end.” -Allie (Amazon reviewer)
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