Books published by Open Road Media

A critically acclaimed nature writer explores the citizen scientist movement through the lens of entomological field research in the American Southwest. Award-winning nature writer Sharman Apt Russell felt pressed by the current environmental crisis to pick up her pen yet again. Encouraged by the phenomenon of citizen science, she decided to turn her attention to the Western red-bellied tiger beetle, an insect found widely around the world and near her home in the Gila River Valley of New Mexico. In a lyrical, often humorous voice, Russell shares her journey across a wild, rural landscape tracking this little-known species, an insect she calls "charismatic," "elegant," and "fierce." What she finds is renewed optimism in mysteries still left to be explored, that despite the challenges of climate change, there is a growing diversity of ways ordinary people can contribute to the research needs of scientists today in the name of environmental activism. Offering readers a glimpse into the pioneering field of citizen science, Diary of a Citizen Scientist documents one woman's transformation from a feeling of powerlessness to engaged hopefulness. Winner of the John Burroughs Medal and the WILLA Literary Award for Best Creative Nonfiction Named one of the top ten best nature books of 2014 by GrrlScientist in The Guardian

"[A] gritty, wide-angled modern noir . . . The first standalone novel by Birtcher, author of the Mike Travis series, pulls no punches." --Kirkus Reviews In 1976, as America celebrates its bicentennial, the drug game changes. Cocaine makes a comeback, bringing with it a previously unheard of level of violence. The copious amounts of blow crossing the US-Mexico border herald the beginning of a brave new--and terrifying--world. Far from the brutality on the border, the nameless narrator and his partner--both Vietnam vets--live a mostly peaceful life growing pot under the northern California redwoods. But when their livelihood is threatened by heavily armed robbers and a worthless rat, they find themselves drawn into a war with no good guys. Caught in the crossfire between a paranoid Mexican drug kingpin and dirty federal agents, they'll soon realize that--like every other player in the game--they're just pawns in a vast conspiracy that starts at the top . . . "A top-class thriller." --San Francisco Book Review "White-knuckle tension and crisp, clean prose . . . Many books call themselves 'thrillers, ' but this is the real deal." --Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Birtcher combines a gritty, action-filled thriller with a nuanced, almost contemplative character drama . . . Thoroughly entertaining." --Booklist "A thriller with genuine shocks and chills." --Cafe Libri

"The novel combines the mystery and honesty of Craig Johnson's Longmire with the first-person narration of a fiercely independent Oregon character." --Sheila Deeth, author of John's Joy Winner of the 2018 Killer Nashville Readers' Choice Award 2017 Foreword Indies Finalist for Historical A Korean War veteran, Ty Dawson finds refuge running his family's cattle ranch, the Diamond D, one of the largest in Oregon--and there's no place he'd rather be. But in 1973, the country falls into turmoil with the last soldiers returning from Vietnam, the stand-off at Wounded Knee, and the ongoing Watergate scandal. And it isn't long before Ty finds his own peace and quiet shattered by outside forces. A string of mysterious cattle deaths leads to the murder of a cowhand, but that's just the beginning. News leaks that the Bureau of Land Management plans on a wild horse slaughter, which brings protestors and news cameras to the area, not to mention a violent biker gang known as the Charlatans. Overwhelmed, the sheriff appoints Ty as undersheriff. And as events spiral out of control, Ty must take matters into his own hands to protect his family, his land, and his way of life . . . "A masterful work of a time gone by. Birtcher possesses a rare skill that is the envy of many a writer. He deftly employs literary prose to reveal the life of a hard-driven man. Ty Dawson is a cowboy, lawman, father and philosopher like none other." --Neal Griffin, Los Angeles Times-bestselling author of The Burden of Proof "[A] fast-moving series launch . . . Birtcher takes readers on an exciting ride." --Publishers Weekly

"[A] fast-paced mystery . . . Fans of the prolific Stuart Woods and Randy Wayne White will hope that Birtcher's engaging series has an equally long life." --Booklist A Nero Award Finalist After twenty years in the LAPD, Mike Travis should be enjoying his retirement in Hawaii. Instead, he's become a reluctant PI who can't manage to stay out of trouble--much to the chagrin of his long-suffering girlfriend. This time, the problem is his brother, Valden, head of the family company of Van de Groot Capital. A mover and shaker, he's in Los Angeles for a political fundraiser at the home of a powerful pharmaceutical titan. But first, he's being blackmailed. Someone has a compromising video of him and a young woman who is definitely not his wife--and they want three million dollars for it. That's when he calls Travis. With his longtime connections in Los Angeles--including his former partner on the force--Travis has everything under control, until he doesn't. Now entangled in a web of murder, finance, and politics, only Travis can unravel a conspiracy international in scope--and unparalleled in evil . . . "Birtcher is a solid, fluent writer; the story unfolds with good-humored ease, and Travis is a personable narrator . . . All of the elements are in place for a tense thriller." --Kirkus Reviews "Well-executed . . . Readers will hope they don't have to wait another seven years for the world-weary Travis's next adventure." --Publishers Weekly "A thrilling page turner with a very complicated plot that all comes together in the end . . . Highly recommended." --Detective Mystery Stories

The second Sheriff Dawson mystery has "lots of twists and turns that stretch back over years, then a mind-blowing ending that puts everything into place" (Killer Nashville). Winner--2019 Best Book of the Year, Killer Nashville Ty Dawson, now the sheriff of Oregon's Meriwether County, is ready to put a trying year behind him, but he's afforded no such luck. In a country still coming to grips with the Vietnam War, Watergate, and Charles Manson, Ty's neck of the woods isn't safe from the turmoil--especially when a commune of young so-called hippies springs up out of nowhere . . . A longtime local sheep rancher accuses the Rainbow Ranch residents of livestock theft, putting Ty in the middle of a culture clash. Though Ty finds no evidence of a crime, the rancher brings in his own stock detective. Behind fences topped with razor wire, the commune and its enigmatic guru hold secrets of their own--many of which have nothing to do with peace, love, and understanding. Tensions flare, setting off a bloody wave of violence that will forever scar the place Ty calls home, unless he can stop it. "Elegantly written . . . Ty may strike some readers as almost too smart, too well educated, and too pedantic for a small-town sheriff, but his insights into 1970s social issues make him an irresistible spokesman for the era." --Publishers Weekly "A modern Western . . . The characters are well developed, and place descriptions make it easy to visualize the landscapes." --New York Journal of Books

An "eerie, elliptical masterpiece set in a South African boarding school in the early 1960s. . . . First-rate psychological suspense . . . played out flawlessly" (Kirkus Reviews). The members of an elite girls swim team are the reigning queens at their South African boarding school. And then Italian student Fiamma Coronna joins their ranks. Beautiful, athletic, and suddenly commanding all the coach's attention, Fiamma is the envy of every girl on the team--until the summer she walks into the rural grasslands surrounding the school and disappears. Forty years later, the former teammates return to the school for a reunion, and the memory of that summer emerges like a long buried secret, the shocking, violent truth of what really happened to Fiamma no longer able to be contained . . . "Riveting . . . while evocative of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and Picnic at Hanging Rock, Kohler's writing is so smoothly confident and erotic that she has produced a tale resonant with a chilling power all its own." --Elle "A stunning and singular tale of the passion and tribalism of adolescence, Cracks lays bare the violence that lurks in the heart of even the most innocent. Shocking, reminiscent of Lord of the Flies . . . conjures up the wildness of the veld and the passion and drama of adolescence . . . peculiarly satisfying." --The Times Literary Supplement "A disturbing, note-perfect novel. Dissection of evil has rarely been so extravagantly executed." --San Francisco Chronicle "Polished, compact and chilling . . . Powerful." --Publishers Weekly A Library Journal and Newsday Best Book of the Year, now a major motion picture starring Eva Green

“A comedy of errors [and] bedroom farce” from an award-winning author critically acclaimed for his satiric stories of love and Jewish experience (Kirkus Reviews).   Reunited at their Jewish day school reunion, Guido and Charlie find themselves attracted to the same woman, a beautiful cellist named Aviva. Guido, a photographer, makes his move by going to Aviva for music lessons and soon enough, they become lovers. What Guido doesn’t know is that his friend Charlie, a psychologist, has taken Aviva as a client and is a party to the relationship through Aviva’s weekly confessions.    Written from the point of view of all three characters, with a swirl of delightful supporting characters and even a directory of footnotes that adds expansions, humor and surprises to the narrative, Diary of an Adulterous Woman is a highly entertaining look at desire, jealousy, the power of secrets and the all-too-human complications both longing and love can bring.

"Charters interweaves many important topics--immigration, civil rights, women's rights--into her exciting novel . . . An evocative portrait of South Boston." --Kirkus Reviews After the deaths of her mother and infant sister during Ireland's Great Famine, thirteen-year-old Mary Boland makes her way to the Queenstown harbor and onto a coffin ship bound for America. But what happens during her transatlantic passage is enough to quash the strongest of dreams. After being assaulted by crewmembers, Mary thinks of ending her life--until a young Black slave named Kamua comes to her rescue . . . Forming a bond as strong as siblings, Mary and Kam reach Boston, determined to forge their own paths. No longer an innocent soul, Mary trusts no one, putting her faith in her own instincts. It is on the teeming streets of South Boston that she'll find a new home and a new purpose as a midwife, helping poverty-stricken women survive their pregnancies. And it is in this city, full of possibility, where Mary's heart will heal, and find the strength to survive the harsh choices she is forced to make, and grow into a woman true to herself . . . "The story of a young Irish girl's struggles told with an authentic, historically accurate voice." --Sallie Bissell, author of the Mary Crow series "To read Shanty Gold is to immerse oneself in a wild ride of discovery, romance, and the search for a new way of life. . . . A tale that will grab your heart and senses, with twists and turns along the way." --Susan Blexrud, author of the Fang series

The daughter of Irish immigrants and the son of an African slave forge their own destiny in Boston, in this compelling sequel to Shanty Gold. Boston, 1870. Nellie's mom and Neo's father met on a coffin ship sailing from Ireland to America, a journey they barely survived. Having heard this tale since childhood, the two teenagers now crave an adventure of their own. When an unfounded rumor gets Nellie suspended from school and puts her future in jeopardy, the lifelong friends flee to New York City to join a circus. And though their escapade is short-lived, it teaches both of them about courage, kindness, and acceptance. Rising above her scandalous background, Nellie inches toward her dream of becoming a teacher, while Neo battles against prejudice and hatred to marry the woman he loves. As they struggle with the hopes and expectations laid upon them by their parents, they'll navigate through tragedy and betrayal on a journey towards their hearts' true desires. Praise for Shanty Gold "Charters interweaves many important topics--immigration, civil rights, women's rights--into her exciting novel . . . Gripping." --Kirkus Reviews "The story of a young Irish girl's struggles told with an authentic, historically accurate voice." --Sallie Bissell, author of the Mary Crow series "To read Shanty Gold is to immerse oneself in a wild ride of discovery, romance, and the search for a new way of life. . . . A tale that will grab your heart and senses, with twists and turns along the way." --Susan Blexrud, author of the Fang series

Fascinating personal histories are revealed through the stories of cherished objects, in this anthology celebrating the meaningful mementos of our lives. Amber Lanier Nagle has always been interested in keepsakes, whether her own or those she encounters in her friends' homes. Seemingly ordinary items--a glass bluebird, a pocketknife, a dime-store locket, a faded fishing lure, a dented cake pan, a model train car--become priceless treasures when their stories are uncovered. In Project Keepsake, Nagle collects the tales of these objects and their beloved memories from contributors near and far. "Why do you keep this?" Nagle asks. "Where did it come from?" And then she listens as the stories pour out. Told in first-person by both seasoned and aspiring writers, every essay in the anthology is unique--yet each reveals common threads that connect us all and celebrate the glorious human experience.

From an award-winning journalist, this "grippingly suspenseful true-crime tale details the foiling of a wealthy Texan's plot to have his wife murdered" (Publishers Weekly). To the world, Linda DeSilva's marriage to Robert Edelman was perfect. He was her college boyfriend turned wealthy and successful husband, and the father of her children. But what friends and family didn't know was that the Texas real estate tycoon who set her up with a luxurious life in Dallas was also her abuser. When she asked him for a divorce, the violence against her only escalated, until the shocking moment she learned her husband had hired an assassin to take her life. From acclaimed journalist and author Jim Schutze, "My Husband's Trying to Kill Me!" is the riveting true-crime account of how Linda DeSilva worked with the FBI to trap her husband before he could act on his murderous intentions--and how the sting operation nearly got her killed instead. A shocking and sensational story of a wife and mother's escape from the marriage that went from American dream to every woman's worst nightmare. "Numbing." --Kirkus Reviews

In "a solid account of what appears to be a shocking injustice" an award-winning journalist uncovers the bias that led to a woman's conviction for murder (The New York Times). When a prominent Alabama doctor is brutally killed, his wife and her twin sister are charged with conspiracy to murder. But while her twin was acquitted of the crime, Betty Wilson was charged with killing her husband. Probing into a trial that deliberated on Betty's promiscuity, her alcoholism and her adulterous affair with a black man rather than any physical evidence against her, critically acclaimed journalist Jim Schutze reveals how sex, politics and corruption could possibly have led to a scandalous miscarriage of justice that kept the real killer from facing full penalty for his cold-blooded deed. A fascinating true crime account, By Two and Two is a page-turning investigation into the harrowing details of a sensational murder case.

An "excellent true-crime study" of a female serial killer given the death penalty for poisoning at least three men between 1973 and 1989 (Publishers Weekly). Widowed Blanche Taylor Moore was about to lose her second spouse to symptoms that mysteriously mirrored those that killed her first husband--as well as her previous boyfriend. When an investigation reveals arsenic poisoning, the hideous truth about the wife and mother comes to light. Did the abuse Blanche suffered as a child at the hands of her alcoholic father turn her into a murderer she became? In this riveting true crime account, critically acclaimed journalist Jim Schutze explores the harrowing motivation and chilling details of the lives, loves, and victims of North Carolina's oldest living inmate on death row. "Involving . . . chronicle of the murderous career of a Bible Belt Borgia." --Kirkus Reviews

"Death, drugs and the occult meet in grisly inquiry at the Mexican border" in this true crime account of a mass murder by a serial killing cult leader (The New York Times). When Mark Kilroy vanished while on spring break in Matamoros, Mexico, the search for the missing pre-med student led to a gruesome discovery on a lonely stretch of land called Rancho Santa Elena: a mass grave containing Mark's mutilated corpse along with the remains of thirteen other people. The investigation uncovered how the victims were brutally killed at the hands of drug trafficker and cult leader Adolpho Constanzo, known by his followers as El Padrino, or The Godfather. Constanzo was a serial killer who, along with his followers, tortured and cannibalized innocent people in the barbaric religious ritual of human sacrifice. Written by critically acclaimed journalist Jim Schutze, Cauldron of Blood is a must-read for true-crime fans.

This award-winning novel is "a delightful, inventive tale" about the pursuit of love and literary fame from "a compassionate and witty satirist" (Kirkus Reviews). It's the opportunity of a lifetime for middle-aged Ezra Shultish--a chance to the meet his literary hero, Nobel Laureate Bar Nun, a writer Ezra has worshipped for most of his career as a teacher and translator. Hoping to get a recording of the author reading his story, The Yemenite Girl, Shultish travels to Israel, where he finds himself pursuing his own Yemenite girl, as well as the elusive author. But will Ezra get the girl--or his own glimpse of literary fame? Winner of the Edward Lewis Wallant Book Award, The Yemenite Girl is Curt Leviant's comic novel on the nature of celebrity and the relationship between life and art. "Shultish is a man with a life of his own. . . . And the celebrity, too, is remarkably drawn. . . . [The book] is done with great tact, feeling, and skill." --Saul Bellow, Pulitzer Prize- and Nobel Prize for Literature-winning author "A passionate story . . . The charm of the text and the intensity of the subtext is what keeps the pages turning." --The New York Times Book Review "Good comic writing and satire on the Hebrew literary scene with its jealous politicking for literary prizes." --The Washington Post

A humorous collection of love stories from an award-winning author who has been called "a compassionate and witty satirist" (Kirkus Reviews). From Holocaust survivors to Yiddish artists, a petty thief and a Polish shiksa with a passion for Jewish history, what unites the delectable characters in Curt Leviant's witty collection of romantic tales is the universal desire for love and admiration. With settings as various as the Deep South, Boston, New York, Italy, Israel, each story is a wry look at romantic pursuit, each relationship as unique as the lovers themselves. Whether or not love succeeds for Leviant's all-too-human characters, the journey is always filled with humor and heart.

A former international arms dealer brings his unique expertise to this twisting, action-packed spy thriller. From his elegant home in Southern California, Jim Factor negotiates legitimate weapons deals for his clients in Europe. But when he's approached with a shady job that pays too well to refuse, the one-time deal may be his last. With the Russian mafia after him, Factor must disappear quick--and telling his wife, Diane, anything about the situation would only put her in danger. Hiding out in San Francisco and preparing for a life on the run, Factor is tracked down by a private detective--and the Russians aren't far behind. Now his only chance at survival is to fight a ruthless, deadly enemy face-to-face. From Alcatraz Island to Spain and the Balkans, The Missing Factor is an international spy thriller shot through with authentic spy craft.

An award-winning science and nature writer "presents a lively, confident, and free-flowing history of archaeology in America" (Booklist). Digging up the relics of the past is not without controversy. With insight and eloquence, Sharman Apt Russell reveals here that when it comes to archaeological study, there is more than one way to examine history. Raising provocative questions anew about subjects such as the role of humans in the extinction of the large land mammals of the Pleistocene epoch and the repatriation of Native American graves, Russell, winner of the John Burroughs Medal--whose recipients include Rachel Carson--explores the question of what we owe to our past. Through a series of interviews with archaeologists and activists who have helped modernize the field, Russell provides fascinating ideas about the role of archaeology in the stewardship of antiquity, as well as the implications for our common future. "Russell's work is thoughtful, beautifully written, and well documented. A good way for lay readers to become more informed." --Library Journal "Agile, cerebral, ruminative, entirely satisfying." --Kirkus Reviews

"In the tradition of Jean Auel, this well-researched novel authentically recreates the world of the Clovis people." --Publishers Weekly These children had never seen a tapir. They had never seen a mammoth. So reflects Willow, clan elder of the Clovis tribe, hunters and gatherers who lived on the grassy plains of the great Southwest more than eleven thousand years ago. Looking back on her life, Willow tells the story of when the land was abundant with bison, camels, mammoths, and lions. When communication with animals, plants, and even stones was possible, even essential, for survival. Inventively linking Willow's chronicle with that of the woolly mammoth matriarchs, award-winning author Sharman Apt Russell explores the impact of human interaction with the environment, shedding light on the archaeological mystery surrounding the mass extinction at the end of the Pleistocene. Recreating the lives of a prehistoric people while highlighting our deep connection to the past and the world around us, The Last Matriarch is a book for our times. "Books like this one can teach us not only the facts of the Paleolithic past, but also allow us to share the experiences of our ancestors. The Last Matriarch does both and does them beautifully." --Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, author of The Social Life of Dogs and Reindeer Moon "With a fluidly poetic style and vivid characterizations, Russell brings the ancient Southwest alive." --Booklist

Filled with "honest" writing and "wise" observations, "Russell's well-written essays describe her life as an urban immigrant to the rural Southwest" (Library Journal). In 1981, newlywed Sharman Apt Russell moved with her husband to an agricultural valley in southwestern New Mexico, hoping to create a simpler life. From building their adobe house to the home-birth of their firstborn to growing their own food and navigating the seasonal flooding of the Mimbres River, these luminous essays chart Sharman's journey toward self-sufficiency in a land as mythical and remote as the image of the prehistoric fluteplayer found on the pottery in trading posts throughout the Southwest. Replete with wisdom and a reverence for the Native American people whose relics Sharman discovers everywhere on the land around her, this award-winning memoir pays tribute to the power and grace of nature, our deep connection to our prehistoric past, and the beauty of living in communion with the land. "A fine contribution to the literature of the modern American Southwest . . . [Russell] achieves just the right mix of fact and metaphor, humor and poetics." --Booklist "These essays say much about the difficulty of maintaining an alternate lifestyle." --Publishers Weekly "A lovely little book. To be kept and read and read again." --Tony Hillerman, bestselling author

A young man journeys from rural Mississippi to the battlefields of WWI to discover his family's bloody legacy in this sequel to By Accident of Birth. On May 7, 1915, the passenger ship RMS Lusitania was sunk by a German U-Boat. Among the many casualties was Beverly Bethany Quinn, an American woman whose entire life was marked by the forces of bloodshed. For Ansel Quinn, the single event holds a grim double meaning. With his beloved aunt gone, he is the last of his family line. And now his country is on the brink of joining the war overseas. When Ansel discovers his Aunt Bethany's diary, the shocking revelations within set him on an epic quest for family honor and self-discovery. President Wilson had vowed to keep America out of another war. Ansel had sworn to serve his country. Fate's cards trumped them all. From the American South to the trenches of Verdun, nothing will ever be the same again.

In the third volume of the Quinn family saga, Ansel Quinn is caught in an international scandal with reverberations across two world wars. In 1916, the world waits with bated breath to see if the United States will enter the Great War raging in Europe. Meanwhile, President Wilson campaigns for reelection on his record of keeping America out of the fray. Caught in the middle is Maj. Ansel Quinn of Mississippi, assigned to the French army headquarters in Paris as a neutral observer. At home, Ansel's wife, Isabel, has been left to manage the family's cotton plantation in Mississippi as well as their sugar plantation in Cuba. It is a trial to be without her husband, but only the beginning of the hardships she will face. When Ansel is wounded on the frontlines of the Somme--far from where any neutral observer should be--it sets off international intrigue that could change the course of history. In No Promise for Tomorrow, the Quinn family struggles across the decades between World War I and World War II--a period that includes the influenza epidemic, the Roaring Twenties, prohibition, and the Great Depression.

From the Civil War to the Cuban independence movement to WWI, this historical epic follows the incredible life of a woman tragically bound to bloodshed. War brings about many strange events, but none stranger than the bullet that impregnated sixteen-year-old Annielise Quinn at the Battle of Vicksburg in 1863. After passing through the groin of a Confederate soldier, the bullet lodged itself in her pelvis. Such was the portentous beginning of Beverly Bethany Quinn, the "bullet baby" whose life was fated never to escape the perils of war. By 1915, Bethany thinks she has finally found peace, until a call from the British Crown brings a shocking revelation. To aid the Allies in the Great War overseas, England would like to purchase a cache of rifles owned by her family's sugar mill in Cuba--a cache that Bethany never knew existed. Years ago, Bethany and her uncle Jonathan supplied guns to the Cuban rebels against Spain. Has her uncle doomed her from beyond the grave to take part in slaughter once again? In preparation for the journey of her "special cargo," Bethany sits down with her mother's old diary, returning to that fateful day in 1863, and unfolding an epic journey of war, survival, love, and betrayal spanning decades and nations.

The author of Mermaids reunites the unforgettable women of the Flax family decades later: "Its plot twists will make you laugh--after you wipe away tears." --Sally Koslow, author of The Real Mrs. Tobias Now in her early forties with a grown son and two grandchildren, Charlotte Flax has never forgotten the year she spent as a teenager in Grove, Massachusetts, with her mother and little sister. When she finds out that their old house there, one of the many the family occupied over the years, is available for rent, Charlotte moves in and plans a birthday party for her flighty-as-ever mother. Some things have changed--the nearby convent has given way to real estate interests. Some things have not--Charlotte still has feelings about Joe, her first love. This upcoming reunion will stir up a lot of memories--and some trouble--and test the ability of relationships to survive over time . . . "Patty Dann, through Charlotte's unique voice, propels us back into the careening lives of the Flax women. Funny, sad, chaotic, mysterious, moving, searching, they are above all a family." --Richard Benjamin, director of Mermaids Praise for Mermaids and the novels of Patty Dann "Dann gives us a magnificent voice in the young Charlotte . . . Both hilarious and tragic . . . a radiant debut." --The New York Times Book Review "A marvel . . . brilliant." --Elinor Lipman, author of Good Riddance "Poignant." --Sheila Kohler, author of Once We Were Sisters and Cracks "Both of [the sisters'] characters are sharply etched and recognizable." --Publishers Weekly

A Black man wrongly convicted of murder attempts to rebuild his life and bring the real killer to justice, in this historical novel based on a true story. In the summer of 1932, Ben Jordan was wrongfully accused of killing a white pastor in Georgia. After a hasty trial, he was sentenced to a life of grueling labor on a chain gang and abuse at the hands of brutal wardens. But now, with his forty-year prison sentence completed, Ben is finally returning home. As he struggles to understand the profound changes the world has undergone, some things remain painfully the same--including the hateful animosity towards Black people and the fact that the real murderer is still living the life of a genteel southerner. Working to rebuild his life and see justice served, Ben faces one confrontation after another--with friend, foe, and a daughter who thinks he is dead. In this novel based on a real Depression Era murder case, author and Georgia historian Stephen Doster presents a vividly accurate depiction of Jim Crow's long and painful legacy.

Drawing on the voices of residents from across the state, this oral history reflects on life in Georgia as it evolved throughout the twentieth century. Author Stephen Doster grew up on St. Simons Island, one of Georgia's Golden Isles. He began interviewing fellow island residents and captured their personal histories in the book Voices from St. Simons. Now, Doster has expanded the scope of his work to encompass the entire state of Georgia. In Georgia Witness, Doster records the stories of residents from all across the state, capturing the unique life and history of its many communities. Here are the voices of influential figures and ordinary residents, individuals of varying backgrounds and ethnicities, all of whom remember and contribute to the legacy and lifeblood of the peach state.

In this WWII memoir, a woman recounts her struggle to survive and serve her country in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force. Marjorie Terry Smith was a teenage girl living in the suburbs of London when the Second World War began. Before it was over, her family would be bombed out of three homes, her fiancé would be killed fighting Rommel's forces in North Africa, and she would join the WAAF. Stationed in the operations rooms on seven different Royal Air Force bases, she encountered RAF legends Douglas Bader and Leonard Cheshire, as well as the indomitable Winston Churchill. In Her Finest Hour, Smith recounts a youth in England leading up to the war, her six years of service, and life in a recovering England, in which she worked for the British Overseas Airways Corporation as well as the BBC. Vividly recalling how the war changed her life and the world around her, Smith offers a rare insider's view of WWII military operations from a woman's perspective, as told to her son, Stephen Doster.

A lawyer gets an unsettling message twenty years after her lover’s death on 9/11, in this “fast-paced and emotional page-turner” by the author of The Dilemma (Christian White, bestselling author).At last, I’ve found you. A shock, I’m sure. But in time, I’ll explain. Martin Back in 2001, a young Lucie worked in New York City and was in love with Martin, who promised to leave his wife for her. Then he became one of the many victims of the terrorist attack of September 11. Two decades later, Lucie has just joined the staff of a prestigious London law firm after a bitter separation. However, her attempt at a new start is derailed by a baffling hand-delivered note—signed Martin. Is her vivid imagination playing tricks? Did her long-lost lover have stage his own disappearance under the cover of that fateful day, or could it be that someone else is stalking her? Filled with compelling characters and unsettling plot twists, spanning London, New York, and Sydney, A Voice in the Night is an addictive thriller about one woman’s quest to solve a mystery from the past and the thin line between hope and dread. “Masterful pacing and stealthy execution . . . keeps you on the edge of your seat and guessing right up until the end.” —Julietta Henderson, author of The Funny Thing About Norman Foreman “An eerie and riveting story.” —Lynn Hightower, author of Alien Blues “A tightly crafted, clever thriller.” —Sarah Clutton, author of The Daughter’s Promise

“A rip-roaring yarn of baseball, poker, and Wall Street told with humor and humanity, and a loving rendering of Wharton in the seventies.” —Geoffrey Garrett, dean, The Wharton School Rogers Stout has the gambler’s gifts: a titanic brain, an uncanny ability to read people, and a risk-taker’s daring. As an apathetic high school student who loves baseball but lacks a ninety-miles-per-hour fastball, he knows that the game does not begin until the ball leaves the pitcher’s hand. But his life needs direction. Everything changes the summer Roger is invited into the boisterous environment of an investment bank’s trading room—and to a gambling hall dive where he immediately wins big at poker, capturing the attention of his coworkers with his card-playing skills. Intrigued by trading markets, Rogers’s intellectual curiosity takes him to Wharton and then to Wall Street, facing challenges as an outsider who thinks and acts differently from the white-shoe establishment. As Rogers plays his career hand, life plays another. Should he follow the temptress Elsbeth and her ravishing beauty or Charlotte, his high-spirited first love? An intriguing look at human aspiration and the interplay of honor, greed, fear, and individuality, Make Me Even and I’ll Never Gamble Again reveals a time when a new generation upended the status quo on Wall Street and forever changed investing. “By turns hilarious, insightful, and touching, Fine has written a coming-of-age story for the ages.” —Peter Lattman, vice chairman, The Atlantic “[An] absorbing story of an aspiring Wall Street trader.” —Kirkus Reviews