author & journalist
Current Works
A Cruel Oblivion
My second full-length novel in the Tess Alexander Mystery series, A Cruel Oblivion, was published in November of 2021. It is available as a paperback or e-book at independent bookstores, Amazon, and a number of other web outlets.
The book received the 2022 Eric Hoffer Award as an e-book, and was on the short list for the Grand Prize. The Hoffer Award is an internationally-recognized award for small and independent publishers.
Subsequently, the book received a
To learn more about the novel, click here.
A Just Reckoning
The first book in the Tess Alexander Mystery series, A Just Reckoning, was published in February of 2021. It is available as a paperback and e-book at independent bookstores, Amazon, and a number of other web outlets.
To read an excerpt from the novel, click here.
"Casey's Corner" Columns
In May of 2012, The Union newspaper in Nevada County, California, began publishing my column, "Casey's Corner" on the front page of their new Pets section.
Casey was my 85-pound Golden Retriever that I adopted through Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue in May of 2010. In the intervening years he became a registered therapy dog with the Alliance of Therapy Dogs.
Since I'm a writer and I love animals—especially dogs, and most especially Golden Retrievers—it seemed to only make sense to write about those creatures. And that's how "Casey's Corner" came to be.
I lost Casey in January of 2015, but it wasn't long before I realized that I simply could not live without a dog in my life. By then I'd already adopted a sweet Maine Coon kitten, Indy...but, if you'll forgive the mixed metaphor, a dog is a horse of a different color. So in late May of that year, I adopted a Golden Retriever mix from Homeward Bound, a boy I named Joey. He too is a registered therapy dog.
The column is now syndicated in two California newspapers. And in answer to your question...yes, I've kept the name "Casey's Corner" in honor of my wonderful golden boy.
Works From the Past
Non-Fiction Book: Little Girl Lost
LITTLE GIRL LOST is the true story of a vicious murder in the heart of California’s Gold Country...a murder committed by two teenage girls, one of whom wrote in her diary: “Today Cindy and I ran away and killed an old lady. It was lots of fun.”
But beneath this account of one terrible, senseless killing lies the heart of the book: a tragic study of how the oppressive forces of child abuse and family violence robbed two young girls of their childhoods, their innocence, and ultimately, their humanity.
Little Girl Lost was first published in April of 1992, nine years after the brutal murder of 85-year-old Anna Brackett in her quiet condominium on the outskirts of Auburn, California. Six months later the book went into a second printing, and in December of 1997 it entered a third printing. More than 250,000 copies have been sold worldwide.
Although the book is now out of print, you can still find used (and even occasional new) copies for sale by third parties in many online bookstores such as Amazon and Paperback Swap.
Read an excerpt from the book here.
I've written for a number of local and regional newspapers and magazines throughout the years on a wide variety of subjects.
I'm featuring a few of them on this page.
Magazine & Newspaper Articles
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