Canal Barge Blues

Private Investigator Agnes Trout is seeking balance in her relationships when an old friend in England asks for help locating his aunt, who went missing over eighty years ago. Agnes relishes immersing herself in a new missing person case, but complications arise when human bones surface by her friend’s canal barge home. A brutal decades-old murder unravels, plunging Agnes into a quest for answers across England and South Wales. She is joined by her intriguing new partner Jonathan Black, and the search also leads Agnes to revelations closer to home.

Schism

Early 21st century America simmers with colliding ideologies, torn between nostalgia for a romanticized past and yearning for an impossible risk-free future. When such disparate values clash, eruptions lay bare our deepest divisions and resentments, triggering uncontrolled hostility. Utopian visions devolve into vehicles for personal vendettas and blood feuds, capable of cascading into uncontainable turmoil.

This provocative character study peers into modern America’s soul, chronicling the relentless unravelling of societal fabric against gathering storms. Is stability mere illusion when all moorings have been severed?

The Unknown Warriors

The Unknown Warriors is based on a true story set in the beauty and tragedy of Europe in the years just before the Second World War. Abrienda de Soza, inheritor of a fortune stolen from the coffers of Imperial Russia during the last days of the Russian Civil War, fights to keep her country out of the hands of both Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia and preserve a culture threatened by both through any means possible. Nika Molnar, an agent working for Hungarian Intelligence’s Special Unit, seeks to exact vengeance on the man who murdered her father when she was a child. Impeccably researched, The Unknown Warriors captures the feel and nuance of a world soon to be destroyed forever—a uniquely told and deeply compelling story of war, intrigue and betrayal, but also of love and sacrifice played out against the backdrop of a world heading inexorably towards war.

The title is taken from a speech by Winston Churchill. “This is a War of Unknown Warriors, but let all strive without failing in faith or duty…”

Starnberg Series Book 8: Yesterday When I Was Young

In the eighth and final book of the Starnberg set series, no couple escapes the grip of misfortune. From a terrifying cancer scare and a child’s meningitis to a life-altering car crash in distant Toronto and the unravelling of a once-strong love, this year is a true battleground.

As they confront these challenges, their bonds of friendship and support deepen, providing a lifeline through the storm. Amid the turmoil, an older love rekindles: Sybilla’s mother, Emmeline Mertens, faces a family tragedy and rediscovers her first love, the formidable divorce lawyer Magdalena von Reichenbach. Will anyone emerge unscathed?

Death at the Ommegang

In this gripping sequel to Karma, Patti Howland, daughter of the U.S. President, attends Cambridge University under an alias, seeking a normal college life. As she navigates her studies and relationship with Lucas Ndlovu, a dangerous web of international intrigue threatens to unravel her secret.

Viktor Rubinsky’s terrorist gang, in league with corrupt African forces, sets its sights on assassinating President Howland and thwarting the democratic aspirations of Thembani Ndlovu, Lucas’s father. With multiple assassination plots targeting a visit to the spectacular Ommegang festival in Brussels, Patti and her friends find themselves in a deadly game of cat and mouse.

Patti must confront her deepest fears and risk the ultimate sacrifice to protect those she loves in this explosive novel that will leave readers breathless until the final page. Filled with pulse-pounding action, shocking twists, and richly drawn characters, Death at the Ommegang is a tour de force of suspense.

If Cows Could Sing

Ever heard a cow sing, or seen a three-legged pink flying sheep? Or wondered how a mighty oak tree, could ever have been a tiny trembling acorn? Well, welcome to a world where your fantasy and imagination can bring them all to life.

Spooks Lodge

Come to Spooks Lodge, come if you dare

Search for the secrets that are hidden there!

NOBODY you meet, you hold his hand.

Isn’t life wonderful? Isn’t it grand?

But turn a wrong corner, tread where spiders abide,

And it could be Rosie who walks by your side.

Stop for a chat, drink a warm cup of tea,

That blueberry muffin, was it really from me?

Frederick Saaler

The Oxford Connection

Betrayal. Murder. A conspiracy unravels in the shadows of the Cold War’s end.

Maggie Stewart never imagined that her quiet life as a Master’s student at Oxford University would entangle her in the dark, personal turmoil of her Russian professor, Nicholas Stowkovsky. When Nicholas’s wife vanishes under suspicious circumstances during a trip to former East Germany, Maggie is pulled into a web of intrigue far beyond the academic world.

Desperate to find his wife, Nicholas embarks on a dangerous journey to Germany, where his fate and Maggie’s become dangerously intertwined. As secrets are exposed and tensions rise, their paths collide in a final, explosive confrontation.

Das Einzige Kind / The Only Child

Christian is the epitome of the modern working youth who goes out with the love of his life, Yolanda. He finds meaning in the realm of family relationships, where he reconnects with his half-sister Amelia on a holiday to Sweden. Through his working relationship, he meets his boss, who is his uncle when he works as a scientist. As he gains in popularity with his acting career, he is able to forge his career as a scientist too at the same time. The book emphasizes the importance of real day romance and family relationships in a modern working world.

Guess Who? Murder in a Village

In the stillness of a quiet village night, a murder shatters the peace. A newly appointed detective, along with his determined partner, Officer Smith, is sent to unravel the mystery. As they delve deeper, they uncover secrets that suggest there’s far more to this village than meets the eye.

With a dead body, five witnesses, a cunning murderer on the loose, and a myriad of questions, the detective team faces a daunting task. Will they catch the killer before time runs out? Get ready for a thrilling game of Guess Who!

The Bittersweet Voyage of the Golden Ship Hatteras

THE BITTERSWEET VOYAGE OF THE GOLDEN SHIP HATTERAS

By Ira David Wood III

A deeply moving love story

set on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

A writer’s loving tribute

to a place, its history, and its people.

“An absolutely beautifully written love story! David Wood writes with the grace of the greats in this compelling novel about life on the Outer Banks of North Carolina in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Every word and page is to be savored in this historically authentic novel that will make you smile, laugh, sigh, cry, and cheer. The characters are colorful and believable, and perfectly placed in the narrative. This is more than a love story. It’s a rich and lively history lesson from an author who has spent much of his life listening to the people who have lived in this magical place.”

Bill Leslie, composer of ten musical albums and author of the 2008 book Blue Ridge Reunion.

“Love should dance,’ an unforgettable woman says toward the end of this powerful book, David Wood’s timeless love song to the Outer Banks, a book where his words dance. Wood, a wonderful director and actor, once again brings his storytelling art to the novel genre in this fine book. It’s the real thing.”

John Railey, author of the Outer Banks top-sellers The Lost Colony Murder on the Outer Banks: Seeking Justice for Brenda Joyce Holland and Andy Griffith’s Manteo: His Real Mayberry.

Angelina Janny Jones and the Ride to Avalon

Angelina Janny Jones thought escaping the clutches of the evil Norn was her toughest challenge – until she finds herself thrust into the chaos of 450 AD. Stranded in the Dark Ages, far from the modern world she knows, Angelina must team up with the enigmatic Tam Lin, who promises to send her home.

But there’s a catch: the path to salvation winds through perilous lands filled with strange companions, mythical creatures, and a mad Merlin on a quest to recover the legendary Thirteen Treasures of Britain.

From the sacred wells of Glastonbury to the shadowy forests, Angelina’s journey is a race against time, testing her courage, wit, and heart. Will she find her way back, or will she be lost to history forever?