Published books

THE FIRST OF JUNE

It's the First of June, and two boys, Reed Weston and Keith Durham, who just graduated from high school, decide to take a road trip through Nebraska, the Dakotas, and into Canada. Somewhere along a lightly traveled back road, Keith vanishes! Given his propensity to play practical jokes, Reed isn't convinced Keith is truly missing. Forced to face reality, his search leads him on an adventurous journey through Native American sacred grounds where others have gone missing over the years. This story will take you on more twists and turns than an Ozark Mountain backroad. Just when you think you have the answers to what has happened, you'll be blindsided by the actual story's ending.

THE VAULT OF SECRETS

There was a day when the streets were kept safe by the likes of Dick Tracy, Marlowe, the Hardy Boys, and Hercule Peroit. For readers who grew up with them, it's sad to see what these sleuths' turf has become. If you're growing tired of books, movies, and music that bombard you with sex, blood & gore, and graphic violence, there's hope on the horizon. Meet Eddie Rourke. An Irish immigrant in his late 60s, he fled Dublin and its flawed police system to pursue a new life in America. Now an old-school gumshoe private investigator living in a gritty Uptown Chicago neighborhood, he is comfortable wearing a trench coat, fedora, a necktie loose at the neck, and a five o'clock shadow. Eddie is a perpetual outsider. He understands the streets, but he views American corruption through a unique, cynical lens. His office is in a fading downtown commercial building above a neon-lit jazz club. Think brick alleyways, fire escapes, and the constant rumble of the elevated "L" train rattling his windows. The room, which doubles as an apartment, is heavy with the scent of Chesterfields, stale coffee, and wet asphalt from the window he keeps cracked. The frosted glass door reads E. Rourke – Private Investigations. A calendar from an Irish-American funeral home hangs on the wall. Sitting on his desk is a heavy black Western Electric rotary phone and a boxy Smith-Corona typewriter. These are the stories of Eddie Rourke's cases. As varied as the man, he turns up involved in some of the most unexpected cases, but with a fierce Irish tenacity, he won't stop until he has all the answers, putting the offending parties behind bars. It all begins with The Vault of Secrets!

DARK TIMES

Life is a series of continual ups and downs. We each deal with them differently. Their effects can range wildly, from a dark depression to violent responses. The stories in this book provide a glimpse into a troubled mind searching for an appropriate response to life's struggles. A collection of fictional short stories capturing the mood and mindset of a troubled and depressed mind. These are some of the author's most compelling works—a must-read for creative short story lovers.