“This is definitely a ‘read it in one night page-turner’ which I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend.” —Bree, Verified Amazon Purchaser
“I love it! A classic locked room mystery with all the ambience of Britain set in the 1970s American South.” —Stephen L. Brayton, Writer Beat
Cornelius Astor-Beaudry, fondly known as “the Colonel,” invades the serene sanctity of Raymond Hilary’s antiquarian bookstore in a dire search for a particular book on poisons. A maid at a local Georgia mansion called Wisteria Pines has been found dead, the deed done apparently by poisoning.
From the moment the Colonel steps into Raymond Hilary’s life, Raymond is caught up in a flood of events racing and raging beyond his control. Their first evening together becomes a white-knuckled ride to Wisteria Pines on the news that the patriarch, Angus Callahan, has also been found dead—but in a locked room with bars on its windows.
It had happened right after a voodoo doll had been found nailed to the mansion’s door. Somehow three different wills appear to be involved, along with missing precious stones, Cajun legacies and legends, the founding of Acadia, the French Revolution, the British Crown Jewels, and an inheritance worth $6 million. Read “Murder at Wisteria Pines” today.
Targeted Age Group:: Young adult to adult
What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
I grew up in Georgia and Alabama, which certainly inspired the settings, but I also have always been fascinated with crime literature, both fact and fiction. I spent untold hours immersed in the mesmerizing worlds of the great fiction detectives. When I read the Sherlock Holmes stories, I knew, even as a boy, that one day I would attempt to entertain others the way Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had entertained me through so many sleepless nights. To invoke Doyle’s name and that of his great detective is an honorable homage, not hubris, and I don’t aspire even to walk in their shadow. I do hope, though, that readers might find in my work something magical, something fun, something that will hold them in guileless wonder as they struggle to guess whodunnit, and in doing so that they will find something of the deep love I have for the endless wonders of the American South.
