Sylvia Thorn, circuit court judge in Palm Beach County, Florida, takes an unexpected trip to Sangamon City, Illinois when her older brother, Willie Grisseljon, is confined to a county hospital for a psychiatric evaluation. A Vietnam veteran with a few lingering side effects from the war, Willie was on vacation, exploring the countryside where he and Sylvia had grown up. There he found a body, and when he tried to report his discovery to a deputy sheriff, he was locked up as a vagrant with delusions. Willie is released from the hospital when Sylvia arrives. Expecting to return to Florida immediately, Sylvia is reluctantly drawn into the mystery when Willie insists on returning to the site where the body is hidden. When the two discover a local businessman is missing, they make the connection and notify the sheriff. Soon, the two discover clues about the murdered farm manager and his wife, a tenant farmer, concealed Indian artifacts, and uprooted prairie grass plots that may help the sexy sheriff, Sylvia s high school sweetheart Trace Parker, solve the crime. But Sylvia runs into trouble when she s caught nosing around the old homestead, and while she hides, she overhears a second murder take place. She escapes one gun-toting suspect, only to join up with Willie and confront another. Relieved when the sheriff releases them to return to Florida, Sylvia doesn t realize at first that she and her brother are still in danger. A mysterious new neighbor with a menacing bodyguard, and new information Sylvia finds in her legal system database, provide her with the incentive to pursue her search for the truth. Sylvia must use her contacts with the Illinois sheriff and Florida security personnel, as well as Willie s intuitive skills, to remove the threat to herself and her family, and provide the missing links to state and federal authorities to capture the killer.
I grew up on a farm in central Illinois and have also lived in Oklahoma (windy), Indiana (like Illinois), the south of France (such fun), and Florida (wet). I used to be an accounts payable manager and worked for a wonderful grocery chain in Indiana, another in Florida, and finally, an office supply corporation based in Florida.
Now retired, I live in Colorado with my husband and periodically fly off to visit kids who managed to locate in four different parts of the country. I hate to admit it, but 2010 will mark the 50th anniversary of my high school graduation. Yes, we're planning a reunion. Why is that more scary than facing a pool of alligators?
When I'm not writing, I read. And when I'm not reading, I do a lot of writing- and reading-related activities like starting new critique groups. I love television and movies, too, and was one of those Adam Lambert fans from the 2009 American Idol season. I'm a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers and Northern Colorado Writers.
