A little over a week ago, I received an urgent request from Rose Phillips. She signed up for my Book Launch Done-for-You program and asked if there was anything we could do to expedite the process. She explained that her dearest friend, Frances Downing Hunter (pictured here), had a dream of getting her book published but was in the hospital. Frances was an English Professor at Arkansas State University, was passionate about reading and writing, and had completed a suspenseful murder mystery featuring a captivating female sleuth that took place in a small-town in Delta Ridge, Arkansas. It's a thrilling read!

We expedited the launch but Frances passed before she could see its publication. Because I believe she may still know that her dream has been realized, I hope you will help us celebrate the launch of Frances's intriguing work, Delta Ridge.

Let's help make Frances's dream come true. You can pick up the Kindle version here. It would make a great gift for the Holidays too. Click here for the paperback edition.

It was an honor to bring this book to life for Francis.

Read the back cover copy to get a flavor of this rich and complex story that will leave you wondering… ‘who done it?”

“Holly Carter Scott is a historian at heart. She knows all about Crowley’s Ridge, where she was born. She is an expert on her family’s history—her ancestors’ brave sacrifices made to conquer the wilderness, and their steadfast determination that led them to settle into positions of independence and pride in the small Southern town of Delta Ridge, Arkansas.

Strength was undoubtedly the Carter family hallmark, but would Holly discover that their strength was in truth a fierce determination to shield emotionally-broken spirits, ruptured from hiding a ghastly truth that could destroy all they had achieved?

After being abruptly packed off to school, following her father’s sudden death, and having an ambivalent relationship with her mother, Holly perseveres to earn a law degree. She vows never to return to Delta Ridge. But following a love affair gone wrong, Holly allows herself to be coaxed back home to join the family firm.

Holly will need to come to terms with her dread of returning to Delta Ridge. Is it simply fear of discovering the unknown or of learning she may have had a role in its mystery?

A series of gruesome murders that begin on Holly’s first day on her new job, forces her to turn detective. Will she discover a connection between the serial murders and her father’s death, her mother’s tempestuousness, her grandfather’s kind but iron-fisted control, and reoccurring nightmares about what she fears happened on the night that forever changed her life.

An intriguing plot-line laced with mystery and humor, quirky characters who are just as real whether dead or alive, and dramatic settings, painted in language often as pure as poetry make Delta Ridge’s theme of family love pierced by underlying mistrust flow with refreshing honesty.

This first novel by a prize-winning poet, avid traveler, and gifted teacher, with the keen eye of an artist, explodes with richness and texture, revealing with astute insight how complex living a life of trust and transparency can be.