is this double handful of invented stories that make up the collection:

“Bring Me the Head of Kathleen Sullivan” relates the murder and mutilation of a prominent citizen in lower Texas, and the fallout felt on both sides of the border. 

 “Frequent Flyer.” People get themselves and those around them into trouble, and protective laws can do little about it until after the fact. The police are the conscientious clean-up crew, no matter how long the messy job takes.

 “Dominoes,” delicately positioned and aligned by an omniscient hand, when pressed into movement to nudge into the next one and that one into the next, results in a jumbled heap that no longer resembles any intended pattern. 

 In “Guitar and Heart Strings,” the narrator is a songwriter-guitar player marked by hard work and hard times; and betrayal and lost love. If his life sounds like the substance of a country song, you’re right in tune. 

 “The Taking of Kaitlyn Peck” is all in a day’s work for county sheriffs working the case of a young girl abducted on the way from school to her upscale neighborhood home.    

 “The Husband Hunter” had one but couldn’t keep him, but found him after years and a global search, and then didn’t want him . . . alive.

 “Storm Clouds and Blue Skies” mark the futures of some gypsy pilots, but it’s only one or the other; not both of those forecasts for all concerned.

 “A Day At the Zoo,” is not an outing for the family nanny and her juvenile charges, and certainly is no picnic, except for the man killers of a wildlife park in South Africa.  

 “Out of Focus.”   Click, click, goes the mind of a killer, detailing revenge for a long endured and lying slur. And click, click, go the cameras that hold his plan in check.   

 A person of the street can be largely ignored or be vulnerable to violence, but for the goodwill service provided, “The Streetwalker’s Price,” can be negotiable. 

***

Available soon fromShadowLinePress                                                                                  www.shadowlinepress.com

Contact the author, Jamel DuBois

mwljames.dakotacom.net