Category: Historical Fiction Publisher: Publish America
ISBN-10: 1424126681
Type: Fiction
Pages: 279
Copyright: January 1, 1990
The fictionalized account of the Terrible Harpe brothers, America's first serial killers, who, in 1799, cut a bloody path through the settlements of Kentucky and Tennessee.
EXCERPT
The first time Susan Roberts ever saw Micajah Harpe was when he bounded through the door of the cabin and confronted Jeremiah Massie! From that day forward there existed a bond between the two of them that nothing would ever breech! Neither time nor distance mattered! Though they were separated more than once in the years that followed, Susan always found her way back to Micajah. She knew he would return for her, should they be parted, no matter what else happened. If Micajah said go, Susan went, if he said stay, she stayed, and if he said he'd be back for her, then he'd be back.
When she looked up from the feet of the monster that had so cruelly used her and her sister for six years and saw Micajah standing there, she didn't see a killer come to commit murder on a decent man. No indeed! She saw a savior! A handsome young man come to rescue her from a demon! The strange fire in Micajah's blue eyes didn't frighten Susan. It was the fire of righteous anger, unleashed against those who deserved it. His words of wrath were music to her ears. He was a savior who killed a monster that Susan herself had wished a thousand times to kill. Love was born with the first look that passed between them, and it was a love that would never die!
Susan had been almost nine, and her sister Betsy barely seven when their mother had passed away. For a year, their stepfather had used them to work his farm in the daytime, and to sleep in his bed at night.
Then one day, in a drunken stupor, he sold the young girls to Jeremiah Massie for twenty dollars in gold, a small hog, and four chickens. The girls soon found out that as cruel as their stepfather had been to them, he couldn't hold a light to Massie.
For six years, Massie treated the girls as little more than animals. He worked them without mercy, performed unspeakable acts upon them, and beat them constantly. During the first year, the girls had tried several times to escape from the monster, but each time they were caught, and each time the punishment became more severe. Finally the girls gave up on running away, and resigned themselves to living with whatever perversions the man would place upon them. They agreed that when the opportunity came, they would kill themselves rather than suffer anymore at the hands of the man who owned them.
So it was that this was the way they were living the night that Micajah and Wiley came to call!
When Micajah walked out of the cabin after killing their tormentor, Susan and Betsy saw him as a knight in shining armor, a hero, and placed the remainder of their lives in his strong hands. Over the next few years, the feeling came to be much more than love. It was undivided devotion and complete trust that they placed in this strong youth, and not once in their lives did he ever betray them.
Excerpt
"Arm yourself! Hide the women and children! Lock and bar the doors!
Third Book in Five Book Series - Southern Swallow - a tale of 12th Century China. Li K'ai-men becomes entangled in an intrigue that becomes his undoing.
Ireland 1967. The Summer of love. Or was it?
A holiday weekend. Amazing weather. American student Dakota Lacey is hiking around Kerry.
But there’s a sinister, dark side to the atmosphere. Lone female hikers are being brutally attacked.
Ireland 1967. The Summer of love. Or was it?
A holiday weekend. Amazing weather. American student Dakota Lacey is hiking around Kerry.
But there’s a sinister, dark side to the atmosphere. Lone female hikers are being brutally attacked.
