Sticks and Bones Synopsis

Available on Amazon for 99 Cents

I am very excited today! The new cover for "Sticks and Bones" has been completed!

I have to say I was skeptical of the whole Amazon Kindle publishing process at first, but after two months of using it I now wish I had done this from the beginning. I have now joined the thousands of Indie publishers and I have no regrets.

"Sticks and Bones" is my first published novel. A murder mystery that is directed towards the 16+ audience that takes the reader on a journey through the modern American high school.

Set in the small(ish) town of West Fargo, North Dakota, Detective Marcia Grant finds herself in the midst of an investigation no detective, male or female, wants to be involved; the murder of a high school student with no apparent motive.

Detective Grant finds out that high school isn't for the meek or timid. You have to be pretty enough, thin enough, strong enough, straight enough, and brave enough just to make it through the day unscathed. But is this daily struggle enough to constitute murder?

Small towns have a unique attribute in that everyone knows everyone and everything about everyone; mostly. Clyde Jourdaine knows this more than any other resident of the community. He's a hateful old man whose abusive demeanor has caused his children to abandon him after the death of their mother leaving him with with a farmstead to maintain on his own. Falling victim to his alcoholism, Clyde moves into town abandoning the farmstead which becomes the party place of choice for the A-List students. And also the scene of a brutal murder with no real suspect; except Clyde.

The holiday season becomes one of suspicious eyes and whispered accusations with no arrests in sight. Detective Grant and her team of investigators, whom are no more than your average beat cop, work around the clock tracking down dead-end leads. The investigation, even with the assistance of the Fargo Police Department CSI team, is botched from the beginning with key pieces of evidence overlooked due to inexperience with homocide cases. West Fargo hadn't had a murder case in fifty years and Fargo's last murder had been fifteen years ago.

While back tracking over the crime scene, Officer Jonathon Drake engages in an explosive, violent episode with Detective Grant and disappears without a trace; casting suspicion on himself. Without Jonathon, Marcia is left with rookie officer, Bruce Jefferson, and a veteran officer, Arnie Paulson who's biding his time to retirement.

"Sticks and Bones" allows the reader to identify with each character as friends, neighbors, leaders and followers we all love to hate. But which character will act on their love hate relationships is a mystery that unfolds and promises an ending the reader will never forget.

Sticks and Bones is currently available on Amazon for Kindle and Kindle Apps. The print version will be available the week of June 16th for $8.99. Get your Kindle version today for 99 cents before the price goes back to the original published price of $2.99.  It will be made available for Nook and other e-readers on Smashwords after the print version is released.