A Missing Mother. A Daughter Demanding Answers. A Fateful Voyage On A River Of Deceit.
Cora Countryman refuses to be defined by the scandal and debt inherited from her parents; instead, she seeks the freedom of a life of mystery and adventure away from Wanee. But when a rumor surfaces, claiming a riverboat queen named Marie Mae may be the mother who abandoned her, Sebastian Kanady, owner/editor of Wanee’s newspaper, tempts her with a riverboat ticket for a ride on The Orleans Lady, a glittering Mississippi sternwheeler purportedly operated by Marie Mae.
On board, Cora teams with Kanady and Mrs. Gibson, her opinionated chaperone, to tease apart Marie Mae’s secrets. Only to discover an enemy intent on owning the river who will stop at nothing — not missing jewels, staged poker games, or death on the Texas Deck. Is Marie Mae her mother, or another, more deadly?
In this page-turning historical mystery, Cora must outwit gamblers, expose a conspiracy, and survive a night on the dangerous river that will change everything. If you love clever plots and period detail, add this to your cart now.
Also Available:
Of Waterworks and Sin
Late Spring 1877. As a favor to the newspaper’s owner, Cora Countryman edits the town newspaper and takes charge of the newsboy’s well-being. Excited to be so trusted, she botches her first article, infuriating Wanee’s women—never a good thing.
But Cora made a promise to the owner/editor she intends to keep. Ignoring her dress shop and boarding house, she concentrates on publishing the daily paper. That is, until two skeletons are found by diggers trenching the new water main.
Intrigued, Cora sets about identifying the bodies. But as she digs deeper, she becomes fixated on the identity of a mysterious child connected to the victims. With the year 1865 and the memory of a shanty fire looming over her investigation, Cora suspects a returned Civil War veteran, but which one?
For fans of historical mysteries with strong, complex heroines, Of Waterworks and Sin by D.Z. Church is a must-read.
Read more about Of Waterworks and Sin, and buy on Amazon
One Horse Too Many
November 1876. Cora Countryman envisions dancing the Viennese Waltz in Vienna, not her hometown. But Wanee may be as close as she gets if only she can steer the Winter Dance committee and find a band.
Sales are up at her store, and she is making headway on her debt. Her new cook scares everyone and her domestic is a mess, even before new boarders arrive from the Deep South and shake everyone up. Things have just settled when much-needed drugs are stolen from the hospital, and the newspaper office is tossed.
Angered, Cora, Sebastian Kanady at her side, pieces together a theory based on an influx of new people and a flurry of nearby train robberies. She scrambles to convince her neighbors she’s right before someone dies. When death comes, she gathers the town and constructs a plan to stop the bandits in their tracks.
Will Cora’s plan work in time to save the Winter Dance?
Read more about One Horse Too Many, and buy on Amazon
A Confluence of Enemies
August 1876. Cora Countryman dreams of a life of mystery and adventure, anywhere but confining Wanee, Illinois. Even when the long drought attracts a rainmaker panhandling his own version of fantasy.
As thirst and disease rampage across the railroad tracks, she fights for what little she has. Campers steal her vegetables and raid her water. But when the editor of the newspaper is dumped at the undertakers near death, she fears for her village, already a tinderbox of resentment.
She snatches then hides the newspaperman at her boarding house, endangering all those within her walls. To save him, she determines to solve the killing—no matter the danger to her. Not from disease, drought, or dreadful secrets—but from the men who would stop her.
Read more about A Confluence of Enemies, and buy on Amazon
Unbecoming a Lady
A friend knocks on Cora Countryman’s front door seeking help with the torn sleeve of her work dress, claiming she ripped it on a bush. As the town’s seamstress, Cora has mended many a dress. So, when she sees a ragged tear in her friend’s forearm and a bruise left by a thumb, Cora questions her friend’s story. When Cora asks about the wounds, her friend is evasive. Worried by the lack of answers, Cora starts her own investigation.
When murder is done, Cora won’t give in, back down, or submit to the behavior expected of a young lady in 1876 in a burgeoning Illinois prairie town. Why should she, she never expected to stay. That is until her mother abandoned her, leaving her heavily in debt, her reputation on the line, and the drudgery of a boarding house to run for one boarder.
Her intended life of mystery and adventure never seemed so far away.
Read more about Unbecoming a Lady, and buy on Amazon